Chapter six
"WHAT?"
Ignacio was absolutely floored.
Laykus, the apparent leader of these adventures pursed her pink lips in smile that seemed to lighten the room. Her green eyes shifted to regard her fellow adventurers as they panicked behind her and started whispering frantically at Laykus, trying to get her attention.
Laykus shook her blond head slightly to get the others to be quiet before speaking again.
"What if I came, and shared information with you on a regular basis, maybe bring you maps, other details, things like that?"
Tia grabbed Laykus' arm and hissed.
"What in the hell are you doing? Negotiating with a golem?!"
Abruptly the clay sphere that was Ignacio's head ground as he inclined to face Tia and his voice ground out, rattling the bones of the listening adventurers as the tension in the room thickened.
"DO NOT REFER TO ME AS A MERE GOLEM. I AM THE FIRST, LAST, AND GREATEST OF THE RACE OF BEINGS THAT CREATED GOLEMS. I AM SENTIENT. GOLEMS ARE NOT. REFER TO ME AS SUCH A LOWELY BEING AGAIN AND YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT TO THE SURFACE."
Laykus pushed Tia behind her as she spoke softly and calmly, but despite her soft tone, her green eyes flashed with a fierceness and protectiveness that created a palpable aura that hope would dissuade the golem like creature from violence.
"Now… lets just stay. Calm. Tia didn't know, so I would ask that you forgive her this insult, my deal still stands where I can come once a month, bearing stories, political information, resource locations, and other things that you ask for."
Ignacio's head ground back to regard the leader.
"VERY WELL. HOWEVER THE WARNING STILL STANDS. CALLING ONE OF THE FIRST MEN A GOLEM IS AKIN TO CALLING YOU A MEATSACK. IT DEPRIVES YOU OF YOUR INTELLIGENCE, STRENGTH, AND YOUR VERY BEING."
Tia looked chastened as the rest of her group glared at her, Ignacio nodded briefly in approval before continuing.
"IF THERE ARE NO OTHER ISSUES WE HAVE AN ACCORD, NOW THAT IS LEFT IS THE MATTER OF PAYMENT FOR YOUR INFORMATION."
Laykus looked shocked briefly, she thought she would be doing it for free until she could gather enough soldiers and fighters to come back and kill the golem like thing when he broke his word.
"What do you mean payment? I had assumed I would be doing this for free."
Ignacio shook his head. He had no intention of letting a human, let alone a human who seemed to be far stronger then any others encounter so far to leave his home without being in his debt.
"OF COURSE YOU WILL BE PAYED. YOU WILL TELL ME THE BASICS OF WHAT I SHOULD KNOW TODAY., RECEIVE PAYMENT IN THE FORM OF A SINGLE WEAPON FROM THE ARMORIES. IT CAN BE FOR YOU OR ANY OF YOUR COMPATRIOTS, NEXT MONTH YOU WILL RECEIVE A PIECE OF ARMOR OR A WEAPON ALONG WITH A BONUS FOR WHOEVER COMES WITH YOU."
Laykus looked at the others who shrugged and motioned for her to figure it and make her own damn mind since she had gotten herself in the situation in the first place.
"Very well."
Scene Break
A few hours later, Ignacio had learned the basics of the political situation of the kingdom. The Workshops were apparently in the Azerlisia Moutanis, to the east of the Re-Estize Kingdom which was split in-between the royalty and the nobility factions. The Baharuth empire had recently undergone a systematic purge of the nobility, leading to the ruler of Baharuth's new nickname, 'The Blood Emperor.' And finally was The Slane Theocracy to the north was an extreme, xenophobic and pro-human empire.
Ignacio sighed as he learned more and more about the world. Apparently the golems that he used for menial labor and maintenance were elite artificial soldiers and guards in this world that could be used as armies once they started approaching the mid double digits.
Ignacio had lost track of the amount of security golems he had at around 25,000.
Ignacio refocused as Gargran attempted to get his attention.
"So… Is that enough information? While you were lost in thought we decided that I would receive a hammer."
Ignacio nodded and motioned for the adventurers to follow him.
Scene Break
Jaws dropped to the floor. After walking through seemingly endless hallways, Ignacio had stopped and opened a pair of innocuous doors, opening into a seemingly endless warehouse of shelves that stretched in every direction, disappearing into the distance. On each shelf was a piece of armor, or weapon that were examples of perfection incarnate in craftsmanship, swords and axes of a grey metal that faded in and out of sight, spears and daggers that floated just above the tables they were supposed to rest on, bows and slings with fat blue sparks of electricity occasionally jumping from the material of the weapon.
These weapons and many more that defied explanations littered the shelves. The armor… Well, the armor was just as spectacular quality as the weaponry, with elaborate engravings and filigree on and of unknown materials, not just of metal, but of strange stones and wood that none of the women had ever seen before.
Ignacio spread his arms, as if hugging all the incredibly deadly weapons and amazing armor in the room.
"FEEL FREE TO SEARCH FOR A WEAPON THAT SUITS YOU. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO WIELD ANY WEAPON IN THIS ROOM AT YOUR CURRENT STRENGTH."
Gargaran looked at Ignacio with tears of joy in her eyes, now she wasn't battle or equipment crazed, she still had a healthy appreciation for both well made items and weapons of war that could bisect a man in a single strike. Or reduce his family jewels into dust. Either one.
Gargaran almost skipped down hallways as she searched for a new hammer.
Ignacio turned to the other adventures, waved one massive hand and abruptly there were five regular sized chairs of wood and one massive chair of metal that Ignacio promptly sat in, the chair momentarily groaning beneath him before it settled.
Once the others were settled, a silence descended that was as awkward as it was difficult to break.
With occasional toeing of the floor the tense atmosphere was eventually broken by Gargaran returning with a large two handed warhammer made out of volcanic stone, with band of and decorations of a silvery metal dotting the hammers length. She held it forth for Ignacio to inspect as she spoke.
"I found this hammer, and it sort of… Called, to me. What is it?"
Ignacio gently grasped the hammer that seemed to become a normal sized hammer in his massive hands, turning it this way and that as he inspected it he spoke.
"IT IS ONE OF MY EARLY CREATIONS. IT IS A DOUBLE HANDED-WAR HAMMER USABLE BY MOST HUMANOID RACES, IT IS MADE OUT OF VOLCANIC ROCK AND BANDED WITH ELVISH SILVER. IT GRANTS FIRE RESISTANCE AS WELL AS MINOR FIRE SPELSS TO THE WIELDER."
Gargaran looked at the hammer in Ignacios hands in awe. Evileye seeing that she was distracted softly spoke up.
"What is its name?"
Ignacio placed the hammer back into Gargaran's hands with a care and reverence not out of place with newborn children before rumbling.
"ITS NAME IS VULCANIS, THE HAMMER OF THE FLAME."
Scene Break
The humans had left hours ago, promising to return in a month, and each of the assistants had come to the receiving hall and were currently kneeling in front of Ignacio.
Arcturia, assistant and administrator of the first floor, frost faerie and master blizzard caller knelt, dressed in a blue and white silk kimono, her blueberry colored lips pursed in frustration at her fellow assistants as she knelt. Vladamire, primordial vampire, assistant and administrator of the third floor knelt on one knee, his crimson sword resting before him, its serrated edges gleaming wetly in the light. Next Mary, skin walker and personal assistant to Ignacio knelt, her yellow eyes glinting as she waited for her master, no, her god to speak.
The final assistant and administrator of the third floor knelt next to Mary. His name was quite simply Jeeves. A short man at just over 5ft tall, dressed in a old-fashioned victorian suit, complete with coattails, top hat, and pocket watch that he checked periodically. His bald head which would have normally been concealed by his top hat was beaded with a sweat like liquid, and his pure black eyes shone with a slight madness over his large, and exceedingly bushy blue-green beard that obscured his nose and mouth in hair the color of a stormy sea.
Jeeves was an unusual case. He unlike all the other administrators who had a primary form of humanoid was instead, for meetings such as these, forced to assume the form he was currently in.
His usual form had far more tentacles, and eyes for that matter. Teeth too. LOTS of teeth.
All shifting and muttering ceased as Ignacio spoke, his voice sounded out like the grinding of bone under a pestle.
"THE INTRUDER HAVE LEFT. WE HAVE SECURED A VALUABLE SERVICE OF INFORMATION THE LIKES OF WHICH THE VILLAGES WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PROVIDE, I THANK ALL OF YOU FOR FOREBEARNCE AND PATIENCE IN ALLOWING VERMIN SUCH AS THEM THROUGH YOUR HOMES."
Each of the assistants protested that they had merely been following his orders, and that only his genius had made them come to agree that it was better to let the humans live.
Ignacio grandly held his hands out and immediately silence fell, each of the figures kneeling in front of him staring at his imposing figure with absolute devotion shining in their eyes,
"NEVERTHELESS, I THANK YOU. HOWEVER, WE HAVE NOW SECURED A RELIABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND I BELIEVE IT IS TIME TO MOVE ONTO THE NEXT PHASE OF MY PLAN."
Ignacio paused briefly as his assistants looked at him in anticipation.
"AND ITS A KILLER."
Authors Note.
OKAY! I GET IT! YOU WANT LONGER CHAPTERS! I work two jobs and am a full time student, so i am so very sorry, if while trying to stick to an update every one or two weeks that chapter length goes down. Good lord… Y'all need to get this, I write for a fun way to relax and as a way to stay connected with the other authors on the page. Favs and Follows are nice and appreciated, but they are secondary.
ON TO THE COMMENTS! OLDEST TO NEWEST
PervySageChuck: I do enjoy my cliffhangers, but they just naturally seem to end there, I don't actually intend on ending my chapters on cliffhangers.
Priceless: Thank you very much.
A Certain Triangle: Refer to my initial comments, however. YOU CAN BE BOTH!
Crusader King: Thank you for your kind comments.
sir brocktree: Refer to my first bloody note.
Random Reviewer: Sorry if you don't like the length of what I write, but thank you for putting it in a polite manner. As I said in my first comment,
I LITERALLY DO NOT HAVE ENOUGH TIME.
Guest: I actually do know what the word chapter means, however, if you would like to be less condescending to start with, that would be nice. However, you do make good points. However, as stated earlier, I, and the other authors on my page stick to a schedule of updates every two weeks, and we, as stated previously and now in EVERY OTHER STORY.
ALL WORK FULL TIME AND OUR FULL TIME STUDENTS. WE BE BUSY.
Zandaino-Nova-Ari: At some point most likely.
Oh, and a side note, the term assistant is just my word for floor guardian or level 100 NPC character of the Great Workshops.