Demonic City Builder - Cattacomb - Chapter 100 - Underwriting

Smiling slyly, Emmeth The Youthful leaned back in his seat. “It is taken care of.”

“What does that mean?” asked Izoran.

“It means that the pact is signed. I can sell this triple ringer of a city. Though, the domain holder himself was pretty interesting. He fed me some tales about how his city was run on bureaucracy and diplomacy.” Snorting, Emmeth shook his head.

“But you can sell it?”

“Ahhh. Yes! Just not now. The holder was adamant that we have the entire deal underwritten before it could be sold. It’s going to cost something like thirty thousand gold or the other, but honestly with what the sale itself will bring it? That’s nothing.”

“That’s not nothing.”

“Okay, it’s not nothing. But it’s a small price. We just need to scrape together the gold—I’m sure we can get it borrowed with this pact anyway and filing an intent to sell—and repay the debt from the sale.”

“Along with the other debt,” reminded the demoness.

“Along with that too. Yes.”

“And who is the underwriter going to be? The Vaunt’s fed up with you, which means most of the pact aligned at The Table are probably going to keep their distance.”

He shrugged. “Izoran. I’m dealing with a new city lord. He’s learning the ropes. I’m not going to enlist a true underwriter. I’ll just talk some demon from the member pool with enough pact in them to get the job done. Trust me. I’m sure I can squeeze at least one for it.”

Izoran didn’t look convinced. Sighing, she grabbed the pact from Emmeth’s hands and began reading. “I take it you want me to ask around? Put out some feelers?” she asked while going through it.

“Yes. Please.”

Pausing, she looked up before even making it to the second page. “Master. You do realize your pact includes multiple clauses that say this city lord can submit an underwriter for consideration for approval. It even gives him a full month of exclusive choice before you can have any say. What were you thinking?!”

“Izoran, Izoran, Izoran. Do you trust me so little?”

She gave him a flat look.

“Hah! Okay, okay. Listen. This is a new city lord. Odd, but new. I made him feel important and buttered up, and like he had some control in this whole thing so he’d agree. So yes, I included him in the process—at least on the front of it. It makes him seem like he’s in control.”

“But he’s not?”

“Correct. Read carefully. You’ll see that this city owner drafted this complex list of checks and approvals. Interestingly, the demon even made a whole hierarchy to it. Fascinating stuff. However, for all its fancy, he failed to see one thing.”

“Which was?”

“That each little check he put in, from submission to approval, can only be enacted when witnessed properly. Footnote 3B. Wrote it myself.”

“Witnessed… Properly?”

“I made the whole thing up. But keep reading. In the glossary section, you’ll find it.”

Eyes going back and forth, she took a full two minutes before getting to it. “Huh. Now that’s clever.”

“It is.”

“The only way this witnessing could happen would basically be at a Table meeting. Meaning…”

“Meaning the city lord is never going to have the opportunity to submit, veto, approve, decline, or even begin to use all his fancy language. It’s sadly ironic, really. And after I wait out the thirty day exclusivity period, we can sell this interesting, but inevitably problematic, city.”

“Have you considered who you might sell it to?” asked Izoran.

“The highest bidder, of course. From what I hear, it’ll probably be The Spilling. Flesh crafting has been a hot commodity as of late, and I could use the in with the Brood chair themself. We get the gold, and we make a friend on The Board.”

Izoran winced. “That’s cruel. Even for you, master. Selling it to The Spilling would be…”

“Rewarding for us. Not so rewarding for our poor city lord. But that’s business, sweetie.”

***

All in all, the conversation had gone well. Kairon left things in just the right place to pay off when it mattered.

After accepting the pact and finishing up, he was just about to end the call when Emmeth told him one last little bombshell.

He’d warned him that his other cities had been hit hard with the audit, and that The Vaunt was out to screw Kairon and his city, in large part due to Emmeth himself.

This wasn’t just a normal audit. Kairon sort of guessed that from the accelerations, but learning it wasn’t just something he was doing but an actual vendetta from a Board member?

Yeah. That was quite concerning.

He had less than five days until the audit, and he was just now learning the true extent of what was coming.

However, Kairon had made an enormous amount of preparations—not just for the audit itself, but for what was to come afterwards.

Which meant that starting tomorrow, events needed to kick off.

***

The next morning, Kairon got an early start. He’d been so busy he hadn’t even had a chance to inspect the new buildings.

Before the end of the day, he’d created a spawning grounds in both the pact and forge district, as well as the smeltery.

Nod was standing next to him, arms crossed. “Remember master. Two hour. Then big meeting.”

“I know it. Shiny and Bean are set to join?” confirmed Kairon.

“Yes. I reminded.”

He was about to reply again, but a blinding light from the forge spawning grounds cut him off. A moment later, the first forge imp to enter his world came into being.

Walking out of the stones encircling the spawning grounds, a bright orange skinned imp with a fat belly and tiny bit of stubble beneath his chin emerged. They were a head shorter than even the brood imps, but they must weigh at least half again as much. Stocky, with hefty looking arms that spoke more of swinging an anvil than a sword.

The imp had a brown apron smudged with soot, and dark orange eyes that blinked slowly. “Hmph!”

It seemed the forge imps also had a bit of an attitude.

“Stand still!” So too did Nod.

The DR imp stepped forward, taking out a length of twine and jotting down some quick measurements. He ran it along his arm, then his torso, and then his height from head to toe.

The forge imp was less than impressed, crossing his little thick arms and glaring at Nod. “Like what see?!” Its voice was a shade more gruff than the other imps, but still had the impish aspect to it.

Instead of answering, Nod continued doing his work, scratching notes in his bark.

Interceding before matters could deteriorate, Kairon smiled gently and joined them. “Please. Forgive Nod. He’s just ensuring everything is up to code. In the meantime, allow me to greet you! You’re the first forge imp to spawn in our city!”

“Hmph! Can tell.” He slowly turned about, taking in the sights. “City look… Wanting. There not even—” The forge imp stopped, jaw going slack, as he saw the enormous metal factory that was the Infernal Industrializer.

“IS THIS ONE FOR ME?” the industrializer boomed loud enough to make each of the imps cover their ears.

Suddenly, the bravado and attitude of the little forge imp melted away. “H-Huh?” asked the forge imp. “What that?!”

“Actually, no. I told you it would be within a week. This one I need for my purposes. But soon. Understood?” said Kairon.

“FINE.” The great industrializer went silent, the only evidence it was listening the tiny puffs of smoke coming from its furnace.

Clapping his claws, Kairon got the forge imp’s attention. “I know this is going to be a bit like drinking from a fire hose, but we have a lot to get done. Now tell me. What is it you can do?”

The forge imp just stared back blankly, seemingly shell-shocked.

“Oh for…” Growling in exasperation, Kairon snapped his claws again. “We don’t have much time. Yes, we have an enormous building that talks. It’s made of forge, so frankly you’ll get along great. Just keep your distance unless you have permission.”

Again, the forge imp just stared on, slightly trembling.

“Wake up!”

Finally, the little imp came back to his senses. “Y-yes. I… What ask?”

“Glad you’re back with us.” Kairon moved, specifically keeping his body between the forge imp and the Infernal Industrializer. “Now then, what can you do?”

“Ah… Erm.” The imp coughed, spit on the ground, then shook its head. “I create!”

That was basically what he’d expected.

“I assume you know how to work that?” Kairon pointed at the smeltery. Behind, the new building paled in size to the Infernal Industrializer, but that seemed to be of great comfort to the forge imp.

It was a small structure with three tall chimneys sprouting from the top, a stone crucible in the middle, and a miniature stockpile for ore. Already, Kairon had about ten units worth of iron ore collected from the delve imps at the end of yesterday’s workday and left in a pile there.

They’d gotten them from the small deposit Sythara had found. For now, it would be enough.

As far as the crucible went, the building itself heated it. A dim orange glow made it clear lava ran beneath, bubbling up to fire at the crucible.

“Yes… Can use.” The forge imp wiped his claws on his apron, took one last glance at the Industrializer, and then made his way over to the smeltery.

“DO YOU WANT ME—” began the industrializer, only to be shushed by Kairon.

“Shh!” Kairon hissed.

Thankfully, the big factory went quiet.

A minute of coaxing later, he got the forge imp moving again and to the smeltery, where he started busying himself with getting to know the ropes.

While he did, Kairon reflected on the best way to foster his forge imps. They needed a champion, and so far he’d begun learning how to best cultivate one.

He needed to play on what made forge, forge.

Envy. The desire to reshape.

“Let me ask you a question. If you could create anything you wanted, what would it be?”

“What mean?” asked the forge imp. He was in the middle of crushing up some ore, before putting it into the furnace to melt. “Master order. I shape.”

“Yes, that’s probably how it usually is. But what if you had a degree of choice in the matter?” asked Kairon.

“I would create.”

He tried a new tactic. Something a bit more specific.

“What about this. This smeltery makes ore into workable ingots, correct?”

“Yes. It create ingot.”

“Then, I can make workshops. Those use the ingots and make things, right?”

“Yes. Create stuff.”

“Do you prefer either of them?”

This time, the little imp paused. He stepped away from the furnace, staring at Kairon curiously. “Why ask?”

“If you enjoy what you do, you’ll do it better.”

“Hmm. I guess… I guess… I prefer clang.”

“Oh? You mean like a workshop. You want to work at one of those instead?”

“Hmph! Yes! Make clangs!”

Not wasting the opportunity, Kairon named the imp right there and then. “I’ll grant you the request. When we have a workshop, you’ll be the head of it. For now, I think I’ll call you Clang. How’s that sound?”

“Fine by me,” said Clang.

It wasn’t the resounding excitement he wanted, but Kairon thought it’d get there. He just needed to manage him properly.

For now, however, it was enough. The seed was set.

As the morning grew into early afternoon, Kairon and Nod observed Clang. The demon even helped him move the ore, while Nod notated the process for an SOP.

As a whole, the process was simple. Ore was crushed to help heat reach the metal. It was then melted in the crucible. Mid-batch, Kairon tried to really dissect how it worked.

“Clang. Do you know how this actually works? How the ore becomes metal?”

Clang gave his master a very unimpressed look. “Get hot. Melt. Become new.” Explanation given, he went back to shoveling ore into the furnace.

Kairon sighed. Instead of pressing Clang more, he settled for studying the process itself.

As far as he could tell, a set of dim sigils lay on the rims of the crucible itself. Then, the rock slowly became molten. At the top, a glassy layer began to form.

“What’s that? Is the metal there at the top?”

“No. That slag. It bad.” Clang waddled off into the small smeltery, before coming out with a metal tool. “Need get rid.”

So, the slag was skimmed and then tapped off the top, and the furnace kept the molten mixture bubbling as ore was added.

“Then where’s the metal?”

Clang pointed at the crucible. “Bottom. It sink.” He pointed at the tool. “We tap. It come out. Go there.” The forge imp motioned at several channels where the melted metal would presumably flow into the waiting ingot molds to cool.

The process was interesting, but time consuming.

Clang was just about to add a new batch of ore to the furnace when Kairon stopped him. “You’ve been struggling to keep up with the skimming. I think that’s enough for now. I’ll get you more helpers each day, but for now you are all we’ve got.”

“Okay. You get helper. I let them do. Then I make!”

“Yes, yes,” assured Kairon. “But for now, you smelt bars. Soon, though, I want you making tools, weapons, armor, carts, and other necessities.” Already, Kairon’s city didn’t just look like it was going through an industrial revolution. Now, it felt like it.

“Hmph!”

He took that as agreement from the little smith.

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