Cedric sent out a letter to Silvergate requesting the dwarven hammer Thraina, she was one of the few dwarven hammers that resided close to Oakbrook and she visited the town once before so she knew Cedric and the town's outline in a way.
Three days later, Cedric accompanied by the three knights went out the gate to greet Thraina as she arrived in her coach, the door opened and a 4 feet tall female with dark brown hair and soft features hopped out onto the floor, unlike the dwarves they saw earlier in the mines, Thraina was a beautiful short woman that could be mistaken for a human teenager, on her back, a large metal hammer adorned with dwarven runes and golden motifs.
"Cedric! How you doing, lad" She said energetically reaching up to hug Cedric.
"I'm good Mrs. Thraina, how was your trip here?" Cedric asked with a smile.
"Couldn't have been better, where is that old oaf Thaddeus?" She asked looking behind him.
"Father is on a trip to the capital currently, so I'm the one taking care of Oakbrook in his stead" Cedric replied.
As they entered through the gate and strolled through the town heading for the town hall, Thraina was amazed by how lively the town was, the last time she was here there was barely anyone on the street and the market was mostly empty, "Looks like the town is thriving!" She said to Cedric excitedly as Cedric was being greeted by everyone who passed by.
"A couple of months ago, some adventurers arrived from a newly discovered continent to the west, well, they discovered us, and Oakbrook was the first city they stumbled upon, so our tax income and economy have been ten times better lately thanks to them" Cedric replied with a smile.
"Ah, Thaddeus must be in the capital informing them then, since we haven't had any news about these adventurers in Silvergate"
"Y-Yes he is doing that right now" Cedric replied with an awkward smile before hastening his steps to the town hall.
As they approached, Thraina noticed some soldiers wearing unnaturally heavy and expensive armor all bearing a family's crest on their chest, she eyed them without saying a word stepping closer to Cedric, "Do you have a guest?" She whispered as they went through the town hall's door.
"Oh yeah, one of the nobles from that western continent came here with the adventurers, he has been a great help keeping the adventures in check and dealt with a ton of problems lately, he also helped me overhaul the town's garrison" Cedric replied as he opened the door to his office.
"A noble? Is he like a duke?" She asked as she rested her hammer on the wall nearby and took a seat before Cedric's desk.
"A prince" He replied as he pulled a small notebook from one of the drawers.
"A PRINCE?!" She exclaimed, "A prince must be received by the capital, lad, don't get yourself in trouble keeping him here, no offense but that'd give out a bad image about our Empire" She continued.
"Don't worry, First Knight Robin is coming in two weeks to greet him" Cedric replied, "That's why I requested you"
"Yes boy but I doubt giving the inn a makeover or even the town hall would be any different" She replied rubbing her head.
"Ms. Thraina I'm going to give the entire town a makeover" Cedric said before three of the town hall's servants entered the office with all the coin bags that were given to him by Rage.
Thraina's jaw dropped in shock as she couldn't imagine how much money would be there, "Cedric boy you're not engaging in slavery are you?!" She jumped on top of the desk putting her face uncomfortably close to his.
"Calm down, Mrs. Thraina, this is all thanks to the tax income and the generous aid of the second prince Valerian" Cedric replied softly pushing her back to her seat, "He's a wealthy man and luckily, decided to invest in Oakbrook" He continued.
Thraina sighed looking down to her feet before looking back at Cedric, "So how much money is there? 10,000 gold coins? no maybe 20,000? I can do a lot with that much"
"100,000" Cedric said.
Thraina's eyes widened as she started to drool onto the desk before almost fainting, "H-H-H-H-HUNDRED TH-THOUSAND!"
"If that's not enough I can spare around 10,000 more from the monthly taxes in two weeks" Cedric replied with a concern that the money wasn't enough.
"BOY!" She yelled, "Let me show you why they call me the best dwarven hammer in the Eastern Empire"
Cedric explained that they needed a guest house for the important guest who was staying in Oakbrook, additionally, the Town Hall needed an entire makeover as well, it was a run-down stone building with a small garden after all, and the rest of the money can go into the inn, the market and the houses.
"But that still doesn't cover the whole 100,000 coins, hmm" She thought to herself, "Cedric, how would you like turning Oakbrook into a small city" She continued.
"A small city?" Cedric was confused at her remark.
"If we upgrade the town hall into a small castle, we can fit a small throne room, barracks for the garrison, a wall which can serve as an inner wall and a second layer of defense to Oakbrook and a proper garden" She answered, "But that will effectively move Oakbrook from the category of 'Town' into 'City' which will increase the taxes given to the capital from 14% to 21% of the annual total income of the city"
Cedric thought for some time, not knowing whether his father would agree to such a thing or not, after all the total income of the town despite increasing with the Western adventurers arriving, was still barely enough to cover the town's expenses now that the town's population increased almost tenfold, also he heard that the nearby towns also received a lot of these adventurers but are not doing as well since they do not have someone like Valerian aiding them, well, except for Frostholm to the north, he heard that a man called Adrian who was also the head of a noble clan was aiding them and they were developing rapidly just like Oakbrook.
After giving it some thought, Cedric hated to admit but he didn't even know if his father was alive or not, and he had to make a decision.
"Mrs. Thraina, let's do it" Cedric smiled as Thraina got all excited.
"Well then, we will have to clear the town hall for me to start working on it, it will be three days" She said lifting three fingers.
"Well, looks like Prince Valerian will have to stay in the inn then" Cedric smiled rubbing his head.
"WHAT? BOY! I forgot that he was staying in the town hall" Thraina let out a frustrated sigh thinking for a second.
"Don't worry, when he first came, he insisted on staying in the inn with his countrymen, he's not a spoiled brat like most of the nobles here" Cedric said.
"Well, even if he isn't I can't allow a prince to stay in a random inn like that"
"How about we meet him and talk to him then?" Cedric said.
Thraina did not doubt that the guy Cedric was talking about was less than a prince, 100,000 gold coins were enough to fund Oakbrook for at least 20 years, not even the Golden Consortium who were the largest merchants guild in the empire could gather that amount of money, that's why she knew damn well that her manners were not fit to meet a prince, and acting polite wasn't her thing, so she hesitated.
"Mrs. Thraina, don't worry, I told you he's not a spoiled brat"
Thraina and Cedric made their way out of the office, asking one of the soldiers where Valerian was, the soldier was initially confused not knowing who Valerian was, so he refused to answer and remained still before Cedric spotted Sensei heading out of the town hall himself.
"Hey, Sensei!" Cedric called out to Sensei, the nearby soldier raised his sword pointing it towards Cedric, "You dare say the lord's name with your fi-" The soldier was interrupted by Sensei who immediately rushed to silence him before he escalated the situation.
"At ease lad, he's a friend" The soldier sheathed his sword back returning to his position, "Sorry about that, they're just.." Sensei didn't find the words with Cedric letting out a sigh of relief.
Thraina was initially captivated by Sensei's presence, a large strong man who carried a huge shield and big broadsword like they were nothing, even his weird eyes were no bother to her dwarven heart before Sensei noticed her staring at him.
"Uhh.." He looked back at Cedric, "What's up?"
"We wanted to meet Valerian so do you know where he might be?"
"Oh he's just having a drink in the Inn, I was on my way there, these two soldiers are my personal escort so I'm sorry about their behavior, I'll make sure to discipline them later" Sensei stared back at the soldier who didn't react.
"He's drinking at the inn? that's the weirdest prince I've ever seen, lad" Thraina said in amusement.
"I told you he's not a spoiled brat" Cedric smiled as they made their way to the Inn.
As Sensei opened the Inn's door, Eve rushed to give him a hug, leaving Thraina with a blank stare in the back, she had no right to say anything but really? an innkeeper? he looks like one of the knights escorting the prince and must be of a high status, so an innkeeper?
"Here he is" Sensei pointed to a nearby table where all the clan members including Varon and Sylvora were gathered, sipping some ale and sharing some laughs.
"Lad if I didn't know I'd have mistaken him for one of them adventurers" Thraina said to Cedric as they approached Rage's table.
"Cedric! Grab a seat, my guy!" Rage called out in excitement as soon as he saw Cedric entering the tavern.
Cedric grabbed two chairs for him and Thraina from the bar as they sat on Rage's table, shortly after Eve came and sat down two tankards of ale before the both of them.
"Valerian, meet Thraina, the dwarven hammer I talked about earlier" Cedric said pointing at Thraina who was still dumbfounded by the fact she was sitting with a prince in a shabby inn.
"Hello there, I'm Valerian, lovely meeting you" Rage said adjusting himself to face her.
"Wait, where is the hammer?" Madeen poked from behind almost scaring Thraina.
"I-It's in the town hall, nobody can use it anyways except the one who bears its mark so don't worry about someone stealing it" Thraina replied stuttering a little before gathering her thoughts and calming down.
"Damn, I wanted to see the hammer, also she doesn't look like a dwarf, are you sure you're not just a gremlin?" Madeen pouted before Rage threw his dagger at him, Madeen swiftly caught the dagger handing it back to Rage, "Alright alright jeez"
"Sorry about my companion here, he's a bit energetic" Rage smiled at Thraina.
"N-No worries, Your Majesty, I'm actually a half-dwarf not a full dwarf that's why i have human features" Thraina smiled awkwardly.
"Valerian I have some exciting news" Cedric said before explaining Thraina's plan of turning Oakbrook into a city.
"That's lovely, did the money we gave you cover all the expenses or do you need more? i believe I had like 15,000 here somewhere" Rage said before materializing some coin bags on the table, leaving Thraina dumbfounded one more time by the fact that he could use spacial magic.
"No no, actually the money we had was more than enough, I also have some other news" Cedric said as Rage put the money back into his inventory.
"Spill the beans"
"Frostholm in the north has been rapidly developing as well thanks to a Western noble like yourself called Adrian" Cedric said.
"Oh shi, how did Adrian end up north?" Sensei called out from the bar as he was chatting with Eve as usual before approaching their table.
"There must be multiple exit points then, maybe that's why we haven't heard of Phoenix at all, maybe he came out at a different exit point and got lost" Jimmy pointed out thinking to himself for a moment before noticing how confused Cedric was, "The road between our continent and yours is connected through a gate, a portal if you may, that's why we think there are multiple exit points, which makes sense since there are multiple entry points as well"
"A portal? That's a really high-level magic, not even the Magic Academy principal at the capital can use it" Cedric pointed out in awe before Jimmy conjured a small gate, after Cedric took a closer look he saw the town hall on the other side.
"I-I'm not surprised anymore" Cedric sighed in frustration before letting out an awkward laugh, "But it looks like you know this man Adrian, is he one of your subjects?" Cedric asked before the clan members looked at each other and laughed out loud including Sylvora and Varon.
"I wish man, but no, Adrian is an honorable man, he may even stand as my equal" Rage said.
"Your equal? is he also a prince?" Cedric questioned.
"You can say that yes, he is the head of a much much larger clan, although not as powerful, they have almost the same influence as us, but don't worry, he isn't an evil person" Rage replied with a smile before taking another sip of his ale.
"Well then, we came here to say that in order for the town hall to be upgraded, you'll have to stay somewhere else for three days" Cedric said.
"Oh that's easy, we'll just stay in the inn"
"MY LORD I CAN NEVER ALLOW YOU TO STAY IN SU-" Sylvora yelled before Varon smacked her on the head again.
"You dare interrupt our lord?" Varon glared at her before she looked down in silence.
"Don't be too harsh on her Varon, she's just not used to all this yet" Rage smiled before turning back to Thraina.
"I don't mind staying in the inn, you can start working Mrs. Thraina, if you need any materials or further funds just let me know, I'm sure the adventurers here would be more than glad to offer manual labor as well"
"Well then Thraina, are you satisfied now?" Cedric asked.
"I won't disappoint ya! just watch and see the best dwarven hammer in the east at work!"