"George?! What brings you here?" Asda gaped.

George looked at her coldly, saying nothing for a long moment. Asda felt a chill rise up her back, but stubbornly fought off her uneasiness and said, "What? Remember this is Fal'Herim, you can't just do anything you like here! There are security guards around, you know? Plus, this is my house!"

How long had it been since she'd left the ruins of Fort Spoas? A week? Something like that?

"Oh, I know." George said, glancing at the armored men on every side. Asda had ten of them around the porch of her new house alone. "Actually, I came to offer you a deal."

"A deal?" Asda's eyes narrowed. "I won't be emotionally blackmailed into charity!"

"n.o.body asked you for charity." George's lips narrowed. "I'm asking you for guns.h.i.+ps."

"Guns.h.i.+ps?" Asda blinked.

"Like the Foresight, but with their own engines. Mindy wanted to design some new corvette patrol boat, but I don't have time to wait for her to brush up her engineering skills. I need airs.h.i.+ps that can shoot Tier 4 Wilds dead from the air and I need them now. We have thousands of them running around loose in the forests between the farm and the mines and they're looking at my farmers hungrily."

"I see. So it's my manufacturing capabilities you want." Asda said in realization.

"I'll buy them at market price. Consider this a first commission." George still retained that cold, aloof att.i.tude. "You do run a s.h.i.+pyard, don't you?"

"Errr… yes. Yes, I do." Asda nodded. Truth be told, her 's.h.i.+pyard' wasn't very big or very capable, but an order like this was exactly what she needed. Small gunboats were within their capabilities, and they could easily import parts from other members of the Coalition of Six.

Yet why did she have this uneasy feeling? Every time she looked at George's face, she felt a chill run down her spine.

"I'll have my people look through your proposal. We can sign once they've approved of it." Asda decided. Her 'people' were legal experts previously from her father's employ. If George planned anything nasty in the paperwork, they'd find it for sure. "I just have to ask… why me?"

"What do you mean? You're the nearest s.h.i.+pyard." George pointed out.

"Still. You can't be happy about my taking so many people with me when I left. You could have commissioned new airs.h.i.+ps from Ashdale or Deutero. Why me?" Asda questioned.

George smiled a mirthless smile. "Do you see me as a serious business partner?"

"If we sign the deal, of course I would. Why?"

"Because if I went to other s.h.i.+pyards, all they'd see is a little boy. They don't know me. They don't know anything about me. All they know is what they see, and they see that I'm young."

There was that. Asda had to admit, she had that problem too. A lot of older business people simply wouldn't take a little girl like her seriously, no matter her t.i.tles or capabilities. It didn't help that her brother the Crown Prince helped her with a wink and a lenient laugh if she ever asked him to speak on her behalf.

"Also, I need mercenaries." George added.

"Mercenaries?" Asda stared.

"We seem to have lost a great deal of manpower recently." George mentioned coldly.

Asda felt her cheeks warm. She cleared her throat. "Um… right. About that… I think the Sons of Sands group has been rather free lately. They won't do indirect contracts; you'll have to meet them in person. Maybe ask Salim for an introduction?"

George left. After he went, Asda immediately turned to the captain of her guard and asked, "Did any lynxmice come with him?"

"Pardon, princess?"

"Lynxmice. Small half-cat, half-rat creatures. They like to eat cheese. About this big." Asda gestured.

"No, ma'am, he came alone."

"Well, keep an eye out, just in case. Those little things can cause a lot more trouble than you know." Asda warned him.

Was it just her imagination, or was there a flicker of moment there in the corner of her eye just now?

"Just… keep an eye out! And start a patrol to look for those creatures! And set an hourly patrol to inspect the treasury!" Asda said, in a harried voice, and went to find her legal advisors.

***

George, meanwhile, went to find Ka'ron. Who was Ka'ron? He was a recluse and a legend among the Harvest Sun clan, previously the Desert Moon clan. The point was, this was a man that they sought when someone had an illness that all their herbalists couldn't help.

"You are Ka'ron?" he asked the quiet man at a little herb stall at the bazaar.

"Who asks?" the man questioned.

"I hear you have the herbs of life." George mentioned.

"Says who?"

"Says Taj and Nadia of the Desert Moon Clan."

"Only they?"

"They and all their clan."

"Why have you come?" he asked next. "Do you seek one such herb? Or have you someone in need of treatment?"

"Yes, yes, and more." George answered. "I have come… to take you to a fertile land where you can grow as much herbs as you like. Whether the mountainside, or the valley, whether in forested soil or dry sand, you need only ask, and I will make sure you have what you need."

"That sounds like a generous offer. What brings it about?"

"Only that I have a friend whom I am concerned about. He has a disease, and he has a dream to help others with diseases."

"I would like to meet that friend. But I have no desire to leave my home."

"You can bring your home and your whole neighborhood if you want. I'll send over an airs.h.i.+p and you can put the whole thing inside. We'll even dig up the garden and bring it along."

"And if I refused?"

"You can come with it, or we can leave you behind while we bring your home first, and you can come find it at your leisure." George straightened. "I am desperate, and I can be generous. Trust me when I say I will treat you with the utmost respect and care… so long as you help me."

"You really think yourself capable of such feats?" Ka'ron eyed him suspiciously.

George turned around and walked away.

Two hours later, Ka'ron went home to find nothing left but a patch of bare land. His entire house, his garden, and his neighbors on both sides had all disappeared entirely.

In front of the bare patch was a sign.

"Airport by sunset."

***

"He did what?!" the Crown Prince of Fal'Herim stopped and turned around to face the attendant who made the report. "I'm getting rather tired of Remian's high-handed ways. They are trouble-makers, providing no benefit to us, not even paying us for the slaves they take any more…"

"Actually sire, they put in a commission for airs.h.i.+ps with Asda's s.h.i.+pyard. Also, this is George, sire, not Remian who did it. Apparently, he's Remian's scion."

"They're customers?" the Crown Prince stopped. "How big is their order?"

"Twenty corvette-cla.s.s airs.h.i.+ps. Two million lir, sire."

"That's… not bad…" he considered. "For a million-lir customer, we might be able to let a few small matters slide. Who is this fellow George is taking away?"

The attendant cleared his throat. "A herbalist, sire. He appears to be popular among the slaves."

"A slave herbalist?" The Crown Prince frowned. "What's the going rate for slave herbalists these days?"

"A direct purchase, sire? Thirty thousand on average. Fifty thousand for a highly skilled one."

"Send George a bill for fifty thousand lir, the price for the slave and his home. With the coronation coming up, we can use the extra cash. Also, invite him to the coronation but stress that he will be a royal guest and that formal attire is expected."

"Understood, sire."

***

Meanwhile, far to the south, three figures were descending upon long-forgotten ruins.

"This is the place?" Remian asked the Eagle Lord. "You're sure no other humans have ever excavated these ruins?"

[They are in my lands. I am sure.] The Eagle Lord snorted. [All part of the deal. Not even I have dug through the dead carca.s.s of the human nest. Such behavior… is beneath me!]

"Yeah, we get that." Mindy rolled her eyes.

Following them, dozens of wolfcats and lynxmice crept up to investigate the strange black structures in the run-down area. Ten adventurers began to set up camp at a clearing near the entrance to the ruins, some sort of town square.

"What do you want to do, Mindy? Do you want to come look around the ruins, or wait back at the airs.h.i.+p?" Remian asked.

"I'm coming with you either way." Mindy shrugged. "Can't have you falling on your nose and dying from exhaustion all by yourself. Phoebe's orders."

"Really? I didn't hear her mention that." Remian glanced back at the airs.h.i.+p.

"She did. She said 'Take care of Remian'." Mindy pointed out.

"I'm not sure skulking around the ruins was what she had in mind." Remian scratched his head. "But anyway. Let's go see what an unspoiled ruin of the black cities look like."