96. Makin' Money (Patreon)

After the first few people started absorbing mana and regaining their Rank, the other men and women with Tana quickly climbed down the wall, bearing wood and gold. Ike received their fees. He placed the wood behind the next row of puppets, then tapped more of the puppets to meet their desires. He didn’t bother adding any whitefeather grass to the mana these people absorbed. He only had a few strands of it, and he had no interest in giving them the same bonus he had. Better to keep an edge over them, so even if they Ranked up to Rank 2, he still had some strength over them.

Now that he’d Ranked up, it was obvious to Ike that there were differences between the same Ranks. After all, if someone let their core crumple in the ballooning stage, they wouldn’t have near the same mana capacity as someone who perfectly kept their core ballooned. This kind of defect is probably what keeps people from growing to the next Rank, Ike realized. If he had a crumpled core and didn’t have the full mana capacity of a Rank 2, it would be near impossible, if not impossible, to reach Rank 3. He’d needed the full mana capacity of Rank 1 to reach Rank 2, after all. And, at a guess, the amount to which one failed to Rank up perfectly would limit their further growth. If the balloon crumpled a lot, that mage would have an even harder time Ranking up than someone whose balloon only crumpled a little, compared to someone who didn’t crumple at all, who would have the easiest time to Rank up.

I think I Ranked up perfectly. If not perfectly, then close to perfectly. I doubt any of these people still have perfect Rank after all this time languishing in the Abyss. Even if they hit Rank 2, I’m in no trouble.

Besides, with all these people absorbing the mana, I haven’t tapped enough puppets for any one person to Rank up. The mana is split too many ways, and there’s no chance these people will cooperate to get one person to Rank 2. The only people who can reach Rank 2 are those who were previously at Rank 2 and backslid, not those who need to reach Rank 2 in the first place.

A few of the men and women stayed at the top. Most of them had inverted eyes, but one or two with ordinary eyes stood up there, refusing to take part in Ike’s scheme. He shrugged, unbothered.

Tana jumped down the edge. She jogged up to Ike and slipped him a small black ring. “Here. Use this to store your money. It can’t store much, but it can store enough coins to fill a chest.”

Ike blinked. He took the ring and stared at it for a moment, then shrugged. The first step is to inject mana, right? He injected a tiny scrap of mana into the ring.

A space appeared before him. As Tana had said, it was about the size of a wooden chest. Ike took out a single coin and held it over the ring. The coin vanished into the ring and appeared in the space within the ring. He passed his hand over the ring again, and the coin reappeared in his hand.

Huh. That explains where Ket was taking stuff out of all the time. I thought it was some high level skill, but it turns out it’s just an item. Well, good to solve that mystery. Ike quickly transferred all his coins into the space. There was still plenty of room in the ring, so he added the heavier items from his bag. The majority of the stuff in his bag vanished into the ring. Ike grinned, very pleased. “Thank you, Tana.”

She blushed and looked aside. “It’s just a small one. It’s nothing.”

“No, it’s awesome! It’s my first ring like this,” Ike said, marveling at the ring.

Tana looked at him, shocked. “Really? It’s your first storage ring?”

“I didn’t grow up in a mage family, you know,” Ike told her.

“I know, but… sorry. That really surprised me,” Tana said.

Ike nodded at her. “Who was that guy who was all uppity at the start?” He pointed toward the man.

The man stood in the furthest corner of the mana field, up toward the part that Ike had originally tapped. Ike had deliberately given him the area with the least mana, not wanting to strengthen someone who’d sworn vengeance. He’d also charged the man a hundred and fifty gold, more than anyone else. But I didn’t disallow him entirely. If he doesn’t realize I shortchanged him, he might still be grateful that I gave him mana at all.

And if he does, then I’ve already taken steps to sabotage him growing stronger than me.

Tana swallowed. She only glanced at him before looking away. “He’s one of the king—that is, Lord Grelund’s, biggest supporters. One of the highest ranked nobles in the land. Most people wouldn’t dare challenge him.”

“Well, I’m not most people,” Ike replied. Also, I legitimately didn’t know who he was.

Oh well. I don’t regret it. I’ve given in to bullies before. I’m tired of it. From now on, I’m not going to crumple so easily anymore. It doesn’t matter who someone is. If there isn’t a good reason for me to bow to them, I won’t bow.

If my life’s on the line, that’s different. But if they’re just an asshole with an inflated ego? Yeah. Fuck that.

Tana gave him an admiring gaze. “No. You aren’t.”

Ike looked out over his fields and sighed, happy. How nice. I help out people, get rich, and sabotage my enemy the city lord all in one fell swoop. What a beautiful thing.

“So… what’s your plan from here?” Tana asked.

“Oh. I don’t know. I kinda freewheeled this whole thing,” Ike said. He shrugged. “I’d like to tap all the puppets. The more puppets I tap, the less likely the city lord can do his thing. Honestly, if you want to return to the city and bring more people here, that would be great.”

Tana nodded. “That’s a good call, since they won’t believe me about the city lord’s plans.”

“Yeah. People are dumb. But they’re more than happy to make themselves stronger at any cost. So let’s go ahead and align that with our goal, instead of trying to force them to see a truth they don’t want to see,” Ike reasoned.

She chuckled. Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, she glanced up at Ike. “You know, you might be smarter than most of these nobles who think they’re sooooo smart.”

“Pretention isn’t the same as intelligence. Only idiots think it is,” Ike said, giving her a look.

Tana laughed. She cozied up to him. Her hand brushed against his.

Loup shoved her way in between Tana and Ike, letting both their hands land on her ears. Ike scratched her ear instinctively, and she grinned big.

Tana sighed quietly. She scratched Loup’s ear as well. Loup leaned against her, giving her puppy eyes.

“She wants more scritches,” Ike informed Tana.

“She’s so cute,” Tana said. She petted Loup harder. The wolf bounced up on her and licked her face.

Tana giggled. She stepped away, then saluted Ike. “I’ll head back to town and bring more people here.”

“Remember, advertise the mana, not the problem we’re solving,” Ike said.

Tana nodded. She ran off.

A little prick scratched at the back of his neck. “She likes you,” Wisp murmured in his ear.

Ike jumped. He instinctively lifted his hand to smack the back of his neck, then forcibly lowered it. His skin crawled. With all his might, he refused to think about the spider crawling over his body. The spider he hadn’t felt until now. “I, uh. I don’t think so. I’m a slumrat and she’s a princess. She’s got a prince out there for her, or something.”

Wisp chuckled. “Open your eyes. The heart wants what it wants. Besides, she’s not a princess anymore. Just a pretty girl, who likes a handsome boy.”

“Yeah, yeah. Who? Not me,” Ike said, rolling his eyes.

“Are you kidding me?” Wisp said.

“What? I’m not hot. Girls aren’t interested in me,” Ike said firmly.

Wisp sighed. “You’re not a slumrat any more, Ike. You’re a mage. Plus, we get more attractive when we Rank up. You know that, right?”

“Really?” Ike asked, startled. How ugly was my uncle, if he still looked like that at Rank 2?

No, no. I’m thinking of it wrong. It’s just that Rank doesn’t improve our looks that much. Wisp is overstating it.

“Yeah. It’s true. Ranking up enhances your whole body. Everything from your bones to your skin,” Wisp confirmed. “How do you think I ended up so adorable?”

“Adorable? More like a maddened jungle child,” Ike muttered.

The little pricks at the back of his neck grew sharper. “What was that?” Wisp demanded.

“Huh? What?” Ike asked, looking around.

Wisp chuckled. The pricks lessened. “It’s a good thing I have a sense of humor.”

“I deeply appreciate that about you,” Ike agreed. “By the way, can you get off my body? I don’t mean to be insulting, but I’m terrified.”

“Oh? Good.” The pricks vanished. He no longer felt Wisp.

Ike smiled for a beat, then froze. His whole skin crawled. He shivered, intensely uncomfortable. Oh shit. Now that I can’t feel her, she could be anywhere. A spider, crawling anywhere on my body. Oh gods. Oh gods! No! It’s so much worse!