Ch50.Expansion - Part 4

After the students had finished their 'discussions', I sorted out the rewards I promised them, I ended up having to give the strongest student, who had almost reached the last step in becoming a second Circle Mage, and then paid out the rest. After that, I had to calm down a frantic Nafets who kept running around his new house and asked him how come he is so strong and why he didn't tell me. His reply was simply, "I not strong at attack, Just good with Beer Mug."

Apparently, after I introduced him to beer and showed him my beer mug, he decided to forge his Dwarven Innate Rune Weapon and made it a Beer Mug, he then added a few Runes that he thought would be useful and after it was created, he could automatically be compared to a Human's Circle 2 Mage, this is purely due to the different Magic systems and doesn't their starting points. He doesn't find what he did important at all, in fact he is still contemplating what else he can add to the mug in order to have it generate beer… Very Dwarf like, completely oblivious to anything not related to alcohol or Metal.

I was a little annoyed at his response, but after asking him to teach me more about the forging of Rune Devices, he agreed to tell me some things in his free time, in exchange I have to help him convert his territory into a drunken hotspot, filled with different bars and breweries. I told him that what he is asking for will be hard to accomplish, but I have a few ideas and plans that could help him accomplish this. It could actually be a good idea and could generate some insane profits, so after chatting with him a bit, I told him to get his new house sorted, fixed and organized and that I would come over at a later date to chat further.

After finishing with Nafets, I walk up to a tied up and unconscious Bortie and put him in my Shadow Space. I then head back to my house and call our newest Clan Member, Legant, the guy who won the deathmatch.

As soon as he arrived I asked him, "Do you know why I asked you to joint my clan?"

He then responded by saying, "I thought it was because I won the deathmatch?"

I then smiled and brought Bortie out of my shadow space, he was still tied up and out cold, I then pointed to Bortie and said, "This is Bortie, the boss of another territory I have just taken over."

I then paused as he looked at Bortie, showing a confused face, I am sure he was wondering why I was telling him this. I continued by saying, "I see you are confused as to why I am showing you this, well to put bluntly, I was impressed with your brutal performance in the deathmatch and how you showed no hesitation in ending someone's life. I am in need of a person to fulfill a very specific set of jobs, and I believe you are perfect for this job."

I looked down and started at Bortie and continued, "You see, as the Boss, I need to appear as 'clean' as possible and it is very possible that, in the foreseeable future, I will need people to handle my 'dirty work'. What I want you to do is make Bortie disappear, and make sure that he enters an 'eternal sleep'. If you can perfectly accomplish this without leaving any evidence behind, I will make you the first member of my Shadow Guard. This entails that you will have to learn a specific set of magic that will allow you to accomplish your job."

I then took a small black blade out of my shadow space, this blade was dead straight and had a few Runes engraved on it, that will both absorb and burn blood at high temperatures as it enters somebody, preventing them from bleeding. I then held the pointed end with the handle pointed towards Legant as I extended my hand and said "Do you have any questions?"

He then looked at me, the blade and then to Bortie before showing a savage grin and saying in a deep voice, "I get to indulge in slaughter and learn magic? What better job could there possibly be!"

He then proceeded to grab the knife out of my hand before bending down, stabbing Bortie in the chest multiple times before slitting Borties throat and then immediately twisting his head, making sure that he was dead. As soon as Bortie was stabbed, he woke up in shock and tried to struggle, but he had exhausted all of his Magical Energy and was tied up so his resistance was futile and all he could do was scream before his throat was slit and his eyes went blank and he died.

I nodded towards Legant and told him that his test had just started and that he needed to make sure that nobody discovered him leaving with the body and to figure out how he could properly dispose of the body. His response was to laugh and rush out to get some supplies before saying that I don't need to worry and that he could handle it.

I nodded my head before leaving while thinking 'I still feel absolutely nothing at the sight of death, I guess all those times I died has truly warped my mind… Well I guess it's fine, as long as I at least try to keep my mind calm and control and disguise my emotions, there won't be a problem. On another note, holy shit Legants mind is fucked up, he seems to actually enjoy murder! Well fortunately this means that I can entrust this kind of work to him now as long as he performs well, I just need to perfect my Magic Tattoo ideas.'

I then went to find Birdhead in order to find out how far the territory takeover has gone, and as expected, as soon as the news of Borties loss got out, the takeover went smoothly. We were able to convince all of his remaining members to join us, I didn't have them join my clan but instead had them join Nafets. I don't trust them enough to have them enter my clan just yet so I will have them form a sort of side clan with Nafets. This serves multiple purposes, besides screening their loyalty and finding some that I will invite to join my clan, there are other benefits, such as the other territory bosses not freaking out with me expanding as it will just seem like I acquired the territory for my friend so that he could expand his alcohol business.

I plan to go along with these plans and slowly secure the territory and when everything has been stabilized and I am ready, I will then make my move on my next territory acquisition, this may take a while as there will be a ton of thing that need to be done right now and I will need to acquire much more information on the Bosses so that I don't go in blindly like this time and almost get into a dangerous situation where I could potentially die. I also have quite a bit I need to do with regard to my Magic, I want to acquire my next territory without the help form outsiders, I feel that I will have to show my own power soon so that I can stabilize my position. I am sure that the other bosses will be scared of my connections right now, but I doubt that will last longer and I have a premonition I will be facing some competition with other bosses quite soon.

A few days have passed since I have taken over the territory and not much has changed, Nafets has somehow converted his new house into a massive brewery and all the failed brews get thrown into a large vat where it is pumped through the House fountain and goes through a certain Rune filter where it becomes semi-drinkable. Nafets now owns a house that constantly smells of beer and he has been researching the Tear Rune Device, I think he wants to convert the water absorbtion to beer absorption so that he can recover his Magical energy by drinking beer, that is only something a dwarf would think of.

He is constantly thinking of new ways to modify his house and keeps spending my money in order to do so. Luckily I have been able to sell his alcohol to a few bars so I haven't lost too much money, I do, however, need to start planning to open up a few bars in his territory as well as finally open my own bar that I acquired a while ago, I have finally decided what I am going to do to it and I must say, even I am very excited about its potential. It may, however fail, but in order to ensure its success, I need to find something 'special' that will guarantee its success.