A lot changed over the past several months. There was apparently a lot to do after the war. Elias had been away from Lux and was residing in Maiava along with Fabian to take full control over the city. They were spending all available manpower to make the city fully theirs as quickly as possible. Now his previous workload had been entrusted to Ewald which he had been dealing with Flora and Cezary’s assistance, the latter proved to be quite a statesman. If it wasn’t for his eccentricity, he could have climbed higher. Ewald was one of few who was able to tolerate his odd behaviors. Perhaps, he didn’t become a word keeper by choice but was pushed into that role.
Meanwhile, the result of replacing deeds with drawings had met with moderate success. Just as Cezary predicted, it was a monumental task and was still going on. For farmers who had gotten new deeds, they now knew the shape of their lands roughly, but it did not stop them from continuing to bicker with others over finer details. Cezary pointed out that the issue was due to the fact that there was no “buffer zone” between lands and noted that it would not be feasible to implement one at this point especially when all lands were drawn and assigned. More importantly, Ewald had no authority over what he described as “land redistribution” in order to implement buffer zones.
When asked how he came up with the idea and whether the Siwen implemented such, he laughed off.
“Siwen nobles listening to commoners? Not in a million years,” He said while sneering.
It was clear that he didn’t have a good impression on his native country. He even said out loud that the Siwen deserved whatever they got and said that corruption ran amok.
On a side note, Ewald turned eleven years old, and Flora turned fifteen which was the minimum age allowed to procreate within the noble society. Given he was only eleven however, the pressure wasn’t on yet simply because he wasn’t ready. He was told by Elias explicitly that he would be allowed to sleep with her as soon as he was ready and willing.
I don’t see her sexually at all though…
For better or worse, his relationship with her was nothing more than a glorified friendship. But it was also because he was not sexually active yet to feel anything romantic from the opposite gender although his situation was a little more complicated than that.
Retaining his past memories as an adult meant that he was fully educated in the opposite gender, meaning unlike normal children hitting puberty and becoming curious about boys and girls, there was a chance that he might not express a strong desire to court a female even if he did enter puberty simply because he was already fully aware of what a female was, at least physically.
It was a usual day for them. The three were busy in Ewald’s study. Flora was processing mundane paperwork at a fast pace to get them out of the way while Ewald was dealing with workloads that required a little more finesse which was a mix of land disputes as well as market inspections. The land disputes became a bit easier to deal with now that it became semi-clear to farmers what their lands looked like. However, a new problem arose from trying to clear the land borders.
“Now, this is a problem,” He remarked while looking over a petition.
Now that the land shapes were in drawings, mistakes were starting to show up when the land lines were written initially. Some of the lands were overlapping each other. These were genuine concerns.
Cezary agreed with his assessment. “Not going to be easy, yes. You can’t get around with an issue like this. Either would need to give up the overlapping portion.”
“I doubt they’d willingly give up any part of their land, useless or not.”
“Correct, young master. The easy way would be just paying one of them a bit of coins and getting it over with. However, that will set a bad precedent.”
“What do you suggest then?”
“We do nothing.”
“Excuse me?”
“We do nothing, young master.”
“What will that accomplish?”
Flora, at this point, stopped what she was doing and was keenly listening to them.
“It will accomplish absolutely nothing!” Cezary declared with his arms open and looking up with a divine smile as if he just earned his enlightenment from a God. If there was a God ray upon him, the scene would have been complete.
What is the point of doing that?
He explained, “I am sure they will sort it over, somehow. If they murder each other, fine. If they solve it on their own, finer. We let them be.”
“Will that really work?” Ewald was skeptical rightfully so.
“It may or may not work, but that is not the point. The point is that the Fenchel is a bit too kind to common folks. I do like that they are not arrogant swindlers like Siwen nobles but they are a bit too close to the commoners. Thus, I propose that we do nothing and let them solve it.”
“What if they continue to send the same petition over and over?” It was Flora who asked. She looked genuinely curious.
Cezary was silent for a moment before opening his arms again and looking up as if he just received a blessing.
What a drama queen.
“Then we charge for petitions!” He announced proudly.
Ewald and Flora looked at each other, both of them having bemused expressions. Apparently, he was actually serious.
“Why we don’t charge for any admin work is beyond me. We, scholars, have to spend our time preparing the petitions in readable format -”
“Wait,” Ewald interjected, realizing that the farmers were actually illiterate. “Somebody has to write these petitions, yes? The farmers wouldn’t have been able to write these.”
“Yes, allow me to explain.”
Farmers or anyone with complaints would visit the mayor’s manor and file petitions verbally. Scholars stationed there would write them down roughly before being rewritten properly later for nobles such as Ewald to read and make a decision.
“Lux has a mayor? I thought it was under direct rule.”
“That’s true, young master. But a mayor’s manor exists nevertheless. It’s often used as a court of some sort where common folks can file petitions and whatnot. Consider it as a medium between nobles and commoners.”
That actually makes sense.
The more he conversed with Cezary, the more he was impressed with his broad knowledge. He felt that his talents were being wasted as a mere word keeper. But then he didn’t seem to mind. He seemed to be having a good time with the three girls.
Yes, he ended up hiring all three women Ewald sent his way, and they had been working tirelessly transiting deeds into the new format.
“Any report on the matter we discussed a while ago?”
Ewald and Cezary had some discussions on what he had discovered at Fadin a few months ago, like water turning into steam and power was required for water to turn steam along with his makeshift concentration to make the air cooler.
“I’ve indeed given it some thought and experimented with the thing you presented to me.”
He folded his arms, looking deeply troubled for some reason.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Well…, the thing is that, when I was contemplating what you told me and when I was experimenting on my own, I sort of veered off the topic.”
Ewald put on a confused expression on his face.
What is he even talking about?
“In my defense, I've come up with something amazing.”
He was basically stating that he didn’t do what Ewald asked and did something on his own that wasn’t quite related to the project.
“To demonstrate, we need to go outside.”
Thus, they went to the rear garden by the foundation. Cezary had brought a small fire crystal and what appeared to be a linen bag.
“The elemental crystals, where do they come from?”
He meant to ask that for a long time but kept on forgetting.
“Hmm?” Cezary was taken back by the sudden change of the topic.
“These are quartz infused with elemental magic,” He replied.
Quartz was common within mining communities, which meant that it would be quite rare, thus expensive, within the Kingdom of Egra until the recent war. Maiava was a mining city where quartz was a byproduct of their iron mining.
“Infused with magic, how?”
“Simple really. You place quartz on a ground or somewhere stable and cast simple magic on it. You are a wind mage, are you not?”
Ewald nodded.
“In your case, you’d cast a simple wind magic on it, like a breeze or gust on it until it absorbs wind elemental magic.”
He explained further that, if infusing was successful, quartz would change its color. He noted that it took quite a bit of attempts to get it to work.
“The elemental quartz can only perform basic tasks,” He explained, “Like, for example, fire crystals can only heat things up. Wind crystals would create wind.”
I see, I see …
“Then how does the exploding crystals work if it can do only basic tasks?”
“Basically, you supercharge it. Once infused, you cast even more magic on it until it’s basically full of magic. It can still only heat things up but, by throwing it and cracking it, it will explode.”
Once elemental crystal explanation was done, Cezary was keen to demonstrate his supposedly new invention. He placed the fire crystal on the ground and held the linen bag above it.
“Young master, would you mind activating the crystal? Just hit it weakly on the ground.”
Once Ewald did exactly that, the crystal began to glimmer, heating air around it. Then the deflated linen bag came to life; rising warm air began to inflate the linen bag like a balloon. Ewald and Flora opened their eyes widely when Cezary let the fully inflated bag go. It rose through the air until wind knocked it sideways, deflating it and making it fall down.
“What was that?” Flora wondered aloud.
“The core concept is from you, young master. Heated air always goes up. By using that concept, if you trap heated air, it will lift things up.”
He went on to explain that, if built on a larger scale, it could lift cargo or even humans.
“What is the point of this?” Ewald argued.
He wanted a way to keep perishables cool so that they could last longer. It would help the society at large. In his eyes, what Cezary invented wasn’t something that’d help anyone.
“Do you know how hard it was for me to migrate to the South? I had to pay a good amount of money to get a seat at a merchant wagon. As if that wasn’t enough, I had to endure monster attacks at night. Every single night was a battle of life and death.”
Indeed, because of the risk and high cost, common folks generally never left their home territory. It was the core reason why the Siwen settlements had much higher population in spite of the Egra having a much comfortable climate: People couldn’t move even if they wanted to.
“Are you implying that you want to make those things big enough … to carry people from one place to another?”
“That is precisely my intention. Securing funds, however, is going to be nigh impossible,” He lamented with his shoulders down.
If what he was dreaming was made into reality, it would make traveling between settlements much safer and faster. It might not be cheaper but it would allow migrations on a small scale. Sadly, Ewald saw no point in this and had no intention to secure funding for him. Cezary was on his own.
“So, you didn’t work on the contraction I showed you at all?”
“I did not,” He replied curtly.
“Are you going to?”
“Maybe.”
He looked clearly uninterested in the project, and Ewald knew that it was very hard to convince him once his mind was off. Therefore, he attempted no further to reason with him. He was on his own, just like Cezary was on his own as well.
As soon as they headed back inside, a butler approached Ewald.
“Milord, a letter from Lady Harga for you.”
He handed over a sealed letter.
Lady Harga was Greta Brugg. Once Noah Harder settled down in Valet, his new territory, he announced that he was starting a new noble house, separate from the Harder family. The Harga family was born thus.
He had to read it ASAP and went straight to his study, leaving Cezary and Flora.
Greetings, Lord Fenchel. My name is Greta Harga. You knew me once as Greta Brugg. I thank you ever so much for what you’ve done for me. I am settling down well and so is Gabriel.
Valet is different but not in a negative way. Everyone is working very hard to restore what they’ve lost. I sincerely hope that, as the lady of Valet, I can be of their assistance.
I will not waste too much of your time. Perhaps, we will meet at the royal party.
* Greta Brugg Harga
The letter was brief. She didn’t write much, but the mere fact that she remembered to write a letter addressed to him specifically meant a lot. Now that she was a lady, she’d be wearing a beautiful dress now. A tip of his mouth turned up as he imagined Greta in a dress. She was already drop dead gorgeous in a robe.
Noah, you are a lucky guy.
She bore him a son even at the first attempt. What more could a guy ask for? Nothing, absolutely nothing. He folded the letter back gently and placed it in a drawer.
“The Harga, huh…”
Valet was a city of about 12,000 people. Valet and Lux shared some similarities. Both were built on a plain, both had a forest nearby. Valet had a small mountain adjacent which was about the only difference. Its climate would be slightly colder in Valet. The distance between the two cities was about twelve days on foot, which was too far for him to travel via levitation magic. He wanted to visit the city if possible which reminded him of the project Cezary demonstrated a moment ago.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Would that even be able to carry people across such a great distance?” He mused. He couldn’t picture it.
Stretching loudly in his chair, He figured he’d visit the decoy house. It had indeed been a while, almost a year since his last visit. The war and the subsequent paperwork he had to go through, he simply did not have time to check on Raem. Standing up, he promptly exited the room.
He walked by the Macomaco tea field which was now empty. Since the war, he simply did not have time to tend the field, thus the venture was scrapped. He beamed a bitter smile at the now vacant field. It felt like the war had changed him a little. Back when he was farming the tea, he had clear determination to avenge Fionara. Was he naive? Probably. He could no longer swear that he’d avenge her because, in doing so, those around him would be killed. No matter how important she was, she was nothing but a piece of the past. He had come to terms with the sad fact. It didn’t mean he was abandoning revenge. It just meant that he’d abide his time and look for the perfect opportunity.
Moving his attention away from the field, he went down into the tunnel.
When he arrived at the decoy house, he found the house busy. Raem and Lara were processing what they had caught in the backyard, and Karla was preparing for dinner in the kitchen. Despite participating in the war, nothing much changed for Raem and Lara. They were paid the basic participation money and that was it. Raem held the title of Ewald’s guard knight, but that was just a minor title with no benefits.
Noticing Ewald, Raem stood up and bowed with his palm on his chest.
“Sir,” He said curtly which prompted Lara to wave her hand while skinning a wolf.
“You guys caught wolves?”
There were three of them neatly laid in a line. One of them was already skinned.
“They ambushed us, a group of six. We managed to get three of them," he explained.
Ewald quickly inspected both of them. Neither had any visible wounds.
“Good job, guys,” He said with a whistle.
They were so used to this now that it was basically a routine for them at this point. Additionally, Raem’s growth spout meant that he now had the physical presence to deal with wild animals. He was now 15 years old with Lara being 12, the latter hadn’t seen much growth and was shorter than Raem by more than a head. What she did grow was …
Hmm, that’s quite a volume on her chest.
She was becoming a woman for sure, especially in the chest department. In fact, hers seemed to be already larger than Greta’s. When Raem noticed that Ewald was eyeing her chest, he cleared his throat, giving him a silent warning. In return, he shrugged.
It’s in our genes, dude. Nothing can stop it.
“Anyway, how have you guys been doing?”
“Not bad, I guess?” Lara replied while continuing to skin the second wolf. “We hunt, slack until food runs low, hunt again, rinse and repeat.”
“So, the good life,” Ewald said with a chuckle. “Done any guild job?”
“No, sir. No point,” Raem said. “Food is far more important.”
“You could purchase food with coins, you know.”
“True, but I am pretty sure that the meat we catch is fresher than any meat we buy,” Raem retorted. He was correct indeed.
“What brings you here, good ser?” Lara asked, her tone slightly mocking.
“Hey now, I haven’t forgotten about you guys. I was just crazy busy.”
“What would make a child so busy? Playing with your wife?” Lara continued the play.
“I wish I could. I haven’t even gotten morning wood yet.”
She tilted her head. “What's morning wood?”
Raem cleared his throat loudly.
“What?” She retorted as her attention turned to him.
“You will know when the time comes.” Ewald chuckled.
She pouted visibly in protest. Alas, neither boy was going to tell her what it was.
“Anyway, Raem, I heard Lord Harga trained you for a few months.”
“Harga?”
“Oh, right. It’s Noah Harga now.”
“He created a new house?”
“Yeah, it’s probably better for him than taking his elder brother’s seat.”
Noah had the right to demand his elder brother’s position as the head of the Harder house. If he did so, the Harder family was likely to accept his demand, leaving his brother in limbo. Instead, he created the Harga house with Greta. The Harder family would continue to reside in Valet now as a backup house in case the Harga house falls. The family would also provide officers for the Harga family. It wasn’t a bad deal by any means. The Harga family would need to employ at least one noble house under its umbrella anyway. The Fenchel employed three houses: The Brugg, the Ros, and finally the Wallen.
“A new house, huh…,” Raem trailed off. It was his lifetime goal to start a new noble house. He was a long way off for sure, but he was only 15 years old. Also thankfully, they were entering a rather unstable era where opportunities would rise far more frequently.
Edmund made clear to Ewald that he intended to fully support the royal house. Likewise, the Flissing would do the same. The latter didn’t really have a choice since Daniel Flissing was engaged to Lillian Egra, the second princess. As long as the two houses remained fully royal to the crown, there was very little chance of rebellion within since those three houses would outnumber even if all other houses combined their troops. Additionally, the three newly formed houses were very likely loyal for the time being also. All of this meant that rebellion within was very unlikely. Interestingly however, the Fenchel was the key holder in this specific scenario.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img922/5757/SQes8F.jpg]
In his head, should the Fenchel revolt, they could drag the whole southern portion of the kingdom separate from the rest. The Weber and the defeated Egra held Tantan and Altzell respectably. The Sprengen held Larok. Those houses were discontent with the king. By allying with Estana, they could very well hold against the rest of the kingdom especially since the king’s royal army was battered. They wouldn’t need to be victorious against the crown. Stalemate was all it required before suing for peace, thus separating from the kingdom.
Of course, all of this was merely a thought in his head. The chances of actually happening was basically nil.
“Would you like to have dinner with us?” Raem suggested, snapping Ewald out of his rather grim thoughts.
“I’d love to but I have to ask Flora.”
He was specifically instructed to have meals with her as often as possible to create a bond. This was an understandable point, thus he had no reason to go against it. Thus, he headed back and asked her about having dinner at the decoy house.
“Absolutely not!” Avina disagreed strongly.
However, Flora was delighted. “I’d love to!”
“But, Milady, you will be consuming commoner’s food!” Her maid retorted strongly.
“Which is why I wish to try. I want to see what they are eating everyday.”
Ewald had to inform her that their standard of living was above average, meaning their food was going to be exceptional for commoners. This actually made Avina lessen her resistance.
“In that case, I have no objections,” she conceded. Of course, she was in for a shock.
“What is this?” Avina demanded an explanation.
On a plain dinner table, there was roasted meat with salt on a separate small dish. And there was veggie soup of decent quality in a bowl. Those were for each person. Avina didn’t have a problem with the meal itself. What she did have an issue with was that they were told to grab the meat by bare hand and just eat it with salt. Even Flora who was initially very welcoming of the idea of having dinner together was showing clear reluctance.
“There are things called utensils,” Avina protested at which point Lara responded by holding up her spoon.
“Where are forks and knives?”
“We don’t have forks and knives for consuming meat,” Raem replied. “Those are not cheap.”
“Well, we do have knives to skin animals?” Lara said.
“You shouldn’t use that to eat, Lara,” Ewald warned her.
Avina sighed with exasperation, then she looked at him.
“Don’t tell me you’ve eaten meat with your bare hands?”
“I have,” He replied promptly.
“How savage…,” She trailed off.
“Come on. Let’s eat.” And Ewald grabbed his share of roasted wolf meat. Spraying some salts on the portion he was going to bite, he went for it. Everyone else, bar Flora, began their dinner on the cue.
“Milady, you don’t have to if you don’t wish to have your hands dirty,” Avina told her to which she shook her head.
“No, I should try before making a judgment.” She carefully grabbed her portion of roasted wolf meat, making her hands immediately greasy; She frowned at once. Taking a bit of salt with her other hand, she sprayed the portion she was going to bite and went for it.
As for Ewald, it was his first time consuming wolf meat. It tasted very similar to the boar meat he had before. In fact, if he was told that this was boar meat, he would have believed it.
“Not bad, not bad at all,” He remarked.
Meanwhile, Lara was wolfing down her share while Karla was having a very lady-like dinner similar to Flora. Avina wasn’t having dinner together. As Flora’s maid, she was not in a position to have a meal together with her lady. Besides, she was busy silently protesting her displeasure at Ewald.
Aside from that little mishap, the meal overall was pretty good. The meat was obviously good since it was undoubtedly fresh meat and the soup had proper whole vegetables. Considering Karla and Raem used to get by with just one bowl of scrap veggie soup a day, their standards had raised very high indeed.
At the end of the meal, Lara was licking her fingers while Karla was collecting bowls and dishes. Flora had finished her meal as well but didn’t know where to put her greasy hands. Noticing that, Raem dashed into the kitchen and brought a steaming towel for her to clean her hands with. It was apparent that they prepared it for her.
“How was the meal, Flora?” Ewald asked her who was cleaning her hands with the hot towel.
“It was surprisingly good. The meat was exceptional, and the soup was acceptable.”
“I could eat meat all day long!” Lara exclaimed while stretching, then she yawned. Flora looked at her go with an amused expression because Lara was doing the very things she was educated not to do in public view.
Once Karla brought all the bowls and dishes to the kitchen, Lara went upstairs to her room, leaving Ewald, Flora, Raem, and Avina in the living room.
“I had no idea that my lady’s guard knight was such an unhinged girl…,” Avina lamented while shaking her head weakly.
“Well, she is a farmer’s daughter and has had no education whatsoever as a lady,” Ewald said.
Not once had she visited her parents’ home ever since coming here. She also never talked about her parents, either. It was clear that she had completely cut them off in her head.
“Shouldn’t she get some sort of education?” Avina said.
Ewald glanced at Raem. He felt that his input was required on the matter.
“Does it cost money?” was what Raem asked in return.
Avina pressed, “If she wishes to stay as my lady’s guard knight, she has to be educated in some form of etiquette.”
“Will it cost money though?”
Ewald had no idea actually, and neither did Flora.
“That depends on method,” Avina explained, “She can work alongside other maids at the manor to get a grasp of basic etiquette. Or she can hire a few female scholars to learn. The latter will cost money but a lot faster.”
He didn’t know Raem’s financial situation. He knew for certain that he wasn’t bottom barrel poor however. Another thing to consider, besides money, was Lara’s presence. Raem couldn’t hunt alone effectively. He was a traditional sword fighter with a shield with a bigger emphasis on the latter. A defensive melee fighter hunting alone was asking for trouble. Essentially, he needed Lara to hunt far more effectively. Besides, the duo perfected impeccable teamwork that their effectiveness when hunting together was off the charts. In other words, he could not afford losing Lara for an extended period of time when she was out working with maids to learn etiquette.
“I will pay, just tell me how much,” Raem said stoically, clearly not pleased with having to shell out coins.
“I honestly don’t know. You’d be asking ladies from one of the houses under the Fenchel. I wager about a silver coin a day per scholar. I suggest two scholars for a week.”
Holy moly, that’s expensive.
So, two silver coins for a week: 14 silver coins. As expected, Raem grimaced.
“I don’t have the money right now. I can pay half right now though. I will pay the other half by the end of the education.”
He pulled out a small leather pouch from his belt and dropped all of its contents onto the table, which was a mix of iron and silver coins. After he neatly arranged them, it turned out to be exactly seven silver coins.
Avina took them carefully into her coin pouch.
“I will arrange it. The decoy house is the location, yes?”
Raem nodded.
I suppose I should help him out with hunting for a week.
Ewald himself had little leeway with money also because his wage was on par with maid’s. He had saved up about a silver and wanted to keep it in hand in case of an emergency. This was not an emergency. As soon as Avina and Flora left, he apologized to him.
“I am sorry, Raem. Can’t help you there.”
“It’s fine, sir. It’s unreasonable to expect a helping hand from someone I serve anyway.”
“Was that money all you had?”
“Yes, but I do have three wolf furs I can sell soon. Those should patch me at least 50 iron coins.”
“You know, Raem, we could take on a goblin camp extermination request from the guild. We’ve done it when we were weaker. We should be able to do it with relative ease now.”
Raem’s ear flinched. His suggestion definitely piqued his interest.
“Wanna go check it out? We still got some time.”
Nodding, Raem stood up at once and walked out and so did Ewald.
It had been about a year since he visited the guild as well. It had been some time.
I wonder how Sarah is doing.
Upon entering the guild, the blonde woman, Sarah, was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was a new girl behind the counter with long curly pitch black hair.
“Do you know where Sarah is?” He whispered to Raem.
“Um, she was here the last time I was here.”
“And that was when?”
“Right after our return from the war.”
Noticing two boys whispering to each other as soon as they entered, the woman cast suspicious eyes on them.
“May I help you?”
“Um, where is Sarah?” Ewald asked.
“Oh, one of her fans? She left the guild, got married.”
That was bombshell news for him. Two blondes he liked had left so far. Looking visibly disenchanted, he walked slowly toward the request board. Raem followed him after briefly apologizing to the new guild receptionist.
“Let’s see…”
There were a lot of requests. In fact, there were so many that newer requests were pinned on top of older ones.
“Why are there so many?” He wondered aloud, and the guild receptionist heard it.
“During the war, nobody did quests since nobody knew what was going to happen. The requests filed up naturally to a point that we haven’t fully cleared the backlogs,” She explained. “Now please do mind that some requests may no longer be accurate, given some of them are months old.”
Now, that made things tricker. For example, a goblin camp may no longer be where they were specified to be. They were a nomadic bunch and would constantly move around. Therefore, he ignored what appeared to be older requests outright. In the end, they managed to find one that seemed to be reasonable. It was 2 days away from Lux. The request was submitted by a merchant who had to abandon his wagon to save himself. The reward was 5 silver coins in addition to half of whatever cargo they managed to retrieve.
“This?” Ewald asked while pointing at the request paper.
Raem nodded in response. Taking the paper, he brought it to the new guild receptionist along with his iron guild coin which he had his name engraved on back.
“It’s not just the two of you right?”
“No, there is one more.”
“I’d recommend a group of four but …” She was looking down at something. “It appears that you’ve completed a similar job a year or so ago. I assume you know what you are doing. I shall not meddle in.”
As expected from a guild receptionist, she seemed to be competent in her job. And, upon the second glance, she looked good enough.
I prefer blonds but she looks good enough.
“Your name, Miss?”
“Tamara, just call me Tama.”
“My name is Kamil,” Ewaid introduced himself.
She looked down again, probably a book of some sort.
“... I see. It looks like you two were in the same team before.”
“Yes, we’ve done this before. Don’t worry about us,” Raem responded.
“It’s just me being paranoid. I’d hate to see kids going out for a job and never returning. You never want to see that,” She said with a bitter smile.
After a short casual chit chat, they bid good-bye to Tama and went back. They were planning to depart the next morning.
The next morning, he was preparing to depart when Emily visited him unexpectedly. He had already informed her of the decision the night earlier. Thus, there was no reason for her to visit him this morning. It turned out that she brought unexpected … news.
“Lady Fenchel is … what?”
“Pregnant.”
Loukia was in mid 30s. No self-respecting woman in the noble society would get pregnant at such an age. Under normal circumstances, a noblewoman in 30s would be looking at her children either getting engaged or married already. Of course, her situation was unique. On a side note, she had changed. Her personality had a U turn ever since returning from Keviel. She became very humble and kind. From what he heard, the first thing she did when she arrived back in the manor was apologizing to several maids who she felt she had wronged before.
“It’s been kept a secret, but she is about 5 months into her pregnancy,” She said.
He felt strange that he had yet to run into her all this time. That explained the reason. Anyway, should he be concerned? What if she gives birth to a boy? Emily was aware of the fact that Ewald wasn’t Edmund’s biological son. Pretty much all maids knew this. They’d know since they never saw Ewald growing up in the manor. Of course, maids knew how to keep their mouths shut by not interacting with the outside world at all. Therefore, only very few people were aware of his true identity.
Should I be concerned?
Perhaps the bigger question would be: Should he care? What if he lost his title of the heir? He hadn’t forgotten his days at Laufeld. In fact, he never really sought out to become a noble in the first place. He sort of … became one. Then he noticed Emily looking at him intensively. He felt as if she was asking him for an opinion.
“Should I be worried?”
“Do you wish to rule?” She replied ominously.
Déjà vu?
He swore he told the exact same line to Edmund before. It was years ago.
“I do not,” He replied flatly.
And I don’t care.
The only reason he would insist on remaining a noble was to have a chance at removing the king, which was looking increasingly unlikely. Speaking of the king, he had been hearing words that he had been aggressively recruiting soldiers. But that wasn’t just him. Even the Fenchel was attempting to increase their size of army. As Fabian proclaimed, everyone was expecting a curveball at the delicate balance sooner or later. Whether it was to be an internal affair or an extraterrestrial threat, they did not know yet. While he was fairly certain that the former wouldn’t occur due to the current balance, he wasn’t ruling anything out.
As for the Fenchel, it looked like the vast distance between Lux and Maiava was causing an issue. Basically, the Fenchel had to operate two separate armies. The distance was just too for Edmund to control the city directly. That was where Fabian came into the picture. Since the father and the son appeared to be operating on a similar wavelength, it was easy for them to work together. Whatever issues they had before, it seemed to have melted away.
Now, as for his own future, he had this eerie feeling that Loukia was going to give birth to a son. He just knew. Well, no, that was a lie. He had reasons to believe that she was going to give birth to a son. The first was because of the Gods. He was absolutely certain that the Gods were observing him and so did the elementals. Those beings were always observing humans. The lone fire elemental he spotted back at the royal castle, he didn’t know what its purpose was but it was observing them also.
Toying with fates… Well, that’s Gods for you.
The second reason was that Edmund had six daughters. Chances were that it’d be likely a boy this time. Therefore, he decided to plan ahead.
“Will you follow me wherever I go?” He asked Emily and knew the answer already. She was an opportunist. She desired to become his head maid simply due to the fact that he was the heir to the Fenchel. Should the title be stripped away, she had no reason to serve him.
She hesitated to give an answer right away since his question was basically asking whether she was loyal or not.
“You may leave.” He excused her, saving her from giving the answer. Once she left, he stood up and walked to a window in his room. Taking a deep breath, he contemplated his options.
Of course, she could give birth to yet another daughter, but he simply could not shake his feelings that it was going to be a son.
They really don’t make things simple, do they…