Kilna opened it, and I followed her out into the hallway, closing it behind me. I was sure that this was about Alizra, and I had meant to talk to her about her dislike for her previous employer.
"I have her in a cell of sorts," I said, leaving out the part about almost killing her by accident.
"That is good, but you are going to need more than walls to protect you from her. Alizra is a master of manipulation and needs no magic to do so. Do not let her swoon you, or she will just use you for her own ends, and you will become her puppet," Kilna said, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.
"I am not the type to be used by a woman, but I will need her help in the future as my figurehead until I can break the stigma the Aquaking has made for us Numerians," I said, and Kilna dropped her arms with an incredulous look on her face.
"Did you not just hear anything that I just said?! She is a snake! And you want to give her just what she wants?!" She demanded, and I nodded.
"One of the best ways to keep a person loyal is to keep them happy and satisfied. She wants to rule and supposedly help people, so that is what I will have her do on the face of things, but I will be running things from the shadows. That is the way it should be," I said, and then put up my hand before Kilna could burst out with what was surely a repeat of what she had just said for the third time. "I respect your opinion, and I have noted your concerns. I did this the first time you told me. Unless you have something else important to say, you have a job to get back to because those boys will be relying on you and Fawna, who stayed up too late. Focus on your work, and don't worry about me," I instructed, and Kilna let out a long sigh.
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you," She said and headed back into my office.
When the door closed, I started walking, then stopped at Miles' office, knocked on the door, and then opened it.
"Yes? What diabolical plan do you have for me today, boss?" The man asked without looking up from the notepad he was writing notes on with his computer turned off.
"I need you to go with the kids later and bribe some people out of jail. Nothing right away, but in the afternoon, I will be sending you them. I will give you money to get them out, but in the meantime, I want you to be tracking down any locations that will have platinum outside of the castle. I don't care how I have to get it, I just need the locations, and I need you to give them to one of the girls to punch in," I explained, and Miles looked up at the mention of platinum.
"What do you plan on doing?" He asked curiously.
"Robbing them," I replied plainly, and Miles nodded, but he looked unsure.
"That is good, and some of the richer folk will be keeping some in safes, but I am sure that isn't a problem for you. The issue is that the people that will have the most are the magical item dealers. Stealing from the rich is fine, but these people already have been cut off at the knees and can barely make ends meet as it is," Miles explained, but then quickly added. "Whatever you want to do is fine, but I just thought I would mention that. If you do plan on taking the city, having your hands in their pockets would be a good business once that crazy lunatic is removed."
That was a good point, but I had already considered this. "Make sure to make them out as dealers, and I will compensate them. Leave a price per 100 grams of platinum that Ned pays, and I will double that, leaving it behind after I steal the metal," I explained, and Miles nodded.
"Good, good. We need to keep these businesses going, and our helping them will put them in debt with you. It is forcing the debt, but in the current climate of things, I would say you can get away with it," Miles said, and I nodded, and he returned to his notes.
"I will get you your black knight back soon, but I will need more platinum first. Alizra destroyed it when I was capturing her, and now it is another silver knight, but I have it on construction duty with the boys," I said, and Miles looked up again.
"I was going to ask about that, but it seems like a good way to earn revenue since most of mine has halted," Miles said.
"Yes, and it will slowly help change the look of this dark city. There is no need for it to look like a shit hole. For now, I will use the knights to earn money with construction during the days and then as an escort service at night," I explained, and Miles gave me a strange look.
"Who are you going to offer this to? And what do you mean? Like guard people?" He asked, and I nodded.
"Yeah. We will make it cheap as snot at first, and just use the silver knights as advertisement, making the drones do the actual protecting. They will be able to prevent most people from attacking the client, but if it doesn't, one of the knights will rush over. This is another thing that will be more effective once I can make more of everything," I explained.
"Hey, now that is a solid idea! You know? I know some bar owners that would not only pay for protection but would get the word out and even pay you to get more people to come after dark to the bars! Do you think that would be of interest?" Miles asked.