Chapter 24

“What are you bleating about Mari, we all know they are fakes?” Symone replied.

Symone looked at her fellow nobles with contempt. “If she is more gifted than we are, she will know as soon as she touches one of us. These people are posing just like we are; they just pretend that they have more magical items than we do. We all know that we either have ability or not and these heirlooms do nothing to enhance them.”

“May I?” asked Dusty, putting her hand out for the diadem. Symone thrust it at her. Dusty looked at the item and frowned. “It doesn’t have an entity. Do any of you have working items?” There were a lot of guilty looks returned from her table and gasps from the other people when they realised what was happening.

“I do,” Demetri said. He made his medallion appear. “There were actually twenty-two items. My great-grandmother gave me this just before she died. She told me to keep it hidden and to do the best I could for her people. I didn’t know the others were false.”

“So, you are the only true Mage of your people here,” Dusty replied.

Demetri looked around at the other faces in disgust. “It seems so,” he replied.

“In that case, Lord Wizard Demetri, are you happy to accept me as your Overlord?”

“Lord Wizard?” he asked perplexed.

“Yep, I can’t have a Queen without at least two Lord Wizards if the planet hasn’t had a Queen before; it’s a dumb-arse Wizard’s rule they came up with. Overlords, however, have a different set of rules because they came into existence much later.”

“Apparently, we have to start nearer the bottom when building a new magical society. I can, in fact, have a lot of Lord Wizards and their decads, or sextets of wizards and keep the balance until I deem a Queen or two are required. Considering the size of your populations, I think a decad with a Lord Wizard would be more than enough for now.”

“I’ll also see if some of you are able to accept lower order boxes, as that will help the wizards out. How about we finish lunch and then I’ll get you all to come up to me. James will touch you and tell me what item suits you, if we have one for you or if you can be given one. Just be warned, you lot with the fake items, you may not be worthy of an item.”

“Why not?” Symone asked shocked.

“You lied,” James said.

“But, but, we all did,” she said. “We had to, to keep the peace. It was expected of us.”

“No, you said you all have the ability, being honest about it not being enhanced would have been better,” Dusty replied. “The people won’t trust you now because you not only lied, but you perpetuated it and worse you took advantage of it and the people.”

“But I lied too,” Demetri said.

“How so?” Dusty asked.

“I didn’t tell people I wore the medallion,” he said.

“Did you tell them you were a Mage?” Dusty asked.

“Well, I am a noble as I actually have two items. I was given one of the few rings after my mother died. It just has a diamond in it,” he said.

“Were you already wearing the medallion when you got it?” Dusty asked.

“Yes,” Demetri replied.

‘Take the ring off,” Dusty said.

Demetri frowned as he tugged at the ring, “Um, it doesn’t want to come off.”

James chuckled. “No, because your entity simply claimed it when you put it on. You have Nature, Energy and Psychic on the mediation and since Lore is also one of your strong skills, the entirety took what it was offered to enhance you. If you had put Symone’s diadem on it would have happily accepted it too because it has all four of those skills associated with it.”

“Oh, my, are you saying he is as skilled as I am?” Symone said in consternation.

“Actually, he blitzes you lady, he can use all the skills; that is one reason I’m going to make him a Lord Wizard. He also doesn’t overtax people when he charms things for them. From what I have heard, the people have to come and find him to give him the tax because he never asks for it. His clinic is, pay what you can, he doesn’t even ask for payment. That makes him excellent Lord Wizard material as far as I’m concerned.”

“Dusty!” Demetri complained looking very embarrassed at having his virtues exalted in public.

“You go, Lord Demetri, you have the rest of us Shifters behind you. Kick that lying bitch out of your Mansion, you rule,” a young woman yelled out for the other table.

“Lord Demetri rules, Lord Demetri rules,” was chanted at that table to the surprise of the main table, the ‘kids’ table also joined in.

Demetri walked over to them and made a settle down gesture with his hands. “Come on, a little decorum here please, people,” he asked and they settled but still smiled at him.

Dusty really upset Symone when she said, “They do have a point.”

“Oh, you horrid woman,” she spat and went to strike Dusty. Dusty caught her hand mid-flight and held it. “Oh, they do have a point don’t they dear, how have you been getting away with next to no talent at all?”

“She always has us with her,” said one of the two female guards who stepped forward. “We are her guards and she channels our spells. We thought she was enhancing them.”

“Um yes, I see. An easy skill to learn as no real talent is required,” Dusty replied. “So which of you heals?”

“Neither, if someone requires healing then she tells us to get Demetri. His having working items makes sense. We have always found doing spells with him very efficient. And he feels different when we join him, as he pulls magic from us if he needs more rather than just being a channel for us.”

“So you really are a fake Symone. I’m sorry, but they are correct. You cannot rule according to the laws here. They state very clearly that the highest ranking magician is to rule.”

“Then you are the ruler,” Demetri said to Dusty.

Dusty grinned, “Yes and no. I’m an Overlord. I rule over you all. I can appoint anyone I wish to rule over specific areas under my protection. I want a Lord Wizard to rule over the settled areas of this continent. For now, I would like you to rule Amber. One of your other Wizards from your Decade will rule over Blue Waters and you are to pick a second Wizard to rule over River View. The rest will follow in time.”

“I’m not getting out of this am I?” Demetri asked. At Dusty’s shake of her head, he sighed. “Fine, does anyone here object to me becoming the Lord Wizard of Amber?”

If anyone said nay, it was never heard.

Symone had fled the table and Dusty made Demetri take her seat.

Dusty finally got to eat her lunch before doling out magical boxes. As Dusty predicted none of the current nobles received a high order vambrace. Five of the two gemmed medallions did take pity on those who did have talent and had for the most part been honest with the people about everything else. They effectively kept their jobs.

Ten of those rejected offered up their children to be tested and accepted one of them to replace them to keep the title in the family. Demetri hinted to Dusty that this would cause the least disturbance, so she went along with it. Interestingly, a single gemmed ring went to those lords and ladies who willingly stepped down.

The other five lords were a problem. One of the men was the self-styled ruler of Blue Waters. He was not happy when Dusty promoted his wife, Pyah over him by making her a Wizard. Dusty wasn’t immediately aware that she had just doomed his marriage. It had been arranged and now Pyah could get out of it.

A noble decided whom they married and he wasn’t the noble anymore. He had been penniless and her parents had been after the prestige. Pyah had suffered as his wife for five years and spent most of her time trying to fix his fuckups. He was also crap in bed and she now knew why he wasn’t enough for her.

With her parents dead, she didn’t have to continue the farce. He was kicked out the same day. Pyah gave him a pension and one of the small houses they owned and told him not to come crawling to her for more. She planned to go looking for someone who could satisfy her, while she got her families businesses back on track and her people back into employment.

Four of the Shifters proved to be very gifted. Dusty got them together with the four nobles who had lucked out. She proposed they worked out a way for the new noble to replace the now-deposed nobles to rule their regions. Demetri knew to keep an eye on those four in particular. He had also suggested the pairings.

Most of the other shifters received novice class items and were pleased. Some of the other children of the previous Nobles also received novice class items but it was agreed they would be simply magicians and not new nobles like the deposed parents.

The lunch finally broke up and the people headed home or off in groups to sort out the changes in their lives.

“So who is the Wizard for your little town, River View?” Demetri asked Dusty after everyone but he, Josh and James were left with her.

“Josh,” she said.

“What!” Josh exclaimed. She had promised him mage items, not bloody wizard’s items, he was totally pole-axed.

“I told you that you would be running the base,” she said reasonably.

“Yeah, but,” he stuttered.

“What? You defer to Demetri when it comes to wizards matters since he is your Lord Wizard and me when I’m around. I won’t ask you to do anything that undermines Demetri. If you think it will tell me and we will sort it out.”

“Mate, as long as you keep your people under control we don’t have a problem,” Demetri told Josh using his common term for a friend.

“Fine, I guess, who is going to teach me?” he asked.

“Your AI will help a lot. Demetri already knows a lot too so don’t hesitate to ask him. Any of the Shifters who have learnt spells are good to talk to as well. When we are here, we will also try to find time for you. A couple of building exercises always help. We find that the crew have learnt heaps when we do those exercises.”

“Okay, but just be aware that I won’t be much of a Wizard for a while,” Josh replied with resignation.

“You’ll do just fine,” Dusty assured him. “Oh, one thing, you might want to get friendly with one or two of the mages we promoted. And remember to push the magic through them as it recharges them better as well as yourself.”

“Push the magic? What?” Josh asked confused.

“The best way to recharge is to find someone with high magical skills near your own level and fuck them silly,” James, told him with a huge grin.

“James, the only two people close to my level are Pyah and Josh,” Demetri reminded him.

“Either or both would do. We can always give Josh the Booster if you’d like to make it even more fun. Since all three of you will be able to learn how to blink, then you can really live anywhere. Otherwise, you’d want at least two mages, preferably High Mages,” James suggested.

“Wait, you want me to take the Booster so Demetri and I can take turns screwing each other,” Josh said shocked.

“What gender you are at the time doesn’t really matter, that’s entirely for you to decide. We’re not telling you to do it, it’s just a suggestion,” James told Josh reasonably.

Josh simmered down, but he did give Demetri a contemplative look. Demetri gave him a wink to stir him up again, and Josh blushed. “That’s not fair,” Josh grumbled.