“Are you selling yourself, young Avel?”
“It sounds much more awful when you put it that way, Sir Alfred. I’m just a guy offering his skills for fair compensation,” Viers replied without being emotional about it.
As a villain, as long as he got enough benefits, Viers didn't particularly care about lending his aid to the highest bidder. He had done so for the devil cults and the good guy Church before.
As cultivation resources were so tightly tied to the Path of Power, Viers approached it with a business mentality, emphasizing the risk-benefit ratio.
“For a Pathseeker of your caliber, you sure lack the pride and dignity of one. Your conduct is almost the same as those street-raised. Where is your sense of duty and justice? Instead, your greed stands out like a sore thumb.”
“And my strength.”
To the brisk reply, Alfred paused a second to process.
“And my strength, Sir knight. Else you wouldn't be here.”
Duty? Justice? What’s that? Can you eat them? Are they necessary on my way to the Apex? If not, they are unneeded.
“...Such a man is unworthy of trust,” Alfred added, grudgingly.
“I argue to the contrary. Satisfy their greed and they'll stick with you… until their greed grows to be unsatisfiable eventually. But if the contract is completed, then what’s the problem of going separate ways? We can set the vassalage within a specific time frame and objective. Once that’s done, I’ll act as is expected of me.”
“Contract…” the young prince Croix voiced his thoughts. “Agreement. You speak of a vassalage that is not permanent or unconditional… This is different from my understanding.”
He looked at his protector with questions in his gaze.
“It is unorthodox… but there have been such cases in the past. It is rarely accepted, for it implies the man lacked lasting loyalty to his lord. A vassal without loyalty is, as I said earlier, unworthy of trust.”
“I won't apologize for it,” Viers calmly sipped his tea like a seasoned gentleman. “I love my freedom too much.”
“Yet you said yes to my request,” Croix eyed Viers intently.
“No matter what kind of bird they are, they can't fly in the skies forever. Sometimes, they fold their wings and roost.”
“...You are more lax now, mister Avel. More candid, more at ease. Previously you’d have kept your thoughts hidden inside,” Croix said what he observed.
“If we’re to be working together, surely both of us can benefit from more openness with each other, don't you agree?”
“I’ve been holding my tongue but watch yourself, young Avel. You’re being too outspoken to the prince,” Alfred warned.
As Viers understood him better and better he found out Alfred was a knight. As an opponent, the Level 4 would be a bit troublesome but they were not enemies. The man was very loyal to the young prince. In his early thirties, he looked like an uncle. A young uncle but an uncle. His personality was rigid thanks to his upbringing. Serving a lord he was sworn to unequivocally with undying loyalty was most likely his take on the pinnacle of life’s virtue.
The aristocracy was strong in the Latias Kingdom. The culture molded Alfred into the man he was today. Not only him but countless other knights too. Viers’ brazen behavior that was borderline discourteous poked him the wrong way.
On Viers’ part, he detested blind loyalty. He was his own man, first and foremost. Therefore he disliked it when people or society demanded blind loyalty from him.
What a joke.
The only blind loyalty that he tolerated was the one toward himself.
Before Viers gave a reply, one that showed his veiled disapproval but courteous enough to not be rude to the would-be employer, the 51st prince of Latias spoke.
“Any three, is a bit much.”
“Young lord!?” Alfred gasped.
Viers smothered a smile. The fish had taken the bait.
Croix negotiated adeptly against Viers. He gave many good points to counter Viers’ offer while offering alternatives. He showed insight on the line where he could push and where he should pull. The experience of the prince being in the middle of a royal court’s intrigue surprised Viers slightly but his greed was not so easily cowed.
“The royal treasury contains the history of the Latias Kingdom. The items there are important assets to the state and must not be given lightly.”
“Surely assets are better to be used than letting them gather dust.”
“You made a good point. That is why I plan to utilize them to rebuild Latias. The people could benefit from the shared wealth, enriching the people would result in a wealthier nation in turn. If I sell them away for personal ambition, how can I face the Latias people?”
“If the treasury contains a mountain of treasure as rumored, why would you miss three less?”
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While the two were arguing, Boram and Alfred stood at the side, watching in silence. When Viers made outrageous demands, Alfred’s face twisted as if a bitter bug flew into his mouth. Boram was more at ease. It wasn't his place to talk but he observed and learned.
“One item. For your help in getting me to the throne of Latias, you may take any one item that you fancy from the Latias royal treasury. On the condition that the item is not a legacy item or crucial to the kingdom’s infrastructure.”
For all Croix’s clamor about wanting to fix Latias, he seemed to hold his ancestry highly. Not because of his father, he seemed to have no love for the man there, but for his predecessors, those past kings that went back to the founding of Latias. He felt it was his duty to uphold their legacy and so he barred Viers from getting legacy items.
Legacy items were items that define a Pathseeker clan. It could be some magic stone that helps cultivation, unique alchemical brew recipes, signature Artes or Profound Codices, which are but a few examples.
Viers sensed this was Croix’s bottom line. ‘Any’ single item but with asterisks. After a few seconds of thinking, Viers gave his reply.
“If I’m only getting one item, I’ll have additional conditions.”
“Avel, you-”
“Please speak,” Croix interrupted Alfred with a kind tone. “I apologize. I wouldn't have fought you so strongly if this isn't concerning the future of my family line and nation. Let me make it up another way.”
“I want a country.”
“...Ha?”
Alfred let out a tone of absolute bewilderment while Croix maintained a calm expression, although Viers saw his eyebrows twitch.
“...What do you mean by that?”
“In your rise to the throne, there will be an upheaval of the old order. People will rise, people will fall. Borders will be redrawn when the power struggle happens. I want a piece of land for me.”
“In other words, you want an estate. You wished for a nobility title?” Croix chose his words carefully.
“Kind of but not what you think. I mean a truly independent place that is not under the jurisdiction of the Latias Kingdom. One where I'm the head. Once I have that land, I want Latias to recognize its sovereignty.”
In the immediate wake of Viers’ words, the other three were too shaken to answer.
“...You request for a satellite state to be made especially for you,” Croix said while in deep thought.
“It’s fine, isn't it? Latias already has a dozen,” Viers smiled then he looked at Boram. “You look confused.”
Boram didn't answer but his eyes said yes.
“So, the Human Dominion is largely made up of the four great nations but there are others. In Latias, there are small kingdoms surrounding it. These smaller kingdoms have their own kings and territories that are technically independent.”
“I see… But I remember you taught me that some individuals are already doing that, Master.”
“Very good, you remember. Five points for Rockboa,” Viers said in the tone of a Hogwarts professor.
“As you say, Latias nobles and FPC’s Governor-Kings are already ruling basically as they please. Case in point, the Countess of Stormberg. Who dares to order a woman like that? Who can? She’s a mighty Level 5. Unless there's a national crisis, these nobles are left independent by the central government.”
“Oh.”
“Some have bigger territory than others, some have stronger forces, but in the end, they fall under the banner of the four greats. So why do Latias have these other independent kingdoms?”
“...They rule difficult land?” Boram tried to use his brain rather than simply saying I don't know as his master taught him. “Scarce in resources or many monster problems, with reasons like these, the higher-ups in Latias might think it’s not worth it.”
“There’s some truth in what you say but the main thing… is for breeding.”
“Breeding? Like… for making little babies?” Boram had saucers for eyes.
“Latias has nobles. These nobles cannot be wed to commoners,” Viers made the quotation gesture while saying the word commoners. “So they have these nice princes and princesses to marry. Sometimes dukes, sometimes marques, titles, titles.”
“I see now,” Boram nodded. “But why now, Master? Didn't you always say that making a country is easy once you become strong enough?”
Boram’s innocent question touched a nerve in Croix and Alfred but he didn't realize it.
“Well, once you’re mighty enough, it is indeed not that hard to claim an area in the wilderness and claim it as your own. In fact, there are lots of places like that right now. But why I request this of Prince Croix, is because of the weight of legitimacy. The acknowledgment from one of the four great nations will make it legal and official.”
Viers faced Croix again who had been silent while Viers explained the geopolitics of the Latias Kingdom to his disciple.
“You can give me the territory of one of the enemies you defeat. There will be quite a few in your rise for power, some are bound to be people with their own province. Once these nobles have fallen, their domain needs new management. Such places will do for me. I’m not picky. The place didn't have to be big, a single small city and its surroundings would do just fine. But, I’ll refuse outright a wasteland of a territory that is riddled with problems as my disciple said earlier. So! How does this sound?”
“...”
In truth, Croix was amenable to the idea. He had been planning to give people with merit and capability territories in the first place. The Latias Kingdom needed to weed out the rotten parts so healthier saplings could grow in their place.
“We will need to discuss it in more detail in the future, but I can make a promise to you now that you’ll get your own kingdom once I wear a crown.”
“Excellent,” Viers knocked the table twice with his fist. “Next condition-”
“There’s more!? You-”
Viers muted Alfred and continued. “You don't have to give me further reward during the tenure but I’ll be allowed to keep the spoils of war of my own battles.”
“Deal.”
“Next condition: my vassalage will end once Your Highness becomes king and our previous agreement must be fulfilled.”
“Agreed.”
“Last condition, you will never ask me to kneel.”
The eyes of Viers were serious. Much more serious than when he said his previous conditions.
Croix peered into the depths of Viers' psyche using the windows that were the eyes. There he finally found the stubbornness beneath all the jokester manners he conducted himself. He had pride, a sort of pride that was different from most other people's. Croix was sure that the man before him would become a sharp blade in his arsenal.
And a wise man must take care handling such a blade lest they get cut and lose a finger.
Or a neck.
“I promise you,” Croix stood. “That I’ll never ask you to kneel to me.”
Viers also rose to his feet.
“And so we have an accord. Under these conditions, I, Avel of Javia, pledge my sword to the 51st Prince of Latias, Prince Croix. The future king of Latias. I will endeavor to give him the crown, or die trying. Long may he reign.”
The villain bowed a perfect 45 degrees with his right hand to his chest to the youth he raised up as his lord.
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Chapter 352 - You Have My Sword