Chapter 961 961 But Who Will Go?
Wolfe considered what the Fallen Nobles were looking for out of the deal, and raised one final point.
“I believe that the largest obstacle to getting people to come along with you for these projects will be finding willing workers and artisans. Getting witches to move there long term might be possible for some, as the White Witches tend to have caring personalities. But they don’t use any offensive magic at all, so you will need to assign guards to them if you’re going to prevent them from getting abducted or injured.
Getting artisans to go for a project is more of a matter of payment. Until there is hard currency in play on both sides of the portal, you will only find so many who are interested in trading entirely for magic devices. But there is also the matter of quality of life. Most of them have it pretty good here, and you certainly couldn’t bring a Demon or even most of the Fae there without the people turning on them.” He explained.
King Petros sighed. “I had forgotten that the majority of your artisans would not be human. Do you have any human magic users at all here, other than the witches?”
Wolfe nodded. “We have some, trained in the ways of the world, that you’re currently absorbing into your Empire, but they’re all still new and young. The only centuries old ones are nonhuman. Some of our human craftsmen have reached Rank Two already, I am told, but they are still journeymen in their trade.”
Technically, most of those were beastkin, but that was almost human, and they existed in both worlds.
One of the Nobles sighed, looking at the servers waiting at the edge of the room. “The lack of actual humans could be an issue for most projects, but if we bring them as guest workers to our homes, many projects can be completed within a single week, and then they can return here.
Things like home and peerage improvements, the sorts of things you did for the Countess Dewinter. Those could be done by most artisans with magic in a reasonable amount of time, I would assume.”
The Continental Representatives all nodded, and Cassanova, the Incubus representing the Western Continent, addressed the room.
“Yes, the witches can cast a wide area garden charm in a matter of minutes if we provide them the mana crystals or stored mana. But many of the spells that Saint Noxus casts are only usable by the Magi.
The Witches have adapted many elemental magics for their own use, but it’s not the same, and the more complex arrays simply aren’t possible for any other species.” He explained.
“The beds?” Petros asked.
Cassanova sighed dramatically. “A magi exclusive. However, he is known to do them in bulk on occasion, so it might be possible to convince him to make a batch of generic mattress spells and pass them out to the fortunate. I have been trying to get him to make a thousand for my relief facility back home, but we have met with repeated delays.”
Petros looked startled. “You run a relief aid facility? My apologies, but you didn’t strike me as the sort.”
The other Demons laughed, so Wolfe explained. “He means a brothel. You see, his species is incredibly sexual, but not all other Demons are like that. The other Lust Demons understand, but the demons from other clans often sneak off to the relief facilities when they have been single for some time, or trapped in a loveless union.
The Lust Demons see nothing wrong with it, and don’t consider it to be unfaithful, but more of a medical treatment. It’s a culture clash, even among the Demon Realms.”
One of the younger female Nobles looked impressed. “You run a thousand bed brothel? Now, I put in standards for the ones in my territory, to cut down on infections of the commoners and soldiers, but a thousand beds implies a thousand workers, and that is quite the operation.”
Cassanova looked proud of himself. “It is right next to the airport and shares a lot with the airport casino hotel. Prime real estate, and an amenity for all travellers. We have a renowned steakhouse and theatre in the building as well. With private rooms, of course.”
Wolfe could see the woman making notes, while some of the other Nobles silently judged her.
King Petros had picked up on the important part of that conversation much faster than the others.
“What exactly is an airport?” He asked.
“Oh, I forgot you didn’t have those. They’re places for our mechanical flying machines to land. Those are another Noxus Family product. The humans made them first, using fuel oils to fly, but Saint Noxus adapted them for use with magical propulsion.
That has been a great advantage for the Demon Realms, which do not have the sort of natural resourced that your worlds do, and the Lust Demons purchased an entire fleet of passenger and cargo aircraft to allow us to move goods and travellers quickly across the realm through regions where it is unsafe to use portals, and for a lower mana cost per passenger.
As they do in this world, we value our time and effort, and within the Demon Realms, it takes an immense amount of magic to keep a portal open even over a short distance. So, the aircraft have proven to be a viable substitute, with their speeds approaching six hundred kilometres an hour.” Cassanova explained.
King Petros nearly choked on his coffee. “Did you say six hundred kilometres an hour? How many passengers do these things hold? I was under the impression that they were large.”
Wolfe nodded. “The ones he is referring to are an adapted human military cargo plane. They are normally set up for the equivalent of two hundred human sized passengers, and an equivalent weight in freight, or twice as much freight.”
Saint Gregor, the Fae Representative for the Mist Continent, smiled at the human.
“Our humans have the knowledge to make more of them that run on fuel oil, but this world is running short on natural sources, and the infrastructure to support such a facility doesn’t exist in your world. It needs a massive mining, electrical, chemical engineering and alloying support network that took centuries to develop.
Building them with magic is comparatively much easier, and now that they are slowly gaining mages, the regions which are almost exclusively human in this world are considering making the switch to magical propulsion, while keeping their conventional construction methods.”
Petros shook his head. “Perhaps I was too ambitious.”
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