Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-Nine — Planning Ahead
Chapter Four Hundred and Thirty-Nine — Planning Ahead “Thank you again,” I said to Mathilde as we exited her little office.The grenoil lady nodded her head. “It’s my job.”I was nodding when I noticed Amaryllis turning with a frown. “No it’s not,” she said. “The Exploration Guild’s purpose is surveying, cartography, dungeon-delving, exploration assistance, and — on rare occasions — diplomacy. I don’t see how interfering in international politics is the purview of the Explorations Guild.”Mathilde raised one brow. “Really? There might have been a time, once, when the guild tried to keep itself fully separate from politics, and some guild masters still believe that it is in the guild’s best interest to avoid that kind of machination, but I was never one of those.”“It puts the guild at risk,” Amaryllis said.“Everything we do is political. Even trying to avoid politics is a political action. If we’re going to be involved no matter what, then I want it to be on our own terms. That’s why I make our agenda as clear as possible. We don’t interfere with relations between countries where we can avoid it, but we openly share what we discover, encourage our members to grow stronger, and help in maintaining the peace and stability of the regions we operate in.”“And what about the guild members who don’t agree?” Amaryllis questioned, a hint of challenge in her eyes.Mathilde gave Amaryllis an incredulous look. “Do you think I get to choose what someone like Abraham Bristlecone agrees with? He might be the most egregious example in the guild, but he’s not the only powerful member. When you have this many people who are this strong, you don’t get to decide what they agree or don’t agree with. You just act as well as you can and hope for the best.”Amaryllis weighed her words for a while before responding. “Well, I suppose that makes sense. In any case, I shouldn’t protest the help too much. It would be nice to catch Rainnewt and his accomplices before they can get this next scheme off.”“We’ll do what we can,” Mathilde said. “And as long as we give it our all, we’ll be able to live with the consequences.” She paused by the entrance back into the... actually, I didn’t know what to call the room where Abraham and the other older members of the guild hung out? A lounge? A bar? It had a bit of everything going on. “I appreciate you bringing this to my attention, and that you’d trust me with this. What will you be doing next?”Amaryllis glanced my way .“I think we’ll collect our companions from Abraham’s clutches, then... I’ll sic Broccoli here on Cholondee. The dragon ostensibly controls the city’s underworld. They’d be some of the first people I’d reach out to if I was going something as foolish as what Rainnewt is doing. If her people have the time and energy to spy on Booksie, then I imagine they’ll have the same to search for troublemakers.”Mathilde nodded. “That seems reasonable. I’ll leave you to it, then.”“Thank you,” Amaryllis said.“We’ll see you around?” I asked Mathilde. “I think we’ll be in Port Royal for a little while!”“Of course,” Mathilde said with a nod.We slipped back into the maybe-lounge and found Abraham back with Awen and Calamity. They were both holding onto some papers. “Hi!” I said as I bounced over to their side. “Did it go well?”“Ah, yes?” Awen said, though she didn’t sound all that certain. She raised the paper she was holding, and I got a glance at it. It looked very official, with the Exploration Guild’s compass rose stamped onto it and everything.“Looks like the guild is taking their new member registration more seriously,” Amaryllis said from my side.Awen nodded along. “They took a lot of information. I’m not a member though. I need to participate in a mission certified by the guild. Um, a training mission? Then I’ll get my pin.”“Same here,” Calamity said. “Guess it doesn’t matter what kind of skills you’ve got, they still want to make sure you fit in, or something like that.”That much made sense. “Do you know when that training exercise will take place?” I asked.“There’s one starting tomorrow,” Awen said. “I didn’t say yes, though. I don’t know if it would be smart to leave the Beaver for a whole day.”I rubbed my chin, then shrugged. “Depends on the mission, I guess. Where is it?”“Just in the forest down below,” Calamity said. “They wanna leave at some unworldly hour of the morning to make it there before noon, then get back overnight.”“That sounds fine,” I said. “We should order all the parts and stuff you need now, so that they’ll all arrive tomorrow or during the week. We don’t have anything planned tomorrow, do we?”“Not that I’m aware of, no,” Amaryllis said.I nodded. “In that case, if you really wanna get the mission out of the way, then you should,” I said. I’d be worried, of course. The mission that Amaryllis and I ran, way way back when we first met each other, was pretty darned scary and much more dangerous than it should have been, but I had confidence in Awen.Besides, she was stronger now than I had been on my training mission, and Calamity would be going too!“I think I’d like that,” Awen said. “Uncle would like it too. Actually... my parents would really dislike it.”“All the more reason to do it,” Calamity said before giving Awen’s back a pat.“Awa, I suppose so. They’ll find out. Exploration Guild membership is public record. It’ll make them, ah, look a little bit bad, maybe?”“Only because Mattergrove is backwards,” Amaryllis said. “In most places having a family member in the guild is a great honour. Besides, your family’s great wealth is mostly due to your uncle, and he’s very obviously part of the guild as well. Your parents will only be embarrassed because they’ve embarrassed themselves. It’s through no fault of your own.”This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.Awen smiled. “I know,” she said. She was standing tall, and as I looked her up and down, I noticed that she looked like she fit right in. She was geared up just as well as some of the adventurers here, and I bet she could give a bunch of them a run for their money.It was nice seeing Awen so self-assured. “Alright! So, we need to visit Cholondee. If Awen and Calamity will be off tomorrow, would it make sense to try and visit her now?”“I suppose so,” Amaryllis said. “We don’t know if she’s even in the city, so it might not hurt to try and discover what her schedule is like.”That made sense. We’d met Cholondee on the way over, and it had looked like she was on patrol, clearing the skies of pirates. Maybe that was a regular thing for her? If she was often out and about that way, then there was a good chance that we’d miss her. “We can go check. I imagine she spends some time at the... uh, mob headquarters place. And if not, maybe she’s home? We could say hi to Rhawrexdee and his mom too!”With a goal in sight and the clock ticking on, we decided to say goodbye to Abraham and the others in the guild. One of these days, I’d just have a sit and chat with all of them. Abraham’s stories were always a blast, and I imagined that I was missing out on a ton of other cool stories from the... less-Abraham-y characters there.“Good luck on your quest!” Abraham said before he rubbed Awen’s head, mussing her hair up into a tangled mess. “Show those no-good paperpushers what a Bristlecone can do!”“I will,” Awen replied with a determined smile.Calamity gave a lighthearted salute. “We’ll be back before you know it, ready to officially join the ranks.”We exited the building, finding ourselves once again enveloped by the hum and hustle of Port Royal. Cholondee and her mobsters weren’t in the same part of the city as Guild Row. They were much further down and south, so we had a good ways to go before we made it there.We took off, heading towards the lower tiers of the city, through a couple of gates in the city walls, and through less and less opulent areas. Port Royal’s nicer areas smelled a little... interesting. Like old gym socks and horse poop. The areas further south smelled a whole lot worse.Because the city was built into the mountainside, it was stuck onto solid stone, which, I imagined, made it tricky to do sewage. So there were big coppery pipes hanging above the streets, angled so that they were always carrying stuff downwards with gravity.In the nicer parts of the city, they were disguised, or hidden in alleys, but in the parts we were now, they were a lot more obvious and not nearly as well-maintained, which meant leakage, and a persistent stinkiness to the roads.“What’s this part of the city called again?” I asked. The homes here were all wooden, instead of the worked stone further up in the city.“The Slumways,” Amaryllis said. “They’re called the Slumways, and likely for good reason.”“Not the prettiest name I’ve heard,” Calamity said. “It does fit with the general... smell of the place.”“You’d think a place as well-off as Port Royal would be able to take care of all of the people living there,” I said. Though, it did look better than how I remembered it. There were fewer people sitting on the roadside, and the roads themselves looked cleaner.We passed by a group of younger grenoil, dressed in little suits with little caps on, sweeping the streets clean with long-handled brooms. They looked like the grenoil mafia people I remembered.The headquarters of the group Cholondee had taken over stood as a sharp contrast. It was nestled in between the grungy lanes of the Slumways. A small mansion made of stone, old and elegant and authoritative, with a decently-sized plot of land next to it.There had been a fountain in the centre once, I recalled, but now it was gone and a lot of the space was paved over with gravel.A fence ran around the exterior, but it was opened up at one end, the entrance flanked by a pair of large stone dragons guarded by a pair of toughs.“Hello,” I said with a wave to the guards. “Is this still the headquarters of the gang Cholondee took over?”The guards glanced at each other, then one of them spoke. “You any of zese?” he asked as he turned to point to a plaque fixed to the fence.“Yeah, if you’re on zat list, you’re not getting in,” the second guard said.ABSOLUTELY NO:AdventurersAssassins
ConmenConwomen
ConpeopleDragon SlayersMinistry of Trade RepresentativesRival GangstersSolicitors“Um, nope, we aren’t any of those,” I responded with a chuckle, scanning the extensive list. It seemed like Cholondee had her share of unwanted visitors. “We’re actually friends of Cholondee. We just wanted to see if Cholondee was here and talk with her.”The two guards looked at each other and seemed to communicate silently for a moment. “Alright,” the first one said, “but you'll be leaving your weapons here. If she's in, you can meet with her. If not, you're leaving immediately.”Amaryllis nodded in agreement. “Understood.”The guards had us deposit our weapons into a sturdy-looking chest by the gate. Once we were disarmed, they allowed us to proceed through the gates.The interior of the compound was neat and orderly. A few grenoil, who I assumed were members of the gang, lounged about, though they straightened up and watched us as we walked through. They didn't seem hostile, just curious.I could see why they weren’t nervous. There was a massive pile of pillows off to one side, an absolute mountain of them. lounging on top, resting on her side with her tummy bulging out a little, was Cholondee.
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Chapter Four Hundred and Forty — Modern Draconic Monetary Theory
Chapter Four Hundred and Forty — Modern Draconic Monetary Theory “Introducing, her royal eminence, queen of ze shadows, ze light, and all ze shades in between. Ze great warlizard, ze eater of people who don’t pay zeir fines on time and who talk during plays, Daughter of Port Royal, Queen of ze underground, Mistress of Mystique, Sovereign of Secrecy, and Wielder of Wisdom. Ze Guardian of Gold, ze Doyenne of Diamonds, and ze Tyrant of Treasures. Defender of ze downtrodden, punisher of perpetrators, and ze undying flame in ze heart of ze abyss. Slayer of sirens, wrangler of rogues, and ze bane of bandits. Ze elegant empress whose roar silences zunder, whose gaze can pierce zrough ze zickest of fogs, and whose very presence commands respect, awe, and a wee bit of terror. Ze unyielding, ze unparalleled, ze unmatched — behold, ze great Cholondee!”The grenoil announcing Cholondee took a few deep breaths. It looked like he’d tired himself out going on and on like that, and now he was panting atop a small milkcrate off to one side, arms splayed out towards the still-lounging Cholondee.“What’s a doyenne?” I asked.Cholondee raised her head from her mound of shiny things. “A doyenne is the title for a woman who is the greatest in her field,” she explained.“Oh, that makes sense,” I said with a nod. “Thanks! I don’t think I’d ever heard that one before.”“It’s Grenoil,” Cholondee explained, which really only made sense, seeing as how this was a majority-grenoil city. She turned towards the announcer grenoil. “You forgot a part.”“Oh?” they asked before they stumbled off of their box and bowed low. “Forgive us, great Cholondee! Zhis one... doesn’t know which one he forgot?”Cholondee sniffed. “You forgot to mention that I’m a dragon.”“Ah.”Cholondee turned her head our way, then squinted a little. “Oh, it’s you. Broccoli and her bunch.”“Yup!” I said. “You recognize Amaryllis and Awen, and this is Calamity! He’s technically the newest member of the crew, but he’s been with us for a while.”“Isn’t that Caprica?” Calamity asked. “She joined after me, nya?”I hummed, tapping my chin. “I guess she did. It feels weird because we knew her for a while before. I’m sorry!”“I’m not taking offence,” Calamity said.Cholondee’s head snaked closer. “Now that you’re done sorting through yourselves, will you tell me why you’re here?”Grinning, I bounced on the balls of my feet a bit before answering. “We came for a few reasons. First, to thank you for the help the other day. I was wondering if there was anything you’d like as a gift?”Cholondee blinked. “Yes, I would like a gift,” she said. A long tongue slipped out between her lips. “If you’re wondering what sorts of things I like, consider gold, jewellery, meat, or fine teas.”“Oh, I had the Tea Making skill until recently. It got gobbled up and turned into another skill, so I’d love an opportunity to test out my tea making skills now! We could have a little party. I’m sure we can find some cakes and pastries. They do make pastries with meat in them, right?”“They do?” Cholondee asked. “What an intriguing concept. Yes, I’d accept that as a gift. When would this tea party happen?”“What about tomorrow?” I asked. Calamity and Awen would be on their little adventure, but otherwise I didn’t think I had anything planned for the next day.“Tomorrow is acceptable. I look forward to it,” Cholondee said. She sounded exceptionally smug.I heard Amaryllis sigh next to me. “We’re going to need to visit every butcher in the city for this, aren’t we? So much for keeping to a budget.”“Was that all you came here for?” Cholondee asked.I shook my head. “No, no, that’s not it. But the rest is... a little more sensitive. Uhm do you think we could talk in private?”Chlondee blinked at me. “I am a dragon,” she said. “I don’t fit into private little rooms. But if you need privacy....” She turned to one of the grenoil rogues nearby. “Give us space.”The grenoil didn’t hesitate to clear the yard. I wasn’t sure if I could trust that none of them would be listening in from afar, but if they did, they’d be running the risk of annoying their boss, and maybe of being eaten? I was really hoping that Cholondee didn’t make a habit of eating her workers. That sounded like the kind of thing that unions were started to prevent.“Thank you,” I said.“You’re welcome,” Cholondee said. “And I’m a dragon.”“Uh... yes, you are,” I agreed. “Anyway... I don’t know how to break this to you. Um. Are you invested in your brother’s wedding, much?”“I am!” Cholondee said. She perked up and her tail thwumped down onto her pile of goodies. “Once my brother is married, he will be too busy with honeymoons and married life to strengthen himself more. My rulership of Port Royal’s underworld is helping me gather a great big hoard and I am making many allies. Soon I’ll be much stronger than Rhawrexdee ever was. Then he will be the little sibling!”“Is that how it works?” I asked.Cholondee shrugged her wings. “Why shouldn’t it be?”“Well, if you say so,” I said. “Do you like Booksie?”“Hmm, yes. She’s good company. She knows many books, and is learning how to be a good little dragon herself. I don’t like her the way Rhawr does. If the wedding doesn’t work out, then maybe I’ll let her be one of my chief minions. She can be my bookkeeper.”“Wow, that sounds like quite the compliment,” I said.“It is!” Cholondee said. “It’s not everyone that a dragon would trust to keep an eye on their hoard of non-liquid assets.”Amaryllis perked up at that. “Non-liquid assets?”“Gold is good. But gold depreciates and appreciates in value over time in unpredictable ways. Real-estate, bonds, and ownership of companies is a lot more reliably profitable. I am a smart dragon, and I understand that. Old dragons don’t. They already have hoards to sit upon. But if I want to retire, then I’ll want the greatest of hoards. That means making shrewd investments, and then burning down the competition.”The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.“Booksie’s helping you with that?” I asked.“Yes! She’s quite skilled with numbers and writing them in the little squares of a ledger book. And she knows history well too, which makes predicting the future a lot easier. Besides, it’s nice to have someone who can understand and appreciate the more complex facets of hoarding. My brother’s hoard might be big, but it’s a cluttered mess with no finesse. I hope she’ll help him clean up his act!”I nodded, mulling over what Cholondee had shared. “So, the wedding is important to you because it keeps Rhawrexdee preoccupied. But you also value Booksie’s assistance and company. Got it! I’m happy you get along well with Booksie. You’re going to be sisters soon, after all.”“Sisters?”“Sisters-in-law, at least,” I said.“Ah,” Cholondee said. “Yes, I suppose that some cultures do that. Dragons don’t usually see things in quite that way, but I suppose... hmm, a sister. I wouldn’t mind a little sister. So, does that answer your questions about my investment in her wedding?”I took a deep breath. “Ah, that’s not quite why we’re here. We’re here because there might be a hiccup with the wedding. And we might need your help.”She leaned in, hot breath washing over me. “Go on.”“There’s this guy called Rainnewt. He’s basically... uh, a bad guy. And we think he’s planning on ruining Rhawrexdee’s and Booksie’s wedding.”“‘Ruining’ is putting it lightly,” Amaryllis said. “We discovered that he intended to smuggle Snowlander weapons into Port Royal. He’s the same man who tried to assassinate the king of Sylphfree, who kidnapped a number of harpy nobles, and who has caused what is no doubt a great deal of trouble elsewhere that we haven’t been able to stop.”Cholondee’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve heard of him,” she said.“You... have?” I asked. No one we talked to had known about him before. He was always some shadowy do-badder causing trouble because no one knew about him.“Yes. He came to my mother some time ago. He asked her how much it would cost for her to do things for him. He offered heaps of gold and a hoard of promises for her help.”“Her help doing what, exactly?” Amaryllis asked.Cholondee’s eyes glinted. “To unleash death and destruction across the world. I think he wanted her to torch the cervid capital, then crush the cities of the Harpy Mountains as well. He said that once everyone was cowed, she could rule over them herself as queen of everything.”A shiver ran down my spine. If Rainnewt was trying to recruit dragons into his schemes, then they were probably a lot more complicated than I’d envisioned.“Your mother refused?” Awen asked.Cholondee snorted. “Please. If my mom wanted to be queen of everything, she wouldn’t need some pesky little man to do anything for her. She’d just fly out and take over whatever she wants herself.”“Ah, yes, of course,” Amaryllis said. “This is clearly not just about the wedding then. It’s possible that he’s trying to get a bit of revenge on your mother for refusing to help him back then. Is she going to be in attendance?”“Of course. She’s Rhawrexdee’s mom too, you know. And also a dragon.” Cholondee rested back onto her heap of silverware and jewels. “But I don’t think we need to worry. Nothing can hurt my mother.”“It would still cause quite the scene,” I said.Cholondee nodded. “Are you suggesting a more proactive approach to dealing with this fool who isn’t a dragon?”“Uh, actually, yeah. That’s why we came. We talked to Mathilde already, the leader of the Exploration Guild. She agreed to get some more security at the wedding, and she’ll start looking for people that might be working with Rainnewt.”“That old guild? It’s nothing but ancient fossils that my mother hasn’t bothered blowing away.”“Well, they want to help, so I wouldn’t say no to that,” I said. “The sylph embassy is also going to help, probably! That’s two groups in Port Royal already. We thought that maybe you could help us too? You have people looking after Booksie already, right?”“Hmm, yes. I told some of my people that it would be bad if something happened to Booksie. I think they’re looking after her now. But this is more than just keeping idiots away.”“So you’ll help us?” I asked.Cholondee’s tail twitched. “If you pay me.”I blinked. “Huh?”“I accept gold. Only gold.”I looked at my friends, then back at the dragon. I thought she was onboard with helping us, but this seemed like a big reversal of that. “I... uh, guess we could?”Amaryllis huffed a ‘stop talking Broccoli’ kind of huff. “You know, this will hurt you, right?” Amaryllis asked.“How? I am a dragon.”“If Rainnewt is able to act in your city, through your underground, then doesn’t that challenge your authority? Besides, if you allow Rainnewt to do what he wants, then it’ll destabilise the balance of power. There’s a reason most nations try very hard to keep to the status quo with their policing forces. It makes things very predictable. Unpredictability is bad for the market.”Cholondee hummed. “I suppose. I’ll have to talk to my advisors about it. Maybe Booksie will want to come for tea tomorrow? We could talk about it then.”“Okay!” I said. I was sure we could convince Cholondee to help. She seemed like someone who would be a good friend, or at least a good neighbour. “So, lunch tomorrow?” That gave me a whole day to come up with convincing arguments!
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