Valkyrie's Shadow

Winter's Crown: Act 4, Chapter 17

Winter's Crown: Act 4, Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Shalltear’s gaze idly followed the alluring movements of the Dragon-turned-Human’s body as Mare led her away. This much was acceptable, she supposed – Ilyshn’ish appeared to be following the instructions to suppress her abilities and minimize her presence; what remained was a fragment of her substantial natural charm that leaked out to those capable of noticing her.

The assessment that she shared with the Frost Dragon was not an exaggeration in any way: she appeared to be a prodigy in her own right, and the nature that could override her sense was a major obstacle that kept her from fully realizing her potential. When Ilyshn’ish finally did master that nature and establish the appropriate foundations, Shalltear Bloodfallen would have the full power of a talented Draconic Bard at her fingertips.

A subordinate well worth the investment, she thought – one who would help to address several significant weaknesses in the structure of her growing organization, and a crucial piece in its future expansion. She idly wondered about other individuals she could extend her influence over – Albedo and Demiurge still seemed to only value those with singularly superlative ability as worthy of their patronage, so there should be many others overlooked.

Shalltear was slowly drawing Liane Wagner and Florine Gagnier into her camp, but Clara Corelyn was much harder to work on; any inkling of her interest in the Countess would have Albedo react to interfere with her maneuvering, while she came into contact with Wagner and Gagnier for reasons normally related to her own duties. Fortunately, having all three of Clara Corelyn’s closest friends in her pocket would most likely serve her purposes indirectly…actually Ludmila was probably enough, given their relationship.

Beyond them, she needed more: more talented individuals in all fields, ready to be employed should Ainz-sama bless her with further duties.

She turned her attention back to the ongoing renovation of the Dragon aerie. Ludmila’s taxes had arrived with uncanny timing, allowing her to contract a new company of Dwarf architects that had just established itself in their mountain kingdom. They probably expected to be working on the restoration of Feoh Berkana rather than being whisked away to E-Rantel, but they more than happily took her full payment of coin, up front.

While they were here, she was trying to impress upon them the cost-effectiveness of Undead labour and the benefits of collaboration with the Sorcerous Kingdom, but that was yet another reason that she needed more talented agents. With her exposure to everything under the Sorcerous Kingdom’s influence, opportunities abounded. She needed more people to take advantage of everything she was made aware of.

After a time, she decided that there was no purpose in lingering any further and moved on to the next point on her itinerary. With Vampire Brides in tow, she floated down from the wall and into the central district, making her way along the boulevard to the entrance of the government warehouse. Already, a long line of Soul Eaters drawing wagons filled with grain awaited processing.

Though these shipments were the taxes collected from the devastated portions of the royal demesne that had been resettled, they still followed a convoluted route before they reached their final destination. The harvest was collected from the lands to the north and northwest, delivered to E-Rantel under the pretense that they were dropping off their taxes in the government warehouse. From there, they were transferred via Gate to the Great Tomb of Nazarick, which was basically in the opposite direction that they had traveled.

While she understood that it was for security concerns, minimizing the awareness of the nearby guild base amongst the general public, her efforts devising efficient logistical schemes for the aerial transportation network made her itch to fix it somehow.

Shalltear walked into the heavily-guarded entrance of the government warehouse and down the ramp into the cavernous, lightless space. Halfway into the bowels of the warehouse, she found the head of the line.

“?Gate?.”

A portal appeared, wide enough for the queued wagons to make their way through.

“You three,” she addressed the Vampire Brides who had accompanied her, “stay here and help direct traffic on this side.”

“Understood, Shalltear-sama.”

They lowered their heads in unison, and Shalltear stepped through the Gate.

“Welcome back, Shalltear-sama,” Pestonya’s placid voice greeted her on the other side.

“How are we doing on this side?” Shalltear asked.

“Preparations have been completed,” Pestonya replied. “We await delivery…wan.”

The landing area of the Gate brought the awaiting wagons of grain to an area near the front entrance of the Nazarick. A short distance away, there was a ramp leading up to a raised platform, beneath which was placed a bin for dumping grain. From that bin rose a long metal tube that fed into a single, raised silo beside it.

“Where have I seen this before…”

“It’s a common device used by the locals for moving any number of things,” Pestonya explained. “The Death Knights will work a mechanism that drives the screw inside the pipe, which carries the load up with it as it turns. Grain, soil, water – it appears to be applied quite widely throughout the region.”

“I see. Where’s Pandora's Actor?”

“Hmm…on the other side of the silo, by the cabin, I believe…wan.”

Pestonya led Shalltear around the silo, and they found Baroness Wagner near the log cabin in front of Nazarick’s outer gate. Attended by three Elder Liches, the Human noble held a clipboard before her. She tapped a pen against her lip while furrowing her brow at its content.

Shalltear glanced around as she approached the group. Though they had been carried over into the Sorcerous Kingdom’s new administration, the nobles were not permitted to come within sight of Nazarick. Never mind that, Nazarick’s existence shouldn’t even be known to the citizens, save for a few privileged individuals.

The baroness looked up at her approach. Tucking the pen behind her ear, she handed her clipboard to one of the Elder Liches.

“Good afternoon, Lady Shalltear,” her knee-length skirts fluttered in the wind as she respectfully curtseyed, “I hope the day finds you well.”

“Good afternoon, Lady Wagner,” Shalltear replied. “I’m surprised to find you here. Under whose authority have you…”

Her words trailed off, and she looked around again.

“Pandora’s Actor,” she frowned at Baroness Wagner, “whatever are you doing?”

“Hehehe,” the Human noble cackled, “it’s my win.”

The three Elder Liches sighed, and Pestonya tittered at Lady Shalltear’s side.

“Indeed, it is,” the Homunculus head maid said. “But I will still consider this outcome a win, in other ways.”

“Hmm…suppose I can’t deny you that,” Pandora’s Actor replied.

Shalltear glanced over her shoulder at Pestonya before returning her gaze to the form of Baroness Wagner.

“Would someone be so kind as to explain what is going on?” She asked.

“Kinda like a wager?” Lady Wag–no, Pandora’s Actor grinned, “‘Bout how you’d react seeing a Human in front of Nazarick. The Elder Liches predicted that you’d immediately exterminate the interloper, Pestonya thought you’d capture her, and I said you’d try and figure out what was going on first.”

“What a preposterous thing to make a wager over, arinsu,” Shalltear sniffed. “We should be getting this grain processed, yes? Why are you frolicking around as Liane Wagner, arinsu?”

“We’re gonna be conducting a simple experiment before we really get things goin’ here,” Pandora’s Actor explained. “His Majesty wants to not only explore the development of the Adventurers, but how to fix up the civilian population as well. With the summer harvest, we’ve got the opportunity to get a good measure of various people around the realm – data for our research, or something like that.”

“How will you do that, arinsuka?” Shalltear asked.

In response, Pandora’s Actor withdrew an object from his inventory.

“With this!” Lady Wagner’s voice rang out in a grand declaration.

Shalltear peered at the item held up over Pandora's Actor's head.

“…with the Exchange Box?” Shalltear tilted her head, “Also, your talking like Baroness Wagner is starting to make me feel…itchy.”

“With the Exchange Box.” She–no, he nodded with a smile, “The conversion rate of the Exchange Box is contingent on the merchant levels of the operator. The volume of the harvest from each village is large enough that we should be able to treat each shipment of grain as a controlled variable…though we will do it several times with taxes from different villages, just to be sure.”

Pandora’s Actor nodded to the Elder Liches, and one proceeded to the first wagon awaiting on the platform. The Death Knights stationed there tipped the grain out into the bin. The two other Elder Liches scooped out crates of grain, delivering them to Pandora's Actor.

“I see,” Shalltear said, “it is for this reason that you’ve copied Liane Wagner, arinsune.”

“Correct,” the form of Liane Wagner puffed out her petite chest. “Though we have no way to determine levels directly, we can do so through indirect means. We understand how the Exchange Box functions, thus we can derive our measure through its output. Now, how about another wager?”

Shalltear watched as more and more wagons exited the gate, arranging themselves neatly over the nearby grassland. They would be here for a while.

“Why not?” she shrugged. “What do you have in mind, arinsuka?”

“I have three civilian forms stored,” Pandora’s Actor said, “and I will be going through various known merchants as we process taxes over the next while. Of those currently stored, the first is Baroness Wagner, the second, an old lumber magnate from Jezne County. Finally, I have a middle-aged woman who sells ice cream for a living in E-Rantel’s main plaza. Out of the three, who do you believe will offer the most favourable exchange rate?"

“Has this old magnate earned great renown amongst his peers?” Shalltear asked.

“As far as I understand,” Pandora’s Actor replied, “he is only known locally, with no outstanding achievements credited to his long career.”

“Then I’ll go with Lady Wagner,” Shalltear said.

“Is there any particular reason for your selection? This isn’t favouritism, is it?”

Shalltear thought Liane Wagner a bright and attractive young woman of clear usefulness, and she did favour her over most Humans, but it hadn’t factored into her decision in this particular instance.

“It’s because,” she told him, “despite her young age, she is already well known as a capable and ambitious merchant, arinsu. She is from an established merchant bloodline, and has learned directly from her family since childhood.”

“I see,” the form of Liane Wagner rubbed her chin, “So you would use the same logic that has been demonstrated with Baroness Zahradnik: bloodline, tradition, education, and personal ability coming together to result in a superior specimen.”

“That’s exactly right, arinsu,” Shalltear nodded.

“A reasonable choice, then. What about you, Pestonya-san?”

“I choose the magnate,” Pestonya said. “Though Baroness Wagner is indeed all the things Shalltear-sama has chosen her for, we cannot say that this Magnate does not enjoy the same foundation. He may not have earned any great fame, but his long life should have afforded him the time and experiences to grow that the baroness has not.”

Shalltear bit her lip upon hearing Pestonya’s reasoning. She had a good point – decades of accumulated experience should probably amount to something substantial.

“Umu,” the expression sounded strange in Lady Wagner’s voice. “Another solid conjecture. Then I will go with the ice cream merchant – not just to be a good sport, mind you. I truly believe that she will come out on top.”

Why would a simple ice cream merchant be superior to an experienced magnate or a talented individual with ambition and fame? Pandora’s Actor set down the Exchange Box, adjusting its dimensions before retrieving the first crate. An Elder Lich stood by to record their findings as bushel after bushel of grain vanished into the Exchange Box.

After 95 crates were emptied, a single Yggdrasil gold coin appeared.

“A five percent reduction in the conversion threshold, hm?”

Pandora’s Actor nodded to the Elder Lich, who recorded the findings. Shalltear frowned and retrieved a forest green notepad from her inventory, flipping through the pages.

“It takes 100 bushels of grain for a single Yggdrasil gold coin?” Pestonya muttered, “What sort of grain is this…wan?”

“Oats,” Pandora’s Actor replied. “Due to the shortened season that resulted from our…initial difficulties, we settled on a fast growing crop for the Royal Demesne. The fact that we had detailed and accurate local data for preparing this particular crop was also a factor in the decision to do so.”

“A bushel of oats is enough flour for 24 loaves of bread…” Pestonya said, “this rate of exchange seems quite poor, compared to the cost of food in the city.”

“A bushel of oats sells for 2 silver, 9 and 4/10ths of a copper,” Shalltear found the note she was looking for, “at least according to the market prices at the beginning of the harvest. If one Yggdrasil gold coin is worth two Re-Estize gold coins, we’re looking at some dire returns here…”

“Indeed,” Pandora’s Actor said. “100 bushels of oats would net us 24.75 Re-Estize gold coins if sold at that rate. Even accounting for the relative value of a Yggdrasil gold coin…well, the Exchange Box is already known to provide a fraction of base commodity values. In addition, food prices are inflated due to the shortages in Re-Estize, so it makes things seem that much worse.”

“Should we be using the Exchange Box at all, if this is the case?” Pestonya asked, “I feel that this food would be better put to use in some other fashion.”

“Well, dumping this grain on the market will have the effect of lowering its market value,” Pandora’s Actor said. “We’ll be competing with our own merchants as well. The taxes and rent for Undead labour are only a minor portion of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s total harvest, and Albedo has dipped her fingers into the commodities markets in Re-Estize to take advantage of the oncoming glut in supply. Converting this much should be fine.”

That was the first Shalltear had heard of any such thing. What was Albedo up to? She would need to ask the real Baroness Wagner if she had any idea of what might be going on.

After producing four more Yggdrasil gold coins, the form of Lady Wagner warped and melted like so much wax, reforming itself into the balding figure of an aged Human male. Shalltear hmphed as he only took 91 bushels to produce a coin. Pandora’s Actor repeated the process with the ice cream merchant, who produced a Yggdrasil gold coin with 86 bushels. The ice cream merchant put on an insolently smug look that Shalltear would have swatted off of her face if she saw it in the main plaza of E-Rantel.

“I don’t understand,” she pouted. “Why is a stupid ice cream merchant superior to an experienced magnate or Baroness Wagner? Did you really expect this result, arinsuka?”

“I had a sense that it would turn out this way,” Pandora’s Actor said. “The studies of our Adventurer Guild members provided me with the clues for this outcome. It also appears that the improvement of conversion rates has diminishing returns: Nearata-sama’s form took 70 bushels of oats, yet the relative difference between these locals and Nearata-sama is far more vast by comparison.”

“How did the Adventurers clue you in on Merchant levels?” Shalltear asked, “They’re entirely different things, arinsu.”

“The people of this world grow in a distinctly different manner from Yggdrasil entities,” he explained. “For Yggdrasil beings, with levels come skills, spells, abilities and the immediate access to everything else that the level provides. Past that point, it is a matter of execution. The Adventurers do not progress in this manner: gaining in strength does not automatically provide them with new spells, martial arts, skills or abilities – nor do they understand the limits and applications of their improved capabilities. Sometimes, they do not even realize what they are capable of: there is no convenient guidance system that will point them to anything made newly available upon gaining their levels. Nearly everything they accomplish is built on generations of knowledge and hard work, or dependent on their own effort, talent and intellect.”

“So you’re saying that these Merchants are subject to the same difficulties…wan?”

“That’s correct. My hypothesis is that every vocation in this world has these same challenges. These people do not inherently utilize the full capacity of their classes, and various circumstances lead to various levels of utilization.”

Shalltear frowned, mind working to understand the broader implications of what was being said.

“So Lady Wagner only seems to be a high level merchant relative to everyone else because she is squeezing more out of her class levels than these two others are getting…because their circumstances or ambitions don’t demand it?”

“Just so,” Pandora’s Actor nodded. “The magnate has lived comfortably for his entire life, and the ice cream merchant has been doing the same thing for her entire career. There are no motivations that would drive them into harnessing more of their class potential.”

“But it doesn’t explain why they are higher in level,” Pestonya said. “The Adventurers work hard and rapidly gain in levels, so Baroness Wagner, who has a high degree of class utilization, should be advancing in a similar way for her hard work.”

“I believe it is related to your initial thoughts on the lumber magnate,” Pandora’s Actor said. “Both Baroness Wagner and the lumber magnate operate at the top levels of their respective organizations, but the magnate has had the time to accrue more experience. The number of direct merchant actions that they conduct is limited, while this ice cream merchant conducts business directly every day. By the same token, the best merchants under this magnate or Lady Wagner will probably be significantly higher level than their employers.”

“Shouldn’t this lead to merchants becoming more successful than their employers and overturning them?” Shalltear asked.

“It is not as straightforward as combat-centric vocations,” Pandora’s Actor answered. “Outside factors have a great effect on civilian ventures – capital, connections, influence, ability. One who inherits a merchant company has its resources at their disposal and the rights to its direction. As long as they run things with a bare minimum of competence, the tables are not so easily turned. A high level merchant that leaves his company to establish his own essentially loses all of the leverage and resources represented by the organization that he left.”

“So if we leave Baroness Wagner in charge of an ice cream stand,” Shalltear said, “she will become quite the amazing merchant.”

Pandora’s Actor chuckled, seemingly bemused by the idea.

“That might be interesting to see,” he said. “But also keep in mind that we are mostly groping about blindly when it comes to this world’s civilian vocations. The vast majority identified so far did not exist in Yggdrasil, and we do not know where they lead. Forcing people into specific paths might work to a specific degree, but individuals like Wagner are complex. She is a merchant noble, and there are few hints as to how they develop or what they ultimately might become. If those in leadership provide bonuses to their subjects, and a militant noble manifests command capabilities, a merchant noble might also provide some sort of bonus to the merchants working under them. In that case, it is a better path where one who provides benefits to many, who in turn are allowed to focus on their own specializations.”

Pestonya scratched her cheek as they listened to his reply, and Shalltear wasn’t quite sure what to think of it at all.

“That gives us a lot to think about…wan. Yuri Alpha will surely be interested in this information for the sake of developing her curriculum.”

“If we had limited lifespans like these Humans,” Pandora’s Actor said, “it would be a monumental effort – one that requires generations of work on a broad scale to research and develop; prone to losses in direction and focus. Fortunately we do not have this problem: we will figure it out eventually, be it in a thousand years or ten thousand years.”

Pandora’s Actor transformed into Nearata-sama and continued with his work, while Pestonya and Shalltear equalized their mana to keep the Gate running. Pestonya walked off to sit down and watch the flow of wagons, but Shalltear lingered.

“Are we to do this every day until the taxes and rent have all been converted, arinsuka?” She asked.

“For the first day or two,” Pandora’s Actor answered. “Albedo is being extra careful about security in the warehouse. Once she gives the go-ahead, we’ll be doing this in the government warehouse.”

“That’s a relief,” Shalltear said. “It would take weeks to transfer all of this otherwise.”

She continued watching Pandora’s Actor work, tapping a finger against her arm idly.

“Was there something else you wished to discuss?” Pandora’s Actor asked.

“I told her,” Shalltear answered.

“Already? Either you have a great degree of confidence in this Frost Dragon, or she has shown some incredible progress.”

“It is both, I suppose,” Shalltear said. “I should thank you for your thoughts on the matter.”

“Mah…your exceptional intuition provided the initial direction – without it, I wouldn’t have had anything to explore and expand upon in the first place.”

“Will it work?”

“I do not know,” Pandora’s Actor shrugged. “In this new world, where so much is unknown, those with keen intuition hold advantages that those who rely on intellect can only wish they had. Demiurge, Albedo and I require at least some data to work with. You, Mare and Aura, on the other hand, will often discern what is right through mere feeling alone.”

“Do you know why this is?”

“It is how we were designed, is it not?” He replied, “Demiurge, Albedo and I were created to be peerless intellects in our own respective fields, while you, Mare and Aura are a Cleric, Druid and Ranger respectively – classes well-known for intuition and empathy. I would wager that these tendencies extend to all of us in Nazarick with our respective settings.”

“Our settings…speaking of which, I am not self-serving like that Frost Dragon.”

“You are not,” Pandora’s Actor agreed. “The rest, however…”

Shalltear looked down at the grass, fighting to keep the disquieting feeling roiling deep within from changing her expression. Even to this day, she had no memory of what she had done – and she never would. All she had were the accounts of the others, and all she could do was helplessly think about what had gone through the mind of the Shalltear of that time as she did what she had done.

Impulsive and willful. Arrogant, capricious and ruthless. All but helpless to the whims of her created nature when she indulged in her savage lusts and carnal pleasures. She could only imagine what had led to her downfall – her great failure. Her beloved had forgiven her, yet it would always remain: a thorn, lodged deep in her heart.

Shalltear shook her head. No, she couldn’t keep dwelling on it. Any more and she might just dive headfirst into the Exchange Box. After taking a deep breath, she looked up from her introspection and found Pandora’s Actor looking over at her with a teasing expression.

“Hmph,” Shalltear turned her head with a snort. “The Shalltear of tomorrow will be different from the Shalltear of today. I will not allow the mistakes of the past to be repeated.”