The Newt and Demon

Theo tried not to laugh at himself as he headed for the market. Since trade had increased to absurd levels—thanks to the harbor—he could find almost everything he needed at the market. His first instinct had been to pull out his communication crystal, contacting Fenian to request the materials. In recent days, it seemed the elf’s primary role in the world was less of a merchant and more of an adventurer. Or a crazed dude who ran around taking out whoever he wanted.

It might have been a problem, but it wasn’t Theo’s problem.

The scents within the market were a confusing mixture of grilled food, sweat, and animal droppings. The sights were somehow more shocking to the senses, displaying the full range of the races, and wares within Iaredin. It wasn’t unheard of, but Theo was shocked to see several dronon peddling wares at a booth. Even from a distance he could tell they were from an older Tworgnothi brood. Their skin was a shade that seemed like dull brass, and they wore interesting adornments from their horns.

Theo talked to them for a few minutes, but they were aloof. Like most dronon in the world, they were secretive. When he would ask an elf where they were from, they would proudly state their house and a short list of accomplishments. Humans liked talking about where they had been, while marshlings enjoyed giving accounts of the stuff they currently had on their person. Only those dronon who had gone to the heavens cared to share anything about themselves.

“Looking for anything in particular?” a particularly well-dressed elf as Theo was passing.

“Seed cores,” Theo said, leaning in to see the man’s wares. “You’re a coresmith.”

The elf shrugged. “I work for one. With my homeland in disarray, the laws concerning exporting seed cores have evaporated. Take your pick.”

Yes, people still enjoyed their money. None of the items on offer were free, forcing Theo to stretch his substantial budget to meet his needs. This elf had Small Farm Seed Cores on offer, but also the regular and large versions. Negotiating was Theo’s least favorite thing, so he spent as little time as possible on it. But it revealed that cash wasn’t as important as he first thought when the negotiation devolved into bartering.

Theo parted with more mythril than he was comfortable with, but the five seed cores he left with were worth it. Maybe, depending on how mad Throk was. He planned on not saying anything and denying responsibility when the shortage was noticed. For now, he had some seeds to plant and some Monster Cores to shove inside. At least Monster Cores were still cheap.

After making a note in the administration interface and heading to the lab to get some supplies, Theo was unsurprised to find Alise trailing behind him. She jogged up—almost out of breath—and slapped him on the shoulder.

“That’s a lot of farms,” she said, offering a pained smile at him. It wasn’t pained because she didn’t like the idea, but because she had an obvious stitch in her side.

“Why not increase our food capacity by a factor of five?” Theo asked, giving her a less-forceful slap in return. On the shoulder, of course. “I don’t care what happens, we’re taking all this crap with us when we go. I almost got the approval of all the gods.”

“Huzzah for that,” Alise said, clearing her throat. “So, is the output for this farm open for the town to pull from?”

“Yeah, I’d like if the products were dedicated to the party effort,” Theo said. They passed under the gate, heading out into the fields of his Small Farm. “I’ll need a few more golems, but I think I should have enough space to make them here.”

“More than enough space, I think. Maybe, depending on soil quality…”

“We’ll just take over the other side of the river,” Theo said, waving her concerns away. “At least Ziz had the sense to leave me some space on both sides.”

The area where the river came near Broken Tusk was nearer to the mountains bordering the area to the north. It opened up further north, but nearby it was narrow enough to cause concerns about space. He got to work anyway, planting the first seed and feeding it with cores. It grew quickly, a house sprouting up to mark the controlling building of the area. When he added more to level it—all the way to 20—fields sprung up. A mental message sent the nearby Plant Golems to work, although he would need far more to manage all five.

Alise followed him around the entire time.

“Looking at the projections for attendance has me worried,” she said, writing information onto a physical piece of paper. Normally she used her interface. “We’re concerned about both space and food supplies. Since we’re apparently catering it. And I don’t know how long we’ll need to host everyone.” Ŗ𝘼ℕốВËŞ

Theo worked on the next farm, planting the seed and feeding it. “Shouldn’t this sort the food problem?”

“It might. But there isn’t enough booze in the region for everyone. I wanted to ask if you could make some.”

Theo had to think about that for a moment. He could brew some moonshine that would destroy the liver of the most ardent alcoholic, but he wasn’t sure that’s what she wanted. People in this world liked their liquor, but the stuff the lab could produce was a bit much. Well, perhaps he could cut it with water to make a weaker drink… Or mix it with another drink like a cocktail? End of the world party cocktails?

“I might have an idea,” Theo said. “Okay. Leave it to me.”

“Really? You’re going to take on new work willingly?” Alise asked.

“For once. Just don’t ask me to do anything else for a while.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Alise actually bounced with excitement a few times. It looked as though she might hug him for a moment before heading back to town. He watched as she went. Of course, brewing a bunch of booze wouldn’t be as slow as his current alchemy process. He could make some corn moonshine easily, since he could use the massive 500 unit still to make it. Hell, maybe he could have Throk create something even larger for the job… No. Better to not get a rise out of the old marshling.

The goal of the farms outside the town struck a stark contrast to the single farm within. The concept of the farm inside Broken Tusk was to elevate it above the marshy soil. While that soil was useful when dried, if it remained wet indefinitely, then they couldn’t grow the favored corn-like product of the half-ogres. With Theo’s ability to manipulate the terrain and his plan to leave the planet entirely, he wasn’t too concerned about seasonal flooding or water leaching from the swamp.

Instead, he placed these new farms wherever they would be needed. If the town needed to expand, it could choose a different direction. Or it could expand around the farms and then proceed across the river. Partway through the process, he realized there wouldn’t be nearly enough room for his forms there. He had no option but to cross the bridge and plant more on the far side. It would be very susceptible to monster attacks, but he didn’t care. He wasn’t putting people at risk, only his golems.

Of course, with five full-sized farms to tend to, he needed to recruit a new force of golems. Just like his alchemy, the golems were broken into pieces. The first were the lesser golems, the second were simply called golems, and the next were “greater” golems. The distinction between these golems was the quality of the items used for the containment core, the medium with which they were made, and the level of the monster core placed within that containment core. Plant golems needed no additional items to function, unlike the metal-based golems which required fire-based constructs.

A plant golem was happy to rebuild itself with random vegetative material. Anything would do.

Theo had to search for a bit longer than he wanted to find enough material for his golems. Three golems were fine to operate his small farm, but with five large farms, he figured that ten per farm was the bare minimum. Once he had gathered the materials, he went through his supplies, finding that someone had made and delivered some high-grade containment cores to him. They were made from the Azrugium alloy, a blend of Tworgnothi and Drogramathi metals. Since those aligned metals were now extinct, it made them quite rare.

Working on the golems was extremely relaxing. Theo had forgotten how it felt to impart his will into a containment core. First, he assembled fifty piles of vegetation—vines, leaves, sticks, and so on—behind his lab. Then he inserted level 30 monster cores into the containment cores and imparted some of his will into them. Next came the Slates, the power system that would keep the creatures going. Throk might have made a decent amount of batteries and siphons, but he didn’t have fifty on hand, so some golems would need to refresh their power systems by manually collecting Mana Constructs.

Sweat beaded on the alchemist’s forehead as he went between the piles. He drank mana potions when he ran low, infusing each core with both a small amount of his will and a spark of his mana. The golems, twice his size, rose into massive piles of twisting vegetation. They shambled about the area, feeding into his current network and warring with themselves over the instructions within. A sharp rebuke from his will had them all standing stock-still until he was done with each pile. It took many hours, but he finally had his new army of farmers. He inspected one, smiling at his progress toward a stronger golem.

[Greater Plant Golem]

[Alchemy Construct]

Level 30

Plant Golems excel at tending to the natural world, while also having mild combat capabilities.

Containment Core: [Alchemically Treated Azrugium Cage]

Monster Core: [Goblin Dwarfsticker] (Level 30)Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Medium: [Plant Matter]

Alchemy Slates: [Mana Construct]

Power System: [Mana Construct]

Siphon System: None

Additional Modifications: None

The Golem might have seemed simple on the outside, but Theo knew the kind of effort that had led him to this place. A greater Golem would be stronger, faster, and smarter in a combat sense, but for a Plant Golem it would be better at tending crops, smarter about the decisions it made when plucking weeds or selecting the spacing for planting. The result was a small army of farmers eager to get to work. Even with a blank command in their little network, he could feel their eagerness to begin.

The fact that they pushed back against him sent a significant amount of concern flooding through his mind. As the golems increased in power, so did their intelligence. That was concerning, especially considering the cores he used to construct them were made from goblins. Goblins weren’t the smartest decision makers.

Blowing a sharp and completely unnecessary whistle, Theo turned and led his army through the town. If he weren’t at the head of the formation, the guards on the walls to the east would most certainly have rung the bell. Instead, they nodded and muttered under their breath. The words they spoke were no doubt about the crazy archduke who ran the town, but he had long since stopped caring what others thought.

As soon as the golems got out into the open fields, they drove a sharp wave of desire into his mind. Each wanted to tend the fields immediately, without organization, but Theo pushed back. Instead, he segmented them into groups of ten, assigning each group to an individual farm. He placed storage crates in the buildings of each farm, giving the golems a place to deposit their wheat, gather seeds, and replenish their mana constructs.

“Get to work, little guys,” Theo said, smiling as he watched the golems rush off. It was strange to see them pull the seeds from the storage containers, and even stranger to watch them distribute the supplies amongst themselves.

“New army, who dis?” Tresk said, appearing behind Theo.

“What do you think?” Theo asked, not bothering to look back at the marshaling.

“Well, you’re quite good at raising armies,” Tresk said, tapping her chin. “Seems like we could start a war with this many golems.”

“I can make a lot more than what you see,” Theo said. “My army of golems is at about 300 at this point. I don’t even know where half of them are right now.”

“I heard a lot of them blew up,” Tresk said, giggling to herself. “They caught fire and died.”

That’s right. A lot of his golems were metal golems, which had the unfortunate side effect of exploding at random times. This was because they had to have a fire construct within them. If they took too much damage, they used that construct to reshape their form. That sometimes had explosive consequences.

“I think I’ll need help with this project. Are you interested in brewing a large quantity of alcohol?”

“What? But me no am alchemist. I’m just a little lizard,” Tresk said.

“This is the easy stuff,” Theo said. “The stuff we used to make back in the day. Or close enough to it. I remember you used to be very useful in the lab.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. Sounds good to me,” he said, dressed sadly, fidgeting on the spot. “You know, I’m kind of concerned about the dungeons, though—about the void energy and whatever negative monsters it shoots forth.”

“That’s Xol’sa’s problem. You shouldn’t worry about it unless somebody needs something stabbed,” Theo said.

Tresk shrugged. “I’m hungry. Let’s get some food.”