I don't like liars

I slowly place down the quill, it took me a good few hours to finish writing everything. What I need to do now is find a way to store all this paper, maybe ill get Aedric to make me a bookshelf.

Thinking about the old apprentice I can't help but smile. He was such a lucky find, an old washed-out wannabe mage stuck in town with debt collectors after him and being forced to live with beggars.

That right there is a man down on his luck if I've ever seen any.

Still, I am not someone to look down on such a godsend so I took him in, very kindly too, of course. After he interrupted my scouting on that fateful day I had my guards kindly apprehend him and take him inside the warehouse where we had a very kind and polite conversation where he told me everything he knew.

It turns out that old Aedric there is also somewhat of a runaway so I took him in and even gave him preferential treatment, while the other beggars live together in the warehouse I own down by the docks using the rotten wood to heat themselves and eating the death bread for sustenance, Aedric lives in my house, together with my ever-increasing number of guards, they all sleep nice and tight together next to the fire.

I also had Ubam look after him, as in keep him close at all times and never leave him out of his sights, wouldn't want anything to happen to him now, would we?

My smile grows even larger as I think about all the benefits having him around brings to my little business. The two biggest problems after manpower were a way to cut down the trees and to transport them.

Aedric solved both these problems very, very efficiently.

As for the first one, the method to cut down trees, we obviously need axes, but metal axes are expensive, and beggars steal, so why not use magically created wooden axes.

If they were just normal wooden axes they would not be very good, but magic grants them a certain degree of enhanced resistance, they still break down after a while tho, so without our resident druid, we would run out very fast.

All Aedric has to do is turn wood into axes and give them to one of the giants that then gives them to the lumberjacks. The ones I call lumberjacks are the beggars that are willing to venture outside the gate in groups of three or more to cut down the trees and bring them back, they are better paid than the beggars that stay in the workshop and clean the trees before cutting them into firewood.

As for the second problem, the transport of the logs from the forest to the city, Aedirc also brought a solution, he didn't think of it, of course, only made it possible.

You see, right now everything is being covered by snow, and what goes on snow, sleds do, namely beggar-powered sleds.

So I had Aedric make some basic sleds using magic, they were my own design and while I'm not some expert they can still help carry a fell tree to the lumberyard inside the city.

And like this the workshop started selling again, it has all the manpower it needs, namely the beggars, and as a clerk of sorts I chose one of the giants, the one that seemed the most averse to danger.

Now as for what makes me happiest about this.

Humming I get up from my chair and walk over to the side of the room, where the painting hiding my coins is.

I push the wooden frame to the side and look inside, what greets me is a small pile of coins in many, many shades and states of corrosion, still coins nonetheless.

This is my coin, my money.

I have a force of several dozen beggars cutting down trees and bringing them back for processing where another few dozen beggars cut down the trees in usable pieces that I call firewood that is then bundled in groups of four.

A single bundle of four small logs is half a coin, but one bundle is not nearly enough for one day, so people need to buy several of them. truthfully they mostly use the wood for cooking as they can deal with the cold well enough, the way they've been doing the last few weeks when the production was stalled.

A single tree produces about ten bundles which are a good five coins, I process and sell more than twenty a day, that is around one hundred coins, even deducting the costs which are almost nothing I get a solid seventy coins as profit a day.

Seventy blessed coins a day, this right here is the power of a merchant, I can buy a house every other day, that is how rich I am right now.

This won't last that long, the beggars will start getting sick and some will leave, winter will end and the demand will decrease, still, as long as it lasts I'm going to be rich.

Of course rich when compared to a normal person, I am pretty sure that the true upper echelon of the city has been earning this much and more for decades which puts a large gap between us.

Still, it is a matter of time, I established myself here in this town as a respectable merchant, all i have to do now is find more business opportunities, get more workers, convince more giants to work for me, become more well known among the people, then eventually, join the council and live a life of luxury as one of the leaders of the city.

It is but a matter of time.

----------

Night has fallen.

Within a clearing in the forests outside Westerngrad, there is a large hole. Observing it from far away there doesn't seem to be anything strange about it, but as one gets closer the smell of blood, bile and decay would assault their senses.

Here, in this clearing, lives had been lost, belonging to both humans and beasts.

Normally due to the intense smell of death present around the clearing, no small animals would approach it, yet today, something was standing there.

Clad in a long burgundy cloak stood a humanoid figure gazing within the hole. The figure did not show any signs of movement, even the strong night winds seemed to ignore the shape.

As the wind howled in the distance and the dry branches atop the trees cracked and hit each other the figure watched the deep dark hole in silence.

In the nighttime, its walls looked pitch black but if one went by day they could see that they had a reddish-brown tint, a very unnatural color for the soil in this area to have.

As time went on and dawn was quickly approaching the figure finally moved, it was as if time started flowing again, the wind that could not touch it all this time started fluttering the long burgundy cape.

In the light of the rising sun, the shape of a woman appeared, she had a beautiful face, longs shapely legs, and a braid of dark hair laying still unmoving on her shoulder.

She smiled lightly and spoke, her orange eyes seeming brighter than the morning sun as she did so.

''You've lied to me, you naughty man''. She turned her gaze towards the city, as if able to see it through the trees.

''I cant wait to see what you have to say in your defense''. She lifted her hand and grabbed the cloak flowing in the wind.

''Prepare yourself Caspian, I told you I don't like liars''.