Chapter 11 – Arbitrage

Kairon whistled. He’d forced the imps to go hungry last night, promising them an extra large meal today. The massive jaw of the city’s new feeding pit had delivered a four to one ratio.

Four hunters can provide a consistent thirty-two food. Good enough, for now.

When the city lord reviewed the interface later that evening, a sly grin pressed at his lips.

Fervor had shot up ten percent, and sustenance was capped. They even had a little extra food leftover, allowing the imps to gorge themselves and giving Vorathrex three units’ worth.

Their squad of wrath imps had reached ten. Not as much as Kairon wanted, but it was getting there. Each day he had, his city grew stronger.

He glanced over, watching the imps rub their full bellies and chitter about. They seemed happier, and far more energetic.

“FOOD GOOD!”

“Tasty!”

“Give back rock. Mine!”

“Shiny!”

Tomorrow, yields should go up. I’d even bet the training for the wrath imps should go smoother.

Nodding to himself, Kairon tried to drift off for an early night’s rest. But he couldn’t. Gold was a serious issue capping his expansion. I do have a short-term solution, but… Something was nagging at his brain.

The city lord poked and prodded around his interface, trying to figure out what. In his mind, that orange symbol thrummed back to life. He watched it hover, spinning in a lazy arc in his head. Then it hit him. The feeding pit… Kairon called up the building status.

There was hardly anything to go on. I’ve always found system instruction manuals to tell you far more from what wasn’t said. What’s missing? What is it that’s nagging my brain… Something should be here but isn’t…

Food! It doesn’t say food. Or meat. Or anything.

Did that mean…

With little regard to the heaps of passed out imps, Kairon strode away from the tower campsite and found the stockpile. He retrieved several items before making his way to the feeding pit. Overhead, there was still plenty of light from the moon and stars. They cast an eerie spotlight down upon the scheming clerk below. With each step, the lord’s scales glinted.

Let’s just hope demons don’t have auditors. I have a feeling what I’m about to try is the equivalent of a big no-no back home.

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First, to get a baseline, Kairon tried dropping a fist-sized stone into the feeding pit.

It clattered into the maw of the feeding pit, bounced off a tooth, and toppled downwards into the purple void. A moment later, the jaws snapped shut.

There was a violent hacking sound, the mouth opened, and the stone shot out. Somewhere in the distance, it thudded against the hellscape terrain.

The city lord repeated the experiment, this time dropping a healthy log from the timber crew’s area.

Again, the maw wouldn’t accept it. Kairon nodded. As expected.

Lastly, he took out the final log. It was a corrupted piece of wood. The piece had that same unnatural heaviness and warmth he remembered from the first day. Bright orange veins ran through it, gently pulsing in the night. Let’s see if you’ll eat this.

Kairon opened his claws, letting the heavy chunk of corrupted wood drop into the maw. The grotesque demonic mouth closed greedily, and this time it did not open.

“Hah! I knew it!”

A low, resonant hum echoed through the clearing. The maw, it seemed, was feeding. Kairon sat, cross-legged in front of the feeding pit. He wasn’t sleeping tonight.

When morning came, Kairon stood. Arms crossed, he gazed intently at the maw.