Chapter 9
Ludwin was finally content. He had been dry for longer than an hour at a time. He didn’t realize how miserable being wet made him. He couldn’t even fathom how people lived their entire lives in the swamps, marshes and bogs of the Land of Everlasting Rain, or Regenstadt as they liked to call it.
He sat in a chair in front of the Baron’s desk in his study, one leg crossed over the over. Fergus sat next to him, sitting sideways in the chair with his legs dangling mere inches away from Ludwin’s face.
The Baron sat at his desk, sipping his brandy with a content smile on his face. He set down the glass and addressed Ludwin.
“So, judging by your chipper demeanors, your mission was a success?”
Ludwin nodded.
“Yes, very much so. The Anarchic Cavalrymen were happy to side with us, as were the council of Regenstadt. They hold no love for the Empire and much love for the principles in which we represent, it was an obvious choice for them.”
“Excellent. Now, was there anything particularly interesting that happened?”
Fergus nodded.
“Oh yah, two assassinations attempts.”
Ludwin looked at Fergus.
“Two? I thought there was only one?”
“Nah, while you were talkin’ tae dae council, I found some wee bampots sawin’ into a wall, so I killed ‘em. Not sure if they’re there for assassination, but they were sawin’ into the wall on tha other side a’ yous.”
The Baron and Ludwin nodded their heads.
“So that’s why you left. I thought you just didn’t want to sit still for a while.”
Fergus smiled and tapped Ludwin’s shoulder with his foot.
“Well, at least half o’ tha reason were that.”
The Baron chuckled.
“Never change, Fergus. I appreciate you greatly.”
Fergus brought a hand to his mouth in mock embarrassment..
“Ooooo Baron, ya really ken ‘ow tae make a man feel special!”
Ludwin uncrossed his legs and leaned forward in his chair.
“So, Baron, what are we to do next? We have many allies, enough to defeat the Empress I feel. What is our next step?”
The Baron smiled and took another sip of his brandy.
“For the moment…you have nothing to do.”
Ludwin was shocked, as was Fergus. They had been working nonstop for the past few months and they had gotten very used to it.
“Currently, there are two battlefields we need to concern ourselves with: The battlefield of people’s minds, and the battlefield of manufacturing. We do indeed have all the allies we need, now we just need to reorganize the military, create enough quality bayonets and firearms to arm my entire army, and to turn the people of the Empire progressive.”
The Baron set his glass down and stood up, turning around and gazing through his window towards the newly created factory.
“Currently, we will have created 100,000 firearms in three years. That’s too slow, so Jean is working on building another factory. And, we need people to agree with us. My son is the general of that front, he was always better at propaganda than I, so I have allowed him to do whatever he pleased. It seems to be working well, Jean is able to walk the streets with at most orientalist stares aimed at him, better than his receival in Holenstadt.”
Ludwin nodded
“That sounds very reasonable. Then…do we just…wait?”
The Baron shrugged.
“For the most part. If you want, you and Fergus can do to Orkney to recruit some people.
The Baron turned and smiled at Fergus.
“I do believe I was promised a tracker, Fergus.”
Fergus smiled and spun in his chair so that he was sitting properly, leaning foward on his knees.
“Aye, we could do that. It’s been a few years since I’ve been ‘ome.”
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A man was putting up posters in the capital city of Grössenburg. He, along with his colleagues, have been sent there for a single purpose: To spread propaganda.
He tapped a nail into the corner of the poster, taking a step back to admire his work.
It depicted a group of people debating in the Bickenstadt City Assembly building, with the Baron off to the side and a fisherman talking in the center. Above the drawing were the words ‘The people rule Bickenstadt!’, and below it read ‘Democracy is the future of the Empire!’
He looked up and down the street he was on and saw his colleagues doing the same, or handing out pamphlets to people walking past. They were agents of Wolfgang von Bickenstadt, sent out to spread pro-democracy and pro-abolition propaganda.
“...The people of Bickenstadt are doing great under the new system, and the Baron has been truly hands off! Their experiment is working, we should consider bringing it here!”
A random Grössenburger scratched the back of his head.
“I don’t know man…does it really work?”
The propagandist nodded his head emphatically.
“Very much so! As we all know, Bickenstadt is said to have the fastest rising standard of living in the Empire!”
The man looked to the sky in thought before slowly nodding his head.
“Sure man, I’ll take a pamphlet.”
The propagandist smiled and handed one to him.
“Excellent! Think on what you’ve heard today!”
The man shrugged and waved as he left. The propagandist felt someone approaching from behind so he turned and smiled brightly. In front of him was a guard, halberd planted against the ground and being leaned on slightly.
“Do you have a permit to operate here?”
The guard turned his head and saw people putting up posters, gesturing to them with his halberd.
“That’s legal to do without permits here and a few dozen other places, but you can’t talk and give out pamphlets without a permit.”
The propagandist’s smile faded slightly, but he caught himself and began to put his pamphlets in a bag.
“Oh my, I am so sorry! We were not aware it required a permit, we assumed it was fine because we could hang posters.”
The guard nodded.
“Yeah, I agree it needs to be communicated better. I wouldn’t have to waste as much time shooing off people like you, no disrespect meant. It’s just my job.”
The propagandist closed his bag and threw it over his shoulder.
“If it’s not too much to ask, where exactly do I ask for a permit? I’ve never had to do that before.”
The guard nodded and pointed in the right direction.
“The administration building attached to Castle Grössenstadt. Just go in there and ask for a permit to evangelize. They’ll tell you what streets you can do it and what time.”
Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.
The propagandist thanked and shook the guard’s hand before heading off with his colleagues to get a permit.
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Krysia Badeni ground her teeth in frustration as she pulled on her boots. She was being asked to stop another potential riot, the fourth one in two weeks. She strapped on her saber and nestled her helmet under her arm.
As she stepped out of her office she was saluted by her honor guard.
“Come, we have work to do. Another potential riot.”
The men acknowledged her orders and followed after without question. She continued to grind her teeth as they walked down to the larger block of guards who would do the majority of the beating should it come down to it.
“Why are there so damn many of these? Is the Empress behind it?”
She and her honor guard took their places at the front of the column.
“Quickly, Polna street needs policing.”
As her force approached the street she could hear the rumbling of a large crowd yelling, causing them to pick up the pace. Polna street was filled to the brim with angry Bszerci, people yelling, screaming in each other’s faces, shoving each other, everything that angry crowds did.
None of them were armed, fortunately, but the crowds were getting very close to blows. Krysia took in a deep breath.
“Bszerci! Stand down or you will be beaten and arrested! Anyone found guilty of inciting a riot or rioting will be flogged in public, now Stand! Down!”
Both crowds turned towards her and her forces. While they were outnumbered six to one, they were armed and armored. She ordered the formation to move forwards to separate the two crowds. She stood within her formation, kept safe by the wall of plate and flesh.
“I am ordering everyone on Polna street to disperse for one hour! Additionally, I will be increasing the number of police patrolling the city!”
The crowd took some time to fully register what she said. After a little longer, people began to disperse. Krysia sighed angrily.
“We don’t have enough men.”
One of the honor guard looked like they wanted to say something, so Kysia nodded. He looked reluctant, and she made a gesture to say ‘out with it’.
“Well…we could ask the Ironworker’s Guild for help.”
He winced as Krysia growled, but he continued.
“They have done a good job keeping their territory safe, and we need all the help we can get.”
Krysia sighed.
“Before we discuss that, take a look around and see if anything was broken.”
They found one business that was vandalized. It was a shop owned by an ethnic Imperial, and he seemed to have decorated his shop with symbols of the Empress that the crowd took issue with.
A policeman, one not from her current unit, ran up to her.
“Ma’am! People are breaking windows and vandalizing businesses on Szkolna plaza!”
She groaned and raised her saber in the air.
“Kurwa-Men! To Szkolna plaza!”
Nearly every window in the area was broken. Chairs and other furniture littered the street, obviously thrown out of the shops to break the glass. The rioters were few in number, mostly young men with a mix of both ethnic Imperials and Bszerci.
One of the shops had a small fire growing, which could easily expand to the whole city if it was not taken seriously.
“Stop them! Arrest every single rioter! Lethal force is not allowed, but regular force is!”
Her men acknowledged her orders and began to act. She watched the brawl from a small distance away with her arms crossed on her chest.
She knew this plaza, it was filled with open abolitionists and a handful of dwarven shops.
“Mikhail! Jakub! Yenderek! Work on dousing that fire!”
She saw a family of dwarves leave a shop and run away from the plaza. One of them, an older dwarf with a graying beard, bowed his head in thanks to Krysia. She smiled at them and returned the gesture. She didn’t really care for dwarves, but it was her job to protect everyone, and having a good relationship with people made her job much easier.
She watched policemen getting buckets and throwing water on the flame, slowly killing it and preventing more damage to the shop. She saw a few rioters slip away, but she knew there was a very low chance of catching them even if she gave chase. She had to be satisfied with what she could realistically do.
Policemen dragged people knocked out or kicking and screaming, tying their hands together with rope. In total, they had detained fifty people, roughly two thirds of the original rioters. A pretty good result so far as she was concerned. One of the policemen walked over and saluted her, which she returned to him.
“What do we do with them ma’am? Just put them in prison while we work on punishments?”
Krysia nodded.
“Yes. My honor guard will handle it, I have business to attend to. You are to take their orders like they were mine, spread the word.”
The man saluted her again and ran off. She grabbed two of her honor guard and left for the Ironworkers Guild, an extremely displeased look on her face the entire way.
The guards of the Ironworkers Guild headquarters were lightly armored with traditional Bszerci plate cuirass over chainmail, and they were armed with sabers.
“I am here to speak with the Ironworkers Guild. It is important business.
The guards looked at her, then her honor guard, then to each other.
“Alright ma’am, stay here while I go ask what the-”
“We’re entering, go get your representative.”
She walked through the doors, followed by her honor guard, and took a seat in the waiting room. All around here were members of the Ironworkers Guild, rough and tumble commoners who did not like her very much. This did not make her feel uncomfortable, if anything it made her feel smug.
A representative walked over to her and bowed his head in greeting.
“Hello Krysia, I never thought I would find you in our waiting room.”
Krysia waved her hand dismissively.
“Yes yes-It’s very funny that I am here, now can you take us to a negotiation room.”
The representative smiled and gestured for her to follow.
“Of course, come with me.”
He brought her to a smaller but nice room. It had a liquor cabinet and various crystal glasses.
“Drink?”
Krysia nodded.
“Anything in particular?”
She shook her head and he poured her a glass of Vodka.
“And for your guards?”
Both of them shook their heads.
“Good men. Very responsible. Now, Krysia.”
He set the glass down in front of her.
“What exactly can I do for you today?”
She sighed before speaking.
“We need to work together to keep our streets safe. We are getting dangerously close to full scale riots. We had to beat and arrest fifty people who were vandalizing abolitionist and dwarven businesses. I simply do not have the manpower to deal with it myself.”
The representative smiled.
“Well, I would be happy to work with you, for a few concessions of course.”
Krysia groaned.
“What would you want?”
“Nothing particularly special, just some legal protections.”
“That depends on what they are.”
“Ok then, my request is to make it illegal to fire someone for joining our union.”
Krysia pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Aleczandr is not going to like that.”
“Aleczandr can cry harder.”
Krysia stared off into space as she thought. The representative took a seat across from her and shot back his vodka.
“No worries, I can wait for a response.”
Krysia grunted and shook her head aggressively.
“Fine. Deal. It will be put into law.”
The representative nodded.
“Good. We will begin coordinating with you after the law is passed.”
Krysia shook her head.
“No, you coordinate with us now.”
“Without a guarantee that the law will pass? No, we will not be doing that.”
Krysia chuffed.
“Fine. If the law is not passed in three days you can suspend operations.”
The representative crossed his arms.
“Two days.”
Krysia growled.
“Three.”
The representative scrubbed his short beard as he thought.
“Hmm…that’s acceptable. I will inform everyone and we will begin immediately. We will send someone over to be our coordinator when we have chosen one.”
Krysia stood up from her chair and turned to leave.
“Good.”
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“Krysia, my friend, what in the world are you trying to do?”
Krysia sighed heavily.
“Keep our city from burning itself to the ground, Aleczandr.”
Aleczandr threw his hands up in the air.
“By giving concessions to the Ironworkers Guild?”
She nodded.
“Yes, it was the only way.”
Aleczandr began to speak, but Krysia cut him off.
“I do not have enough manpower to keep the streets safe, to keep hooligans from burning down storehouses and businesses. None of you have enough men to give me, you need to protect your own interests.”
The room erupted in murmurs. The noble families had called a meeting, enraged at the actions of the Badeni family. Bartosz Gasztold tried to raise his voice, but Krysia cut him off as well.
“There is nothing you can do about this, and if you do I will personally torch something important of yours. If we do not receive this help, our streets will be engulfed in anarchy. I will take no other answer than yes. This is a waste of my time, I am leaving.”
Krysia stood and left, leaving everyone at the table dumbfounded.