The Falken Retinue did not look imposing on the training field behind the tower. Eighteen men moving through spear drills in ragged unison. But to Kaelen, the data was beautiful.
[ FALKEN RETINUE - DRILL ASSESSMENT ]
Cohesion: 72% (+2% from last week)
Average Weapon Skill: 4.2 (+0.3)
Fatigue Management: Good
Notable: Private Borin demonstrates aptitude for command. Suggestion: Promote to Sergeant.
Elara Vance sat at a field table under a patched awning, her nose buried in a ledger. The Survivalist's Mercantile was turning a profit, but the Retinue's upkeep—36 silver a month plus food—was a constant bleed. The pouch of caravan silver wouldn't last forever.
"We are a business operating at a loss," she stated, not looking up. "A fascinating, possibly noble, bankruptcy."
"We're an investment," Kaelen replied, watching Old Thom correct a younger man's grip. "The product is security. We need a client."
As if summoned by the ledger itself, a rider in the livery of Lord Anselm's office clattered into the yard. He handed Kaelen a sealed missive, nodded curtly, and left.
The parchment was crisp, the wax seal unbroken.
[ SCAN: OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE ]
From: Office of the Lord Logistician, Schwarzwald Keep.
Security: Low. No hidden scripts or poisons detected.
Predicted Content: Contract offer. Probability: 94%.
Kaelen broke the seal. Elara was instantly at his shoulder, her legal mind overriding personal space.
"It's a job," Kaelen said, scanning the dense script. "A mining outpost in the Cinderfells. The overseer reports 'persistent vermin issues disrupting operations.' They require a security detail to clear the infestation and safeguard the next two ore shipments to the Keep."
Elara plucked the parchment from his hand, her eyes flying over the clauses. "Vermin. A euphemism. Probably mountain goblins, or bandits pretending to be goblins. The pay is... acceptable. Fifty silver now, one hundred upon successful completion of the second shipment. Anselm is being cautious."
"He's testing us with a low-risk, high-annoyance mission," Kaelen said. "Standard due diligence."
[ QUEST OFFERED: CINDERFELLS CLEAN-UP ]
Objective: Secure the "Cinder's Deep" mining outpost and ensure two ore shipments reach Schwarzwald Keep.
Forces Authorized: Your Retinue (18 men).
Reward: 150 Silver, 400 XP, Increased Standing with Lord Anselm.
Bonus Objective: Identify true nature of "vermin."
VALERIUS'S NOTE: "A TRIVIALITY. BUT EVEN A WHETSTONE CAN SHARPEN A BLADE. DO NOT DISAPPOINT THE LEDGER."
"We take it," Kaelen said.
"Obviously," Elara replied, already dipping a quill. "But the contract stipulates 'security detail.' It does not define rules of engagement or liability for property damage. I shall add annexes." She began writing with furious speed, creating loopholes and clarifications that would make a guild lawyer weep.
Three days later, the Falken Retinue stood before the Cinder's Deep outpost. It was less a fort and more a wooden stockade clinging to the side of a scarred, ashen mountain. A single watchtower leaned precariously. The air smelled of sulfur and damp rot.
Overseer Grent, a man whose face was permanently squinted against imagined threats, greeted them with suspicion. "Took you long enough. Lost another cart last night. Dragged right off the trail. Screams. Then silence."
Kaelen activated his scan, sweeping the stockade and the treeline.
[ LOCATION SCAN: CINDER'S DEEP OUTFIT ]
Ally Units: 42 (Miners, scared. Combat Capable: 5).
Structural Integrity: Poor.
Morale: Very Low (Terrorized).
Environmental Hazards: Unstable ground, sulfur vents.
Signs of "Vermin": Tracks detected. Analysis... Bipedal. Clawed. Not goblin. Larger.
"Show me the last attack site," Kaelen said.
The trail was a muddy groove along a ridgeline. Kaelen examined the ground. His scan highlighted details invisible to others: a claw-mark too deep for a wolf, a footprint with a strange, wide splay.
[ TRACK ANALYSIS COMPLETE ]
Creature: Troglodyte (Subterranean humanoid).
Estimated Numbers: 6-8.
Pattern: Ambush predators. Dragging prey to lairs. Likely nest in the deeper, unused mine shafts.
Weakness: Sensitive eyes (light aversion), poor coordination in open space.
"Not bandits," Kaelen announced to his gathered men. "Troglodytes. They tunnel. They'll come up through weak points in the ground or old shafts. They hate bright light and loud, discordant noise."
Borin spat. "Nasty bastards. Tough hides, smell like a midden."
"We don't fight them in the dark," Kaelen said. "We make them come to us, into the light, on our terms." He turned to Grent. "You have smelter fires. And metal sheets?"
The plan was simple, born from system data and grim practicality. They spent the day transforming the stockade yard. They built no barricades. Instead, they dug shallow, covered pits along the most likely approach routes—not to trap, but to unbalance. They hung every piece of scrap metal they could find—pans, broken picks, sheets of tin—from ropes around the perimeter.
As dusk fell, Kaelen positioned his men. Not in a solid wall. In three staggered groups, each with a bonfire at their back. He gave the orders.
"When they come, you will not charge. You will hold the line. The men in the rear will beat the metal sheets with hammers. Create a cacophony. Blind them with firelight, deafen them with noise. Then you kill them."
It was a far cry from heroic combat. It was pest control.
The attack came an hour into full dark. A section of the stockade floor near the midden heap erupted, dirt and splinters flying as two hulking, grey-skinned troglodytes clawed their way to the surface. They were reptilian, stinking of ammonia and damp stone, their eyes huge black pools.
They charged, hissing.
The metal sheets erupted in a deafening, discordant clangor. The troglodytes flinched, their sensitive senses overwhelmed. Blinded by the bonfires, disoriented by the noise, they stumbled directly over a covered pit. The canvas gave way. They didn't fall deep, but they fell wrong, tangling together.
"Now!" Kaelen yelled.
Spears thrust down from three sides, not with heroic shouts, but with grim efficiency. The creatures thrashed and died. Two more emerged from a different hole, met the same wall of light, noise, and prepared killing ground, and were cut down.
The "battle" lasted seven minutes. No Falken man was injured worse than a scratch.
[ COMBAT RESOLVED ]
Enemies Slain: 6 Troglodytes.
Friendly Casualties: 0.
Morale of Retinue: Skyrocketing.
Overseer Grent: Status: Awestruck.
In the cold light of morning, Kaelen led a team into the breached tunnel. Fifty yards in, they found the lair—and the remains of the missing miners. And something else: a small, natural side-cavern glittering with a vein of raw sky-iron, a rare and valuable magic-conductive metal the miners had missed.
[ BONUS OBJECTIVE COMPLETED ]
True "Vermin" Identified: Troglodyte infestation.
Additional Discovery: Sky-Iron Vein (Estimated Value: 2,000+ Silver).
[ REPORT OPTIONS: ]
1. Report troglodytes only. Claim standard fee. (Safe).
2. Report sky-iron. Likely reward from Anselm, but also attract noble attention, claim-jumpers, and greed.
Elara, who had accompanied the supply cart, studied the glittering vein, then Kaelen. "This is no longer a security contract. This is a territorial claim. Information is a commodity. How do we wish to sell it?"
Kaelen looked at the data. At his men, now blooded and confident. At the potential fortune in the rock.
"We report the troglodytes are cleared," he said. "We say nothing of the vein. Not yet." He turned to Elara. "Draft a new contract. For the exclusive, long-term security and development rights of the Cinder's Deep outpost and its... existing mineral claims. We take a percentage of gross output. We present it to Anselm after we've secured the second shipment. When our value is proven."
A slow, sharp smile spread on Elara's face. It was the same expression she had when finding a loophole. "A silent partnership. Using his own mine to build our capital. That's... bold. Possibly treasonous. I'll draft three versions with varying levels of deniability."
As they walked back to the surface, a new screen burned in Kaelen's vision, not from the Vigil Protocol, but from the deeper, brass-bound Ledger.
[ THE LEDGER OF GLORY - STRATEGIC ENTRY ]
ACTION: Turned a trivial extermination mission into a potential long-term asset acquisition. Exercised strategic secrecy and patient capital growth.
VALERIUS'S VERDICT: "YOU HAVE LEARNED TO SEE BEYOND THE IMMEDIATE BATTLEFIELD. YOU NOW COMMAND THE TIMELINE OF WEALTH. THIS IS THE PATH OF KINGS AND EMPERORS. THE LEDGER IS SATISFIED. +150 GLORY."
[ VALERIUS'S INTEREST: 98/100 ]
Back in the ashy daylight, Kaelen looked at his men cleaning their spears, at Elara already scribbling, at the unassuming hole that led to fortune.
He hadn't just won a fight. He'd executed a hostile takeover of a mission's entire objective. The Retinue was no longer a cost center. It was the enforcement arm of a growing enterprise.
The first contract was complete. The real business was just beginning.