“The quality of our lives depends not on whether or not we have conflicts, but on how we respond to them.”
Thomas Crum
Baron Corus’s POV
An infant! The new Lord Silversea was still a child! I had known it was a new house with a child as its scion, but somehow, I had expected his minders to be in charge of the conversation and his decisions. However, after he was placed in his seat, they watched silently without intervention as he navigated his own course for house Silversea. Worse, he was haggling like a merchant and was clearly capable of charting his way through the battle of words that was politics.
He was unafraid of the poisonous appetiser and had the ability and audacity to inspect me and my status. I was not immune to or unaware of his gaze. But my return inspection availed me of nothing, not even his name. Whatever artefact he used was sublime in protecting his personal status. Once more, it gave me pause. In fact, everything about the child in front of me gave me pause. What were they feeding this monster?
He was confident to the point of appearing a childish fool or an arrogant idiot, but nothing he said so far led me to believe him to be one. He had been scarily informed of my movements on the island, considering his boat had docked only earlier this morning, and I had only just started making them. Furthermore, he had neatly deflected my interests in expansion with his own. Worse, he was not wrong about them.
I would not even be visiting this far out without the suggestion and pressure the leader of the Western Lords had applied. I would be stretching my finances thinner to do more than block the expansion of the Silverseas and for little to no benefit to my own house other than to curb a new peer’s growth. If the Western Lords had offered to pay for my unnecessary expansion west, I would not have minded, but they, the skinflints, had not. Wester Levante had little to recommend beyond its proximity to the rising house, the Silverseas.
Never one to give up easily after sighing internally, I started, “You make a valid point, Lord Silversea. I respect your stance and appreciate your willingness to engage in this dialogue.” It was true that I was perhaps overreaching.
“Precisely, Baron Corus. I propose exploring possibilities for cooperation and compromise, considering the well-being of all parties involved.” The questionable child replied. Whoever had prepped this individual had done a masterful job. I doubted I could have been eloquent or calm if another house had encroached on my lands.
“What did you have in mind?” I asked, intrigued. The boy believed he had something to offer when I had him over a barrel, legally speaking.
“An exchange.” He stated, simply failing to elaborate any further.
“Of what?” There was nothing, in particular, a new house could have or own that I would be interested in, especially this far out from the compass kingdoms. Anything he had managed to acquire would have visited my island first unless it was self-produced, and what quantity or quality of the product could his new family possibly offer?
“Of land.” The child smiled like a cat that had got the cream.
“Land?” I questioned what he could offer me when I was the one that had managed to leverage the debt of others into the possession of the local deeds to a part of the town. It had not been a particularly pretty solution, but it had been highly effective, and it had taken Dexter, my right-hand man, only a short while to effect it. My presence had been unnecessary, only taking my name to complete it with his looming presence pushing it forward.
“Yes, you appear to have taken an interest in the real estate market here on Wester Levante. I wondered if I could interest you in something closer to home.” He continued.
“I beg your pardon?” I affected offence rather than the worry that his words implied. What had the spawn of the lodestone managed to acquire that was closer to my home?
“I believe House Silversea owns some property on Caurus Island we planned to use to open a tannery.”
“Tannery? Where?” My worry coalesced into anxiety, reducing my sentences to single words. Those necessary but despicable places stunk to high heaven. We did not need one on Caurus. There were not the skins nor the hunting industry to support it. I guess he was making a point.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“I believe it is upriver of your residence.” The demonic child grinned once more. It was galling to realise that, unnoticed, the Silverseas had already bought leverage over me.
“That would not be a wise fiscal decision. Caurus has little need for a tannery and too few animals and hunting to support one.” I politely pointed out.
“Currently, yes, but if we were to introduce cattle to the island, we should be able to supply ourselves.” He shrugged, affecting indifference and posturing that I had failed to convince him. If I were not careful, I would find myself living downwind of a tannery in the middle of a farm.
I had not intended to do anything in particular with the land I had forcefully purchased on Wester Levante, and there was no way to leverage it as a direct threat to House Silversea. I was in a weak position and did not appreciate the fact that I had been pushed into it or fallen for such a simple ploy employed by a mere child. But clearly, one with a terrifying tutor.
. . .
Arawn’s POV
Never had a noble interaction been so entertaining. Knowledge was power, and the interloping Baron had been struck down out of the blue by the knowledge we had acquired before the meeting.
It was not long before all the land that had been forceable purchased by Baron Corus had been transferred to the Silversea house on the condition that any lands held by the Silverseas on Caurus Island were handed over in return.
They shook on the agreement, and that was that. I had just watched my grandchild in everything, but Blood beat a Lord of Ponente at his own game. All I had to do was loom threateningly in the background, preventing his supporters from thinking they could overturn the board now that he had lost.
The boys were promising physical fighters, but they did not have anything on Namir and me, and they knew it. They could only glower in silence as they watched their Baron lose more than a little pride and land.
I couldn’t have been prouder. It was almost a shame that Lady Acacia had not been here to witness it.
. . .
Namir’s POV
To be honest, the entire dialogue was a little pointless and boring. The Baron should have realised instantly that he was outfoxed and capitulated immediately. Instead, we had to suffer through an interminable conversation that seemed to go on without end. After dancing around the subjects and agreements long enough, the food grew cold and had to be replaced.
Still, at least the Baron had offered the child a few levels worth of Poison Resistance at a minimum with his aperitifs.
Unfortunately, the nature of politics and the relationship between their positions meant he was not offered the challenging food. It would have been the only pleasant diversion from this morning’s banality. Back in Ostro, he would have been free to remove the problem permanently. It was a little more problematic here in Ponente and would have involved him taking out the entire crew and any who had interacted with them here on Wester Levante. It would not have been practical.
Finally, the Baron and his protégé shook on it, and the deal was concluded. He might not be a true protégé in the fact that the boy had a dozen different tutors, but he was the one who showed the most progress and promise in over a decade. Acacia had honoured her promise to find him one.
He could enjoy the boy’s pride in his moment for him alone, if not himself.
. . .
Kai’s POV
After going back and forth on the matter for far longer than necessary, considering that the man felt obligated to reclaim ownership over his local land rather than allow us to pollute his evenings with the smell of progress and industry. We finally shook hands, agreeing to return the respective lands on one another’s islands.
It was a win for me twice over. I protected our interests in Wester Levante and gained some skills in the progress.
Ding! Contract (Lv1)
I grinned again. It had been a very productive meeting one way or another. Checking my status, I could see that I had also managed to gain several levels in trading on top of the earlier poison resistance, inspection and blocking skills.
Ding! Trading (Lv 77 ->79)
Was working with the nobility worth more than common merchants? If we had been on friendlier terms, it would have been worth staying longer to find out. But with him feeling possibly slighted by our interactions, it was not worth finding out. It was time to get going before I was caught out somehow.
. . .
Baron Corus POV
I watched the infuriating monster dressed in a child’s skin depart the tavern as he was carried once more on the shoulders of his guardian. The palanquin worked for his small stature in a way that it would not have worked for mine.
“Not a word,” I commanded, thankful for the private room I had requested for our morning breakfast and conversation. “In fact, I think I could do with a drink.” Hopefully, I would not cross paths with the child anytime soon if each crossing would prove as costly as the first.
I would report back to the House of Lords that the Silversea encroachment into the Azimuth Archipelago had stopped at Wester Levante and been rebuffed from Caurus. That, at least, was honest. Still, there was no need to go into detail about our actual meeting, and I would need Dexter to look carefully through the land register of each and every island between here and the capital if they were progressing as quickly as they seemed. The house seemed remarkably financially robust for such a short ascendance.
I would leave that pleasant surprise for others to come a cropper upon at their own cost, much like I had. In fact, the knowledge might win me enough bets to recoup my losses for today. I mulled it over as I attempted to drown my sorrows. As commanded, my own guardians let me do so in silence. Perhaps also speechless over what had occurred that morning.