General Branson felt the tension he’d been carrying in his shoulders finally relax as he listened to the council reacting to his news just as he’d hoped they would.
He’d called the emergency meeting they were having the moment he heard about the conclusion of the surface battle against the kobalds. While news of the victory would of course be well received, the details of how that win had happened were cause for concern. And with the order’s investigators pouring through the army’s records, he needed to take advantage of that concern.
Granted, he probably couldn’t mitigate all the charges he had coming if the grandmaster decided to involve himself further in the investigations. However, when it came down to it, the knight’s code was, at its heart, a matter of opinion. Things like honor, integrity, and the separation between the martial and political were all easily defined, while their application was decidedly not.
So, in order to muddy the waters, he needed to change the narrative.
His recent gambits against Lord Walker could easily be redefined as foresight if he could demonstrate the new noble’s existence was a danger to the city.
The close partnership he had with the nobles? That could be easily explained as a check against the powers of the military without oversight. He wasn’t allowing spies into the army, he was merely allowing the noble houses to serve their city while keeping themselves well informed.
Grandmaster Lancel was a powerful figure, but he was ultimately just a figurehead. The real power in Dorchester was the Council of Leadership. With their support, they could ensure that aside from losing his position as the city’s general, he would come out of this debacle relatively unscathed. In fact, he might even be able to transition his house into a political power rather than a martial one.
But, careful handling of the situation was a must.
Coming out of his thoughts, he looked over to Lord Cosgrave and listened to her rant.
“The young man is dangerous, we’ve known that all along. However, his recent elevation to unique has tied our hands. We can’t have him arrested, and we’re currently under contract with him through a quest issuance, so we can’t banish him…” Thinking quickly she added, “Is there a way we can legally void the contract?” she asked.
Lord Bennings rubbed her chin in thought before answering, “Technically, if he did in fact commit a war crime as General Branson claims, then he has violated the terms and therefore already moot.”
Lord Voltan, whose complete attention was surprisingly here in the now, replied, “Of course he did! If he didn’t perform sacrificial magic, then how could he have cast such a powerful spell?”
The entire room turned to Mage-adept Newbanks, eager to hear her opinion.
She met the room's stares with an uncomfortable look on her face. The matter wasn’t nearly as simple as they made it out to be. Powerful people were involved, like Archmage Jennings and the king. They both had plans for Lord Walker’s presence in the city, and she was only here in the city to ensure that they progressed as planned. But, she couldn’t deny the facts.
Speaking carefully, she said, “Technically, while Lord Walker did use soul magics to fuel the spell in question, he was not the one to perform the sacrifices. The current theory is that he somehow directly interacted with the soul remnants, which while conceivable possible, is currently outside of our understanding. So, I doubt the legal requirements have been met to consider it a war crime.”
Lord Bennings replied quickly, “There is nothing in the war accords to make such a distinction. It is the use of soul magics to empower spells that is illegal, the physical act of making the sacrifices is merely implied… Technically.”
Slamming his hand down on his desk, Lord Peyton snarled, “See! There you have it. We can use that to get him out of our city! We cannot risk him destabilizing the local essence flows any further than he already has!”
That was the crux of the issue. The nobles in this room knew how much the city would stand to gain after the ether finally stabilized. They’d all looked at the records of how Dorchester fared back before the rebellion, and they were eager to see that level of development come again. Even if they had to abandon the city and wait it out, the benefits far outweighed the temporary dangers of the density shift. If Lord Walker was allowed to continue casting such dangerous magics, then all that potential gain was in jeopardy.
Their fear was practically staining the ether with its influence.
It took a great deal of effort to keep the smile off his face as General Branson nodded along in agreement.
—--
Nero sat in his chair with a slight smile on his face, his emotional state so calm that he felt like he was watching a TV drama rather than an argument. While chewing on a delightful piece of unidentifiable meat from the stew he’d been given, he watched the byplay going on with a sense of amused interest.
Nick, who was clearly upset, stood up from his chair and leaned over the table threateningly. “How dare they! Those idiots wouldn’t know how to recognize soul magic if they were taken to the deadlands and fed to a zombie horde!” he shouted.
Grandmaster Lancel looked mildly offended, but he managed to restrain himself from shouting… barely. “I’ve already told you that I agree with you! I’m merely relaying what the council is currently debating. But, the fact of the matter is that according to the law, Lord Walker did violate the war accords by using soul remanents to power his spells.”
Taking a sip of some delightfully sweetened iced tea, Nero ignored Nick’s response to see what was happening over with Cathleen and the captain.
The large wooden conference table they were using was currently filled with people, each broken up into groups having their own conversations. It was a veritable feast of interesting debates and Nero was having a blast shifting his attention between them to listen in on what they were saying.
Cathleen’s calm voice held a tinge of anger as she replied to Ms. Keening. “House Walker can’t afford to take on that many adherents. Even if they are all volunteering to transfer their societal debts at a discount, there are just too many of them.”
Ms. Keening, the current head of the wackos was sitting next to the former assassin, presenting a united front. Nero was feeling a deep satisfaction after finally overhearing the former assassin’s name… Mr. Harring. Unfortunately, he still didn’t know the poor man’s first name. Although he was sure it started with an ‘M’... or maybe a ‘C’.
‘I really should be able to remember the name of the first and only man I’ve tortured for information,’ he thought to himself with a slight frown before shrugging and resuming his eavesdropping.
Captain Angleton leaned forward into the conversation and said, “I have 63 confirmed soldiers and staff who will be following me into Lord Walker’s service. While I don’t personally have a great deal of wealth, I’m sure many of them would be willing to offer their help in supporting House Walker’s efforts to redeem so many troubled citizens of Oglivarch.”
Mr. Harring was on the tip of his seat, almost bouncing in place with his enthusiasm. “I don’t think that will be necessary. Many of us who’ve decided to give Lord Walker our lives have agreed to transfer our assets into his house as proof of our resolve. We know Lord Walker is just beginning his rise, and we are more than willing to earn our opportunity to follow him.”
Cathleen’s frown was pronounced enough to give her face wrinkles. “Do you intend to turn him into one of your southern prophets?” she hissed in anger.
Standing up from his chair, Mr. Harring shouted, “Of course not! Lord Walker is no mere prophet! He is a hero! He is an example of what we should all aspire to be. Our meaningless mundane lives will now have a purpose under his rule! He has shown us that we could be more than what we were. We saved actual Knights of Dorchester! We’ve won a battle against incalculable odds for the sake of the city while barely losing a single man! We’re no longer just citizens of Dorchester, living and dying at the whims of the nobles… we’re Lord Walker’s Wackos! And we’ll be damned to the deepest hells if we don’t live up to that title!”
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Mr. Harring’s declaration was so loud that it drowned out the rest of the room. Several people who Nero guessed were either wackos or some of those press-ganged criminals all stood up and cheered at the conclusion of his speech.
While Nero understood on some level that the crazy bastard was talking about him, he was easily able to ignore the implications. In fact, seeing the dramatic conclusion to the scene was enough to make him want to start clapping. ‘This is just like one of those period dramas about one of the thousands of revolutions against oppressive regimes,’ he thought to himself in appreciation.
Suddenly, the thought of what happened to whoever led those revolutions came to mind, and Nero wondered if he should intervene. He had no intention whatsoever of becoming a martyr. There wasn’t a single cause he could think of that he was willing to die for. Argue about? Of course. Complain about? Sure. Mock? Most definitely. But die? Not a chance.
Returning his attention to Cathleen, Nero was happy to see her successfully calming the excitable man back down.
“Lord Walker is many things, but following him will not give your life the meaning you think it will. He has stated many times that he is planning to live a life of freedom and adventure. His interests are solely related to magic and combat. He will not be the political figurehead you seem to think he will,” she stated unequivocally.
After returning to his seat, Mr. Harring’s face remained unmoved. “The fact is, none of us know what he will be.”
Ms. Keening nodded in agreement. “That’s right! Aside from the fact that Lord Walker intends to form The Walker Adventuring Company, we don’t know where our lord’s path will lead him. But, I very much doubt it will be anywhere we won’t want to follow him.”
Captain Angleton’s firm voice interrupted the debate. His slow, measured voice subtly forced the pace of the conversation to slow down. “All we can do is judge Lord Walker by his actions. He has put himself in danger on more than one occasion for what he thought was right. It’s obvious that he intends to seek out dangerous situations, protecting the weak and the innocent. If that leads him into conflict with politicians, so be it. But, even if it doesn’t, even if he merely leads us toward the next threat to the citizenry of Oglivarch, then we’ll still have earned much in having followed him. His zest for life, personal ethics, and reluctance for power have earned our support. Would you have these people go back to their sentences under Dorchester’s rule and deny them the opportunity to reach for something more?”
Nero almost blushed. He really had no idea how they’d so completely misunderstood him. ‘It’s probably a casting issue. I bet the part of Nero Walker was supposed to be played by Tom Hanks or something,’ he thought to himself sarcastically, while chuckling to himself silently.
Cathleen, obviously still pretty annoyed, replied, “You don’t think he wants power? Are you blind? He has spent every waking moment trying to learn magic and becoming stronger. His leveling speed is the fastest I’ve ever heard of. His talents in destruction and combat nearly brought the entire building down on top of us barely a few hours ago. He is a war god in the making, and treating him as some kind of paragon of virtue is only going to disappoint you.”
Nero paused his spoon before he could take another bite. ‘Holy crap. Well said you beautiful woman!’ he thought to himself with a smile. ‘I wonder how old she is… she’s really wise.’
Ms. Keening replied before anyone else could. “We’re not unaware of his personality. He’s brash, irreverent, unwilling to compromise, and most likely a little crazy. But, he’s also the kind of man who’d take in a bunch of poorly trained caravan guards and lead them into a battle that matters, simply because they asked him to. We asked for a chance to prove ourselves, and he didn’t hesitate for a second to give it to us. He took one look at the bunch of failures we were and said, ‘You’re wackos now. Embrace your insane dreams and follow me to greatness.’ For that, we will follow him into whatever danger catches his eye.”
While Captain Angleton leaned back into his chair with a proud smile on his face, Mr. Harring leaned forward and pointed his finger at Cathleen to demonstrate how serious he was. “For us, we were nothing but sacrificial penal conscripts. Resigned to watch others like us being fed to the kobalds to bait a trap. We’ve all made mistakes, and we knew we deserved to pay for them. But Lord Walker didn’t see us like that. To him, we were just people, citizens of Dorchester who were fighting to save the city we lived in. That moment that he stood over us and asked if we were willing to just stand by and let those people die… I’ll never forget it. Neither will anyone else. He didn’t just tell us that we could be better… be more… he showed us! Those who’ve agreed to follow him are willing to leave their old lives behind to try and become something more.”
Captain Angleton looked over at Cathleen and added, “No one is expecting Lord Walker to found an empire, or build a city. They just want to follow someone who sees the world as something more than something to struggle against. He lives his life as if this is a world waiting to be conquered, not survived. Is it so surprising that people are willing to give up their lives for that ideal?”
Nero felt a little sad seeing Cathleen’s shoulders slumping in defeat. ‘Oh well, looks like she’s giving up. That’s some weak sauce debating right there,’ he complained while sipping his iced tea.
After making a mental note to remind himself of ‘Never give up! Never surrender!’ T-shirts, he turned away from the predictable end of their debate and checked in on how Nick was doing. ‘Oh, looks like the evaluators have joined the scene,’ he noticed happily.
Academian Quincy was standing like a lecturer addressing a class, explaining in detail how Lord Walker had simply used his unique ability to take advantage of the soul remnants in the air to power his spell casting without the aid of a ritual or any other banned magics. From what Nero could understand, the man was claiming that since what Nero was doing was not replicable by anyone else, it couldn’t have been a violation of the war accords.
Nero leaned back in his chair in thought. He wasn’t sure, but something about that argument seemed wrong to him. Just because nobody has ever done it before, doesn’t mean that no one would criminalize it. However, he had to admit that as a potential legal witness for the defense, the man did have a strong presence. His credentials as an academian would probably play well with the jurors. So, it was good that he was on his side.
Nick was happily nodding along like a puppy wagging its tail. The man really did like to hear incomprehensible technical jargon. ‘I should look into whether or not they have the magical equivalent of TED talks here,’ Nero reminded himself.
Grandmaster Lancel tapped his finger on the table and said, “I’m not sure debating the merits of the charge is the way to go. The council of leadership doesn’t actually care if Lord Walker violated the war accords. They are simply using that as an excuse to terminate his quest and exile him from the city. As a unique, they can’t charge him, and if they try… it would only result in evaluators being sent from the capital for an investigation. Since you’re already here, that would prove pointless. But, if you were to simply state that as an evaluator you have already conducted an investigation, that would cut off their argument before it got to a tribunal.”
Nick’s voice sounded more than a little annoyed at the thought of scientific technicalities being up for debate. “I still don’t understand what they hope to gain from this. Do they really want Nero out of this city so badly that they’re willing to risk the wrath of the capital?”
Academian Quincy replied, “They aren’t risking anything. Claiming that one of their questers has violated the war accords, while not attempting to punish him aside from exile, ensures that at worst their decree could be overturned upon appeal. While they can’t technically exile someone without cause, the mere possibility of a war crime meets the standard well enough to allow them some leeway.”
Grandmaster Lancel nodded, his face firmly set in a scowl. “It’s politics. They don’t want to risk Lord Walker disrupting the density shift with major magics. The ether isn’t nearly stable enough to support higher-tier magics and as such could be damaged by future acts of this magnitude. Keeping him out of the city long enough for the density shift to complete is their only aim.”
Academian Quincy replied, “Not to mention that by claiming Lord Walker violated the war accords, they wouldn’t have to pay him for his service as a quester.”
Agreeing with a nod, Grandmaster Lancel added, “But I think this has more to do with the fact that General Branson is trying to discredit the young lord. I’ve been -”
Nero turned away from the conversation, ignoring it as if he were changing the channel. ‘I’ve never been a fan of crime dramas, not to mention political intrigue shows. BORING,’ he thought to himself as he studied his almost empty bowl of stew.
Looking around the room, he saw Cathleen, Captain Angleton, and the others still finalizing the command structure for the massively expanded House Walker. Around the rest of the command tent, there were also tons of aides and soldiers dealing with the battle’s aftermath.
Sighing as there was nothing worth watching, he decided to call it a night. Sending out a request to the world for what time it was, Nero saw that it was 16:30. Shrugging his shoulders, he figured sleeping wasn’t all that bad of an idea. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been up, but it was probably longer than could be considered healthy. Remembering that his body was basically still an animated corpse, he ended the internal debate and decided to find a place to bunk down.
Smirking at the thought of ducking out without anyone noticing, he gently altered his essence field to hide his presence. After taking a moment to make sure no one was paying attention to him, he stood up and walked out of the tent. ‘I’m sure they’ll figure it all out. If history has taught me anything, the only time things get weird is when I’m personally involved. Although I’ll probably end up with a bunch more followers and the hatred of the council, I got a grandmaster on my side along with Nick and the evaluators. Hell, even Archmage Jennings was… wait a minute… where the hell did Jennings go?’ he thought to himself while looking around for the eccentric old man.
Having no idea where he went, Nero threw the fact that he’d disappeared into the back of his mind and instead focused on finding a place to sleep.
Walking up to the first person he saw with a clipboard, he smiled widely and said, “Hello there. Where is the closest place a guy could get some rest? Also, if there is a restroom nearby, that would be worth pointing out as well.”