Daniel and Isabella greeted each other by the entrance, they seemed quite close,

“Long time no see sis,”

“Long time no see Daniel.

“So, this is the Bastard,” Daniel said with disdain.

“Daniel!” Isabella snapped. “Fred, don’t listen to him.”

“Don’t worry mother, if he annoys me, I’ll have him thrown in my dungeon to be experimented on.”

“How dare you.” Daniel got angry and drew his sword.

Isabella got in between Daniel and Fred. “Daniel, you dare draw your sword on my son.”

“He’s just a bastard, if we get rid of him you can come back to the mainland.”

“What happened to you. Guards Barr him from entering the castle,” Isabella took Fred’s hand and entered the castle.

“Isabella, wait!” Daniel shouted out but to no avail.

“Earl Daniel, Might I remind you that even if you ignore his relation as the son of the duke’s favourite granddaughter, young Master Frederick is still a strategic asset to the house. Not only that you drew your sword on an Earl to be on his own lands, if they wished to escalate the matter, you will have very little protection.”

“Baron Henry, you…” Daniel was about to shout at him, however even though he was just a Baron, he was promoted by the duke himself and was one of the duke’s knights since childhood. Most of the duke’s knights were promoted to Baron and was given the tasks of training and guardianship of the sons, daughters, and grandchildren of the duke so that each child can have one on one mentorship.

Sir George is the son of the duke’s closet knight.

Danial Stormed off towards his carriage.

“It is good to see you Baron Henry, Baron Mendes

“Likewise,” each baron shook Sir Georges hand.

“I understand your presence Baron Henry, but how come you’re here Baron Mendes,”

“That kid Fred, he’s causing huge waves, mostly good for the family, but as the Ludnus incident you informed the family about, he is attracting unwanted attention. And as per family rules, he needs a guardianship.”

“But…”

“Relax, I’m not here to try and step on your toes, but you are only a knight at the moment. And you’re looking after his favourite grandchild and a prodigy. Plus, you might need to return for a month or two soon.”

“What do you mean.”

The two just chuckled with a bright smile but didn’t mention anything.

“Right,” Henry interrupted. “We can technically do the talking ourselves, but for the case of principal Daniel should be in the meeting.”

“He’s just tried to convince Isabella to kill her own son, this will be difficult.”

The two barons sighed.

“I’ll go and speak to Isabella and Fred.” George ran inside. He found the two in the lounge, Fred was just sitting there relaxed drinking a cup of tea, while Isabella was pacing up and down ranting to Fred how shameless and despicable Daniel was.

Fred was just half nodding along, not really listening.

“Isabella,” George called out to her. “You need to let Daniel in so we can have the Meeting.”

“What meeting?” Fred asked.

“He’s technically the diplomatic envoy from the mainland, and he’s bringing troops with him, we need to discuss what is to be done with them and why are they here.”

“Sure… tell him he can set up camp 15 miles south, and that the troops can be stationed in the barracks with our troops, the fort is massive.” Fred Joked.

Fred had commissioned a massive star fort and castle. He planned the upgrade with future expansion in mind however, the new city was already two-thirds full, this was due to several factors. New job opportunities whether it was craftsmen, adventuring or trade, along with lower taxes and tariffs, as well, the situation with Burgundy and the Western empire had become more unstable, especially with the absence of the king.

“Come on Fred, we need to play ball.”

“I know, I Know. Its mother you have to convince.”

“He can swim back to the mainland for all I care.”

“Isabella! Let’s just get this over and done with.”

Fred got up off the chair and walked to the door. “Come on mom, we will have the conference in the conference room.”

“Fine,”

Isabella and Fred went to the conference room, they also asked Earl Thomas and Baron Charlie to join them, this meeting will likely involve the war situation that is about to commence on Albion. George went off to invite Daniel and the two Barons.

___

When George entered the room, he greeted all three guests to Fred and vice versa, as decorum.

The barons and Daniel were impressed with the conference room, it was different to what they expected. The servants handed hot drinks to everyone.

Fred turned to Isabella after introductions “Wow look, Grandpa knew how stupid your brother was that he assigned two Barons to him.”

“Why you…”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Fred! He is your uncle.”

“He is also someone who drew his sword over a little banter, why should I respect such an unsophisticated bumpkin.”

“That’s it!” Daniel stood up and was about to lunge over the table, but the two barons managed to hold him back.

“See, see, see, I expect better from wood elves.” He hadn’t seen wood elves in this world yet and couldn’t really make a judgement on how civilised they were, but he didn’t need to, humans of this world felt very insulted being compared to them and that’s all the effect Fred needed.

“Fred, enough now, we need to continue with the meeting,” George commented.

“Fine.”

The barons managed to settle Daniel, they saw Fred in a new light, whether it was this or the incident Fred didn’t flinch or show fear from Daniel, it was like he expected Daniel not to be able to hurt him, and wasn’t afraid of angering him.

“One of the barons, Baron Mendes will become your guardian, Like I am to your mother.”

“Wait, he’s going to grow an attraction towards me.”

George ended up smacking Fred on the back of the head, and Isabella and the two Barons spit their drinks out. Daniel was speechless.

“No, you idiot.”

“Phew, that’s good, No offence Baron Mendes, I’m not really into men.”

“Er… not taken, I mean me neither,” he could tell what Fred really meant especially with how red Isabella went.

“Right, can we get back on topic?” George asked.

“You were saying something about Baron Mendes is going to spy on us for the duke.”

“No! he is going to be your guardian and mentor, especially for military training.”

“O right,” Fred turned to Baron Mendes, “So you’re not going to keep the duke up to date with the stuff I get up to?”

Baron Henry chuckled at this. “Young Master Fred, as you start entering the adult world a lot of your actions will be watched by both our allies, enemies and neutral parties. Our enemies will use any crack in our family to exploit, our mission is to help fill those gaps, and in doing so we will have to report to the duke on your actions.”

“See told you.”

“But young master Frederick, it is not just a matter of spying on you. The duke has a lot of resources to move around and can help you in your endeavour, or through us, advise you against certain plans or give you ideas to change certain plans. If it’s in the best interest of the family, we are here to help, if it causes the family problems, we are here to convince you to stop.”

“I know, I know, I was just messing with you.” Fred knew this from the start, he was just trying to get a feel for the guy with his antics.

“That’s good, well the second reason is to find out what you mean by your challenge to the title of prince of Albion.”

“What do you mean?” Fred thought it was obvious.

“Claiming this title is a very risky move, it can anger the king, and after the Ludnus incident, he might not be all good with reason. furthermore, this will directly result in a conflict between the Normandy colonies and your counties.”

“O Right, well to address the king issue, I’m not claiming to be the prince of Albion.”

“What do you mean?”

“I am merely saying that I think I would make a better candidate to the position than that Derek, If I cannot secure the lands and there for the title before the king comes back, at most, I was simply denying Derek’s claim to it.”

“I see, that makes it a lot easier.”

“The second, for Derek to claim the title, he has to conquer our lands anyway to legitimize his claim, this just gives us an easier time of conquering his lands and keeping Ludnus should we have to pry it off his hands.”

“I see, the problem is, he has claimed duke of east Albion, you would need to be a duke to claim the title of Prince, although they are technically the same rank, it is deemed that only a duke can claim to be a prince as princedom is seen as having two duchies. As our forefathers claimed the title Prince of Aquitaine before the duchies were split.”

“I see, that would be an issue.”

“The two dukes have given me permission to hand over all counties, in name only, to you to claim duke of the eastern side, furthermore,” This time he turned to Thomas, “House Plantagenet askes you to stay here during this situation and has promised you rewards on your return afterwards.”

“I duly accept.”

“Now,” the Baron turned to Fred, as you are quite young, and are not ready to govern a county officially, Earl Thomas and Earl Daniel will be your advisers and generals.”

“You mean I get to order this tool around.” Fred pointed at Daniel.

Daniel’s face darkened.

“No, well, the duke has recognised that you can make strong decisions, however, while you can give them orders to carry out, you cannot dismiss their council.”

“Can I speak a moment,” this was Baron Charlie.

“Yeah, you don’t have to ask permission,” Fred responded.

“I would like to offer myself as a vassal, to you in name, and a full vassal should you become the prince of Albion.”

“Are you sure?” Fred was perplexed.

“Normandy threatens my lands, you have given me shelter and support, and my county is more reliant on your county than any other, you have never tried to use this fact to force me to sell my iron at cheaper rates, furthermore, my father was given this land under Prince of Albion. Having me as a vassal will give you more legitimacy.”

“I see.”

“However, should you fail to take the title, or should the Crown seize the title, my vassalage would have to end, I am a Baron under the prince of Albion.

“I understand, thank you for this, I am truly honoured to receive your trust. That’s even better, you can be the third advisor. Now I’ll have someone in my court.”

“Thank you for this honour.”

“Do you think Rudy or Delphine would allow me to go against you,” Thomas said with a smile.

“Do I get to rename anything; these French names are annoying.”

“French names?”

“Err, never mind that, the main point is can I change names.”

“What do you mean,”

“This county, this duchy, the other counties under me. Can I change their names?”

“I suppose,”

“O thank god for that. From this day forth, this city will be called the city of…” Fred had to think, he was going to rename them to his world equivalent, but he could give them better names.

“What’s a matter, Fred?” Isabella asked.

“I was going to rename them my world counterparts, but for this city, I need a historically powerful name.”

“Your world?” Daniel asked.

“Erm, you wouldn’t get it.”

This had caused everyone in the room who wasn’t in the know to become sceptical.

“What names are you thinking.”

“I’m going with Bristol.”

“Bristol?” Isabella asked

“Yep”

“What about the other counties,” Thomas asked.

“What is yours,”

“You don’t know mine,”

“I had always referred to it as Thomas’ County.”

“Fair enough. It was New Bordeaux,”

“Yep, changing that, to summerset.

“What about mine, I’ve always hated the name, just never got round to changing it myself?” Baron Charlie asked.

“Oxford.”

“Oxford? That sounds like a nice name to it.”

“Great, and now I’ll be the duke of Wessex. The two counties can be Dorset for the south and Devon for the west one.”

“Duke of Wessex?” Isabella was perplexed, she hadn’t heard of these names before, except Bristol, Fred had told her about his birthplace in the previous world. She could only guess these were his world’s equivalent.

“Yep.”

“Great, can we move on now?” Daniel Moaned.

“Why, you need a potty break?” Fred jest.

“So, about this war with Normandy?” Baron Mendes asked.

“We have some weapons that need a fixed battle.”

“So, I’ve heard, and it’s not those ballista weapons I’ve been told, even though they have been very effective down south.” Mendes shot back with a smile.

“What, you have more weapons?” Daniel asked.

“Get with the program, we have more. End of sentence.” Fred Quipped.

“So, what are your plans with these Weapons.”

“Well, we either siege them or let them siege us.”

“It would be hard to pin them down in a single city.”

“That’s why I’m thinking of letting them siege us.”

“Where?”

“Here.”

“Here? They have to go through Thomas or Charlie first.”

“They are here, they’ve brought their people and soldiers and have destroyed the mines entrances.”

“You’re putting all your eggs in one basket.”

“I want them to commit everything to this battle, if they win the siege, they win the war. For maximum effect, we need to hit them with the cannons in one go. After that, they will start to adapt to them, and they will become less effective. Although still very potent, but they can just withdraw with most of their army if it becomes too much for them.”

“That’s a stupid idea, we should just take the fight to them,” Daniel responded.

“Right now, I want to buy as much time as possible, and I want them to take Ludnus.”

“Why let them take Ludnus.”

“Because then we won’t be attacking a crown city, we will be attacking a Normandy occupied city. And the more it looks like we have suffered, the more justification we have for taking lands. After all, we are just collecting compensation.”