^^ young Naga ^^

Even as I approached the handrail, I could see a trail of smoke beginning to spew from the wall about two kilometers to the east, and the small crowd of Militia running to surround the smoking area. "Where is it?" I frowned, unable to find the source of the attack, which was never a good sign; too many monsters were invisible, or capable of using Illusion Magic to disguise themselves, and they were all irritating. "I'll have to go directly there, then... rest assured, lady Regalia, this conversation isn't over, and I do in fact have an answer to your question which I believe will put your worries to rest; your grand presence may have tied my tongue at a bad time, but it is no less true that I am not an Evil Mage. I will return shortly, and we can continue the conversation where we left off."

"Which part? Me standing over you, or you squeaking like a mouse when I did so?" She smirked a little, sufficiently distracted by the scenario to have dropped the murderous aura from moments ago.

"I would actually appreciate you not teasing me going forward, to be perfectly honest; I'm twenty-seven, and I'm going through the beginnings of the Lust Phase of Puberty, so I can't be sure any attraction or reaction to you is real or a false-positive created by the interference of High-Elven procreational hormones. Also, I'm quite positive a beautiful woman such as yourself is already surrounded by suitors of every rank in society, and a Conjuration Mage is the lowest on that totem pole. Now, I'll be returning shortly, as I said." I nodded and stepped through a portal, aimed at the air above the disturbance, to get a better view of the situation while I drew my bow and quiver from my room through a Familiar Cage portal; it was a unique take on the spell, according to Kip, and very, very useful to not have to carry anything during a hunt.

As I fell, I watched a burst of green mist fill an area suddenly, and out of the resulting cloud came the militia, coughing and puking from the irritant inside; at least, half of them came out. The other half screamed in agony, and then were silenced abruptly, apparently killed by whatever was inside that cloud.

"Well this just won't do..." I frowned, activating the enchantment in my boots, the same Conjuration Rune as from the Lifts in Rockwell Tower, and slowing my descent to nil until I was standing in the air ten meters or so above the mist. A portal opened at my command, and a burst of salt-water came out, colliding with and then dispersing the mist while dousing the creatures that had been hiding within it; I recognized Naga's immediately, their massive serpentine lower halves and cobra-hooded snake heads attached to a humanoid torso with four arms, all covered in green and yellow scales and standing about four meters tall, without stretching their lengthy twenty-meter-long tails. These were adolescents, meaning they were thankfully only half as big as the fully-grown ones, but they were also much more aggressive, and several times faster because of them being much lighter weight; lastly, while Mature Naga would only ever attack you if you entered their territory, Adolescents were actively attempting to build new territory, and thusly were trying to kill everything in sight. "How Troublesome..." I sighed, catching their attention.

They took offense at my having dispersed the cloud they used to hide from their prey in and rip them apart stealthily, and began chucking humongous simple spears made of sharpened trees, it seemed; unfortunately for them, opening portals to block incoming attacks by simply redirecting them was one of the three tricks I knew, so their spears simply flew harmlessly into the open grassy area of the Paean Floor.

"Nicely done! Where'd you send them?" Kip arrived on her Storm Owl, who was already eying the snakes below with greed; owls eat snakes, after all.

"My Tower; Wood is too expensive to destroy." I explained calmly, and then opened a portal underneath each of the three Naga's Coils, so their own weight dragged them into the portals and into the grass of the Paean Floor next to their spears. "And while their Hides and Meat are worth quite a lot, it's worth more when they're fully grown."

She snorted, shaking her head. "What, you're treating them like vegetables that aren't ripe yet?"

"Isn't that exactly what they are?" I shrugged, and walked through a portal back to the balcony, sitting down and starting a new kettle of Tea. "Well, that was a bit more excitement than I expected for today, but it's taken care of for now... are the Naga becoming a larger problem than normal, Father?" I asked the ArchMage who was standing at the edge of the balcony with the three other ArchMages, watching the smoke in the distance as it dwindled to a stop.

"They are, yes; we'll have to send a hunt to destroy some of their Nests, soon. Maybe during winter, when they're weakest... still, you handled them with gusto and aplomb! Do you see, Selene, how much good living outside the tower has done him in just one month? An Intermediate Mage in one month, almost a Master, from what Lady Hiram says!!!" He seemed to be gloating, happy that his decision had borne fruit, but quickly subsided when he saw the intense glare she gave him. "A-Ahem... right! We'll just be inside, then, we wouldn't want to interrupt your-... business meeting?" He glanced at Lady Regalia, and after she nodded in acceptance he herded my sister and mother back inside.

"Your family is quite amusing! I look forward to seeing them more often..." Lady Aster giggled softly, sitting back down in my seat. "And I appreciate you keeping your word; you truly were only gone momentarily!"

"It was a rather simple problem with a brutish solution; not my finest work, to be honest." I sent my bow and quiver away again, unused, and added tea-leaves to the boiling kettle while I spoke. "Still, it did give me a moment to gather myself, and the answer to your question is that I Found four Golems, as well as a machine capable of creating more; the source of your rage does not elude me, and so I would clarify that they are not created with any sort of Black Magic, nor any sort of Soul Snaring required for them to function. They are created by way of Transmutation Runes enchanted into metal or stone, allowing it to move with the application of a Contract, much like a Familiar Contract; this contract is easily broken when someone other than the Creator of a Golem summons them, because the Creator is the original owner of the Contract, making anyone who comes after that a Thief, in the eyes of the Contract. So, perhaps I mistook your intent in asking for Clarification, but I hope that I did not, and that I have successfully explained that no unethical methods have been used, nor will be used, to further my goals." I explained carefully, speaking the truth in a clear manner so as to show the best side of myself to this person, and hopefully avoid any misunderstandings as to my intentions; the Runes I wanted her to make were exceedingly dangerous if used incorrectly, and she did after all have the right to decide whether or not she'd work with a person she had Ethical Disagreements with.

We sat in silence and enjoyed our tea for a while while she thought, finishing the Kettle of tea and moving on to a small platter of rabbit meat and goat cheese that I summoned from my cold storage, before finally she broke the silence. "Well, you've certainly proven you're intelligent, driven, and skilled, and that you at least have good intentions, so I'll consider working with you on the subject of your Farm; I'm pretty busy with various projects that require my attention, but I'll make sure I have a few days every week after that to come see your progress and make whatever Runes you need. My Standard Rate is two Gold Coins for a full day of work, but your mother is a good friend of mine, so I'll do just one: is that alright?"

I nearly choked on my food at the mention of golden currency, a rare and ridiculously valuable form of coinage that even ArchMages didn't throw around with total impunity; one Gold Coin was worth a thousand Copper Pieces, and thus ten thousand Silver Pieces, after all. "GOLD?!?-... Ahem... sorry... Well, I couldn't dare ask you to work with me without proper compensation... but could I perhaps ask you to entertain a slightly different payment method? Your job requires you to travel quite a bit, I don't doubt?" I recovered and attempted to move on carefully, not agreeing to anything yet.

She raised that perfect red-gold eyebrow once more, staring silently for a moment before nodding. "Quite often, yes."

"And the Conjuration Mage which transports you charges what I don't doubt is an exorbitant amount?" I added, seeing her instant comprehension as to my point as she immediately nodded. "So would you perhaps consider a third party to replace that person, thusly lowering that expenditure to a much lower amount, and hopefully covering the four-gold a week (for two days a week, as you mentioned,) of your standard fee? Also, of course, I'd be happy to extend my services beyond the time in which I no longer need your services for the Runes, as an added incentive that will hopefully offset the irritation of offending whichever Conjuration Mage you currently Employ?"

She smiled slowly, reaching over and patting my cheek gently. "I appreciate your offer, Eric, but if you cannot afford my services, you need only say so; I wouldn't dare ask someone so young to work for me just to pay for a few Runes that a lesser (and therefore more within your price range,) Rune Carver could handle. Also, I travel to nearly every City-State on the continent, as well as two Port Cities of the South-Eastern and South-Western Continents, and those Gates require a grand abundance of both Skill and Mana to make, so until you're an ArchMage, I cannot accept, unfortunately."

I blinked slowly, catching the inaccuracies instantly. "Any Intermediate Conjuration Mage could open a Gate to the other continents, though? A Rabbit Stride Intermediate Gate could easily manage? You are being Fleeced, if the Conjuration Mage you're using is saying you have to have a Master or ArchMage of Conjuration handle what amounts to an Intermediate Gate."

She shook her head, eating another of the pieces of rabbit calmly. "I assure you, I've been quite selective with my employees."

"He's actually entirely correct, my dear." Kip grunted, landing lightly on the balcony as her storm owl disappeared again. "Any Intermediate Conjuration Mage could open a portal to the other Continents, though without the proper training they wouldn't get the coordinates perfect, so there would be a bit of a learning curve, and the Mana necessary would be expensive, but not out of the question for your average Wood-Elf or Gifted Human; no High-Elf would even blink at losing that amount, as evidenced by Eric opening five Rabbit-Stride Gates without hesitation, at the same time, and all without losing control over that!" She pointed casually at my original Gate, which was still active and feeding on my Mana.

For the second time during this meeting, her tea boiled in the cup carefully cupped in her hands, as she straightened her features and gave a strained-yet-polite noise of curiosity to signal she had heard and understood Kip's statement.

"To be fair, Conjuration Mages do uphold the entire Economy of our Continent, and other Continents as well, so a certain amount of respect and compensation is definitely required, but from what I've observed, we overprice ourselves because no one else is challenging the Market, allowing us in Hightower to decide Prices... I hope my earlier point, about forcing the Economy of Hightower to release its death-grip on the economies of the rest of the continent, one monopoly at a time, now rings a bit less hollow?" I refilled her cup, as the tea inside had boiled away to steam, and sat sipping my own with Kip sitting across from us while she slowly calmed herself.

"As thoroughly enraging as the thought of being taken advantage of is, I can agree that it does make sense for the Mages whose main skill is Transportation to require large amounts of money for their services... but the deceit inherent in saying that only Master Mages and ArchMages could make the Gates necessary, in order to further inflate prices, is beyond the pale, as far as I'm concerned. You've got a Deal, Lord Eric; you will take the role of my Escort around the Continents, once per day, and in return I will pay you half of what I pay my other Conjuration Mage Employees, as well as enchanting anything you'd like, once a week." Lady Aster nodded firmly, finalizing the subject, and sipped her tea to calm her nerves.

"Alright... and if they'd like some work to replace what you previously required of them, I am intending to create a Merchant Company to sell Monster Goods, and I'll need permanent Messengers, Transporters, Warriors, and so on, so any Mages you know that would be interested in an actual monthly wage instead of relying on the wildly fluctuating commission market that they're currently stuck in, they'd be welcome in my Tower." I grinned at Kip's incredulous stare, keeping my eyes on the beautiful woman who I hoped would be my employer and benefactor for the foreseeable future.

She smiled, looking away from me and towards the still-pulsing Gate, and hummed curiously. "You've mentioned your Tower multiple times... may I see it?"

"Seconded; I'd also like an explanation for how and why you took over ArchMage Rockwell's Tower, how you gained Goblin Oil, and what you are using the Ruins of the Tower for?!?" Kip piped up with her own two cents, frowning at me sternly.

"Sure; let's walk and talk, then? Come on, I know you're all there, we'll be back in time for dinner if I only have to tell this story once." I waved at the illusion that hid all of my family members, -who had been standing in the corner and watching the whole time, and by their surprised murmurs had thought themselves skillfully hidden,- and guided Lady Aster towards the Gate as they hastily dropped the illusion and followed.

Before we entered, I changed the coordinates of the Gate to the roof, deciding to start at the top, and stepped through onto the smooth white stones, feeling the immediate biting cold of the winds so high up; while this tower wasn't even close to as tall as our Home Tower, (counting only the above-ground portion,) it was set in a place of much higher elevation, mountainous terrain, and in the center of the continent we were already at an altitude of fifteen-hundred meters, so you could see for close to a hundred and fifty Kilometers from the roof. I stopped and let everyone take in the view, and even Kip, who saw this every day and could see even better with her Owl, stopped to enjoy the sheer serenity prevalent all around us. Mountains spread around below us like a maze that you could try to solve, with forests and valleys covered in ice and snow, lakes covered in a gorgeous veneer of ice that you could see the massive fish swimming lethargically under.

Above us, the various wind catchers, -painstakingly repaired by hand,- collected Mana from the harsh winds, using the force of the wind as fuel for the series of magnets beneath it, spinning them around a coil and producing electricity which was instantly absorbed by the silver wires that connected to the ground, thusly releasing no sound, heat, light, or electricity, and leaving no sign that any electricity existed to begin with. I explained their purpose to the others while leading them into the Lift, (barely big enough for all of us,) and then the machinations of the Lift itself, until we reached the floor below the roof, the viewing room made entirely of full wall-to-ceiling wrap-around windows, and seating facing every direction to catch every bit of light for reading or simply to watch the city below. Because of the illusions placed on the outside of the tower, you'd never know this floor was here, and the Lift only went there if you directed it there mentally, as there was no button for it; in other words, you had to know if it's existence to get to it.

Next was the Apartment, which was just below that, where the bathhouses and bedrooms were located. "This is the ArchMage's Quarters, where a large portion of the space is devoted to comfort; a full bathhouse and a bed that's easily four meters across are good examples of the previous occupants' extravagance... but the Library and Study Areas are equally incredible, so I can forgive an Elderly ArchMage his attention to worldly comforts." I chuckled and extended my hands grandly to gesture to the walls of bookshelves surrounding the simple-yet-lavish wooden desk and chairs in said portion.

"All about Conjuration?" Kip asked slowly, eyes wide like dinner plates as she stared at the thousands of books.

I nodded and led them gently away and into the lift again. "Mostly, yes; there's a large portion about various known monster species' and their useful ingredients, which would technically be Conjuration, so yes. I plan to have them all copied and placed into the Hall of Research, due to their expository and instructive nature... they're also where I learned the practical applications behind Master-Class Gates without your help, Miss Kip, though I had the Theory already figured out."

"Good to know..." she chuckled softly, shaking her head at my absurd nature as the Lift halted and opened, revealing the Control Room.

As her eyes went wide again, this time in terror, I explained quickly, to prevent any crazed reactions to the massive crystal sphere in the ceiling. "That, so everyone is aware, is the beating heart of the Tower; it also houses the soul of Evander, ArchMage Rockwell's Apprentice, after he stupidly decided to summon his own soul."

"I protest this inaccurate, defamatory, and overtly ridiculous depiction of my experiments! I made no mistakes, and in fact I was entirely successful, as quite evidenced by my current continued existence!!!" The hologram image of him that could only appear in the Control Room appeared in front of us with his fists on his hips, making everyone flinch and look away from the crystal, as had been my intention.