Mark of the Fool
Chapter 658: The Silent Crew and the New Deal

“Behold!” Alexander Roth announced in a voice booming with the majesty of a king as he seized the edge of a tarp. “A wonder of wonders! Majesty beyond majesty! The birth of a legend! The—”

“Will you just show her the goods, partner?” Toraka rolled her eyes.

“Fine, fine!” the young wizard said grudgingly. “Some people have no respect for showmanship.”

With theatrical flair, Alex yanked the tarp away, revealing a golem.

The first word that came to mind was magnificent.

The construct was female; crafted of pure, shining, polished metal, standing close to seven feet—taller than alex—with a sturdiness and surprising grace to its form. It was forged in the image of a selachar with a dancer’s build and joints so subtle, they seemed to disappearat a distance, and—though crafted of steel—its face appeared touched by life with eyes that appeared to hold a spark of sapience. Had those eyes been black like those of the selachar people, Lucia might have thought the golem was a living being.

“It looks so life-like, even the hair looks like individual strands, but it’s really forged as a single piece,” Alex said, tapping the golem’s hair that had been sculpted in a tight bun. “I could have made individual strands, but that would have added extra time and cost for no reason.”

He pulled the tarp from another golem, this one was sculpted in the image of a human male—with the agile, muscular physique of a dancer.

“I made their bodies to look as close to humanoid as I could get them, except without nipples, butt cracks and other naughty bits, if you get my meaning—” his voice dropped in a conspiratorial tone. “—but they’ll look like grey humanoids from a distance, which should have the psychological effect of making people more comfortable around them. Still, I didn’t want to make them look so life-like that they’d start to look creepy.”

“They are incredibly beautiful, Alex,” Lucia said, sounding awestruck. “I’m surprised you made them with so much…detail, but without the naughty bits, and you left them naked?”

“I thought you could dress them, if you wanted.” Alex tapped his right temple. “If I just gave you golems that looked like armoured hulks, or featureless dolls, you’d have to go through all kinds of trouble customising them to get them the way you want. But, this way, you can dress them to look however you prefer—they’re large because I had to make sure they had enough bulk for heavy lifting—but a bit of custom tailored clothing should work nicely. Then you’ll have options to dress them in any culture’s style, doll them up for royalty, dress them down so they blend in with your crew, put armour on them so they look intimidating to bandits and other shady characters, or anything.”

“Well thought out.” Lucia nodded, tapping her chin. “I was considering a uniform for my crew when the company grew bigger.”

“That’ll be perfect, then!” Alex clapped. “Whip up the right clothes with the right symbols, and your golems will look just as at home as any other staff-member of your company.”

“So, what abilities do they have?” Lucia asked.

He smirked. “Testing indicated reflexes higher than those of the average humanoid—though ‘average’ is a little weird to say since agility can vary a lot across different races—let’s just say that they’re more agile and dexterous than the average human. They won’t tire, of course, and they’re capable of repeating any task on their own that you show them first.”

Alex rubbed his hands together. “Their golem cores’re advanced enough for them to understand complex tasks. As for strength?”

He held up all ten fingers.

Lucia frowned. “What does that mean?”

He grinned. “Tons.”

She took a step back. “Wait, are you telling me that together the twenty of them can lift ten tons?”

Now it was Shale who burst out laughing. “As if we’d be making golems as weak as that. No, no. Ten tons each.”

Lucia’s jaw dropped. “What you’ve done here really is…revolutionary!”

“And very expensive,” Alex said. “You’re lucky. Just one costs about ten times more than any ship you’d be putting them on. Which reminds me.” He pointed to a desk across the room. “Remember I asked you to remind me of something? Well, I’ve been thinking about trying to see if I could modify some of your ships. It’ll be a big expense, but I’m thinking I could work in some enchantments to do a few things like; reduce friction between their hulls and the sea, make it so their sails self inflate and deflate, and maybe erect a wind and rain shield over an entire vessel.”

Lucia’s eyebrows shot up. “That does sound expensive.”

“That’s why—if you’d like the modifications—I could do them at a discount. Now, we won’t be able to get every ship modified right away, but with a bit of time and some coin, I should be able to improve a couple, which means that those ships could complete a voyage in half the time it normally takes…maybe less.”

Lucia’s eyes sparkled at the thought of increased profits. “We’ll…we’ll definitely talk. Oh, that reminds me of a question. The golems are heavy since they’re made of metal, right? If a mortal crew-member falls overboard, they would float, but wouldn’t these constructs just sink to the bottom of the ocean?”

“Aha! I thought of that.” Alex assured her, slapping a golem’s midriff. “There’s a buoyancy device in each of them right below their core. It’s loosely based on flight magic, but even though I didn’t have enough time to spend on reverse-engineering flight magic, this works well. If a golem does fall into the water and breaks its surface, the device kicks in, letting them float rather than plunge straight down to the bottom of the sea.”

He frowned for a moment, scratching his hair. “Honestly, what I really wanted was to make a device that lets them walk on snow, quicksand or even water, but I couldn’t quite get it worked out; the prototypes had the golems floating away like bubbles.”

“That’s why we should have gone with full flight capabilities,” Shale complained. “The golem core would have powered it just fine.”

“And I keep telling you that it would have driven up both the time and expense for each one. Even if the forging process wasn’t increased by that much, we would’ve needed to build in proper controls and balances for three dimensional movement in various wind conditions. If we’d gone with what you wanted, we wouldn’t have twenty golems standing there right now, we’d only have two. Maybe three.”

“But flying golems would have been incredibly cool,” Shale said wistfully.

“Order one from me and I’ll build it for you.” Alex crossed his arms. “But these golems are meant to be sailors, labourers and guards, not flyers.”

“I think they’ll suit my needs just fine.” Lucia’s eyes sparked. “Flying golems to deliver time-sensitive cargo might not be a bad idea, but that can wait.”

“Ugh, neither of you are any fun,” Toraka complained. “Roth, you’re the one who took so much time building Claygon, wanting him to be the best. I understand Lucia—she just wants to get her crew now, not later—but you? What’s got you in such a rush? You’ve been building like you’re not going to live to see tomorrow.”

Alex paused, exchanging a quick glance with Claygon.

His expression looked strained for an instant. “Let’s just say I have goals. Strong goals. And a self-imposed deadline.”

“We have enough deadlines without your self-imposed madness,” Toraka said. “I still think promising four instead of two was a bad idea.”

“What’s this?” Lucia asked.

Alex gave her a nervous smile. “We have a potential client who contacted us through one ofToraka’s connections. A very important client. If we get the contract and can fulfil it, it’ll open up an entire new world to us; new connections, great future work, you name it. Those connections will be a big help for you too, Lucia.”

“Oh? And who is this mysterious potential client?”

“We can’t say yet.” Toraka shook her head. “They’ve asked for confidentiality until they’re ready to announce the venture themselves. I’ll just echo what Alex said: if it all works out, it’s going to be of great benefit to all of us.”

“Sounds interesting, but be careful.” Lucia looked at both Alex and Toraka. “Take it from someone who once worked long hours at a job that killed her spirit; you do not want to overwork yourselves. I can’t have my business associates dropping dead or disappearing on me, now can I?”

“Yeah, disappearing.” Alex gave her a weak smile. “Well, we’re working on that.”

“And you are sure that you can have four of these new golems finished in time to meet our timetable?” Kartika, a councillor on Generasi’s governing council said, her six hands holding up pages of Alex and Toraka’s quote and proposed schedule. “We only asked for two; though four would be excellent, but if quality will be sacrificed, we would prefer to be reasonable and wait for any larger order to be completed at a later date.”

“The name ‘Shale’ has always stood for quality, as well as quick and steady service,” Toraka Shale said.

“And the name of ‘Roth’ means an equally superior level of reliability and quantity, without ever sacrificing quality,” Alex followed up, subtly providing confidence with his words.

He needed this to work.

If he pulled it off, his future—and his family’s—would take a giant leap toward security for decades.

That was, if he pulled it off.

He and Toraka were seated in a lavish meeting room. Every stick of furniture bled magic; leather chairs were supernaturally comfortable, feeling like clouds swaddling one’s body, every desk and table sat atop opulently carved legs that shifted from time to time—ready to relocate where they were needed at a moment’s notice—while a glass cabinet at the far end of the room was stocked with a supply of wines and liquors chilled to different temperatures.

To the left, a window filling the entire length of the room, looked out over the city and sea beyond. It was a remarkable view, like one from aboard a sky-ship looking down on Generasi from high in the clouds. The view was neither surprising, nor unexpected, considering they were in the personal meeting room of one of the councillors of the city: a person who represented the potential client they’d mentioned to Lucia: the city of Generasi.

Kartika—representing the wizard-council—had written to Toraka asking for a quote on two new iron golems which were to provide extra security within city hall. According to the letter, the city’s security budget had increased significantly after the demon attacks, and even more after word of Toraka and Alex’s improved golems began spreading near and wide, coupled with Claygon’s annihilation of Ram’s force construct at the Games of Roal. Approval had been given to contact the golem crafters and place an order with them.

To Alex, it was the opportunity he’d been waiting for.

‘If we manage to impress the city officials,’ he thought. ‘We’ll be getting a client with both a need, and very, very deep pockets. Any ongoing golem contracts with the city could mean years, or even decades of revenue.’

He breathed through the tension passing through his body. ‘In case something bad happens to me, I could build enough golems to set Theresa and Selina up for a lifetime, and then some, and—if I have strong ties to the city—’ His mind went to the hidden church. ‘—that gives me some real powerful allies when people start clamouring for me to be sent back to Thameland. This has got to work.’

“Think of this as a test for us,” Alex said smoothly. “Like we said, Toraka’s name means something in this city, and I want mine to mean something too. If we can show you that our company can produce quality golems twice as fast as you require for your timetable, then you’ll be able to see what we’re capable of.”

“—which will also increase your chances of securing further contracts, or perhaps something ongoing.” Kartika looked at him, her lips curling in amusement. “Baelin told me how shrewd you are, and I can see he wasn’t lying.”

Alex swallowed. “Baelin was talking about me?”

Kartika smiled. “Indeed he was. And he hasn’t been the only one. A lot of people have been watching you recently, Mr. Roth, as well as a certain shipping company with roots to Generasi.”

She set the proposal for the Golem Operation Plans on the desk.

“How about if I were to share what people have been saying about the name ‘Roth’ lately?”