Valkyrie's Shadow

Empire in Chains: Act 3, Chapter 13

Empire in Chains: Act 3, Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The sound of someone moving around on the other side of the door went on as the minutes passed. It came closer, then fell away, punctuated by the sound of weighty objects being shifted over the floor.

“Sophie?” Lady Frianne’s voice rose uncertainly.

“Just a minute! Where the hell did it…”

Baroness Noia’s voice faded away again, replaced by more rummaging.

“Maybe she’s hiding her mess,” Liane offered.

“She doesn’t care if others see her messes,” Lord Frosct said. “If I were to wager a guess…”

A shadow appeared at the door. Clara gasped and scurried back as a thick black tentacle slithered out from under it. Ludmila frowned as it probed its way closer to her.

“Is this Baroness Noia?” She asked.

“Erm, no,” Lady Frianne stepped halfway back to the opposite wall. “It’s probably the reason why she’s been looking around her laboratory.”

Liane, Florine and Lord Frosct shifted back to join Clara and Lady Frianne in the hall. Ludmila knelt and extended a hand towards the tentacle.

A squeamish noise sounded from behind Ludmila as the tentacle found her fingers and oozed over them. She rose again after collecting the Slime in her palms.

“Are…are you alright?” Lady Frianne asked.

“It’s just a Slime, black ones are very rare.”

Ludmila smiled as she held it out to them. They all took two steps back.

“Y’know,” Liane said. “Most people put on that face when they’re talking about cute and cuddly animals.”

“Slimes are cute and cuddly.”

Clara’s cheek twitched. Lord Frosct came forward again, giving Ludmila a wide berth.

“Sophie? I think we’ve found what you’re looking for…”

Another shadow appeared at the door. This time, it opened. A buxom woman stood in the doorway, dressed in a long white coat. The coat hung open, revealing an open-topped white blouse and tulip skirt. A wide belt with a row of loops for alchemical vials and tools encircled her waist. Locks of purple hair came down to her jaw, framing a face that was pale and fair, save for a discoloured scar covering its left side. Sophie’s eyes – one red and one pink – fell upon the Slime in her hands.

“Gustav!” She scolded the Slime, “You can’t just run off like that!”

Gustav displayed no reaction to the woman’s words, content to remain docile in Ludmila’s hands. Sophie looked back up at her, adjusting the golden monocle over her left eye.

“You’re a Ranger?” She asked.

“I am,” Ludmila answered.

“That’d explain a lot. Looking for work? I’ll pay you forty imperial gold coins per year – that includes a cottage on my land.”

“Where’s your land?”

“Just two days south of the city.”

From what she had heard, a small family could get by on three gold per month in Arwintar. The cost of a decent living in rural areas was roughly a third of that, so the offer of forty gold per year would provide a luxurious lifestyle for a provincial family.

“Your offer seems attractive for a forester,” Ludmila said. “How is it that the position hasn’t been filled yet?”

“Um, well, because it isn’t a position for a forester. I’m looking for Rangers to help out with my latest and greatest project.”

Baroness Noia turned and strode back into her room, her white coat flowing behind her. They followed her in, finding not a laboratory filled with strange experiments, but a space filled with glass terrariums. Each contained a miniature environment housing one or two Slimes of various types.

Roughly halfway through the room, Baroness Noia turned and pointed at an empty terrarium.

“Gustav goes in there,” she said.

“Does Gustav escape often?” Ludmila asked as she coaxed the Black Slime back into its home.

“It’s usually well-behaved. I just fed Gustav its weekly Bunnia so it probably wasn’t hungry…maybe it came out to greet you?”

At the other end of the room, they joined Baroness Noia at a large stone table under bright magical lighting. Several maps were spread out over one end while books, stationery and models of unknown design occupied the rest. What looked like a bedroll and several pillows were stuffed underneath.

Baroness Noia took a spot on the far side. A surprised look filled her expression as she turned to face them and her monocle glinted in the light as adjusted it.

“Frianne, Willem…what are you two doing here?”

“We’ve been here all along,” Lady Frianne told her. “The party we’ve brought with us is the group that I mentioned is visiting from the Sorcerous Kingdom. My ladies, this is Baroness Sophia Noia, one of the senior fellows of the Imperial Ministry of Magic and an arcane caster of the Fourth Tier. She is a Monster researcher who is currently focusing her efforts on Slimes. Baroness Noia, this is Countess Clara Corelyn, Countess Liane Wagner, Baroness Ludmila Zahradnik and Baroness Florine Gagnier.

Baroness Noia looked at Ludmila.

“So you’re not a Ranger?”

“I’m still a Ranger,” Ludmila replied.

“I see. What do you think of my offer, then?”

“Sophie…”

Along another edge of the rectangular table, Lady Frianne crossed her arms.

“Unfortunately,” Ludmila said, “my duties preclude me from taking you up on your offer. I’m still very much interested in what you wanted Rangers for, however.”

“Really?” Baroness Noia frowned, “That’s strange. Usually, Nobles plug their noses and run away.”

“That’s because you keep trying to give them live demonstrations,” a sour look came over Lady Frianne’s expression. “Since Baroness Zahradnik appears to be familiar with Slimes, I think you can skip the preamble.”

“What about the others? The demonstration doesn’t take long – just gotta get one of those Knights outside to crawl into the sewers and fill a bucket or two…”

Beside Ludmila, Clara, Liane and Florine vehemently shook their heads.

“No? Darn,” the researcher pouted. “In that case, I hope you can follow my presentation.”

Baroness Noia started moving things off of the table, pulling one of the maps to the centre. It appeared to depict the northern third of the large lake south of Arwintar.

“When Master Paradyne retired from the forefront of the ministry, His Imperial Majesty divided his lands between his disciples. Instead of taking one of the fancy places with established industries, I requested this territory from the Emperor.”

Ludmila studied the map. The river flowing into the lake branched into a vast expanse of wetland stretching out from the northern shore of the lake.

“It was mentioned your new fief was a large, yet undesirable piece of crown land.”

“That’s right,” Baroness Noia nodded. “This area is known by the locals as ‘Arwintar’s Assho–”

Lady Frianne cleared her throat loudly. Baroness Noia grinned, seemingly finding her interruption amusing.

“It’s the terminus of Arwintar’s sewer system,” Lady Frianne told them. “A wide delta forms out of the river that carries the city’s waste away. You can probably imagine why the land is considered undesirable.”

“I can imagine why they think it’s undesirable,” Ludmila said. “In reality, it should bring a vast amount of wealth to these wetlands. Nature does not turn up its nose at such a steady stream of resources.”

Baroness Noia let out a low whistle.

“Wow, she got it right away. Maybe you really are a Ranger. Most of our martial Nobles are cavalry types.”

“Conventional cavalry does not do well in my territory’s terrain. Our house and my people have always been Rangers.”

The Slime researcher nodded slowly as fingered a lock of loose hair.

“Hmm…I think I know why you’re so interested now. You’re trying to see if you can apply what I’m doing to your territory using Rangers from your population.”

“If I can find a way to make it work,” Ludmila replied. “I understand that much of the research in the Imperial Ministry of Magic is treated as a national secret…will that be a problem?”

“Uh, you’re a Noble of the Sorcerous Kingdom, aren’t you?” Baroness Noia gave her an odd look, “You could ask me what colour my panties are and I’d be legally obligated to tell you. They’re black, just in case you’re wondering.”

Lord Frosct nodded sagely. Lady Frianne pinched his arm.

“We’re not here in an official capacity,” Ludmila said, “but Lady Frianne has been kind enough to show us around the imperial capital. If it’s something confidential, I won’t press the matter.”

“It is and it isn’t,” Baroness Noia told her. “All research funded by the Ministry’s budget is technically the property of the Empire, but my work isn’t exactly behind closed doors. Anyone could scry it or fly over my territory to see what’s going on. Furthermore, the proof-of-concept is being conducted on my land and paid out-of-pocket.”

“If members of the Imperial Ministry of Magic are being enfeoffed, won’t it cause conflicts of interest? You now have demesne revenues that can be allocated towards independent research.”

Everyone looked over at Clara as she voiced her question. It did seem like a reversal of the Empire’s apparent efforts to monopolize its talent and direct the effort of its institutions and their members.

“It’s technically always been like that,” Baroness Noia said. “These lands that we’ve been granted were formerly Master Paradyne’s lands. Instead of the Master using the revenues for his personal research, we all have a bit of funding for our little projects now.”

“Except you purposely took this fief,” Liane pointed out. “It looks like there are two or three villages on the outskirts, but ninety per cent of it is the wetlands on the northern shore of the lake.”

“Ah,” Baroness Noia raised a finger, “but that’s the beauty of it. These few villages are more than enough for me to do what I want to, and this land is exactly what I need to do it.”

Baroness Noia reached out to grab a roll of paper, unfurling it over the table to reveal a schematic. They leaned forward to examine the diagrams laid out before them.

“I understand why Frianne says you’ll be interested in what we have to offer now,” Liane said, “but will this work?”

“What do you think, Baroness Zahradnik?” Baroness Noia asked.

The schematic was easy enough to understand, even for Ludmila. The systems represented had various inputs, but instead of complex processes that only artisans and Sages could decipher, remarkably straightforward solutions were being employed.

“This is amazing, Baroness Noia,” Ludmila said. “It is extraordinarily simple and efficient, provided you have the right Slimes.”

Baroness Noia offered her a broad grin in response, sweeping an arm out to gesture to the rows of terrariums behind them.

Many different species of Slimes existed in the world. The Slimes that Ludmila was familiar with were forest and wetland-dwelling Slimes that fed on detritus and carrion. Further out from the original bounds of Warden’s Vale, species that hunted live prey also existed. While a few of the Slimes that inhabited the sewage systems of cities were seen as beneficial, there were exotic ones with more specialised diets that were exterminated as pests if they were discovered.

Baroness Noia proposed to channel the effluent of Arwintar into basins similar to salt pans. There, different types of Slimes would be used to isolate all manner of useful materials mixed into what the city considered waste. With Arwintar continuing to grow as the Empire did, its sewer system would be overloaded and Baroness Noia’s operation would be there to reap the benefits.

Common Slimes like the ones found in forests, marshes and sewers would multiply rapidly and the excess populations would be processed into fertiliser. The more exotic ones that ate different types of minerals would also be raised and processed for their content, albeit at a significantly slower rate. ‘Herds’ of different Slimes would be rotated through the pans in an order where everything was separated through consumption and harvested as they multiplied.

It was a technique that could be easily replicated. With sufficient volume and proper containment measures, a major new industry could be developed.

“So this is…a Slime Ranch?” Florine asked.

“I prefer to call it a ‘Slimefinery’,” Baroness Noia answered. “Slimes have coexisted with humanity for as long as we can remember. We use them as a convenient way to dispose of our waste, but I find it strange that we haven’t harnessed their true strengths. It’s time to take our relationship to the next level: every Slime is a natural alchemical laboratory capable of refining specific materials with unsurpassed efficiency. By embracing the efficiency of Slimes, we improve the efficiency of our civilisation and boost the quality of life for everyone.”

“Since the sewer system of a city belongs to whoever owns the city,” Liane said, “aren’t you afraid they might cut you off and monopolise these operations? This is potentially a huge source of revenue for local governments. At worst, it’ll help pay for infrastructure maintenance.”

“Hmm…that would be disappointing if it happened too quickly,” Baroness Noia admitted, “but it’ll probably take time for governments to embrace the concept. Also, there are types of Slimes you don’t want in a city – like the ones that eat iron and precious metals – so these facilities are best kept separate from places where those Slimes can wreak havoc. Properly implementing everything would take years. What you suggest will most likely happen anywhere that the idea is being put to work, but I have plenty of other things to pioneer. I’ll be happy if my work spreads and I’ve made enough to fund my other research.”

“I see,” Liane straightened from looking at the schematic. “In that case, we’ll be more than happy to provide you with some equipment and labour that you’ll find indispensable for your work. You’ll also be notified of up and coming technologies we’ll be rolling out for industrial use. In exchange, we’d like access to the data derived not only from the operation of your Slimefinery, but any new research that you embark upon in the future. Purchasing rights for the breeds of Slime that you use would be great as well.”

Was that acceptable? Ludmila felt that Liane was essentially asking for everything. To her surprise, Baroness Noia’s answer was immediate.

“Deal,” she leaned over the table and stuck out her hand. “I look forward to our collaboration.”