Job title: Viscount

"Where are we going, Papa?" Gerde asked as she skipped along beside me. It was now the morning after the party, and we were traversing the halls of the palace to the Emperor's office, where he would assign my responsibilities and set the tax rate for my new territory.

"We're going to meet with the Emperor, Gerde." I said in a grumbling tone. "He's going to give me a big job that's not in front of a forge."

"Congratulations again for that, Master Kvalinn." Delimira said with a bright smile. "I always knew you'd be famous for your work someday, I just didn't expect it to happen for a few hundred years."

"I wish it was a few hundred years." Bekhi grumbled. "I was looking forward to spending some time in a relaxing environment with Kvalinn as we raised Gerde together. Just like my mom and dad raised me."

"But wasn't your dad the Thane of your town?" Jenise asked. "Wouldn't Kvalinn being a viscount just be a little more work than what your father did?"

"Eh, my dad usually left his work to the Elders so that he could go out to fight monsters around the city." Bekhi said with a shrug. "Kvalinn won't have any reliable Elders to ditch the work on so he'll be stuck doing all the paperwork my dad got to avoid."

"I can help with that." Delimira volunteered. "My father may have been an egotistical control freak bent on world domination, but he made sure I had good tutors when I was a child. I can also teach you how to act like a noble, from what I can see, these human nobles have a lot lower standards than the elves, so it shouldn't take more than a couple lessons."

"I'll… Consider it." I grimaced at the thought of being a fancy noble, and shook my head. "But maybe if I act like a dwarf I can get the position taken away, and they'll demote me to private citizen."

"That would be dishonorable to the ancestor's, Kvalinn." Bekhi warned me. "Even though it's just a human title, acting in a manner that would cause the emperor to take it away would cause the ancestors to mock you for centuries."

"Huh, I guess I'm stuck with the job then." If I was stuck with the job I might as well make the best of it. Maybe I could start up the industrial revolution on a much greater scale than just kicking it off as a private individual.

Entering the Emperor's office, we found him busy with dozens of scribes and nobles working on the backlog that had accumulated in his absence. "Ah, good morning, Kvalinn. I trust you slept well in the rooms provided for you?"

"Good morning, your majesty." I replied. "They were a bit too good. After having slept on the ground for months it was difficult to get used to the softness of a human bed."

"Well don't get used to it. Where I'm sending you, you won't have time to sleep for quite some time." The emperor then brought out a map of the Throndian empire, or rather one of his scribes did.

"Brother, I must ask you again to reconsider." A noble who I recognized as the Archduke protested as the map was being unrolled. "I know that you are unsatisfied with my performance in the battle, and with my handling of the Zaihanians, but placing a dwarf noble under me is too much! I swear by the gods that I can handle this on my own."

"You have made such vows before, brother." The emperor said unperturbed. "The last time you 'handled it' they invaded us in the midst of our civil war and made off with thousands of our people, many of whom still toil as slaves to this day. No. You have failed in your responsibilities as a noble of the Empire. If you weren't my brother, then you would have been forcibly retired by now. Guards, take him to his quarters where we will discuss his future roles in greater detail."

Two Imperial Guards firmly escorted the Archduke out of the emperor's office. After regaining his composure with a few deep breaths, the emperor glared at me.

"Now, Kvalinn. Take a look at this map." He then gestured to a collection of baronies that were shaded out and somehow managed to border the Eternal Forest, Zaihan, and the Westian Plains, all at once. Making it look like an upside down T. "You will be given complete control over these baronies as their Viscount. However, due to the invasion of Zaihan, and the constant raids by the Westians and beastkin, this region is sparsely populated. Your mission will be to stabilize the region, safeguard it from further attacks, and do whatever you can to bring dwarven industry to the well guarded cities. If you can make the region a arms hub that would be even better, but I expect that task will take you until my son takes the throne."

Goblin's grog. The emperor was really loading on the work for me. To put it in Earth terms, he basically wanted me to take over a territory just a bit smaller than Ireland, rebuild it after an invasion, all the while fending off Zaihanians, who were similar to Ottoman raiders in strength, and the Westians, who were roughly Norse raiders on horses. Not to mention my personal ambitions of kickstarting an industrial revolution in the territory. This was going to be tough.

"Can't you give the job to someone else?" I asked. It was a longshot, but maybe some other noble distinguished himself enough to get saddled with this. "I'm just a weapon smith who can make dwarven runes and elf magic lines. I mean, I'm only eighteen winters! Surely there are other nobles who could do this."

The emperor's expression darkened. "There were once many who could have handled this task, but they have all either fallen in the recent wars, or have descended so far into factional politics that they are completely useless except to their own faction." After heaving a long sigh, he smiled faintly. "No. Give it up, Kvalinn. You did too good a job on my weapons and the hero's equipment. And don't you know that the reward for someone who works above and beyond is to be given more work? You are to be Viscount Kvalinn for the next hundred years at least, and perhaps more when my grandson or granddaughter takes the throne. Perhaps Duke Kvalinn could be your future title." This caused the emperor to start chuckling at his own joke as I stared down at the map.

"Hey, Kvalinn! Can I come with you?" All of us jumped in surprise as we realized Miyata was standing next to us. She must have used her Celestial Gift magic to sneak in when we weren't looking.

"By the gods!" The emperor swore as his hand jumped to his weapon. "Oh, it's you. How by the nine blades of the war god did you get in here? The guards were instructed to not let you out of your room until I sent for you."

"It's part of her Celestial Gift." I explained. "She can hide her physical presence from you unless you are looking directly at her."

"Hmm. I see." The emperor let his hand drift away from his sword, but his brows furrowed in annoyance. "We'll need to look into magical wards to keep her under control. But to answer your question, Hero Miyata. No. You cannot accompany the Viscount to his territory. You will be going to the Imperial Academy in the fall alongside the other heroes."

"Awww!" Miyata whined.

"Speaking of royal wards." The emperor continued, ignoring Miyata's groans. "Delimira and Jenise, are you certain I cannot convince you to join my house as royal wards? It will be a much easier life than the one you will lead with only Kvalinn as your protector."

"We're certain, your majesty." Delimira said firmly. "Kvalinn is our master and teacher, and we won't be leaving him."

"A pity." The emperor groused. "Very well, will you accept tutors to be sent to you during the winter months in case you change your mind. That way you will be prepared for a noble life should you choose to enter it."

The two elf girls accepted the offer of a tutor, and I asked to learn from them as well. There were probably a few magic technology techniques that only humans knew of that I might be able to incorporate into my tech gadgets or weapons.

After that there were a few more details to go over, such as tax rates, how many men I would raise in the event of war, how much in taxes I was allowed to charge the baronies, and a million other items that made me wish for an owner's manual. If only I could've just gotten a private citizenship, then I could be setting up my forge right now with Gerde playing with other kids in the town square, while Bekhi made a delicious lunch for us.

"By the way, Kvalinn." The emperor interrupted my daydreams with a grunt. "This grouping of baronies is technically a brand new territory, so unless you intend to call yourself the Viscount of two dozen baronies, we'll need to come up with a name for your territory. Any thoughts on the matter?"

Ah shit. I've always been lousy at naming things. Always naming my online profiles after fictional characters, and naming my gaming worlds after fictional places. Maybe I could do the same thing here, but with a twist.

"What about Vulcania?" I asked. A tiny bit of a play on words since it was the name of my favorite planet in science fiction, and the Greek god Vulkan was in charge of all the forges. Plus, my future citizens calling themselves Vulcanians didn't sound too bad.

"Vulcania? Mhhh. Excellent." The emperor then turned to the scribes around the room. "Scribes, note today as the beginning of the rule of the first dwarf noble in our empire, and the birth date of the province of Vulcania."

I gulped nervously as the scribes feather pens scribbled on the parchment. I just hoped that the date wouldn't go down in infamy.