Nathan

The question, or rather, the idea of devouring the Senesor duchy stumped him.

"That would be cruel." the Princess said. "The Senesor duchy did not devour us when we were weak."

The Minister raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think that? That's exactly what they did. The county became independent less than a year ago. The Senesor duchy jumped at the chance to betray us when they had the chance, seven hundred years ago."

"Betray?" Nathan asked. That was news to him.

"Yes, the duchy does not like us mentioning it, but it is a recorded fact. The current ducal family used to be a subordinate of the Diery family. But when the Diery family weakened a thousand years ago, they started acting up. The burning gave them the chance they needed to betray us and swallow the county whole. The Senesor duchy used to be the Diery Archduchy until the betrayal."

"I see." Nathan said, thinking it over. That changed things. A lot of things. For one, their action was far less unprovoked. Then again, he was sure he would find some grudge with any power if he looked into the past.

"Are we sure others won't act?" the Minister of Justice opined. "Even if we are more powerful than the Senesor duchy, we aren't the most powerful in the Solerian Empire. If the Zerolian duchy, or any other member of the royal council, makes a move, we might not be able to stop them. The Diery family's influence in the Empire has fallen meteorically since the Countess took over."

"Why is that?" the Headman asked. "I am aware that the Duke did something to irk the Countess, but I don't know what."

"The Duke is a traditionalist." the Minister of Defense said. "And very old, at least compared to the Countess. The Duke was very irritated when the late Countess inherited her position. As you know, Solerian law prohibits a woman from taking charge of a noble family unless there are no other male heirs. The late Countess taking charge changed that. Then the Countess had to go and repeat what her mother did."

"So he's a misogynistic asshole." the Princess commented, taking a swig of her tea.

"Well, yes. The Duke has been very vocal in his opinions on whether a woman should rule. The fact that the Count managed most of the county's affairs during the late Countess' time was something that he used plentifully to taunt her."

"The two of them did not get along then? The late Countess and the Duke?" Nathan asked.

The Minister of Defense scoffed. "The late Countess used their enmity to elevate her social status as much as she could. The two of them could not be in the same room without arguing with each other. That alone made it seem like they were equal, after all, the Duke bothered to argue with her.

The Duke was especially irritated when she used her influence to have the Empress adopted by the Senesor ducal family, and thus attain the right to marry the Emperor.'

"The Empress is related to the Senesor ducal family?" he asked, surprised. For some reason, he had not realized just how complicated noble relations were.

"In name only. But that is one of the reasons the other families are hesitant to move. There is no telling how the Empress will act if they start devouring the Senesor duchy."

"I see." Nathan said.

"I doubt that will be a problem for us. The Empress' fondness for her niece is known across the continent."

Nathan had to reassess the Minister of Defense. The old man was as irritating as heck, but he knew a lot, and had a sharp brain to boot. There was a reason he was a Minister, after all.

"Now, back to the matter at hand. Do we swallow the Senesor duchy?" he asked.

"I say we take the General's offer." the Princess said. Nathan had to say, he was surprised. Hitting someone when they were down did not seem like her style.

"The county could do with more Adepts, and the General seems to be a capable one." the Princess said. "As for the Senesor duchy, let them come if they wish to. If they deny us trade routes, we can threaten to move through the Zun Empire and force every noble to buy from foreign lands. The Empire still needs the Diery county, I doubt they will let it continue for long."

"That would make us dependent on the Zun Empire! That is unaceptab-" the Minister of Defense began.

"The Zun Empire wants the Countess to be their Empress. Offering this much is minimal." the Princess said. "Even if they reject, we can merely store the food. The Solerian Empire will have to give in eventually."

"That...does not sound like a good thing. The Empress won't like it if we hold the food hostage." the Village Headman said. "That could hurt our relations with the royal family, and they've already done so much for us.”

Nathan sighed. "That is true. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The Senesor duchy hasn't done anything, and neither has the Zun Empire. There is no need to plan this much ahead.

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I say we call the General in, and tell him to either tell us the real reason he wants to join the Diery county, or else we won't let him in. I am interested to hear why he is joining us at all. That might help us decide."

"I suppose. "The Minister of Defense nodded. The rest didn't say anything. Nathan sighed again and called the General in.

The General had apparently been waiting just by the door. A bit impatient, was he? At least that said that whatever this was, it was important.

"General Senesor." the General flinched. "The council has debated on the subject of you joining the county, and we have come to a decision. There is a piece of information we are lacking."

Nathan folded his hands on the table.

"What is it?" the General asked.

"Why?" Nathan asked. "Why do you wish to join the county? This council demands that you tell us the real reason."

The General looked at them. "The Grand Duke of Sel mentioned the Countess to the Second Prince and the Prince mentioned it to Lady Ber, who mentioned it to me, and I felt that the county was a good place to be."

Nathan sighed again. That was something he was doing a lot. Sighing.

"Translation please. I don't speak noble gibberish." Nathan asked Pulsie.

"The General is saying that he feels that the county might give him a chance to grow due to its growing influence."

"I thought the county's influence was decreasing."

"In the Empire. The county has quite a bit of influence on the global scale now. After all, we are giving food in a famine. And then buying up trading companies like mad."

"Wait, we are?" Nathan did not know that. But that was something he would have to deal with later. Just how many things had the Countess left for him to do?

"Is that your final answer?" he asked the General.

The General looked at them. Nathan wanted to turn his head and see what the others were doing. For some reason, he was nervous. The General's gaze just made him self-conscious.

"The county looked like a place that could protect me and my family. After all, the Countess' story is famous." the General continued.

Nathan raised an eyebrow, trying to prompt him to continue. The General just seemed confused. But he continued anyway.

"The Duke has asked for my granddaughter's hand in marriage. I do not wish for that marriage to go forward." the General said.

Nathan paused. "Does your granddaughter agree?"

The General gazed into his eyes. "Sir, my granddaughter is seventeen. I would rather die than allow her to suffer anymore."

A sigh broke out of him. There were a lot of sighs going around today. Nathan had forgotten about the situation in the wider Empire. At times, it seemed like Diery county was a different place altogether. In a way, it was. The county had been so isolated that it had developed its own culture.

Nathan looked at the others, seeing the grim smiles there. This was exactly what they wanted.

A reason. A reason to justify taking such a drastic step. Now to hope that the Countess' would approve.

"I think we will accept your application, General Moruvier. If you still want the position, that is."

"Of course." the General sighed in relief. "I shall be glad to."

"Please return to Senesor and prepare to leave. I shall ask the Empress to teleport you over as soon as it is convenient for her." he said.

"There is no need for that. The family has already left the duchy." the General said.

Nathan paused.

"For the county?"

"Well, for the march. That was my second option." the General said, his smile not shaking at all. Of course, he had a backup plan. The county could have rejected him, they nearly had.

But why did he think that the Marquis of Bern might have a problem with him?

sc

A week later.

The sound of someone pacing filled the room. The bluish-white curtain shook from the wind. The entire room was vibrating with the pacing, each step shaking the building.

A groan broke through the silence.

"Are you done?" the Marchioness of Bern asked, holding her makeup as her face contorted into an irritated expression.

A huff was the only answer she received. The pacing continued unchanged.

The room began shaking some more. "I asked." A pulse of shaking that had the ceiling tearing down enunciated her words.

"I asked if you were done."

The Marquis huffed again. "What do you want?". And then went right back to his pacing.

"For you to stop pacing around so that I can finish dressing up." the Marchioness said, returning to trying to apply her lipstick.

"Oh, eat shit, you bloody woman." The Marquis stomped the floor, making the ceiling tear up a bit more. "Do you not understand that there are more important things at stake here? Do you even care for this family?"

The Marchioness sighed, putting her lipstick in its place while she stared at her face with distaste. A line of red ran from her lip towards her cheek.

"Now look at what you've done. There is a ball today, you know. A ball you wanted." she sneered.

The Marquis just shook his head in exasperation. "Of course you care about your makeup more than the-" the Marquis kicked a nearby piece of furniture- "This crisis we have at hand."

"Oh please, it's hardly a crisis." the Marchioness said, attempting to wipe away the red stain. "The General just didn't fall for your trick. I told you that you should have given him an actual offer instead of being cheap."

"Oh please, you know as well as I that we can't afford that. An Adept would cost far too much." the Marquis said.

"If you're not willing to pay the price, then you shouldn't want it." the Marchioness turned towards her husband in distaste. "But that's not how you do things, do you?"

"How long are you going to keep that over my head?" the Marquis yelled, stomping towards his wife, "I made a deal! A deal your father agreed to happily!"

"Well, I didn't." the Marchioness replied, looking at her reflection. A sigh escaped her. "This won't do. I will have to do the entire thing again."

The Marquis looked at her in confusion. "I don't see anything wrong."

"That's because you are an idiot. Duchess Ifera, sadly, isn't. That woman is going to be in a terrible mood now that her husband isn't going to divorce her."

"Try to be polite. Now that Moruvier isn't joining us, Senesor might just survive the royal council." the Marquis commented.

The Marchioness scoffed. "Oh please. The Diery family clearly hasn't forgotten what they did. Don’t forget that they now have three votes in the royal council."

The Marquis scoffed, stomping his feet again as he walked towards his bedroom. The ceiling decided it had had enough and caved in. The couple simply looked at the ceiling, and their child staring through it.

"Cover that up." the Marchioness said as she headed to the sink. "And tell seventh to stop his antics. The last thing we need is that half-breed in Diery deciding that he wants to deal with us."

"What can he even do? Why do you care about some half-breed mongrel now?"

"For one, he's further into the Master stage than you, my dear husband. Perhaps you should learn from him. Now just shut up and do what I say. That’s the only way you actually do something useful"

The sounds of things breaking had even Neil sighing from his bed, as he watched the hole in his room’s floor disappear.