Mark of the Fool
Chapter 657: An Exciting Day

“Well, this is going to be an exciting day,” a smiling Lucia said, stepping off the gangplank of her flagship. The heel of her boots clicked as they touched the stone wharf in Generasi’s harbour.

At her back, her crew had begun unloading cargo brought all the way from the southlands; crates and chests loaded with fragrant spices, alchemical reagents, and wondrous magical items crafted in far away realms.

A stream of merchants were already waiting on the pier, eyeing her cargo with big expectations.

“My, my.” Lucia clapped a hand to her mouth, hiding a smirk. “Look at all of you; I bet none of you would have spared me a single pleasant word back when I was driving a sky-gondola. Now, look at you, drooling like starving dogs over my merchandise. I wonder what you’d do if you saw the wonders I have below deck?”

Deep in the confines of her flagship, a strongroom forged of steel had been built, it was enchanted with enough wards to turn an entire band of would-be thieves into whimpering babes.

The vault was protected by magic that slowed one’s mana flow.

Magic that forcibly ejected mana.

An enchantment to strike the mind with sleeping magic, while another one stole the strength from a would-be-thief’s muscles, sending them into a state of relaxation so deep, they’d flounder around like a wingless fly in a vat of spirits.

The last line of warding magic was set to overload the senses, making even the touch of one’s own clothing feel like a full body massage with a curry comb of thistles.

Naturally, the strongroom had been the brainchild of none other than Alexander Roth.

“If thieves try to break in, the wards won’t kill them,” he’d explained to her while engraving the last security glyph on the inside of the strongroom’sdoor. “But they’ll definitely mess them up; I designed the lock so it’d be tough to pick, even for master lockpickers…well, most masters, anyway.”

He’d shuddered. “I heard about this lockpicking barrister that—oh, never mind. The point is, the lock’s hard to pick, and the steel’s got so many enchantments on it, that a thief would have to spray dragonfire, or maybe smash it with a titan’s fist to even the slightest prayer of opening it by force. And—if anyone tries to damage it, or puts anything in the lock that isn’t the right key, it’s set to blast them with enough magic to turn them into a drooling wreck. So, you don’t have to worry about being robbed, Lucia, but if on the off-chance you are: after everything the thieves will go through, let’s just say they’ll deserve the golem.”

The strongroom was built to hold golems that Lucia was shipping to their buyers, a job she had just finished. She’d delivered a golem to a southwestern Rajah to serve as a bodyguard for his sons and daughters.

The job had been quite the adventure.

After she’d completed the sale and went to her lodgings for the night, assassins hired to eliminate the ruler and his heirs to the throne, had appeared at the palace, courtesy of his brother. They were skilled men, as quiet and as quick as shadows, with great mastery of their tulwars.

Unfortunately for them, their timing couldn’t have been worse,good steel was of little help against a ten foot tall iron guardian with an advanced golem core burning in its chest.

According to the Rajah—when he’d recounted the story to her the next day, and thanked her profusely—a half-dozen assassins, each having slain at least five of his childrens’ elite guard, were now not much more than red paste, thanks to the latest member of his household.

In gratitude, he’d provided Lucia with a generous bonus to top the price of the golem she’d delivered, and the strongroom was now filled with enough gold, rubies, pearls, yellow sapphires and other gemstones to buy ten warships from her share alone.

Toraka Shale and Alex Roth were about to become even richer.

Of course, that would make the day exciting for them.

What was about to make the day exciting for her, was not only picking up a pair of iron golems to deliver to a couple of very wealthy clients to the east, she was also looking forward to getting an entirely new crew to guard her ships and cargoes.

“When I get those new guards on board, I’d actually welcome thieves, what a great way to advertise the business. Crooks and brigands’ll wish they’d never set foot on my ships, or ever heard my name,” she whispered, heading to a chartered sky-gondola.

“Welcome, madam, we’re ready to transport you to Shale’s Workshop, at your pleasure,” said a rather dignifiedlooking sky-gondolier, a man who looked more like a butler who’d be working for the very wealthy in the Generasi countryside, than a sky-gondolapilot. “Shall we go?”

With a smile, she drew several platinum pieces from her pouch, pressing them into the gondolier’s hand as he helped her into the boat. “Of course, Alfred.”

The boatman failed to hide his boggling eyes at the payment. “You are too kind, Madam Lucia!”

“No,” she said. “I just know what it’s like to be sitting where you are.”

“Alex, you look…stressed,” Lucia said.

The hulking Thameish wizard—who looked even bigger, or was she imagining things—paused mid-handshake.

“Well, that’s a nice way to greet someone,” the mage withdrew his hand. “Why don’t you just tell me that I look like trash.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic,” Toraka said, shaking Lucia’s hand. “You do look stressed. You are stressed. You’ve been in the lab more than you’ve been home, lately, and it shows. You’re also back in school on top of everything else! You should take some time to relax.”

Alex, looking wild around the eyes, shook his head rapidly. “No rest for me. I’ve got goals to meet. Targets to hit, and besides, I only need like two hours sleep a night. I’ll be fine. It’s fine. I’m fine.”

“Father…you really should rest, though.”Lucia heard a familiar voice speaking over the sound of a thunderous, metallic footfall.

She turned as the door to Shale’s office opened, revealing…

“Claygon?” Lucia blinked in surprise. “Is that you? You’ve changed…you’re iron now!”

“I am…I have…been through a lot of changes lately.”

“Well, it’s all for the better,” Lucia smiled, looking the construct up and down. “You look fantastic; Alex and his sister’s craftsmanship really stand out on polished iron.”

“Oh wow, so you tell me I look stressed and lousy, and you tell him he looks fantastic,” the young wizard said flatly. “Great. Just what I wanted to hear when I got up today.”

He crossed his arms.

Lucia and Toraka looked at each other.

Alex looked out the window, refusing to meet their eyes. Sunlight shone across his long hair, which now fell past his shoulders. “I know what you’re thinking, but this isn’t what it looks like.”

“It looks like you—a grown exhausted adult—are pouting,” Toraka said.

“...okay, so it’s exactly what it looks like!” He threw up his hands. “Alright, so let’s just go down stairs.” A shimmer of excitement suddenly sparked in his eyes, erasing his grumpy mood. “I’ve got some nice things to show you, Lucia.”

Together, the golem crafter, the Thameish wizard, the golem and Lucia left Toraka’s office, heading to the main chamber of the golemworks. The place was bustling with activity; it had been busy the first time Lucia had been there, but now it seemed even busier. It appeared that the number of staff had doubled; things looked chaotic, but the chaos seemed controlled. New golems were being built for the market with the efficiency and precision of a well oiled machine.

Lucia looked up toward the ceiling.

A whole new floor had been added, replacing the space that was once just a soaring ceiling.

The golemworks had grown, with the addition of another story—and from what Toraka had mentioned, they had plans to add another one.

Soon, the business would tower above much of the district, dominating the skyline.

“You have been busy,” Lucia remarked. “You really have been expanding.”

“We had to,” Shale said with pride. “From the time Alex demonstrated Claygon’s might, and we revealed some of our new iron golem models, the city’s been infected with golem fever; a fever I can happily say seems to be contagious.” She looked proud. “New orders keep coming in on a daily basis: people want new constructs built, they want us to modify old ones, repair damaged ones, and even upgrade some that people bought from us years ago.”

Lucia whistled. “Sounds like business is good!”

“Overflowing.” Toraka grinned. “I’m looking to buy a quarry soon; at the rate things are going, it’ll make more sense to simply mine my own supplies rather than getting them from others, even at wholesale prices. Plus, golems are an item for the very wealthy and powerful. I want to look into expanding our market.”

“That’s where I come in.” Alex smiled. “There’s a quaint little magic item crafting studio in the southend of town. The owner’s getting on in years and looking to retire and spend her time doing whatever she wants out in the countryside; she’s ready for something beside the daily grind of making potions, wands, and enchanted jewellery. I’ll be helping her make her dream come true by buying the business.”

“Oooooh, a magic item studio? That sounds wonderful,” Lucia said.

“Mhm, and I’ll be sourcing my supplies from Toraka, which’ll help both of us. In a decade, we’re going to own a quarter of the city. Each.” He grinned evilly.

“Oh, listen to this one.” Toraka rolled her eyes as they reached stairsleading to a passageway that looped into the basement lab. “What happened to that cute crafter’s assistant I hired not so long ago?”

“You taught him too well,” Alex replied smoothly.

“Now you’re just making me look bad,” Shale shot back.

“Truthfully, this is all really impressive,” Lucia said sincerely. “I just bought some more ships and I thought that was remarkable—”

“Oh, right!” Alex interrupted. “Finish your thought, then I want to talk to you about your ships.”

“—got it, now where was I?” Lucia paused. “Oh, yes. I thought you were already busy running your bakery—”

“Bakeries.”

“What?” Lucia asked, her voice dropping into that familiar, monotone deadpan tone of hers for a moment. “Did you say, ‘bakeries,’ like bakery, but with an, i e s instead of a y?”

“Yes, I did. I bought two more around the city,” Alex grinned. “Honestly, I had to. The lineups were getting so out of hand that poor Troy was actually starting to panic. Hiring extra staff helped for a bit; but the problem was that there were too many people coming from across the city. So, in order to properly serve them, I bought a couple more buildings, set them up the way we needed, and there we are...three Roth Family Bakeries to feed the masses. It was a lot of work, and that’s a fact, but it’s taken much of the pressure off the original bakery and the staff, and as a bonus, profit’s already up. They’ll pay for themselves in no time.”

Lucia blinked. “I haven’t been away from Generasi that long, how in the world did you set up two more bakeries so fast?”

Alex shrugged, with a twinkle in his eye. “I learn fast—it’s a hell of a lot easier to do something the second and third time—and this time around I didn’t have any buildings to renovate.”

“It still sounds impossible.” Lucia shook her head. “I work hard. I like working hard, but even I’m starting to feel exhausted just listening to you. So, you’re saying that you’re running multiple bakeries, building golems, getting supplies, going to class? Can you really spend time on another business?”

“I have to,” he said with a note of conviction in his voice. “There’s a lot I need to do, and I don’t have a lot of time to do it. Also, let’s just say that travel time is basically no longer a problem for me. You remember that teleportation trick I used in the tournament?”

“Yes?” Lucia asked.

“Well, I can teleport about twenty-five miles in one jump now.”

“That’s so unfair,” she groaned. “You’ll put every shipping company out of business.”

“As long as I put every shipping company out of business except yours—partner—that’s fine with me. But enough business talk.”

They’d reached the end of the corridor and entered the basement laboratory.

“Instead, let’s talk about business.” He grinned at his own joke as forceball lights blazed into life.

Lucia gasped; four new iron golems—each powered by the new golem cores—were standing silently, waiting for her. They were polished to perfection.

“Beautiful…aren’t they…” Claygon said, a note of melancholy in the voice he was currently using, that of a young man who’d smoked too much pipe-herbs. “Father and…Toraka…really make the best golems.”

“I’ll say, and they do it fast too,” Lucia agreed. “I expected to only be picking up two today.”

“We have another potential buyer,” Alex said. “A bit of a gamble, but if this new contract works out, then what we’ve done so far will seem like nothing more than pocket change. But the real exciting part begins now.”

He gestured to the other side of the lab.

There, twenty figures stood in utter stillness—each covered with a black tarp. From their shape, it was clear that they were humanoid, but Lucia could tell little else.

“It’s time to meet your new crew.” Alex smiled. “Just as promised.”

Lucia gasped.

“Goodness me, I knew this would be an exciting day,” the former sky-gondolier clapped her hands in anticipation.