Marcus kept walking as he passed through the main gate, still shaking his head at the three idiot thieves. Unfortunate thieves? He'd have to get someone to make sure they kept their word either way. Couldn't let it get out that the King himself made threats he couldn't deliver on.
Vess caught up as he started summoning Xathar, ready to join a mounted guard detachment that was waiting for him. Someone had clearly forewarned them, which was annoying. He had kind of been looking forward to a peaceful ride by himself.
His demonic horse clawed itself out of the ground, immediately starting to scan the area for animals to eat. Marcus had to rein him in when Xathar spotted the other horses, the demon shooting him a disgruntled look in response.
"You are a cruel summoner," Xathar declared, deigning to sit still so Marcus could actually get on his back. "I demand an additional horse."
"You'll get the number of horses we agreed on per our extended contract, no more. And if you try to 'accidentally' break the neck of another cow I'll strip you of your wild-game privileges."
Xathar grumbled, spitefully munching on a mouthful of grass. Marcus wasn't sure how he conveyed spite through chewing, but the demon managed. Vess rolled her eyes. "You shouldn't indulge his need for drama."
"I shall eat your feet," the horse bit back. Vess grinned at her fellow demon, opening her mouth to respond. Xathar looked away as he cut her off. "I dislike succubi. It is hard to threaten them properly."
Marcus sighed. "Let's focus on the demonstration, alright? Vess, are the students ready?"
"Ready as they'll ever be. Eager to impress, especially the more talented ones. There have been some issues with rivalries forming, but so far nothing physical has occurred. Well, nothing violently physical. Well, nothing non-sexually violently physical. Well-"
"Don't make me or Xathar keep cutting you off, Vess."
She pouted. "You spend so much time with your Queen these days. A girl might feel neglected, you know? That means she starts lashing out for attention."
"You're not technically a woman, for starters, and I'm pretty sure the latter only applies to teenagers."
Vess perked up. "Well, me being immortal would imply that I can never technically leave puberty, since my growth continues forever. But before you reply with something snide, you should be nice to me. I solved a problem you didn't even know you had."
"And what, pray tell, would that be?"
She smiled a smug smile. "I have uncovered a dastardly plot between Duke Hargraf and the Barons. They, and to be absolutely clear I mean the Moderates and the Isolationists, are planning to ally against the crown. It is informal as of yet, but there has been talk of a marriage between Hargraf's brother and Baroness Flora. It seems your rapid expansion of the military has forced them to make drastic alliances."
"You said it was solved?"
Vess hummed. "I convinced the Barons that the Duke is using them to restart trade with the Empire. They were rather incensed. I then showed the Duke that the Barons were spying on him, and thus their plot has ended. No more alliance."
"Were they spying on the Duke?"
"Of course they were, though in this case I faked the evidence. No sense in making everyone replace their spies in Redwater. It would take me weeks to find them again."
Marcus snorted. "Well, we will have to see. Not to doubt your capabilities, of course, but if it was that easy to deal with either faction my father would have long since taken care of them."
More pouting, which he was entirely sure was fake and lightly annoyed at its effectiveness, so he got moving to avoid having to deal with it. But the Moderates and Isolationists were a problem, that much was true. He couldn't exactly force them to leave, something they seemed unfortunately disinclined to do by themselves, and he wasn't looking forward to whatever they had planned.
But becoming paralyzed and waiting for them to make their move was foolish, so instead he was going to proceed as planned. He'd deal with either faction if and when they became a true problem, not before.
Hells, if things really got out of hand he and Elly could blood their new army. Not that they would. Twenty thousand soldiers were a very effective deterrent, nevermind with Elly herself leading them. Apparently word had gotten out about their spar, and it seemed no one quite wanted to find out if the resulting rumors were true.
It took another half hour before they got to the demonstration site, Marcus having to rein his demon steed in twice to stop him from leaving their escort behind, and by the time they got there his legs were starting to cramp.
He was growing stronger, more muscled and in better shape, but it would take time. At least the cramps were rather minor these days. In another few months his body should be fully acclimatized. A bit slow, his instructors said, but he didn't actually ride all that often.
His general stamina was vastly improved, though, which was good. No more getting winded, caught and killed. In the School of Life that had been painful, embarrassing and annoying. Here it would be his end.
Even his general ability with a sword was slowly improving, though at this point he was mostly training to keep himself sharp. Martial weapons would never be his specialty, and he'd reached the point of diminishing returns.
Marcus shook his head, dismounting as the staging area came into view properly. Dozens of Academy students were moving around with purpose, setting up additional displays or quietly preparing, and he spotted his first three teachers among them.
Gretched, Berry and Kleph. He'd recruited more instructors since then, from Elly's war-mages to the trio of Court Mages and Scribes, but he hadn't sought any of those out. Hadn't travelled through half his kingdom to recruit them.
No, the first three were special. Talented pioneers in their respective fields. As such, their demonstrations would be the most central.
Some guests had already arrived, he saw. Elly's officers were there, he spotted commander Mirre stalking around, as well as a number of the more independent Court Mages. Nobility, Loyalists and Isolationists and Moderates all, alongside the upper class of Redwater.
Everyone who had a stake in his Academy, be that big or small. Recruitment had slowed, stabilizing around three hundred pupils, and he hoped this affair would rectify that. Hoped it would bring in additional funding, too, since while his enchanting students were starting to sell some minor trinkets, running a school turned out to be quite expensive.
He could actually spot their table, two of the more charismatic enchanters showing off their work. A necklace that manipulated the air, allowing for a minor breeze on a hot day. A bracelet that conjured a temporary shield around the wielder, single use but stable. Enchanted rings and swords and shields and more.
Marcus was glad to see some interested nobles crowding around them, mostly Lords and other lesser nobility, and he even spotted the sale of the bracelet. He offered the students twenty percent commission, which meant eighty percent of the profits would go straight back into the Academy's coffers.
Considering how rare enchanters were, and how expensive their work was, that table alone held roughly two thousand potential gold pieces. The best of their experiments, crafted over the course of the past weeks.
Well, not entirely. Marcus had actually made half of the artifacts himself, the more impressive ones, but no one needed to know that. His enchanters simply needed a little more time, and yet this was too good a chance for publicity and profit to pass up.
His arrival did, however, signal the start of the events. Elly was scheduled to arrive later, which meant everyone had been more or less waiting for him. Vess strode forward, acting like she'd been waiting alongside everyone else and started the proceedings, so Marcus left her to it.
He walked up to Barry instead, since he would be conducting the first of the three main performances. The kid was looking through a small pile of notes, appearing stressed. Stressed enough he mumbled an 'sorry, busy right now' when Marcus greeted the man.
Barry looked up a second later, the small stone elemental sitting on his shoulder bumping his head. The instructor stiffened, bowing a moment later. "My King, a thousand apologies. How can I assist?"
"None of that, Barry," Marcus appeased. The kid relaxed slightly, still clutching his notes. "I simply wanted to make sure you were doing well. Vess will be warming up the crowd, but it is the results that people are interested in."
The kid looked at Vess, blushing deeply before looking away again. Marcus resisted the urge to roll his eyes, able to look at her without devolving into a teenager. She was giving commentary as five of his students locked their shields together, all of them recruits coming from the City Watch.
Said guards were wearing full armor, indistinguishable from regular watchmen. Their shields overlapped, both physical and not, and a human-sized stone elemental was trying to break through.
It wasn't having much luck. When the magic shield broke, regular shields bashed it in the face, the guards stepping back and rebuilding their protections. Vess was describing their defenses, how a small group of them could hold a choke point almost indefintly, but he tuned her out.
That wasn't what his mages were going to be used for, even if it was an interesting idea. Like most things, the rich wanted a show. He was happy enough to give them one, or let Vess provide one, as was the case.
"I'm preparing to summon a Demon Knight," Barry spoke up, Marcus turning his attention towards the summoner. The kid swallowed, nerves giving way to excitement. "I crafted a contract with one a few days ago, and they're marvelous. Strong, intelligent, straightforward. The power needed to summon them is rather extreme, as is the danger should they get loose, but it will leave a strong impression."
Marcus replied with a rather dry tilt to his tone. "I'd say so, considering that's early high-level summoning. I've never tried it, though that was as much for a lack of a proper containment cell as nerves. Are you sure about this, Barry?"
The kid nodded, confidence finally shining through. "The pact we forged is solid. I'll explain during my demonstration."
Humming, and letting the kid get some space, Marcus turned towards Gretched and Kleph. Both of them had something planned, too, a weather working and a plant growth matrix respectively. Less visually impressive than summoning a Demon Knight, perhaps, but each highly useful.
Weather workings were notoriously difficult to pull off at any large scale, for starters, and anyone questioning their usefulness had never spoken to a farmer. Or a soldier, for that matter. Rapid growth of plant material Marcus wasn't familiar with, though he could see plenty of uses.
Vess continued the warmup for a little while longer, putting emphasis on the enchanters and overall military use of the Academy, before ceding the floor to Barry. She'd been oddly alright with Marcus not speaking, come to think of it, but he was sure she had it in hand.
He'd had enough attention for the week, anyway, and it was nice to be just another face in the crowd.
Barry stepped forward, not saying a word as magic started pouring from the kid. Though as magic kept on coming he looked less and less immature, until a glimmering portal appeared from the air. A little larger than a grown man, perhaps, and otherwise unremarkable.
What stepped through was not unremarkable.
Marcus snapped his defenses into place, watching the demon warily. Leadership came with trust, he knew that, and he did trust Barry when he said he'd negotiated a good contract, but those had been words. A species description and meaningless title.
This was a Demon Knight, standing there with its black armor and fully enclosed helmet. A shield hung on its back, covering a bow, and the sword at his hip seemed to suck in the light around itself.
The creature looked around, pausing briefly on Marcus himself, before turning towards their summoner. Bowed their head, though only slightly, and rumbled something in a demonic dialect Marcus didn't speak.
Barry answered as Marcus looked over the crowd, finding apprehension and tense postures. The Knight had a presence around it, Marcus found, but he was used to that. To cosmic forces pressing down on his mind. These people? Fat nobles and rich managers? Not so much.
But the demonstration continued without incident, Barry summoning a greater elemental to join the Demon Knight, and soon enough people were more curious than afraid.
Marcus drifted towards his enchanters, briefly spying Ponn shifting her face to look like guests on request, the matronly woman not seeming all that harmless anymore, and he was happy enough to observe.
REPLACE WITH LINE BREAK p^o^q REPLACE WITH LINE BREAK
Magic almost thrummed in confusion as Marcus forced it into new patterns, space shifting slightly as the matrix was activated. The air warped and Marcus nodded tightly. A pebble was thrown at his face, moving slightly off course as it passed through his shield of altered direction, then hit him anyway.
But not dead center, so the theory proved sound. Elly hummed, inspecting the field and raising her hand to poke it. Marcus drained the matrix, giving her a flat stare. She pouted. "I wasn't going to touch it."
Why is everyone starting to pout? This is Vess' fault, I can feel it.
"I can't believe you still have all your fingers," he replied, wiping the sweat from his forehead. Space did not like to be controlled, and the low headache that was accompanying his training sessions made that abundantly clear. "Now stop stalling and tell me what you're here for."
Elly folded her arms. "I'm bored, alright? I'm not saying it was fun being forced to flee my homeland, but it was exciting in its own way. Now I'm just holding a seemingly endless amount of meetings, writing an actually endless amount of paperwork and am forced to listen to people complain. It's horrible."
"I agree," Marcus nodded, tone turning sarcastic. "Listening to people complain is awful."
She threw another pebble at him, Marcus managing to weave and activate his defence package. He shot her a smug smile when it pinged off, Elly glanced at the sword next to her. "Spar? I'll forgive this horrific insult if you say yes."
"We sparred the day before yesterday," he pointed out. "You've only been a Queen for twenty five hours. And Hells, you could have come to the demonstration earlier if you're that bored. I did tell you we were going to summon the Demon Knight early on."
"I'm not hearing a no."
Marcus sighed. "Let me finish my paperwork and we can spar."
"Excellent," she replied, clapping her hands. "What do you still have to do?"
"Review the ongoing effort of teaching your people our language, decide on which farms to bless first with Kleph's druid students, how to manage and evaluate the increased yield of those farms, review the various Merchant Guilds and take them under Royal Patronage, which few will be happy about, then take a look at that report your officers sent over. Something about the army finishing basic training."
Elly shook her head. "That all sounds horribly boring."
"I honestly can't believe you're supposed to be the highest administrator of your people."
"No, see, we're married now," Elly proclaimed. "That means you sit in your study, reading dusty books and making laws and such, and I focus on the army."
"Funny, I had almost the exact same idea. In reverse, of course, and with a greater focus on magic."
She rolled her eyes. "Fine, fine. A summary. My people are learning the language, and it's ongoing. Increased trade with yours, our—man that's getting confusing—people is helping. You've already decided to start blessing the farms closest to Redwater, specifically those governed by your most loyal supporters, so pick every third farm and increase their taxes by five percent less than their expected crop increase. Redwater is your center of power, so just take all the Guilds. If they're anything like mine there's plenty of corruption, so use that to press the more unwilling ones into line. Maybe increase the salaries of the craftsmen, which are the people you actually need. Guildmasters can be replaced much easier than a hundred skilled smiths. What was that final thing again?"
"The army finished basic training."
"Right. Well, the army finished basic training. We have that joint exercise scheduled with your mages in a week, so a deeper review can wait until then. In summary, they've been armed and taught to fight with said arms. They're green but technically competent. I'm running them through wargames until they shape up properly."
Marcus scratched down notes, looking it over. "Not bad."
"I was trained to lead an army, you know? That requires logistics, and while you can't run a country like an army, it's a transferable skill. Now let's go beat the shit out of each other."
"My wife truly is such a loving creature," he mocked, moving to stand. "It's a wonde-"
A knock at the door interrupted him, Marcus glancing at it as Elly deflated. She cleared her throat. "Come in."
Vess strode inside, glancing between them. She seemed positively irritated, too, though her usual light smirk was present. It somehow looked good on her, though Marcus usually found it easier to list what didn't.
"Apologies if I'm interrupting something," she said, the double meaning not quite as smooth as usual. She all but threw herself into a chair when Marcus raised an eyebrow. "I was wrong."
Marcus tilted his head. "Pardon?"
"I made a mistake. The alliance between the Isolationists and the Moderates that I killed? I didn't. Duke Hargraf and Baroness Soema had a face-to-face meeting two hours ago. My spy only caught the tail end of the conversation, but they're making it happen. There was talk of forcing a limit on the Royal Army already - per the ancient custom of Dukedom rights, which would stop you from expanding it further. I'm sure they're discussing ways to force you to agree even now."
He stiffened, Elly tensing herself. "I don't remember authorizing a budget for spies. And yes, that is what I'm choosing to focus on while I process the rest."
"Summons," Vess dismissed, waving her hand. "You build an entire magical Academy, one that I've been deeply integrated into running. It's not hard to acquire the assistance of a few mages."
Elly tsked. "And you are sure the Duke and Baroness didn't spot them?"
"I'm sure. This mistake aside, I'm quite good at spying on people. Information is central to any government, monarchy or otherwise, and politics is in my blood."
Marcus was about to reply when he stiffened again, the summon he'd been keeping at his fathers side flying in through the window. He grunted. "Vess, find out as much as you can and inform Helios. Elly, make sure the army is secure. The Loyalists still have influence there, and if both of the other factions are allying, some may be tempted to desert. We need that army, and we need it unified."
Vess nodded, Elly doing so after a long moment, and Marcus strode out of the door. Problems, as usual, had a habit of cropping up all at once.
His father's room arrived sooner than expected, his mind still occupied with the consequences of that damned alliance, and he paused before entering. The two Royal Guards at the door said nothing as he took a breath, opening it to see Margaret's glowing hands roving over the old man's body.
The King, and Marcus found himself incapable of calling him anything else even now, looked up. He was weak, far weaker than Marcus had ever seen the man, but he still waved his hand. Margaret bowed, leaving as the silence stretched.
Marcus took a seat, exhaling slowly. "Hello, father."