Beast Devourer: I Grow Stronger by Eating Monsters

Raven arrived at House Helmont’s western office twelve minutes before noon.

Valeria considered that an improvement.

”Last night, we arrived forty minutes early because you wanted to study the exits.”

”Last night there were a hundred and twenty people, three main entrances, two secondary ones, and enough nobles to start a war if someone spilled wine on the wrong person.”

”And today we’re only negotiating with a man who can legally block what you need.”

”That reduces variables.”

Valeria looked him up and down as they walked through the corridor.

Raven had returned to his usual clothes, though he kept the black coat she had bought for the reception. It was too practical to abandon simply because it had been chosen for a gala, and it had enough inner pockets to justify ignoring any comments about fashion.

Valeria had also returned to a far less formal traveling dress, dark red beneath a black coat. Even so, several people stepped aside when they recognized her.

Raven had started noticing how much easier that made certain things.

He didn’t like it.

It made her useful.

He liked that even less.

An attendant led them into a spacious room with windows overlooking the foundries. From there, several platforms could be seen descending the mountain under loads of ore while columns of gray smoke rose behind them.

Lord Edric Helmont was already inside.

He wasn’t alone.

Mara Veyn stood beside a table covered in documents and mineral samples. The man Raven had identified during the reception as Oren Keller stood near one of the windows, dressed far less conspicuously than the night before.

All three important people in the same room.

That wasn’t coincidence.

Edric gestured toward two chairs.

”Mr. Ashford. Lady von Nacht. I hope you managed to rest after turning my reception into a source of rumors for half of Dunvar.”

Valeria sat with perfect composure.

”That would imply rumors need help to exist.”

Raven took the seat beside her.

”I slept well.”

Edric laughed.

”I’m glad to hear it. My daughter received three questions this morning asking when your engagement would be announced.”

Raven looked at Valeria.

She did not look back.

”Don’t start,” she murmured.

Edric smiled.

”It seems neither of you was prepared for that part.”

”Lady von Nacht improvised.”

”I improvised correctly.”

”That still makes it improvisation.”

Mara Veyn hid a smile.

Oren Keller did not.

The director continued studying Raven carefully.

Last night had been recognition.

Now Raven was certain.

The man knew something.

Edric tapped the table lightly.

”Good. Let’s discuss something less interesting to my guests and considerably more expensive. Black Mithril.”

That got Raven’s full attention.

Five pieces of metal rested on the table.

All black.

Not all the same.

Edric picked up the first.

”Common commercial grade. Thirty to thirty-five percent purity, depending on the batch.”

He set it down.

The second.

”Thirty-five to forty-five. Tools, reinforcement, alchemical components, and certain artifacts.”

The third.

”Fifty to sixty-five. Military grade. Weapons, high-pressure seals, important mana structures.”

The fourth.

”Approximately seventy percent. Restricted, expensive, and subject to additional permits.”

Finally, he touched the fifth.

A smaller bar.

Raven felt the difference before he even moved closer.

It wasn’t mana exactly.

It was the way mana seemed to behave worse around the metal.

FORGE reacted.

[BLACK MITHRIL SAMPLE]

[Purity: 81.3%]

[Structural Uniformity: HIGH]

[Mana-Pressure Tolerance: EXCELLENT]

[Biological Mana Interference: HIGH]

[Prototype Rifle Structural Compatibility: 93%]

[Suitable with Isolation Architecture.]

Raven picked up the bar.

It was heavier than expected.

”This.”

Edric raised an eyebrow.

”Naturally.”

”How much do you have?”

”Legally available to private buyers?”

Raven waited.

”That wasn’t the question.”

”Exactly.”

Valeria crossed one leg over the other.

”Lord Helmont, none of us came here expecting the open market to satisfy his request.”

”I should hope not. Otherwise, I would have to reconsider both of your reputations.”

Raven set the sample down.

”I need material of this purity or higher.”

Edric studied him.

”What are you building?”

”A weapon.”

”You already said that.”

”It remains true.”

”Mana weapon?”

”In part.”

”Artifact?”

”Also in part.”

Mara Veyn stepped in.

”That isn’t a category.”

”My project isn’t one either.”

The administrator seemed to debate whether that irritated or interested her.

Interest won.

”How much pressure are you trying to contain?”

Raven had no intention of explaining the rifle.

But FORGE had provided relative estimates.

”Enough that structural failure would probably destroy the weapon and part of whoever is holding it.”

Mara stopped smiling.

”Then you aren’t exaggerating the purity requirement.”

”I usually avoid doing that when the alternative is losing a hand.”

Valeria murmured,

”How reassuring.”

Edric opened a ledger.

”Even if I authorized the sale, there is another problem. Quantity.”

Raven had expected that.

”Give me a number.”

”First, I need yours.”

Raven described the approximate total volume FORGE had estimated.

Not only the barrel.

The chamber structure, reinforcement, refining losses, and integration margin as well.

Mara calculated mentally.

Edric didn’t need to.

”You need five to six times what I could sell you without triggering questions from the military administration.”

Raven frowned.

”Even with Helmont authorization?”

”My signature can remove delays. It cannot erase inventory records.”

”It can change who is buying.”

”Yes.”

”Then it can increase the quantity.”

Edric smiled.

”I like the way you think.”

”That wasn’t a no.”

”It wasn’t a yes either.”

Valeria rested one elbow on the arm of her chair.

”How much for what you can sell him?”

Edric gave the figure.

Valeria stopped looking relaxed.

”That’s absurd.”

”It’s Black Mithril.”

Raven calculated.

He could afford it.

With a substantial portion of the money he had accumulated through rewards, material sales, and what he had earned in Mirevale, he could buy enough to begin testing.

Not enough to finish.

Not even close.

”I’ve killed things worth more.”

Edric shrugged.

”Then sell another one.”

Raven looked at him.

Edric held his gaze.

Valeria laughed.

”I think you found someone capable of speaking your language.”

Raven ignored that.

”The commercial quantity is useless to me.”

”Then you have a problem.”

”I have several.”

”Orbrecht is one.”

There it was.

Oren Keller looked up slightly.

Mara didn’t seem surprised either.

Raven leaned back.

”How much influence does Orbrecht have here?”

Edric closed the ledger.

”Enough to ask questions. Not enough to stop me from selling to you if I decide otherwise.”

”Then they aren’t the main problem.”

”Correct.”

”What is?”

Edric looked toward the high-purity bar.

”Material above eighty percent almost never reaches the market.”

Raven already knew of one exception.

North Shaft Seven.

He said nothing yet.

Mara did.

”Deposits of that quality are too scarce. When a vein appears, it is registered immediately, assigned a quota, and usually the Crown or a major House purchases priority rights over the production.”

Raven looked at Oren.

”Usually.”

The Keller director spoke for the first time.

”Do you have something to ask me?”

”Not yet.”

”Then stop looking at me as though you’ve already decided I’m lying.”

Raven almost smiled.

”That would have been a more interesting question if you weren’t so worried about answering it.”

Oren’s jaw tightened slightly.

Edric raised one hand.

”Do not turn my office into an interrogation room.”

Raven turned back toward him.

”Is there any active vein producing above eighty percent?”

”Registered?”

A pause.

”No.”

Valeria looked at Raven.

He didn’t need to return the glance to know she had noticed the word too.

Registered.

Raven reached into his coat and removed one of the documents recovered from Transfer Station Four.

Not the important original.

A partial copy.

He placed it on the table.

Oren Keller recognized the seal immediately.

That confirmed something else.

Mara read the heading.

”Keller Mining.”

Edric looked at Oren.

”Director.”

Oren didn’t touch the document.

”We have hundreds of forms carrying that seal.”

Raven pointed to one line.

”North Shaft Seven.”

Silence.

Brief.

Enough.

Edric was no longer smiling.

Neither was Mara.