Devil's Foundry 3: Chapter 7 (Patreon)

Chapter 7: Friends, Demons, Countrymen

Sometimes the best ideas are the ones you had all along.

Dee helped me climb up to the stage. I was working on my armor when I had the time, but for the moment, the overtaxed servos still creaked when I pushed them too far. Today, I simple walked to stand behind my plinth, waiting for the rest of the council to take their seats behind me.

For once, the decision had been unanimous.

At the appointed hour, I spoke.

“In Lady’s Port, we build wonders.” My words settled over the crowd under the weight of my own skills, reaching even the most distant ear. “Under your hands, machines that no one in this world has seen take shape, and reshape the world around us.”

I nodded once to myself, before continuing, “But Lady’s Port is not a machine.”

Rel had been the catalyst for the change. Only after our talk had I found the strength to go back over the decisions surrounding this first housing complex. I’d approached it like a machine the first time around, wanting to fit everything into its place and growing frustrated when people refused to be slotted like neat little cogs for me to play with.

But of course, a town, a people, need more space to grow than that. I realized that working with Electra’s own little cabal of lightning wizards. They had so much joy in building and fixing our simple electrical grid. Something I’d had as a child, but the world had beaten out of me. In that enjoyment, they found solutions that I dismissed out of hand.

They’d found an elegant solution for the new apartment complex I wanted to build as well. Electra almost hadn’t mentioned it to me, because we’d been running so close to the deadline and I wanted to get everyone houses that I was willing to kill the perfect to save the good enough.

Only sometimes the perfect drops right into your lap.

So I’d called my council members, chose new locations, redrew plans, and even found space in the budget for that boat Captain Chevarin wanted so much.

It cost us a half a month delay, but hopefully I’d found the solution for that as well.

“Lady’s Port is one people. It is through working together we create our marvels, and it is through working together that we will create this marvel.” I waved my hand to the cleared swath of jungle behind me. “I am impossibly proud to be here, as we break ground for Vecorvia’s first skyscraper, a building that will house over a hundred families!

“Thanks to councilman Kaldrin and his construction team for clearing the land and now building the structure!” I waited out the smattering of applause. “Truly, without them, without you, even I would still be living in a tent by the river.

“It has come to my attention that some of us do still sleep in tents,” I continued. “And no matter how fast we build, it will take time before this empty clearing can truly boast a building that scrapes the sky. Until then, I’m afraid I must ask more of you.

“Any family willing to take another person into their homes will be given first pick of new accommodations in the skyscraper. Or your own house, if you prefer to stay.” I leaned forward on the pulpit with a grin. “After you see what I have in store, I think you’ll be tempted. But for now, the goal is to house everyone. Until this building can, it falls to us to pick up the slack. We haven’t fallen short in the face of bandits, in the face of monsters, and I know we will not fall short now!

“We are all of us the people of Lady’s Port.” I raised my hand. “Solders, and sailors, builders and tailors, but one people, and as long as we remain one, there is no challenge we cannot overcome and no foe we cannot conquer!”

I smiled wider at the applause. Everyone liked to be complimented. “Thank you. I know if I put my faith in the people of Lady’s Port, I shall never be disappointed. Details of this new program will be released at our next town hall meeting, but for now, I’d like to ask for one last round of applause for the council of Lady’s Port, who worked tirelessly to plan and support this project, from start to finish. Several council members will now share their own remarks.”

As I stepped back from the Podium, I felt my second class level up for the first time in a few months. It felt like I was heading in the right direction as the Little Mistress of Lady’s Port.

Still, building was hard. Even after you threw out the old order, putting something new in place took far more work than I’d expected.

I returned to my seat, sitting down with a sigh of relief as the Kaldrin took the podium. He, of course, thanked his own workers yet again and went on through a meandering but heartfelt speech.

Electra leaned over to me. “Not bad, Em.”

“I know a thing or two about public speaking.”

“Not just that,” she said. “Pulling this whole thing together. When you said you wanted to move the apartment complex to the other side of the river and expand the dam into a full bridge, I thought you were insane.”

“Skyscraper, Electra, call it a Skyscraper.” I shook my head. “You can’t put an apartment complex next to the Lightning Mill, it just wouldn’t work.”

“Okay, back to thinking you’re insane. Still, two thumbs up.” She did, in fact, give me two thumbs up.

I sniffed. “Genius and insanity are two sides of the same coin.”

“Yeah, and you’re flipping tails.”

“Quiet, I want to hear the rest of the speech.” Not everyone had my skills, so they were relying on a simple sound amplifying enchantment on the podium. Maarin called it Podium Audio, and it was the best thing he’d come up with since cell phones.

Electra snorted, but she leaned back and let me listen. Like I said, it was…heartfelt.

Okay, it was the kind of thing I would have ripped to shreds, even if just in the privacy of my own thoughts, but I was trying to be better. My girlfriend believed in me.

After Kaldrin, everyone else had to go up and make their own speeches. Even changing worlds couldn’t change that, and it all wrapped up with each of us using a fancy shovel to scoop a single mound of dirt out from the dig site.

Speeches or no, it was a great way to spend the morning.

What was less great was Captain Chevarin Rouss pulling me aside right after the ceremony ended.

“My Lady.” She placed a hand on my arm. “One of my sailors came from the docks a few minutes ago. There’s a ship in the harbor.”

I dispensed with the obvious. “Not one of ours.”

She nodded. “They’re flying the Vecorvian flag, so it’s not Mulmyn or someone from the continent getting adventurous, but still.”

“I’ll be right there. Have the militia rally, but put them a few streets back, no reason to be bad hosts.”

Rouss grinned. “All the better to stab ‘em in the back.”

“Great initiative.” I grabbed my own entourage and started back across the dam to Lady’s Port proper. “Don’t let it get away from you.”

She tapped her brow in a jaunty salute. “I’m off to rally the troops.”

As consequence of the Lady’s Port growth, it took almost twenty minutes to walk from the skyscraper to the docks. By the time we arrived, the ship had docked, though whomever it carried remained aboard.

They did not make us wait; the moment a sailor spotted us from the prow, the crew lowered a gangplank. Two guards stepped off first, and the moment I saw their arms, I knew who else was on that ship.

I laughed as I saw her head of silver white hair crest the gunwale. “Didn’t expect to see you again so soon, Ishanti.”

The Duchess of Silverwall stepped onto the dock. “Greetings, Comptess.”

I touched my brow, mimicking the salute I’d just received. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

She sighed at my decorum. “We have important matters that bear discussing.”

“Funny,” I replied. “You always have time to talk about important matters now.”