Chapter 17

Then next day our guests left for the capital and I began my life with a new wife who was happy to be exploring her new life with her partner. They began to explore the vault, with Mary as a guide, and then they explored the workshops. I on the other hand took some guards to check on the new village we had built to make sure their crops were going well and see how they were doing. I had nothing to worry about as these people has adapted to their new life perfectly and so I headed back home. I had sent a large portion of cotton and wool from our storage to Artston and in return we were given lots of fabric and metalwork. I then filled the trade wagon with clothing and other goods and had it head out to the different regions along with two loaded wagons as a traveling warehouse.

Something else that had been going on without my direction is that Ariel and her people were working with some of the stone mages to craft large stoneware pots. This was to keep up with the mushroom production and before we knew it the sauce makers were incorporating the mushrooms into their sauces to make them thicker and add flavor. It had been a few weeks and we were in the middle of summer when Bethany came to with a huge smile. “I have two bits of good news for you husband.” I looked up from my notes and smiled at her. “First you are going to be a father again.” My face must have showed her exactly how I felt as she swung her hips back and forth. “There are two sisters who seem to have become very happy mothers on the same night.” It wasn’t till that moment I realized I had stopped even thinking about women I slept with being protected or not. “Now they are going to be sharing even more life experiences together.”

I nodded and smiled at her. “Well if that is what they want then I am nothing but happy for them.” She nodded. “And other thing is that with it being midsummer all the water mages are ready to head to Kalador and begin drying fruit.” I blinked and remembered that plan. “So I think this is a perfect time to have a bit of a celebratory dinner for your new mothers, and to announce you will be gone for a month.” I looked at her. “A month?” she nodded. “I have learned you are the best husband to a pregnant wife when you aren’t here to baby them. While they do have to be careful for a while, they cannot be bed ridden to make you feel good. So you will be off on a trading mission while your children grow and when you come back everyone will be happy and ready to deal with you.”

Well my new wives loved having me fawn over them and Rena promised to keep a very close eye on them both. Cassie said she would help as well as she and Genny had patched up and were a loving couple again after far too long. I then loaded up the wagons we had with goods packed in chests and began our journey to Kalador. Why chests and not barrels? So we can pack more in the same space, and since it would all be dried food the weight would be greatly lowered. When we got to Kalador, after a wonderful trip, we rented a large warehouse with enough bedrooms for everyone. It also had good sewer access as well for disposing any garbage we made during the processing.

We were just getting comfortable when people began to gather outside and since we had the room we opened it all up and people came in with heavy purses. The glass figurines were the biggest hit of all and a real money maker as well. Since everyone was doing good, and were ready for the trading, I snuck out with Ariel and headed to see Aliza. She was waiting this time and was very welcoming to Ariel as well. “So how are the new shops doing in the capital?” I asked and she rolled her eyes.

“We you were right, the opening of our store in the royal capital was met with great success and we sold out of our entire stock in the blink of an eye. They kept a few pieces back so any people they hired would have something to work off of. We also followed your example and simply started a full on workshop with living spaces. We pay a little less there than we do here but the cost of an apartment is much higher so they make a little more than our locals in the end.”

We chatted about the stock she had ready, she showed some of the new ideas to Ariel, and we otherwise had a nice talk. When I told her I would be staying here for a month she seemed almost flustered. “A whole month?” I nodded. “My wives wanted a vacation from me so they sent me here. Poor Ariel here was voted to watch over me and make sure I didn’t collect any new wives. I asked if a few concubines were ok and they said yes.” Aliza laughed but Ariel made a face and stuck her tongue out at me.

“In reality we are here to buy as much fresh fruit as possible. Ariel and the other water mages have developed a new skill, they can remove all the water from fruits and vegetables.” Aliza didn’t get the importance of this. “So they can dry fruit quickly?” I shook my head. “Sun drying fruit leaves a lot of water in them, this leaves none. It also means transportation costs go away, but the main reason my wives sent us is because when fruit is that dry, you can crush it into a powder.” The look on her face seemed almost there. “This means it doesn’t go bad for a very long time, and they can use the fruit in anything they want to eat. Imagine adding it to cakes, breads, and all kind of food. Imagine using fruit to add sweetness all year long at a fraction of the price of other sweeteners. Doesn’t a fruit flavored tea on a cold winter morning sound good?”

Aliza suddenly connected the dots. “A winter strawberry cake?” I nodded. “And unlike dried fruit our method doesn’t turn the fruit bitter. A dried plum tastes like a plum and not a prune.” She looked over at Ariel. “How in the world did you come up with powdered fruit?” Ariel smiled at her sweetly. “Well it all started in trying to figure a way to store the huge amounts of mushroom we harvest from our underground farms.” Aliza sat up quickly. “Did you say dried mushrooms?” Oh, I think we have learned something all of a sudden. Ariel nodded and looked to me. “Mikael built a farm for growing specific mushrooms all year round. The problem is we have a high production rate and mushrooms are hard to store. So we started off making mushroom powder. The whole town uses it like crazy in everything these days.”

“Aliza, do you like mushrooms?” I said in a sultry voice. She nodded and even blushed. “Do you like soups and broths?” She nodded again. “Would you like to have some dried mushrooms to cook with all winter long?” She looked down like a little girl and nodded. “Oh, you bring me all the mushrooms you want and I will personally dry them for you.” Ariel suddenly burst out to her. Aliza looked at her with a sweet smile and the years melted away from her. She was a little bit older than I am, just like Bethany, yet she seemed much older and sophisticated. The thing is, like many women, when she was happy or excited she looked like a much younger version of herself. She caught me enjoying her beauty and then seemed to get older in an instant.

“Aliza would you do me a huge favor and not do that around me?” She looked at me in question. “What do you mean?” I reached over and took her hand and she gripped mine. “For just an instant I saw the real you and I loved it.” Her eyes grew wide and she blushed furiously. “Like right now, even though you are blushing like a young girl, you hold yourself like a matron. For just an instant I saw the sweet young woman you really are and I hope that you trust me enough to be yourself around me.” She took a deep, calming breath and shook her head. “Mikael, I am a forty year old woman, I am a matron.” I looked at Ariel and then at her. “So? You are around the same age as Bethany, my first wife, and she is far from being “matronly”. I can think of many times she is as sweet and cute as the youngest of my wives.”

Aliza tried to keep it out, she tried to hide her emotions, but they bled through anyway. “You committed yourself to the business and no worthy men wanted to be married to a woman who was a success.” Her bottom lip trembled. Alize moved closer to her and took her hand. “It didn’t help that I was always a plain faced girl with few options. I decided to start my business so I could support myself rather than be married off to some geezer or work in a bar.” She said with bitterness. “Plain faced? Are you kidding me? Did you come from some island where they have only the greatest of beauties because you are far from “plain faced” even when acting older than you are.” She looked at me and I saw it, hope. “If you lived in Kelton you could easily find a man that would love you just for your beauty Aliza.” Ariel Said. Aliza took a deep breath and let it out. She had a brittle smile on. “No, it’s too late for me.”

Ariel looked at me with a pleading look and between that and Aliza’s face I decided to go with it. She seemed shocked when I knelt down in front of her. “No, it’s not too late. I’ll be here for a month, so that gives you plenty of time to find someone to manage the store from now on and you can move home with us. You are already like family, so take a leap and join it.” She was sitting there torn between hope and the life she had built around herself. She leaned towards me just a tiny bit but I knew what it meant. She needed me to come get her. I reached out, cupped her cheek and stroked it with my thumb. “Take the leap and I will be here to catch you Aliza.”

Well she leapt alright and I did catch her, right in my lap. She began sobbing and her assistant came in looking. I looked up and told her to close the shop and take the day off with pay. The girl nodded and then left us alone. I let her get some of it out, it may take a very long time to get it all out, before I lifted her face up. The tears had ruined her makeup and so I gave her my handkerchief. She began wiping and wiping and I was suddenly shocked. “How much makeup do you use woman?” she was suddenly hit with complete embarrassment. I took the cloth from her and began to wipe away her disguise. She grimaced but let me continue. The problem was she didn’t realize that to me I was uncovering a treasure not a dirty secret.

“Oh no. you have so many freckles.” She tried to cover her nose and cheeks. I pulled her hands away and stared at her. “Don’t you dare cover those up. All my life I have been obsessed by women with freckles.” She looked at me as if I was insane. “I’m not kidding, to me they are the cutest thing in the world. I love that all my wives have nearly flawless skin, but freckles have a very special place in my heart.” My breathing had a little tremble. “My first love, my mother, always hated her freckles but to me they made her so cute.” I took her hand and put it over my heart so she could feel it pounding. “Now do you believe me?” She nodded and seemed so happy.

Ariel sighed and shook her head. “Looks like I failed at my job.” Aliza looked at her. “I was supposed to make sure he didn’t bring home another wife and I think I really failed.” Then she knelt down and took Aliza’s hand in hers. “Welcome to the family Aliza, we missed you.” Then Ariel leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You missed me?” Aliza asked and Ariel nodded. “Something I saw when I joined in. For some reason I feel that our family is far bigger than it is right now. That out in the world are women and children that are supposed to be with us but aren’t yet. So to me, when someone comes into the family, it means they are returning to us.”

Aliza thought about it and nodded. “I think I see what you mean. I’ve been sad and alone for a long time. When I met Mikael it felt like I knew him which is why I trusted him implicitly. Even right now I feel like a great weight was lifted from me, that the family I have been wanting is finally mine.” She looked up. “What took you so long to find me?” I stroked her cheek and smiled. “I got here as fast as I could my love.” I said and then I kissed her trembling lips.

When I pulled back she smiled up at me. “You know I have been in love with you almost since the first time we met don’t you?” I shrugged. “You may not believe me but I thought you might be more interested in women than me so I kept my attraction to you hidden. The first time we went shopping together you let your mask slip and I saw something in you that made me very happy. There was a hidden sweetness there but you seemed far more focused on my wives so I just figured that was more your type.” She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Well we have each other now and that is all that matters. Now I have to find someone to manage the store after I move.”

We got off the floor and sat on the couch. “This will not be easy you know, I wonder if I should just sell the business...” I looked at her. “Hire the competition, or buy them out and let them run our organization?” She slowly nodded. “I’ve been helping a few of the smaller shops, but our products are hard to compete with.” She looked into the distance. “Sabrina is a good business woman with a solid customer base, but she is barely hanging on. I think if she could close her doors without going to prison she would, but like many those are the only choices.” She looked at me with a big smile. “Ready to go hire us a new partner?” she asked and I nodded. We headed over to Sabrina’s store and she looked tired but still gave us a smile.

“Aliza, it’s so good to see you. How can I help you?” Aliza took her hands and smiled at her. “Sabrina, I am leaving Kalador and starting over. I want to hire you to manage my total operations, the stores here and in the capital, the seamstresses, everything.” The woman seemed very tempted. “Will I get paid enough to meet my debt?” Aliza smiled at her. “If you accept, my silent partner has said he will buy your debt and cancel it. He calls it a hiring bonus.” The woman’s face went slack and tears started to pour from her eyes. Aliza stepped around the corner and hugged her as she nearly collapsed. “I just got told I have a month before the debt was forced in court. You are saving me from debtor’s prison.” She sobbed.

Something about this felt wrong. I waited till she was calm and then Aliza introduced me to our new employee. “Sabrina, what happened? Why this sudden down turn?” She waved her hand around. “I don’t know. The costs of some of my goods started to steadily climb and fewer and fewer people were coming to my store.” I wondered if that little business war was expanding. “Sabrina, I want you to stay open for another week. Don’t worry our deal is done but I smell a dead rat in the woodwork.” They both sniffed. “I mean I think someone is targeting you, and maybe other businesses, and the whole thing stinks like a dead rat in the walls.”

I left the two of them to work things out and headed to talk to Garick in the debtors prison. When I walked in he looked stressed and when he saw me he sighed. “Count Kelton, it’s good to see you again.” I looked at the board and it looked mighty full. “A lot of families are up for sale. Something tells me a lot of small businesses are suddenly going bankrupt aren’t they?” He nodded. “Has anyone thought to investigate the connection between the larger businesses and the suppliers? After all when you talk to these small people they are being billed out of their lives here.” I looked at him and he seemed to catch on to what I was talking about. “Is it legal for large businesses to start working with suppliers in order to close down competition?” He shook his head. “As a matter of fact it violates many guild laws as well as civil ones.” I nodded. “And just who is in the leadership of the merchants guild here?” His eyes narrowed. “The same men you humiliated last time you were here.”

I went to the families who filled the many cells and began to ask questions. Slowly the picture filled in and I smiled. When I was done I was directed by Garick on who to talk to and made sure they all knew a Count was walking the halls. When I tapped on the door of the paper pusher in charge of ethics violations I heard “Unless you want to find your ass fired go away.” I opened the door to find the man jumping up with his pants around his knees. I looked at the young woman trying to cover up while wiping her tears away. “Who the hell do you think you are?” he demanded and I looked him in the eyes. “I know I am Count Mikael Ur Kelton.” The man’s face went white.

I looked at the young woman who was sitting on the floor trembling. “Young lady are you ok?” I asked. She opened her mouth and he growled at her. A stone shaft was instantly in front of his face. “Make another sound and I will have to make an apology to your superiors for making you into a kabob. Understand?” He said nothing. “Smart boy.” I reached down and helped the young, and I do mean young, lady to her feet and had her sit down facing away from the toad. “I am doing a royal investigation into corruption. Since you now understand this man no longer holds any power over you, why are you here and why was he forcing you to do this?”

I saw him edging away from the spike until he felt another one pressing into his back. “My family filed a case with the courts months ago. We own a small shop in the merchant’s quarter and the prices for our goods keeps going up. My father talked to many who deal with the same suppliers and some were paying more like us and others had seen no changes in pricing. Then the debtor’s courts filled against us and now the only way we can escape is if there is an investigation. I came to ... to ask for some help from this department.” I looked at the toad and smiled. “And the man in charge of anti-corruption told you with a little help from you he might give a little help to your family?” She nodded.

The man could see my desire to kill him right now in my eyes. I walked over and pulled a small stone out of my pouch. “Open your mouth, or I will open it for you.” I tossed the small rock in his mouth and told him to swallow it. The stone spikes dropped back into the floor and I pulled another stone out. He looked at it and watched as I turned it into a needle and whimpered when I made it spin in my palm. “Now we will have a little bit of an interrogation. You will tell me what I want to hear or that little stone will slowly do what this one is doing right now.” I looked into his eyes. “So will you talk or scream?” I was almost sad he chose to talk.

I had the young girl call for the guards and then return with them. When they came in I told them who I was, presented my device, and told them I had found the possibility of corruption in this department. I gave them a run down of the situation and told them I would need to speak to the main schmuck in charge. When I was invited to follow them to the man’s office I looked at them. “Are you telling a count to follow you like a subordinate to some petty official’s office and wait with my hat in hand?” The guards paled. “How about you run your ass off to the office of the man and tell him to get down here before I start to lose my temper.”

A few minutes an older and very tired looking man was panting at the doorway looking like he had no idea what the hell was going on. “How can I help your lord Kelton?” I looked at my fat friend and asked the toad to croak me a song. He was clearly worried what to do and I began spinning the needle on the tip of my finger again and he started naming names and the crimes they had committed. The old man sat heavily in the chair and shook his head. “The head of the merchants guild is manipulating the markets, forcing small businesses out of business and then when they fall he buys up their stock for nothing, buys the families, and sends their children into brothels.” He looked at me and I stared back. “Looks like no one was watching the watcher doesn’t it?” He nodded.

I took the young girl into the hall and told her quietly to go over to Sabrina’s and stay with Aliza who is there till I come to get her. She nodded and left with a smile. I walked back in and asked the old man what would happen now. “What happens? Well I will leave here, take a carriage to the baron’s mansion, tell him what was discovered, and pray I get to say goodbye to my family before my head is removed and put on display.” I smiled. “Would you be willing to purge the corruption from these offices if you got to keep your head?” He looked at me and nodded. “Well I am sure the word of a count should bear some weight in any discussion don’t you think?” the hope and fire in the old man’s eyes lit up. “Sire, if you could help me I would be very grateful.” I nodded.

I stood up and looked at the two guards. “You two are now responsible for this witness’s life. Keep him here and alive. Any accidents to him will become accidents to you got it?” They slowly nodded and something smelled. “So you two know who I am?” They shook their heads. The old man looked at me as well. “Maybe you know me as “The Butcher of Kelton.”?” I could feel the sweat coursing down their backs. “Ah, I see you do know me and mine, so let me say it again his life is yours. Anything happens to him, and you still breath, I will hunt you, your family, and your friends down and watch them slowly die while I laugh, do you understand?” The two swallowed heavily and nodded.” I looked at the toad who looked like he was giving up on life. I smiled at him. “Just think, if you cooperate you may just survive this.” Then spikes shot out of the floor to form a cage with him in the center.

Well the toad lived, so did the old man, but a lot of people didn’t. In the week after the office episode I became a guest of the Baron, the men I had once pissed off were now resting in holes, families had reunited, brothels closed, many spikes had heads on them, and restitution had been made to the families who lives had been ruined by the negligence of the barony. It turned out to be two cases of corruption. One was manipulation of the markets and that was combined with an attempt to bring back a form of slavery. The baron had been disgraced by this and had to make a report to the royal capital. I added a letter to his report of what I had found, the failures, as well as the good people who were kept so busy they had no time to look too closely to any single problem. It also seemed that after the purging a lot of that work suddenly disappeared.

While all this was going on I was helping Aliza get Sabrina up to speed on everything we did. She was amazed at the extent of our labor network, and even more amazed at the number of women we hired and why. “Lord Kelton how are you able to commit so much money to this cause?” I pulled out one of two cases I had prepared for this trip, but hadn’t had time to present. I set the case down and when I opened it both of the women gasped. I lifted out a glass figurine of Jessa holding a baby in her arms. I handed it over to Sabrina to look at and she was almost brought to tears. After she handed it back to me I looked at her. “Selling works of art like that and more bring in quite a large sum of money to my territory. Since we have a very good cash flow into the territory we are able to create the kind of program that we have here. We also do a lot more and I am hoping you will be just as active in this as Aliza has been.”

While I busy fixing the world, Ariel and the others were working overtime in food production. The word go out that we were buying fruit in bulk, and would be for three weeks, which had markets in town bringing us what they didn’t sell during the day. This meant that everyone was working together to prepare and dry all kinds of fruit, and then later we expanded to vegetables we couldn’t normally get back home. Then one day I found a man looking tiredly at the crowds walking past and he would change things for our little town.

I walked past him and into his shop which caused him to come in and stand behind a small counter. I looked at the shelves and my heart began to speed up. “So where do you buy your mushrooms from?” I asked and he stood a little taller. “I grow all my own mushrooms sir. I can guarantee that none of the ones I sell are poisonous or hallucinogenic.” He has every kind of cooking mushroom I could think of and more. “So how is business?” I asked in a friendly tone. He looked down and sighed. “Well honestly, not good at all. Someone put out a rumor that they ate one of my mushrooms and got horribly sick, something that happens to us quite often, and so we have to weather these storms.” I nodded. “Are you a family man?” I asked and he looked at me warily. “Why do you ask?” I turned to him and pointed out my device. “Don’t worry, I am just wondering how to do something I have been planning on. In Kelton we have a mushroom farm, but we only have one type of mushroom. I was hoping to expand the crops.”

This got the man’s attention. “So how are you growing them?” I explained what we did, and are doing, and he seemed to think. “A very good system, but I think I could offer you a few improvements.” I leaned on his counter. “So that is why I was asking if you have a family. If you, and your family, wanted to we would take you with us back to Kelton and put you in charge of our mushroom farm.” He seemed to be torn. “I would love to, it sounds perfect for a man like me, but I have a wife and two children. I have to take them into consideration.” I nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. How about you shut down early, go get your family, and come visit with me and the people from my territory. If they can’t get your wife to consider moving, then no harm done.” I then laid a gold coin on the counter. “Consider this payment for your time.”

He followed me out the door, I gave him the directions to our warehouse, and he ran off. I on the other hand just kept looking around for anything we could use back home. As I headed back to the warehouse a line of people with crats of food were headed in the same direction. I was walking with these people when I spotted the mushroom man walking along with a woman and two small children. He approached Balor who looked at him curiously and then with a smile. They went inside and I figured I would hang around outside and let them find out what we were all about. I found a little café and sat to have tea and a snack. I let my mind wander, wondering what the hell I was going to do for a month now that I had saved people’s lives, broke up a massive case of governmental corruption, and found a new wife.

I was lost in thought when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder and I snapped out of my thoughts. “Forgive me, but did you want to get another tea?” the young waitress asked. I looked around and realized I had spent far longer lingering than I had planned. “No thank you, I guess I got lost in my thoughts.” I stood up and handed the girl a gold coin and she grabbed my sleeve. “Sir, you only owe five coppers for the tea and you gave me a gold.” I looked at her and looked around the place. “Is that man over there the owner?” I asked and her shoulder sank.

“Yes sir.” I walked over and the man was getting ready for a rant. “Is this girl your daughter or something?” the man shook his head. “No sir, do you have a problem?” I nodded. “Yes I do. I have a problem that this has to be the only honest person I have met this entire trip to Kalador.” I really knocked him off his feet with that one. “I had taken up one of your tables far long than was polite and when I tried to give her a tip for being so nice about it she alerted me that I had far over paid for the tab. She could have been like most people who thank me and then run off, but she was honest and that is something to be rewarded. I will make sure all my people give your business all our trade from now on.”

He looked at me and then the young lady. “Thank you sir, Ummm and you are?” I nodded to him. “I am Count Kelton and we do a trade mission here twice a year.” The young girl squeaked. I was feeling like being a little extravagant all of a sudden. I saw a black stone cutting board and asked if he would sell it to me. “Yes sure, I get them down the street at a supply store.” He said as he handed it to me. “Miss, I have an odd request, but an earnest one. Please sit across from me.” She did with a blush and I held the stone under the table. “Now don’t look away from me ok?” she nodded. “How about a little more of a smile for a silly noble?” She gave me the perfectly cute smile I wanted. “Thank you, I know it seems mysterious but we mages have to have some fun now and then.” I then lifted the slightly smaller board on the table and she gasped and covered her mouth. The owner came over and just stared. “Keep the coin, and this gift.” I then stood up as the two looked at the life like relief I made of her smiling face. “Have a good day and we will be seeing you again soon.”

I left the shop and felt really good again. After all the nasty shit that was flowing around me since I got here, it was good to feel at peace again. As I walked in I found carts, and baskets of food everywhere. Everyone from the company was peeling, cutting, and preparing fruits and vegetables on the many tales I had set up. Then I noticed the family I had sent here were wielding knives together and helping while chatting with the others. I looked over and saw their children were sitting and watching all of this. I slid out the door, ran down the street and found the store the café owner had talked about. I bought a few of the same black stone cutting boards and then headed back. With a little work and mental gymnastics I made a set of dominoes.

I walked over to the children and they looked up at me. “Hi, I’m the boss of this trading mission. How would you two like to play a game while sitting here waiting for your parents?” Just then the mother came running over and looked at me. “Can I help you?” I gave her a slight bow. “Forgive me, we haven’t met yet. I’m Mikael and I am the one running this madhouse of food. I saw these two being bored and I thought I would offer to teach them a game I used to play. It’s called dominoes.” I showed her the box of pieces and she nodded and stood there while I showed the two how to play. The mother was watching the kids playing when Ariel came over. “Don’t worry, my husband absolutely loves children. More often than not when he isn’t helping others he can be found in the nursery playing with the littlest children. They crawl all over him and he tickles them till they can’t take it anymore.” The mother Lynda nodded and smiled. “Do you have any children?” Ariel shook her head. “No, but I am hoping I will in another year or two.” Lynda smiled. “Well he looks like he will be a good father.” Ariel sighed. “Oh he is the best I have ever seen. All his children love him so much.” Lynda looked at her. “He has other children?”