TVRWS 63 (Patreon)

63: More Mithril

"Something the matter, Lord Edmond?" A voice came from inside the room.

Edmond Black stood over the door experiencing a bit of tingling sensation from an unexpected soft bit of breeze. That could have been Vivian's umbrella when she deployed it which without it, Edmond would be meeting her eye to eye right now.

He looked right and left once again but couldn't detect anything out of order so he looked back inside.

"Just felt a presence… not sure." He said and movement started to happen inside the room but just at that second…

Squeak

A squeak was heard right behind Vivian's ears and Edmond looked towards the direction again.

"It's just a rat, Lord Edmond." A third voice was heard from the room.

"It seems so." Edmond nodded and kept watching the place for a second before returning to the room and closing the door.

Vivian had the coldest of shivers running through her bones but thanks to Voros' clever thinking and timely squeak, he compelled Edmond to think it was a rat.

Vivian and Voros quietly moved away from the door immediately and rather than escaping, Vivian stopped against the room next door and went inside with Voros after closing the door. She looked inside the room and carefully picked a cup from a nearby tray then very placed it against the wall and put her ear on it.

"… not quite, sadly."

"Overseer, might I remind you on whose order are we operating and how much money I am keeping stuffing your pockets with."

"Young Master, this is out of my hand. I know the things you have given me are precious but they can't be liquidated in just a day or two. Even with the slaves we have, it is hard to find one capable of doing it."

"Then get more slaves until you solve it. I don't care what you do!"

"Ian, calm down."

While the voices were vague, Vivian started to conclude that the three people who were speaking there were Edmond Black, the Overseer of the Black Market, and a guy named Ian who was addressed as "Young Master" by the Overseer.

This narrows down the list of Ians who are associated with Edmond but Vivian wasn't sure yet.

"Overseer, the money you receive from us is for one thing and one thing only, you deploy your men in civilian uniform in the places we tell you to, do what we want you to do, and then scurry back to your little hole managing all the slaves you desire." Edmond spoke with a strong tone.

"Sir, no matter how many of these shining coins you give me, the Duergars refuse to work on them, they consider them sacred and frankly it is impossible to make money out of them unless you sell them to someone." The Overseer tried to convince the two young men in front of him.

"That's impossible. Selling them is dangerous." Edmond displayed refusal.

"Then you have to pay the men with something. Mercenaries don't get paid in promises, my Lords." The Overseer seemed firm in his stance.

"This is a waste of time. My father has instructed you very well to work under my command. Now you are disobeying what I say." The young master spoke.

"With all due respect, young master, whenever Lord Alister gives me any task, there is always a purse of coins. I don't pay the men, the men won't move their arses." The Overseer replied.

"Fucking mercenaries!"

Lord Alister? Ian? No need for a list of Ians now, it is just who Vivian suspected him to be, Ian Grayson.

"Alright, try one last time with Duergar, get those coins smelt and we will provide you with an official serial number for them as agreed before. And from our side, we will start looking into potential buyers." Edmond seemed to have concluded the meeting and

The group of three seemed to have concluded their unpleasant conversation and the two guests walked out of the room. Vivian immediately moved toward the door and started eavesdropping.

"You'll need to sell them." Edmond spoke.

"To whom? No one will sell unregistered Mithril and it will lead those people right to our financial sources if we do, if it gets exposed…" Ian replied with frustration.

"Speak with Robert Moore, he may know something." Edmond said.

"That fool?"

"He knows his way around cash. Both you and him support His Highness, it is time you put your family feud aside and work together."

"Hah! I'd sooner cooperate with that Morgan freak."

"Ronald? He is not on our side."

"He came for me for a deal the other day, you wouldn't believe what he asked for."

"I don't want to know about that freak. If you can't go for Robert, try Valentine out. At least he can sell that without trouble."

"De Clare? I thought you hated those people."

"Doesn't mean I have to put family feuds aside for His Highness."

The voices of the two young men faded as they descended the stairway.

Vivian's and Voros' eyes met. This was a load of information all at once.

Where to begin?

First, the Prince's faction is in cahoots with the Blackguards and uses them as thugs.

Second, Ian Grayson is operating the Blackguards by orders from his Father who isn't supposed to be able to operate such a military organization in the first place on his own.

Third, to pay the Mercenaries, the Prince's faction seems to have amassed a number of shiny coins only the Duergars can work. This limits all the possibilities to one keyword: Mithril.

Lastly, Robert Moore and Valentine De Clare may be aware of this situation.

Vivian wasn't sure what to do but looking at Voros, who was also thinking of what he just heard, a thought came to her mind.

"Voros, look the other way."

Voros frowned at what she said but he followed her orders. He felt a light rustle happen behind him as Vivian started to do something and after a few seconds, she walked near him and he turned to her.

"Oh!"

Even Voros was shocked when he saw what he saw… and he is Voros.

Vivian was no longer in her Night Stroll outfit but rather in a common-looking dress with a very disturbing sense of makeup. She seemed to have applied lipstick to her lips and used it as a blusher excessively on her cheeks, neck, and bosom.

"I'll give you an opening so use it right." She said and opened the door casually before walking confidently to the Overseer's office without hiding her presence.

Knock Knock

"Come in."

As the Overseer answered the door, Vivian opened it slowly and walked in with a smile.

"Hello, Sir. Good evening, sir. I'm not disturbing you or anything, am I?"

Changing her voice into a thinner and hesitant tone, Vivian walked shyly to the middle-aged bald soldier who sat behind his desk.

"Who the devil are you?" The Overseer asked.

Vivian approached him with an awkward smile and walked behind the chairs to the side of the deck.

"I… You can call me, Matilda, sir. I am… well, the boys downstairs made a bet with us girls on who will go up to the Overseer this night." She said and made herself look presentable.

"They did that?" The Overseer frowned.

"Well, Paul and Steve told me to come up and see if you… needed anything."

"I'm afraid this isn't possib…"

The Overseer seemed to be not interested and tried to shew her out but Vivian masterfully tripped and got closer to him.

"I'm sorry… I… I am new."

She got close to him and he moved his chair a bit back for her and was about to give her a hand but the next thing he felt was something hard pressing against his crotch.

"Hand's off. One wrong move and you may as well use a stick next time you are with your wife." Vivian had her gun aimed at the man from a critical point where he froze at the sight of it.

"You…"

"Me…"

"You know who you're messing with?"

"Funny, I was just about to say the same."

Click Click

Without even realizing it, the man's arms were pressed down and someone from behind him put metal binds on them that latched them to the arms of his chair.

"Fuck! Who are you?" The Overseer looked at Vivian with shock and anger.

"My name is Matilda, I just told you." Vivian said.

"And you know who I am, bitch? I'll squeeze that neck of yours once I break those binds and…"

"Oh please, break them? All you Blackguards elites are Bronze rank at best. Every last one of you. Come on, try and use Aura. Even better, reinforce your balls as I shoot at them." Vivian said with obvious disdain.

Seeing that he can't bluff her, the man opened his palms displaying that he won't do a thing with a gun aimed at his most sensitive area.

"Who sent you?" He asked.

"Funny you should ask. It appears that we have the same employer, you and I." Vivian said, pulling out a bluff of her own.

"Yo… Young Master?"

"Lord Ian is angry, you see. You just embarrassed him in front of his friend Lord Edmond and consequently, in front of His Highness as well. Sorry about that."

"That's… unthinkable! What does he expect of me? You can't just simply deal with things like that."

"I know, I know, he can be obnoxious sometimes. Listen, he just wants me to twist your arm a bit, remind you who's boss, sorry about that, I'll tell him what he wants to hear after this, we're all professionals here."

"Fuck you! Disguising like a whore and comparing yourself to me?"

"Hey, hey, don't let me actually do what he hired me for. I don't want to embarrass a man the age of my daddy in front of his subordinates."

"… Tsk!"

Vivian's act seemed to have worked. Voros, who was standing behind the man all along, was most impressed by her skill for bullshit. If there was a system trait to that, Vivian is a master of bullshit.

"Alright, the Boss wants the coins back, where are you keeping them?" Vivian asked.

"In the safe." The Overseer waved his head towards the wall behind him where a tapestry was hung before frowning, "What does he want them for?"

Vivian shrugged. She then exchanged a look with Voros who moved the tapestry and revealed the safe dug in the wall. It obviously needed a key which was more obviously on the Overseer.

"Alright, sorry about the chaos." Vivian backed away with the gun still aimed at the Overseer as she circled behind his back.

"Hey, release me now. There is no need for this!" The Overseer spoke with a demanding tone.

"Alright alright, let me get the thing that unlocks them." Vivian spoke as she stood behind him and made some movement sounds, "Oh, by the way, the ledgers for all the slaves handled through this market for the past fourteen years, do you keep them in your office?"

"What? Why are you asking?"

"Nothing, the Boss just wants to check how many Dwarf craftsmen you have."

"Well, he can look directly in the pen if he wishes to know."

"I know, I know, silly. But I'm just following orders."

"Downstairs, the Archive is at the reception hall."

"What? You keep it downstairs where the guards drink and fornicate?"

"It's locked by itself, men don't go near it."

"Oh, of course, thank goodness."

"What's taking you so long, free me n…"

Stab

"Oh… you are free."

Vivian had the push dagger in her and it only took her one swift stab at the Overseer's neck and the man's face and eyes gushed with blood as it started to flow from his mouth, and his nose, and started to revert into his air tube blocking it and suffocating him.

The Overseer shook and couldn't act or save himself before he bled out in mere seconds and died in mere seconds.

Vivian searched the desk and found the keys in the drawer and handed them to Voros who opened the safe carefully with his dexterous dwarven finger and lo and behold.

"Look at that!"

Vivian joined Voros as the two of them looked inside the safe and it was nothing more than 3 Mithril coins each with a worth of a Million Pounds each.

3,000,000 Elgard Pounds is almost the annual budget of a county or the seasonal budget of Archester's city.

This is a serious lot of money and the question is: who does it belong to?

The answer is Crown Prince Liam Harland of Elgard.

Vivian picked up the three coins and looked at Voros who was awfully quiet.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"Don't know…" He said, reluctant to share his thoughts with her.

Vivian didn't press for more answers but just as she looked at the safe once again, she found a small plate lying inside, and on top of it was a fourth Mithirl coin.

It would be a cause for celebration as it is worth another million pounds but it was different, it was…

"Shattered!"

As Vivian picked up the plate and showed it to Voros, the thoughts he kept inside started to manifest into expressions of pure anger. It was as if fumes were about to come out of him as he spoke only one word.

"Vladimir!"