Lars felt his eyebrows raise slightly as he appeared outside the manor, and his danger-sense began running amock that same instant. But only sheer willpower held it back down, though his son was not as skilled and drew his wand instantly. As Lars extended his sense to cover the manor, and he was incredibly impressed.
The Castle itself was protected by several ancient runes, technology that Lars knew was forgotten. All but making forced entry impossible, and Lars doubted he could enter without half an hour of tinkering with the spells if the owners did not want him in. But Lars knew he could never get that time, for just as he sensed the many defensive, detection and anti-apparition spells, he also sensed the men- no soldiers. Stationed throughout the mansion.
Although he could not sense into the manor, almost a dozen soldiers were hidden by the shadows or camoflauged into the trees around them. And positioned in a way that would make it impossible to fight back.
Suddenly though, the doors opened and a man stepped in. "Please ignore the safety measures; these are dangerous times. I hope you will forgive the slight." He spoke calmly and confidently, as Lars nodded. "It is all fine, it comforts me that no-one except your forces will know of this … meeting."
"Perfect, my name is Erik Vigdal and I'll lead you to Master Malfoy." Erik said, mentally shrugging at the order to refer to 'Draco' as Master. A gesture Erik knew did not come from Draco initially. Draco was a young adult and cared little for titles. Though he suspected Draco might be underestimated by this Lord Dahl- he doubted it would last long.
And with that, Erik stepped forth and the pair of visitors fell in behind him and they made their way into the manor. And as Lars walked past the gates- his eyes widened in disbelief. For not only did House Malfoy have almost 18 men on guard outside, a further five dozen men were spread across the manor. Half a dozen was stationed at the top of the manor as lookout, while another half a dozen was camoflauged by the large green hedges and trees along the main road into the house. And the rest were either on guard or training.
"Quite a force you've gathered here? I take it this is Harald Vigdal's men?" Lars said and Erik mentally commented on his intelligence- instantly connecting Erik's own name to these men. "You are quite, the Vigdal Family has sworn itself into service to Draco Malfoy. And with it the Vigdal Company."
"Ah, so that's where you went. You know the Ministry created quite the ruckuss with your disappearance. They've been watching you for a while." Lars spoke and Erik chuckled. "We were aware, and all of their 'spies' died during the war- they seemed to forget our house was once one of the ten."
Their conversation was cut short as they entered the main room, where a smaller table than the one used to host Voldemort had been. Where Draco, sat in the middle. With Sander on his right, and to his left sat Harald, then a open chair for Erik on the left, then Herman on the right and last Henrik stood by the wall.. While in the middle on the opposite side there was a open chair, with two more open chairs on his left and right.
As they entered the room, Lars noticed that Draco Malfoy stood up and greeted them. "I am glad you could come, please sit down. We have much to discuss." He spoke, and Lars nodded. Doing as told.
.....
"So, Draco. I heard you had a proposition regarding my son James?" Lars did not waste time, cutting straight to the point. And Draco couldn't help but smile at that, he liked these types of people. "Aye, I will be extremely frank with you. My plan is to break into the Coldfront Prison, all we need is manpower and someone to handle the Finnish Auror. And in return, we will free your son and possibly grant him refugee in England. If that is what you wish."
Lars took a few seconds to process it, before he smiled. "You are a bold fucker aren't you." And with that Sander burst out laughing. "That he is, and I can promise you that whenever Draco promises something, he will deliver," Sander spoke as Lars turned to look at him.
"I did sometimes what happened with you, shame what happened. Really." Lars said, and Sander simply smiled. "It was better that it did happen; look what's become of me. I'm living the life, and your son can as well."
"Hælvetes Berg family, they've been vying for our position for years. Shame that their 'prodigy' died in a 'duel'." Lars said with a rough smile, and it then dawned on me. James Dahl was not a merciless, twisted fucker. He was his dad's favorite for his loyalty, and from what I heard maybe strength. Houses followed a strict birthright hierarchy, and Lars likely taught his heir politics, while the second son probably learned of loyalty and strength.
"Nevertheless, my son shall not rot in prison for a task I set him out to do. It has been a year already, it's about time. I will lend you trustworthy mercenary corps, the Berserkers. They are a rowdy bunch, but known for their ability to do shady jobs in silence. They number 80 men, and their leader should fit your qualifications." Lars spoke and Erik wrote it down, while I smiled.
"Now, that is not the only reason I called you here. You see- I have little buisness venture that might be profitable for the both of us. And you won't even have to do that much."
"Oh- and what may that be?"
"Well, how difficult would it be to give the 'Blackwood Corporation' access to oil license in the North Sea?" I asked and Lars's eyes widened before his smiled broadened.
"You little fucker, there ain't no limit to your ambition and shamelessness. Taking advantage of poor muggles that can't play your game." Lars spoke in fake anger, as he could not help the smile blossoming on his face.
"Well.. would it be possible?" I asked, though I knew the answer.
"Well, usually there's a 28% tax for working in the country- with an additional 50% for special patroleum tax. But I am sure the British and Norwegians's great 'teamwork' could hide the 28% tax. Though I would need some 7%. Fair?"
Fuckass greedy ambitionfilled viking.
"Agreed, how fast can you get me it?" I asked, and Lars smiled at that. "Faster than you can build one, so five hours?" Lars said and Sander couldn't help but burst out into laughter.
"It's insane how much power that King's got, even as the whole country is convinced he's just a figurehead." He laughed, and I couldn't help but chuckle. Even if I felt bad for my fellow Norwegians, though that was in another world- I hope.
"I believe this may develop into a fanatastic partnership, Lars. My secretary, aka my mother. Will send you the necessary details- I believe three subsidaries should be an acceptable start?"
"Perfect, it's been a pleasure getting to know you. I will send over Vargan Bonecrusher within the fortnight- he might bring some Berserkers with him as well. But I am sure you can handle it." And I nodded at his response, as he stood up and made his way out. Followed by Herman and Henrik.
And as the doors closed, Harald spoke up. "Oil fields? I did not know muggle economy intrests you?"
"It doesn't, but we need something to compete at this stage. And the entire wizarding economy with the exception of combat and war related parts is failing, and the one that aren't are currently witness some fierce competition- as nobody sees the war ending anytime soon." I explained calmly, as Harald listened intently.
"And the muggle marked happens to be quite unaffected by the wizarding wars- making it quite helpful for us to invest some parts in there. And with magic we can build dozens of oil rigs- and find oil easier. My Mother is currently enhancing a pen with a locating charm for oil, should be quite effective."
"Hmmm, the only problem is that Gringotts has a quota on muggle-cash accepted."
"True, which is why we cannot transfer the sheer amount of money that we could make, and we'll only earn a portion of what we could. Though it is good to remain low-key, too much money and the other houses will discover, and copy." I spoke as Erik realised the problem.
"Which will result in the bankruptcy of muggles- and wizards will take over their entire economy. Furthering extremist...."
"Precisely. We'll only build three which should net us some 2 billion euros- or technically about 200 million galleons a year. Which is about the same as the Travers Family total vault."
"Heh, at least you can afford to pay us whatever we want from now on." Sander said and I chuckled. "Keep dreaming." Before my mood suddenly changed, and everybody recognized it.
"Now, let us prepare for the Coldfront Prison. The Berserkers will supply a sacrifice, and we'll prepare proper brooms." I spoke before standing up. "Erik, gather some brooms from 'confiscated items' - a lot of muggleborns have lost their items as of late."
"It will be done."
And with that I left the room, followed by Sander. Our training needed to continue, my breakthrough by mastering my wand was finally beginning to show as I steadily began controlling my wand better now. And soon I'd be able to actually claim to control and master this new connection between me and my wand.
I could even fight Herman to a standstill if I played my strategies correctly, though that was often more luck than anything- and I could never quite defeat him.
...
Narcissa Malfoy sat opposite to me, her demeanor strict and composed- as if nothing in this world could touch her. And she was indeed and ice-cold witch- I'd have to give that to her.
"Lars has pulled through, and the contract has been sent. We can begin construction of the oil fields- you have found the locations, I assume?" I asked her and she nodded. "We've located the three largest reservoirs in the territory we've been lent by the state, and I've already applied the Imperius Curse to 78 muggle-born witches and wizards borrowed to us by the Ministry- mostly completed by your men, they're heading towards the location now- alongside 83 muggle specialists also under the Imperius, though a lot weaker one."
"Thank you mother, you're doing extremely well. This will be the first of many steps towards a Malfoy Family that dominates the known world." I spoke, and her expression softened.
"Of course, my son. Both your father and I have understood your talents and capability, and although reluctantly- your father has agreed to all but step down. He will of course, comply with the task you gave him. But please, spend some time with us. We are family, and we want the best for you." She spoke, and a rare true smile slipped through my mask.
The level of faith the pair had handed me was surprising, especially from Lucius as I remembered his ego as something else. But at the same time, he was dangerously stressed in the series- so maybe he decided to take a step back to focus on his health.
Though he had shown his competence in certain areas, and I would not let them go. Lucius was already in the process of establishing a more proper intelligence network, and he had hired a lot of magical theorists to begin developing resources that could help in the matter.
And they had been showing some steady improvement, it is insane what magic can achieve once you focus less on the fire, power and explotions. Especially combined with a few muggle scientists under the Imperius curse.
"Set up contracts with mines across the world, we need to trade euros for gold in order to reformulate them as galleons. And make sure to prevent as much magic as possible, we don't want to cause unnecessary problems."
"You have truly grown, my son; I am so proud of you." Was her simple response before standing up and leaving, earning a "Goodbye" from me.
Damn it was nice to be boss.
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påetron: Pondsfyre
+6 chapters
6 additional books.