The Exiled Duke's Lottery system

Sector four,Iron junction

The loud banging of the steam hammers finally slowed down as the evening bell rang across Foundry Bay Four. Thick smoke filled the high ceiling, carrying the smell of melted iron, hot oil, and burned mana. Up high, big exhaust fans powered by mana turned slowly, blowing out the heavy fumes.

Durn unbuckled his thick leather apron and hung it on a wooden peg. His arms ached, and black iron dust was rubbed deep into his hands. Even washing it multiple times with water and soap would not wash it out easily. After working here for three days, Durn knew two things: Elarion produced a scary amount of metal, and the factory was surprisingly clean and organized.

There were no bosses yelling or hitting workers. Instead, there were written schedules on slate boards, ticking clocks on the stone pillars, and glowing safety railings around the hot metal pits. The factory ran on machines—cranes, presses, and heavy lifts were all attached to shiny brass pipes on the walls. To Durn, the factory felt like a trained army doing its daily work.

"Thank goodness the shift is over," said Jarek, a chubby man working at the next station. He wiped sweat off his forehead with a dirty rag and smiled at Durn. "First time working an Elarion furnace, mate?"

"First time," Durn answered in tired voice. He acted like a simple worker who only knew how to move heavy boxes. He pulled his dirty shirt collar straight and made his shoulders drop.

"You picked a good week to start," Jarek said, clapping a hand on Durn’s shoulder as they walked to the water sinks. "Two days off starting tomorrow morning. Full pay, thanks to the Lord’s law. Can you believe it? Two whole days with no work."

Durn paused while cold water ran over his hands. His mind worked quickly. "Two days?"

"Yep, the whole district shuts down except for repair workers," Jarek said, splashing water on his face. "What are you going to do? Go to the taverns by the river? Or check out the new ladies?"

Durn scrubbed his hands with rough soap. A two-day holiday meant lots of people on the streets, changing guard shifts, and crowded markets. It was good for hiding in crowds, but bad if they wanted to sneak into quiet factories.

"No thanks,i will just sleep," Durn said quietly. "My back hurts. I am not wasting money on beer."

Jarek laughed. "You’re boring, Durn! Anyway more beer for the rest of us."

Durn walked out the heavy iron gates and joined the crowd of workers going out into the cold evening air of Iron Junction.

The city did not look like any town Durn had seen before. Bright mana lights inside glass lamps turned on along the roads, shining blue-white light on the stone streets and iron bridges overhead. Big trains powered by mana engines hissed at the rail station, pulling heavy loads of timber and iron ore.

Instead of going straight to the meeting point. He walked through side streets and doubled back near the city waterworks to check if anyone was following him,looked at his reflection in a shop window. He didn’t see anyone behind him, but he still had a bad feeling at the back of his neck.

Fifteen minutes later, Durn walked into an alley near the Warehouse District. He went down the stone stairs of an old grain building and reached a thick oak door. He knocked three times, waited two seconds, and knocked once more.

The door unlocked with a scrape.

Durn stepped into the dark cellar and pulled his hood low. The room smelled of old wood and dust. Sitting around three wooden crates were the other seven members of his group: Vale, Thorne, Ghara, Pib, Aldis, Renna, and Elenwe.

Everyone was already there, sitting around a small oil lamp. Hand-drawn maps and stolen rail notes were spread out on the crates.

"You’re late, Durn," Vale said softly, looking over Durn’s clothes to see if anything was wrong.

"My shift ended fifteen minutes late," Durn grunted, sitting down on an empty wooden bucket. "The workers say there is a two-day holiday starting tomorrow. Paid rest. The whole city will be outside."

Thorne leaned forward into the lamp light. "It’s not just the foundries. The train yards, warehouses, and waterworks all follow the same schedule. They call it a ’weekend.’ This place doesn’t run like a normal kingdom, Vale. It runs like a big clock powered by mana."

"We made it past the outer border, but getting answers won’t be easy," Renna said quietly, touching the small knife in her sleeve. "We have two days before the city goes back to work. If we want to find out who built the Warhounds, we need to understand what we are dealing with."

"We know a lot more today," Pib said pulling out a rolled piece of paper from his shirt and spread it out on the table.

Pib had spent two days working with Aldis in the main warehouse, moving crates off the trains. While Aldis moved heavy boxes, Pib watched the crate marks, read shipping papers, and talked to train drivers in the canteens.

"What did you find?" Vale asked.

"We thought Iron Junction was just a big city in the middle of nowhere," Pib said, pointing to his drawing. "We were wrong. The whole territory is built like a five-pointed star, and Elarion sits right at the very center."

Everyone stayed silent. Even Ghara leaned in to look at the star layout on the parchment.

"Explain the map," Vale said.

Pib pointed to the center mark first, then to the five outer points surrounding it.

"At the center of everything is Elarion—the capital," Pib explained. "That’s where its Lord Lucien lives, also where the government works, and all decisions are made. Every line and order starts at the center and spreads out to the five points."

"And what are the five points of the star?" Thorne asked.

"Point one is Titanworks," Pib said, pointing to the western point. "That’s the main factory city. It has big foundries, furnaces, machine shops, and repair rooms. All the machines run on mana—lathes, heavy hammers, and big cranes. A dwarf named Brakka calls the shots there and that’s where they make high-grade machine parts."

Aldis nodded. "Point two is where we are right now—Iron Junction. It sits on one point of the star as the main railway hub, linking every single city directly back to Elarion at the center. Every supply line and train moving between the capital and the outer cities passes through here."

Pib moved his finger to the next point on the drawing. "Point three is Ironhold / Ironheart. It is built for heavy armor and vehicle production. A clerk’s paper said Ironheart is a highly guarded site."

Elenwe looked closely at the map. "And the rest two?"

"Point four is Seastar," Pib said, pointing to the southern point. "That’s their main naval base. It has shipyards, repair docks, engine shops, and heavy gun workshops. Someone called master Dray runs the ground there. Shipping papers show they are building a massive iron ship called the Bismarck."

Thorne raised his eyebrows. "An iron warship?"

"Yes and point five is Skyforge," Pib concluded, pointing to the top point of the star. "That’s their air base. It has runways, hangars, pilot training grounds, and weather stations. Two wizard named Gandalf and Maerath run operations there."

Vale stared at the star map. "Elarion at the center. Five specialized cities surrounding it like a star, connected by mana machinery and train tracks. It is a complete military-industrial network."

"He didn’t just take over land," Durn said in his low voice. "He built a huge machine in a star shape. He uses train lines and mana engines to turn raw iron into armies."

"That brings us back to our job," Renna said. "The Warhounds were not made by a normal blacksmith. They are built in Titanworks, designed through Skyforge and Ironheart, shipped through Iron Junction, and controlled directly from Elarion at the center."

"If we make a wrong move, we will get caught," Aldis warned. "There are guards everywhere. I saw three men in grey coats standing on a water tower all afternoon, just watching workers."

Vale nodded. "We will use this two-day holiday. While the factories are closed and workers are in taverns, we split up. Durn, Thorne, Ghara—you go to the taverns and listen to workers. Pib and Aldis—watch the train schedules. Find out which trains carry weapons to Titanworks or Seastar. Elenwe, Renna—watch the city guard routes."

Vale looked at everyone. "We are only eight people in a territory of three hundred thousand. We don’t fight. We gather information on these locations, find out where they keep blueprints for the Warhounds,if possible for other things too and leave before Elarion’s security forces catch on."

"What if someone spots us?" Ghara asked softly.

"They won’t," Vale said. "We came in with a merchant caravan. Nobody knows we are here."

High above the cellar, on a rooftop across the yard, a man in a dark coat put down his telescope and a large bulky listening device pulling out a small notebook and wrote down the details with a metal pen.

Target group of eight found in Sector Four cellar. They learned about the star-shaped city layout with Elarion at the center. They plan to spy during the holiday. No attack planned.

The spy put his notebook away, folded his brass spyglass telescope, and moved quietly across the roof in the dark. The eight people in the cellar had no idea every word they said was already recorded for Lord Lucien.

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