Stone and Blood: Act 1, Chapter 2 (Patreon)

“My lady,” Tierre lowered her head before Florine at the entrance of the Royal Villa.

“I’m sorry,” Florine said. “I didn’t get a chance to ask how long we would be. How are things at home?”

“In one piece,” her lady’s maid replied, “for now. Lady Wagner came calling, followed by Lady Corelyn. I took the liberty of having dinner prepared.”

“Thanks,” Florine smiled. “When will everything be ready?”

“Three hours,” Tierre replied. “Lady Corelyn and Lady Wagner decided to ‘wander around’ while they waited.”

That sounded like Liane’s doing. Since it was their first day back from the Draconic Kingdom, she probably thought that they had some free time to enjoy themselves with. As it was proven, however, idle hands were immediately put back to work again by the Royal Court.

Well, they wouldn’t begrudge us dinner, would they?

Probably not. Lady Shalltear always made sure to unwind once in a while and she mentioned that the Sorcerer King encouraged them to do so.

Florine made her way up the central promenade, taking the sights of the late afternoon. The blossoms of spring had long given way to rows of verdant greenery over the sun-baked pavement. As usual, the central district was mostly frequented by people crossing between the northern and southern ends of E-Rantel. Some stopped at the Adventurer Guild’s ‘exhibition hall’, occasionally cheering or groaning in response to whatever was happening inside.

As they made their way by, the crowd suddenly parted. Florine let out a small squeak as an Adventurer flew out of the pit and landed on the pavement. Whispers rose from the crowd.

“No way, is that possible?”

“They’re both Mithril, aren’t they?”

“I’m pretty sure he blocked that attack…”

“I didn’t hear her use any Martial Arts.”

The Adventurer on the pavement groaned and pushed himself up to his hands and knees. He shook his head of loose blond locks, and then his gaze rose to meet Florine’s…

No, it stopped before that. A cute, but silly, smile appeared on his face. Florine maintained a neutral expression as the collective ire of more than a dozen women in the crowd stabbed into her.

“Henrich,” Ludmila’s voice called from inside the hall, “are you finished?”

“Nope,” the Adventurer on the pavement wobbled to his feet. “Let’s try this again.”

Henrich turned and took three steps toward the open hall before falling in headfirst. Chuckles rose from the assembled Adventurers.

“That’s it for me today,” Ludmila said. “Moknach, do you know if the Guildmaster wanted to speak to me about anything?”

“Something about a training expedition when you got back,” a broad-shouldered swordsman across the hall from her said. “Actually, I think you’re the one that brought it up in the first place…?”

“Ah, that’s right. We keep digging things up while constructing the new highway. The construction crews have been storing away whatever they find, but I’m certain that they haven’t been any but the most obvious of artefacts.”

“What do they look like?” Moknach asked.

“Sections of an old, buried highway,” Ludmila answered. “But something like that should have settlements along it. I figured that it needs to be looked at before something of important historical significance gets destroyed.”

“Sounds like just the thing we’ve signed up for,” the Adventurer said. “Is it dangerous out there?”

“Only as dangerous as you make it,” Ludmila smiled. “I need to speak with Ainzach about the rules out there before he puts the expedition together.”

“…there are rules?”

“There are always rules no matter where one finds themselves,” Ludmila told him, “whether one knows about them or not.”

Ludmila placed the practice spear in her hand in a nearby weapon rack before climbing the stairs out of the exhibition hall. Florine smiled and waved as her friend came around the corner of the street with Aemilia.

“Did Liane speak with you?” Florine asked.

“Yes,” Ludmila said. “Something about dinner and ‘shopping’, though I suspect that she has something planned.”

“I’m sorry if we’ve interrupted anything.”

“It’s fine,” Ludmila fell in step beside her as they made their way toward the southern gate. “This isn’t something that will be resolved any time soon.”

“Resolved?” Florine looked up at Ludmila, “Is there some problem?”

『An issue of development. It would be better to say it involves a lapse in development.』

Florine looked around. She didn’t see anyone in particular that Ludmila might not want listening in to their conversation, so it probably had to do with all the strange things they learned about the world from the Sorcerous Kingdom. The idea that knowledge could be dangerous was something every Noble knew, but a whole new dimension was added to that danger when it came to what they learned.

『Is it something that would concern all of us?』

『Definitely. The basic idea is simple. These Class Levels…we’ve been made aware of them, but we still frame them in familiar ways. As a society, we’ve constructed a common perception that attempts to interpret the world around us. Some, we’ve come up with on our own. Others are ideas imported from elsewhere.』

Ludmila’s ‘voice’ had the telltale tone that she took whenever she was trying to construct understandable thoughts out of her intuition. Clara would be a better person to help walk her through it, but she must have brought it up with Florine for a specific reason.

『We can hardly be blamed for that. That is how we make sense of the world around us.』

『I’m not exactly blaming us for that. The problem is that we’ve come to see that perception as ‘natural’ or ‘common sense’, and that very thinking blocks us from realising the full potential of what we have. An artisan who is recognised as a ‘master’ by their guild merely has three or four Job Class Levels in their vocational path. That designation is not qualified by the peak of the craft, but through meeting an acceptable standard of craftsmanship for common goods. It also doesn’t define any Skills or Abilities along the way. All of the ‘special’ things that people discover or develop through their Job Classes are either not recognised as such or considered a trade secret…and those involved in trades probably have things the easiest because they at least have guild standards to go by.』

『What vocation would you say suffers the most by comparison?』

『Anything that functions off of intangibles, really. You’re probably one of the best examples.』

『Why do I feel like everyone’s been singling me out recently?』

『I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but the entire Royal Court has ‘combat builds’. They don’t care about how strong anyone is, but people like you have outsized value. Why, did something else happen?』

『Lady Albedo wants me to work with the tribes in the Abelion Hills. Actually, I’d like to confer with you on several topics before I head over there…』

“Yo~”

Liane and Clara appeared at the intersection in front of the southern gate. The two were dressed for a casual stroll in the city with their lady’s maids in tow, but no footmen. Ever since they received their equipment from Lady Shalltear, they didn’t need extra hands while shopping and the Undead around the city made things secure enough to walk around as they were.

“Where are we going?” Florine asked.

“Around,” Liane answered.

“Around to where?” Florine peered at her.

“Around to the Perfumed Quarter.”

Florine rolled her eyes. Her friend had an objective, after all.

They made their way out of the southern gate and into the common area of the city, joining the flow of pedestrian traffic along the northern edge of the road. She couldn’t help but make comparisons between E-Rantel and the cities of both the Empire and the Draconic Kingdom. Given all of the apparent advantages that the Sorcerous Kingdom had, E-Rantel being a former city of Re-Estize wouldn’t hold up as an excuse for their capital’s appearance for long. As far as changes went, there was only the Demihuman Quarter and some road work.

Given the future growth projected for the Sorcerous Kingdom, there was a lot that needed to be done beyond fixing the city’s appearance. They needed new infrastructure to support the population. Most of the common area would need to be torn down and reworked into an efficient urban layout. The Military Quarter needed to be converted into something else, but that was still in committee. It was obvious what they had to do, however. E-Rantel’s second wall had to come down – it was useless, anyway – and the common area expanded to the outer wall.

『So, did Lady Albedo spank ya?』

『Of course not.』

『Figures. You ain’t limpin’ or anything. What did she want?』

『I’m being dispatched to the Abelion Wilderness.』

『Ah, so another hapless group of Demihumans is about to get ruthlessly boobed.』

Florine gave Liane a swat.

『You’re not coming with me, just so you know.』

『I got a bunch of stuff to do too, so I can’t come anyway.』

『I guess you have a lot of orders from the Holy Kingdom now that they’re on good terms with us.』

『Newp. Haven’t heard a peep from them, which is weird. We’re getting ready for all of those Nobles from the Empire.』

『…I totally forgot about that. Argh.』

The first party from the Empire was due to arrive in Corelyn Castle at the beginning of summer and they would be arriving through to the beginning of the autumn harvest. She wouldn’t be able to attend if she was busy helping out in the Abelion Wilderness. Her duties would be dragging her away from a season filled with golden opportunities.

『Don’t worry, I got ya covered.』

『Just don’t marry me off…』

『Y’know, I hadn’t considered that until you mentioned it.』

She probably wouldn’t do it. Still, the idea that a potential consort might pop up at any time during their negotiations only made the fact that Florine wouldn’t be there hurt even more.

『Anyway, that thing we were talking about…』

Liane rolled her eyes at Ludmila’s pointed change of topic. She and Clara were still adamant about them being too young to have consorts. There was little point in arguing about it, however, and it wasn’t as if they could do anything about it anyway.

『Yes, where were you going with that? Something about intangibles…』

『That’s right. Vocations that function according to ‘intangible’ aspects are probably the worst off when it comes to how our society and its institutions develop them. Society values them, but there are no real metrics that define how success in those fields is achieved. Florine is a good example of it. Diplomacy is by and large an arena for aristocrats and other types of leaders in the region, but our training as Nobles in that field is rather vague. We learn history, language, etiquette and all of the other things that go into successful diplomacy, but we don’t learn ‘diplomacy’ itself.』

Clara and Liane frowned and exchanged a look. Ludmila sighed. Florine held in her smile. She was already pretty sure she knew what Ludmila was getting at, but it would take something ‘tangible’ to make it click with them…which she supposed was the crux of the issue. Clara took Ludmila’s arm in hers.

『As you’ve mentioned, all of those subjects are crucial to conducting diplomacy.』

『They’re not.』

『They’re not?』

『What’s crucial is having information to work with. We were raised in an exclusively Human society. All of those subjects bundled together are conflated with ‘diplomacy’ because they provide the information to conduct diplomacy within our cultural sphere. I was raised with one foot outside of that Human-centric worldview because the most crucial diplomacy that House Zahradnik conducted wasn’t with Humans, but with the tribes beyond the border. What goes into their diplomacy doesn’t have the same focus as what goes into Human diplomacy, and House Zahradnik’s diplomacy is markedly different as a result.』

Clara furrowed her brow.

『Are you saying that I have to revise the curriculum for the academy again?』

『Yes, but that wasn’t the main point. There is a ‘core’ to diplomacy, but no one teaches it as far as I know. Do you understand what I’m getting at?』

『No.』

『No.』

『Yes.』

Liane and Clara peered across Ludmila at Florine. Florine pondered how she could convey an effective explanation.

『Before we reached you, Ludmila prefaced this by bringing up Job Classes and how our society constructs its own common sense out of the systems that the Sorcerous Kingdom has made us aware of. This isn’t just about diplomacy, but an entire group of vocations that don’t have ‘concrete’ aspects to them. What we might consider ‘social’ Job Classes or at least those with social aspects to them. Liane, consider how we’re communicating right now. Is it ‘common sense’?』

『No.』

『But does it make sense to us?』

『Yes.』

『Why?』

『Because we’re Nobles, and Nobles are ‘Human Lords’. Us civilian Nobles might not be heavy on the military end of things, but we still have oratory ability and make use of it. Nobles are also the go-to diplomats for similar reasons. It’s just a part of our skillset.』

『Then what makes a Noble a good diplomat? It can’t be education or anything that people might rationalise if it was diplomacy between Human parties. When I worked with the northern tribes, I wasn’t trying to outsmart anyone, threaten them, or trick them into doing what I wanted.』

『Boobs.』

Florine raised a fist. Liane raised her hands disarmingly.

『You’re just built that way, okay? No one else even considered offering to help with those tribes.』

『Are you saying that anyone with the same idea could succeed?』

『No, they would’ve probably been eaten. Grr…I hate it when you two come up with an incomplete concept and fling it at us.』

『That’s just how it works, isn’t it? People don’t just know everything about something the moment they realise that it exists…in that case, could you tell us why you think it’s important, Ludmila?』

『Because Class Levels start as empty containers.』

Ah, that’s true…

Their discussions with Lady Shalltear, Lady Aura, and Lord Mare about Job Classes and their capabilities often left the royal courtiers both confused and somewhat frustrated. To them, a Job Class came with a long list of things that they could do, but the people of the region barely manifested anything that counted as a Skill or Ability when it came to civilian vocations.

The ‘container’ that Ludmila referred to represented several things. First were the raw physical increases that gaining a Job or Racial Class Level conferred. Secondly, it included the raw boost in ability that required no training to harness. The empty part was the potential to develop Skills and Abilities related to that Class Level, and the power of those Skills and Abilities was limited to the capacity of the container.

As it was, the vast majority of people in the region lived their lives as ‘empty containers’. Even highly educated Nobles essentially beat one another over the head with those empty containers when conducting diplomatic negotiations or participating in court politics.

Clara, too, seemed to catch on to what Ludmila was implying.

『In hindsight, it seems obvious, but what brought this about in the first place?』

『The campaign against the Beastmen – no, from the entire experience in the Draconic Kingdom. There are people out there who are capable of doing far more with far less, and when a truly powerful individual who isn’t an empty container appears, the difference is stark. As a Captain, I can’t afford to leave the ‘container’ empty, and the education of the Sorcerous Kingdom’s officials similarly can’t produce well-crafted, yet empty, containers.』

『I understand where you’re coming from, but ‘filling containers’ will require approval from the Royal Court.』

Ludmila glanced at Clara, a crease forming on her brow.

『Knowledge can be dangerous, but raising officials who are ill-equipped to fight their battles is even more so.』

『That’s what I told Lady Albedo, but she simply replied that it is His Majesty’s will.』

Since that was the case, it also meant that Director Alpha wouldn’t be an ally in trying to convince the Royal Court of its necessity.

Ludmila, however, didn’t appear convinced, which was strange considering how she usually upheld the Sorcerer King’s edits with unfaltering resolve.

『There should be more to that statement.』

『If there is, she didn’t mention it.』

『We’re here.』

Florine took an inventory of their surroundings at Liane’s announcement. She had been so engrossed in the conversation that she wasn’t sure where in the city she was, at first glance.

“I heard this place blew up,” she remarked.

“It did,” Liane said. “Then Ludmila swooped in to snatch up poor Miss LeNez.”

“You don’t have to make it sound so predatory,” Ludmila sniffed.

“Tell me you didn’t tempt her with your offer in her moment of weakness.”

“It was the same offer I made a dozen times before.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

It looked like the damage to Atelier LeNez was severe enough to warrant a new building. Unlike the other structures on the street, it was now constructed entirely out of granite. The bell over the door chimed as they entered and she found the interior pleasantly cool despite the late afternoon sun beating down on the storefront. A sandy-haired woman in a clerk’s outfit looked up from the counter at the back of the store.

“Are you here to pick–oh, Baroness Zahradnik and…and…”

The clerk’s eyes widened. Having two Countesses and two Baronesses walk in probably wasn’t a common occurrence. If there was one thing that hadn’t changed in E-Rantel from before it changed hands, it was how different classes of people acted around one another.

“I’ve come to…” Ludmila paused. “Actually, I have no idea why we’re here.”

“To check out your stuff,” Liane said.

There wasn’t much ‘stuff’ to speak of. In fact, it looked like the store’s inventory had been wiped out.

“Feel free, I suppose?” Ludmila said.

Liane gave Ludmila a long, hard look. After a moment, she sighed.

“The point is that there’s no stuff,” Liane gestured around at the empty shelves.

“Is that a problem?” Ludmila asked. “You yourself noted the high demand for the magic items we’ve been exporting.”

“I did,” Liane said, “but it’s not as if people die if they don’t get it. Do you know why your shop is empty?”

Ludmila only stared blankly at her question.

“Because I bought it!” Liane shouted.

“You? Why?”

“Because it was cheap.”

An oppressive air descended on the store. The clerk fainted. Liane turned and ran, but she only made it one-tenth of a step before Ludmila’s hand shot out to grab her arm.

“It was affordably priced,” Ludmila told her.

“It was stupidly priced,” Liane’s hand kept phasing through Ludmila’s wrist.

“The point is improving the people’s quality of life,” Ludmila said. “Not maximising profit.”

“Nuh-uh,” Liane turned back around. “That ain’t how it works. If it’s cheap, someone will buy it because it’s free money. Do you have any idea how much those sold for in Arwintar? All those citizens you expect to walk into your store and benefit from your products will never see them because there’ll always be that guy waiting to ambush your shipments to resell elsewhere.”

Ludmila stormed past Liane and left the store. Clara walked out after her.

“There must have been a better way to bring that up,” Florine said.

“I was trying to prove a point,” Liane replied. “There’s something wrong with that woman’s head. The market decides what things are worth. Anyone that offers their stuff below market value is just cheating themselves.”

Florine could understand Liane’s anger, but she was also fairly certain Ludmila wouldn’t. Five minutes later, they caught up to Clara and Ludmila on the way back to the central district.

“So,” Liane said. “You gonna fix your prices?”

“They are fixed.”

“That’s not what I meant. Are you allergic to money or something?”

“Why does it have to be about money at all?” Ludmila grated, “Have you perhaps considered that profit is not my motive?”

“Nope. But, like I said, if you don’t profit, someone will profit off of your lack of profit motive.”

“Then I’ll just have to prevent that.”

They walked for a full block in silence, going past the row of boutiques southeast of the Perfumed Quarter. As they were crossing in front of one of the more popular shops, Ludmila stopped.

“Why do you think this shop does so well?” She asked.

“Because they have nice stuff,” Liane answered.

“And?”

“A good reputation, pleasant staff, decent marketing…”

“Why does it have to market its goods?”

“Are these questions going anywhere?” Liane asked back.

“The answer is that it has to market its goods because people don’t need them.”

“Hah?”

Ludmila resumed walking.

“You’re the Merchant,” she said. “You’re all Merchants. You should be smart enough to know what that means.”

“Have you had this argument before?” Liane sent Clara a sidelong glance.

“Never,” Clara replied. “What’s this about, Ludmila?”

“It’s about why my products are priced as they are and why that boutique has to market its goods. That boutique’s marketing tries to tell people that they aren’t content with their lives and that they need the luxuries it offers to achieve happiness.”

“What’s wrong with having a few luxuries?” Liane asked.

“Very little right now,” Ludmila answered. “But this ‘marketing’ never ends. The success of that business and others like it requires that people are perpetually convinced that they’re unhappy with what luxuries they have and that happiness will be achieved by obtaining the next luxury. Do you not see the flaws inherent to that strategy?”

“Uh, just so you know, those magic items you’re selling are also a luxury.”

They crossed back into the central district, turning east at the first intersection. It was still too early for dinner, but Ludmila seemed intent on dragging them back to Florine’s place.

“They’re not luxuries,” Ludmila said. “They’re essential. The projections for population growth in the Sorcerous Kingdom are catastrophic. Every household not using a magic item for heating, cooking and lighting will be burning firewood. Anyone not using magic items to preserve food will be losing it to spoilage. All of those goods being consumed come from somewhere. Everything that Atelier LeNez sells is an attempt to mitigate the problems looming in our future and equipping every household in the Sorcerous Kingdom with those items is a priority.”

“…this is that treehugger faction thing, isn’t it?”

“Call it what you will, but those are the facts. The basic needs of our future population are already high enough; having industries that depend on convincing people that luxuries are needs and that those needs must be regularly replaced by other needs according to some ‘profit motive’ exacerbates the problem exponentially. It’s even worse when one considers the fact that their ‘marketing’ aggressively preys on instincts that the vast majority of the population either can’t or won’t voluntarily rein in.”

Florine’s footmen bowed as she and her friends entered her city manor. Never mind dinner not being quite ready, it didn’t even smell like anything was cooking yet. They settled around the drawing room table, though Ludmila looked anything but.

“You were never so heated about this subject before,” Clara said. “Did something happen?”

“Probably because over the last half a year,” Ludmila said, “I’ve been exposed to a long string of problems that are all directly related to overpopulation. The projections made by the Royal Court are simply numbers on a report; there is no sense of urgency or even the appropriate imagination amongst our lawmakers to grasp what sort of problems it will bring. The Empire expands its frontiers because of the needs of its population. That entire escapade with the Beastmen in the Draconic Kingdom was fundamentally due to the same needs. Unless we do something about it, our country is going to go through the same thing…but, unlike migrating tribes or the Empire, no one will be able to stop us.”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” Liane yawned and stretched. “And I’m sure that the Royal Court will be ecstatic with the Sorcerous Kingdom’s growing tax revenues.”

Florine’s head turned as she looked back and forth between Liane and Ludmila. For the time being, it appeared that their stances were irreconcilable. She herself wasn’t sure where she stood on the matter, but she dreaded that a day might arrive when their differences would come to a head.