About a year and half passed by after Laufeld became “a free city” due to agreement between Egra and Estana with the former releasing vassalage while Estana vowing to protect the city. Kamil turned fifteen years old. A lot happened during that time. First of all, Laufeld had been renamed to Ceres. It was a name Flora came up with. When he wanted to rename the town to signal the new start, he asked those around him for a new name. Only three people came forth with a new name. Flora came up with Ceres. Cezary came up with another. Finally, unexpectedly it was Lara who came up with a weird name. Anyway, apparently “Ceres” used to be a city found in ancient texts. It was mentioned rather frequently and it seemed to bear a good meaning. Thus, when Kamil wanted to change the name of the town, she suggested Ceres.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/1251/yaRWom.jpg]
As for the conflicts in the North, it became a messy affair for a bit. Elsos eventually surrendered to the Kingdom of Egra, becoming a part of newly conquered territory for the Kingdom. The acquisition of the city altered the borderline Eastward, and they came in contact with a nation that they never had a contact with: Rem. According to Kerekes whose nation shared a border with, Rem was a theocracy and worshiped the God of Life. Apparently, the head church of Life was there. “Not a harmful religion but a bit aggressive about spreading their religion” was her opinion about them. Rem’s “holy mission” was to spread the religion. Kerekes claimed that Estana didn’t interfere with Rem too much and let their missionaries enter freely. She predicted that they would send missionaries to the Kingdom of Egra pretty soon. Meanwhile, Karsten constructed a new fortress right by their border with Rem to keep eyes on them. Kerekes laughed at the action, stating that it’s Rem’s missionaries they should keep their eyes on, not their army.
As for Siwen rebels, they declared themselves to be the Kingdom of Narr although they were mostly called the petty Kingdom of Narr or just Narr. Nobody was recognizing them as a full kingdom yet. The petty Kingdom of Narr had just three settlements, the former capital of the Siwen, Staidone and two small towns in Sluple and Baris. Atra did manage to siege the capital. But, due to dwindling supplies and harsh winter, they were forced to withdraw. In the end, the Kingdom of Atra gained Puras and Suvi and became a powerhouse effectively. It was inevitable that Atra and Egra would eventually clash. It was only a matter of when, not if, because both nations had expansion in their minds clearly.
As for Estana, they showed no further activities other than sending small groups of migrants periodically over to Ceres. In just a year, they had sent about five hundred migrants, boosting the population of the town to well over 8,000. It wasn’t just migrants from Estana. Gonne became very unstable due to the exodus of bottom feeders, and pretty much everyone in the city was leaving the place in doves, some of them ended up in Ceres. According to the latest intel, the city had just over 20,000 people left, losing half of its entire population. Those left in the city were there still because they couldn’t find a way to leave. Gonne was expected to vanish at one point. Karsten didn’t seem to care much for the city.
Finally, Elias Hunt became a landed noble soon after he declared his retirement from active duties. His wish to establish a new settlement was granted. His fief was between Altzell and Tanta, right by mountains and close to a river. It was very close to where a fortress used to be. The new village was given the name “Reeva”, which was apparently the name of his deceased wife. The establishment of Reeva pleased Aaron Weber the most since it meant that land trading could be a possibility soon.
“Please raise your arms,” said a maid who was measuring Kamil’s chest with a measuring tape. He had a growth spout in the last year and had gotten taller substantially. As a result, whole new sets of wardrobe were required. The boyish elements in his appearance were gone. Now, there stood a youthful-looking man with short brown hair with vividly blue eyes. Flora was observing a pair of maids busily measuring her husband from a distance from a table, seated. She had her head supported by her hand on chin and had a faint, but a satisfied look, on her face. She seemed unusually happy at the moment. She married a boy, four years junior. Rightfully so, she had her concerns although she didn’t have a choice at that time. It was either him or get murdered by her own father eventually. Even so, even then, as a girl in her prime, she wanted a good looking man who’d stood by her. It took years, four and half years to be exact, but there stood a man, her husband. Of course, that wasn’t the only reason why she was in a very good mood.
“I am pregnant,” She declared with tears forming in her eyes and a big smile when he was finally done. They had been trying for over a year, and she was becoming increasingly anxious because she wasn’t getting pregnant. She had to bear children; That was her sole reason for existence. Without a child to her name, she would be cast away, forever forced to live in shadow. With a baby in her womb, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Thus, she was happy, extremely happy.
Now, as for Kamil, his eyes went wide upon hearing her declaration. He almost asked, “Who’s the father?” He almost asked because it felt surreal.
A father already?
He didn’t exactly have an issue with being a father. It was just that he felt he was a bit too young. He was only fifteen years old after all. But he understood why he had to have a child. Donning a bright smile, he placed his hands on her shoulders who was looking up to him. Yes, she now had to look up. He was taller by about half a head. She recalled the day she met him for the first time; She had to look down on him at that time.
“Good job, Flora,” he told her softly to which she looked down to wipe her tears off. She became a first wife for real, a title no one could take away at this point. Avina was equally overjoyed. The truth was that she was already two months pregnant because they had to be absolutely certain that she was in fact pregnant. Thus, she and Avina waited until she missed her period two times. If it was her second child, they would have been more lax. Of course, it wasn’t over. Ideally, she wanted a son but knew that she was being greedy at this point. Any child was better than none, especially as the first wife of a duke. But there was certainly fear of not being able to conceive another child, given the fact that how long it took her to get pregnant in her prime. Regardless, she donned a positive smile and looked back at him.
“Thank you.” She almost choked in tears but managed to reply properly.
The pair of maids bowed to congratulate them from a short distance. Meanwhile, he extended his hand toward her; She didn’t understand the purpose and wasn’t unsure how to respond.
“I don’t think we’ve ever taken a walk together, have we?”
They may have had in Lux when they were younger and more adventurous, but they certainly never went out together ever since they arrived in Laufeld but they weren’t exactly a husband and a wife back then. Of course, she had no reason to refuse. She had no side effects, and Avina reckoned that she was one of those blessed women who suffered no ill effects from pregnancy although it was a bit too early to make such a prediction.
“Perhaps in Lux, but not since we’ve arrived here.” Having said so, she took his hand gently. The maids opened the door for them.
“Duke!” A pair of guards hailed him with powerful voices. Then they quickly realized that Flora was with him, which was in their knowledge the first occasion.
“Duke and Duchess!” They repeated with equally powerful voices.
“We shall be taking a walk,” said Kamil, letting them know what he was doing in case anyone was looking for him.
“Understood!”
They walked outside, holding their hands.
image [https://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/2008/rdontp.jpg]
The bursting city of Ceres laid before their eyes. If they were strangers to the city, the first thing they would have noticed was the exceptionally clean cobblestone roads. For a city of this size, such clean roads would have been a rare sight. It wasn’t just the clean roads that stood out, either. Since its buildings were all new, they stood out as well for its cleanliness. One would never think of it as a farming community which it indeed was just a few years ago. The former Laufeld farmers settled down to the North of the town while new migrants settled down underground.
As they approached the market square, they saw Esther’s stall which was packed with people at this point. She had numerous workers with her since there was no way she would serve all these customers alone. Interestingly, a familiar young man was among her workers.
“Oh, he’s at it again,” Kamil remarked with a smirk.
Daniel, dressed in a worker’s attire, was helping her out. He casually conversed with commoners and did his job which was selling goods. It may have been an unthinkable act for a landed noble, but he was literally killing time while being with his mistress.
“I hear they are doing well,” Flora said softly.
It was unclear how Esther was feeling about the whole relationship, but Daniel always seemed very happy whenever he took refuge in Ceres. His visit was rather frequent. At the same time, he drew a clear line and did not bother her too much during day time where she had to work full time as a merchant. She was also taking math lessons from Julian to partake in accounting. Since he’d have nothing to do during day time, he was helping her out. For Esther, it meant one less worker to pay, therefore she didn’t really have an issue.
“Damn, she really is the crimson ruby of Ceres,” Kamil said while he observed her crimson hair waving in the wind.
She became known as “the Crimson ruby of Ceres” due to her beauty and crimson hair. In fact, Daniel was praised for finding such a gem among nobles. Most nobles would just get a list of possible mistress candidates and get it over with. For him to have gone out of his way to seek out a strikingly beautiful woman was deemed worthy of praise within nobility. He didn’t quite understand the logic behind it, but that was how it was.
“Well, she is pretty after all. Even I, a fellow woman, cannot deny it,” said Flora.
Esther had regrown her hair long as per Daniel’s request which made her crimson hair shine. Whenever her hair waved in the air, it looked as if sparkling particles were rolling off a crimson wave. Now, everyone knew that she was taken, but that didn’t deter men from watching her from a distance and fantasizing about her. A portion of the crowd gathered in front of her merchant stall were her fans.
And her boobs are bigger than Flora’s as well but smaller than Lara’s.
Of course, he wouldn’t dare say it out loud or to anyone for that matter. He was a duke after all.
“Miss Teacher! Miss Teacher!”
Children’s high pitched nagging grabbed his attention, drawing his eyes away from Esther toward the public library. Marat in her maid uniform was in front of the widely open doors. She still had the same ponytail, but her face was starting to show slight aging since she was in her mid 30s. There was another woman with her as well, Rose Vogel, Nestor’s wife. The two women had been maintaining the public library. Rose was currently pregnant which was clear with her large belly. She wore her usual robe but without a belt on so that her large belly could be free. She wasn’t about to give birth anytime soon however. She still had some months to go.
“Teach us letters!” The children circled around her cheerfully and nagged. Normally, children would hate education and would rather just run around. However, her way of teaching looked to be a good match for kids because she used pictures to teach them. Her gentle nature also played a part in attracting kids. As for Rose, she was mostly tending books. The public library had about 30 books at the moment. The amount was still small, but this was the first public library ever. There was a romance novel, written by “Ruta”, which happened to describe Raem and Lara’s past in a different setting. Wiara and Rose seemed to be a fan of the story along with Esther who he had no idea that she had time to read even. With some audiences, Flora was secretly writing up another romance story. She would have plenty of time to write one, given her condition.
“Oh, want to learn, don’t you? Come on in, kids,” said Marat with a soft voice while leading the children inside.
“Big belly Rose is here, too!” One of the kids exclaimed gleefully, not realizing why her belly was so large to begin with. Rose simply smiled off and continued to rearrange the books on a shelf. With just one bookshelf, the library wasn’t exactly a library at this point, but the traffic was there albeit small. Almost every morning, a group of children came by to learn, and some women managed to learn basic reading because they wanted to access Gojar’s recipe books; There were five such books which had three copies each.
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“Well, they seem busy enough,” Kamil remarked with a smile, tightly holding Flora’s hand as he walked away from the market square. The statue of Sir Martin stood tall in the middle although no one paid respects anymore except for Lara. From what he was told, she continued to pay respects to the statue every single morning.
I heard that Martin taught her proper spearplay. I guess he must have been like a father figure she never really had…
Lara was destined to die slowly by artificial starvation imposed by her own parents in favor of their son. She was receiving a single meal a day, which was most likely veggie soup. No one would survive long with such a diet. If it wasn’t for Kamil who “purchased” her, she would have certainly died a slow and hungry death. Once she realized that, which was about a year later, she completely cut them off, both mentally and physically. She would never mention her parents unless forced. Raem and Karla knew this, thus they never mentioned her parents. As far as she was concerned, she was an orphan.
Might as well say that when your parents aim to kill you.
Leaving the market square, the couple walked toward the entrance of Ceres underground city. It used to be mining barracks, all of which were deconstructed and were located further down in the underground city. The digging was still going on, but they needed to relocate the barracks further down underground. Where the barracks used to be was now divided into two sections. The northern section became a small market place where those who dwelled underground went out for shopping. The southern section became an army training ground, plus a barrack. It was walled although the walls were low and had a watch power along with a newly constructed fancy barrack that housed beds and even a small cafeteria within. This facility was required for maintaining a larger size army which Ceres now had 1,300 men, 300 of which were designated as defenders. As the couple walked by, they could see Raem, flanked by Lara and Wiara, was overseeing a group of soldiers training swinging their swords over the low walls. Lara noticed them and waved discreetly with a childish smile. Wiara mentioned once to Kamil that Lara had cat-like senses and that her reflex seemed to be off the charts. She claimed that Lara had the potential to be an extremely deadly agile fighter.
Moving on, he looked at the barrack which could be described as a fancy tavern of some sort. It was a very large two story building. Of course, no matter how large it was, there was no way that all 1,300 men could stay in a single structure. Soldiers were given a choice. Those who had a family usually preferred commuting from home while single men tended to strongly favor the barrack for ease of access. An interesting phenomenon was that, because there were two female warriors in Lara and Wiara, some young women showed interest in joining. They were predominantly from the farming community where they felt deeply under appreciated. Wiara had taken them in; There were only about ten of them, thus she had been personally training them to perform convert missions. It was the birth of all female soldiers.
“Oh? Look at that.”
There was a small group of young women who were standing by a wall, looking over the low wall to look at the training men. Kamil beamed a smirk, realizing that the women were looking at the men, some of them were half-naked. Judging by their dresses, it looked like the women were mostly from the farming community. They were quite unhinged since their days were labor intensive, making their desire to find a way to vent stress stronger than women of status who had a face to keep up. Although their fathers tended to find their partners for them, it didn’t mean they couldn’t hang out. For these women, virginity didn’t really matter, meaning they might as well enjoy the pleasure of flesh if they could.
I am sure some are looking their way out of farming as well…
Farming was a backbreaking work. You’d wake up early in the morning and go to bed in the late evening. If Laufeld stayed as it was, a full farming community, these women would have accepted their fate since there was no alternative. However, the situation was different at the moment. With a population of well over 8,000, the exact population census hadn’t been declared yet by Nestor, over 35% of the overall population had jobs that weren’t farming related. In other words, if women wanted, they had a way to get themselves out of farming work. They just had to find a husband who worked in a different field. The soldiers they were drooling at, they were them, well one of them at least.
“Yo, duke!”
A familiar voice called him out from behind. It was Brian and his followers. It looked like they had just returned from a job. There was a familiar looking boy with him; It was Faro who should be around thirteen at this point. He still was a boy. Kamil was aware that his younger brother had joined the guild as an errand boy. According to Vilma, she was going to let him do whatever he wanted. Her reason was simple. It was because she couldn’t do anything she wanted. Lucky for her, she did find a man she loved but she knew the value of freedom very well because she was deprived of it. And, because he loved his mother very much, he wasn’t going to go against her wishes, especially regarding her own children; They were hers after all. She had the right. Besides, she had already let go of her first son. She earned her right, he felt.
“Greetings, Brian. Back from a job, I assume.”
Noticing Flora next to him, Brian quickly showed respect by bowing to which Flora responded with a curt nod. The rank difference meant that she didn’t need to do anything else.
“Duchess, you look beautiful as always,” said Brian. His hair line didn’t rescind further interestingly. Lara swore that he was going to go bald, but the guy was hanging in there. Perhaps, the coldness in the North had a part in him going bald.
“Thank you,” she replied curtly. She didn’t know him and never met him before although Brian may have seen her from a distance. Meanwhile, Kamil glanced at Faro who was carrying a large backpack and then carrying more loot in his hands. The boy was literally acting as a pack mule. He looked spent in addition. Brian may have been putting him to a lot of work. But it wasn’t his business regardless unless he cried for help. The boy was gritting his teeth; he was enduring the ordeal. He had a few more years to go before becoming a full adventurer. He just didn’t have the muscle and physical presence to fight monsters yet.
My little brother, I am here for you if you ever need me. I want you to succeed, trust me on that.
“How goes the guild?” Kamil asked casually, diverting his attention away from his brother.
“It’s settled down now. I’ve recruited more members, and we are packed with job requests from merchants.”
“How many members, if I may ask?”
“We’ve got more than 30 adventurers now.”
That was quite a number. He had recently relocated the guild house to right outside of the Northern gate. The previous building was just a temporary house. Pretty much everyone was living in temporary homes at one point, even including Kamil. The carpenters and masons were progressively relocating them into proper homes and structures, which took years. Their fruits of labor were slowly starting to show.
“I see. Keep up the good work, Brian.”
“Of course, Duke.”
Nodding curtly at each other, they passed each other by.
“That was the guildmaster of Ceres guild,” he told her.
“I see.” She honestly wasn’t interested. She had her hands full already.
They eventually made it back to the manor to find Cezary waiting for him in his study. Nestor was with him, holding several rolled documents in his left arm.
“Milord, we have several business propo-”
Kamil stopped him and interjected, “Before that, I would like to make an announcement.”
And he let them know about Flora's pregnancy.
“Congratulations!” Cezary exclaimed, his face full of happiness. “This is the start of your lineage, Milord.”
At the moment, quite frankly, the gender of the child didn’t matter. The couple needed a child to establish a line of succession, and they’ve got it.
“Congratulations,” Nestor added with a smile. And, after sending Flora to her quarters, they got down and began their business meeting.
“We have a request to build four airships from Estana,” Cezary said while Nestor put down and unrolled a document, displaying the official offer in writing. Kamil glanced at Nestor’s arm where there were two more rolled documents. “It came from the Estana royal family, but I believe it is two requests from two different noble houses.”
“They’ve been giving us a fair amount of work. They have to be doing this on purpose, right?” Kamil said.
“I say half and half,” Cezary replied. “They are capable of building airships but not at a speed we can. Additionally, our craftsmen are far more familiar with it, resulting in a higher quality airship. Finally, we have a quartz mine and can fuel them without any additional cost of transport. All in all, Ceres is the ideal place to build airships.” He, then, gestured to Nestor to unroll another document from his arm, which was another request to build an airship. This time, it was from the Harga.
“Besides,” Nestor added, “Our price may be cheaper than investing in an infrastructure to manufacture one or two airships.”
Building an airship was not an easy task to undertake. The material cost alone was around 4 gold coins. Additional cost of labor and occasional mishaps would add further costs. It was perhaps a case of letting professionals do the job instead of trying to do it yourself.
“We do add some bonuses, like crates full of wind crystals,” Cezary said with a grin.
“Ease on giving out the crystals, would you? I am the one who has to make those,” Kamil pointed out.
“Isn’t it easy for you? You simply cast breeze,” Nestor said innocently. He wasn’t being sarcastic or anything. It wasn’t just his character. And it was true. Normally, a mage would need to cast several times to fully enchant a crystal. For Kamil, however, he had a 100% success rate as long as it was elemental wind.
“Well, true, but ehm…” Feeling defeated, he decided to change the subject. “What’s the third document, Sir Vogel?”
Nestor had one more rolled document in his arm.
“Oh, this? This is from Atra. They’d like to purchase the airship schematic. They are offering 6 gold coins.”
“I don’t see why not, Sir Waszak?”
Cezay beamed a crooked grin. “I don’t see why not, either. Besides, they are willing to pay more, probably to get us to sell. Normally, we would need to ask the king but we haven’t got one anymore.”
Kamil beamed back a crooked grin as well.
“Done deal then.”
The business had been very good indeed. Ceres was known for its speedy and masterful airship manufacturing. Thus, after some words of mouth, the business was booming which indirectly helped Isaac who was selling copper to them. Thus far, Ceres was his only customer, and he would need to make sure that Kamil did not change his copper supply. After Laufeld became a free city, they had to draft a new deal between them since any old arrangements were automatically dissolved. As for the contract between Lux and Laufeld, Edmund never made a direct contact to renew it. He didn’t even attempt as if he knew Kamil would never accept it. It was, after all, a one-sided deal. Cezary was initially worried that he might push hard to renew the ancient contract. But, since there was no contact from him at all, the matter died even before it became an issue.
“Alright, everyone, let’s keep up the good work.” Clapping, Kamil stood up from his desk. Nestor rolled up the documents on the desk and placed them in his left arm once again and walked out. Cezary stayed on and followed him out to the balcony of the manor.
“Alright…,” Kamil said while leaning toward the edge of the balcony overlooking the city. “The walls are coming along nicely.”
“Indeed, sir.”
The stone walls were about 75% complete at the moment. Southern part was still log walls. The part had been delayed because the Macomaco farm would need to be relocated a bit inwards; They were essentially waiting for Grent to relocate.
“Is three hundred enough to defend the walls once complete?”
“Against monsters, yes. Against armies? No chance. I also suspect there will be airborne attacks with airships. We need a new kind of weapon that can shoot down airships.”
Kamil folded his arms. Ceres was a free city. Normally, it wouldn’t get into conflicts. But, if Egra and Estana entered war again, he may be asked to choose a side. As if reading his mind, Cezary asked ominously.
“Which nation will you choose? Egra or Estana?”
He had a score to settle with Karsten but did also have friends.
“Too early, isn’t it?” He dodged the question. He honestly didn’t want to think about it at the moment. He would decide when the time comes, not before.
Stiffening his face, Cezary warned, “Perhaps. But, Milord, please remember that it is very likely Estana’s goal is to make you stand against your former nation. They wouldn’t have made Ceres a free city otherwise. They knew you wouldn’t defect, so they’ve done this to sway your mind slowly and progressively.”
“Why do they want me to begin with?” Kamil replied with a pout. “If anything, they should go after you. You are the brain, not I.”
“Yes, I am a genius,” Cezary admitted plainly. “But nobody employed me even though they knew I was a genius. You did. Why?”
When his mind was made up on leaving Lux and starting anew in Laufeld, he needed allies. He alone couldn’t do it. Within a very limited pool, Cezary was one of his choices.
“I didn’t have much of a choice,” he replied earnestly, feeling that lying to him wouldn’t probably work.
“Perhaps, but the quality of a leader can be determined by those he surrounds himself with. Likewise, corrupt people will likely avoid working for you. Anyway, no matter how smart I am, I am not a leader. And I do wonder whether I would be able to function the way I currently can under a different leader. You let me be free. I am uncertain whether I’d be allowed such a degree of freedom under a different regime.”
He let him be free because he knew fairly certain that he didn’t mean anything malicious. However, it was true that not many would give him the freedom he had so far allowed him.
“Kings will look for capable and trustworthy vassals. I cannot be a vassal because I am not a leader. If it is me they want, they will still want you anyway, who has identified my quality and given me employment.”
Kamil folded his arms, looking unconvinced. Cezary noticed his doubts.
“Think it like this. Why is Lord Daniel being praised for taking Lady Esther in?”
“Because he found her and took her in?”
“Precisely. You’ve found me and took me in. It is the same logic. A gem is not a gem until it is found and identified. And the one who finds gems is rewarded. Even if I didn’t join you, someone probably almost as capable as me would have eventually joined you. Nestor for example, he is perfectly capable of replacing me although he is currently relegated to a minor role due to my greatness.”
What a way to sell yourself high, dude.
Kamil chuckled internally. He had enough of this talk at this point.
“Alright, enough chit chat. Let’s get back to work, shall we?”
“Agreed, let’s.”
Turning around, Cezary went inside, and he followed him after briefly staring at Ceres for a moment.