Vivid Stars Online

The next few days passed calmly as I spent most of my time working on the frigate. There were still places where I could save materials by fixing cracks and other minor damage with Technokinesis without the energy cost being prohibitive.

While it took time and strained both my reserves and mental energy, any savings I could make would reduce the total quantity of materials we would need. Given that we were scraping the barrel already, I was willing to spend the time and effort on even minor savings.

When I was recovering from that, I finished booking the investor applicants, worked on a presentation for them, and spent time with Linnea. She still had some lingering anxiety from my visit on Earth, and I wanted to make sure that I gave her the attention she needed.

Then the first day of interviews came. They went OK for the most part. Despite my specifications, almost half of the people came only to express interest in a noble title without having any funds to invest.

It was the remaining half that was interesting. Some were gathering the money and could prove it, but weren't ready yet. A couple of people were ready but didn’t want to set up a village in the mountains.

That was something I could understand. While I had a solid location, it was still in a dangerous area. Even ignoring the massive birds, the average danger level of the local beasts was higher than at ground level.

Those people I shortlisted for the other villages I was setting up. If my farming plan worked, then I would want to use that success to expand rapidly out into the fertile plains that surrounded my first town.

That was where the guild explorers I had organized were focusing their efforts. By the time we had proof that farming would work we should have plenty of locations already scouted.

That left only a few people who were both interested in a mountain mining town and were ready to invest. Of them, only a single one was ready to go at the speed I wanted.

Which was the sooner the better. I would take today if I could swing it, but I at least wanted some initial setup to begin within a week.

Cyrus Samiec was a knight from one of the inner provinces, the third son of a Viscount, and the only person who I booked a second meeting with on the day after my interviews were completed. If he didn’t pan out, then I would talk to one of the other shortlisted people, but I felt he was the best of the bunch.

A knock sounded on the office I’d cop-opted in the town hall just as the clock ticked over to the hour. Cyrus had been just as punctual for our first meeting, and I called for him to enter with a grin.

“My Lord,” he spoke as he bowed on entry. “It is good to see you again,” he continued as he straightened back up. His face was set into a polite smile, but I thought I could detect eagerness in his eyes.

“Please, sit,” I responded with a gesture to the seat across from me. “And close the door behind you.” I’d asked the Mayor to take everyone in the building out for a long lunch during the meeting and used both my Technokinesis and Elana’s help to check for listening devices.

Unnervingly, we actually found several, though we had no way of knowing who had planted them. The best we could do was disable them and keep checking at regular intervals.

I was at least confident that we were safe now, which was good since I was going to be quite candid with the man. Even after just a few days, I was tired of the obfuscations of courtly dialog, and I was also going to be sharing significant secrets about the contents of the mining location.

Cyrus only took a few seconds to follow my request, but I’d activated Enhance cognition as he entered the room. I could only keep it up for about ten minutes, but that would be enough to help me get an accurate judgment of his character.

I wasn’t an expert in body language, but I’d done some studying in my spare time. With my enhanced cognitive speed, I should be able to pick up at least some basic tells. The extra speed was also great for sounding like I knew what I was talking about.

“I’m sure you can guess why you’re here,” I began as he settled into the seat. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you even knew that you were the only person I asked back.” He’d sounded switched on enough to keep track of that kind of thing, and from a knowing smile that flashed across his face, I thought I was correct.

“But that doesn’t mean that I’ve accepted your investment yet, just that you are the most likely candidate. First, let’s get real for a moment. We both know that this is truly you purchasing a barony in a socially acceptable way. Tell me why you want it, and how you plan to run your lands.”

A lock of shock passed over his face before Cyrus gathered himself to respond. “Ah, oh course. As I mentioned at our last meeting, I am the third son of my family, and the fourth child in total. My first brother will inherit the viscountcy and my second brother the only spare barony that my family has the land for.”

“Even if another eventuates, my sister will inherit it first, and currently both of us are only set to inherit a significant sum of money. It would be enough to live comfortably on, but I want something more. Land of my own, and this is the simplest way to get it.”

“I am not an adventurer or explorer, like yourself, my lord, nor am I an accomplished member of the military. I’ve always been more of an administrator and have had success if several of my family’s companies as shown in the resume I sent you.”

He paused for breath, glancing at my face as if to see how I was reacting. I tried not to let anything show, and he soon moved on.

“But please don’t take my words as meaning that I am not determined or invested in this project. The only reason I have the funds is that I convinced my father to advance me the inheritance, at a significant reduction in value.”

“I am putting almost everything I have on the table here, and I will lose everything if it fails. This means that I will work harder than anyone with family backing would.”

I gave him a nod at that, impressed with his reasoning. As he’d suggested, most of my candidates came with more direct backing from their families looking to build a new noble house. While this was not necessarily a bad thing, I could see why Cyrus would work harder than someone with a comfortable life to fall back on.

“As to how I would run my lands,” he continued. “It would be to the laws of the Kingdom, and to any specifications you send down to me. I would do my best to apply the laws fairly and justly, this means too much to mess around.”

“Beyond that, I would work to expand to the maximum size allowed for a village as swiftly as I can without endangering the populace. The faster the village is established, the better it will be for both of us.”

That was honestly the best answer I could have hoped for. Someone dedicated to doing things right was exactly what I wanted, given the likely value of the village. The last thing I needed was someone trying to skim off the top, and several potential investors had seemed more than a touch shady.

It was almost enough for me to give him the job, I just needed to know a few more things. “Finally, what are your future goals, and how quickly would you be able to start?”

He took a deep at that before responding. “I believe you prefer straight, honest answers, my lord, so I will answer as such. My goal is a viscountcy once enough villages have been developed within the mountains to need one.”

“There must be more good mining locations than just the one, and it would only make sense for the first such village to become the most prominent among them. While a barony would be an amazing position, I dearly wish to reach the same rank as my eldest brother will eventually assume.”

“As I mentioned earlier, I will work harder than anyone else to make that happen. As to when I can start, as soon as you require. I have the funds prepared, and I have established a few contacts through which to begin recruitment.”

“You mentioned in your presentation that rail track will need to be run from this town to the village, and I am also prepared to pay for that as long as I can charge a small toll to cover maintenance costs in the future,” he finished, his face earnest.

He certainly sounds driven, I mused as I leaned back and observed the man as he fell into silence. I'd caught nothing I felt was deceptive, though I thought that there was more to the situation with his brother than he was letting on.

The title of Viscount is a good carrot to drive him on with as well, and he’s right that I’m going to need one. As he says, there have to be more good mining spots deeper into the mountain, and his village will act as a transport hub for them.

Offering to pay for the track between here and the village is a massive plus as well. Infrastructure would come under my purview to supply, and I have to admit it would strain the budget right now. A toll in the future is a very reasonable request.

My higher cognition speed let me process my thoughts fast enough to stop the meeting from becoming too uncomfortable, though I was running out of time. Thankfully, I had also already made my decision.

“I like what I hear,” I said with a nod in his direction. “As long as you can keep those promises, the barony will be yours, and you will be a solid candidate for viscount when the time comes. You are correct that one will be needed, and as the first village, you will have the advantage.”

Cyrus’s face broke out in a huge smile, but I held up a hand to forestall him before he could say anything else. “Now ‘as soon as I want to start’ is right now, let me show you the location, the resources available, and what needs to be done.”

Another look of surprise crossed his face, but he didn’t look perturbed by the time frame. Pulling up a hologram on the desk, I brought up both the overland and underground routes.

Cyrus proved to attentive and insightful listener as I took him through what I needed, bringing up several points I hadn’t thought of. Overall, he agreed with my plan, however, and was enthusiastic about the underground railway.

“I have to admit that the giant avians said to live in the mountains had given me some concern,” he said with a grin as he looked over the route. “We don’t know enough about them to know if a fast-moving ground vehicle would be entirely safe.”

“Even a rare attack would add up if we ran them every week, year after year. The underground still has potential beast issues, but at least we won’t have to worry about the carts being dragged off into the sky.”

“We might even find more deposits in side tunnels as we build it,” he continued, excitement clear in his voice. “I noticed you haven’t scouted all of them at that level, and only your route has full geological scans.”

That was something I hadn’t even considered, but he was right that the other soldiers hadn’t had the level of scanning technology that I had. It was something I wanted to address when I had the funds, as it had always served me well.

When I finally showed him the deposits of Altheium I’d found in the insect cave, he fell silent. “Those are going to be very valuable, particularly now,” he said at last as he turned back toward me.

“They are indeed,” I said with a smile, glad that he’d done enough research to know about the value of such a rare ore. It showed good promise for the future.

“Keep that secret, for now,” I continued with a stare. “It’s unlikely that anyone’s going to try something as crazy as a rogue mining operation, but I still don’t want the word getting out until we’re solidly in place.”

He nodded at that before I took him through the last of what I’d prepared. Soon after, he left with a spring in his step and a promise of frequent updates. After hearing about the Altheium, he’d even promised to get an advance team up there, which was exactly what I wanted.

It would take time to move the ore back here without a completed track, but even a little would help keep the work going. It was everything I’d hoped for, and I couldn’t be more pleased.

Now I just had to get the actual blueprints we needed.