TheBookofEndsEndFightingDogs - The Lich King Reincarnates As A Baby: Book 4 Chapter 13
infoAbout This Title
Book 4 Chapter 13: Prestigious Acquisitions
++To do magic, at its most basic, is the act of taking hold of reality with one hand, and then quite violently bludgeoning it into submission with the other.++
- A quote attributed to Orlan Bogern, date unknown.
My little bonding moment with Victoria sorely tempted me to put my ambitions on hold and just spend a few weeks living out of some hotel penthouse with her, doing whatever we pleased. I liked the girl, damn it. More than that. More than any normal feeling I had ever known. Looking at her made me feel at once delighted and raw, seeing her go anywhere, do anything, flooded me with a thousand worries about whatever disaster might befall her. The very thought of seeing her hurt or wronged…It awoke something in me that I had not fully known was there. A sort of animal, instinctual aggression of the sort I normally tried to cultivate in my more fearsome creations rather than myself.
It had always been there, I realised. I was just letting myself feel it now.
Alas, though I did care for her and enjoy the girl’s company, I was also busy. That I was ultimately certain she would benefit from all I now did only left me more strongly certain I must continue pursuing my goals. It was Victoria’s own family I was enriching too, after all.
I had seen how happy she was as the sister of a multi-millionaire. Now what could I do about turning her into the sister of a billionaire? Garamon’s first billionaire, that had a nice ring to it.
Well, to begin with, I could see about this new Institute I had formulated.
It is usually not a good idea to immediately split one’s assets into too many disparate businesses, the risks are considerable compared to simply accumulating wealth from existing, known sources of capital. People who give this generalised advice, though, generally do not possess the cognitive functions of an ancient lich.
I saw patterns where an ordinary mortal would see only mindless coincidence. Quite useful for speculation.
For instance, I saw the way the wind was blowing with this new age of magical discourse. The magicians of Garamon were growing more economically independent from the wider Empire, more powerful. They were not, just yet, influential enough to brazenly ignore the rules that bound their research, and certainly not to openly practice something like necromancy, which would cause a declaration of war wherever it was found.
But they were starting to chafe at their limitations. That resentment was my opportunity. There would be a new Institute forming soon, one that skyrocketed in power by feeding the very need that was growing so heavily; less restricted research, less conservative attitudes, less ‘safety’ and ‘propriety’ and more exploration and innovation.
I was going to make sure it was my Institute. I had done the calculations and checked them twice, and by now I was quite sure that this was not even much of a risk.
But first I needed Professors, and that was the secondary purpose for my presence in Garamon. Varylani had yet to start teaching just yet, she was still aiding in the construction of the building my Institute would reside in, but she had given me a very comprehensive and very useful list of names I could look into recruiting.
That was one significant advantage to having spent several years cultivating connections among the Winzorth Institute. I was now at the stage of my life where old preparation was beginning to pay off.
It did not come as too much of a surprise to me that Professor Bogern was at the very top of Varylani’s list. I could have predicted as much myself even with no insight granted from her. He was, in all likelihood, the most powerful mortal magician still alive now, after…recent events.
Which left him naturally, and amusingly, at odds with the Voret family.
They had been seeking out the position of Grandmaster of Winzorth for a generation, ever since Aadan Farah had swept it out from under them. Now they were looking at the prospect of being denied it again, and rebelling.
Aravon Voret was not nearly as powerful as Professor Bogern, but he had far, far more influence. The Vorets, I noted, would have to continue making use of that influence. The world was moving on, and now there were enough other magician families mimicking the sort of selective breeding that had led to their talents that Voret blood no longer held a monopoly on power.
On average, they were still the strongest. But there were so many other magicians in the world that a meagre few hundred geniuses simply would not continue to produce the finest any longer.
If the Vorets wanted to continue exerting their hegemony, they would need to expend a great deal more money rigging the system in their favour.
Or, alternatively, find a way to suddenly, explosively raise the average talent of their family’s main branch. I smiled at that, realising they would be a good deal more desperate to ‘procure’ me than I had previously thought. Now they knew they could not do it by force, how much could I persuade them to part with in order to do it by will?
It appeared that my influence in Garamon was not done growing, not by any stretch.
Victoria, to my surprise, insisted on accompanying me to meet with Professor Bogern, though why that was I did not know. I could guess at least.
We did not meet him at the Institute. No, like many of my other political allies among Winzorth, Bogern had been quietly let go with full severance and honours. I had to meet the man at his own house, which, I noted, was rather an impressive affair. It was evidently true that many of Garamon’s more established and esteemed magicians could now conduct themselves in much the same style as its old nobility.
I knocked upon the door and received an answer shortly. Bogern’s surprise to find me standing on his step was quickly muted, replaced with a smile.
“Isabel! It’s been years, hasn’t it? Come in, please, come…” he trailed off as his eyes fell on Victoria. “...And who’s this?”
“Answer him,” I told my sister, wanting her to speak for herself.
Victoria spent a few moments tripping over herself, staring at me in silent pleading for help. It was actually very hard for me not to offer any, to bail her out by speaking for her, or by reassuring her with a smile.
But I knew that this was necessary. I would be doing her no favours by coddling her like some toothless imbecile, she had to learn.
And after a few more seconds, Victoria did. I saw annoyance, then fury blossomed in her eyes and her words became altogether sharper and more coherent. Bogern’s expression switched from patronising amusement to surprise as she practically glared at him.
“I am Victoria Vornholt, one of the world’s greatest magical talents and a soon-to-be master of the arcane,” she declared.
It was rather a cute display, which I did not approve of, but it was, at least, an effort of defiance. Bogern seemed to find it positively adorable, and replied with a kindly tilt of his head. “I will follow your career with great interest, young lady,” he told her.
“May we come in?” I asked him. “It is not Victoria’s career I have come here to discuss, but yours.” Perhaps a sharp note entered into my voice, quite unintentionally. I could recall being in Victoria’s place all too recently, and the act of gentle superiority Bogern had put on still irritated me. I much preferred him when he was terrified at the thought of having found an abducted Demigod in his Institute.
He seemed to remember that experience as I spoke, because he nodded and swiftly escorted us in. Bogern’s home was not as richly decorated as the Vorets, naturally, but it was still a large place, perhaps a hair shy of mansion status. It was warm and expansive, with thick red carpets and walls adorned by a great many awards and accolades. This was clearly a man who valued his academic legacy. Good.
“I will be quick about this and to the point,” I told him. “I think both of our time is too valuable for anything less. I am forming a new Institute in Poloira, and I would like you to join it.”
His eyes narrowed in thought, then flicked to Victoria, an unasked question.
“Anything you say to me, you can say to her,” I told him. The girl had to learn somehow.
“Very well then. Why should I risk my cushy job as a Professor of Winzorth to run over to Poloira and do nothing in the middle of nowhere? You’re a talented girl, Vornholt. Maybe the most talented who’s ever existed—”
“I am,” I cut in. “There is no ‘maybe’ about it.”
He sighed, like he thought I was being petulant. I tucked the slight away into my memory as he continued.
“I have a guaranteed, stable position right now. Why should I throw that away for what you’re offering?”
“How much are you making a year?” I asked him.
“You’re wasting your time,” he sighed.
“Tell me.”
“Five thousand crowns.”
I nodded, it was about what I had expected.
“I can double that.”
He snorted, then faltered as he realised I was not joking.
“How wealthy are you?” he asked.
In truth, not wealthy enough that this would not, actually, be something of a dent in my finances, though still a small one. If I were to pay a hundred other men this well it would be a problem.
But I was not going to pay a hundred others that well. I would not be paying anyone at all this well.
“I am very wealthy. But what matters more than my wealth, at this moment, is that I am here to offer you the position of Grandmaster in my Institute. Not Professor.”
He went very, very still at that. But only for a moment. Then he snorted.
“Grandmaster of nowhere, doing nothing, this really doesn’t sweeten the deal much.”
“It will,” I assured him. “Because you will be inheriting the position from Aadan Farah, the last Grandmaster of Winzorth.”
There had been many advantages to aiding the Grandmaster by prolonging his life. First among them had been the live, magically dense human test subject to hone my technique on, but a short step behind that was the fact that he was still the most famously accomplished magician alive, and that sort of name brought automatic credit to any project it was attached to.
And being the man to replace that esteemed name brought more credit still. I had offered Bogern vast wealth, now I was offering him far more prestige than he expected. I could see him wavering.
It was not enough yet, but I still had time to work on him.
“I’ll admit, you’re selling this well,” he said at last. “But there’s the matter of stability. The Winzorth Institute is centuries old, yours doesn’t even exist yet.”
“And how have your ambitions in the Winzorth Institute been going for you so far?” I asked him. “You have spent how many decades there? Only to be denied the place of Grandmaster just to watch it be put in reserve for however many years, even decades, Aravon Voret needs to build up the magical power of an Archmage. Or are you hoping that he will die and you can get luckier in snatching up the position afterwards before the next Voret takes it?”
He looked like he had just swallowed something and was in the middle of trying to work out whether the unpleasant taste was paired with a lethal toxin.
“You have Varylani as a Professor already, I hear?” he asked me.
“I do. You would be my second Winzorth Professor, though I am looking into procuring more. The funding, of course, would be…significant.”
Actually, the funding would be approximately half of my savings for the first year of operation alone. Over a million crowns. If this Institute did not turn a profit, I would be downgrading myself from the top twenty wealthiest people in the Garamon Empire, and would no longer even be counted among the top three hundred.
If it did not turn a profit. But it was the Institute of Lord Dread, and there was no point in considering ridiculous hypotheticals like failure.
Bogern did not need to be given knowledge of Lord Dread to have his confidence in my Institute bolstered. Just giving the sum of money alone left his eyes lighting up.
“That’s more than a ten thousandth of the Empire’s whole domestic product,” he noted.
“I have a lot of confidence in this project,” I told him.
“Yeah, you bloody do.” I could see he was weighing the conversation differently now, leaning ever more towards saying yes. “...What will distinguish your Institute from the others then?” he asked me.
This was the final stroke. Where I would have him.
“What distinguishes me is that I am not in Garamon proper, do not need to abide so closely by its rules and regulations, and do not need to rely upon its old magician families for funding. All the inadequacies you have observed in Winzorth over the years, I want you to picture them now in your head. Picture them, and imagine how much better, more efficient and more successful an Institute—any Institute—would be without them. That is the future of the Vornholt Institute.”
Professor Bogern thought about that for all of two seconds, and then he nodded.
“Then I’m going to make sure I’m part of it.”
Book 4 Chapter 13: Prestigious Acquisitions
++To do magic, at its most basic, is the act of taking hold of reality with one hand, and then quite violently bludgeoning it into submission with the other.++
- A quote attributed to Orlan Bogern, date unknown.
My little bonding moment with Victoria sorely tempted me to put my ambitions on hold and just spend a few weeks living out of some hotel penthouse with her, doing whatever we pleased. I liked the girl, damn it. More than that. More than any normal feeling I had ever known. Looking at her made me feel at once delighted and raw, seeing her go anywhere, do anything, flooded me with a thousand worries about whatever disaster might befall her. The very thought of seeing her hurt or wronged…It awoke something in me that I had not fully known was there. A sort of animal, instinctual aggression of the sort I normally tried to cultivate in my more fearsome creations rather than myself.
It had always been there, I realised. I was just letting myself feel it now.
Alas, though I did care for her and enjoy the girl’s company, I was also busy. That I was ultimately certain she would benefit from all I now did only left me more strongly certain I must continue pursuing my goals. It was Victoria’s own family I was enriching too, after all.
I had seen how happy she was as the sister of a multi-millionaire. Now what could I do about turning her into the sister of a billionaire? Garamon’s first billionaire, that had a nice ring to it.
Well, to begin with, I could see about this new Institute I had formulated.
It is usually not a good idea to immediately split one’s assets into too many disparate businesses, the risks are considerable compared to simply accumulating wealth from existing, known sources of capital. People who give this generalised advice, though, generally do not possess the cognitive functions of an ancient lich.
I saw patterns where an ordinary mortal would see only mindless coincidence. Quite useful for speculation.
For instance, I saw the way the wind was blowing with this new age of magical discourse. The magicians of Garamon were growing more economically independent from the wider Empire, more powerful. They were not, just yet, influential enough to brazenly ignore the rules that bound their research, and certainly not to openly practice something like necromancy, which would cause a declaration of war wherever it was found.
But they were starting to chafe at their limitations. That resentment was my opportunity. There would be a new Institute forming soon, one that skyrocketed in power by feeding the very need that was growing so heavily; less restricted research, less conservative attitudes, less ‘safety’ and ‘propriety’ and more exploration and innovation.
I was going to make sure it was my Institute. I had done the calculations and checked them twice, and by now I was quite sure that this was not even much of a risk.
But first I needed Professors, and that was the secondary purpose for my presence in Garamon. Varylani had yet to start teaching just yet, she was still aiding in the construction of the building my Institute would reside in, but she had given me a very comprehensive and very useful list of names I could look into recruiting.
That was one significant advantage to having spent several years cultivating connections among the Winzorth Institute. I was now at the stage of my life where old preparation was beginning to pay off.
It did not come as too much of a surprise to me that Professor Bogern was at the very top of Varylani’s list. I could have predicted as much myself even with no insight granted from her. He was, in all likelihood, the most powerful mortal magician still alive now, after…recent events.
Which left him naturally, and amusingly, at odds with the Voret family.
They had been seeking out the position of Grandmaster of Winzorth for a generation, ever since Aadan Farah had swept it out from under them. Now they were looking at the prospect of being denied it again, and rebelling.
Aravon Voret was not nearly as powerful as Professor Bogern, but he had far, far more influence. The Vorets, I noted, would have to continue making use of that influence. The world was moving on, and now there were enough other magician families mimicking the sort of selective breeding that had led to their talents that Voret blood no longer held a monopoly on power.
On average, they were still the strongest. But there were so many other magicians in the world that a meagre few hundred geniuses simply would not continue to produce the finest any longer.
If the Vorets wanted to continue exerting their hegemony, they would need to expend a great deal more money rigging the system in their favour.
Or, alternatively, find a way to suddenly, explosively raise the average talent of their family’s main branch. I smiled at that, realising they would be a good deal more desperate to ‘procure’ me than I had previously thought. Now they knew they could not do it by force, how much could I persuade them to part with in order to do it by will?
It appeared that my influence in Garamon was not done growing, not by any stretch.
Victoria, to my surprise, insisted on accompanying me to meet with Professor Bogern, though why that was I did not know. I could guess at least.
We did not meet him at the Institute. No, like many of my other political allies among Winzorth, Bogern had been quietly let go with full severance and honours. I had to meet the man at his own house, which, I noted, was rather an impressive affair. It was evidently true that many of Garamon’s more established and esteemed magicians could now conduct themselves in much the same style as its old nobility.
I knocked upon the door and received an answer shortly. Bogern’s surprise to find me standing on his step was quickly muted, replaced with a smile.
“Isabel! It’s been years, hasn’t it? Come in, please, come…” he trailed off as his eyes fell on Victoria. “...And who’s this?”
“Answer him,” I told my sister, wanting her to speak for herself.
Victoria spent a few moments tripping over herself, staring at me in silent pleading for help. It was actually very hard for me not to offer any, to bail her out by speaking for her, or by reassuring her with a smile.
But I knew that this was necessary. I would be doing her no favours by coddling her like some toothless imbecile, she had to learn.
And after a few more seconds, Victoria did. I saw annoyance, then fury blossomed in her eyes and her words became altogether sharper and more coherent. Bogern’s expression switched from patronising amusement to surprise as she practically glared at him.
“I am Victoria Vornholt, one of the world’s greatest magical talents and a soon-to-be master of the arcane,” she declared.
It was rather a cute display, which I did not approve of, but it was, at least, an effort of defiance. Bogern seemed to find it positively adorable, and replied with a kindly tilt of his head. “I will follow your career with great interest, young lady,” he told her.
“May we come in?” I asked him. “It is not Victoria’s career I have come here to discuss, but yours.” Perhaps a sharp note entered into my voice, quite unintentionally. I could recall being in Victoria’s place all too recently, and the act of gentle superiority Bogern had put on still irritated me. I much preferred him when he was terrified at the thought of having found an abducted Demigod in his Institute.
He seemed to remember that experience as I spoke, because he nodded and swiftly escorted us in. Bogern’s home was not as richly decorated as the Vorets, naturally, but it was still a large place, perhaps a hair shy of mansion status. It was warm and expansive, with thick red carpets and walls adorned by a great many awards and accolades. This was clearly a man who valued his academic legacy. Good.
“I will be quick about this and to the point,” I told him. “I think both of our time is too valuable for anything less. I am forming a new Institute in Poloira, and I would like you to join it.”
His eyes narrowed in thought, then flicked to Victoria, an unasked question.
“Anything you say to me, you can say to her,” I told him. The girl had to learn somehow.
“Very well then. Why should I risk my cushy job as a Professor of Winzorth to run over to Poloira and do nothing in the middle of nowhere? You’re a talented girl, Vornholt. Maybe the most talented who’s ever existed—”
“I am,” I cut in. “There is no ‘maybe’ about it.”
He sighed, like he thought I was being petulant. I tucked the slight away into my memory as he continued.
“I have a guaranteed, stable position right now. Why should I throw that away for what you’re offering?”
“How much are you making a year?” I asked him.
“You’re wasting your time,” he sighed.
“Tell me.”
“Five thousand crowns.”
I nodded, it was about what I had expected.
“I can double that.”
He snorted, then faltered as he realised I was not joking.
“How wealthy are you?” he asked.
In truth, not wealthy enough that this would not, actually, be something of a dent in my finances, though still a small one. If I were to pay a hundred other men this well it would be a problem.
But I was not going to pay a hundred others that well. I would not be paying anyone at all this well.
“I am very wealthy. But what matters more than my wealth, at this moment, is that I am here to offer you the position of Grandmaster in my Institute. Not Professor.”
He went very, very still at that. But only for a moment. Then he snorted.
“Grandmaster of nowhere, doing nothing, this really doesn’t sweeten the deal much.”
“It will,” I assured him. “Because you will be inheriting the position from Aadan Farah, the last Grandmaster of Winzorth.”
There had been many advantages to aiding the Grandmaster by prolonging his life. First among them had been the live, magically dense human test subject to hone my technique on, but a short step behind that was the fact that he was still the most famously accomplished magician alive, and that sort of name brought automatic credit to any project it was attached to.
And being the man to replace that esteemed name brought more credit still. I had offered Bogern vast wealth, now I was offering him far more prestige than he expected. I could see him wavering.
It was not enough yet, but I still had time to work on him.
“I’ll admit, you’re selling this well,” he said at last. “But there’s the matter of stability. The Winzorth Institute is centuries old, yours doesn’t even exist yet.”
“And how have your ambitions in the Winzorth Institute been going for you so far?” I asked him. “You have spent how many decades there? Only to be denied the place of Grandmaster just to watch it be put in reserve for however many years, even decades, Aravon Voret needs to build up the magical power of an Archmage. Or are you hoping that he will die and you can get luckier in snatching up the position afterwards before the next Voret takes it?”
He looked like he had just swallowed something and was in the middle of trying to work out whether the unpleasant taste was paired with a lethal toxin.
“You have Varylani as a Professor already, I hear?” he asked me.
“I do. You would be my second Winzorth Professor, though I am looking into procuring more. The funding, of course, would be…significant.”
Actually, the funding would be approximately half of my savings for the first year of operation alone. Over a million crowns. If this Institute did not turn a profit, I would be downgrading myself from the top twenty wealthiest people in the Garamon Empire, and would no longer even be counted among the top three hundred.
If it did not turn a profit. But it was the Institute of Lord Dread, and there was no point in considering ridiculous hypotheticals like failure.
Bogern did not need to be given knowledge of Lord Dread to have his confidence in my Institute bolstered. Just giving the sum of money alone left his eyes lighting up.
“That’s more than a ten thousandth of the Empire’s whole domestic product,” he noted.
“I have a lot of confidence in this project,” I told him.
“Yeah, you bloody do.” I could see he was weighing the conversation differently now, leaning ever more towards saying yes. “...What will distinguish your Institute from the others then?” he asked me.
This was the final stroke. Where I would have him.
“What distinguishes me is that I am not in Garamon proper, do not need to abide so closely by its rules and regulations, and do not need to rely upon its old magician families for funding. All the inadequacies you have observed in Winzorth over the years, I want you to picture them now in your head. Picture them, and imagine how much better, more efficient and more successful an Institute—any Institute—would be without them. That is the future of the Vornholt Institute.”
Professor Bogern thought about that for all of two seconds, and then he nodded.
“Then I’m going to make sure I’m part of it.”
Comments (0)