Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 5

Apocalypse Reborn: Demon Lord 5

…

After second Citadel was taken, it became necessary to get more people just to keep track of things and keep everything in working order. As boring as bureaucracy is, there’s few things like a report with someone’s name and paycheck tied to it to make sure that work gets done. Thankfully, my brain was good enough to vet people for corruption and understand their limits, so finding people was easy enough and after training a few classes, finding ones that could teach, my two Citadels had small cities springing up.

How’d I get so much population so fast?

Simple.

I relocated them.

Some of them I asked politely with my army at my back, which led to them being intimidated and agreeing. From then on they packed their stuff on the wagons I provided, went off with the guards I gave them, and eventually found themselves in new housing in a budding district. I kept them together, making sure their community bonds weren’t sullied, and they kept them leaders. Besides having to work somewhere else, upon agreement to be relocated, you practically have the same life… with better amenities, shops, housing, and pay.

News travelled quickly, especially good news about roads paved with silver and gold flowing like water, so now people were almost always ready to pack up and be moved.

For those who decided not to come, my army was in front of me, if they didn’t offer up a Champion vs. Champion fight.

Laborers are needed, along with conscripts for fighting, and if they had a brain they’d politely ask for a way up and I’d give it to them.

Once I had a few hundred thousand people, I’ll start incentivizing having kids and setting up a state school system. I was tempted to go straight to a university, put all the smart ones I found to work, and start getting real research done, but in the long-term I needed bodies more than I needed brains. The money that could be used for short-term research gains was better used facilitating the creation of the armies that I’d need int the future.  Assuming an average of 4 children from 200,000 pairs, in eighteen to twenty years, I should have the manpower I need to hold the line… even with just spears and crossbows, as long as I get enough mages from the batch and hold the right chokepoints.

It'd be best if it doesn’t come to that, but I was going to prepare for the worst, anyway.

Besides, having more workers and bodies at my disposal wasn’t going to hurt.

Anyway, after the second Citadel was mine, I focused on my economy, my people, and making sure it all worked.

Of course, all this wealth and power was going to get noticed by a bunch of people that wanted to make use of it.

Yep, during my relocation efforts, the Merchants decided to drop by.

And, I knew how to treat them.

…

Interlude: Harper

…

We were making a massive mistake, but we invested too much to just leave.

Alexis stayed close by my side, shivering while we both knelt whilst swaddled in dessert robes from head to toe.

I thanked my ancestors that I had decided against wearing thin silks and jewels.

The rising barbarian king sat on a throne atop a stage covered in bleached, clean skulls of hundreds of mortals.

Youthful in appearance, but with a form built for war, the Descendant that raised up two ancient bastions had brown hair and brow permanently set to a glare. He leaned his cheek against his fist and his other hand held the pommel of a great sword in front of him. Whilst everyone attending the court was clad in their finest, he wore a loincloth and an open robe.

Leisure clothes, but I knew for sure that he could kill everyone in the room as easily as he breathed.

My instincts told me to run, to flee, and never return, but I could not.

I had gambled all my wealth to make this trip across the continent. The cost in animal feed, the cost in guards, and the cost salaries for my loyal employees were astronomical, as we did not travel through Academy lands. Nearly two months of constant traveling, with many animals switched and wagons repaired, beggared me.

My hope was to sell all my wares at the very least.

And, the greatest prize I pursued was to be chosen as the most eminent trader in a budding power… and perhaps take some power for myself in the process.

But I was wrong.

I had gone through all that effort just to my head in the jaws of a lion.

“Merchant Harper, you have proven yourself capable with your feats. You have traversed through the continent and brought many things for my people to purchase, and you have offered the proper tithe to meet with me.” I cursed myself a dozen times over, even as I put a smile on my face and met the barbarian king’s gaze. He almost seemed bored, but when our eyes met a felt my instincts cry out for me to supplicate and surrender, or at least beg for a quick death. “But do you believe that what you have done is enough for what you ask of me?”

I cursed myself again.

I had made my intentions clear in my seeking of audience.

I promised that I could do the same thing again, continue to bring more and more to his people, in exchange for protection and the right to base myself in his lands. In return for that, he would get a near-majority share in the company that I would create.

I had proposed a partnership of equal standing to a barbarian king who can kill me with a flick of the wrist.

I’m such a damn fool.

I bowed my head, whilst on my knees, until my forehead nearly touched the smooth, stone panels that led to the foot of the throne.

In the back of my mind, I realized that there was no carpet, because it would be easily stained with blood.

“I beg of you to forgive me. My aspirations were foolish. I did not understand what I asked of you, your majesty.” I had thought two Citadels meant much less than what it truly was. They were immense towers that could produce weapons and food, I had thought. They were more. They produced goods, provided nigh-endless water, and were cornerstones of whole civilizations. One was enough to elevate a warlord to nearly match the Academy. This king had two. “Simply being permitted to trade with your people is more than enough. I ask for nothing more.”

I knew better than to think that would work.

His eyes told me that he had plans for me and my people, and I could not refuse whatever he ‘offered’ now.

None would come for me, if he killed me and mine and took everything for themselves. While other Merchants may avoid him, he had little need of them. Again, he had two fountains of nigh-endless resources at his disposal. In due time, he will usurp everything, unless others equal to him rose up… and he will surely kill them before they could.

“I am no fool.” He stated simply, and stood up. He raised his sword and placed it on his shoulder. With every step he took towards me, my heart pounded and my blood began to run hot. Flee. Surrender. The thought of fighting was completely gone from my mind.  “Your people have come here in search of endless wealth. That I am willing to give in exchange for the pleasantries needed by the masses. You made no mistake in offering a tithe to meet with me. You desire power. My power. That which I vest into others of worth to act in my name.”

His feet reached my vision for a moment, before I realized I had raised my head off the cool tiles of the court’s floor.

I lowered my head again and tried to fall through to safety offered by the earth, to be anywhere but here, but failed.

I did not refute his words.

Every instinct I had told me that doing so would result in my death.

I felt the tip of a sword in the back of my head, and waited for the end to come.

But… it didn’t.

“The next time you lie to me, you will die.” The statement was final and complete. “Know that your life has been spared this day, Merchant Harper.”

I was ready to leap in joy and proclaim praises, as the sword left my neck, until it suddenly planted itself before me. The tip sank into rock with frightening ease and stayed upright as the barbarian king’s hands left it.

“Stand.” He ordered, and obeyed. “Life up that blade.”

I did, then he turned to his guards.

“Bring the prisoner.” My blood suddenly became freezingly cold. The sword felt like a lead weight in my heads. However, I held it tight. I gripped it like my life depended on it. I knew that it did. The barbarian king looked my way and I shuddered in fear. He addressed me again. “I have allies and I have subordinates, Merchant Harper. Subordinates toil for me, and in exchange I ensure their safety, I allow them to make laws that do not go against the ones I give, and make them fat upon milk and honey. However, those I grant power to are allies.”

I realized what was going to happen, as a man bound, gagged, and clad in fresh linens and freshly bathed was placed beside the king.

“I care little for the race and aptitude of my subordinates. They do as they are bid, and they live as they wish within the boundaries I set. My allies, however, must be more. They must understand that this world is beyond cruel and my aim is to bring into submission.” He lifted the chin of the prisoner. Clean shaven and bereft of hair on his head, the young man did not struggle in his bindings. The faint scent of incense clung to him, too. “This man here fought valiantly against my people. He killed too many to be forgiven and included in my army. I can force my commanders to accept him, but he is a mere warrior and without the talent to become a Champion, thus he is not worth the trifling cost.”

His execution was for the crime of fighting for his people and his lands.

“Exactly so.”

I hadn’t even realized that I had spoken.

“And, you will carry it out here and now, if you wish to become an ally to me, Merchant Harper.” He turned his back to me and returned to his throne. The thought to strike him down didn’t even occur to me. “If you are unwilling to shed blood in my name, you are undeserving of any power I vest in you. Know that all who act in my name have killed for me. You will do the same, or you will be merely another merchant in my lands. If you desire wealth and power in abundance, then you must kill for it.”

All thoughts of profit, of balancing the costs of this venture, faded into obscurity as I looked upon the bound and gagged man right in front of me and the sword in my hands.

I don’t know how I came to the decision that I did, what drove me to lift the sword up and swing, but I did know one thing.

I would do anything in my power to never bare my neck to the barbarian king every again.

…

Merchant Harper was escorted out with her retinue, while the body was lifted and carted off to be given a funeral. I didn’t bother to remember his name, but I did remember his deeds. He troubled my forced, killed too many of them to be realistically spared, and didn’t have the talent to be Champion. If he’d just killed a few less people, he’d be a good officer and commander. If he had the ability to be a Champion, I’d have walked all over my military to get him.

In the end, though, I elected to get him decently killed and buried.

Not worth the time and effort to cultivate, or lop off the heads of the bunch of officers I was already raising.

But onto more important matters.

“Khanrow, I want her investigated thoroughly. Keep agents on her and make sure that she’s thoroughly in our camp. I’ve terrified her, but it’s better to be sure.”

“As you say, my king.” Khanrow nodded and left, leaving me with Riegert.

I turned his way and ignored most other people present in the court. Some of them looked a lot prouder than usual. The amount of power they had was middling, and I trusted them a little, which they saw as elevated status. I needed to nip that in the bud.

“How goes the scouting the region above us?” Securing this region was just about finished. Now was the time to go out and try and secure a third. The region above us was heavily forested, too. Lots of food and production tiles. Perfect to mass produce improvements, get lots of people, and eventually the trees can be cut down and replaced with better tiles. Lots of potential, if we could take it. “Are you ready to take another Citadel?”

“We are ready, but a challenge has arisen. We have found Children of the Elm present in the location. They appear to be in search of the Citadel.”

“Good.” My statement raised murmurs from the assembly that came today. I explained swiftly. “The Children of the Elm must be eradicated and they will have a Citadel control ring amongst their people. We will ride out and destroy them all.”

That galvanized my people and had them all murmuring about glory and the destruction of a hated people.

Riegert, however, looked a bit worried… so, I addressed the matter simply.

“Find and locate their king.  I will go to take his head myself. My steed is ready, as are my new arms and armor.”

“I hear and obey.”

Riegert gave a bow at that.

How could he not?

My gryphon was now capable of bringing me into battle, and now I had a full set of equipment freshly forged from the Citadel’s foundries.

They may have Champion, perhaps even two, but as long as they didn’t take the Citadel and hunker down in it… then they’re just an amalgam of tribes and factions united by a single leader with the aims to take a Citadel as their own.

Kill the leader, take the ring, and scatter their people.

No unifying idea, no grand history, and no overarching goal.

Just a people to take from and smash.

Something I had plenty of practice with.