My name is Karel Ethelwerd, and currently, I’m a lord of Parvus. My fiefdom is still new. In fact, I’m the second Lord after my father died.
The House Of Ethelwerd was born around ten years ago. My father is the first generation of the House of Ethelwerd. He is born as a commoner. Actually, I’m myself was born when he was still a commoner.
The reason why my father could have a nobility title is because of the King himself who granted him a noble title.
My father, Kimber Ethelwerd, was a loyal butler of the second Prince. Ever since he took training as a butler, my father already decided to serve the royal family. It was not easy since many of the royal families has many servants who already serve them for generations. Being an outsider is surely a disadvantage.
But he got lucky, or perhaps it’s a work of fate. The head maid saw something in my father’s mannerisms. He believe that my father would fit well with the King’s children. And then, when the previous butler decided to retire, my father was chosen to serve prince Browen, the second prince.
At that time, the second prince was still young, around ten years old or younger. And my father’s already in his mid-twenty. The relationship between the two of them was surprisingly warm. Since it was said the second prince was a stubborn person. Every word, whether it was from his teacher or family, was blatantly rejected. It’s become a challenge to nurture him.
But long story short, my father managed to reduce prince Browen’s stubbornness. And the prince becomes a fine man and exceptionally genius among other King’s children. His brain was useful to help this kingdom face many problems.
After serving prince Browen for almost 35 years, my father decided to retire and enjoy his life with his family. My father intended to come back home to his hometown and brought my mother and me. But the day before our departure, he is summoned to the castle by His Highness Constance William, the current King under the name of William III. Now, the King who is actually Prince Browen’s oldest brother, summon my father to give a reward.
When my father heard about him gonna be rewarded, he bombards the messenger with a lot of questions. He questioned why he deserved to be rewarded, and what kind the reward it is. But the messenger didn’t allowed to tell him.
“If you wish to know, then come with me now,” the messenger said.
I remember my father’s face at that time. He was confused and looking at his personality, he didn’t think he deserved any reward. But the order was absolute, and he obediently followed the messenger to the castle.
I was around 15 years old at that time. I am already mature enough to live on my own. In fact, I already prepare myself to become a gardener in the castle. As the son of the second prince butler, I don’t think I would have a hard time working there.
But my father insisted I come with him. He said he was going to his hometown. A small town named Kastro in Brevis. It’s a nice small town to live in, and I can earn money to live by becoming a logger, carpenter, or merchant. Well, I didn’t have any interest to become a carpenter but perhaps becoming a logger might be not a bad idea. And so, I agree to come with him.
But that day, the idea of a peaceful life was shattered. For my parents, having a calm and peaceful day after retiring, is destroyed. But for some reason, we didn’t feel sad about it.
The king, His Majesty William III, granted a noble title to my father. He rose to become a Baron, and his hometown is his fiefdom. This is the reward for his loyalty and service over the past 35 years. But the main reason for this reward is my father’s success in taking care of His Highness Prince Browen to grow as a fine man. Being a butler is also a caretaker, and my father succeeds in educating Prince Browen to lessen his stubbornness.
And actually, Prince Browen himself proposed this reward to my father as thanks.
My father receive this reward with complicated emotions. He’s anxious about how to rule his fiefdom. But he’s quite happy to receive the trust of the prince. And there’s something more in that happy expression that I cannot understand. But perhaps, it was something I would know eventually.
I was startled. The first question in my mind was “So how am I gonna live my life now?”
And then, after some formalities, the House of Ethelwerd was born. My father would have Kastro town as the main town and governance, and he has another five towns in his fief. That also includes some villages. The lord of Brevis, lord Bellou agrees to give some of his former lands. And he permit the nearby village chief to choose whether they wanted to stay in Brevis or join our new fief. The only thing that lord Bellou didn’t agree to give is a mining right. There are plenty of mines, and many are still undiscovered.
My father agrees as long it’s passed, Syron Fort. And so on, the border which separates our new fief from Brevis would be Syron Fort. If we pass the Syron Fort, then it means we are already in Brevis territory.
So in the end, our fief has six towns and eleven villages. My father decided to name our fief “Parvus”. We swear to make Parvus a comfortable land to live in. But there are problems in our way to achieving it. We didn’t have any fort, and we only have a watchtower in each village. We don’t have any fortified city. So it’s understandable that we didn’t feel safe. So we did our best to improve our security.
With our limited income, we managed to improve Kastro town defense and build two forts in the north. We gradually increase our fief income by trading woodcraft and various kind of fish.
Nine years have passed since my father become a lord. My father is already more than sixty years old. But now, he’s already sick for his age. He rejects treatment, by saying it’s about time for him to rest. None of us dared to object to him. And then, he took his last breath with peace. My mother was already passed away five years ago. She also died with peace. I wish they could meet each other again and spend their limitless time together.
And after my father passed away, I inherited this whole fiefdom. I learn everything I can from my father, but I never learned anything in formal education. I was so busy helping my father that I couldn’t learn about proper nobility. Also, I think it’s meaningless to be able to do nobility etiquette if my fiefdom hasn’t become a proper land to live in.
But that thinking might be so naïve. Especially at this time.
Right now, I’m in Duke Conrad’s manor. I know quite a lot about Duke Conrad and his duchy. And all I can say is, my fiefdom is nothing compared with his duchy. I who was born as a commoner am getting used to an uncomfortable place. But this kind of uncomfortable is something that bothers me. This uncomfortable didn’t come from any lack of comfort, but it’s the otherwise. There are too many luxury things here, and it made me so out of place.
First of all, my visit to this manor is not for vacation or sightseeing. I’m here to discuss something important. That is, to seek help for my people’s safety.
It’d have been one year since my father passed away and I inherited the fiefdom. And I heard this year, the possibility of the monster from Ein Forest, Beastcleaver would show up was high. I already know about “The Treaty Of Three Houses”, and there’s no way I could join that treaty.
But the problem is my fiefdom was quite close to the Ein Forest. And I’m quite worried about the safety of my fiefdom. I don’t have enough manpower or strong defenses. So at first, I tried to talk with Lord Bellou. I consult with him about every worry that I have.
We talked for quite a long time, but in the end, there was nothing he can do to help. He said that he also struggled a lot to prepare his defenses. To make matter worse, the area bordering my fief, had the weakest defenses. Only fort Syron stands between Brevis and Parvus. And in the first place, I understand that it is impossible to ask the other lord to protect my land.
So in the end, I couldn’t persuade lord Bellou to strengthen his defense in the area that bordered Parvus. There’s no benefit for him. It might be a different story if I could pay him to do what I want, but right now I don’t have enough money to pay anyone else. And even if I have enough money, I would prefer to use it to increase my defense.
So as one of my last resorts, I tried to talk with the Duke, who was tasked by the king directly to repel these monsters. I heard he’s a wise person. He’s also famous for being an observant person, and difficult to be fooled. The only safe way to keep yourself from humiliation is by being an honest person. Don’t try to hide the true intention, or you’ll be humiliated.
And with that way of thinking, I came here so suddenly. I came here alone, not with some bodyguard or even my private servant. Of course, at first, I was rejected by the guards. But after I showed them my house emblem, they let me in with Duke Conrad himself greeting me. And honestly, I’m quite surprised to be greeted by him personally. When I visited lord Bellou, his butler is the one who greeted me at first. And it took some time to finally be able to meet with lord Bellou.
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But this one is different.
Duke Conrad came to greet me personally, but he was not alone. A tall slim figure standing behind him, wearing a fine suit and elegant persona. It’s a male but a little bit younger than Duke Conrad. I’m sure he’s the Duke’s butler.
“Welcome, lord Karel of Parvus. Pardon me, but believe it or not, I already have a hunch that we will meet soon.”
He offered his right hand to shake my hand. I immediately took his hand, and shake our hands together.
“Thank you so much for your warm welcome, Your Grace. I’m very sorry for visiting you so suddenly. And I’m honored to be able to talk with you personally like this”.
I tried to say everything I have in my mind, to make sure I didn’t mean any harm to him.
“You flatter me, Lord Karel. I’m sure you’re exhausted by your travel, especially when you’re traveling alone. As expected, the House of Ethelwerd could not be underestimated. So why don’t you take a rest first? We have plenty of rooms available. I’m sure after some hours of rest we could talk with more ease”.
As expected of the famous Duke Conrad. Even though I’m quite used to exhaustion, I can’t lie that my body feels tired and wants to rest. His eyes are very observant.
“It would be a pleasure to receive your hospitality. I’m worried that I actually really need time to have a rest first, Your Grace”
“Then shall be it. James, please escort Lord Karel to one of our rooms. I suggest using the one at the end of the second-floor corridor. I’m sure Baron Karel would find it comfortable. Do you mind to have walking upstairs, Lord Karel?”
“Absolutely not, Your Grace. It would be my pleasure”
“Then everything is well. Please make yourself at home. And James, please tell Merida to prepare some fruits and warm food for Lord Karel. I want it to be delivered to his room immediately”
The butler whose name is James only nods and bows gracefully. I’m quite embarrassed about all this hospitality. I’m worried that I couldn’t accommodate something like this if some nobles come to visit my place.
“I leave the rest to you, James. Pardon me, Lord Karel, but I have something else to do right now. Please rest well, and if you are already feeling well, just come to my office. James will show it to you while guiding you to your room. Now, please excuse me”
“Thank you very much for all your kindness, Your Grace”
He just smiled and gave me a little wave, then he walked upstairs with quite a speed.
“Lord Karel, if you don’t mind, I shall guide you to your room now. But if you have something else on your mind, please don’t be reserved and just tell me. My lord had already said to make it your own home”
“Thank you, and please show me the way”
And so I was guided to my room. The room itself looks less luxurious compared to the other rooms that I saw, but it still has more fancy stuff than my own home. I wonder if Duke Conrad suggested this room because he knew I didn’t suit well with luxury.
After guiding me, James politely withdrew himself.
I take a seat on my bed for a while and then walked to the window. I can see the magnificence of the city of Magna Viridis. Clean street, the road made from pavestone, buildings made from sturdy material, people strolling with clean clothes, numerous shops with a variety of goods are everywhere, and there are a lot of guards taking patrol in the street.
I wish I could make Parvus become like this someday.
Only after I notice people’s clothing, I realized that I didn’t wear a proper suit. I completely forgot about proper etiquette. But it seems Duke Conrad didn’t pay any mind to that. I hope he truly doesn’t.
And then, after some hours of resting, I clean myself in the bathroom. I change my clothes to a more proper one and ask the servant to take me to the Duke’s office room. The servant knocks on the door for me, and there’s a faint voice can hear saying “Come in”.
The servant lady opened the door and I came in immediately. The Duke asked me to sit down on one of the sofas and ask the servant lady to go.
The Duke stood up from his desk and went to the corner of the room. There’s a drink on the table over there and he brought two cups and pour the drink into them. The smell is refreshing, it made me silly to think he would offer some wine before.
“I hope you don’t mind a hot tea,” he said.
“It’s my pleasure, Your Grace”
Then he brought two cups to the table in front of me. He sits on the sofa on the other side of my sofa. Then he takes his cup and drinks it slowly, enjoying every sip from it. And then, he looks at me directly, or it’s more like he’s observing me.
“Are you not gonna drink the tea?” he suddenly said with a humorous smile.
I was taken aback and immediately worried about my etiquette.
“Oh I will, my apologizes Your Grace”
And then I took the cup and drink it slowly, as I imitated his way of drinking this tea.
The tea tastes sweet, and it’s warm. It made my nerves more relaxed. I wonder if he’s offering this tea because he saw my tension.
“So Lord Karel, what can I help you with?”
Straight to the point, very wise indeed.
“First of all, I’m very sorry to barge in so suddenly. But I’m very worried about my people’s safety, and I understand about the moral of the Lord should be the one who protects the people at all costs. But I’m also aware of what my own, and my people cannot do it. I guess you are fully aware of the danger of Beastcleaver. And this year, there was a high possibility for them to appear. And in my territory, we didn’t have enough force to defend ourselves if we faced a large horde of monsters, so I was in trouble right now because-“
“Lord Bellou didn’t give you any help didn’t he?”
My explanation was cut by the Duke, but his question save my time to explain the whole thing.
“Yes, Your Grace. I was worried because the border between Brevis and Parvus had the weakest defenses. But I know I can’t ask him to strengthen it just for my sake. And because I don’t understand any of lord Bellou’s internal problems, I can’t persuade him to strengthen the southern part of his territory. And he said he was already busy with his preparation and couldn’t help me in any way”.
“I see. I understand your whole situation. And rest assured Lord Karel, I’m willing to help you. But it might be not easy as you think”
I’m relieved to hear he’s going to help, but I wonder what kind of help he’s going to give. And what is he mean by it’s not going to be easy? I’m worried he’s going to ask for some financial support for this. Not that I can’t give any, but I’m worried the amount they propose is beyond my capability. Better I ask him.
“I’m grateful for your help, Your Grace. But is there anything I should do first to have your aid?
“No, it’s not what you think Lord Karel. You don’t have to give me any more payment. What I mean is, I have to determine what is the best way to help you. There are many ways to help you, and I have to know which one is the most efficient. Sending my troops isn’t the only option, Lord Karel.”
“I understand. Thank you very much, Your Grace.”
“Don’t worry, as the descendant of the royal family myself, it is natural to help someone who is approved by His Majesty.”
“I’m very grateful for your deeds Your Grace, but the one who’s been approved by His Majesty is my father, not me”.
“Ever since His Majesty approves your father, he also approves your father’s family and descendants. That means you’re also approved by His Majesty.”
“Your words never stop flattering me, Your Grace”
“I only said the truth, Lord Karel. But let me ask you something, Lord Karel. Why are you so sure that this year the Beastcleaver would appear?”
That is a question that I never would expect. I thought he was the one who knew the most about it.
“I learn that every once in a decade, the Beastcleaver would appear from Ein forest. And it has been 10 years since the last time the Beastcleaver appeared. I assume this year those monsters would appear again. My assumption become more convincing since I saw Lord Bellou already made preparation in his territory. Even you, Your Grace, had garrisoned your forts with more troops. So I’m more convinced this year will be the time for them to appear”
“I see, you’re quite observant as well Lord Karel. But have you acquired the information about their sightings?”
“I have not, Your Grace”
“Perhaps have you heard any rumors when you are crossing Brevis to go here?”
“I also didn’t hear any rumors about their sightings, Your Grace”
“Now this is quite problematic”
Then he bowed his head for seconds, drowning in his thought. While I getting a little bit anxious about whether I lack information. But at least, I didn’t hide anything.
“Are you in hurry Lord Karel?”
The Duke suddenly asked.
“Not at all, but I want to come back to Kastro as soon as possible. I didn’t plan to leave them too long”
“That’s quite unfortunate. I would like to call someone from fort Hadrian to give more insight on this matter. But it will take days for him to get here. If you are in hurry, it might be wasting your time too much, Lord Karel”
“Well, if it could help us even further, I’m willing to give every available time I have. But it feels like I became your nuisance, Your Grace. To be honest, your kindness made me feel very indebted. I cannot repay you in any way, Your Grace”
“You don’t have to worry about that, Lord Karel. Consider it as I’m increasing my treasure”
“Pardon me, but what do you mean by treasure, Your Grace?”
“To have you indebted to me means I could take some advantages from you somewhere in the future. That kind of relationship made me and my House become powerful, Lord Karel. And everything that could increase my power, is my treasure”
“I see, it’s quite beneficial for you as well, Your Grace. To be honest, your statement made me feel uneasy, but logically speaking, it is the right way”
“Yes, it’s beneficial for both of us. You will have my aid, and I can have your back anytime. Sounds pretty good right?”
“Yes, it is, Your Grace. But pardon me for saying this out loud. In all honesty, Parvus is still far from great. Unlike your territory, I still have to struggle with some basic matters. As humiliating as it is, trusting your back to someone like me, it would be useless, Your Grace.”
“I was blessed with good eyes, Lord Karel. I can see someone’s true potential. I believe you’re going to be a great figure somewhere in the future. And Lord Karel, let me say something more important”
I keep my silence while he sip his tea and emptied his cup.
“There are things that are more complicated behind this Beastcleaver appearance. I wouldn’t say this kingdom is on the verge of civil war. No, it’s still too far for that. But the steps for it have been taken, some are intentional and some are not. It is a wise thing to gather more allies for someone like me, and it’s more crucial to choose whose side you are on for someone like you”
My goodness! This has turned into something I shouldn’t know in the beginning. Even though I don’t have any clue about what is he talking about, I have a very bad feeling about it.
“Pardon me, Your Grace. But I can’t understand what you said earlier”
“Someday you will. So for now, as part of taking advantage of you, I want you to do me a favor”
“What is it, Your Grace?”
“Oh my, trying to look tough huh, Lord Karel? From your face, I could tell you were nervous”
His humorous smile showed up again.
“Pardon me, but I am getting nervous about whether I could do it or not”
“You can, or perhaps you should. Because it’s very simple”
“I’ll try my best”
Then he leaned forward. His voice was lowered, but more sharp and serious.
“Don’t die, yet”