“Hmm…, well, I certainly did not expect this development,” Kamil remarked as he watched over a group of women jogging along near the barrack. Heiga was in front of them, followed closely by Wiara. Yes, the princess was leading the group of women to a jogging session. He was informed that, as soon as the princess spotted a group of women working out, she immediately headed over to them and inquired who they were. Upon learning about Wiara’s all female squadron, she took the leadership by her superior rank and demoted her to second-in-command. Wiara actually didn’t mind this awkward development because it meant she would have a powerful backer to her operations. She may have been demoted but, in reality, it was a promotion because she could use some of the princess’ authority to command others. In other words, not many could roll over her anymore when it came to authority because she could easily claim that she was under the princess’ orders.
“Your orders?” Raem asked, who was standing a few steps behind him with his hands on the back. Kamil was one of the very few who was able to overrule Heiga. Both watched Heiga jogging in front of the group of the all female squadron. If he wanted, this could stop at once. “Should I stop her?”
He heaved a long sigh. Indeed, she was the polar opposite of Flora who was more of an introvert. “I am thinking I should let the woman be. Can I ask for your honest opinion on what I should do, though?”
“How should I know? I never had a second wife, a princess even.”
Kamil facepalmed. “You know what, I am just going to let her be unless Wiara asks for an intervention.”
“If you are fine with this, it’s your call.”
He wasn’t sure whether he was fine with it. He simply did not know how to react to this situation because he would have never imagined that a princess would go out of her way to jog. This, meanwhile, reminded him that Flora should perhaps exercise a bit as well. Either way, he decided to change the subject.
“Anyway, since I am here, anything to report?”
“Nothing much. Refugees aren’t flowing in anymore now that the deadland has been taken care of. I’ve heard that some have tried to go back to Fadin to restart the broken city.”
Fadin was originally under the control of the royal family, the Egra, meaning there was no lord residing. There would have been a governor instead. What that meant was that abandoning the city was a lot easier. Their governor was the first one to have fled if rumors were correct. With their leader gone, everyone rushed to leave the city behind - or at least that was what he had been told. Whatever the case, the indisputable fact was that the city was abandoned.
Whatever happened to Gonne anyway? I haven’t heard anything about the city in a while.
Nestor was usually the one who had been updating him with such news. But, with the refugee problem subsiding, he hadn’t been informing him with any further news.
“Have you heard anything about Gonne?”
“Gonne?” Raem looked a bit surprised. “Haven’t heard of that city in quite a while.”
As a guard captain, it would be none of his business to keep track of a foreign city. At the same time, the fact that he hadn’t heard anything of the city meant that there were very little or no refugees originating from the city. In either case, there was no need to ask him further on the subject.
“I see. Keep up the good work, Captain.”
When he arrived back in the Fenchel manor, Nestor was waiting for him at the main entrance which was not a common occurrence. He instantly knew something was up.
“Sir Vogel, what’s the commotion?”
“Duke, a messenger from Atra has arrived.”
“From Atra?”
He could think of two reasons why a messenger would be here. It was either the crown prince was not happy with the current situation at the labyrinth or they could be asking for some sort of reinforcement in the battle with the dragon of the North although the latter wasn’t something he would be able to assist with, given the fact that he had barely enough to defend his own city with. If he was to face the dragon, it would be alone so that he could fire his magic as much as possible without being concerned about friendly fire.
“Any idea why he is here?”
“I’ve asked him subtly, but he is tight-lipped. He wants to talk to you directly.”
“Alright, let’s get this over with.”
Nodding, Nestor followed him into the manor.
“The name’s Lakatos Bence,” said the messenger who was wearing a faded white robe with black belts. He had short brown hair with stubble covering the lower half of his face. His light brown eyes were fixed at Kamil as soon as he answered the study, flanked by Nestor. The man looked to be in middle-age with some of his black hair having turned gray and deep wrinkles on his forehead and around his cheek. He was more than twice older than Kamil probably.
He quickly added, “I’ve come here on behalf of the crown prince.”
“Sir Bence, welcome,” Kamil replied as he took his seat with Nestor standing next to him. “I am sure that we are both busy, yes?”
It was an indirect way of saying not to waste time and get straight to the point.
“True indeed,” Lakatos replied. “The prince requests your presence in a plan.”
Apparently, his visit had nothing to do with the labyrinth and a possible reinforcement. It was entirely for a different subject. The crown prince apparently wanted Kamil, a neutral entity, to negotiate with the Kingdom of Egra and Estana and form a grand alliance. Lakatos claimed that he was the perfect man for the job.
“Our relationship with Egra isn’t ideal, and we have virtually no relationship to speak of with Estana. You, however, have decent relationships with all three nations,” he explained.
Well, he isn’t wrong about that at least.
His relationships with the three nations were indeed “decent”. A royal marriage tie with Estana, a former vassal of Egra who broke off cordially, and he had a successful negotiation with Atra previously.
“May I ask why the crown prince wants the grand alliance?”
There was a brief moment of hesitation before Lakatos would answer.
“The crown prince would like to form a massive army and tackle the hordes of monsters once for all.”
A bad idea, and I assume he wants to tackle the North for his own benefit. Estana wouldn’t join anyway since their hands are full already.
But he didn’t say his thoughts out loud for the sake of etiquette. He couldn’t deny the request outright, either. He would need to come up with a reasonable excuse.
“Does the highness not know that the dragons are behind the monsters?” It was Nestor who spoke up.
“Why would you think so? It’s our understanding that we must defeat the monsters to reach the dragon.”
Kamil and Nestor looked at each other with both looking amused. It was apparent that Atra knew little of the ancient knowledge. In fact, Atra, Egra, and Siwen didn’t really care about the ancient knowledge at all because their founder, Florent Mazet, didn’t put out warnings and statements like Kozma Rajmund. Even Rem, a “holy” kingdom, discarded historical records willingly in favor of their own version.
“Sir Vogel, perhaps you should bring in the translated texts to show.”
Nodding, he departed to grab a bunch of scrolls.
“How is the new settlement?” Kamil asked, trying to come up with a topic to converse with until Nestor would return.
“He hasn’t done anything. We just don’t have the leeway to create a new settlement at the moment,” Lakatos replied with a grim look. He wanted to ask whether they really did lose an entire army but that would have been a bit rude to ask.
I have to admit that I wouldn’t want to be in a place of higher authority. Imagine all the headache-inducing matters I would need to deal with.
Ceres was a small city, and he was already busy enough. He didn’t want to imagine the amount of paperwork he would need to go through for someone like a crown prince. He would need to delegate at such a level. The problem with delegation was finding the right people for specific tasks. For Kamil, Cezary and Nestor were covering everything for him, but he would need to add more people to the roster in near future.
“If the crown prince is not going to do anything, would it be fine to withdraw my support for the settlement?”
Although not much, some resources were being spent to maintain a line of supplies to the settlement. The biggest drain was maintaining a shipping lane for an airship. A whole airship was being wasted for nothing more than transporting a meager amount of supplies. According to the intel he had received, there were about four mercenaries at the spot.
They are probably not leaving since they are being fed…
He had plenty of experiences with refugees and learned that they did not prefer to leave while being fed for free. It wasn’t hard to understand such behavior. Why would anyone choose to work if they are being fed for free? He, Cezary, and Nestor had a discussion about it, and Cezary proposed something called “the assimilation plan” if the level of refugees they received remained high. Fortunately or not, the number of refugees declined sharply after the deadland was cured, so whatever his plan was, it had been put on hold.
They are still going somewhere, though. I am glad that it’s not here, but other lords might have their heads in their hands…
Ceres, formerly Laufeld, was able to handle the huge influx of refugees only because it had a huge amount of spare wheat. Ordinary settlements wouldn’t have the leeway to take in more than 10% of their total population, probably even less if his own experience was anything to go by. Common folks were struggling to get by daily, and the wealthy would need to fork over to support the refugees, which would be a tall task to even ask.
“I apologize for taking too much time.” Nestor had just returned with about three rolled papers in his arm. There were well over a dozen, but he must have chosen important ones. “Sir Bence, these are translated texts from ancient stone tablets found in Tantan.”
“Tantan?” Lakatos raised his left eyebrow. “I was unaware of such a thing. We are talking about the same fishing hamlet, yes?”
A hamlet? It’s either their info on the town is severely outdated or they are looking down on the place deliberately.
Kamil replied, “Yes, although I wouldn’t call the place a hamlet. I happened to discover that they had an ancient underground archive. Their records seem to date back thousands of years.”
Lakatos made a doubtful expression. “Are you certain? They could have doctored such an archive in order to boost their importance.”
He and Nestor glanced at each other. It was clear that Lakatos, or Atra as whole, undervalued the town significantly.
Why Tantan specifically, though? Yeah, they almost had a war recently, but the town was so far away from the front line.
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The only reason he could think of was a potential border dispute. However, from the ancient texts, it was clear that the town had been a part of the Kingdom of Egra for around two thousand years at least.
“Either way, if you read the translated text…”
“I shall not bother with it,” Lakatos interjected Nestor. “I shall not trust uncertified text.”
It was true that the scrolls were uncertified even though both Cezary and Nestor sighed them off. Since it was a piece of historical document, more scholars around the world would need to sign them in order to be fully certified. But the certification was such a trivial matter for Kamil and Co that they never bothered. Nestor glanced at Kamil, signaling for an intervention, and he replied, “We are at an impasse then. I am unwilling to go further on this unless you read them.”
While he did feel that Lakatos had a point in not trusting them, he believed that the underground archive was genuine. Besides, he had an extended contact with the Weber, and they weren’t a deceitful bunch.
“Duke, you cannot be serious,” Lakatos argued. “May I remind you that I am here on the crown prince’s behalf?”
So what? Let’s say form a grand army. Then what? They will be annihilated, I assure you, and many, many, families will lose their fathers. Worst of all, that would just be the beginning of a catastrophe.
He preferred the current situation where each nation was doing whatever they could to hold the line. In the current situation, a loss was just a loss that didn’t shake the foundation. If a grand army was formed and would inevitably be defeated, the loss would be too large to ignore. Each settlement would struggle to defend themselves, and the mankind as whole would collapse like dominoes.
I hate to admit it, but Karsten has the right idea…
He had no idea what had gotten into the former king, but holding the line as long as possible with minimal resources was the way to go in his mind. Either way, the bottom line was that he was not going to go with the idea of forming a grand army because it would just mean a swift total collapse.
He declared, “Sir Bence, I shall take no part in your endeavor.”
Lakatos looked offended. “Is that your final decision?” He asked gravely.
“It is. I have my reasons, and it’s related to the translated texts which you are unwilling to even read. We have nothing more to talk about if you are going to ignore the scrolls.”
Lakatos clicked his tongue in displeasure, likely on a crossroad between accepting Kamil’s demand or just outright walking out. Choosing the latter would be quite foolish for a mere diplomat unless he was someone more powerful.
“I will read them. Let us meet again tomorrow,” said Lakatos, sounding clearly displeased, but Kamil couldn’t care less. Taking the scrolls Nestor had brought, he walked out of the study once showing respect to Kamil.
“Now, what was that about?” He wondered aloud.
“They clearly have some sort of beef with Tantan. Perhaps Lord Weber had some issues with Atra?”
“I was thinking about a border dispute, but yours makes more sense. Still, it’s hard to believe that Lord Aaron Weber had an issue with them.”
“We could just ask him.”
“Oh?”
“He has been staying here for a while now. I did report that to you, yes?”
He probably had, but Kamil had forgotten about it entirely. Aaron Weber had retired and handed the seat of Tantan to his first son. Not wanting to influence his successor, he had basically withdrawn himself from public eyes and even left the town all together.
“Is he here alone?”
“I believe so. He even left his wives behind. It’s been about two years now, I believe.”
Man, that’s some dedication right there. I can’t believe I haven’t invited him yet. How rude of me.
“Kindly call him right away. I must apologize, and this is a good excuse to ask him.”
Nestor beamed a grin. “Yes, Duke.”
And it didn’t take long for him to arrive. Aaron Weber had a similar faded white robe like Lakatos except that he wasn’t wearing belts, and the robe had somewhat high collars. A significant amount of his hair had turned gray.
“Duke,” he said while leaning forward slightly with his palm on his chest. “It’s been a while.”
“Lord Weber -” Kamil stood up at once to receive him. However, Aaron interjected him.
“I am a lord no more. I am just an old man.”
“Matters not,” he retorted. “I shall call you Lord Weber.”
Aaron beamed back a grin. “If you insist. I am in no position to demand.”
Kamil beckoned a maid to bring tea, and they relocated to a table nearby.
“I sincerely apologize for calling you now. I had completely forgotten about your presence.”
“No need for that. I could tell you were busy. Besides, I am a man of no importance now.”
They shared a pleasant laughter together.
“So, how do you feel about Ceres?”
“Busy and lively was my first impression, which was something I've wanted for Tantan. The town needed trade routes, and it had none until you came along with the invention of airships.”
Kamil nodded along in acknowledgement. The airship helped Laufeld to succeed also. Without refugees from Gonne, it would have been a lot harder to transform the once farming community into a bursting city that was Ceres. Due to the large influx of refugees, he didn’t have to unsettle existing farmers who would later become the backbone of his city with a steady flow of wheat. At this point, a maid entered with two cups of Macomaco tea.
“There is actually a reason I’ve invited you here,” said Kamil while taking a sip.
“Yes, I figured as much. There would be a reason why you suddenly remember me,” replied Aaron with a crooked grin. “No hard feelings, Duke.”
He briefly explained that a diplomat from Atra had arrived and that it looked as if he was deliberately downplaying the importance of Aaron’s town.
“Have you crossed them in your tenure?”
Aaron was taking a sip and gently put down the cup with a subtle snicker. “Indeed, I have. It was decades ago, however. They wanted me to defect to Atra along with the town.”
It makes sense now then. He refused obviously, hence the bad blood.
He explained in detail that, not long after he inherited the seat from his father, Atra contacted him in shadow, urging him to defect to Atra with promises of support.
He added, “I reckon they were betting on the fact that I was just a young lad at that time. They wanted to make my head turn.”
“That still doesn't explain the bad blood between you two. I mean, what you’ve done was fully justified.”
A lord choosing to stay loyal to his kingdom was hardly anything to get angry over indeed.
“True, I didn’t tell you one minor detail.”
“Oh?”
“I was so vehemently against the idea and subsequently became quite agitated that I may have killed the diplomat on the spot.”
“May have…? As in you are not sure?”
“I slashed my sword at him, and he was carried out by his own people. Whether he may have survived or not, I am unsure.”
Um…, wait a sec.
“Lord Weber, do you happen to recall the name of the diplomat?”
“Certainly, his name was Lakatos Bence. I still remember due to the severity of the incident.”
Fuck. Me.
Kamil rubbed the bridge of his nose with a deep frown, and Aaron was quick to catch his reaction. Laughing pleasantly, he asked Kamil.
“Oh, funny. Is he here? Bence?”
“Yes, sir.”
So, it’s not that Atra looks down on Tantan. It’s this man, Bence, who has an issue with Lord Weber. Well, I can’t blame him, either, given what had transpired.
“May I meet him?”
“Excuse me?”
“Duke, it’s been decades, and he survived. It’s all water under the bridge.”
“Ehm, for you perhaps, Lord Weber. But Sir Bence still holds a grudge.”
“Which is exactly why I wish to meet him and apologize. I shall speak to him, a man to a man.”
Given the fact that Lakatos held his grudge for “decades”, he wasn’t certain whether Aaron would be able to smooth things out. At the same time, he felt that there wasn’t anything to lose at this point.
“Very well, I will have someone patch you early tomorrow. You shall have your meeting, Lord Weber.”
He was actually very much interested in how the meeting would go.
“What is the meaning of this?!” Lakatos exclaimed, almost shouted, as soon as he noticed Aaron standing next to Kamil upon entering the study the next morning.
“Long time no see, Lord Bence,” said Aaron gleefully with his hands on his back.
Ignoring his greeting, he demanded with a raised voice, “Duke, I ask you again: What is the meaning of this?!”
“I fail to understand. Lord Weber is under my command. He is here as my scholar. Surely, you cannot tell me who to hire?”
Of course, it was a lie.
“What…? That’s absurd!”
“The duke speaks the truth, Lord Bence. I’ve passed my seat to my son and have left Tantan entirely.” And Aaron went along with the improvisation smoothly.
It looked like Lakatos wanted to say something. They could see his mouth animated, but no word was being released from his tongue. Instead, he ended up growling.
“Lord Bence,” Aaron spoke. “It has been decades. If you want my apology, I shall do that. However, I was not in the wrong. As a vassal of the Kingdom of Egra, I had every right to have struck you down. At least, you understand my position, yes?”
He let out a long exasperated sigh and admitted, “Yes, but I was just a messenger. Isn’t it an unspoken rule not to strike down messengers?”
Oh, shit. Bence is right on that.
The common courtesy was not to harm messengers because they were simply doing their jobs. While there were cases where messengers were stuck down in history, those were rather extreme cases in dire situations.
“You aren’t wrong, but it isn’t a written rule,” Aaron said. “Still, I can offer you my apology if you desire.”
“No need for that,” Lakatos replied promptly. “As you said, it’s been decades. It did leave me a long scar on my chest, however.”
Kamil tried to imagine the scene where Aaron, out of sheer anger, struck Lakatos with his sword. It would have been totally unexpected for him, and he would have probably thought that he was done for. The man had every right to have a grudge. On the flip side, Aaron wasn’t wrong, either. It had been decades. He should have let go. More importantly, he was within his right to have struck him down.
Neither is wrong. At least, Lord Weber is offering a solution.
“Sir Bence,” Kamil decided to alter the subject, “Have you read the scrolls?”
“Yes, I have.” Then his attention moved to Aaron. “The underground archive, is it a real thing?”
“I can attest that it’s been there as long as Tantan existed. It existed long before it was known as ‘Tantan’ even in my opinion. But there hadn’t been a concentrated effort to translate them until the Duke came along.”
Furrowing eyebrows, Lakatos folded his arms. If he were to believe what he read, assembling the grand army was going to be a pointless endeavor indeed.
Kamil told him, “Sir Bence, the current strategy should be such that each settlement must hold the line for as long as they can.”
“What would be the point? If the Age of Darkness is true, then we will be wiped out eventually, no?”
“The dragons will eventually show themselves to us at a certain point. We must defeat them when they do. Until then we must hang on and conserve resources.”
“That’s … easier said than done,” Lakatos lamented. “We already have …, nevermind.”
Looks like the rumor was true then. Atra did lose a sizable army.
It was most likely also why they were trying to drag others into an alliance to form “the massive army”. They had exhausted a lot of their resources already.
“Sir Bence, I want you to return to the crown prince and show him the scrolls. Take them. We have copies. I would like you to inform him that I am stopping the supply run to the settlement.”
“Duke, that’s …” Lakatos trailed off, seeing the logic in his decision. If conserving resources was one of top priorities, wasting it on a meaningless settlement was going to be an eyesore indeed. “Very well, I will inform the crown prince.”
Glancing at Aaron for the last time, he leaned forward to show respect. “I must take my leave, Duke.”
“Lord Bence, wait,” Aaron said, walking around the table and approaching him at once. He extended his hand for a handshake. “We aren’t young anymore, and this could well be the last time we meet. You refused my apology, but at least we can shake our hands.”
Reluctantly, they shook their hands.
“Farewell, Sir Weber,” said Lakatos.
“Farewell, Sir Bence.”
And so, the diplomat departed Ceres.
“Lord Weber, would you like to work here?”
Slight confusion as well as surprise clouded his eyes. “That’s a bit out of blue, isn’t it?”
“You are clearly of sound mind and are capable. It would be a shame to put talents of your caliber to sleep. Besides, you can take a vacation only for so long. You ought to be bored.”
“It is true that I am bored indeed. Very well, I won’t play hard to get. I shall accept your offer.”
“Just so we are clear, I don’t want you to bow before me or anything. I respect you as an elder, and I want you to be more like a teacher than a vassal.”
Aaron beamed a smile. “Fine by me, Duke. I shall teach you what I know.”
And so he joined the fold.
“By the way, congratulations,” said Aaron as he approached him at once and patted his back.
“Excuse me?”
“Marrying a princess is a high honor for any man.”
“Hah.” He waved his hands away dismissively with a subtle laughter. “It was an unwanted marriage. I am more than happy with my first wife.”
Aaron’s face stiffened at once. “Duke, my first lesson for you. Never speak your true thoughts to people like me. It can easily be abused. If a maid overheard, it can easily leak out and can be used against you.”
He looked around to find no maids or anyone else around. Aaron picked this moment for the purpose of teaching him.
“Thank you, Lord Weber. I will keep that in my mind.”
“There is another I wish to tell you.”
“Yes?”
“If you do love your first wife, get her a son. Nothing will please her more than gifting her a son.”
Kamil scratched his nose with a sigh. “That’s easier said than done, isn’t it?”
“True, but a first wife wants a son. I am sure that you know that.”
“I do know. Thank you, Lord Weber.” Then he recalled how Edmund had five or six daughters. The pain and pressure he and his mistresses would have gone through …, he couldn’t laugh at him anymore at this point.
Aaron patted his back once more. “Take it easy. I do know that you have a lot on your plate.”
Kamil grinned back and heaved a long sigh.