It had been a week since Damon had started building the walls and now he was with Barthos inspecting every corner of the walls. Barthos was tasked with building towers and guard houses on each corner of the wall .
During the course of the wall building Damon had noticed an increase in his power capacity. He had noticed that his powers were like muscles , the more he trained and used them, the more it grew.
As Damon continued his instructions a knight on horseback came with a message. Lord Ronalla had sent delegates bringing the promised ransom. Damon of course was very thrilled with this information .
Within an hour Damon arrived at the castle the delegates were already shown to the council chambers . They consisted of three knights and the butler of the Ronalla family.
Damon walked into the chambers with sir Barksdale , the delegates however do not stand but sit showing defiance against Damon. Actually Damon didn't know if they were defiant or just being arrogant because of their position and riches. As the saying goes proximity to power deludes people to think that they weild it.
" Are we going to get this over with or are you going to sit down hoping to rile me up" Damon said while taking his seat at the head of the table.
"And who are you?"asked Fayette the butler of house Ronalla.
" You are in the presence of Lord Damon of house Merula and you have been discourteous " sir Barksdale replied
"Sir Barksdale no need to reprimand them, we are taking their money afterall "said Damon smirking.
" So where is my gold and silver or shall you continue to let your Lady rot in my dungeons?"
"You put the daughter of our Lord Ronalla in a dungeon, have you gone mad Damon? " One of the knights stood up in anger roaring at Damon almost drawing his sword but one of his comrades stopped him .
Damon then roared in mocking laughter , " I would have loved you to see you draw that little sword of yours just to see what happens."
After so much seething and grumbling they presented the chests of gold and silver. The horses and cows were in the back courtyard.
Then he presented Bella Ronalla to the delegates, unwashed and all disheveled.
" What is this Damon, is this how you treat nobility ?" Fayette shouted.
" Ah still with the discourtesy , well your Lady connived with my uncle to usurp my birth right , poisoning me and thereby commiting treason against me. Perhaps I should cut of one of her arms just to show you how serious her crimes are." Damon replied. " Just take your Lady and leave the sight of your people repulses me".
After some hard stares the delegates left with Bella . Few miles outside Merula one of the knights raised a question. " Lord Fayette don't you think the Damon we saw today was different from what we expected, he looked much healthier and stronger than what we expected to see."
Fayette sighed deeply and replied " yes and surprisingly, I didn't sense any magic from him . It was the weirdest encounter, but we'll let Lord Ronalla decide what to do after we tell him . Lets just take the lady back to her father ". Fayette replied.
After putting away the ransom that he had gotten from the Ronallas , Damon made his way to the supposed useless mine which was empty by the way , there was nothing but some ores lying around. The mine had been non functional for years. Infact the mine was rarely mined.
" Is there any one in this territory able to smelt this ore " Damon asked the foreman of the mines .
" Yes my Lord , I will fetch him immediately." the foreman replied.
After a while the foreman returned with a young man who was maybe in his late twenties or early thirties. The man was covered in soils and boils all over his skin.
" I am sorry my Lord I cannot come much closer, I have the pox ."the man replied.
" Come closer, let me see you." Damon commanded. When the man came closer Damon asked " so how come you have not gone to a healer or gotten medicine for your wounds".
" My Lord only high Lords and dukes can afford healers and I am so poor to afford the high prices the alchemists for their potions ". The man replied.
" What is your name ".
"My name is Alaric mi Lord " he replied.
Damon then placed his hand on Alaric and healed him if his sores and other diseases that were plaguing him.
" Oh my Lord, you healed me , how can I ever repay you".
"Well you can start by smelting this ore for me to observe it ." Damon replied.
Two hours later Damon received word that the ore had been smelted so he rushed to the workshop where he was handed a greyish blue metal. Immediately Damon held the metal he figured out that this metal with anti magic properties was tungsten , a very rare metal with high density.
The next day Damon called for Alaric, When he came he was handed a parchment where he was shown a blueprint for a hand and half sword also known as a bastard sword. This parchment contained details which included the design of the hand guard, the hilt and scabbard.
" Make me this weapon Alaric and then maybe we can work together in the future" said Damon.
" I will make it exactly to your specifications my Lord." Alaric replied and left.
Damon now had already formulated countless ways on how to prosper his territory and this tungsten was going to be a key factor in the development of Merula.