At the manor itself, still frustratingly unnamed, a man in pompous clothing and a ridiculous inflated beret waited. He and his wagon had parked themselves on his door, and the man was drinking from a silver-plated canteen of all things.

  Even unarmored, Kyle had struggled to find anyone his height. Due to child hunger, everyone was strangely short to him. This man was the first person he’d come across who was at least as tall as he was.

  As he walked up to him, the mercenary following behind, he greeted the man.

  “Well met there, friend. How can I help you on this fine day?” The man answered in a deep but still arrogant tone.

  “Yes, yes, hail and well met. I came from Tetrelta to investigate rumors of steel production. You wouldn’t happen to know about this steelmaker, would you? We will handsomely reward you for information, of that I can assure you.”

  “That depends. What do you want with them?” The merchant considered it, stroking his small goatee. “It’s illegal under imperial law for an uncontracted party to make steel in any capacity. They will be enslaved or put to death, depending on how much they’ve already made.”

  Kyle internally facepalmed. “And how, pray tell, does one become contracted?” “You would have to officially visit the Grand Guildhall in the capitol, Tetrelta. You’d pay the fine, sign some papers, and would be mostly free to create steel to your hearts content.”

  Kyle was beating his head against a brick wall. Mentally, of course. “How far is tetrelta from here?” “13,000 kilometers as the crow flies. However; you could cover that in about 140 portal jumps. It would be costly, but it’s the only viable way.”

  A glimmer of hope! “How much is a single jump?” “Well, it depends on the mana you contribute to the process. For someone not initiated in the magical arts, I would say about ten deacons.”

  “And how long would this take?” The man stroked his goatee again. “Two days there and back. That’s how it took me, but I’m clearly on official business. The arrays are quite busy close to the capitol. A round trip of 6 days, just about?”

  “Thank you for all of your help, good sir. If you would excuse me, I’ll be back in 6 to 8 days.” A greedy glint flashed across the man’s eyes. “What’s to stop me from calling the authorities on you right now? I think you could… give me something to, ah, tide me over until then?” Kyle couldn’t help but grind his teeth.

  “How. Much.” Kyle hated the corrupt. They were the rust on the gears of civilization. Only with a violent scrubbing could you remove them.

  “Something in the range of… 15,000? Shall we say?”

  Money still wasn’t of much import to Kyle. No one really knew how much gold was in the hoard aside from the Elnomagans. 15,000 was chump change to him, but it still added up.

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  “Done. Now get out off my doorstep.”

  ———

  Inside, Kyle went to the desk on which Bariyon sat. “Wake up. I need advice.” The skull yawned comedically, and snapped, “Let a man, er, skull, sleep. Whaddyawant?”

  “Tell me about the teleportation arrays.” “Ah! An organised group of linked teleportation arrays that any city of respectable size has. Even in my time, the Veskayans were famous for setting them up everywhere they conquered. It helps their empire stabilize.”

  “Are they safe?” “Supremely, m’boy. Nothing to worry about at all.” “Wonderful.”

  Kyle was about to leave, when he turned around. “You wanna come?” The skull chuckled. “Nah. I might mess with the arrays. And besides, I’ve seen Tetrelta before. I won’t be missing anything, I’m sure.”

  “Great way to inspire confidence.”

  Kyle walked back into the main living area, and donned his armor. He grabbed a spatial bag, and filled it with about 5,000 worth of deacons from the small treasury in the manor’s cellar.

  Now fully power armored, Kyle quickly jogged over to the administrative building. Just outside, a lone guardsman stood.

  “You there. Tell the administration to keep things afloat for a week. I’ll be back; I’m taking a trip to the capital.”

  The man nodded vigorously and walked inside. Kyle proceeded to jog out of the city, and down the road to Altrai. Quickly flashing his adventurers card from his armored pocket, he passed through the gate.

  His last visit while in the armor was clearly still remembered by the people. He drew stares as he walked through the mostly empty early winter streets.

  The teleportation array was located in a stone building in the center of the town.

  A single guard in a fur coat sat in the doorway of the building. On seeing Kyle approach, he pulled his stool aside and nodded Kyle in.

  Inside, a single huge room took up most of the building. On the floor, a huge array of looping lines of inlaid stone was placed. A few offices in the back could be found, and a couple attendants sat around slacking off.

  On his entry, an attendant walked up to him apprehensively. “Good day, sir. I assume you want to use the portal array?” “Yes. I have a few questions, actually. How long would it take me to get to Tetrelta?”

  The man seemed a little shocked at hearing the incredibly distant location, but regained his composure quickly. “With the reduced traffic in the wintery months, I would wager about 8 days of constant travel. Most of that spent waiting in queues. The arrays close to the capitol are really busy, even for this time of year.”

  “And how much money?” “It’s 8 deacons at the maximum price for one trip. 138 trips to the capital… somewhere in the realm of 2,000 deacons round-trip? Not counting local taxes and fiefs, but those are pretty minimal.”

  Kyle handed over 8 of the golden coins to the attendant, and the man clapped his hands. The other robed attendants quickly grabbed boxes of glowing blue crystals. One swept the floor containing the array, and another group started laying the jewels down in contact with the purple stone array on the ground.

  Eventually, Kyle stood at the very center of the array, surrounded by a small pile of the crystals. The attendant who greeted him grabbed a thick tome bound in gold leaf from the desk, and flipped it open.

  “Please don’t do anything unreasonable. Actually, be as still as possible for me…” The man started chanting in a hissing and smooth language, and the others around the room joined in.

  For the first time, Kyle found his magically granted translation matrix failing. The words just sounded like gibberish.

  Eventually, a white flash enveloped his armor, and he was gone. The pile of crystals now glowed significantly less brightly.