Lord of Estaria Read online

  “Marquess Miller, do you have something urgent to talk about?” Nalisia rearranged some of the documents on her table. “As you can see, I am quite busy, so I would appreciate if you keep things short.”

  “Your Grace, I only wanted to let you know that you may send the first batch of people to Estaria.” I announced.

  “You already secured the region?” The Empress was baffled after hearing my words. “But you will also need to recruit soldiers to patrol the road, and hire adventurers to protect the caravans.”

  “We will secure the region in a day or two.” I admitted. Considering the power of the Wyverns and the rest of my Darkness Zombies, that should be the case. “As for the patrols, I positioned my zombies along both sides of the road. And I would appreciate if you could warn people not to attack the zombies wearing a red cloth, because if they do, my undead will fight back.”

  “Zombies to guard the road?”

  Oh, man. I almost could see the gears spinning in her head. This one will try to find a use for my zombies, all in the name of keeping the Rasik Empire strong.

  “That is correct, Your Grace,” I confirmed with a smile. “I plan to have my zombies guard the road all the way to Estaria. Of course, strong monsters will still be an issue, and they could appear somewhere, but that should happen rarely. On the other side, bandits and other criminals will have a hard time if they even consider assaulting anyone there.”

  “That, sounds interesting.” Nalisia was deep in thought. That was the perfect time to drop a bomb.

  “I am still conducting some experiments. And it’s hard to make those special zombies,” I said dramatically. “But once I succeed, I was thinking of renting them to the Empire.”

  “Rent them?”

  “Yes, Your Grace,” I rubbed my greedy hands. “I thought about renting them as security, my services will be exclusively for the Empire’s needs. As soon as I secure a considerable number, we could discuss the amount per rented zombie, or even per secured area. I am open to all kinds of business deals.”

  After arranging a few more things with the Empress, I met a few of my wives in front of the office. It looked like they were waiting for me.

  “Our family members weren’t here, so we thought we could make you company.” Nistry held Saril’s hand. She wagged her fox tail lazily, and I couldn’t help but look at it. Well, I actually wanted to glance at her bottom. It appeared to be perfectly round, and I wanted to put my hands on it so badly.

  “And what about you?” I asked Lina, who was playing a tag game with Roxy. “Weren’t you with Lillian?”

  “Eh, Empress Sozida was there, and she wanted to give some… Advice.” Lina and the girls blushed. I wasn’t surprised, since we’re talking about Sozida – my dear mother-in-law.

  Nistry, Saril, Lina, Roxy and I decided to visit Volseb & Voin, and see if there were news about the new equipment.

  “Marquess Miller, it is great to see you,” Koliar greeted me with his calculated merchant smile, just like always. “I happen to secure a large quantity of crystals, and I can give you a nice discount if you buy them all.”

  “That sounds good, but I am here to ask about the equipment I ordered for my girls.” I looked around at the items in his shop. There were some new additions. “How are the blacksmiths doing? They do not need materials, I hope.”

  “Everything is going fine, most of the equipment has already been made.” Koliar assured me, and then he took a paper bag from one shelf behind the counter.

  “Here, your aide told me to have this made. I wanted to send it to you as soon as my colleague returned from another delivery.”

  There were three leather collars with golden name tags inside the bag. I took them out and put one in my Storage.

  “Still,” I told Roxy and put the collar around her neck. It was of good quality, and the metal ring was big enough to add a chain to it. “There, there. You are such a good girl.”

  “Thank… I mean, Woof, Woof!.” She licked my cheek, and I ruffled her hair. She could talk like a person if she wanted to, but she knew that I preferred when she played the dog.

  “Don’t look at me with those eyes, I also have one for you.” I put the next collar around Saril’s neck. And holy shit, she was delighted. Her whole body was trembling and her tremendous chest rise and fall with every breath.

  “Harder,” she requested, looking at me with crazed eyes. “Strangle me with your love– Ugh!”

  I enveloped my hand with the special Pleasure mix I made, while the Darkness ropes swathed her body, and then held her neck for a couple of orgasms. After that, I let her fall on the ground, exhausted and happy.

  “Still a Demon Lord, I see.” Koliar murmured while turning the pages of an old book.

  “Why only they got presents, Darling?” Lina asked as she and Nistry helped the priestess get back on her feet.

  “You want one too?” I watched as Lina blushed, and even Nistry looked a bit interested. “Well, I guess you deserved one. But my cute Nistry will have to to work harder.”

  “Work harder? What does my lord mean by that?” She looked confused, but then my fox wife looked at Roxy and Saril. “Do you mean, that I should do things like them, my lord? Um, should I also act like they do?”

  “Oh, no.” I grabbed her fluffy tail and played with it. “You just have to be pleasantly available. I don’t like when girls try to look reserved while they are with me. Just free your inner pervert, I can guaranty that you’ll like it.”

  Ahem, “Marquess Miller, do you need anything else?” Koliar looked really troubled, now that a couple who was checking out some items run away while I had a discussion with my women.

  “Sorry,” I apologized lightly, “Let’s see, bring me all those crystals you mentioned. Ah, but before that, I wanted to ask you abut something.”

  “What could that be?” Koliar saw me looking at the section where he kept the magic items. “Do you want to make an order for something?”

  “I wanted to ask if you were familiar with a magic item that looks like a cube and explodes once you twist it?” This was a good chance to find out more about that one.

  “Exploding Cube?” Koliar was alarmed when I said those words. “Marquess, I have never dealt in illegal items, nor do I know someon...”

  “Hold it,” I put my hands on his shoulders and shook the merchant. “I am not implying anything. I simply want to know more about the cubes.”

  “Only that? Ah, well,” he tightened his tie. “I’ve heard that they are not hard to make, but their production is in the hands of the Empire. Also, anyone caught making, distributing, or even carrying those items without explicit permission, will face a death sentence. And it is the same case in every other country.”

  “So, only the ruling class can acquire them?” Does that mean that the N’Uruq cult took over some Murim country? That would be so good.

  “They became essential for the military in the last fifty years,” Koliar nodded.

  “Because they can take out many weaker soldiers and break a magic barrier faster. That way, only the stronger enemies are left to deal with. Of course, it can also hurt an A-rank knight if it explodes near him, but most of them have high quality protective equipment, so they rarely die from those.”

  “Is that so, huh?” I can understand that. Once you deal with the weaklings, you can focus on the big fish. “Can the average alchemist make them, or is the process kept a secret? I only ask because I wouldn’t like to sound stupid in a conversation with some noble. How the hell am I supposed to know how much an enemy army can have, or how many soldiers can carry them. You know, that kind of thing.”

  “Hmm, I guess about a hundred cubes per army.” The merchant scratched his head. “It would be foolish to keep bigger amounts, because spies always target those places first. As for the production, an average alchemist should be able to make some, but it would take a lot of his time.”

  I ordered a batch of collars, bought the crystals and few other things,
and then we went to the Guild, where I sold almost 11000 monster corpses.

  “It should be here somewhere,” Lina said when we made a couple of turns. Right now we were in the merchant street. There were big stores and warehouses that handled large quantities of products, and the more expensive stuff.

  “It should be that one.” Nistry pointed at a four story building, and when we walked closer, I saw a sign above the doorway: Quality Slave.

  After we knocked, a butler opened the door. He was an old man with gray hair and a well-trimmed beard.

  “How may I help you?”

  “My lord, Marquess Alex Miller, wants to purchase a few slaves.” Nistry impressed me when she introduced me to the guy. Man, she really wanted that collar, huh?

  “Pleas, my lord, my ladies.” He stepped aside, making a please-come-in gesture with his gloved hand.

  Now that Nistry did that much for me, I had to at least behave like a pompous ass, and look down on the servants.

  We were led to a room and offered some tea. I felt like a VIP, so it should be fine if I stared more openly at the maid.

  “Marquess Miller, my Ladies, I am Dorik Stral,” a man dressed in a white shirt, azure pants and a matching coat, bowed when he stepped into the room. Then, like a good merchant, he went straight to business. “I hear that you need a slave, is there any specific ability or skill that you are interested in?”

  “Mages of any kind, and perhaps an alchemist, if you have one.”

  “Mages rarely become slaves, you know. I mostly have strong people, accountants, other merchants...” he seemed to wanted to sell me those, but when he saw my flat stare, he turned to his assistant, and took a book from him. “Mages, hmm, 2 Fire Mages, and a Water Mage – they are former adventurers. And we also have one Earth Mage who specializes in alchemy, although, he is not that great.”

  “Bring the Water Mage and the Alchemist.” I had to sound disappointed. That way he may even lower the price.

  Shit. When the two mages were brought in, I was really disappointed. They both were middle-aged men. I wanted to see some girls.

  “This one is Marno, his Water magic is B-rank,” Dorik introduced a skinny guy with long gray hair. “He killed people by draining the moist from their bodies. You can have him at a good price. Mostly because I don’t like having him around.”

  “I see,” this guy might be useful since he has such good control. “What about him?”

  “This is Norlan,” the next was a bald man with sunken eyes. “He was caught making poisons for giant rats. Making poison for ordinary rats can be overlooked, but anything that is strong enough to kill a monster, is illegal.”

  “But rats are rats, my lord. Some are just bigger than others.” The alchemist complained.

  “So what do you say, Marquess?”

  Needles to say, I bought both of them, and promised to visit again if he finds some good merchandise. Especially if he comes across a pretty girl from a noble background.

  The rest of my wives were already at the mansion when we got there. My lovely girls, I could see some of them wearing the dresses and special fantasy outfits that I arranged for them. The workers in my clothing shop were a bit skeptic and embarrassed when they looked at the illustrations that Kiryan made according to my descriptions.

  I also told them to do some embroidery, so that every piece of clothing had a little label with my coat of arms, and the words ‘Demon’s Fantasy’. They were already making some more extreme clothes for my prostitutes, and after that, they will start making some for sale.

  “My lord,” Lillian was wearing a dark blue dress. The upper part looked like a corset with a deep cleavage, and the lower front part barely reached her mid-thighs, while the back part was almost touching the floor. She also had gloves of the same material that reached all the way to her elbows, see-through stockings with a floral design above her knees, and ordinary black boots.

  “Why don’t you have wings?” I exhale as I looked at her pretty face, long purple hair and cute horns. “You are so beautiful as is, but I think that some leather wings would make you even more perfect.”

  “Eh, um, thank you.” She blushed after hearing my compliment and then shook her head. “Uh, I wanted to ask, why did you put your coat of arms on this? There is a label inside with your demon skull and some phrase.”

  “I thought I saw some merchants putting their brand names on products?” I certainly saw a lot of ‘Volseb & Voin’ labels on a third of the products in Koliar’s store.

  “That is something that merchants adopted from the western kingdoms, but I have yet to hear of a noble putting his coat of arms on a product. Nobles do business, but most don’t like the idea of being identified as merchants.”

  “Why should I care?” I told her honestly. “Look, I only care about making money. Wait! I certainly care more about my women, than I care about money! But gold is also important, you can’t deny that. I mean, I have to provide for my dear wives, right? What kind of man would I be if you had to borrow money from your parents or something like that? Please, don’t step on my honor!”

  The girls knew what I was talking about; they are from noble backgrounds and have an understanding of how things work. Some of them even seemed to be touched at my dedication.

  That was close.

  Now let’s see, which one of the virgins looked the most vulnerable? I should be able to perform my husbandly duties on at least one of them tonight.

  Eeny meeny miny m...

  LORD!!!

  “Fuck!” I cursed when Akifa’s distressed voice resounded inside my head.

  Chapter 20.

  “Well?” I looked at the undead Mage that was prostrated in font of me as I drank another mana potion. “How did this happened?”

  We were standing on top of a slope, from which we had a good view of the sea and the setting sun. The scenery looked like something you would put on a postcard.

  Finally, we reached the Estaria region, and as I looked further in the north, the ruins of Ragan were in full display. A part of them were hidden in bushes, trees and high grass. But I could discern the contours of a big part of the abandoned city.

  My wives were also here since they refused to let me go alone when I told them about Akifa’s call. They only took their weapons and most of them were still wearing the fantasy outfits.

  As I watched them, I thanked God for these gusts of wind, because I could never see so many panty shots in the open otherwise.

  “Lord, I took the Wyverns to try to secure your territory,” Akifa’s body shook as she recalled the events. “When we came this far, it was obvious that there weren’t any monsters in the near vicinity. I thought that it was strange, so I kept flying around and then I sent more zombies to investigate. And then...”

  “You saw him, right?” I looked at the ravaged field where a huge amount of my undead lay in pieces. Every one of them was a strong C or B-rank zombie.

  There were even two of my Wyverns. I couldn’t believe it, A-rank monsters turned into roadkill. Some of them were pierced with Earth Spikes, while others were smoldering.

  “That is correct, Lord. I presume that a squad of Trolls found that being, and engaged in a reckless attempt to kill him.”

  “Shit.” I forced another bottle of the disgusting liquid down my throat as I watched the trees shaking in the distance, and then there was a rumble. Undoubtedly, he destroyed more of my minions.

  “Kriss!” Lina jumped in surprise, and the other girls reacted similarly. Half a mile away, a huge lizard erupted from the forest, breaking trees like they were dry sticks. And then he let a powerful cry, sending tremors in all directions.

  “A Dragon.”

  A mighty S-rank monster that could use Fire and Earth Magic, made this part of the land his territory. He was using a nearby cave as a base, when my morons attacked him.

  “It doesn’t look that big.” Lillian commented while we watched the monster rampaging around. I couldn’t really understand what Lill
ian was saying, since I hadn’t seen a Dragon before. But this one was almost two times bigger than a Wyvern – how is he NOT that big?

  “You saw a Dragon before?” I had to ask her that, and hope that she knows how to deal with it.

  “Of course not,” Lillian said. “But in all the records it is stated that grown Dragons reach the size of approximately five Wyverns, while this one looks more like an over-sized Wyvern.”

  “Could he be a young one?” That would explain his temper.

  “It appears to be so, my lord.” Lillian then pointed out something else. “Do you see his wings? They are almost shredded. That is why he can’t keep himself in the air for too long. And there were also other wounds on his body.”