Godfather's System

155. Development - 50

The aftermath was even busier than the battle itself, but much less exciting.

Especially since I had left the trickiest part, talking with the military to explain the origins of our sudden religious emergence, to Zolast. He was already in the fortress, accompanied by Baron Maell, while I refused to join them, using the excuse of hunting the remaining cultists and the corrupted beasts.

Avoiding the drudgery was a part of it, but I also didn't want to put ourselves at risk. Zolast alone wasn't under too much of a risk, as doing anything to him would mean making an enemy out of our forces.

Our forces had publicly displayed the existence of a very capable assassin, able to deal with the command tent alone, close enough to the town for people with Perception to see.

I didn't trust the military to follow their own tradition of honor, but I trusted them not to anger such an assassin. No one wanted to live in fear. Far more impactful than my knight identity.

Of course, I suspected that they expected the knight and the assassin to be the same person, but the situation was complicated enough. I was barely getting a hang of the tradition relating to the nobles and guild members.

There was little benefit to me being there. On the contrary, by staying on the ground and dealing with the cultists, I showed our commitment to our 'holy mission' of keeping the peasants safe from the aggressions of the cultists and the corrupted, which also gave Zolast a reason to reject their offers.

Just in case, he had a few of the more useless ability stones with him that could be used as a bribe if they were particularly insistent.

I was in constant communication with Zolast during the discussions, and he signaled that everything was going nicely. Apparently, he even managed to convince them that we swore a vow to keep the name of our god a secret until we completed our mission details conveniently sealed by the same vow.

It felt weird that they accepted that, but maybe it was my mistake. After all, just as the weirdness of a rich person was treated as creative and eccentric back home, people here were willing to accept the peculiarities of the strong as valiant and brave.

It looked like Zolast would handle that part with great ease, especially with our achievement of saving a dungeon town and potentially saving a flying fortress giving him the necessary political capital.

And, that wasn't the only good news.

At the same time, my people were overseeing three different negotiations. Takis' was the simplest case. As a direct subordinate of the holy crusaders who literally saved the town, the rewards he requested were simple. Well, mostly.

A decree to establish an official guild, which was standard, and an exception that allowed them to buy Advanced and Expert skills that were produced by the dungeon limitlessly.

This was not exactly something that could be taken for granted, as it allowed the guild to raise a lot of elite soldiers quickly. Not exactly something that the noble families favored, as they preferred to have overwhelming numbers against any single guild to make sure no one would dare develop any troubling ambitions.

The portion of the discussion I overheard suggested that the steward that had been assigned to the job was very much aware of that fact and tried to add some subclauses to keep the problem contained, but with Baron Maell's explicit and very reckless order to give whatever Takis wanted tying his hands, he could do nothing when Takis rejected those offers.

The best he could do was to bargain for a limited dungeon quota, which Takis accepted. It was important, as any dungeon quota we received had to come from House Maell. Taking from the other guilds would be impossible after the exemplary bravery of the guild members.

Of course, that bravery required quite a bit of intervention on my part, but with half of the elite forces of House Maell in open rebellion, that part mattered very little. Reducing their quota was impossible.

At the same time, Mahruss was discussing with another steward, trying to get a business license for a casino and a shop in the inner town. Or more accurately, he was trying to make sure that the license came with tax exemptions.

Which was a bit more challenging, mostly because the contributions of Mahruss were limited. With all the chaos, Karak and Limenta managed to conceal most of their activities, meaning House Maell had no idea just how critical the Dawn Hammer had been to their success.

Which I preferred. Any benefit that we received wasn't worth revealing our true power. Even revealing Mahruss' new stats would create some annoying challenges. I had no intention of adding to that by revealing Limenta's presence.

The most complicated challenge was my subordinates working for the Iron Trust. Immediately after the siege, there were some people that were trying to sell their assets, but there were even more trying to buy.

After all, Town Maell had just displayed its ability to defend against a full army, making the town a much more valuable center. I used the message stone, ordering my subordinates to expand their holdings even if they had to borrow.

With another guild under our control, Town Maell had suddenly turned into an excellent location to lead my smuggling activities.

Not that I suddenly wanted to depart from Town Yoentia, but it would be a waste to miss the sudden opportunity.

Especially since I could always get some more exemptions from the Baron by making the Holy Crusader mention just how helpful the Iron Traders had been to their cause by donating a lot of weapons or some such nonsense.

While all those negotiations were running in parallel, I climbed on another monster, taking it down with another deep slash.

[Invader Slain]

[+3,212,667 Experience]

[+29 Authority]

Though I had to admit, for all its benefits, I'd rather be running one of those negotiations instead of chasing after monsters.

After all that fighting, I needed a break. Not physically, maybe, but mentally.

Despite all the evidence on the contrary, I was still an old man.

I continued hunting the beasts while I noticed two changes. First, several flying carts suddenly departed the flying fortress, landing on several distant spots the tunnel entrances I had already discovered.

At the same time, I received a signal from Zolast, telling me that the meeting was over, and asking for my location. I responded, and soon, a flying cart dipped down toward our location.

Before Zolast, another armored figure jumped out. "So, this is the brave knight," was his first words, his smugness clear despite the muffling of his helmet.

Zolast stepped out right after, not bothering to hide his distaste. But, at the same time, he sent another message through a connection, telling me that they were testing my attitude, and asking me to respond aggressively.

Not exactly a problem. I took a step forward, once again faking a charge skill, slamming my fist hard enough to crack his magic armor, though despite me imbuing it with mana, my glove suffered a similar fate.

He flew back, landing almost fifty feet behind, but he was strong enough that the biggest side effect was the constant coughing. A few other soldiers jumped off, their weapons drawn. Zolast didn't panic, so I assumed it was a part of the test.

I didn't even bother raising my sword, just slammed them with the full force of my Charisma. "Raise your weapon against me, and I'll take your hand," I threatened.

Zolast walked toward me, dismissive of the way the soldiers started trembling under the pressure. I kept the pressure on them for another second, but before I could pull it back, another figure, with fancier armor stepped out of the carriage, her Charisma shielding the others.

A young girl, which was moderately interesting, mostly because the military forces, especially the command, were skewed heavily male despite the equalizer effect of the System. Her age, barely seventeen if I was guessing accurately, made her even more of an outlier.

"I'm sorry for the recklessness of my subordinates, Sir Crusader," she said smoothly. "They are still a bit tense after the earlier ambush, so they were careless with their actions. Please forgive them."

I didn't say anything, but I pulled the weight of the Charisma. The way she talked was enough to reveal her as an experienced politician, which was never accidental when coming from a young person, and her armor was as impressive as the skill she had used in conjunction with her Charisma while shielding her subordinates.

Moreover, I would bet a lot of money that she had Awakened her Charisma.

Not exactly someone I wanted to spar with verbally, at least not while she had a Flying Fortress support her.

"Please be a little more considerate towards the princess, my friend," Zolast said, though his tone was flighty enough to show his insincerity to the Princess.

I just grumbled again.

"Please, I'm just another commander as long as I wear my armor," she said, not looking to be particularly torn up. On the contrary, for all her attempts to look unhappy, she was quite satisfied with what she had found.

"Thank you for the ride, Princess. Unfortunately, as much as I wish to entertain you, we have to get moving. Establishing a church is not an easy affair."

"Of course, Sir Priest. Or should I call you the Light Seeker? That's the official title for your position, right?"

"No, that's the name for the followers of Apollo," Zolast said, dismissing her amateurish attempt to seek information, though her attitude showed it was more of a joke than a genuine attempt.

Interesting. I said nothing until they flew away and Zolast cast his silencing ward. "So, a church," I said. "That's a surprising development. I thought that was a concession we couldn't afford."

"Well, I thought so too, but the Princess insisted," he said. I looked at him in surprise. "Oh, wait until you hear about the reason," he said, snickering.

"I'm going to hate this, aren't I," I said with a sigh. For all his own exhaustion, Zolast was simply too happy springing that particular nugget on me.

Zolast sniggered again. "You're going to hate it very much indeed, my friend," he said.

I ignored the temptation to dash away and ruin his reveal. After all the times I had messed with him, I had deserved the suffering to come. "Come on, hit me," I sighed, exaggerating my exhaustion even further.

"The princess allows us to establish a chapter for our mysterious church in Town Maell if we promise to prioritize assisting Town Yoentia in case of an attack."

"Why would she" I started before a possibility hit me. "Don't tell me."

Zolast snickered again, too happy springing that on me. "Oh, exactly as you think, my friend. She doesn't want anything to happen to her fianc."

Just what we needed. More complications.