Chapter 10
The young man at the desk briefly stopped writing and looked up at the Baron, clicking his tongue and immediately going back to writing. It was dark in the room, the only light coming from a few dim sconces attached to the wall. The small flames flickered as artillery shook the very foundation of Castle Leibensburg, threatening to die and submerge the room into complete darkness.
“Since you are here, I assume Leibensburg has fallen?”
His voice was clear and carried an air of refinement, but was also full of annoyance.
The Baron smiled and shook his head, lazily resting his palm on the pommel of his saber. His stance looked relaxed and defenseless, however, when you are dealing with a warrior of the Baron’s caliber, it is always good to assume they know exactly what they’re doing.
“Not yet, no, but it’s only a matter of time at this point. The prince’s Elven mages are dead and the walls are gonna fall any moment now, they might’ve even fallen already, hence the rumbling.”
As another quake shook books off of the shelf, the man stopped writing and stared at the Baron, looking almost offended.
“There is no need to refer to me in the third person, we’ve met in the past, and I greatly respect your work. You may refer to me as Willhelm, if that pleases you.”
“Third person? Does that mean...you’re that guy I was sent here to beat? The guy who started all this shi…”
The Baron suddenly looked like he realized something and trailed off, taking a deep breath before speaking again.
“Good heavens, sorry for the crass language. It helps my men loosen up around me. You are the one who began all of this? The revolts?”
The prince set down his pen and frowned indignantly.
“You’ve forgotten me? That’s rather rude. What, did you get struck on the head or something?”
The Baron rubbed his eyepatch.
“Shot actually.”
The prince’s eyes widened for a moment before his face morphed into a bright smile.
“Oh, well, my sincerest apologies. I barely even noticed it, for what that’s worth.”
What does that even mean?
After waiting for the Baron to respond for a few seconds, he picked up his pen and resumed writing.
“Yes, I am Prince Wilhelm Hauptman Reikspal. Ruler, well, I suppose former ruler now, of Leibensburg. We have met before, about five years ago now. I was touring the Empire and you saved my life while I was skiing in Bvaria. I would have been dashed upon the rocks that day had you not grabbed me at the cliff's edge…”
Wilhelm raised an eyebrow and leaned in closer, speaking in a joking faux whisper.
“Does any of this sound familiar?”
The Baron thought for a moment before shaking his head.
“I cannot say that it does, unfortunately.”
Wilhelm frowned, then sighed and assumed a more neutral expression.
“That’s a shame. A real shame, Baron. That is what they call you, yes? Just Baron?”
“Just Baron. Or sometimes the Baron. Not really sure why, I’m known mostly for my military work, but so far it hasn’t caused any confusion, so far as I can tell.”
“Fair enough, everyone understands what you mean when you just say ‘The Baron’ so it works. It must be nice to be that prolific, many people I’ve met did not even know the Empress had a brother! Though that does make it easier to travel, I don’t have to worry about kidnappers.”
Wilhelm let out a subdued, courtly laugh, the Baron stood in silence.
The Baron watched him write quickly and efficiently, with lettering and rows so neat it almost looked like a typewriter.
Even with the shaking. God damn.
“So, do tell, what are you writing so furiously that an enemy combatant entering barely gives you pause?”
Wilhelm smirked.
“We all have our secrets, Baron, can you allow this to be one of mine?”
The Baron moved his hand from pommel to handle.
“Apologies. While I do value privacy, I am sure you understand.”
The Baron drew his saber half way.
“I have a job to do.”
The Baron pushed his saber down back into its sheath with an audible clack, a gesture oftentimes used by Imperial warriors to challenge someone to a duel. Wilhelm let out a long sigh and turned the papers around, pushing them towards the Baron and gesturing with his pen.
“I am forging documents. This room is filled with a lot of sensitive information currently, including the names of a few radical officers worming their way through the military academy at Grossenburg, and I would very much like to throw my sister off the scent of my allies.”
The Baron picked up one of the papers and started to skim it, letting loose a high pitched whistle as he flipped to the second page.
That’s a lot of names. I…don’t recognize any of them.
“My, so forthcoming. That is quite a novel idea! Most of the dissidents I have dealt with just destroyed everything when it became clear they were caught. So, why are you telling me all of this with so little prodding? I could ruin everything now that I know what you are doing.”
The prince smirked and let out a small chuckle.
“Because you’re going to let me continue my work, and then you are going to lie to the Empress. You got here and killed me as I was escaping through a tunnel, failing to retrieve my body but at least stopping me from burning the rest of my important documents.”
He gestured to a pile of ash on the floor, there were still bits of unburnt paper visible and had some unreadable writing on it. The Baron spit at his feet and drew his saber halfway.
“And why should I do that?”
The prince slowly pulled a drawer slightly open, obviously hoping the Baron wouldn’t notice. the Baron did, in fact, take notice, but couldn’t quite make out what was in it.
Nothing Good, the Baron quietly mused.
“Because you agree with me. The Empire is out of control. Its imperialism is as harmful as it is unsustainable, just think of how much trouble the Empress had quashing such a small rebellion within the Imperial core.”
Wilhelm shook his head solemnly.
“The Empire of old would have squashed me in a matter of days, it took her four months despite the unbelievable power and resources of the Grand Imperial Army. It took her far too long to engage me and my allies in Holenstadt, the Army was mustering near the southern border to invade the Assai’id’s Confederation and simply couldn't reach us in time to stop us begin things got out of hand. Imagine what would happen should a genuine rebellion start! The Empire would crumble within days.”
“Wait...what do you mean ‘genuine rebellion’? This isn’t genuine?”
Wilhelm sighed.
“No. To be honest, I did not think it would get this far, but I underestimated the Empire's ineptitude and our conquered people’s anger. If I was serious about leaving the Empire’s yolk, I believe I could have done it. But unfortunately, I was not, I do not have the resources to do that yet.”
“Wait, so you launched the rebellion to...teach the Empress a lesson?”
“In a way. My rebellion had two goals; to show everyone that the Empire is weak, and to show my sister that the Empire is weak. Those are two separate goals, though they may sound similar. My goal in showing everyone that the Empire is weak was to goad people into rising up, though to be honest I didn’t think it would be quite as effective as it was.”
The prince shrugged.
“I just wanted the various peoples we've attempted to assimilate over the years to sense weakness and rise up at a later date after preparing and bolstering their numbers and armaments, retaking their lands and preserving their cultures and way of life and all that. I really should have expected all of Holenstadt to have revolted, it is filled to the brim with dissidents. It was only conquered some 50 years ago after all, we haven’t even eradicated their ethnic names or clothing yet. I hear your mercenary company was contracted to deal with them, correct?”
The Baron rubbed his eyepatch again.
“Yes, in fact that is where I lost my eye...wait...so, what you’re ultimately getting at is, this whole ordeal...is your fault?”
The Baron scowled as he grabbed his saber harder.
“You’re saying that I lost my eye, I lost brothers in my company, because you wanted to mess with your sister?”
Wilhelm lunged for the half open drawer, drawing a pistol and aiming it at the Baron. The Baron drew his saber and slid his saber down the length of Wilhem’s pistol in one smooth motion, displacing the bore of the barrel and pressing his saber slightly into Wilhelm’s neck, drawing a small, thin line of blood. He roughly grabbed Wilhelm’s collar and lifted him up with one hand, saber still at his throat.
“Give me a reason, son. Give me a reason to abandon my duty and trust the word of a child who’s temper tantrum robbed me of my eye and killed over 10,000 of my fellow countrymen!”
Wilhelm smiled nervously and tapped the Baron’s forearm as he spoke.
“Hey now! I wouldn't have actually shot you! The sconces are leaking gas!"
The Baron scowled and Wilhelm showed his palms.
"After I have laid out my plan you can decide whether or not to kill me! Things will continue whether I live or not, it’s inevitable! Just listen to my plans and be convinced!”
The building shook as artillery batteries continued to pound the city of Leibensburg, and one of the flames was blown out. The Baron thought for a couple of seconds before releasing his collar and roughly shoving him back down into his seat, returning his saber to its sheath and sighing.
“Go on, explain your genius plan like your life depended on it. Because it does.”
Wilhelm tentatively touched his bloody neck, then he picked up some more papers and handed them to the Baron.
“I am doing this as a sign of goodwill, those papers contain the names of some of my collaborators, though even if you take those names to the Empress it won't end my plans, they are already dissidents who are already suspected by Der Landwerte, it is only a matter of time before they are ‘harvested’. Their loss would sting, certainly, but everything could continue roughly as planned without them.”
The Baron’s grip on his weapon softened and he put the papers down on the desk and sighed.
“Go ahead, explain the rest of your plan. You’re not out of the woods yet, but luckily for you, I have calmed down. The fact that my eye was missing didn’t really sink in until I had a person with a name and face to blame.”
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“You have nothing to apologize for, I imagine would be rather miffed if I was missing my eye as well."
The prince shuffled his papers around and grabbed the one he was writing on earlier.
"Now, where was I? Oh yes, the goals of the rebellion. To summarize the first goal, I wanted to show everyone that the Empire was weak so that the various peoples we have incorporated would begin to fight against it with more fervor.”
The Baron raised an eyebrow.
“And why exactly do you want them to fight with more fervor?”
“Don’t worry, I am getting to that. For the most part I was allowed to travel around the Empire and do whatever I wanted. My sister was young and her reign was strong, she felt she had little concern about me usurping her, so I saw quite a bit of the world on her dime.”
The prince got a wistful look in his eyes.
“During my travels, I developed an appreciation for different cultures and races of the world, a very strong appreciation, in fact. I became an anthropologist, a practice brought to us by the otherworlders somewhat recently, and when I returned to the Empire, I developed a distaste for our practices.”
The Baron nodded his head in understanding. Wilhelm continued.
“The Empire conquers people and incorporates them into the Imperial fold, Reikifying them, assimilating anything that is useful to that end but attempting to destroy everything else. I wish to stop this practice before it can do any more harm, allowing the various different cultures that can still be saved to preserve their ways of life. If things continue the way they are, Brzęczyszczykiewicz, renamed to Holenstadt by my father 50 years ago, is in danger of completely losing their original Brzęci culture. Soon enough there will be a whole generation of Brzęci who have no memory of their country’s past, free of the tyranny of the Empire.”
Wilhelm paused for a moment to think and breathe before continuing.
“Did you know the Empire and Brzęczyszczykiewicz were allied in the past? 120 years ago the Empire could never have conquered Waffenstadt without their help, and look what that earned them! A knife in the back and an iron fist slowly attempting to choke the life out of their culture! And before that, the Empire was allied with Waffenstadt, who’s previous name was purposefully lost to time, using their aid to conquer Leibenstadt, another culture lost to time! And now the Empire has allied with the Orkney Isles.”
The Baron tried not to smile at the realization that the Wilhelm paused because the former name of Holenstadt was incredibly difficult for Imperials to pronounce. The prince shook his head solemnly.
“They’re going to do the same thing to them. The Empire is planning to draft their warriors to invade the Assai’id Confederation. My sister wants to make inroads down south, to ‘unite’ those peoples under the banner of the Empire, to create a true Empire of Man.”
Wilhelm threw his arms up in the air.
“Then what? What comes after? When does it end? What happens after we assimilate every other human nation? Attempt to assimilate the non-humans? Given the state of Imperial law concerning Elves Orcs and Dwarves, I consider that to be highly unlikely. I believe the Empire would devolve, would turn into what those summoned ones described to us all those years ago.”
Wilhem tilted his torso forward, propping himself up on his desk to lean in closer to the Baron.
“Tell me Baron, have you heard of the empire from another world, the Nazi empire?”
The Baron’s eyes widened, it took all of the Baron’s willpower to not react more than that.
“The Nazi party of Germany?”
People from my world talked about the Nazis? Does that mean this world is familiar with my world’s history?
Wilhelm nodded and leaned back in his chair.
“You are quite the learned man, Baron. I learned about this from the summoned otherworlder, Joshua Miller, after he harassed Ingo von Waffenstadt for food, alcohol, and drugs. So, I assume you know about the murder of eleven million? Eleven million humans, killed by other humans. Based on what? An imagined difference. Nothing more, nothing less.”
Wilhelm took in a deep breath before continuing.
“If people can justify that level of wanton slaughter against fellow human beings, imagine what they would do, given the opportunity, to the nonhumans. There are genuine biological and psychological differences between us and them.”
The Baron was still reeling from the mention of the Nazis, he was mostly using his willpower not to have a large outward reaction.
Out of any situation I would find myself in, discussing how to stop my country devolving into a naziesque racial panic with a rebellious prince in the secret basement of a castle town being destroyed by an artillery barrage ranks fairly low on what I would have expected.
“A topic that Joshua and I oftentimes found ourselves discussing during our week-long binge mooching off Ingo is the political ideology of Fascism, though I do admit, my memories of the specifics are a tad hazy, due to the aforementioned week-long binge.”
What the hell is going on in this country?
“So, you learned about the concept of Fascism during a week-long drug binge with an otherworlder?”
Wilhelm nodded.
“Pretty much. Anyway, I believe that our country, and especially my sister, absolutely have many of the tendencies of Fascists that Joshua described to me. Half of everything she says in public is about how the Empire needs to be returned to its former glory, and the other half is her attempting to whip up nationalists fervor so people support her colonialist ambitions down south. I know her, I grew up with her, I can tell you how she thinks and what she wants.”
The Baron was not prepared for this discussion. He figured they were in a sort of renaissance time period, and yet he is getting a lecture about concepts from the 19th and 20th century.
He nodded his head to indicate he was listening intently, so Wilhelm continued.
“She wants to create a legacy, to gain a nickname like our father had. And she plans on doing that by expanding southward, something which stopped over a hundred years ago. Very few people have been informed about this, so do with this information whatever you please. At the time our father passed, he was formulating a plan to expand our power and influence…”
Wilhelm reached for another drawer, and the Baron drew his saber halfway.
“Care with that sort of movement, son. You tried to shoot me.”
Wilhelm chucked and opened the drawer.
“Tried. Be honest with me, could I have actually shot you before being stopped?”
The Baron immediately shook his head.
“No you could not. Been doing this for far too long. There’s a reason you only have a small gash on your neck instead of a missing hand. The amount of people with enough precision to draw and parry your firearm like that could be counted on one hand.”
The Baron held up nine fingers, one hand fully open, the other with its thumb tucked across his palm.
“About this many, actually. But, those are also the only ones I know personally. There are certainly better warriors out there than I.”
Wilhelm nodded appreciatively and dipped his hand the rest of the way into the drawer, withdrawing a small bottle with a dark amber liquid swirling around inside.
“Scotch from my trip to Orkney a few years ago.”
He shook it for emphasis, then set it down and retrieved two glasses.
“It would be a shame for this to go to waste. Scotch is quite expensive these days. Well, expensive for empiresmen. And I certainly do not blame them for doing that to us, considering what we have done to every one of our other neighbors.”
He filled the glasses and pushed one over to the Baron, who grabbed the drink and eyed Wilhelm suspiciously.
“You drink first.”
Wilhelm smiled and raised his glass.
“Of course. It is common courtesy between warriors for the provider to drink first, am I correct?”
The Baron nodded and Wilhelm drank.
“Yes, it is to make them feel at ease. Less of a chance they poisoned the drink.”
Wilhelm sighed contently and swished the liquid around in his glass.
“What if they poisoned the glass?”
The Baron smirked.
“Pouring drinks without the drinker there to observe is considered to be bad etiquette, essentially a social convention that gives you a polite way to refuse a drink you don’t trust. I believe the ritual came from Orkney, but it has been Reikified and spread around the world through our mercenaries.”
The Baron sipped from the glass.
Well…it doesn’t taste poisoned. Though, I guess alcohol is poison, isn't it?
Wilhelm smiled and set down his drink.
“Now, where was I? Oh yes, my father’s legacy. He was drafting up plans to invade the Assai’id Confederation. His plan was to send agents and official Imperial merchants there to investigate who has the best natural resources within their territory. Then, he would take them over, either through subterfuge or through direct invasion. From there, he would export their resources home, and we would turn them into finished goods and sell them around the world, or use them to enrich the Empire itself.”
The Baron nodded.
“Textbook colonialism.”
“Exactly. You really are a highly educated man, aren't you? I am familiar with the concept thanks to Joshua, however, I believe my father came up with the idea himself.”
The Baron shrugged.
“It is a fairly straightforward idea, at least I think so. And I believe I can put the rest of it together. Empress Reikspal, living in the shadow of her famous father and having to give orders to men who thought the idea of a woman leading the Empire was ridiculous, wants to do something to prove that she is just as strong a leader as her father.”
Wilhelm clapped his hands.
“Excellent! That is exactly the situation. She is not motivated by logic or some want to improve the lives of others. She is motivated by her need for glory and lust for power. People like her will eat up as many peoples and cultures as they can before something stops them, and my sister needs to be stopped.”
The Baron mulled over his words as he swirled the amber liquid in his glass. Wilhelm tried to look calm and collected, but he couldn’t hide the bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face. The Baron set down the glass and looked Wilhelm dead in the eyes, his face severe and serious.
“Before I decide whether to kill you or let you go, I need you to answer one last question. What are your designs for a post-Empress Empire?”
Wilhelm was visibly relieved. The Baron raised an eyebrow. Wilhelm took a moment to collect himself before smiling and returning the Baron’s gaze with determination in his eyes.
“I wish to turn the Empire into a republic, like that of the Elves on the western continents. Their people have a say in the systems which affect their lives, or at least I believe so. Their principles of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity appeal to me as a man who learned to give a damn about the suffering of his people instead of being content to sit on a throne and get fat off of the labor of others.”
The Baron raised an eyebrow.
“Your people?”
Wilhelm smiled at the Baron, face brimming with determination.
“Yes, my people. I am part of the Reikspal line, we have been the Imperial family since the Empire was founded centuries ago. I was born a noble and given a noble’s education, and that came at the expense of our people. When I was around ten years old, there was a great famine, the Black Hunger. I'm sure you remember it, many of us do. The worst in Imperial history. It greatly impacted our growth for a decade, and provinces like Waffenstadt and Ebenenstadt have only just begun to increase their population just past their pre-famine numbers.”
Wilhelm clenched his fist.
“I looked through the Imperial Archives, my family has always been very insistent on leaving a paper trail for everything we do as rulers, a tradition started by the founder of the Empire. Grössenstadt survived the Black Hunger at the expense of the Ebenenstadt and Waffenstadt. My sister, then just twenty years old, directly stole grain from Plantageburg to feed me extravagant meals while fellow Imperials starved to death.”
He narrowed his eyes and grinned angrily.
“As did the Bickenstadt line.”
The Baron stiffened, then clenched his teeth and dropped his hands from the saber’s hilt.
That…was before I gained this consciousness. I didn’t think twice about it back then.
“...yes, I did that to feed my son, Wolfgang von Bickenstadt."
He ran his hand through his hair. It was rough and tangled, the sweat and dust had done a number on it.
"He was just fourteen, a growing boy, and a gifted one at that. He needed…a lot of food, as a growing boy being drilled by his warrior father. I felt I had no choice. However…”
The Baron hesitated to speak for a moment, standing in silence as he thought before shaking his head vigorously and looking Wilhelm directly in the eye. He was trying to look confident, but he could tell that his expression was not very convincing.
“I did heavily assist in efforts to apply industrial processes to farming and processing of food...we produce far more than we used to and get more out of what we produce than before. Additionally, the Empress and I would eventually work together to expand our logistics network and national social spending to prevent such a thing from happening again.”
“And yet you purposefully starved fellow Imperials to death."
The Baron's eye twitched slightly. Wilhelm continued.
"You are not a stupid man. You knew that people would die as a result of your actions, and you took their grain anyway. You may have worked hard to fix the problems you helped create, but at the end of the day you helped create those problems. You owe them more than that. You owe them actual improvement in their rights and standards of living, aside from just providing food to more people than before.”
The Baron rubbed his eyes, rubbing the left with his pointer finger and the right with his thumb. He sighed deeply and dragged his hand down his face, then, slowly, began to nod his head.
“Yes…I…would agree with that. I would not have agreed back then, I was not as…progressive…as I am now. I was born a noble to one of the richest men in the Empire and the second most afluent city in the Empire, I had an incredible amount of freedom, despite the social obligations. I didn’t quite...understand, then, how important freedom is to living fulfilling life.”
The Baron smiled and rested his palm on the pommel of his saber.
“However, I do now. I will assist you in your goal of turning this country into a republic. And I will begin to give the citizens of Bickenstadt and Holenstadt autonomy, perhaps suggest them have city councils.”
Wilhelm shot up from his chair, a look of pure excitement on his face. He leaned forward and shook the Baron’s hand.
“Excellent. I had a feeling you would agree with my mission! As a historic progressive, I had a feeling that you would be accepting of this. Now, I believe we truly have a chance. With your power and my revolutionary network, the dream of republic will live on!”
The Baron smiled and quickly nodded his head as he shook the prince’s hand. After a few seconds, a small memory popped into his head. He reached into the inner pockets of his puff and slash and retrieved a coin.
“Wilhelm, take this coin and make your way to Bickenstadt. When you arrive, find a fishmonger shop named Der Angepisste Fischhändler, from there, give the owner this coin and say to him ‘I am here to visit Johan’. He will handle the rest and explain what needs to be explained.”
Wilhelm took the coin and nodded his head emphatically.
“Of course! My comrades are waiting for me with a small boat in the Liebensfluss, they will take me to the beautiful docks of Bickenstadt. There is a trap door and slide under the carpet there.”
He walked over and lifted said carpet, revealing a hidden door.
“Pierre, my friend from the Elven Republic, may he rest in peace, was an earth mage. He carved this tunnel for me, suspecting the worst. He wanted to go with honor, and for me to escape.”
“Wonderful. If it is any consolation, he went out with great honor. None of those mages went down without a fight! See you in Bickenstadt, then. I imagine we will have quite a bit to discuss, though you may end up waiting a while.”
Wilhelm opened the door and sat at the edge of the slide.
“Do not worry, I am a very patient man.”