Kalen
'Do you swear to obey my commands so long as they follow the ideals I've set today'
"I do"
'do you pledge yourselves to be my blade as well as my shields'
"I do"
'and do you promise to love and protect this city with all of your being'
"I do"
'then I Kalen welcome the corvelli brothers into my service'
"thank you my lord"
and with that the four men rose from their kneeling positions and went to rejoin the party, it had been a long day which had now stretched into night, ever since my public execution of the scoundrel Oliver Kibek about 80 people had asked to be sworn into my service pledging themselves into my nameless guild, of the 80 I had only accepted 22 for various reasons being skill, character and the like, Felix had condemned me saying we couldn't afford to be picky right now but I told him I wasn't organising a charity and there is no way I'm allowing useless or shady people to hide under the umbrella of a Don.
"impressive speech today"
said the man behind me, if not for the time of day where the world was practically covered in darkness I dont think I would have noticed him, that was how great his ability to hide his presence was a man whose power and influence was revered throughout the continent, the youngest first Don in history and my superior Don Langris,
"I admire people who put practicality first in their thinking, you did the right thing only accepting a few of those applicants and the way you handled that situation this morning 10/10"
He had begun to circle me now stopping right in front of me while ending his words
'it's only apt that the director of a play enjoy his own work'
I looked at him he was dressed the same as always in lavish robes that hung loosely on his frame giving him the appearance of someone thin and scrawny they were also enchanted to have a disorienting effect on those who tried to examine him closely, but still I could faintly sense them, well defined muscles that would turn a blade master green with envy a body that could only have been possible with years of intensive training,
"how did you know"
'how wouldn't I, from the slums to high manors of Tridents nobles, the peak of destiny tower to the depths of the sewer system who else can claim to control it all, and who else would have the gall'
he smirked
"true, I believed a little test was in order, we cant have a Don that's all brawn now can we"
'huh i thought you'd try to get rid of me if I didn't meet you're standards"
"Nah cant do that, your strength is necessary in these times"
'care to elaborate'
he smiled once more
"would you like a drink"
I was expressionless as i expected him to be going somewhere with this
"dwarven black or elven white, what's you're preference"
'Kalipte red'
by then we had already made it to where the caters were holding the drinks, he chose a hard black beer, from their we made it to a secluded part of the lavishly decorated ball room in the centre of my manor, with a wave of his hand two spells were cast, one to prevent sound from travelling and the other to hide us from the sight of others,
we stayed secluded with our drinks with him taking large gulps from his ornate silver mug while I took small sips from my glass, when he was half done he spoke
"that hit the spot, you know I didn't expect you to kill him, Oliver I mean, one wrong move and you could have had a mob expecting to see blood and hoping to join in"
'if I hadn't, a few who lacked sense would have tried to do him in"
he thought for a while before saying
"you're right, although public executions aren't the trademark of most well loved Don's"
'is the objective to earn the love of the people or to rule properly, there are quite a few Don's who personally kill their enemies and maintain territories in enviable conditions, plus whoever chooses the sentence should swing the sword, don't you think'
"one can only be sure their decision is right when they are forced to carry through with it themselves, interesting philosophy"
'don't expect to see it often, I had him beheaded because he was a noble it seemed right to let him keep that honour considering how much he held onto it'
"indeed"
we continued to drink in silence and as if planned we finished our drinks together
'what do you want Langris'
I asked, although i stared at him deadpan i was actually burning with curiosity, Langris was undoubtedly the most difficult of the Don's to understand probably the most difficult in the entire continent, I had been around him multiple times before becoming a Don and each time he came off as either having this enormous intensity or lacking the slightest bit of presence he felt like an ocean its scale unfathomable but without a single wave like it had perfect control over every single drip of water present in it but no knowledge of what to do with itself and that more than anything I've ever faced in my colourful life as a mercenary scared me,
"I want what I feel is best for this city"
'explain'
I said humoring him
"what do think of when you hear Trident city, do you think of the Ludicrous story of its founding, do you think of the legend of its Founders Trident a true Don class weapon hidden somewhere or you think of its trade sector, well if you're not from around here then you have nothing else to think about, do you know where I'm going with this"
I thought for a while before replying
'this city has no history of note'
"exactly, while other cities and their Don's were adding pages and chapters to history ours were either eating, whoring or both, in hundreds of thousands of years of history that has been preserved the only word you will hear about this city was its birth and that it hasn't died yet"
'where are you going with this, do you mean you want to add its story to history'
"no"
he said his face devoid of that happy quality that made him seem harmless
"I want us to dominate it, I want Trident city to be the crown jewel of the entire world and I've finally found my chance"
words that would have sounded mad if they had come from any other person in this city but from him it felt like truth
'how'
"isnt it obvious, our Don's are young but already this powerful so who knows what monsters they'll be in 50 years, our more ready and even more loyal than ever thanks to you and finally what could either be our saving grace or grand detriment, you"
my face was a little less passive as I asked
'what do you mean'
"I mean everything I implied, tou could either make or ruin my plan and that scares me Kalen, all that power, all that talent yet possessing barely any will to use it, what made you hide all this time what made you keep you're true strenght a secret all this time only to flaunt it like a god the moment a women you fancied was harmed"
'watch your tongue Langris'
I said with venom in my voice
"no, tell me Kalen didnt you find the storm crows disgusting before that day, why didnt you go ahead and end them all sooner, i refuse to believe it's because you weren't ready yet"
Langris looked mad now but so did I and even though he hit me with many truths I didnt want to admit the words I could utter were
'never. mention. Loraine unless you want to die'
we stared at each other for a bit, calming ourselves down until
"I suppose you're right, it wouldn't be weird if you hid yourselve out of a need to protect her but still you could have done better if you had a taken a position worth you're abilities much earlier:
'...'
"will you help me Kalen"
'I'll have to think about it'
he smiled while pushing an excellently embroidered letter towards me
"answer me after this"
I stared at the letter a little before asking
'what's this'
"tell me what's the highest level quest"
'typically it would be a SS grade quest quest that requires at least 10 S class mercenaries but something tells me this isnt it'
"above those we have what we call Don level quests, ones only someone with the power and authority equal of supparsing a Don can take on"
'why are you giving me this'
"well, 1)this quest was originally sent to the man you killed, 2)I wanted you to get a feel for the job and, 3)you're broke"
'huh'
"yep you should have a single penny to youre name right now"
I looked around and said
'I thought this party was sponsored'
"it was and so was the cleaning and refurnishing of you're manor but further maintenance is up to you as well as the pay you're guild members will receive"
I swallowed my fear before asking
'how much will I need for the number I currently posses'
"for these ones and the parties cleanup 22000 gold coins or 220 platinum coins will do"
I breathed a sigh of relief, my current savings totalled 30000 in gold or 300 platinum coins enough for our expenses and I could count on Felix for a bit more
"but maintaining the manor will cost about 800 gold coins a month, dont forget restocking the pantry as we used most of you're ingredients, you're planning to get more members right I suggest a skilled accountant and assistants"
I'm dead, I opened the letter and skimmed through its contents before landing on the reward money
'fourty million platinum coins'
I said expressionless but inside I was beyond relieved
"yep, a little small but not cheap considering who sent the request"
and there it was, at the top of the letter
'Don level quest issued by the kingdom of Rowain'