Althea sighed as Nester finished telling her about the Garron family's finances. As much as she hated to say it, the Vice-Admiral had a point.

An Adept could sneak into the port on a merchant ship, using artifacts to hide his presence. Then he could destroy the port and the ships once he was there. The Adept would die, but it would be a heroic death. In times like these, where a famine was raging through the continent, there might be nations desperate enough to do this.

The Garron navy, the biggest naval force of the Empire, would be crippled if this happened. The research was a point too. Althea shivered at the thought of some corporate nutjob getting his hands on what had to be powerful weapons. There was little they could do about cultivation, there was no need to make it worse.

"What do you suggest?" she asked.

"I would ask them to make an exception for us, your grace." he said. "The port can be ignored, but letting us invest with them could assure them and let us get weapons. Protecting our shipments would be helpful too, we could convince them to train and equip the new navy we are building."

Althea nodded. That was her idea too. In fact, she had even thought of a persuasive argument.

A new navy would strengthen the Empire.

"I should talk to them." she said.

"That would be preferable, your grace. The words of a guardian of the Empire would hold far more weight than mine." he said.

Althea nodded as he cut off the call.

"Do you have something to add, Steward Ven?" she asked, folding her hands. The Steward had been biting on something for a while now. But he wouldn't speak up.

"No, Countess." the Steward replied. "Do you want me to contact the Admiral?"

Althea held his eyes for a minute, trying to get him to speak up, but in the end had to give up. "Please do."

The call connected quickly, the Vice Admiral, Lord Garron and Matilda were standing before her. Althea was glad to see Matilda there, that meant she was getting some acknowledgement from the Garron family.

"I greet her grace, the Countess Guarding Diery." the Vice Admiral greeted. Lord Garron followed suit.

"I am sure you know why I am calling you right now." she said.

"Yes, that financial advisor of yours has reported back, hasn't he?" the Vice-Admiral said.

Althea gave a sad smile. "Yes, I apologize for his rudeness. Nester is not the most polite, but he is capable."

"There is no need to worry, Countess, I am not some weak-willed noble. A few harsh words won't hurt me. And he was right, in a way. If quite impolite in execution." the Vice Admiral said, taking the lead. "I think he was simply trying to emphasize how dire things were. A tactic that was quite useful in our time."

Althea hid her eye roll. The tactic was useful even now. Calling a noble foolish would get their attention easily.

"There is an offer I wish to make to you." she said. "Do you wish to hear it?"

The Vice-Admiral rested on the back of his chair. "I see little harm in hearing your offer."

"Equip my new navy, defend our ships and train our troops to repay part of your debts. And let us invest in the new ship instead of loaning you the money."she said, sure that the Vice-Admiral had to have expected this.

The Vice-Admiral looked at her. "Countess, I do not wish to be rude, but how can I trust you?"

"The royal family represents the Empire, and the Empress has been very kind to me. I will not rebel against her in this life." she said.

"Countess, do you know what happened seven hundred years ago?" the Vice Admiral suddenly asked.

Althea frowned. "The burning?"

"Yes, but do you know of the involvement of the Diery family?"

Althea frowned. The Diery family had not participated in the war, the family hadn't had an heir to manual for three hundred years then and was already in decline.

"There are few things that the Garron family ancestors left us," Lord Garron said. "But there was a warning there. Of some treaty the royal family broke that year, one that ensures that the Diery family will eventually rebel."

The frown on her face deepened. A treaty that would ensure that she rebelled? There was only one such treaty in the records she had read.

"Are you speaking of the treaty of three? I do not think the royal family has broken that yet." Althea asked. "This is one of the oldest written documents in history, the theory of treaty magic states that the consequences of breaking such a thing is not something that even a Grandmaster can bear."

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The magic involved in treaties was simple enough, but it grew with time. And the casters involved. The treaty of three was formed between three of the most powerful people that the world had seen in history, and was very, very old. Perhaps the oldest and most powerful treaty there was.

"I do not know, Countess. I get the feeling that even the ancestors did not know what had clearly happened. But it is something that did not make it into history, the new Emperor burnt every mention of it. And ordered the death of anyone that tried to speak of it." Lord Garron said.

Althea looked at them. "Even if the treaty was indeed broken, the royal family's help has been enough that I will not rebel against them. I would not be where I am today if it wasn't for their help."

This was very true. The Emperor and Empress had helped her at every point, without asking for anything in return. To rebel against them for something that happened seven hundred years ago was not something she wanted to do.

The Vice Admiral opened his mouth to say something, but the orb suddenly cut off before he could say something. Althea didn't even have time to wonder what had happened, the Empress was sitting before her in a split second.

"Come with me." she said as Althea found herself being teleported away from the palace. The teleportation was not instantaneous, there seemed to be a short resistance as something tried to block the teleportation from activating. But the Empress was just too powerful for it. A few seconds later, she was looking at the surprised face of the Vice-Admiral.

The occupants of the room looked at each other for a few seconds as they tried to process what had happened. Althea had made a very quick assumption about what had happened. Surveillance.

The royal family must have been listening in on their conversation, and the second it went awry, they acted. The short delay between the start of their conversation and the Empress' action could easily be explained by the time taken to report to the Empress.

"I do not know if I should be happy or sad that you are so capable." the Empress said, looking at Lord Garron. "Emperor Le spent a great amount of effort to cover the events up, and yet the Garron family still has records of such a thing."

Lord Garron's face turned stiff as he abruptly kneeled. "I apologize to your majesty, the Empress, for the crimes this family has committed. I only hope that-"

"Oh, please." the Empress interrupted his apology. "Just because a past Emperor made a decision, does not mean the current Emperor supports it. Emperor Le even burnt the royal family records, something that is strictly forbidden under the rules of the family. The Garron family's records are perhaps the only records remaining. I do not know how you managed to hide it, but I am glad for it."

The Empress turned to her. "The Diery vault is perhaps the only place that may have a complete record of the event."

Althea frowned. "Are you unaware of what occurred then, your majesty?"

This was worrisome. Emperor Le, the first Emperor after the burning, had a mixed reputation in history. The post-war policies had stabilized the Empire, but he had taken steps that were controversial to this date. The lowering of titles of the Diery family from Archduke to Count and taking away most of the land and giving it the new Bern march was one of them.

Even the Zerolian family had their titles lowered to Duke, but their land remained intact. That was why the Zerolian duchy was the largest in the Empire. The handing of the navy to the Garron family, overruling and ignoring the royal council several times in his reign… Emperor Le was pretty much a dictator.

Not at the levels of Hitler, certainly, but he wasn't known for his ability to take advice. But that wasn't the most worrying thing, no, that was still just history. What worried her was the fact that he was still alive.

Emperor Le was known as the ancestor of the royal family, and the strongest powerhouse in the Empire. At over eight hundred years old, he was nearly dead and had long ago retired to some unknown place, but as far as she knew, he was still alive.

Even with the Empress as a half-Grandmaster, could she truly beat someone that had been at that stage for seven hundred years?

The Empress watched her think over it, waiting before she continued, "Yes. I have clues, and I am nearly sure of some things, but I am not too sure of the true situation. The suppression in other nations was less than ours, but the true events have been successfully kept a secret"

The Empress turned to the Garron family. "Do not worry about this situation. I will tell you something I told a particular Swordsman some time ago. If there comes a day that Althea decides to take revenge for the events that year, my husband and I shall stand by her side. I am confident that she will not go too far."

Althea had to say, she was a bit surprised and more than a bit flattered by the Empress' words. But it still begged the question.

"Empress, if you don't know what happened that year, how are you so sure that the Solerian family is to blame?" she asked.

The Empress gave a sad smile, and for a second, the royal mask that she wore dropped. "Even if the matter is suppressed and hidden, there is one thing that will still know what has happened.

The treaty of the three activated, Althea, and its power has been targeted at the Solerian family since I have been able to sense it. I do not know what it is doing, or what it is going to do in the future, but I know that the family broke the treaty."

The Empress's face regained its haughty, indifferent expression. "Contact me when you are ready to leave, a face-to-face conversation may be safer."

And then she turned to the Garron family. "A word of advice, Vice-Admiral, do not be too lost in the past. The Garron family has served the Empire selflessly for a very, very long time. Perhaps it is time that you were just a little more selfish."

The Empress disappeared, but Althea saw the look on the Vice-Admiral's face. A look that seemed to be contemplating his life.

"Countess, this will need to be approved by the Garron council, but I think the suggestion you gave before…may be workable." he said, still hesitant. "At least, I will not refuse cooperation with the Diery family. Not when you are offering us a hand in this situation."

"I will also support this endeavor, but I would recommend that the details be hashed out and agreed upon by the council." Lord Garron said. "This will be a complicated endeavor, and a sufficiently thorough plan will be needed."

Althea smiled. The Empress' words had convinced them where hers didn't. Now, as for the next step…what was that saying? Strike while the iron is hot?

"How about I make my case before the council right now and manage the deal? There isn’t much time to make a decision, my being here is a rare opportunity, after all." Althea suggested.

The Vice-Admiral looked at her for a second, contemplating, but in the end agreed. "That would be quite acceptable. Please come this way, Countess."