^^ Johnathon in a Tailcoat and Suit ^^

— Gina —

"So, to be clear, the entire interior of the tower is finished, as is the Casino beneath us, and the highway tunnel to and from the Garage is also finished, plus the Fences have been upgraded to Zawahili's Recommendations?"

The person seated in front of me, a scruffy young man who would've looked more like he belonged in an episode of Scooby Doo than in a highly respected, -and highly paid, I'd learned,- architectural job, nodded casually at my question. "Yeah, it's all done, 'cept for the fishes and the water, but that's your business. I'll stick around a few days to make sure everything works proper, but it shouldn't have any problems, far as I can tell. There's a hidden Room underneath this one, and that's where I put all the Security Equipment, as well as the Generators for if the Power goes out. The generator you've got in there isn't enough to power the whole complex, obviously, but it'll keep the Fence and the lights on until you fix the problem or replace it with a better Generator. As for accessing it, there's a book called 'Taw Law for Dummies' on the shelf to your left, and there's a fingerprint scanner inside the back cover, which'll open the bookcase for you into a little staircase; your Head of Security is already aware of this, but now you know as well. Anything else?"

"No, I think that's plenty, thank you, sir!" I shook his hand firmly, sending the stocky fellow off with a smile before sitting down and addressing the blinking light on my tablet. "Yes, Vera?"

"Oh thank god you answered, Lady Chamberlain!!! Lady Erica is here to inspect the Building and the Staff!!!"

"Alright, and why are you panicking? We're not even technically open yet, and the Grand Opening Ceremony is in a week! Calm down, Miss Vera."

"No, I know that, Lady Chamberlain; you've kept her waiting for over twenty minutes!!!"

"Yes, well, she visited without calling ahead or making an appointment and I'm a busy woman, what do you expect? Send her in before you have a coronary, please?" I sighed at her conditional excitability, only seen when Erica was in the picture, and looked up as Erica entered the room with a wide smile. "Ah, hello, Erica, how are you today?"

"I'm doing well, actually, and despite Vera complaining about me waiting, it's been a busy few weeks, so I'm more interested in what you've been up to!"

I nodded at Greyheart, standing in the shadows by the door, and then turned all the glass making up the room opaque with a button on my desk, darkening the room almost completely once he shut the door behind her. "Come take a seat, and I'll show you some of what I've managed." The top of my desk lit up as I moved my paperwork off of it, and a series of pictures were displayed over the the touchscreen, showing the current contents of the Vault.

She sat down in front of me, reading the long list and raising an eyebrow at the numbers of each item available. "That is... significantly more than I'd expected? You said you could only make two a day, right?"

"Up until a week or so ago, that was true; I've found a way to turn the Monsters in the Dungeon into Mana, which I can use to Enchant things beyond my own capabilities. This one, in particular, you might find interesting." The screen zoomed in at my command, centering on a single item, an elegant athamé with an elk-antler hilt covered in 'Bind-Enslave' and 'Bleed' Runes, all tuned towards Mana specifically. "That is an Arcane Focus, one that will steal just a bit of the Soul of your enemy every time it strikes, as well as making them bleed out very quickly. For a Mage, this will mean every slain enemy will return to you a small amount of your spell-casting capabilities. For anyone else, it means another use of your Abilities. I had Zawahili test it out, and she was able to keep herself at Max Speed for almost four hours straight before the diminishing returns meant she ran out of Mana."

She nodded slowly, looking through the photos and humming at the selection. "Well, your Auctions will be interesting, that's for sure..."

"Mm, well, if I had a Lightning Rune, I could make a whole bunch of other shit, but for now they're all stuck as concepts. Now, I'm sure you came here for a different reason than just an inspection, so what item did you come to request?"

"I didn't come to request anything specifically, no, and I'm working as fast as I can on the Lightning, it's just a ridiculously rare enchantment, so finding one, and then finding one someone is willing to sell, are two stages of misery... now for my good news; Lady Jesham has agreed to an appointment for Johnathon, and it's in twelve days, next Friday. The payment... wasn't easy, and Thomas is still a bit irritated with me about it, but we promised to do it, so don't even worry about paying for it. Regardless, twelve days from now, he'll be in her capable hands, and we'll know once and for all if he can be healed by magical or medical means. Congratulations!"

I blinked slowly, filing that information away carefully, and then turned back to the screen woodenly. "Good... alright... as for the next item, I've created something for your Warriors so that they don't have to carry around Corpses in Dungeons, as I've observed they do, though for what I don't know; here's a video of its usage." The file I pulled up was of a split screen between a simple duffel bag and a mostly empty room where two people waited with harvesting tools. Once I hit play, someone offscreen dumped a Kobold into the bag, then closed it, only for the bag to deflate. At the same time stamp on the other slide, you could see a kobold's corpse pop into existence in mid-air, falling onto the ground for the two startled people to drag it over to a table and begin harvesting it.

She replayed the video several times over, eyes wide and intense, then she grinned slowly, looking up at me. "You know that there's no way to sell those without admitting they were Enchanted by a Person, right?"

"I'm aware. I'm sure you'll find some patsy to put under public security and have them make a trip here every month for the Auction where 'their' work is being sold off. I am still simply the Proprietress, as always. The third thing I've got for you is standing over there, but I also have other examples, here." A separate, locked folder was selected, and after I used my hand and finger prints to unlock it, it showed a small list of Demons and Daemons I could Summon. "I'm not comfortable selling the Sentient Ones as Slaves, but I'll happily rent them out as mercenaries and... other things, at their discretion. The Daemons and Demon Beasts, however, are free game, and I plan to sell them for a premium."

She raised an eyebrow at the list and it's accompanying pictures, then turned and looked at Greyheart, who was standing near the door silently. At his short bow, she raised the other eyebrow, then looked at me slowly. "You mean to tell me you succeeded in summoning... actual demons?"

"And Daemons, yes. Next I intend to summon a Contract Devil, to see if I can facilitate Contracts for the Chamberlain Clan, which will, after our Six-Month Contract finishes, be a semi-autonomous Branch of the Tomoi Clan. I will still allow the Tomoi all the advantages they currently enjoy, and of course I'm not separating myself from you, simply ensuring that my Name isn't lost into your Clan's Records. Johnathan's life and future is my main priority, after all, and I won't let him be an Heir to a Hollow Crown, so to speak."

She sighed, nodding dejectedly. "I understand, and I expected it to a certain degree; if there's nothing changing about our relationship except the matter of your family's relative autonomy, -which I take to mean your control over this Tower and it's relevant businesses and resources, such as the Dungeon ,- there won't be any issues... but assure me, if you don't mind, that you're not murdering innocents for these Summonings?"

I raised an eyebrow slowly at the question, which was totally unexpected. "I just explained that I was using the Kobolds from the Dungeon as my Source of Mana, didn't I? By the way; what do you usually do with them? Why do you collect the bodies in the first place?"

She relaxed into the chair as she recognized my point about the Mana, then considered my question. "Well... you're aware that Deals have two sides, yes?"

"I am aware of that, yes?"

"The two sides of our Deal with the Contract Devils state that in return for Power, we'll collect 'Mana' for the Contract Devils of our Clans. If we don't meet our quota, our abilities disappear. To do this, we've developed ways to reduce the corpses of monsters and Daemons down to raw Mana, wringing them for every drop they're worth. Aiming for Maximum Efficiency, you could say. Of course, the longer it goes after they're dead, the less is left of the Mana, due to their souls being removed and replaced into other bodies and 'Respawned' elsewhere in that Hellish Plane. In this way, we don't technically sell our whole souls, only sell ourselves into servitude... if at any time we want out, there's no consequences beyond losing your powers. Thus why we didn't tell you about if beforehand: beyond the secrecy our society is reliant upon, you are not being damned for hell by way of this Contract... at least not directly."

I laughed softly at first, then clutched by stomach as I began howling with laughter at the revelation; it took me a full minute to calm down far enough to explain what had tickled me quite so much. "Heh... so we're all whores here, eh? AHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

She snorted as she understood my point, smiling at the irony of it all, especially her daughter's disdain for me on account of me being a prostitute. "Yes, in that manner of thinking, we are all just prostitutes who get paid in magic. Regardless, it's also useful to make things like Potions, which we make as alternative and magical medicines. Some we even sell to normal people, if they're stable enough. There's only about 40,000 Awakened in Northern America, and about that many on every continent except Antarctica and the North Pole, but there's clans who make expeditions there, so it's not too terribly hard to reach them."

"Ahh... heh... Ahem! Uh, but, what if you sacrifice too much? Do you get a return on your investment? Your abilities are paid with scraps of your soul, and the Contract Devil takes a Tithe every time you use the Ability in the first place, so I can't imagine you need a lot to put off the Monthly Magic Tax, right?"

"Well, we have quite a few members, as one of the four largest Clans in the Americas, our territory covering the entire eastern seaboard, plus a good half of Canada. After buying this place, we actually bought out the Heinrich Clan, which is a Midwestern Clan that rules over pretty much all of what's left of North America except the Lower-Western states and Central America, which is the territory of the Pech Clan. There are a few Clans scattered liberally throughout as scavengers who pay to use the other Clans' Dungeons, but usually they get absorbed eventually into bigger Clans... in other words, no, I don't think we get a return on our investment. Everything left over after we pay our debts is a gift, I suppose."

"Ah, yes, I imagine that's an irritation I'll have to eventually deal with... so my activities killing all those Kobolds haven't affected the Clan's Bottom Line, have they?"

"Uhm... I have to say I don't know? I don't think so, no one has mentioned us falling behind, especially considering this is a new Dungeon that we added only recently, so it's more for training, currently, than anything else. It's also only Level 1, meaning the Mana we get from within is basically nothing. If it were a Level 4 or 5, I might ask that you let us hunt within and that you not over-hunt it, but as it is, you're fine as you are. But!!! More importantly, looking at this Surplus of Inventory, the Grand Opening Auction will be quite the Event!!! I'll have to prepare my best Suit!!!"

"Tuxedo, please; it'll be a Black Tie event. Even Johnathan will be wearing his Tuxedo! Do you want to see it?!?" I grinned excitedly, pulling up the pictures from last year when I'd taken Johnathan to a very fancy restaurant for my birthday. He'd saved up half of his Dog training salary to buy himself an old tailcoat and vest, and Doctor Goodwin had gotten him the shoes and pants to match, even giving him one of his own ties out of his collection of them.

Her eyes instantly widened and began sparkling, scrolling through the pictures and giggling and fawning over the adorable little man in his little tuxedo. "Ooh, if only I had pictures of Isaac in his little business suits from when he was around twelve... the boy wanted nothing more than to look just like his father, and all else be damned! Then Hester was born, when he was fourteen, and he dropped his father like a hot potato to take care of her, every second of every day. They were very close... for a time. As soon as Hester reached around seven, she started to get a little too Princess-like for Isaac, but any attempt by him to teach her responsibility was swayed, unwittingly or subconsciously, by Thomas and I... We raised Isaac perfectly; he came out a decent person, with morals, a bone-deep understanding of responsibility, and an appreciation for hard work... but then we let our guard down with Hester."

"I gathered, yes. And don't worry, I plan to have many more children as soon as Johnathan is healthy. My Clan can't grow if I don't have a bunch of Kids, after all!!! Well, Or Adopt your Clan into Mine, I suppose." The folder closed and retreated, replaced by the list of the Inventory again. "Ahem! But, back to the matter at hand. The Teleporting Bag is my take on a Bag of Holding, and it will greatly increase the efficiency by which our people collect Corpses and Loot. Each bag is linked to a specific place, so I figured I'd make a few and have one room in the Tower specifically dedicated to handling the corpses and the resultant materials, transporting the finished product to wherever it needs to go to be turned into whatever you need from it, after it's been Harvested fully. That'll hopefully reach peak efficiency even without Soul-Drinker Weapons becoming the norm, though I am curious if the Tithe that goes to the Contract Devil every time something is killed with a Soul-Drinker goes towards paying for the Magic Tax each month, or if he's just being a Greedy-Guts..."

"... Honestly? I wouldn't know? Remember, dear, that I asked the Contract Devil for a Sword, before asking me about complex metaphysical matters?"

I chuckled softly, holding up my hands in surrender. "Sorry, darling, I didn't mean to kick you like that; regardless, I need a few of your Harvesting people to come here alongside your architect guy who just left, to reconfigure that room into whatever they need. Next, I'll need a Dungeon Cell underneath the Gate, and use that to make a Summoning Room; summoning inside the tower messes with the electricity of the whole tower, and it also makes the elevator stutter, which is very, very disconcerting, and I can't allow the building to seem to be malfunctioning during business hours. Other than that, continue looking for a Lightning Enchantment, and if necessary use some of my Inventory as a Collateral; all I need to do is see it, after all. I don't need to keep it, I just need to see the Rune."

"That... does make things a bit easier, I think. Maybe an exhibition of Magic Items will have one that we can see, but not buy. As for the Architect and Harvesters, there's no issue there at all; I'll send you a group of my best, to work with the freshest materials... in fact, there's no reason why you can't use those Bags in other Dungeons, right? Other than how small they are, I guess."

I frowned incredulously, looking at the picture of the Duffel Bag on my desk. "Small? Honey, how big are the Monsters you're slaying that they don't fit into a two-foot wide duffel bag? Humans would fit in that!"

She shrugged easily. "Most Monsters in Level 3 and higher Dungeons are the size of Horses, or even bigger every time you go up a level. We usually use Carts, and pull them behind us as we hunt."

"Carts? I suppose I could do the same enchantment on a Cart, so long as it had a cover, like the bed of a truck. The enchantment displaces the air inside a container, as well as its contents, but it's not a Portal, so it needs to be a sealed container, like a bag or a chest. It's also one-way, so you couldn't use it to get goods into a Dungeon, only out of one."

"I suppose those limitations make sense; I'll get you a few Carts to enchant, once they're fitted with lids and seals."

"Good, but first the Grand Opening; I'll need my Patsy to make a Grand Entrance and explain her Enchantment Gift, and she'll have a position of honor at the Auction. That'll introduce her to the world, and prevent anyone prying too deeply into where the Items come from by declaring it publicly. Someone who can defend themselves, though; I don't want to throw anyone to the wolves that doesn't have Teeth of their own."

She grinned slowly, leaning back in her chair. "Yes... yes, I have just the person for the job."