Before long, Ted realized that inviting Madorn into the project had created a new problem.
There wasn't enough gold in Neul to pay for everything the scientist asked. Not even Ted was rich enough to support Madorn's research for long enough.
Ted's calculations were correct. He had three different bookkeepers look at the numbers, and the situation was the same each time.
"I don't know what these numbers represent, cor, but I do know that you'll take a big financial hit if these premises are true. You'll have to take a loan. Have you considered taking a loan?"
Ted would have rather eaten a bullet than taken a loan. He had seen that happen too many times, businessmen and regular citizens hanging themselves over the financial misery they had put their families in. Ted had no one to take care of, except for the most important person in the world, himself. He didn't want to burn any bridges in Neul, but he had to do something about the money that he currently did not possess.
As he rolled up a demonic symbol in the privacy of his workspace, he half hoped the sun god would appear. At least the solar deity had a horse in this game.
He got a previously unknown symbol instead. The mirrors in the room started to darken. They said it was a bad idea to have mirrors uncovered while doing magic, but some entities literally could not crawl into this reality without the help of reflective surfaces. The room got a bit colder and tendrils of smoke started to appear around the edges of the mirrors.
"I salute you, strange entity," Ted said without any fear. He had seen enough – he knew it was the god he had to fear, not a random lesser demon.
"Strange? Me?" The smoke sighed and formed a thick cloud in front of him. "Perhaps it is so. Why did you call me?"
"I am in severe need of money. I don't have a tenth of what I am supposed to have. Please…"
Ted was prideful, but not too much so to beg a demon for what he needed.
"I can give you blood in return. I swear I'll kill anyone to pay you back. I always fulfill my end of these bargains. You can look at my record. Surely demons have some sort of a credit system?"
"You have been satisfying the sun god…that's for sure. Can I trust you to do what I tell you to do?"
The smoke thickened. The cloud pulsated in gray and black, heaving, sighing, slobbering droplets of black liquid onto the floor. It was much like a sentient fog.
"I have an airship rover I want to see dead due to him cheating me out of ten souls. His name is Howker Thorne. You don't have to go after him, you see, you can just…wait for me to guide him to you. Again, you don't have to run around searching for him."
Demons were frighteningly courteous compared to more powerful entities.
"You will guide him to me if it's possible?" Ted asked, mainly for clarification.
"You don't have to run around, I told you. How much gold do you need?"
Ted said the sum that he thought would be ten times the sum he actually needed.
"I can arrange it," the sorrowful demonic fog whispered. "But there is a catch."
Ted listened.
The gold would come in eastern coins. Those could not be exchanged for services and goods in Sennas. For money laundering purposes, Ted would have to pay the Diamond Kingdom of the Great East a visit.
Ted agreed to the deal. He got a cellar full of gold and a burning feeling in the back of his neck from the deal, but all in all, he was rather satisfied. He could do this, a trip to the east could be relaxing, and he had been spared from having another encounter with the solar deity.
"Eknie, we're going to go east," he told Eknie as she entered the room on command.
Eknie raised her eyebrows.
"Money laundering, you see. I just got a whole load of eastern gold and you know how much they like that swallow carving on the coins here in Sennas…"
Eastern coins were prettier. They indeed had a swallow carved on each side, it had been their symbol for a while.
The trick was that they could not melt without also tainting the gold with a streak of worthless metal that circled around the actual gold. The only way Ted could use them was exchanging them in the east.
Excited, he started to plan his life around the trip.
They could take an airship. It would be a most exciting journey, gliding over the vast forests and the countryside of Sennas, and then over the Bridge of Eroch, and onwards, to the great cities of the eastern neighbor. There were tales of streets lined with peridotes – golden paint on ornamental buildings that threatened the laws of physics with their geometry. The east was rumored to be full of treasures and heavenly wealth, and Ted to find out whether that was true or an intricate lie, fabricated by spies and propaganda masters. In any case, even a kingdom in decline could be a marvelous sight.
"Right. When do we start packing?" Eknie asked.
"We need to ensure that the cult is in good hands. I was thinking of letting Junior be elevated a few levels up. He could team up with a Dragon and act as the second in command next to someone more sensible."
"Are you sure, Ted? Junior…he has his own mind."
"Not for long," Ted said, hoping that he sounded ominous. "I can do a few tricks on him to ensure that he will never think for himself, ever again. We need someone stupid, honest and passionate. Occultic brainwashing…I have been dying to try that on someone. I think Junior is the right laboratory rat for that."