Spending Big

PS: Thanks to reader "Under the Wutong Tree" for becoming an alliance leader. What generosity! What wild spending! And thanks to reader "Dragonhawk's Ling" for becoming a helmsman. What a legend! May all four Chaos Gods bless you.

PS2: For reasons beyond my control, comments on this chapter are currently blocked. Please keep commenting anyway—I can see them in the dashboard. Thank you!

Milmantle Rhaur, the Countess of Arabel, was a devout follower of Lady Luck, Tymora, and a master-level Ranger.

The countess was in a difficult position. After the Goblin Wars, she had lost her lands and been forced to retreat to Suzail with her people.

No one dared mock her. She had done everything she could, leading her army in defense of her city until the very last moment. The enemy had simply been too strong. Even Azoun IV, a legendary warrior, had fallen. Milman had had no choice but to retreat. For now, the master-level Ranger was staying at Tymora's temple in Suzail with the few vassals and loyal attendants she had left.

It was only natural that Milmantle Rhaur wanted her lands back. She was Arabel's lord, ruler of the greatest city in the north. Being a landless countess now was an awkward position indeed.

But how did Milmantle Rhaur intend to raise an army capable of facing the Great Ork Khan Tugin head-on?

Aaron pondered the question.

In the Realms, there were three ways to raise an army. They were independent of one another and could be used together.

The first was the traditional system of vassal service. Vassals were obliged to serve their lord. When a lord decided war was necessary, he summoned his vassals, declared a mobilization, and assembled his own troops. His vassals then returned to their lands to summon their subordinate vassals and personal troops, while those subordinate vassals called up their Knights and soldiers in turn.

This was known as "vertical recruitment." A great lord could quickly use the feudal military structure to muster a large army of uneven quality. Vassals with close ties or shared interests brought their best troops at full strength. Those with a more distant relationship did the bare minimum.

Aaron was currently a "lesser noble." If the Princess Regent on the throne called for an army, he would have to equip himself and answer the summons.

The second method was to issue a direct call to arms across one's territory, recruiting townspeople and free folk. This disrupted production considerably, and the lord had to provide weapons, equipment, food, a little pay, and the promise of advancement.

This was known as "horizontal recruitment." It could give a lord a serviceable army in a short time. The recruits lacked training, morale, and equipment, but there were plenty of them, and they could be enormously useful in sieges and battles fought within their own borders.

The third method was simple: mercenaries. A lord could hire military companies made up of adventurers, sellswords, and unattached professional soldiers. Mercenaries meant exorbitant fees, questionable loyalty, and limited obedience. They also meant efficiency, formidable fighting strength, and organization.

This was a fantasy world. The fighting power adventurers could provide was astonishing.

Generally speaking, those three methods supplied every army in the Realms. Requests for reinforcements were usually counted under the third.

Aaron wondered what Milmantle Rhaur, the countess, still had to work with.

Vertical recruitment? She and her vassals had lost their lands.

Horizontal recruitment? How much fighting strength could the northern refugees in Suzail provide?

Mercenaries? Where would the money come from?

Aaron was genuinely curious how Milmantle Rhaur could be confident of raising an army to retake Arabel.

Unfortunately, his cousin Robert had only heard the rumor and knew none of the details.

"You need to keep up with what's happening, especially at the Adventurers Guild. What jobs are posted? What events have happened? What's everyone talking about lately? There are often opportunities in those things." Aaron could not help adding, "Stop keeping your head down and doing nothing but copying documents. You don't want to live on a fixed wage forever, do you?"

"What else can I do besides work as a copyist?" Robert grumbled. "I asked you to find me another position, but you wouldn't."

"If you want another position, you have to show you're capable of handling it!" Aaron tapped the table with his forefinger and frowned. "Look at what you do with your time. The moment you have a little money, all you think about is going to the Lower City to spend it. Fine, eat and drink your fill. Play darts, cards, or chess. You even spend it on women. If I'm not mistaken, there's a woman you know in the Lower City, isn't there?"

"You know?" Robert shot to his feet.

"..." Aaron stared at him coldly.

"I've always thought I deserved a better job, Aaron." Robert sat down helplessly.

"First, do your job at the Adventurers Guild properly. Beyond that, keep track of every major event and ask around about them. If I'm in Suzail, report to me once a week." Aaron lowered his voice. "And make sure the news is current."

"Fine." Robert reluctantly agreed.

"All right. Go have fun with those good-for-nothing friends of yours." Aaron waved him away.

"Aaron, you know I..." His cousin's face turned bright red. He opened his mouth, then stood there, unable to leave or sit back down.

"I know. I won't tell Mellie or Lothair. But you'd better know what you're doing. I think you understand exactly what the Lower City is like." Aaron spoke casually.

Robert left. After some thought, Aaron decided to visit the Upper City market.

He had a Gold Note worth a thousand gold coins on him. It would be a waste not to use it.

Money was meant to be spent!

Suzail's market was packed with goods of every kind. The recent wars had produced a strange situation: the stalls were better stocked than ever. Many people who had lost their homes and work had been forced to sell their possessions cheaply, while few buyers had enough ready cash. As a result, even valuable magic items were being sold at varying discounts.

Take the red dragon-scale, Adamantium full plate armor in Aaron's home. Under normal circumstances, the family heirloom could fetch twenty thousand Golden Lions. But if Aaron needed to sell it quickly in the current market, he might struggle to get even ten thousand.

Let's see if I can find something good in the main market, Aaron thought.

The Purple Dragons issued standard equipment, so after a circuit of the market, Aaron found little he wanted. He soon wandered over to the largest War Wizard shop there.

It was a semi-official arcane shop in Suzail. The War Wizard Corps often sold items there and bought spellcasting materials.

Mages were incredibly powerful!

They also burned through money at an incredible rate. Every Mage was perpetually poor. A Mage's finances generally existed in one of two states: short of money, or desperately, desperately short of money!

Aaron pushed open the heavy wooden door. The War Wizard shop was unusually spacious, its counters covered with equipment, magic items, potions, raw materials, luxury goods, scrolls, and books. It had everything except customers.

Because everything was expensive! Very few people could afford it!

A bright young woman in a short purple dress came to greet him with a radiant smile. "Welcome, sir. Are you here to sell or buy?"

What a handsome man! Her eyes lit up, and her enthusiasm rose five notches at once.

And he's a local noble!

"Buy." Aaron swept his gaze over the shop and noticed an older War Wizard seated behind the main counter. The man was likely at the upper end of Elite rank. Wearing spectacles thicker than the bottoms of wine bottles, he was concentrating on a sheet of parchment before him.

Aaron knew what he was doing.

He was memorizing spells.

In theory, Mages in the Realms could learn an unlimited number of spells. But because of a restriction imposed by Mystra, goddess of the Weave, there was a limit to how many they could memorize at once.

For example, a Mage might know twenty spells, but the Weave might allow him to hold and use only five of them at a time. The rest would be blocked from his mind. To use a different spell, he had to rest or meditate, then memorize it anew from his Spellbook or a scroll, replacing one of those five.

It was like having a huge warehouse full of goods but only a small handcart to carry them. You could use whatever was on the cart. If you wanted something else, that was fine—but you had to take the time to go back into the warehouse, swap it for something you no longer needed, and wheel the cart out again.

The size of the cart and how much it could hold depended directly on the Mage's professional level and intelligence.

The old Mage glanced up from behind the counter. When he saw the Salian crest on Aaron's chest, he took a little more interest. "Have a look around. Tell me if you want anything. Fannie, take care of this gentleman."

Aaron nodded and made several circuits of the arcane shop. Before long, two magic items caught his eye.

The first was called a "Staff of Power." It was a plain, magically reinforced staff that looked no different from a short club, apart from being sturdier than a wooden one.

When someone nearby cast a spell, the Staff of Power could absorb a tiny amount of magical energy and store it, then release it all at once when its wielder needed it.

It was not a permanent magic item. Each time it released its stored power, it had a three-to-six-percent chance of breaking. The risk accumulated: if it survived the first release, the chance of failure on the second rose to six to twelve percent.

"This item is a prototype. Storage may fail."

The staff would serve for now, and as a spellcaster, Aaron could choose how to release the energy inside it. The Viscount was pleased with it.

The second item was a "Brooch of Shielding." It protected its wearer from the damage of the first-circle spell Magic Missile and offered some resistance to other force spells.

"I'll take these two," Aaron said softly.

"The staff is four hundred gold, and the Brooch of Shielding is five hundred and fifty. Since you're a local noble, young man, I'll knock twenty gold off." The old War Wizard looked at him. "Nine hundred and thirty Golden Lions in total. Have you got cash?"

Aaron turned to leave. "Sorry to trouble you. I'll go to the Church of the Lady of Magic!"

"Hey! Wait, boy, come back!" The old War Wizard hurried to stop him. "These are extraordinary items!"

"Being a local doesn't give you a reason to fleece me. I can order a Brooch of Shielding from the Church of the Lady of Magic for five hundred gold. Don't think I don't know the going rate. As for this staff... I don't know what it cost to make, but it's obviously defective, and you still dare ask that much?"

"If I wanted something like that, I'd be better off looking in the Lower City. Someone there would sell it to me for half the price!"

The old War Wizard regarded Aaron with some surprise. "You know the market, young man."

"Name your price, then. I'll consider it."

Instead of making a counteroffer, Aaron turned to the young woman guiding him. "Do you sell stockings here?"

"Yes, sir. What kind would you like? Ones from Silverymoon, the Underdark, or the local magic workshops?" she replied eagerly.

The finest unicorn-down stockings from Silverymoon cost twenty to thirty gold a pair, depending on supply. Fine spider-silk stockings from the Underdark cost ten gold, while stockings from the local magic workshops went for around two.

Aaron picked out two pairs of white, lace-trimmed suspender stockings from the Underdark. "Eight hundred Golden Lions for these and the two magic items. Final offer."

Heh. Just wait until you get back, Miss Cleric!

"Too low, young man." The old War Wizard shook his head. "How about eight hundred and fifty? Since you're a local noble, I'll give you three percent off—eight hundred and twenty-five Golden Lions. And I'll ask again: do you have cash?"

Aaron smiled too. He took out his Gold Note worth a thousand gold coins, then pointed to the magic scroll in front of the War Wizard. "Listen, sir, I'd like to make this deal too. Time is money, my friend—for you and for me."

"I could shop elsewhere. I'm sure the Church of the Lady of Magic has these items as well. But I'm a local noble, so of course I'd rather do business with you."

"And you're free to refuse my offer. That's perfectly fine. Trade is voluntary."

"Then these items will still be sitting on your counter tomorrow. And the day after. They'll still be here in a week."

"I'll keep shopping. You'll keep sitting here, waiting."

"The choice is yours, my friend."

Aaron braced both hands on the counter and fixed the War Wizard with his sky-blue eyes.

"...All right. Eight hundred gold. Final price." The old Mage watched Aaron for a full minute before finally nodding. "This is my first sale today. You're lucky, young man."

Charm successful!

Aaron handed over the Gold Note. With a wave of the old Mage's hand, a stone golem brought two bags full of gold coins out of a back room. The Mage glanced at them, and a Mage Hand drew two hundred coins from the bags and placed them in front of Aaron.

A Cormyr Golden Lion weighed precisely 0.02 pounds, so two hundred coins weighed four pounds. Aaron tucked the bag into his clothes.

Before leaving, he took another look at the War Wizard's stone golem.

The alchemical construct stood seven and a half feet tall and was sturdy enough to withstand attacks from most weapons. His charm spell would have no effect on it.

Charm Person won't always work! Aaron warned himself. You never know what your opponent might have.

At his current strength, if he went adventuring, he probably could not beat a Kobold Draconic Sorcerer.

Kobold Draconic Sorcerers were not to be underestimated. They might be dim-witted, but they carried dragon blood. A Kobold needed to be at least Elite rank to become a Draconic Sorcerer. One well-placed Fireball could blast a group of fully armed Elite warriors to pieces, and a Kobold Draconic Sorcerer knew plenty of other minor spells besides.

After that one shopping trip and the purchase of two magic items, Aaron spent the evening reading Elminster in Cormanthor, a bestselling novel in the Realms that he had borrowed from the Royal Library. Then his day off was over.

For the next five days, Aaron trained as a recruit with the Purple Dragons. He continued to score full marks in his classroom lessons, while his swordsmanship ranked in the upper middle of the group. He soon mastered his first sword technique, [Sword Stance—Heavy Strike].

He began learning his second sword technique, [Sword Stance—Vengeful Strike].

But on the Saturday of his second week, just as Aaron was about to continue working on that technique, his Knight Mentor Lucian called him over.

"That's enough training for today, Aaron. You have some things to prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Aaron lowered his wooden sword.

"Your magic tutor will arrive in Suzail tomorrow." Lucian produced a letter bearing a signet seal. "Get ready, and mind your manners."

"After all, that magic tutor of yours has a famously... lively personality."

Update's here. Sob, Top Esports, my Top Esports—you're driving me mad!

JackeyLove, there's no place for you in this family anymore! None at all!!!