“I… beg your absolute pardon?”
Kamil was dumbfounded, and so were Cezary and Nestor who were standing by him in his study. They had received an urgent royal letter from Keviel, stating what had transpired during the peace talk between them and Estana. A well-dressed man stood before him in a fancy robe with a crimson velvet cloak. If he was a royal messenger, he looked the part at least. He recalled a similarly-dressed man back in Lux when the Siwen invaded. Anyone with a crimson velvet cloak was an urgent messenger in the Kingdom of Egra.
“The king of the Kingdom of Egra, Karsten Egra, releases you from your oath of vassalage along with your fief, Laufeld. You are to become a free state, catering toward merchants.”
Upon hearing his sudden declaration, he rubbed the bridge of nose and sighed with exasperation.
Can I get a moment of peace here? Just what the heck is going on here?
“I don’t … quite understand what is happening here. Then what am I? I mean, what’s my title?”
He had many, many, questions, but that happened to be his first question of God knows how many.
“The Kingdom of Egra and Estana jointly appoint you as the Duke of Laufeld. You belong to neither but must work with both.”
It was at this point that a faint smile emerged across Cezary’s face. However, Kamil was confused as ever.
What is even the point of this development? I must work with both nations? What does that even mean? What’s there to work with even? The town has got nothing!
He was wrong. Laufeld had been exporting quartz for a while now and was bringing in sizable profit. In addition, it was also selling Macomaco tea. In fact, the town was reinventing itself as one of the most, if not the most already, frequently visited settlements by merchants. Regardless, sighing once again, he thanked the messenger and was about to dismiss him.
“I have a question if I may,” Cezary said to which Kamil nodded. “What is going to happen to the agreement with the Lux Fenchel?”
The messenger replied candidly, “You belong to no one. Whatever agreements you had with anyone from the Kingdom of Egra are hereby dissolved. You’d need to establish new agreements from here on.”
All those wheat harvest that went to Lux would become free. Even Kamil realized that upon hearing his question. As soon as the messenger left the study, the first thing Cezary said was -
“Milord, we can finally build an army.”
An army required food and water: Supplies basically. The town had plenty of wheat, but well over half of them were sent to Lux as a mandatory tribute. It was an ancient agreement between Lux and Laufeld. In return, Lux sent an army to build the palisade around the old town. It was an investment that had paid its dividends but the agreement was no more. Laufeld would retain full of its harvest which directly translated into gaining the ability to maintain a far larger army.
“Okay, I get the immediate benefit, but my question lingers,” Kamil said with a pout. “What the hell is going on here? I mean, what is happening? And a duke? I am a duke? What is even a duke?”
Cezary shrugged. “I don’t know what a duke is. I assume it is a title Estana came up with. I believe that it is them who came up with this idea.”
“This idea of making me sever ties with the Kingdom?”
“Yes, our war with them wasn’t pretty. We were losing in fact. The king must have decided that Laufeld was a small price to pay, and I am inclined to agree with that. It is indeed a small price to pay especially when we...” Clearing his throat, he corrected himself. “Especially when the Kingdom of Egra needs to push north to get whatever is left of the Siwen.”
For Cezary who came from the Siwen, abandoning the Kingdom of Egra was as easy as just turning off a switch in his head. In contrast, for Kamil, he was born and raised in the Kingdom which made it harder to just turn his back to them. Folding his arms, he donned a grave expression and asked, “So, what do I do now?”
“I assume more people will visit you shortly and I can even tell you that some people from Etana will visit you for absolutely certain.”
“Well, it's a good thing that I did practice their language then.”
He had been learning the Estana language. He was nowhere fluent but did know the alphabet along with basic sentences.
He continued, “Anyway, so the war is over then.”
“Well, if what we were told was indeed true, the war isn’t our concern anymore. We are no longer a part of the Kingdom,” Nestor said, looking a bit tired. It was a lot to take in. Only Cezary was all smiles; Kamil and Nestor looked beat. Their whole world turned upside down in an instant, and it felt surreal.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/633/46LtlE.jpg]
With Laufeld becoming a free city, the war between the Kingdom of Egra and Estana concluded. Kamil would later learn that, as a duke, he had absolute authority within his domain, akin to a king’s level of authority because there was no one above him in the chain of command. At the same time, his authority was limited by the fact that Laufeld was weak with its independence guaranteed by both Egra and Estana. For the time being, he was going to be treated as just an ordinary lord, sharing his bed with both nations. Meanwhile, Atra had taken Suvi. And, while Edmund wasn’t planning to do anything other than just sit still, Karsten’s royal army marched forth at a crazy speed without properly resting and met up with Edmund’s army within three days. Edmund had no choice but to assist him in laying a siege on Elsos. While the chaotic conquest in the North was going on, Staidone, the former capital of the Siwen, became home to a rebel force. An iron mining town, Baris to its east, joined their cause, providing them with much needed iron to gear up. Thus, the Siwen rebels were born. Whether this rebel force could establish themselves into a proper nation was yet to be seen. The former capital was a very large city, capable of supporting an army of over 10,000. Under a capable leader’s hands, they had a chance to transform themselves into a proper nation. Because both Atra and Egra were overexpanding, they lacked the resources to hit the former capital hard; They were too busy with their own affairs at the moment.
And, within several days, a guest visited from Estana.
“Kerekes Izabella greets you, Duke Fenchel.”
She bowed, a 90-degree bow, with a palm on her chest. It was an Egrian etiquette. She spoke in the Egrian language, but Kamil responded in the Estana language.
“Greetings, Lady Izabella.”
Her eyes went wide, and she responded in his language with a smile. “Your pronunciation has gotten much better. I am so glad that you’ve taken my king’s advice to your heart, Duke.”
He indeed saw the need to learn the language even before the event occurred. There was already a stream of Estana merchants visiting the town. For Kerekes, for him to have spent the efforts to learn her language impressed her because it meant that he listened to her king’s advice. He must have been educating himself for a while, long before the decision to break Laufeld off the Kingdom was even brought up. She beamed a smile at him, this time from the bottom of her heart because she always liked resourceful people who actively attempted to improve the situation around them.
“Duke, I’ve come here as an ambassador.”
“An Ambassador?”
“Yes, I and my mage corp will stay in Laufeld from now on, providing you with assistance if required in case of monster attacks and whatnot.”
Her real purpose was to prevent Karsten from assassinating him. Again, Estana weren’t fools. They were already aware of a distinct possibility that the king of Egra might pull something like an assassination. Therefore, it was within their interest to protect the new duke. There hadn’t been a duke in centuries as far as Kerekes was aware. Truthfully, in Estana history, the title of duke was given to a crown prince before he’d ascend to the throne. At one point, they stopped using it. They revived it and rewrote the history a bit to make it work in this case.
“I see…” Kamil had no reason to refuse. In fact, he was still unsure what was going on. He was completely lost. “Lady Izabella, I am going to be honest. I am completely lost. I don’t know what I am supposed to do.”
She grinned back and replied, “Simply do what you’ve been doing. What have you been doing if I may ask?”
“Nothing? I, as the governor of this town, have been doing what he should be doing, developing and protecting the town.”
That was a sound answer. But a governor doing what he was supposed to be doing was actually a taller order in corrupted nations like the Siwen.
“Then you should continue to do what you’ve been doing.”
The creation of the dukedom was to boost commercial activities, but there was no need to push him into doing so because, as long as he did his job as a governor, an increase in commercial activities would follow.
“By the way, Duke,” She continued, “You should be expecting some migrants from Estana.”
He wasn’t too surprised because Cezary warned him about this prior. He predicted that Laufeld was likely going to become a point of contention in the future, and that Estana were going to increase their influence one way or another. Sending their own citizens to the town would be the first step.
“I see,” he replied indifferently. “How many, if I may ask?”
“Not many, about a few hundred at the most.”
There weren't many, except for the fact that the whole population of Laufeld was just over 7,500. Of course, there would most likely be more migrants in the near future.
“I see. Thank you for the visit, Lady Izabella. I am sure that we will see each other around.”
“Of course.” Bowing, she withdrew from the study.
The news that Laufeld had become “a free state” didn’t take long to spread widely. Of course, for common folks, it didn’t mean anything. Their lives would go on just as before. Even for Kamil, nothing really changed.
“Man, I will be honest. Things are moving in an unexpected direction. I have mixed feelings about this,” he said while leisurely taking a sip of Macomaco tea. He was with Flora, his wife. They were in her quarters which wasn’t that much different from his own study. There was a desk that had files of papers on it - Okay, it may be a bit different. She was clearly a scholar type.
“If your title is duke. What would my title be?” she wondered aloud.
Before this development, he was a lord, and her title was a lady. Of course, all noblewomen were addressed as ladies. In a sense, women weren’t given a specific title. The only known exception was the title of queen, given to the wife of a king.
“A good question. I will ask Lady Izabella the next time.”
Standing up from a chair, he casually approached her desk and grabbed a paper on top of a file. It was a rough translation of whatever she was working on.
“How is the work going? It does look like you’ve translated a lot.”
“Most of the tablets I’ve translated are literal gibberish. You cannot translate it word by word. You have to translate it figuratively.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning you have to translate a lot, read them, then try imaging myself in their world and then put their words into proper context.”
He froze for a moment, unable to comprehend what he was just told.
“I see,” he replied nevertheless. “What have you learned so far?”
“Not a lot. But I get the impression that the folks of ancient times had a really hard time surviving. Compared to their lifestyle, I do feel that we’ve it easier.”
She went on to explain more about the dark ages where they were constantly threatened by monsters day and night. The sky would always be dark, and tending crops was a very risky endeavor but something they had to do to survive. Upon hearing that he looked up, recalling the night where Martin fought to his death. It wasn’t a fight for survival. Rather, it was a fight to death. He could hardly imagine going through that experience every single day.
How in the world did we survive in the ancient times…
The heroes who slayed great beasts founded their kingdoms. Now fallen Siwen had one. Estana apparently had their own hero as well. The heroes had to be extraordinarily strong people. Otherwise, a man defeating a dragon wouldn’t have been possible under normal circumstances. While he had no idea in what way they were powerful, if anything was similar to the holy queen Maco, they may have been reincarnated people with intact knowledge of the past.
Those who betrayed the wheel of life, Lord Ludwig told me…
That was another way of saying reincarnated people, and it seemed apparent that only those who betrayed the wheel of life were granted an ability to communicate with elementals.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
But why? Why only the reincarnated people?
He didn’t like that, whenever he acquired an answer to a question, another question popped up. It just felt hopeless overall. Blinking his eyes while shaking his head discreetly, he decided not to think about it too hard because there wasn’t anything he could do to come up with answers.
“I will see you later, Flora,” he said while walking out to leave her quarters after placing back the paper.
“I will see you at night,” she replied casually. She had been indirectly inviting him to her bed recently. It was probably Avina who was encouraging her to do this, given the fact that she was childless, was the first wife, and was in her prime age. The primary task of a first wife was to bear children, thus he couldn’t fault her for pushing for it; They had been indeed sleeping together for a while but not every night. Recently, however, she had been pushing for it every night. An interesting fact was that, because they married so young, in spite of him being only thirteen years old, they had been effectively married for over three years. In that perspective, her wanting a child at this point was a reasonable desire.
A child of mine at my age? It just doesn’t feel right.
He was only thirteen years old. Granted, Flora was seventeen years old and was the perfect age to bear children. Still, in his former life, as Tom, he had his first child when he was in his mid 20s.
I am turning fourteen soon, though… Still, I wanted to wait until I turned seventeen or something…
Then Flora would be in her mid 20s. He shouldn’t wait that long because, in doing so, there was a risk of her being cast away. If a first wife failed to bear a child sevenish years after her marriage, she would be considered barren. Obviously, he did not want that to happen and had no intention of casting her away. However, unless there was a child between them, Cezary sternly warned him that Estana might attempt to give him a second wife. Should a second wife give birth to a son earlier than Flora could, then she would be cast away. Even if she wasn’t cast away, her life would be hard, and she was likely going to be relegated to being a second wife. Essentially, a child was required for her to keep her position. As weird as it sounded, that was how it worked for nobility. It was a miracle that Loukia was taken back in by Edmund. Perhaps, Ludwig had a part in it.
“Duke!” A pair of guards exclaimed in unison as soon as they spotted him exiting the manor entrance.
Well, they caught on the new title quickly.
It was probably Kerekes’s deed, he figured.
“I am heading over to the mine to meet Ravas,” he informed them in case someone from the manor looked for him.
“Yes, duke!”
Hmm, duke does sound better than lord, I think.
Either way, he visited Ravas, the mining foreman. He had been in charge of hiring and assigning miners. According to Cezary, the man was very resourceful and could likely be trusted. As soon as he visited the miner’s barrack, he spotted him in front of dozens of miners who had just reported in for morning duties. He gave miners freedom to choose which shift they wanted, either morning or afternoon shift. Standing before them with his hands on his back, he exclaimed at them with a powerful voice.
“Another day, another job! We must progress! Remember! The more you do, the more you are paid! You wanna settle down with a bitch?! Work harder!”
Several miners smirked, probably having lewd thoughts in their heads.
“If that ain’t you thing, work for the fucking ale! Nothing beats chilly ale after a long day of labor!”
Far more miners agreed with some having their arms in the air.
Chilly?
As far as Kamil could remember, beer or ale he drank had been lukewarm. It was unknown to him, but a part of the underground was exceptionally colder, and the tavern owner had been storing ale there. Chilly ale had been exceptionally popular among locals. Chilly drinks weren't hard to come by in the North, but it was a rarity down in the South.
“Duke!” He, too, spelled out his new title upon noticing his presence. The miners had dispersed at this point into the mine which should be given another name since it wasn’t exactly a mine at this point. Already a few hundreds were living underground, Raem and Lara included. Karla had moved into the manor full time at this point. She had her hands full educating a new batch of maids. A lot of them were going to be needed soon since Daniel was already building his own manor, and Kerekes was likely going to build something of a similar sort. The service industry was about to kick off in Laufeld.
“Ravas, I’d like to tour the mine.”
“Of course! Please follow me.” Then he tilted his head a bit. “Have you gotten taller?”
“I have?”
“I do think you’ve gotten noticeably taller, Duke.”
He was going to hit fourteen soon. Raem had his growth spout around this point as well. He hadn’t checked his height lately, so he wasn’t sure until Ravas pointed it out.
About damned time then. I hate being shorter than Flora.
He was just a tad shorter than her.
“Thank you for pointing that out to me. Now, let us go.”
“Of course.”
He didn't have a really hard time to take a look at the mine. He meant to have a tour soon, but that got delayed over and over with wars. The war still wasn’t over for the Kingdom of Egra. For him, though, supposedly it was over. Would he assist the Kingdom of Egra in time of need? He wasn’t sure, not that he had an army to lead at the moment.
Anyway, the mine entrance looked no longer like how it used to be. It was no longer crudely dug. It had stone walls and occasionally spotted wooden support frames, periodically illuminated by fire crystal lamps hanging from walls. It was also wide enough for three people to pass at once which was an important detail since this passageway would be the most traffic-heavy part of the whole underground structure. The air wasn't as damp as before also. A ventilation system was probably in place already. What caught his attention was that there was an extruded section on a wall where there was a vendor. On the surface, this would have been a street vendor of some sort. Noticing Kamil’s curious glance, Ravas explained.
“It’s a vendor, selling common stuff. It was master Julian’s request.”
The vendor, a middle-aged man, was selling a variety of stuff, ranging from small daggers to flours. He was selling really all kinds of stuff.
“A convenience store, master Julian said,” Ravas added.
Indeed, the spot couldn’t be any better. The store was located at a choke point. Bar farmers, everyone else was likely going to pass this vendor at some point of their days. As the more people moved underground, the more it was going to prosper. Nodding along, they passed by the vendor and headed deeper into the mine.
“The cave system we’ve uncovered earlier has sped up the whole progress. I mean it’s a huge cavity underground. It saved us a lot of time. The cave also has a water source albeit weak. So, everything we need to survive is already there,” he explained while leading Kamil deeper. They ran into several people along the way who acknowledged them with just curt nods. The folks knew that they had a young lord, but not many actually knew his face. When they reached where the hole used to be, it had transformed into very long stairs, leading down. There were significantly more people hanging around at this point when they went down.
Woah, this really feels like a community here.
People were casually chatting around, and he even saw a small group of children running around. The underground town wasn’t that much different from the one on the ground. Of course, there were differences: Such as there was a hard ceiling instead of the sky. And houses were designed not to have roofs. Instead, they were built tall until they reached the ceiling.
“Wow, those houses are very tall, aren’t they?”
“They are around seven floors each. Depending on the height we are working with, it can go as low as three floors.
“Isn’t that a bit too big for a single family to live in?”
Ravas chuckled. “Of course, a family will use a single floor. We call it apartments.”
“Apartments, huh…”
It was a new word as well as a new concept. Generally, a family occupied a whole building. The only exception was inns.
“Do you know where Raem lives?”
“Of course, his place is in the prime location, not far from actually.” He pointed ahead.
By “prime location”, he meant any apartments that were close to the stairs, allowing a faster access to the surface. His place was the first floor. The building was a four-floor one with stone walls, which was another way of saying that the ceiling was rather low in this particular area. He could see seven floor apartments further ahead.
“Is it fully occupied?”
“No, sir. Captain Raem is the only one who’s living there. That spot is meant for officials and the likes.”
“I see. Thank you, Ravas. You may leave me now. I wish to take a look at my leisure.”
The mining foreman was a busy man. He was fully aware of this, thus he let him go. Once Ravas walked up the stairs, he surveyed his surroundings casually, taking his time as he embraced the new, alien, environment. It felt very alien indeed to see a community underground. The whole area was lit very well with countless fire crystal lamps. Even so, there were patches of dark spots where lights couldn’t reach well. Either way, overall, it was looking nice and more importantly it seemed to be working.
“Okay…” Taking a deep breath, he walked toward Raem’s apartment and knocked on the door a few times with no response. This was somewhat expected. He did come here in the morning, but Raem should have already been out training soldiers. Lara usually acted with him, so she was unlikely in the apartment as well. However, for the heck of it, he attempted to open the door which actually opened to his surprise.
“Oh? It’s open. Is somebody inside?” Talking to himself, he carefully opened the door and took a few steps inside to find a girl in a dress.
Wait…
On his second look, he realized that it was Lara in a dress. Lara in a dress. Lara in a dress. They screamed in unison, both shocked to their bones equally.
“AAAAAAAAH!”
“AAAAAAACK!”
It was a plain white dress with laces. While it wasn’t quite a girly one, the mere sight of her wearing a dress shook him to the very core. It may have even damaged his soul.
“What the fuck are you doing?!” He barked at her, who was equally shocked to see someone other than Raem entering their home.
“What do you mean what the fuck I am doing?!” She barked back.
“Why are you wearing a dress?!”
“WHY THE HELL NOT?!” She screamed, her eyes full of intense rage.
Why the hell not indeed. She was a girl and wore a dress.
“Well -” He couldn’t talk back because there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with it. Exhaling, he loosened up. “I, I never saw you in a dress. That’s all.”
Her shoulders sagged visibly; her eyes downcast with a pout.
“I know, dang it. I was just… trying it on…”
He was able to piece together what was going on. Raem was probably out, and she was trying on a dress and was walking around. They were effectively married at this point, and she was trying to tune her feminine charm, probably. She could probably pass as a decent lady as long as she kept her mouth shut which was a tall order to begin with.
“Why are you here to begin with?!” She glared at him.
“I was just having a look at the underground settlement. I knocked, and the door was open, so …”
She placed her hand on her forehead with an exhausted sigh.
“Just don’t tell Raem about this.” She sounded defeated.
He had no intention to. This was strictly between them.
“W, well, excuse me now…” Turning around stiffly, he walked out of the apartment. He didn’t even get to take a look at the interior which was why he wanted to enter in the first place.
Holy shit, that was a shocker. Lara in a dress. Holy crap. I feel dizzy.
He really did feel dizzy.
“Phew.” Letting out a long breath, he casually walked around a bit to calm himself down from the commotion. Then all of a sudden, a smile creeped onto his face. No, it was a smirk.
I guess Raem is quite stoic in bed, eh.
He chuckled. He knew what she was doing because Fionara did something very similar in their early stage of their marriage. She was the one who pushed for the knot, and Tom was very stiff in bed. It was understandable because he never embraced a woman before then. Therefore, she became quite aggressive in bed to compensate. Lara was doing exactly that. Just as he chuckled once again while recalling the good times with Fionara, a lone wind elemental appeared, a green translucent butterfly that was the size of a baby’s hand. It orbited around him. It probably reacted to his thoughts of her.
Yeah, that’s Fionara…
He no longer had doubts. She somehow turned into a wind elemental. She must have worked out a hell of a deal with the Gods, which quite frankly would have not been an easy task. He looked up, expecting to see the sky but instead seeing the dark ceiling of the underground community. Even the ceiling had been properly covered with what looked like bricks.
Gods, do you see me here? I get a feeling that my reincarnation wasn’t exactly my own will. You let it happen, didn’t you.
He didn’t expect an answer, and there wasn’t. He may have been clueless but wasn’t exactly a fool. The age of darkness was encroaching. There had been subtle clues and cues, meaning another hero was going to be required to save mankind. While he was uncertain that he was meant to be one of those heroes from ancient tales, the fact that Ludwig mentioned that he was the only one “who betrayed the wheel of life” reinforced his belief that the Gods knew what they were doing and he had a hunch that they wouldn’t probably have allowed him to be reincarnated otherwise.
Doesn’t matter, either way. I am now no longer a vassal of the man. Karsten, you are going down the next. You have a lot to answer for. Just don’t die before I get to you.
As he climbed the stairs to leave, he ran into Wiara who curtly bowed quickly with her palm on her chest. She had her sword on her belt and was fully armored, an indication that she was either on duty or just finished her task.
“Duke.”
“Do you live underground as well?”
“Yes, it’s just a small one-room apartment, but I used to live in a crudely built hut previously, so I have little complaints.”
He really didn’t feel like asking a woman to show her living quarters. It would be just plain rude.
“How do you like living underground? Please be honest, for I am looking to improve the condition here.”
“Surprisingly painless, I must say. There is absolutely no fear of monsters here first of all, and there is also no need to worry about the weather. And the merchant stall at the entrance sells almost everything you need. I wager that some don’t even leave the underground community at this point.”
“Do you have any complaints?”
“Well, I do, but it’s not something you can get here.”
“Oh? Pray tell.”
“Well, you can’t bask in the sun.”
Indeed, it wasn’t something that could be accomplished underground. At least, he did not think so.
“I see. If you see anything that could use improvements, please inform Ravas, the foreman.”
“Shall do.” Bowing curtly again, she went down stairs and soon disappeared from his sight in a hurry.
She seems like a busy woman.
Since she was a fire mage, she was given patrolling jobs most of the time since fire was the most effective damage type against werewolves, which were the most common monsters in the region. There were occasionally great bears but they were too slow to catch up with humans on the run and, therefore, weren’t considered a threat unless it was approaching a settlement specifically. On his way out, he observed the “convenience store” from a bit of a distance. It wasn’t exactly busy in a conventional way. Instead, pretty much everyone stopped by and grabbed a thing or two along the way. Some grabbed a loaf of bread. Some grabbed some fruits. Some even purchase clothes off the vendor. It was really selling everything.
Well, Julian is a merchant through and through.
Traditionally, merchants sold their goods at a designated market in a settlement. They weren’t allowed to sell their goods anywhere else.
Or were they? I don’t think they were explicitly disallowed to sell elsewhere…
Either way, the point was that he had never seen a lone merchant selling his goods out of nowhere, and that Julian was trying out something entirely new in his eyes.
“Good enough,” he whispered to himself as he moved on and exited the mine.
Should I rename Laufeld as well? I think it’s on its own now…
A lot was going on in his mind. While he was feeling completely lost initially, he came to see endless possibilities of what he could do now that there was nothing that would restrain him. In addition to that, the town’s wheat produce he could keep doubled, more than that in fact. According to Cezary, at the current level of wheat productivity, the town could easily sustain over 25,000 population, on par with Lux. Of course, if the population reached such a level, some of the new migrants would end up farming as well, further increasing wheat production.
“Good, good,” he said to himself while nodding along.
I am going to need a strong foundation for the future.
Should the two nations enter a conflict once again in near future, he was not going to side with Karsten who willingly discarded his service. Granted, he did agree that Laufeld was a small price to pay, but it didn’t alter the fact that he was discarded - without his input -. In the end, Karsten was no longer his king; He could be considered an enemy even. He had the right finally. Yes, the right - This was something he had been looking for, a valid reason to go after the king. He would never be able to convince his people with a superstitious reasoning such as “he killed my family in my former life”. He now had a genuine reason.
A wrong move against me, and you will be mine, Karsten.