Chương 85: Chapter 84 - They Dug Too Deep...

For the first time in weeks, Nythera could go home. It was just as she had left it, her room untouched and Edwin cooking alchemicals in his dungeon-basement. Shelly however, had changed.

"Yup, nearly to strata one already as an archer, you should see me, my arrows take down most fluxspawn in one shot!" Shelly bragged.

"Is that because of your power or the poisons you get from Edwin?" Nythera asked, seeing straight through the deception. Shelly pouted "Looks, I shot the arrows, so it's my attack, not Edwin's. I would have loved to turn into a mage, but you can't just open any random mage class, you know."

"Spells aren't all you think they are, do you know how much flux I need just to summon the cannon?" Nythera waved off her complaining "You don't need to worry about anything except Health or Stamina at the worst." Shelly let the matter drop, barely containing her excitement as her mind switched topics "About cartography, I heard you've been out quite a bit, are you leveling it well?" her gaze carried a hint of testiness.

"It's been fine, I've been busy most of the time, fighting that giant sea monster, and well, running the country" Nythera said sheepishly.

"Nythera" Shelly's voice grew dark "You haven't been practicing mapping, have you?" Nythera looked away "No" Shelly smiled "it's okay, you've been so busy after all" Shelly got closer. Huh, I thought she would be more angry over- And drove an elbow into her gut, sending Nythera reeling.

"If you don't map the next place you go to, I will drag you out there to do it myself, are we clear?" Shelly still wore a beaming smile as she stood over Nythera's bent form.

"Yes, clear, crystal clear. I'll be sure to bring fantastic and very detailed maps back next time" she acquiesced.

"That'll do I suppose, do not forget." Nythera made sure to place an extra big order for parchment from Shelly, taking nearly two dozen rolls into Boxy. Shelly massively overcharged her with a "convenience fee". Two days blurred by, greased with cheap alcohol. One glance at the population overview had her on edge. Just a little more and I'll be Baron Nythera, no longer a mere knight-ranked lord. I should gain a bunch of new shit with this. How long till Emperor rank? Only Kronan knows.

On the morning of the second day, Nythera waited at port. Thomas' ship had yet to return even once. Rowen had sent periodic updates and their expected arrival time, Nythera intended to use it to make an impression. Leo's ship was docked, stocking up on provisions before heading out for Vathrial again. Minutes later Thomas' ship pulled up, gliding into port tentatively, as if it didn't want to touch the water.

"What in the blazes is that? Why is there a third flying ship? Who are you? Who gave you command of such a vessel? I'll have you know, as captain of The Invincible I should be informed of these things. This is unacceptable, frankly you should come here right now and explain yourself" Leo shouted across the ships at Thomas. Thomas looked over from the console for about two seconds, then looked back down.

"Did you just ignore me? I'll have you know I am the most respected and feared-" Nythera tuned him out as the passengers disembarked, all three collected in time. The amazement of air travel was evident on Felix's face, and Aldric looked elated. Simon was Simon. Nythera greeted all three and beckoned them to the city where they fell ahead of her.

"You little shit, look here, at the very least you should pay respects to your seniors. I could offer insights you could only dream of finding your own-" Yeah, I think those two will get along just fine. Where is Rowen?

"Thomas, we will have your next assignment shortly, please wait here until then. If you fear the water will damage the ship, just elevate her while docked" Nythera informed him. He saluted "Yes Milady."

"Were you just pretending you couldn't hear me the entire time? Look here mister-" Rowen jumped down from the deck, a barrel slung over his shoulder.

"Nythera, we completed it without a problem, Thomas is now fit to operate that ship. I will be at the meeting but I am going to handle this first" he slapped the barrel.

"What is that?" she looked at him like a disappointed mother.

"Remember the spawn?"

"Oh, ok. Go handle that, I never want to see that barrel again" Why is he so weird, who shoves dead slimy green corpses into a barrel for later. Have they been in there the entire time? The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. She shut down those thoughts before her stomach could protest. The walk up was easy, people tended to move out of the way when they saw a giant lumberjack with an axe going up the road.

Some did call out to her or Felix, but most seemed to want to avoid their procession. Nythera waved back. I am the Queen afterall, once you get used to it it's not so bad. It is good to be Queen. Authority Level Promotion! New Rank: Baron Her face lit up. There we go, finally something useful. New Rank Privileges: Gain access to a vague profession breakdown of your population. Gain access to town-level population data. Dungeon taxes can be set.

Time to set those 5% dungeon taxes we discussed, I'll review the rest later, it's not too important. I'm sure this will be a fun discussion in the council. Nythera hummed to herself up the streets, following in the wake of Simon. Unfortunately it was only after three wrong turns that Felix realized Simon had no idea where he was going and took the lead. It was time for the council meeting to start. Seated around the table was Lance, Ollie, Felix, Noah, Aldric, and Simon.

All of the mayors had been assembled and Rowen took his place right behind her chair. This council is getting kinda big, if we add Waketown and maybe Quartzwoods later its going to get annoying. I should make them compete for a council position, maybe a yearly tournament for my entertainment? Would that be more queen-like? Nythera stood up "Let us begin, I have a lot to cover and no time to waste" She coughed to draw attention.

"First, as some of you may have already seen, a new flying ship has been recovered. I am willing to lend it to the mayors here in this council as a second vessel for moving migrants from Vathrial. It will remain part of the Queen's Armada, please keep that in mind. It is on LOAN" Nythera spelled it out to them clearly. They nodded along, except for Simon, who was making a disgusted face as he stared at the wall.

"Continuing on, as per my agreement with Aldric, Rustreach will be part of the migrant loop from here on. They will get half of all professional miners, splitting the other half with Waketown. Have there been any trouble with the influx of new people?" Nythera searched the expressions of everyone for a hint of trouble. It's going almost too well. It can't be this easy? Ramalia had migrants from several nations and it always caused chaos.

Ollie piped up, ripping off a chunk of varn jerky "The migrants work so damn hard the natives need to break their backs to keep up, it good to have a little sprout up their ass. Though, some of them are gettin' a bit uppity" Ollie ripped another chunk of jerky off. Simon's face warped into a huge smile, teeth visible through his lips. He started chuckling to himself. Noah chuckled "Lance does a good job busting their ass as they come in, we have caught only a few trouble makers.

Shove a house, a plot of cleared land, and tools into peoples hands and they are just happy they can farm, most can't even do that without some lord breathing down their neck in Greymere""Aye, Dominic and his delvers occasionally patrol those areas. A bunch of strata zeros from Greymere aren't really an issue, even if they wanted to be one" Lance sighed "farmers always whining about rocks in their fields""Didn't some of them enter that delver school you set up in Halsbury?" Felix asked.

Lance nodded "A far few of the youth have, Eustace is running three times as many classes as he was before. The shock when they set foot in a dungeon for the first time, you should see it." he snorted.

"Excuse me, but if we could get on with it, I have my town waiting for me" Aldric piped up. Nythera nodded to him "What matter would you like to discuss?"

"The road between Rustreach and Quartzwoods, if it can be built my people can access a strata one dungeon, we don't have many who can delve it, but it would be useful. Perhaps some tools can be carried by inland ways instead of around the island" Aldric looked to the other mayors. Felix looked pissed.

"We can spare some mancers for the project, one or two guards should be enough, ain't many fluxspawn left outside the interior after those bounty boards came in." Lance nodded "but we can't flatten the mountains, the route will be rough regardless of what we do."

"Thank you, that will do" Aldric leaned back and wiped sweat off his brow.

"Good, that was one part of the agreement, Rustreach will once again be exporting tools." Nythera said. Ollie shrugged "more tools, more houses, works with me." Simon's face had warped into a grim, daunting frown, brow creased in concentration. Noah raised his hand to speak "On Waketown, Delita reported that the town is booming faster than anticipated, not just with migrants, but many families have used the opportunity to give up houses in the existing townships to move inland, where God's Wrath won't hit.

The iron mine is up and running and the forges our Queen ordered have begun production, albeit at less than half capacity" Noah put down the piece of paper he was reading from.

"In essence, Waketown has been nothing short of a grand success, hunters from Grandport are nearly all gone, drawn to the interior. Quartzwoods now has a few buildings and a queue just to get access, by far the most popular dungeon on the island" Noah sighed "Interior investments should increase from here on out""There are no hunters left in Amplewoods, the only things we hunt now are triabits and the dockhands occasionally kill a lizigeon." he shivered.

"They eat those things?" Lance asked.

"With every generation, someone always tries to" Felix replied. Simon's face had warped into an absurd questioning look, one eyebrow raised so high it might separate from his forehead and fly into the sky. Felix and Noah shared a glance, Felix nodded. Noah piped up again "One more issue, a pressing matter" his voice took on a grim tone.

"Nythera I must ask you to use Authority to bind us all to secrecy from this moment onwards" Huh, I can do that? On a whole group at once? Welp, let's give it a shot. Authority thrummed beneath her control, Ollie winced the moment she tapped its power "The content of the discussion, from now until its resolution, may not be discussed outside this room unless with members present at this council meeting" she felt her power snake like chains, wrapping around the souls of all present. Except me.

I suppose a Queen such as I is above the law anyways. Noah took a deep breath.

"As Oswin has revealed to us prior, there is a primordial living beneath Myrraval."