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Chapter 40

Once Ryuji was seated at the desk facing her, Aleen pulled a small stack of papers from the top drawer and sat them atop her desk. A moment later the butler set a cup of tea in front of him after materializing out of nowhere. After he sat a fresh cup next to her he took up a position behind her and she chose that moment to resume her activities.

Aleen held out several of the papers to Ryuji with a bright smile. The moment he laid eyes on them he knew what they were because he already had one like them. Most of the papers he had been handed were the titles to pieces of property with buildings listed on them. There were six of these titles and a few more pages after that.

At first, Ryuji assumed that Aleen was being helpful and had gathered what she figured to be the six most likely buildings he would purchase. However, as he looked over the last three papers in the small stack, he realized that wasn’t correct. The last three papers in the stack listed the business formation and land title purchases of a company listed as Markiel Holdings.

After Ryuji finished looking through the papers in confusion, Aleen handed him a final piece of paper without saying a word. Ryuji took the piece of paper that seemed to be a note and picked up his tea to take a sip. He read a few lines and then nearly did a spit take when he read over a certain line. This line stated that all the holdings of this company were to be transferred to Lord Reyugee.

It wasn’t until that moment that he thought to check the letterhead and when he did it left such a lump in his throat that he had to gulp the rest of his tea to clear it out. Ryuji recognized the seal on the page and the name was Lyrill, just like the city. This letter was addressed to Aleen and it was from none other than the duke of the city.

Ryuji took another moment to digest the contents of the note. In brief, it stated that the titles and holdings of Markiel Holdings were to be rewritten with Ryuji as the owner. He was to be given the titles to all the properties including two that had liens on them and the debt was to be cleared from the record under order of the duke. It went on to insist that Aleen seek him out and give him all of this as his own personal property.

Ryuji looked up at Aleen with bewilderment written all over his face. It must have been fairly comical because Aleen was unable to hold back a chuckle. Ryuji couldn’t help asking his next question. “But, why? Why did the duke of all people decide to just give this to me? And doesn’t this already belong to the Markiel family? I don’t get this at all.”

Aleen let out another small chuckle before answering. “You really Don’t get it, do you? It’s only been half a day but even I have heard that the guard finally caught the murderer who has been keeping the city in the grips of fear. I’ve even been hearing rumors about how the guards seized a certain wealthy merchant who happens to be named Markiel. I’ve even heard one rumor about how some sun elf was spotted looking at the body of the last victim before him and several of the guards dashed off at a run. Now I wonder, you don’t suppose that these rumors could be connected to this letter somehow, do you?”

Aleen sat back with a smug look as she regarded Ryuji. The enormity of his actions finally dawned on him and he suddenly realized that it was pretty obvious that the duke would take notice in retrospect. Perhaps it would be different if he were a commoner but the pendant around his neck proclaimed him as part of the nobility. The duke couldn’t afford to ignore his actions.

From all that Ryuji had been able to gather, Lyrill only had a small collection of nobility. At the top was the duke who ruled the region and ultimately controlled most of the land in and around Lyrill. It was a hereditary title that had been passed down to the current Duke Lyrill. The title was inherited but Ryuji had heard that if a noble did too bad of a job in their posting that the king would lower their rank and the scope of their holdings along with it. That meant that even though the duke had been handed his title, he was still doing a good enough job or he wouldn’t have been able to keep it.

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The next after him was Count Rork. The count was in overall charge of the guard and the military stationed in or dispatched from the city. He and the duke were both military men but he was an active commander who was just on leave for the time. With a war that had lasted for a hundred years, it was certainly understandable that the king wouldn’t keep the commanders and troops on the front lines at all times. The count also controlled large tracts of land but most of them were outside the city and he was also in charge of the wall around the city.

After the count, there were three barons who owned small tracts of land either inside or outside the city. They each had a minor role they were in charge of as well. One of them was the city’s finance minister, another was the minister of agriculture, and the last one was the minister of city development. The first one was Aleen’s direct boss but he supposed she probably had to answer to all three at times.

All of these were things that Ryuji had managed to pick up from conversation and intuition was used to fill in any gaps. All of this meant that, if he was nobility, he was now roughly equivalent to one of the barons. He had a claim to noble birthright, he had money, and now he had been granted land in the city as his personal holding. Ryuji finally came to the startling realization that most people would never hold the title to properties in their hand, even after they bought them. Holding the title was a privilege reserved only for nobility.

Suddenly Aleen’s deference to him made more sense. She had spotted his pendant at some point and knew he was a noble. He knew he had been stiff and formal with her the first time he met her because he thought he might be in the wrong place but that wouldn’t merit somebody calling you lord would it. He chastised himself for not noticing sooner.

Ryuji came to a decision quickly. There was only one thing to be done in a situation such as this. He would need to write a letter of thanks to the duke for the gift, and what a gift it was too! When he told Aleen as much she led him to a small library study and pulled out a small stack of paper and a quill and inkwell before leaving him alone. Ryuji took out his journal and jotted down some notes on how he should word things and the layout of his letter. He decided that he wanted to go for a decent baseline amount of flattery but stick mostly to just facts. He also decided that offering his services in whatever capacity the duke might need wouldn’t be a bad idea.

It took him a little while but when he finished, he found that the butler, Garron wasn’t it, was waiting just outside the door with a tray containing a few things. One was another hot cup of tea for him. Aside from that was a small oil lamp, something that looked like a crude matchstick, a stick of something green in color, a small piece of ribbon, and finally what looked like an ornate Hanko name seal.

Sensing his confusion, the butler asked if he was finished with his letter. When Ryuji said he was the man handed him the cup of tea and took the letter from him. He then used what apparently was a match to light the lamp. The stick turned out to be wax that he began heating up. After rolling the letter up he deftly wrapped it in the strip of ribbon leaving a bit as a sort of tassel. He then dripped the hot wax onto the ribbon and pressed the seal gently over the wax.

Ryuji realized he was staring slack-jawed and quickly composed himself, pretending that he had been drinking his tea before the butler turned around. He suspected that the butler had seen his expression anyway but he was too professional to let that color his expression as he spoke. “I shall personally deliver your response to the duke. Are you expecting a reply in return?”

Ryuji shook his head slightly and the butler left briskly. Ryuji studied the characters on the seal and figured out that it said office of tax collection. After leaving the small room, Ryuji spotted Aleen still sitting at her desk and sat opposite her.

He thanked her for her help in the matter and took the stack of papers and slid them inside his satchel. When he straightened up, he pulled out his coin pouch and fished out six small gold and laid them on the desk. As he spoke, he slid them across to Aleen. “I believe your fee is a small gold per land or tax title you handle?”

Aleen’s eyes went wide. Obviously, he knew that her fee was to be waived if it was a direct order from the duke but here he was paying her the full amount anyway. She was about to protest but he just smiled at her and quickly got to his feet and cut her off. Ryuji thanked Aleen again and she waved him off with the beginnings of tears in her eyes and a lame remark that it was a pleasure working with his most gracious lordship. Ryuji left the tax office uncomfortably with a stiff smile on his face.