Michael

It took a while until Michael had calmed down enough to be presentable again. His father was back to his normal self as well and he waited for Michael to ready himself.

"Let's go to the council chamber we have some things to discuss, and the others are waiting for us." Michael was surprised, Matthias was the only one that had been invited to any council session yet. They left the study and made their way over and Michael asked, "Father, why did you stand up for me? You said I would need to take responsibility?"

"That is quite easy. It was something that could have led to problems for the whole county if not handled carefully. I would have let you take the blame if it wasn't a catastrophe in the making but this was too dangerous for a learning experience. I am content with chewing you out myself."

Michael nodded as they reached the council chamber. It was a boring room, just a large table with chairs and a small counter at the side with refreshments. Most of the chairs were already filled. Michael didn't know everyone present; he saw Viscount Sygnus Telp - Lord Rowan's chancellor -, Sir Godfrey Pyke, the thin steward, Father Albion, and Commander Johnson, there were two more men that he didn't know the name or function of, but he probably should learn them at some point.

Father Albion gave Michael a disapproving look but didn't say anything, the discussion over his attendance had already been had it seems. Michael sat down next to Commander Johnson on the only free chair.

Once Lord Rowan had sat down at the head of the table he began talking. "Now, Michael you have done a great job and deserve a reward, what do you wish for?" Multiple members of the council frowned but still kept quiet.

Michael thought about it, he hadn't expected a reward and had nothing prepared. "I would like to be granted the ownership of Eydis, the barbarian girl", he said after a moment of contemplation.

Lord Rowan didn't look surprised and answered, "I guessed as much but you are going to set her free anyway and I want to reward you. But as you won't let it go otherwise, I will grant you the girl as a reward for her service in the training yard and in this operation so choose something else."

This time the steward spoke, "Milord, would the continued amount of money the treasury spends on Lord Michael's education not be a reward enough?"

Lord Rowan laughed and looked at the man, "Eckbert, would you really reward someone with something that you are already giving them? You are the perfect steward, aren't you? Alone the money Michael has brought in through this operation is far enough to exceed the costs of his education."

The man hesitantly nodded and said, "That is true, we have no exact numbers yet, but should everything go over to the house it will exceed the costs."

"That is an understatement, alone the slaves will be worth a lot," Commander Johnson interjected.

"What is going to happen to the slaves," Michael asked at the mention of them, all heads turned toward him.

"They will be sold", Eckbert said with a raised eyebrow.

"To whom, they have gone through much and deserve a better life." He could see the irritation in the steward and Father Albion, but he didn't care, he had promised Eydis to speak on their behalf. "To whoever pays a good price. I don't see how what they have gone through is of any concern."

Viscount Telp interjected here and said, "I heard that you have a distaste for slavery, could I ask for your reasoning?"

Michael looked at the man, he didn't appear like he wanted to challenge his opinion but was truly interested in what he had to say. "The teachings of Idas are my reason, it says that humans need to stand together to fight off the coming darkness, to protect and care for one another, so that they will have your side once the time has come for the next cataclysm."

Father Albion scoffed and said, "You speak of the teachings of Idas, but you seem to know nothing of it. The protection and care is only meant for his followers and not for some heathens."

"Really?" Michael glared at the old man, and he looked back with open hostility. "I have read the holy scripture and I didn't find any mention of discrimination against other humans."

"Obviously you haven't read every scripture as Solarion the Third has written, 'those that do not follow the Lord of Light shall be shown nothing but contempt and don't deserve to be shown his love and mercy'."

Michael rolled his eyes, "You mean the Solarion that burned thousands on the pyre and heralded an age of fear and suffering?"

The old priest wanted to return something, but Viscount Telp slapped the table, "Alright, alright, I didn't want a theological discussion." Albion looked annoyed but only shook his head when the chancellor continued, "I understand your motivation, young Michael, and I will buy the slaves and have them work in my hometown, I promise they will be treated well."

Michael nodded at the man and thanked him. He hadn't expected this, but he began to like the viscount, even though he was a noble he seemed more humane and competent than most others he had seen.

Michael fell back into silence as he thought about what he wanted. He couldn't think of anything useful, he got Eydis and his mentors who could teach him everything he ever wanted to know. He could ask for more money for his education, but he didn't want to seem like a greedy person, so he didn't know what to do. He racked his head, but he just couldn't think of anything, he never has been a material person.

Suddenly a thought shot through his head, and he said without thinking, "I want the Red Lady." Eight pairs of eyes pierced him, and he could see surprise, confusion, and disgust in some faces. He quickly followed it up, "I of course don't want to use it as a brothel and gambling den anymore but as my personal training ground. It is large with many rooms, multiple buildings, and a large backyard. I will need funds to renovate of course but I can fill the property with different rooms built to learn, quarter my teachers, and have enough space for outside training and activities. I have found that I have to come down into the town nearly every day, the room in the castle is limited, and the atmosphere is often very hectic which is detrimental to my studies."

Silence fell on the room as everyone awkwardly watched for Lord Rowan's reaction to the request. He looked at Michael with his usual neutral face, not betraying any emotion, "You want to live outside of the castle?"

"It would be more convenient as the Red Lady is situated relatively central in the town and to speak plainly, there is not much in the castle that is required for my day-to-day activities, while the town is very relevant. I will miss my room and home, but I think this would be a logical step to enhance my learning experience. I will have more privacy and don't have to for example use the large and busy kitchen in the castle for lessons, where I am in the way all the time." Michael felt like he had good arguments even if it was a spur-of-the-moment idea.

"What about your family?" Lord Rowan asked with no accusation in his voice.

Michael stopped for a moment before he confidently said, "I will of course come to the castle frequently and will also invite the family to come to visit me. The Red Lady is large enough to even host family dinners from time to time if you want but I will always be there when I am needed. It is not that far away from the castle as well. I don't want to separate from the life in the castle and my responsibilities as part of House Rowan, but I think in this phase of my life where I have to concentrate on my education, this is the best step." With a glance at the old Albion, he added, "It might also help some people to get a better night's rest if I am not constantly around."

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The tension in the room could virtually be grasped by one's hand as no one dared to break the silence. Michael held eye contact with his father who looked lost in thought. For two whole minutes, no one spoke a word until Lord Rowan sighed and said, "I can't disagree. It makes sense and I also come to the same conclusion when I think about it. Your mother will not like it but if you think that this is what you have to do then I will grant your request."

He turned toward his steward, "Eckbert, make arrangements for a sufficient sum of the confiscated money to be put at Michael's discretion, you can negotiate the amount with Michael and Solon later. Of course, it will need to wait for the conclusion of the trial to grant you the funds and the building but that shouldn't be an issue."

The steward didn't look happy about this additional expense, but he scribbled something on a piece of paper without sharing his thoughts, no one in the council did. Michael wondered if he should leave now that this business was done but they just continued without minding him. He listened closely to the conversation trying to understand what they were discussing and maybe learn something.

Toward the end, Commander Johnson addressed Lord Rowan looking more serious than Michael had ever seen him, "Milord, I regret to ask you to accept the resignation of my post as commander of the town watch. This post never fit me anyway and this situation has shown me clear as day that I am a liability on this post. I will continue to serve you in any capacity I can, but I request to be relieved of this duty."

Lord Rowan looked sad at this but not surprised as the other council members were split in surprise and neutral expressions. "You have never been a liability in your whole life, my friend. I understand and accept your decision, I will look for a replacement. Will you keep the post until I find one?"

The commander nodded and Michael was surprised how quickly this whole thing had been resolved, no arguing, no talking it through, he just stated his desire to quit, and Lord Rowan accepted it. Michael wasn't sure if he could have done the same, but he understood that someone who had no desire to do a job would do a poor one if he is forced, as Commander Johnson had demonstrated.

The meeting ended shortly after, and Michael was elated by how everything had worked out the whole day.

- A while later in Michael's room -

Michael had gathered all his retainers in his room to break the news. Geron and Eydis were standing close to his table, and Solon and Sola had made themselves comfortable on his bed. Geron was eyeing Eydis, probably questioning why she was here and not in her cell.

Michael didn't waste any time and said, "We are moving out of the castle and into the town." He let that statement sink in for a moment. The eyes of the others widened, and Sola said with disbelief, "Your father is kicking you out of the castle? He can't do that! You did good, he can't punish you this harshly just because you didn't keep him informed." Michael blinked confused and Solon added, "This is not how I know Cedric; he was always such a fair and honorable person. To think he would throw out his own son like that is unbelievable." Michael blinked again and Geron looked like he was about to rush out and challenge Lord Rowan to a duel when Michael began laughing loudly and all of them looked at him weirdly.

"Hahaha, this is not a punishment, it is my reward, well one of them. At first, I asked to be granted the ownership of Eydis but Father said I would set her free anyway so he gave her to me and said I should choose something different. It was really hard to think of something because I have everything, I ever could want but then I realized that the one thing I missed was a quiet place to learn. The castle is way too busy all the time and we always have to go somewhere to learn any craft, so I got the idea to ask for the Red Lady and it was granted. I also asked for enough money to renovate it for our needs. So, I am offering each one of you a place there with me, except for you Eydis, I will set you free once the trial is finished and the reward is official."

He smiled at her, but she didn't return it, she seemed lost in thought and not as happy as Michael would have thought she would be. Before he could ask her about it, Solon spoke while he stroked his beard, "That sounds better. So, we are going to move out into the town, that will indeed save a lot of time, how big is this Red Lady anyway?"

"There are two buildings one has two stories and a large room on the ground floor with smaller rooms and a kitchen and many small rooms on the second floor. The second building is more of a warehouse with a lot of beds. Both are pretty big so we will have a lot of space," Michael explained excitedly.

The dwarf nodded, "That sounds like a major improvement from the cramped space we have available in the castle."

"And it has a large backyard between the buildings, that is surrounded by a stone wall, so enough space for martial training and other outside lessons", Geron added while looking to the ceiling, remembering the layout of the property.

Sola looked at the others with a frown. "Am I the only one who thinks that living in a brothel is a horrible idea? They are dirty, sinful, and we don't even know what kind of vermin is running around there, that is not a place for a young lord. It will also look bad for Michael to move into a brothel."

"We will renovate everything thoroughly and throw out everything that isn't part of the building so there is no reason to think about what it was before", Solon said, seemingly sharing part of her concerns. "Also, you can cleanse the building and bless it in the name of Idas if that makes you feel better about it. Changing a den of sin into a place of learning and growth would be a good deed, wouldn't it?" Sola looked a little better with that and added, "Well, that might work. I still think that it will be bad for Michael's reputation at least in the short term but I see the advantages."

"What about you Geron, you also have duties in the castle," Michael asked his knight. The man shrugged his shoulders and answered with a relaxed tone, "I will bring my horse with me and will go up to the castle for my duties, we might have to change the daily schedule though. The big problem that I see is that I won't be able to properly guard you alone outside of the castle."

"The schedule change at least shouldn't be too much of a problem with the time we can save by not having to run through half the castle for every lesson or into the town", Solon had a satisfied facial expression, he was probably making plans in his head already.

Michael smiled, "It will take a while though first, the trial will have to complete, I don't think there is a way that Fredrick is not determined guilty. After that, we will have to renovate so it will probably take a month or two until we can even think about moving. I recommend that we visit the building in the next few days and try to get a sense of what we want to do, so we don't waste time once we can start rebuilding. We will take care of the guarding problem in that time, maybe hire someone else or something."

The others agreed and Michael released them, it was pretty late already but he asked Eydis to stay for a moment. Geron looked back with a concerned look on his face but still left the room.

Eydis stood there like a statue, she had not contributed anything to the conversation from start to finish and something appeared to be on her mind. "What is wrong Eydis, shouldn't you be happy, you are going to be free soon."

She looked at him with sad eyes and signed, "Aren't you going to ask me to stay? You need a guard, and I could do that." Michael raised his eyebrows in surprise and said, "Why should I? You wanted your freedom since the day you got here, I am sure you want to go back to your people."

She shook her head slowly, "there is nothing to go back to."

"What are you talking about? Don't you want to find your family?"

Clenching her fists for a moment before she answered with slow movements, "They are all dead, little lord. They killed my family while I hid. I was stronger than my father, but he knew there was nothing I could do so he told me to run and hide. I couldn't even do that correctly." She trembled with regret. "I turned around when I heard their screams and found them dead. I just wanted to die with them but not even that was granted for a coward like me."

Michael took a deep breath before he answered, he didn't want his voice to break mid-sentence. "I am sorry about your loss, Eydis. Aren't there friends or other clan members that you would like to find though."

Even though he tried to be as empathetic as possible he could see anger in her eyes as she began to frantically sign, her version of yelling, it became hard for Michael to understand her, but he tried his best. "How far do you think I would get? At the latest when I left your father's land, I would be hunted like an animal and either enslaved again or killed! Everyone that is left of my clan is either a slave that could be anywhere, moved on already, or dead!"

"Do you really want to give up this easily," Michael said, he was getting agitated as well.

She gritted her teeth and with a growl she signed, "Just tell me if you want to get rid of me!"

Michael stood there for a moment stunned by her words. "I don't want to get rid of you. I want you to do what you want as a free person."

"Then let me stay here! I want to stay with you and Solon!"

Finally, the coin dropped in Michael's brain. "You want to stay?"

"Yes, you both are special people! You gave me hope when I had none! You treated me like a human when everyone just saw me as an animal! And I want to have a home again! I don't want to be alone ... please don't leave me alone." Her face was red, but Michael could see the pain in her eyes.

He stepped toward her and hugged her around her belly because that was everything, he was able to reach and said, "I would be happy to give you a home. You will never be alone."

She fell to her knees and hugged him back, this time correctly, and signed behind his body where he couldn't see it, "Thank you, Michael."