Michael

Michael stretched with a big yawn while strolling through the corridors of Reen Castle. They had arrived here a couple of hours ago, prompting a great welcome gathering.

I really have had too many of those lately, he thought. I need to get it into their heads, that they don’t have to gather every time I return from a trip.

It is just a waste of time; the last thing he wanted was to socialize after being stuck in a carriage for days. The constant headache from reading in the shaking vehicle didn’t help his mood either.

He was back home though and these last hours catching up to what happened in his absence had been very refreshing for him. He mulled over the documentation system that he, Solon, and his aid Parcival had implemented. There were of course still kinks in the process and he made some mental notes which would help in keeping everything manageable while he was gone.

So lost in thoughts was he that he nearly missed the polite bows from a trio of barons who he came across. He smiled and nodded his head toward them; he had no bad memories about these three which was probably due to them being from the far reaches of Emall and rarely anywhere close to him.

Michael had decided to invite all the important people in his realm to the castle to celebrate the successful negotiations as soon as they had concluded. Not that most of those invited had anything to do with that but the nobles were pretty mad at him already for keeping them out of the mountain clearing so the least he could do was celebrate with them to make them feel like they were a part of this.

That was a thing for later today though, first, he had a more pleasant meeting to attend to. Sir Zeke pushed the door to the council chamber open and Michael walked in, taking stock of who had arrived already.

The chamber was already filled with people. His inner circle, consisting of Eydis, Sola, Geron, Solon, and Kiran.

The other council members, Viscount Telp, Steward Eckbert Oligan, and Townwatch Commander Irem Stanes.

Rayakan and her student Pan, who Michael was pretty sure was a satyr or some other kind of goat person.

The dwarven brothers Farel and Waren Karnson together with the leader of the survey party Zinnel Panson.

The knights Sir Zeke Tomp and Sir Godfrey Pyke representing their parts of the knighthood, meaning the personal guard of Michael, the initiates and squires.

And lastly the dark-skinned merchant Grur Parak. He had already started making good on his promise and relocated parts of his business here. Michael had heard that he was buying a lot of warehouses and spots to build new ones here even if the trade with the dwarves was still quite slow.

“Good everyone is already here,” Michael said with a smile as he stepped past them toward his seat at the head of the long table.

After sitting down, he looked at each of the people he had gathered here, it was starting to become quite a diverse set of people with dwarves, mages, and humans of differing cultures.

“I have called upon all of you to talk to you about the immediate future and our plans for it now that the mountains have been secured. The most important thing we have to do is get the mines up and operational. Connected to this will be the construction of a great foundry and forge with the help of our dwarven friends. We will need a lot of money to fulfill the promise that I have given the king.”

He nodded toward the present dwarves, and they looked very excited at the prospect that their work could soon begin. Lord Oligan on the other hand visibly shared the opinion that it wasn’t possible to reach the goal his lord had set but Michael chose to ignore his doubtful expression.

“The thing that we are missing most in that regard is manpower. With that in mind, I have decided that I am gonna start freeing the serfs in my direct jurisdiction, making them free citizens of the county.” Many of those who knew him better took the news quite well, but the three nobles present were staring at him with shock on their faces, he just continued explaining before he could be tied down in arguments.

“They can rent the land that they are living on now to continue farming and nothing will really change except for them having a fixed amount that they have to pay which will endorse a better work ethic and ingenuity due to their ability to actually earn money and expand their farms by renting more land.”

“This should lead to a centralization of farmlands around the successful farmers and mean that fewer farmers will work on the same land. Right now, many farmers have so little land that one farmer could easily work the land of four or five others.”

“The second advantage with this is that the freed serfs can move easier to places where work is needed. If someone can’t make it as a farmer, then he can move south to the mines and work for a living there. Or come into the city to work. This should at least alleviate the manpower problem if not outright solve it in the future.”

Viscount Telp waited patiently for a break in Michael’s explanation before speaking up. “But milord who will you call on in times of war or for other work projects?”

“We will pay them for their work, and we will implement a structured conscription law that will manage the duty of the citizens to serve in times of war. Don’t forget that they will still have to pay taxes which means that if the population gets richer our income will also increase even if projects become more expensive,” Michael explained.

“And what about the nobility? I don’t think that they will be too glad about this breach of tradition,” the viscount added. It was clear that he was more concerned than actually against the idea which Michael appreciated.

“I am not ordering the release of all serfs but just my own, so those that would be most vehemently against it will probably be happy about me ‘losing power’ rather than angry about a breach of tradition.”

The viscount seemed to be somewhat placated but still not quite sure about it totally.

“Let’s move on. The other main projects I want to focus on is going to be the infrastructure, mainly a main road leading to the mountains and toward the trade post, and an improvement to the main road leading north. This will help our trade mainly and should invite more commerce.”

Especially Grur Parak seemed happy about this topic but as it wasn’t really controversial there wasn’t much more to be said about this.

“Now come the two points that will lead to the most contention. Firstly, I plan to invite mages into the capital to establish a magic academy. The Inquisition will also not be allowed to conduct their business in my lands without my direct permission,” Michael jumped to the next subject which instantly worsened the mood around.

Sola was the first to protest. “Standing against the church like this is foolish to the extreme. Not to mention that you plan to invite a host of destructive criminals. Of course, there seem to be good ones, Kiran is a good example, but the vast majority of them are thugs and heretics.”

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“Hard to believe in a faith whose servants hunt you on every occasion. Makes it hard to hold down a regular job too,” Rayakan countered with a sneer.

“If your people stop burning down villages, robbing caravans, and stealing from the innocent then they might not be hunted this much,” the priestess shot back with a hostile expression.

Michael sighed as they continued verbally attacking each other, he had hoped that Sola’s time with Kiran had blunted her prejudices against mages but apparently that had been a fool’s hope.

“Stop, just stop,” Michael interrupted them. “I don’t believe that mages are born evil. There are evil mages, there are evil non-mages, there are even evil priests of Idas.”

Sola tensed up but stayed silent while Rayakan nodded along.

“Mages that break the law will be persecuted and punished at the full extent of the law but if we give them a home, work, and a safe environment then I am sure that the rate of crime will not be much different than that of normal citizens. The advantages that we will have from employing a cadre of skilled and trained mages on the other hand will be immense. Be it the most obvious appliance in the military or something more mundane in having earth mages assist in construction. The gain is far greater than the risk.”

“Greater than being shunned by the faith and possibly called and treated like a heretic,” Sola challenged him with fire in her eyes. Geron tried to softly grab her arm, but she shook him off. “You are heading in a dangerous direction, milord!”

Michael gave her a hard stare, but she didn’t relent. “My faith in Idas stands strong, but I will not throw away a path to the betterment of our society for the benefit of a millennia-old hatred and dusty dogma. Being a mage is not a crime! It will not be treated as such in my lands, and I am breaking no laws here. Dark mages will not get the courtesy extended to them so the church may condemn me, but they have no legs to stand on regarding law and what is right.”

Rayakan was visibly unhappy about dark mages being excluded but she had the sense that it was better to not speak up about it. Better to sacrifice a limb to save the whole body.

“I can’t say that I agree with this decision,” Sola replied.

“We won’t agree on everything, that is just life. Even if I hope to convince you of my point of view in the end it is my decision. I will listen to your opinions on the matter, but I have given it much thought and am confident that this is the right decision,” Michael’s voice went softer, but he could see that Sola was still angry and she would probably stay like this for a while.

This statement had obviously hammered the point home that this was not the time to discuss this, but he was sure from the expression of not only Sola that this would be a subject for the future.

“The last thing will be that we will build a tax collecting institution. I have decided to take the duty of collecting the taxes away from the nobility and place it in the hands of a dedicated organization.”

To Michael’s surprise, no one said a thing. Maybe they had decided that Michael was not in the mood for discussions, but he could see the thoughts on their faces.

The nobles are not gonna like this at all. The good thing was that Michael had tried to keep away from them to the best of his abilities and even if he was sure to get push-back, maybe even of the violent type, House Rowan had always been a militaristic type and much stronger in that sense than any other house in the two counties. They wouldn’t dare to try anything overtly aggressive; they would probably try to subtly pressure him or organize themselves to strike as one to change his ruling.

This would take time though, time in which he could strengthen his position through trade, tax, and the mountains while they get drained of resources by not being able to steal from the taxes.

The subject would probably also be a part of discussions in the future, and he had no delusion about everything he had said today reaching the ears of the nobility. There were too many people here, and not all of them were fully loyal to him. Which was also why he wouldn’t share all his plans with them today.

“Viscount Telp, I would like to place you at the head of the effort to create this new branch. Of course, I will take part in the planning, but I think it is important to have someone with the skills and focus necessary for such a project, which I cannot spare with multiple subjects draining my attention,” Michael announced with a smile.

If Lord Oligan was mad about him not getting the task of creating a tax office even though he was the steward he didn’t show it on his face. Michael didn’t fully trust the man, he had gone over the books already and had found nothing indicating any kind of wrongdoing, so Michael didn’t doubt his professional trustworthiness, but his political faith in the man was not as firm.

Viscount Telp seemed a little bit surprised about this new task but took it with a graceful nod. “I will do my best to rise to your expectations, milord.” He seemed oddly alright with the curbing of noble privileges. Michael didn’t know why but he decided to just be happy about it for now.

“Okay, these are the subjects. I will call other meetings in smaller councils for each of these subjects at a later date. For now, I would like to focus on the festivities today and recuperating from my journey.”

- Several hours later –

The festivities were already in full swing. Reen Castle didn’t have a real ball hall, but the great hall was enough for the frontier nobles of the region.

Michael stood with Lord Ragar and a couple of other younger nobles talking about the latest news from the capital when he saw the man that he was looking for.

Baron Redric Plon, the head of the faction of nobles most vehemently against him and the man behind the slanderous letters that Lynx had copied.

He excused himself from the conversation and approached the baron. “Lord Plon, how nice to see you,” Michael greeted him with a fake smile.

“Milord, it is an honor to be invited to this great feast,” he replied, his smile was similarly fake but much less convincing, but Michael acted like he didn’t notice.

“I just wanted to make sure that you are enjoying yourself. I am counting on your continuing support in the years to come so that our realm and people can prosper,” he said with enthusiasm. It might be a fool's errand to try to show himself as a trusting person toward him, but it was worth a try and the man might be condescending enough to think of him as a dumb child even after everything.

The condescending expression on the noble's face gave him cause for hope in this regard but he wouldn’t count on it.

“It would be my pleasure to be included in your plans. My highest duty has always been to serve,” the man replied, the first part was probably true while the rest was an obvious lie.

“I am happy to hear it, Lord Plon. I am not gonna take up more of your time, enjoy the rest of the festivities,” Michael continued acting, not sure if he was overplaying his part.

The noble didn’t show any sign of having seen through him though and thanked him for his generosity before leaving.

Michael followed the baron with his eyes while he moved over to a group of men that Michael knew were also part of his faction until Geron stepped next to him.

“Why are we playing this game, milord? We could just arrest the whole lot right now, you have proof of corruption and the letters,” the knight asked him in a low voice.

“We don’t know enough yet. If I move against the nobility then I need to cull them thoroughly, in the best-case scenario they won’t be able to challenge me ever again afterward. Baron Plon is not doing anything overly dangerous right now and he will do me the service of gathering all those who are against me into one group,” Michael explained his thoughts.

“I understand. Please be wary of leaving them be too long, or they might become a real danger in the future,” Geron advised him with a stern expression.

Michael smiled at the knight’s care; it was so strange that the hardest men on the outside were so often those who cared the most on the inside.

“What do you think about Dittrich Plon, will he stand with us or his father when the time comes,” Michael asked as he saw the knight approach his father.

“He will stand with his family, that much is sure,” Geron replied without any hesitation.

“Then his head will roll with all the others. Just make sure that he doesn’t poison the minds of the other knights while he is still of use.”

Geron nodded simply but Michael could feel a certain amount of excitement from his knight at the thought of putting Dittrich into his place.

“I have started pairing up the nobles with commoners on all ranks of the knighthood to the best of my ability. I hope we might be able to turn some of them to our side through exposure,” the knight explained but at the end, he hesitated a little bit as if he wanted to say more.

“Don’t you think that there is a risk of some turning toward the enemy side?”

“Commoners will hardly turn onto the noble side that want to throw them out of the knighthood and the noble knights on our side are mostly veterans that have spent much of their time at your father’s side. They won’t turn on us,” the knight seemed proud of his plan and Michael was inclined to agree. If even one of the noble factions turned toward them it was a victory with their number of remaining knights.

“Allow them to leave if they can’t deal with it. I can’t trust those who are so vehemently against my path,” Michael ordered. “Those that don’t go on their own will be culled with the nobles once the time comes if they don’t change their minds.”

The knight nodded with a stern expression, but Michael could feel the tension in him as if he wanted to get to work right now.

Michael smiled into himself while his gaze wandered over the crowd, from today on many things would change.

Father, I will take care of them, Michael thought.