The Runic Alchemist

Chapter 775: The Poisoned Generation

Ten days after the international waygate opening.

“Cheers!”

Everyone around the dinner table said it together with smiles on their faces and then gulped down the premium alcohol Souldealer had brought with her. The taste was deep, slightly spicy, and refreshing at the same time. It was only made in a very exclusive region of the old dragon empire. For them to have it in the Sanctum was the biggest proof of their waygate trade’s success.

Ten days and their coffers were already slightly full. The waygates had passed the trial and Damian was soon about to enter stage two of the trade plan. It wasn’t all nice and good though—in the week and a half there had been several fights breaking out as merchants and common folk tried to snag a deal for themselves with the Sanctum locals. Sometimes they were right and sometimes the foreigners were right. Even some high-rank merchants and shopkeepers had faced these heated arguments which turned to physical confrontations.

The guards were numerous though and they quickly put a stop to it, even imprisoning the instigators if any rules were broken. It was only for a day or two though, with a monetary fine.

The issue as Damian could see was the transaction. Not all small deals could use mana contracts; it was both pricey and an unnecessary danger to their life. There was no proof or trace of the transactions happening, which had more or less resulted in having an honor system. Needless to say, not all people from different countries were exactly honorable. So the arguments were common.

Even some nobles had visited the trade towns and even those had created some little issues here and there—nothing major that would put a pause to their plan though. Many of his secret guards dressed in civilian uniforms roaming the streets of these trade towns had discovered people hiding their income from the waygate check, trying to avoid the trade tax. But when they punished a few merchants with proof for some days, the amount of revenue had soared and people hesitated before doing these shady deals.

“At last it ended. I can finally rest for a while!” Sam muttered after swallowing a mouthful.

All 46 Sanctum dungeons had been conquered by him and Lucian, even Einar and others had helped at times. Damian had a whole vault full of white spheres, the dungeon cores from various dungeons.

“How far along did the demons come?” Souldealer asked from the side.

It was a small late-night gathering with the six heads and 2–3 assistants of all of them. It was less like a dinner party and more like a casual meeting of the six heads. They had been pretty busy the past few days and had finally met up face to face for better understanding of each other’s department progress. Damian had already given all of them six-channel special receivers, it was just a spell inscribed by him to their sacrium bracelet.

The memo channel Damian had thought of using as a Sanctum internal digital report place had been turned into their own personal chat where they shared each other’s daily work details and other important or casual everyday things.

Guess he would have to add one more of those tower cubes for an additional memo channel.

“They explored some 58 dungeons. Only seven of which were fully conquered,” Celestine answered Souldealer when Damian glanced at her. He also had Hester and Valen in the room.

“Still so much to explore..” Sam said, taking a deep breath. His antics put a light smile on everyone’s face.

The issue was nothing to laugh at though. Damian knew Sam very well, he might joke about things but most of the time it contained truth.

Damian spoke up, “It was never our plan to do it all ourselves. The demons did what they could, so did our army. I don’t think conquering all of them is necessary—for the launch event I believe a hundred dungeons should be enough, including our 46 of course.”

“So we are done?” Sam asked, surprised.

Damian shook his head, “No, but you can take it easy from here. We do need to know what the other dungeons have, you can manage how you want to do that. Some dangerous ones need to be sealed, you can use death-row criminals to see if the entry is possible. I don’t want to risk lives, which was why I was thinking about offering the exploration deal to the demons even after their relocation, and we could also potentially get soldiers from other countries willing to explore and work for us in exchange for some rewards.”

“Demons are ready to explore the other dungeons for rewards, even at the risk of their lives?” Evrin asked, a bit skeptical.

“The queen did insinuate that for a better deal she can convince her people and at least have a permanent source of income and food to trade with us when they start settling in new land,” Damian replied. “A big part of the deal she wants to make is non-exclusive access to some dungeons for a few decades. It’s easy to deny her that but after all that her people have gone through for the exploration, that would just be plain taking advantage of their misfortune.”

Many faces turned towards him and paused while eating. It was because of his last sentence.

“Demons are misfortunate?” Einar asked. Her voice did not hold any harshness, but it was shockingly flat—even her eyes had sharpened a little.

Damian did not react and continued eating at leisurely pace, “What was it that they did that was so wrong? Followed behind some dangerous tyrant to attack a land that had wronged them in the past? More damage to the mainland has been caused by Faerunians and the Empire and we still have relations with them. If you were born a demon, what would you do? Revolt against your transcendent leaders? It’s not as simple as just saying Demons are bad because our books of old say so.”

“I will not feel bad for them,” Einar said it straight, “They have taken too many of my men.”

“I am not asking you to,” Damian replied calmly. Then added, “But tell me, would it be right for Drona to hear how bad the demons are and how we should kill them all just because a few powerful demons decided to fight for an old forgotten grudge?

Which let’s be honest neither they nor us could forget for thousands of years. If we had been taught the truth of demons, after so many years we wouldn’t look at them with so much venom in our eyes. And they might have thought co-existence was a possibility.

Can’t do anything for our generation’s poisoned minds but the future has to be better for the next generation.. We won, they are gone. Now let them be. Let things go.”

Einar did not say anything, but the sharpness in her eyes diminished a little. When he finished, others also stopped staring at him and continued their dinner. Souldealer, the most mature among them, chose the perfect moment to change the subject,

“How is the academy coming along?”

It was directed at Lucian. Seated beside him, Lucian looked at her and answered,

“We have finalized the curriculum and have hired most of the staff. Starting from next month might not be impossible. I do still need some qualified teachers though. Anyone interested?”

“I have too many things to do..” Sam rejected the offer.

Evrin, Souldealer, and Einar also shook their heads. Damian coughed a little, not trying to appear suspicious.

“What?” Lucian asked with narrowed eyes.

“I offered someone to be a teacher.”

“Who?”

“A good mage,” Damian replied.

Lucian kept glaring at him but he did not buckle under pressure at all, focusing on chewing his steak with his head low.

“Highsword members might be interested in teaching? It would also give the academy a promising backing,” Valen suggested.

The guy often spoke up in their conversations unlike other assistants who rarely said a word or two when asked. The guy had no idea when to speak and when not to. Damian didn’t care though, he would accept a good idea no matter where it came from.

Lucian nodded.

“I thought about them too, which is why I didn’t hire people without good enough qualifications.”

After that they ate in silence for a while, everyone focusing on their food. Only when a couple minutes passed did Einar ask,

“Damian, are you prepared for the shop opening? I saw the item list you sent on the receiver, the army could indeed use some of it.”

“Other than the potions which I make myself, all the runic tools can be mass-produced by the runesmiths we have contracts with. I gave them quite a lot of work though—so your order might not be completed for a month,” he replied.

“Do I order anything? I don’t have to go through you? If I remember correctly you always said you don’t make weapons,” Einar asked.

Damian nodded, “They are all mostly support items. Some things that I have made for making some jobs easier for people can be used to cause slight injuries, but I intend to put heavy restrictions on who can buy them and use them. Sanctum will not sell weapons.”

Einar nodded, “Any thoughts on giving the army armors and weapons upgrade?”

Damian finally looked up, “Do we need more power?”

“Not yet, but we might—in future.” Sam added. He had firsthand experience of working with their army.

“I will think of some things, as the need arises. I would prefer not to give dangerous weapons in the hands of anyone though.”

Both Sam and Einar nodded. Just him admitting that he was not completely opposed to the idea was good enough for them.