Chapter 55: Let me look at this rock of yours

His eyes drifted down from the rider to the massive, thick-furred creature beneath him. The way the beast shifted its weight as it stared at Bramm with meager vigilance.

’But that beast... how the hell is he controlling a Crag-Stalker like it’s a common pony? You don’t just put a saddle on a monster like that. And come to think of it, how did Keren recognize him the second he rode up? I didn’t think Keren had ever been down near the lower Northreach.’He made a quick mental note to pull his scout leader aside later and inquire about how he knew of them.

He listened to the traveler go on and on, throwing his hands around and smiling with those pitch-black teeth, talking about "art," "unique minerals," and "imploding mountains."

’Look at him go,’Bramm thought, a faint, dangerous amusement touching his mind.’They’re supposed to be quiet, hidden away a mile deep under solid rock, but this one is bold as brass, cracking jokes with a few of my men surrounding him.’

But as Valerius kept talking, gesturing with genuine, professional fervor toward the raw earth of the southern clearing, something the mole-man said made Bramm’s chest tighten. "Let me work with the unique minerals bleeding into your soil..." Bramm’s eyes subtly flicked down toward the jagged, exposed rock face at the edge of the southern clearing.

The whole area where they had set up an encampment was basically a grassy plateau, but in the southern corner, there was a rocky area of slate ledge, and a small cliff appeared just south of it, which led into the forest a few meters onwards. The larger jagged cliffs are just to the side.

They could possibly use the side where a small cliff or rock formed on the forest’s side and create an entrance there.

He had passed that rocky clearing a hundred times, thinking it was just stubborn, useless highland granite making it hard to dig trenches. But a Lithari’s nose didn’t lie when it came to the deep earth.

’Wait a damn minute,’Bramm realized, a sudden, electric jolt of clarity hitting him.’He isn’t talking about common iron-clay. There’s likely a high-density stone ore mineral deposit right under our boots. A real vein, sitting right in our own clearing, and we’ve just been walking all over it.’

A cold, hard satisfaction settled into Bramm’s chest, replacing his surprise with a sudden influx of raw ambition. If there was a high-density mineral vein right here, it meant House Osric was sitting on an entirely new stream of income—a massive asset he could leverage to make some serious coin while providing raw material for their own growth.

And the perfect master miner, a guy completely obsessed with the art of shaping stone, had just ridden right into his lap to uncover it.

’You want an opportunity to make your art, Master Mason? Fine,’Bramm thought, a slow, grim smile threatening to edge onto his face. "I’ll give you all the stone you can handle. You get to build your masterpiece, you dig up that wealth for me, and you do it under my banner."

Keren had, at one point, made his way down and stood a few paces to the side of Bramm.

"M’Lord!" Keren hissed, voice low. "Ye can’t be serious—handin’ our southern perimeter to some subterranean stranger who—"

Before Keren could finish, Bramm raised a hand—unyielding. Keren snapped his mouth shut, tense.’I wonder why he is protesting so much,’Bramm thought, his inner voice calm and brief.’He knows about the Lithari, although they rarely leave their fissures; he recognized Valeruis instantly and kept his guard up the whole time... maybe he has some unpleasant history with them? I’ll ask him later.’

Bramm dismissed the thought, his attention instantly snapping back to the Lithari. He extended his hand towards the traveler.

Valerius looked at Bramm’s extended hand, then at the tense, silent Keren standing to the side. The theatrical, fast-talking merchant vanished for a fraction of a second before it returned just as fast.

A wide, genuine smile split his slate-gray face, revealing those dense, obsidian teeth.

"Under your glorious banner, you say?" Valerius chuckled, a rich, rhythmic sound like polished river stones rolling smoothly over one another. With a fluid, theatrical sweep of his arm, he unbuckled a brass-bound stone vial from his belt and swung down from his Crag-Stalker with a surprising, effortless agility.

"The master of the house, I presume? Splendid, truly splendid!" He spread his hands wide, offering a grand, sweeping bow before flashing his signature obsidian-toothed grin. "You have yourself a most highly pragmatic arrangement, my Lord. I have always vastly preferred a patron who possesses the rare, sophisticated intellect to recognize the true, unvarnished value of what lies beneath his very boots."

He stepped forward, clasping Bramm’s extended hand in a firm, calloused grip. Valerius paused, his pitch-black, pupilless eyes drifting past the lord’s shoulder toward the surrounding crags.

With a sly, appreciative tilt of his head, he gestured toward the dense thickets where Keren’s hidden scouts were subtly melting back into the treeline, their quiet retreats entirely imperceptible to standard human ears.

"Magnificent, truly magnificent," Valerius murmured, a genuine, appreciative grin stretching across his wide jaw, flashing those dark obsidian teeth. "The phantoms you have melting so seamlessly into the brush... why, they leave no more ripple in the earth’s vibration than a passing breeze. Quite the exquisite collection of assassins and spies you keep under your employ."

He took a grand step back, his completely black eyes dancing with fervor as he looked over the perimeter, his tone dropping into a passionate, fast-talking, rhythmic lilt.

"But as beautiful as your vigilance is, my dear friend... this timber? This desperately fragile wood you use to brace your home? Oh, it breaks my professional heart! It is a structural tragedy simply waiting to unfold. The mountain practically begs to grant you its true, unyielding strength. Come now, be reasonable—let me take a look at this magnificent rock of yours."