“A Bronze Rank adventurer is a decent rank for most, but with your strength, why have you not reached higher?” Dalia asked, sipping her tea slowly as the servants brought out tiny desserts. They were like cakes, but extremely thick and dense. Some were covered in flakes of white, orange, or green.

“I like my position right now,” Adam replied, simply, staring into the Duchess’ eyes.

Dalia continued to stare at Adam, wondering why he was trying to keep a low profile. Her eyes fell across the other Iyrmen, and she wondered if the Iyr had anything to do with it.

“Your Grace.”

“Yes?”

“I just forgot to add the address when I replied.” Adam reached for a sweet dessert. “I could feel the glare of your knights for being so rude. I hope you understand, but I wasn’t born into nobility.”

“Forgiveable mistakes,” the Duchess replied.

‘Seriously,’ Adam thought. ‘I can’t believe I’m thinking so positively of the French.’ Adam stifled a shudder.

“You seem so close with the Iyr.”

“I’m a Nephew of the Iyr,” Adam replied.

“You also work for a business which works hand in hand with the Iyr?” the Duchess asked.

Adam wondered how much she knew, and how she had managed to gather so much information about him so quickly. “Yes.”

“The business is also looking after your children?”

“…” Adam sipped the rest of his tea, which, with the flavour of the cake, was probably among the most delicious items he had eaten since he had arrived into the world. “Yes.”

“Adventuring is dangerous work,” Dalia continue. “It would be best for your children if you chose to settle down peacefully. They would receive a great education as the children of a Vice Captain.” The education they would receive would only be slightly below that of the greatest nobles, and greater than even minor nobles.

“You sure know how to tug at my heartstrings,” Adam replied, almost letting slip a smile. “They will also be raised well in the Iyr.” Adam thought about the children’s nana and babo, the pair who were closest to the children, perhaps even closer than Adam. ‘No, there’s no way the old geezer can be closer to them than me.’

“Will they remain in the Iyr forever?”

“Perhaps. I assume they’ll want to go out into the world, my precious little babies. If I love them, I should allow them to be free. Of course, I’d make sure they’d be safe out and about.”

“A difficult task,” the Duchess said, noting the smile on Adam’s face, but also the tension against his brow. His smile was not like the other smiles he had revealed, those which were demure. This smile was far more… wild?

“You’re right, but as someone whose slain two Dragons already, I’m sure I’ll have some success,” Adam replied, smiling even wider, and wilder. His teeth were bare, like the fangs of a beast, his eyes narrowed to the point they were almost shut tight.

“Vandra and Zagryn,” the Duchess stated, causing some of the knights to tense up. “Will double the salary be more acceptable for your abilities?” Such a salary was appropriate for Vice Captains of greater stock, those of minor nobles and such, and would rarely be offered to those who were not of noble blood.

“Money isn’t a huge issue for me,” Adam admitted. “I can make a lot of money if I want to, so it’s pretty low in terms of priorities.” Adam also had made a ton of money betting during the tournament, and even after dropping so much on Nobby and the others, he had more than enough to live like a king, or a minor noble, for some time. “I’ve already made my bed with the greatest superpower in the region.”

The Duchess hadn’t expected Adam to be so explicit with his words. Very few had the gall to dare to suggest such things in front of nobles, and even fewer dared to do so in front of the Duchess, who was only second to the King. “You speak of the Iyr?”

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

“Yes.”

The Duchess smiled, though didn’t show her pearly white teeth. “Have you spent much time in East Port?”

“A short while.”

“I can tell,” she said.

These words were always spoken by those who had no idea what they were talking about, so Adam prepared himself.

“East Port is home to almost two million residents. The Iyr is home to… fifty thousand at most?”

“Something like that.”

“Even if you were to double the population of the Iyr, it would be outnumbered almost twenty to one,” the Duchess continued. “The army we could raise would be three times as much as the entire population of an Iyr with double its population. That does not include the rest of East Aldland, which could raise another three hundred thousand soldiers if needed.”

“Yeah,” Adam said, nodding his head slowly. “I’ve even brought it up to Jurot before. It might have been one of the first things I spoke to him about a couple of years ago, actually. Fifty thousand Iyrmen against the entirety of Aldland, with its, what, Thirty or so million people? I suppose it’s probably twenty five or so million now…”

“A war which will end by the end of the year,” the Duchess stated.

“Jurot said the same thing,” Adam added, slowly nodding his head. “In this tournament our party faced against many who would be considered the best of Aldland, not just those from East Aldland. Still, the best of Aldland faced against the Iyrmen, and, from what I recall, lost every time. If I can be more blunt, even a man, or a half man if you prefer, dropped the two best of Central Aldland before gifting them the win.”

The Duchess smiled, wrinkles forming around her eyes. There was something about Adam’s audacity, the way he flew too close to the sun, that was rather endearing. He was a young man brainwashed by the Iyr, having not seen the true might of the Aldishment.

“Even if it was my brother instead, their magics would have done nothing against his rage,” Adam stated firmly. “You could raise five million fishermen, but I’d bet on twenty five thousand Iyrmen every time.”

Jurot nodded his head at his brother’s words. He had many things to say on the matter too, but he kept his mouth shut. It was one thing for an Iyrman to speak of the might of the Iyr, but another thing for someone who wasn’t an Iyrman to speak of it.

The guards nearby tensed up, ready to spring into action, but the Duchess raised a hand, and a servant came to refresh their tea. She sipped it gently, thinking about what to do with Adam. His words were quite brutal, and under the laws of the Aldishmen, technically he could be tried for something, and with a word from the Duchess, he’d be buried in an unmarked grave within the hour.

“Everyone has a price,” the Duchess said, motioning a hand for the cakes which had been offered, and the Iyrmen had refrained from eating. “What is yours?”

“I was offered, what, a thousand gold each month?” Adam asked, looking to Jurot. “I think they offered me a few thousand as a bonus ever so often too, something like multiple times a month, or once every few months, depending on the situation.”

Jurot nodded, recalling the scenario within his mind. It had been before the triplets put some distance between their father and mother. It wasn’t the most ridiculous thing to happen to Adam yet, even though it was something already unbelievably ridiculous.

The Duchess was struck by Adam’s words. She was certain he wasn’t so stupid that he’d lie to her to get her to pay him more, but to see Jurot nod to confirm the words, she wondered what they were talking about. “Who offered such a deal?”

Adam paused to think, glancing around to the nearby guards, to see if they were casting any spells or such. Then he glanced to Jurot. “Am I even allowed to say?”

“No,” his brother replied.

“Well, I can probably say they were at least the rank of a Duchess?” Adam said, before eyeing up Jurot to see if he had made a mistake, but his brother’s face was like stone. ‘Damn, sometimes I forget how handsome you are, Jurot. It makes sense, since you’re my brother.’

“You refused?” the Duchess asked, under the assumption he was telling the truth.

“I refused for Lanababy.”

The Duchess tried to recall the phrase, before remembering who it was. “Lanababy?”

“Our sister.”

The Duchess bowed her head slowly. “You are no Iyrman, and yet have an Iyrman for a brother?”

“It’s a long story, but it means that my children will grow well in the Iyr.” Adam shrugged his shoulders. “If you can somehow get the Rot family to move out of the Iyr, then I’d be willing to leave them, but otherwise it’ll be extremely difficult to coax me away.” ‘That being said, should I really raise my children in the Iyr for long? It feels weird taking advantage of them so much…’

“You believe the Iyr is better than my capital, where gold flows freely like its rivers?”

“Gold is gold, but wise men invest in security, otherwise a fool and his gold are soon departed,” Adam replied, simply.

The knights tensed up once more, with those closest to the Duchess reaching for their blades. The teen Iyrmen straightened up, but noted that the trio of Iyrmen made no move to act as of yet.

The Duchess motioned with a hand and the knights slowly relaxed. “You did not mean me, did you?”

“I was talking about myself, Your Grace, since I don’t have one of the greatest navies of the region, nor three hundred thousand soldiers,” Adam said, chuckling.

‘He was so nervous when he arrived, but now he is laughing so easily…’ “I do not believe you are a fool, though I cannot understand why your respect of the Iyr runs so deep, to the point that you do not hold Aldland in such high regards? They have many great warriors, that is well known, and has been so for hundreds, thousands, of years, but they cannot hope to match the might of Aldland.”

“We can agree to disagree, Your Grace,” Adam replied, smiling wider. ‘Oh, my sweet summer child.’