Sabatsday, 18th of Febrinna, 5662 AE, 468th Year of the 5th Era
“Alright Charles, have you finished the supplementary books on history that I told you to read?” Alfred said as he tapped on his office desk with his pen.
“Alright let’s see what we have here… Give me a second (Hup!)... *Thud* Phew! These are bloody heavy!” Charles said as he had put a stack of books upon the table and began to read through the titles and gave a short review of them one by one. “‘The Biography of Etienne de Lamellarouge, the Conqueror of Archior’ An interesting read to be sure but I have a few gripes about the veracity of some of the claims here….”
“Oh, why so?” Alfred raised an eyebrow
“Well, for starters it claimed that he had the support of the King of Altergenia at the time to press his claims upon the Kingdom of Feldonia, but another book here… ‘A Brief History on the Vertefleurian Monarchs’, in it, it claims that King Louis Silver-tongue was opposed to the Duke’s claim on the Duchy of Arcois and wanted the duchy to fall back within the direct control of the Crown…”
“Astute observation, Charlie, but both books are not necessarily wrong. I’m still surprised you caught such ‘contradictions’ though. Louis wanted control of the Duchy of Arcois because he feared that allowing my ancestor to gain control of both the Duchy of Arcois and the Kingdom of Feldonia would put too much authority away from the crown of Altergenia… which it did.”
“But what of his support for the conquest of Feldonia?”
“King Louis wanted to treat the two as separate claims. While handing over the Duchy of Arcois to Duke Stephen would propose a dangerous situation for the crown of Altergen in home territory, a faraway Kingdom held by a noble who had the duty to pay homage to him as Duke of Vertefleur would prove a far more promising prospect especially when compared to having a Feldonia being held by the bastard line of Godwine who was far too friendly with the Lowerians who until this day remain a threat to the Altergen.”
“Reasonable enough. But getting back to the books, I enjoyed reading this particular book the most… ‘Founding of the Empire’. A brilliant book both from the direct way it was written, being based on facts and the testimonies of first-person sources. John II’s personal conquests of the Gaol Kingdoms were a wonderful display of military talent and I’m simply amazed by how the book contains detailed plans and descriptions of the many battles that took place during the wars. John II’s declaration of Empire was an ambitious move but to think he could contend in a simultaneous war with the Kingdoms of Blairbeth, Caomaed, and Altergen and win at the end of it all! He even got his man elected Pope and was anointed as an Emperor!”
Alfred had a proud smile as he heard Charles praising the achievements of his grandfather, John II of Feldonia. The founder of the Empire of Archior.
“Though I never knew my grandfather in person as I was born 27 years after his death, my father would never miss a chance to tell me stories of his glories, both in battle and in administration…”
“I’m actually very interested in the first Emperor’s reforms and planting of the seeds of what my previous world would later on call ‘nationalism’...”
“Nationalism?”
“Yes. It’s a concept that only truly developed very late in the history of my own world. To put it simply, the idea of a state or realm being connected to a ‘nation’ or ‘people’. Even during my own time as a Ruler of a disparate realm of many cultures, peoples, languages, and religions, it is only a miracle that I managed to have it all outlive me after my abdication. But from what I’ve been able to read, John II since he was but a princeling had a deep interest in ruling and administration. I don’t know how truthful his biography was, but it said that ever since John was only a little over 10, he had already begun studying and teaching himself the Aldrothian-Alfbrander tongue in anticipation for his father pushing a claim upon the Feldonian throne! The child must’ve been a genius for him to show such foresight at that age. Anyways, I’ve been gushing on about your grandfather for too long, Alfred. Isn’t it about time for you to test me on what I’ve learned?”
“Pfft..!” Alfred snorted as he smiled and laid back on his seat as he folded his hands on the table “If you can recount my grandfather’s biography from before the conquest to the end of his reign and the significant reforms he instituted for Feldonia, I’ll consider you to have passed with flying colours!”
“That’s interesting and all, but do you not have any other types of rewards? I mean, a pass from you would barely even count as legitimate especially - I assume - when compared to the diplomas awarded by the academies, colleges, and other official institutes of Learning in this realm.”
Alfred’s expression went from a smug smile to an annoyed frown. “My recognition is worth a thousand times more than any piece of paper or plaque those pompous arses can give you! I guarantee that!”
“Hahaha! Calm down, Alfred, I was merely joking. Alright, so most that I know about John II the Great comes from this book here.” Charles said as he pointed towards a book after sifting for it through the stack of books he had placed earlier. The book was leatherbound and had gold trimmings and on it was the title of the book written, ‘A Biography of John II the Great: From Prince to Emperor.’ “This is a biography written by Princess Fressenda de Lamellarouge and published some five years into the reign of Emperor Baldwin…”
“Ah yes, my Aunt Fressy was the one who wrote that. Old girl always had a penchant for prose and history! Lord knows I’ve heard her droll on and on about the endless history of the origins of our family and the old Nordein warriors we descended from many centuries ago-...! Argh, here I go prattling on again! Apologies, Charlie. Now, please continue.”
“Alright then… Ahem! So, I believe it was shortly after the death of John I, King of Feldonia and Duke of Arcois and the subsequent usurpation of the Feldonian throne by Harold Godwineson did the news reach Altergenia proper. Duke Etienne of Vertefleur had at once seized the opportunity to press his claim upon the Duchy of Arcois and quickly incorporated it into his own realm holdings. This caused a public stir between the Duke and King Louis the Silver-Tongued who had disputed what he saw as an illegitimate land grab by the Vertefleurian Duke and so he came to a confrontation with the Duke while bringing an army of a thousand knights and ten thousand men-at-arms. Simultaneously, another army led by a group of Altergen Counts and their vassals led another army in what they say was ‘support to their king’ and immediately marched upon the newly incorporated Arcois. While all of that was happening, can you believe that a twelve year old Lord Jean de Lamellarouge led a band of no more than two dozen of his guard knights, accompanied by a thousand men-at-arms and a motley, under-equipped force of a few thousand militiamen to hold down and defend the castle of Brennerville from the combined forces of nearly ten thousand men. Not only did he manage to win the battle, it was so overwhelming a victory that he managed to pillage and plunder the demesnes and holdings of the nobles that had invaded his territories first!
At the same time, Duke Etienne had managed to beat back the army of King Louis and forced the king to accede to his rightful claim on Arcois. With official recognition from the king and the assurance that he could keep the plunder he gained from Jean’s raiding against the minor nobles, the Vertefleurians were able to prepare themselves better for the invasion of Feldonia. In preparation for this, again what amazes me is that Jean invited a few exiled Feldonian scholars and Feldonian mercenaries and had them teach him both the Aldrothian-Alfbrander tongue and local customs, but most importantly the layout of the land.
When the Invasion finally commenced in late 5E316, it was the eighteen year-old Jean who led the vanguard that had landed on the northern shores of Feldonia with his initial army of ten thousand, many of whom were veteran warriors who he had led in the defence of Vertefleur. He brilliantly hammered army after army of the Feldonian Earls until he was joined by Duke Etienne and with a combined force of almost thirty thousand men, they clashed with King Harold at the New Year’s Battle of Godiva’s Hills… pfft..!”
“Grow up, Charlie!” Alfred said as he placed his fist on the table though I could see he was holding in a smile. I quickly cleared my throat in response.
“Right… Anyways, they managed to beat the Aldrothian-Alfbrander army with a brilliant feigned retreat tactic and in doing so, forced Harold into a siege as he retreated into Skysea. What amazes me is despite the fact the Feldonians had command over the fearsome Gryphon-Knights, they still managed to be defeated by the Vertefleurians! Though I might be good at learning history and the like, studying the tactics involved in warfare in this world is currently still beyond me. Sure, you could expect me to learn as I go when it comes to hunting down monsters and beasts and the like, but…”
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“Alright, I’ll go on a tangent here if you want. Just a small one though. The griffon-knights serve a similar purpose to any other airborne military force on Terra, comparable to that of the Imperial and Beastmen Dragon-Knights and Wyvern riders, the Roc Warriors of the Moslems, Garuda Knights of the Hindanese, so on and so forth. While having an obviously massive advantage over ground forces, these air forces are still susceptible to land based attacks both from ranged missile troops, artillery, and most-effectively, Battlemages. The Vertefleurians also had their own mercenary Griffon-knights and a platoon of armed Bird-Clan beastmen. My great-grandfather’s army also had far superior spellcasters than the Aldrothian army at the time. There are also other ways that sufficiently powerful warriors could be able to fight airborne opponents, but I’ll tell you more about that once you’ve advanced a bit more in your training. Anyways, continue your recounting, Charlie.”
“...RIght. Where was I? Oh yes, the victory at Godiva’s Hills… pffft!”
“Charlie..”
“Apologies… *sigh* That was immature of me.. Anyways, with the Vertefleurians cornering Harold in Skysea and blockading the port with their substantially more powerful navy, The Aldrothian ability to mount an effective counterattack was effectively nipped at the bud, because of that, while Duke Etienne maintained a sizeable force for the siege of Skysea, Jean went around the country to subjugate the local nobles who had not yet been bent. After a couple of months under siege and with his earls abandoning him one by one, Harold surrendered the throne of Skysea to Etienne. Sparing the former king and enfeoffing him with a dukedom was a dubious move in my humble opinion. While it provided legitimacy for the new dynasty, it also allowed a potential rival claimant to the throne to grow a powerbase and I’m sure as you would personally know, such a decision would bite the new dynasty in the rear sooner or later.”
“Those bloody Southlanders are a right bunch of inbred idiots.” Alfred’s words were scathing “But in defense to both my great-grandfather and the First Duke of the Southerlands, Duke Harold proved a loyal vassal to the King and was generally supportive of his reforms throughout the remainder of his life. His heirs however… They were good at pretending if nothing else…”
“Right. But I genuinely applaud Etienne’s power move of having King Harold sit upon his throne during the coronation day and have him remove the Royal Crown of Feldonia from his head and handed it to the Archbishop of Skysea before he stood up from the throne and knelt to the side as the crown was then placed on the Duke’s head thus crowning himself Stephen I the Conqueror. You can only truly call yourself the victor when even your enemies declare you as such, though I can’t even begin to imagine how humiliated Godwineson was during the entire ceremony.”
“Oh please, King Stephen didn’t completely humiliate the former king. In having Godwineson present at the ceremony and uncrowned, the King acknowledged the previous seven years of Godwine’s reign as legitimate and allowed the former king an honourable abdication!”
“Oh, is that what they taught you in the Imperial education system?” Charles gave a smug smirk at Alfred’s defense.
“Oh don’t be facetious, Charlie! And in the following ceremony, King Stephen had presented Godwinson with the Emerald-studded Coronet of Vertefleur and personally placed it upon his head, naming him Duke of the Southerlands! The priceless coronet which had was officially gifted as an heirloom to the Godwinson dynasty! An heirloom that those bastards even keep to this day! Despite the fact that it was to symbolise their fealty, loyalty, and submission to the House of Lamellarouge! A thousand curses upon Egbert Godwinson and may his grave be forever filled with horseshite!”
Alfred was visibly fuming as he particularly spat out the name of who Charles had read was the first Grand Duke of the Southerlands who had ‘betrayed’ Feldonia by pulling back all their forces and their divisions from the conflict with Loweria.
“Urm…” Charles scratched the back of his head as he didn’t know how to proceed as Alfred had talked himself into quite the sour mood. “Should I continue, or..?”
Alfred only rubbed his temples as he let out a half-frustrated half-defeated laugh, “Pfft! Damn my old age! I swear it gets harder and harder to keep a check on my emotions as the years go by… It’s fine, it’s fine. After giving it some more thought, I think you’ve proven yourself quite enough with the presentation. Though you hadn’t yet recounted to me the founding of the Empire and how my grandfather had absolutely pummelled those bastard Gaolidains into submission, I realise hearing you recount more and more about the glory days would only sour my mood further and I would hate to lose my appetite before dinner, hahaha! Anyways, after all that, I can only say thank you, Charlie.”
“Thank you for what?” Charles gave a confused snort
“For showing interest in this old man’s family and providing an old goat like me with some conversation.” Alfred said
“You know, you could have plenty of conversations with people like Blakebow, or maybe some of your relatives and nobles when we reach the capital.”
“You’re right about the fact that I don’t get to spend as much time with Blakebow as I had wanted in our retirement, but that’s more so because the old fart is far too busy spending his days with his nubile young wife than to spend it with another old fart like me.”
“Excuse me?” Charles was definitely confused at what Alfred had said. He had never even given a thought as to whether or not Blakebow was married but searching back his memories of when he was at Surlock castle, he did remember seeing a younger woman of no older than thirty years of age beside the old knight but he thought that was his maidservant, or granddaughter, or something. “Was she blonde, with huge knockers, a plump ass, and somewhat of a slightly pointed nose?”
“Oh? Did Pat actually introduce her to you? I thought he didn’t like to flaunt around the fact that he married his ward from during the war…”
“Did you say his ward? Also I just saw her around, I never knew she was his wife!”
“...Oh yes! See we were deep into the German’s territory and had just defeated an army led by Archduke Hartwin and in their retreat they had left and abandoned their supply train and-... You know what, Charles? Considering it’s something he considers private, I think it’s better you should ask him yourself for a story. It doesn't sit right with me that I’m telling you all this about another man.”
“Is she his first wife or something?”
“Oh heavens no! I think she’s his third wife, but I’m not really counting-!! Argh!! There I go again with this big mouth of mine! Hahaha!!”
Charles laughed along at his master’s demeanour. It always amused him to listen to people’s stories and he greatly enjoyed seeing the fluctuating emotions on the face of this old man in front of him. Regardless, the day was beginning to turn dark and Alfred’s comments on dinner had caused his stomach to grumble audibly. Alfred laughed at the sound of a rumbling stomach while Charles could only smile sheepishly as his cheeks slightly reddened.
“Anyways, while I wait for Rosie to prepare her delicious food as usual, do you mind if I return some of these books?” Charles asked as he motioned towards the stack of books on the table in front of him. “While I’ve finished most of them as you can tell, there are indeed some that I hadn’t gotten to. Namely the books detailing the reigns of Emperors Peter the Honourable and Stephen II the Young Griffon…”
“Ah… I see.” Alfred nodded as he looked like he understood the source of Charles’s hesitation as the subject matter of such books would indeed be a lot more personal as they detailed the lives and reigns of his father and his cousin - who he saw more as his brother than any of his actual brothers. “It’s alright. You can read them… Those books contain the moments that I take pride in, but they also record some of my worst sins and wrongdoing. You might find me strange for keeping those books so close to me but…”
Charles began to panic as he saw the old Alfred begin to have water forming in his eyes. He knew what happened the last time he saw an ‘episode’ of one of Alfred’s panic attacks and he was darting around the building to try and spot where Rosie was, but fortunately, while tears did appear for a split second on Alfred’s face, he had quickly wiped them and with the palm of his hands he still managed to laugh a bit as he shook his head.
“Don’t worry, Charlie! I can still somewhat hold my bearings…” Alfred said as he blew out a breath to calm himself down “...I just miss Stephen. Had he lived even just ten more years, we wouldn’t be in this shithole of a situation and the Empire might even still be standing. ‘The Young Griffon’! Undefeated in battle or any sort of trial by combat. So his enemies had to resort to less-than-honest means to be rid of him. Such an honourable man! He wouldn’t wish harm upon any creature but when it came to defending that which he loved, there would be swift justice and terror. Such a great knight…! To be done in by an assassin’s blade! And they needed ten of those bastards to catch him in his sleep to kill him…! *Sigh* Alright Charlie, you’re dismissed. Regardless of anything, those are good books there and you should read them.”
“I will, to be sure, Alfred.”
“Just don’t forget to come out when Rosie calls for you! If you’re late, we aren’t saving any meat for you!”
“Hahaha! I’ll keep that in mind, Alfred.” and with that, Charles had put most of the books to the office’s shelf before he retreated to his room to start his latest read.
As Charles went into his room, Alfred only shook his head with a laugh as he grabbed his pen and was prepared to continue his administrative work. Though, as he was writing, he couldn’t help but notice some of the ink that started to smudge as drops of water appeared on the paper. Without him knowing, tears had appeared on his eyes once more as he inspected the paper and saw that he had written the name ‘Stephen’ onto the document subconsciously. Alfred could only give an exasperated laugh as the tears continued before he put down his pen once more and reclined onto his seat and let the tears flow silently as he folded his arms above his abdomen.
“Father, brother… One day we’ll see eachother again.” Alfred said as he closed his eyes with a smile.