Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.29 (61) (Patreon)

Lord Cosgrave was enjoying her dinner. It had been some time since she had been able to spend some time with any of her consorts. Tonight, she was dining with two of them, Dustin Mosgrave and Terrance Blackwood. She’d been with them both for years, and everyone was relatively sure that Dustin was the father of her current children. Graciously, City Lord Heleema Cosgrave didn’t hold that against him. Her children’s failures were their own, and she didn’t blame him in the least.

The dining room they were currently using was cozy, and the table was not overly large. Dim lights gave the room a romantic ambiance, and the wine was flowing freely. Rank had been disregarded, and the conversation was easy for all of them.

Leaning back in his chair, Terrance said, “I agree that Derek is a lost cause. The boy has always been an idiot. Remember when he wanted to have that kennel master executed because he couldn’t figure out how to get the hounds to listen to him? He was maybe 7 or 8?”

Chuckling, Dustin replied, “He’s not an idiot, he just refuses to think. Those are two different things. An idiot would learn poorly, but Derek learns the wrong lessons well. He chooses the conclusions that he wants, then picks the facts that support his position. It’s our fault for not stomping on that trait early.”

Heleema smiled at the two men. They both cared greatly for the children. Hopefully, that trend will continue with the new brood she planned on having. They were both accomplished men, and she appreciated them for more than their duties in the bedroom.

Currently, Dustin was doing a wonderful job running the keep. She had put him in charge of staff appointments and scheduling. The man was a wizard with a clipboard. He wasn’t very powerful, but he was reliable. She would miss him when he was gone, she could already see that age creep was starting to affect him.

Terrance on the other hand was still as attractive as ever. Technically, he was her liaison with the military. However, mostly he was her eyes and ears among the guards and soldiers in the city. If someone held a weapon while at work, Terry knew about them. He was a registered problem solver, and it was comforting to have his unwavering support. Because of his duties, he spent a lot of time training. He was leveling well, and Heleema expected him to be around for a long time.

Terrance interrupted her thoughts. He said, “It’s Deidre I’m worried about. Normally she’s very smart, but she let’s herself be dragged into Derek’s plans too often. Even if she seems to have let her grudge with Lord Walker go, I think she’s still planning something. I heard some whispers today.” He finished quietly, and then sipped his wine with a frown.

Heleema shook her head in disappointment. “I’ve said my piece, but I think she’s ignoring my council. I don’t know if it’s due to the shame of having to be saved during the Noble War, or vengeance on behalf of Derek, but she’s still angry,” she said.

Dustin spoke up, “Are you going to send her to start her own branch too?”

Heleema looked at Dustin, trying to see what he felt about the option. The man’s face was blank, and she couldn’t tell if he approved of how she handled Derek. Rather than play word games, she just asked him, “Are you angry about how I handled Derek?”

Dustin shook his head. “I’ve known the children since they were born. Several of us have treated them as our own. I love both Derek and Deidre a great deal. But I’m not blind to their faults. You did what you had to do for House Cosgrave. He nearly pitted us against the royals, all for the sake of his pride. You did the right thing, don’t doubt yourself,” he said, his voice filled with compassion.

Terrance chimed in, “I agree. And if Deidre follows his example, she’ll have to be cut off as well. You need an heir that isn’t impulsive. One that thinks things through. You know they were only your first children. You have many chances to try again. Don’t worry so much, it will work itself out.”

Frowning in thought, Heleema asked, “Terry, what whispers did you hear?”

Sitting comfortably in his chair, Terrance sipped his wine and replied, “Nothing’s confirmed. But I think someone is looking for a hunter team that would be willing to cause an accident for Lord Walker out in the wilds. It may not even be Deidre, but I can’t think of anyone else that would put their foot into that trap.”

Dusting exhaled deeply and said, “I had such high hopes for the girl. Is there any way you can stall the search, maybe give whoever is behind it a chance to calm down and think things through?”

Shaking his head, Terrance replied, “Right now, it’s just people talking. I could look into it, but then I’d know about it. I don’t know if that would be any better.”

Heleema was tired of the subject. Her daughter wasn’t her concern anymore. “Terry, tomorrow morning, contact General Branson and tell him what you heard. Make sure he relays to Lord Walker that House Cosgrave issued the warning. Let’s put some distance between us and the plot. Even if Deidre is behind it, she’ll have covered her tracks well enough.”

Terrance nodded and his link lit up to indicate that he was leaving himself a note.

Heleema stood up from the table. Picking up her glass of wine, she leaned forward to grab the bottle. “Now let us put this matter aside for the moment and concentrate on something more important. We have some new heirs to make,” she said with a smirk.

Grinning, the two men stood up to follow her out of the dining room. They had a lot of very enjoyable work to do.

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Nero had known that Vera and Nick were rich, but he didn’t know that they were ‘noble rich’. Looking around their mansion, he marveled at how different the architecture was from the center and the keep. While the keep was medieval stone with a gold gilding, and the Center was wood walls with cathedral-like ceilings, their mansion was something like concrete wrapped in glass.

Tall windows were everywhere, and Nero could see their massive estate stretching into the distance. Although he knew that the estate was near the city, he didn’t know if it was inside the walls. There was a treeline in the distance, with gardens and fountains in between. Large grass sections were cut with patterns while stone walkways crisscrossed from one end to the other. The sun was beautiful as it set behind the mountains in the distance.

Sipping his water, Nero looked around the room he was in. The tall ceilings had strips of essence lights providing the room with a warm glow. The white and black tiles on the floor, would not look out of place in any of the fancy ‘cribs’ from Nero’s old world. Artwork was on the walls, but it was not excessive. Instead of scenes of battle, or victory, they were landscapes of magic forests and fantasy environments. Nero supposed that here, they were actually places he could visit. What use was fantasy, when your world was already full of wonder.

Nick walked into the room and said, “Sorry about that. Dinner will be ready soon. Do you need anything?”

Shaking his head, Nero replied, “No. I’m good. I have to ask though, where are we? Are we still inside the city walls? And if not, are we safe?”

Pouring himself a whiskey from a wet-bar along the wall, Nick chuckled and said, “Yes, we’re safe. Don’t worry. I showed you a map of the city once, didn’t I?”

Nero thought about it and said, “Yeah, kind of. You showed me an overhead view, but I think it was only a part of the city. It definitely demonstrated how big the city was. But I don’t remember there being any place with this much open space.”

Nick smiled and walked over to Nero. Moving to stand next to him, Nick waved his hand, and a hologram of the city appeared on the floor in front of them. It even showed some of the mountains that the city sat up against. The scale was so massive, that the walls were only an inch high. The city rose and fell with the uneven land. Some sections were able to overlook others, but the distance was so great that it would require skyscrapers to get a nice view.

Nero looked closely, and saw that the inner ring had several sections that were full of greenery and forests. He assumed they must be the areas for noble estates. Looking closely, Nero found the keep. Although it was so small he couldn’t see the features, he recognized the walls and the fact that the city was organized in a pinwheel around it. As he stepped through the hologram to get a closer look, Nero was amazed at the planning that must have gone into creating something like this.

Looking back at Nick, he asked, “Why don’t you guys build ‘up’ rather than ‘out’? Taller buildings would provide better views.” Turning back to the hologram, Nero pointed down and said, “There are towers here that aren’t that tall.”

Nick burst out laughing. He said, “Nero, think of the scale of the walls you passed through. How tall were they? Compare that to what you’re looking at. If we built taller, it wouldn’t be economical. Over time, Dorchester will grow taller, like every other city in Oglivarch. I don’t have an accurate representation of Hennings, the capital, in my link. But, if I did, you’d see buildings tall enough to reach the clouds. Dorchester is less than 2000 years old. It’s still growing.”

Taking a deep drink of his water, Nero felt a little sick. This was just too large to comprehend. He knew that a couple million people called Dorchester home, but ‘seeing’ it was different. Nero walked over to the area near the mountains and knelt down. It looked like there were some industrial sectors and the gates in the area went right into the mountain. The wall bent along mountain, creating a lip that protected the city. He’d never seen anything like it.

Queitly, Nero asked, “Are all cities in Oglivarch this size?”

Nick seemed happy with Nero’s discomfort. “Yup. Dorchester is nothing special. I wish I could show you Hennings. Now THAT is a city. It’s a tier 4 city with planar pockets and soaring spires. If it were displayed in the same scale as this,” he gestured to his hologram of Dorchester, “it would be larger than this room.”

Nero stood up, and nodded as if he just realized something. “This is why there is so much money in shipping. Goods have to travel from the gates to everywhere in the city. It would take too much effort to transport everything, so it has to move along these highways,” Nero said as he pointed out little lines that went through the city. The pattern looked like a web that spanned the city.

Nick walked up and said, “They are trains Nero. Shipping concerns have storage houses that collect the stock and ship it along the train lines throughout the city. Transportation costs are one of the biggest drains on essence crystals in the city.”

Just then, Vera walked in and saw what Nick and Nero were doing. Smiling at the two men looking over Dorchester, she enjoyed the visual metaphor for a moment before speaking.

“Alright gentlemen, let’s have dinner and go over the plan for tomorrow,” she said.

Nick looked up at her and smiled. After he waved away the illusion of the city, he started toward her.

“Thank you dear. I’m sure dinner will not disappoint,” he said.

Nero hurried to follow them out of the room and toward the dining room. On the way, Nero made sure to appreciate the tastefully decorated hallways and sheer size of the mansion.

“Do you guys have a staff? This place seems a little large for just the two of you,” asked Nero with obvious curiosity.

Snorting as if the question was too stupid to answer, Vera said nothing.

Nick however, took pity on Nero and said, “Of course we have a staff. But it’s after hours and we value our privacy. Once dinner is made, the cooks are the last to leave. If you were here during the day, you’d see maids and butlers aplenty. Outside we have a large staff of gardeners and landscape architects. Many of them live here, but they’re in a different wing. Every house has a different preference, but we tend to like to do things ourselves.”

Nero nodded as if that cleared things up. However, in his head, Nero was still confused. Did they really make enough at their jobs to pay for all this? That seemed unlikely.

Soon enough, they were at a small dining room table. The room itself wasn’t exceptionally large, but it was very well appointed. The furniture was sparse, but of high quality. Floor to ceiling windows looked out onto a courtyard, and pale green drapes added to the comfortable atmosphere. Nero imagined it would be beautiful in the morning.

As they ate, Vera did most of the talking. She told Nero about what she had been up to over the past few days.

Vera had successfully parlayed Nero’s arena winnings into a 15% share of the arena. Technically, he shouldn’t have received such a high percentage, but she had argued their inability to pay out immediately deserved compensation. Nero was happy to learn that he had caused them to change their betting policies to cover eventualities like his in the future. Now that he had a stake in the arena, he was glad they wouldn’t be repeating their mistake.

Checking his link, Nero saw the new accounts that were linked to him. “How much do you think I’ll be making from the arena?” he asked.

Vera took a sip of her wine, and replied, “Around 284 valens annually. That’s just a guess though. I based the estimate on the arena’s reported annual net earnings.”

Nero frowned in confusion. “That doesn’t make sense. And, when you just said ‘valens’, it didn’t sound right,” he said.

Nick chimed in. “Interesting! This is the ‘Yenning effect’ in action. Everyone takes it for granted, but it must seem very odd to you,” he said excitedly.

Still confused, Nero asked, “What’s the ‘Yenning effect’?”

Nick set down his fork and focused on his upcoming lecture. Taking the tone of a teacher, he said, “The ‘Yenning effect’ was first pro-”

Making it as obvious as possible, Nero turned to Vera and spoke over Nick’s lecture, “What’s the ‘Yenning effect’?”

As Nick ‘harrumphed’, Vera chuckled and replied, “It’s what happens when you use a common word that is shorthand for something with multiple meanings. Using our conversation as the example, let’s talk about ‘valens’. When I said ‘valens’, I was referring specifically to dukely valens. Each dukely valen is worth around 1 million common valens. When someone says ‘valens’, the detail of which tier of valens their talking about is imparted through the essence in the air. You don’t have to be specific. Have you really not run across this yet? It happens all the time?”

Nero tried to think about it. “I don’t think so. Would I even notice it?” he asked.

Nodding, she replied, “Definitely. You noticed right away that we were talking about two different things. You can’t miss it. Usually, you come across it when people talk about units of measure in order be precise. It can also come up when using some common terms when addressing people. Think of the variations of what a person could mean when they say ‘soldier’, or even ‘you’.”

Nero asked, “I know that we talked about money before. You used terms like millions and thousands, why didn’t you use these different ‘valens’ then?”

Vera cocked her head to the side, “You asked specifically how many common valens you had coming to you. I thought you were trying to conceptualize it, and I followed suit. It makes more sense now that I know you had never heard about the tiers. It goes by titles. ‘1 royal valen’ is ‘100 dukely valens’ or ‘10,000 lordly valens’ or ‘100,000,000 common valens’. You just multiply a common valen by 100 for every level. Get it?”

Nodding, Nero thought that was simple enough. The fact that you could imply subtext by what you were thinking about when you spoke was hard to imaging. As he tried to wrap his head around the concept, Nero thought of something he wanted to test. “What do you hear when I say this room is about 20 feet wide?” he asked.

Vera chuckled, and Nick nearly squeaked. With a wide smile, Nick said, “I hear ‘feet’, but the foot your talking about isn’t an Oglivarch foot. Our foot is based off our first emperor, while your ‘foot’ is tiny in comparison.”

Nick and Nero wasted about 10 minutes going back and forth until Nero finally pieced together their measuring system. When he realized that it was basically very similar to the metric system having a baby with the imperial system, Nero got mad. Proper mad.

Everything was called a unit. And everything was based off three, which worked out to being extremely simple, just weird. A foot was either called a foot or unit, and was what everything was based off. Divide it by three and you have a ‘tri-unit’. Every time you divide it, you add an exponent. So ‘1 unit’ is ‘3 tri-units’ or ‘9 tri^2-units’ or ‘27 tri^3-units’, etc. Going up it’s ‘1 unit’ is ‘3 trip-units’ or ‘9 trip^2-units’ or ‘27 trip^3 units’, etc. All the while, you just use the term ‘units’ and what you mean is applied by the ‘Yenning effect’.

Nero understood it. He hated it. But he understood it. It seemed completely arbitrary, while being ridiculously specific. Just imagining someone saying, ‘I need you to cut this board to 1 unit 4 units’, was infuriating. When Nero described why he was angry, both Vera and Nick laughed until Nick started to turn red.

Nero tried to focus on the original question he wanted answered. “So since I wasn’t paying attention originally, tell me again how much I’ll get from the arena,” he asked Vera with annoyance clear in his tone.

Vera caught her breath, and took a sip of her water. Then she said, “Around 284 valens.”

Nero’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that more than our shipping company will make in profit for a whole year?” he asked.

Nodding, she replied with a grin, “The arena brings in billions of common valens a year. Keep in mind, it will still take over 200 years before they pay back what they owe you.”

Nero gulped. Taking a large drink of water, Nero felt a pit in his stomach. All these numbers and details were starting to make him queasy. He needed to simplify it. “So I don’t have to worry about money, and my estate doesn’t have to fire anyone now?” he asked.

Vera nodded and replied, “Yes, you’re running at a profit now.”

Nero leaned back in his chair, relieved. “Fine. Let me know if that changes, and let me know if you know of a trustworthy accountant. I don’t want to think about the taxes and crap I’ll have to deal with. I’m going to do what rich people are supposed to do: hire people to do the things I don’t want to deal with. Is there contract magic or something? How will I now if the person I hire is trustworthy?”

Nero started working himself back into a panic.

Luckily, Nick interrupted Nero’s spiral by speaking up, “Nero, calm down. It’s not something you have to worry about now. You only have to focus on your training. Tomorrow we head to the training facility, and that needs to be your only concern. Let Vera handle everything else. She is a wizard with paperwork, and you can trust her with your life.”

Nodding, Nero pushed the concerns he wasn’t ready to deal with into the back of his mind. Nick was right, he had bigger things to worry about. Remembering the information on density shifts he read, Nero thought to himself, “Maybe I’ll get lucky and Dorchester will get flattened in the next few years. Then I won’t have to worry about any of this crap.”