Chapter 25
Wolfgang was sitting in his personal study, working his way through a small pile of documents. His study was smaller than the Baron’s, by a noticeable amount, but this was by Wolfgang’s choice, not by any sort of lack of funds for a larger room. Wolfgang was just more comfortable in a room smaller than the Baron's.
The walls of his study were lined with bookshelves. One side filled with proper leather bound books, and the other mostly papers roughly held together with twine, or sometimes simply loose paper smushed against the other notebooks to keep them from falling off the shelf. Unlike the Baron’s bookshelves, Wolfgang’s were meticulously organized, with neat rows of books and papers perfectly lined on the shelves, with not a single page out of place. Such was the way Wolfgang preferred things.
As he read through a proposal by the city council to build a new gunpowder mill, which Wolfgang was more than a little apprehensive about allowing to be built within city limits, the Baron burst into his study.
“Wolfgang! I have something to show you! Come with me! We’re going on a little trip! It’s within Bickenstadt city, so it shouldn’t take too long!”
Wolfgang put down his pen and rubbed his eyes, sore from hours of squinting at small letters on paper. His study had no windows, the only light coming from the couple of candles he had lit. The darkness helped him focus, but it hurt his eyes something fierce.
“Where do you want to take me?"
The Baron smiled brightly.
“It’s a fishmonger’s shop! Der Angepisste Fischhändler! It’s run by an old friend of mine.”
Wolfgang looked to his father like he was an idiot, and for all Wolfgang knew, he very well could be. He was a little erratic at times.
“Why are you taking me to a fishmonger?”
The Baron waved his arms dismissively.
“Does it really matter? Just trust me on this, ok?”
Wolfgang sighed tiredly and stood up from his desk.
“Fine, take me to your fishmonger.”
The Baron thrust a bundle of cloth at Wolfgang, a wide smile plastered on his face.
“We have to go incognito!”
Wolfgang stared at the cloak through half closed eyes, face full of nothing but pity and contempt.
“why are you trying to disguise yourself? There is no hiding your 6’6 frame. The number of men in the Empire as large as you could be counted on one hand.”
The Baron grinned brightly.
“Come on now, why ruin the fun?”
Wolfgang smiled tiredly and grabbed the cloak.
“Gods above, for a man with quite a few decades on me, you can be such a child.”
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The two men arrived at Der Angepisste Fischhändler, walking through the doors and being greeted by the massive frame of the owner looking up from a book. His voice was deep, gruff, and unfriendly.
“Welcome to Der Angepisste Fischhändler, what do you want?”
The Baron flipped back his hood, as did Wolfgang.
“We’re here to see Johan.”
The shopkeeper smiled, set down his book, and tossed the Baron some salmon jerky, which he caught and immediately started to chew on.
“Ah, well, ‘ell be glad to see you! ‘E’s been bored as hell lately. You got time for a little talky talk ‘fore you see ‘im?”
The Baron looked to nowhere in particular as he thought the proposition over.
“...You know what Jurgen, we can indulge you a little bit, I owe you that much at least.”
The shopkeeper threw a bit of salmon jerky to Wolfgang, who caught it and just stared at it.
“Great! Good to see you man, feels like it’s been years since we’ve had a good chat, yeah? ‘Ow come you never bring your son along ‘til today?”
The Baron ripped off a bit of the jerky with his teeth before speaking. Wolfgang took a tentative bite. He thought it was fine, nothing particularly special.
“Well, you know, I only come here on business, you know? He’s never really been needed down there.”
Wolfgang looked surprised.
“Wait, is this the fabled Bickenstadt pirate city? In a fishmonger's shop? Even I was not entirely sure if it existed, though all of the evidence did point towards that conclusion.”
Jurgen crossed his arms and nodded proudly.
“Aye son, ‘ere is the entrance to the largest black market in the Empire.”
The Baron frowned slightly and shook his head.
“I prefer to call it ‘state run privateer village’, but that’s mostly just semantics.”
Wolfgang looked taken aback as he stuffed the jerky in his pocket..
“Wait so, just how much of a proper village is this place?”
“You’ll see when we get down there. Now, Jurgen, how’s your family?”
“They’re doin’ great! M’son just left for university in the Assai’id!”
The Baron looked surprised, but impressed.
“Oh? He’s not going to an Imperial university?”
Jurgen shook his head.
“Nah, knowin’ the shit you’ve been gettin’ up to, we felt it’s safer for ‘im to learn out of country. Been a few lads runnin’ around causin’ a ruckus for ideology or whatever. Somethin’ about Elves I think. Broke the window of some merchant company I think and started a street fight. Figure it’s your doin’ so I’m havin’ ‘im leave while we’re ahead.”
Oh? Vandalism? And a street brawl? That’s good news! Probably.
The Baron was trying to not let his thoughts show on his face.
“That’s fair enough, though if anyone asks, you haven’t heard much about it, the Baron hasn’t released a statement yet.”
Jurgen nodded and the Baron slapped his shoulder.
“I hear the Assai’id universities are fine enough to rival any Imperial one, save Grössenstadt of course! Good on him! You know, as much as I dislike the Empress, University of Grössenstadt has truly flourished under her watchful eye. Oh, and the University of Waffenstadt seems to have become an extremely respectable institution.”
“Well, we were a bit unsure ‘bout sendin’ ‘im to Grossenstadt, after my sister an’ all.”
“Come on, plague is hardly a Grossenstadt exclusive issue.”
Jurgen leaned on his fist and sighed.
“Yeah yeah, still don’t like it.”
Wolfgang tapped his father’s shoulder.
“I’m glad to know you have friends and all, but can you just show me what you brought me out here for.”
The Baron frowned and turned to address Jurgen with a smile.
“We should catch up later, next time you have a day off, come to Bickenstadt castle and we’ll have a nice chat. I’ll have something good to drink, I always do.”
“Sound’s good, Johan! Door’s got a couple sides of beef on it. Need help with your 50 years’a abuse? My back’s startin’ to go too!”
The Baron flipped Jurgen off and led Wolfgang to the meat locker, grabbing a meathook hanging from a metal rack and handing it to him.
Wait a second, I don’t think they use that gesture here?
“See those sides of beef on the floor? Move 'em out of the way.”
Wolfgang clicked his tongue and grabbed the hook.
“I thought you said you could handle it.”
The Baron smiled brightly.
“I can, but it’s much easier for me if you do it.”
Wolfgang rolled his eyes as he stuck the side of beef.
“You’re ridiculous.”
Said Wolfgang as he dragged the meat off the trapdoor.
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When Wolfgang and the Baron turned the corner, two figures stepped out in front of them, one tall and skinny, the other short and stout. They both had their truncheons in hand. The lanky one stepped forward, slapping the palm of his hand with said truncheon.
“Well well well, what do we ‘ave ‘ere?”
The short and stout one stepped forward, also palming his truncheon.
“Well, seems like we’re gonna ‘ave to-”
The Baron walked out of the shadows, his son in tow.
“It’s me you dullards. Again.”
Both of the men jumped and stood at attention.
“Ah! Boss! Lovely seein’ you ‘ere!”
The Baron walked over and spoke loudly to cut off any other ass kissing the guards wanted to engage in.
“Yeah yeah just open the damned door.”
The short one ran to open the aforementioned door, while the lanky one ran to his spot next to the door and stood at attention.
“You know, if you come out of the shadows and yell at anyone who passes by, then people hear about the door.”
Both men stiffened up harder as he walked past,The Baron shaking his head at them before putting his arm around Wolfgang and shepherding him through the door.
“Thank you. Now, Wolfgang, time for you to see the legendary Bickenstadt Black Market! Uh I mean State Run Privateer village!”
Wolfgang’s eyes widened in surprise as he walked through the door and was greeted by a small town situated in a massive cavern. From his vantage point he could see everything, the inn, the market, the houses, the blacksmith, the dock, the ships, maintenance workers, a small crowd, everything. He had had an idea that the black market existed, but he had no idea the operation was so large scale.
“Dad, how have I not seen this before? How have you managed to hide a gods damned town right under my feet?”
The Baron started walking and gestured for Wolfgang to follow him, talking absently as he went.
“Well, legally speaking this is a village, Imperial law says that any settlement above one thousand inhabitants is a town, this place only has about five hundred permanent inhabitants.”
Wolfgang’s eyes looked like they would bulge out of his head.
“Five hundred!? That’s so many! How has word not gotten out?”
“I let the inhabitants talk about this place so long as they don’t give any specifics. Hearing a rumor here and there tends to satisfy most people’s curiosity, they don’t care to try and uncover the whole story. Most people have better things to do.”
The Baron smiled smugly.
“And anyone that does either joins the fold, is misdirected, or is dealt with. And foreign pirates know if they blab they, their families, their crew, and their clan, if applicable, will be killed. If the Empress had proper evidence of any of this, she would have the grounds to arrest me.”
The Baron gave his best shit eating grin.
“Piracy is a crime, after all! And my men ‘accidentally’ operate Grössenstadt waters from time to time. Also a lot of the permanent residents are disabled in some way, mentally or physically, or are a group labeled ‘deviants’ by the Empire. People attracted to the same sex, people with some wacky ideas about how they want to portray themselves and identify.”
The Baron shook his head.
“I always thought it was ridiculous persecuting those with incongruent gender identities, a bullet from them is just as good as one from me! Just because I don’t get it doesn’t mean I should be rude to them.”
Wolfgang didn’t really know what ‘incongruent gender identities’ meant, but he could gather that it made them wards of the state in one way or another, whether through infirmity or imprisonment.
“They get a rather good deal, in my opinion. They have their lodgings paid for, their mental and physical needs met, more or less, and most importantly, we don’t ‘harangue’, their word for it, people down here. People don’t have to steal, or even work really, down here if they don’t want to. So long as the logbook stays in the green. If not then they have to work.”
Wolfgang watched workers descend on a damaged galleon as it pulled into the harbor, his face full of awe.
“Still, I would have thought my spy network would have mentioned something about this. I’ve seen a few discrepancies here and there, but not nearly enough for a city of this size.”
The Baron shrugged his shoulders dismissively.
“Well, this place pays for itself most years. Like I said, Elven goods sell for a LOT amongst racist nobles for whatever reason. Also, you just can’t catch everything. Especially when we don’t want to be caught. So we can give you just enough to satisfy curiosity. Anyways, we’re here to meet someone, he’s staying there.”
The Baron opened the door of the inn and ushered Wolfgang in. They walked up to the innkeeper, who smiled when he saw the Baron, but remained silent.
“We’re here to see a foppish dandy. Or whatever you all have taken to calling him.”
The innkeeper pointed to a room number with his pointer, a stick with a hand carved at the end of it. He didn’t say a word.
“Same room, good to know. And I see you have a full hand now! Good to know your salary is being put to good use. Next you’ll be paying someone to point for you!”
The innkeeper rubbed his chin thoughtfully before nodding his head sagely. Wolfgang could very clearly see a large scar across his neck, likely the reason he wasn’t speaking.
“I’ll look forward to it. Not raising your salary though.”
The innkeeper stuck his tongue out and gestured towards the stairs. The Baron nodded his head and led Wolfgang upstairs. As they stood outside the room, the Baron turned around before knocking.
“Don’t be surprised by who you see in there.”
Wolfgang rolled his eyes.
“I doubt it will be more surprising than learning there is a whole village underneath my feet.”
The Baron shrugged and knocked on the door. After a short while the door opened.
“Baron! It’s been so long!”
The man embraced the Baron, his hair was long and blonde, and his face was covered in stubble.
“Wilhelm! I agree it has been far too long. What’s it been, a year?”
Wilhelm released the Baron before turning his attention to Wolfgang.
“And change, I believe. Who’s this you’ve brought with you?”
The Baron threw his arm around Wolfgang’s shoulder.
“This is my son, Wolfgang von Bickenstadt. He has largely taken over the grand strategy of our project, so I felt he should meet you.”
The Prince extended a hand to Wolfgang, which he took after a moment of hesitation.
“I know what you are thinking, and yes, I am Prince Wilhelm Reikspal, supposed dead brother of Empress Samanta Reikspal. I have been working with your father for about a year now, like I said. “
Wilhelm looked contemplative for a movement before continuing.
“Well, working is a strong word. I’ve been spending most of my time either bored out of my mind or drinking with pirates, but still. Rebelling against the Empress was originally my idea, and I recruited your father here for it.”
Wolfgang looked to the Prince, then to his father, and then back to the Prince.
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“Well, I suppose I should have known. My father couldn’t have planned something this large by himself.”
“Hey! I am plenty smart, thank you very much!”
“Sure dad, anyways, Prince Wilhelm, ho-”
The Prince cut Wolfgang off with a gesture.
“Please, just call me Wilhelm. I have been disowned by my sister, for obvious reasons.”
Wolfgang hesitated for a moment before committing to it. All his etiquette training was telling him not to, because this was a member of the royal family, but he would just have to ignore it.
“Alright then, Wilhelm, how much of what we have done so far do you know?”
As the Prince spoke he beckoned the two men in and poured them each a glass of elven brandy.
“The last thing I heard was that your father had opened relations with the Brayherds. Some of your boys sounded kind of nervous about it, they were afraid that meant you would downsize their operations or something.”
The Baron looked more than a little offended.
“I would do no such thing! It’s simply extra income, my boys make me a lot of money! I would never throw them away like trash! Turns out elven goods are actually very popular among the upper classes, maybe just due to the fact that they’re expensive, but they bring me elven goods from a Wa or Assai’id merchant vessel and I get enough revenue to keep my social programs up and running.”
The Prince lifted his glass for emphasis.
“Elven brandy is fairly good, I know you enjoy it quite a bit. I doubt that is just because it’s expensive.”
The Baron smiled and sipped from his glass.
“Of course not. It’s what my father drank, and I developed a taste for it.”
Wolfgang waited for his father to continue and give the Prince a more detailed rundown of their operations, and then sighed when they both looked to him for the explanation.
I really should just bowl over my father, he’s going to make me explain everything anyway.
“We opened relations with Caprae Loco and got the support of the senate for the civil war. They will do much of the heavy lifting on the eastern side of the Empire and prevent the men in the mountain citadel from slipping away and rejoining with the Empire. We just recently had a strategic meeting which did two things: decided on who we will open relations with next, and give a rough outline of how we are planning to propagate the civil war and win.”
Wolfgang took a moment to sip on his brandy and winced. He really preferred weaker drinks, especially when he was in the middle of planning something.
“Currently our plan is to open relations with Orcland. They are the closest country to the Empire, behind Caprae Loco and Orkney of course. They have a large land border on the north-eastern part of the Empire, and, assuming you are high up and using a telescope, one could see the shores of Orcland from Grossenburg.”
The Prince smiled as he spoke.
“It would take a very small amount of effort to cross the channel between the Empire and Orcland. Even if we don’t get a large-scale mercenary contract, or, gods willing, an alliance, the Empress will have to be cautious about moving too many troops away from Grossenburg out of fear of an Orc invasion.”
The Prince took a moment to think, tapping the table with his finger.
“I like that, even if they don’t invade from the sea, just the threat of it will force her to keep troops in Grossenburg. However…hmm…why not start with the Dwarves? Their fleets and guns have become far more advanced in recent years, though still not as advanced as us, last I heard. And their accent tends to be easier to understand, at least for Empiresmen for whatever reason.”
“Yes, that was my plan initially, but we were operating on outdated information. You may or may not know this, but the Baron has an Elf on payroll, and he has informed us they are in the midst of a civil war that has been raging for close to 80 years now.”
After taking a moment to process this new information, the Prince’s face darkened and he buried his head in his hands.
“If our information is that out of date, The Empire is far worse off than I thought.”
Wolfgang and the Baron looked at each other for a moment before bursting out laughing. The Prince looked at the two men, a look of pure confusion on his face.
“What? Was it something I said?”
“Yes, yes, you’re just like my son! That is exactly what he said when he learned of the Dwarven civil war! Down to the word!”
While the two men were laughing, and the Prince was watching bewilderedly, there was a knock at the door. The Baron walked over, still chuckling, and just barely managed to put on a neutral expression when he opened the door.
“Yes? What is it.”
He was greeted by the sweaty, worried face of one of his pirates.
“Boss! *Huff* Thank the gods you’re here today! *Cough* S-s-some guys…from Wako have been…coming here and making a ruckus! They keep taking food from the stalls near the dock and refusing to pay, and they keep vandalizing our stuff! Gods above I’m out of shape.”
The Baron narrowed his eyes at the man, looking very incredulous.
“Why would they do that? The only men from Wako who would know about this place are men trusted by Shirahama. He wouldn’t trust the secret of this place to people who would act like that, he knows what’s at stake for him.”
The pirate was bent over, hands on his knees, panting heavily, up and forwards towards the Baron.
“Well, they’re here now and we need someone to deal with them. We had that guy living here do it last time because he’s really good at talking, but since you’re here, please deal with them!”
Hm, do they actually not know who he is? Maybe that secret is more secure than I thought!
“Fine, fine. Just lead me to them.”
The pirate guided him to the docks, where the Baron spotted some ships that were obviously not from the Empire. Two of them shared the broad strokes of a typical Empire ship, elongated oval hull with a main deck and then a smaller upper deck near the back, but the similarities stopped there.
The ship was colored bright red, with dark black highlights along the seams and railing. The railing itself was far more circular than Imperial rails, as the wood seemed to be bamboo, or some other tree that grew thin and circular the way bamboo did.
In the middle of the deck was what looked like a traditional Japanese building, of which the Baron could see sailors moving in and out of carrying cargo and people lounging around. The mast stuck out near the back of the ship, the sail itself looking far more flat and segmented than traditional Imperial sails, adopted from the billowy sails of the Ottomans down south. And, in stark contrast to Imperial vessels, these ships had only one mast.
The Baron thought those ships were interesting, but they mostly followed the normal conventions of shipbuilding that the Baron was used to. The area that’s possible a captain's quarters is just larger than Imperial ships. The third and final ship, however, looked nothing like any ship the Baron had ever seen. The last ship, the largest by a wide margin, was very strange.
The hull bottom was shaped much the same as the other two ships, but sitting on top of that was a large, red, rounded rectangle, which extended fully to the end, but stopped about a yard from the point of the front, roughly like a very large canoe. The rectangular hull was covered in steel sheets that were, following with the theme of the hull, attached in perfect rectangles, segmented by strips of wood painted black.
The Baron could sense strong enchantments emanating from each steel plate, making the hull far stronger than a normal ship would be.
Within the large rectangle the Baron could see a large building resting in the middle, looking very much like a wooden Japanese castle, again, covered in rectangular steel plates. In front of the castle were two large watch towers, six men to a tower, each armed with a firearm. All across the middle of the rectangular hull were holes where the Baron could see cannons, who’s muzzles were bronze casts of a dragon, peaking out periodically.
Next to these cannons were, in keeping with the pattern, tall, thin slits with which, as far as the Baron could guess, one could shoot out of. He noted that the ship had no mast, or at least no mast he could see.
As the Baron walked over to the market, marveling at the alien design of the ships, he could hear a lot of incomprehensible yelling. He tore his eyes away from the ships and jogged over to the source of the noise. As he turned the corner to the market he was greeted by a bunch of markedly non Imperial men harassing a shopkeeper, who seemed to be a fairly feminine looking man.
They were mostly shorter on average than most imperial citizens, by a good couple of inches so far as the Baron could tell, but that was neither here nor there. Most of the men were unarmored, but carried very conspicuous katanas at their waist. They wore robes, which stopped at the thigh, and were very brightly colored, mostly with the same red as that of the ships, with the occasional yellow or black highlights.
Their hair styles were, to the Baron’s more ‘Eurocentric’ sensibilities, weird. The top of many of the men’s heads were bald, with hair growing at the sides and in a large ponytail at the back. Some had full heads of hair, but most did not, which felt very strange to the Baron. Some of the men had conical rice hats, while others had hats that were very obviously taken from people of another culture, the Baron even spotted an Imperial tricorn, but most were hatless.
The man currently in a screaming match with the shopkeeper was the largest out of all of them, standing at a head taller than the rest of the non-Imperials, and of the shopkeeper he was shouting at. Though still shorter than the Baron by a wide margin, the Baron was far larger than the average Imperial citizen, so that was an unfair comparison, but the Baron was biased, having been so tall all his life.
The man was wearing samurai armor, just the chestplate and helmet, with no shirt underneath. His sword, a nodachi, was being held over his shoulder, still in the sheath. His face sported a three part cut, a long soul patch ending in a point, and a mustache segmented in two parts, each part similarly long and pointed, reaching down to his chin. The Baron beelined towards the man, who was obviously the leader of the Japanese pirates, and stepped between him and the shopkeeper.
“What are you two yelling about? Within the bounds of this village you are to settle your accounts like gentlemen, not like naked savages, I will not stand for it!”
The large pirate looked to the Baron with a small amount of surprise and annoyance. The shopkeeper just looked relieved. Their voice was loud and somewhat grizzled, but sounded a great deal more feminine than the Baron thought it had from a distance. They were a very young and feminine looking person, though with very sharp, angular features that could hint towards either direction. He guessed that they were maybe in their mid-twenties.
Feminine man or masculine woman? Maybe neither?
“Ulrich’s left nut you’re here Baron! This unwashed ape has been disputing my prices! The nerve! I get to set my own prices you witless fuck!”
The pirate scowled as the man spoke, saying his own piece to the Baron as soon as the shopkeeper finished speaking. His voice was deep, with a very slight Japanese accent. He had obviously practiced Reikers.
“This effeminate freak is trying to take my men’s hard earned money! They don’t speak Reikers, how are they meant to haggle?!”
The Baron’s eye twitched a bit at that insult. The person it was aimed at looked angry and sad.
Have I cracked a skull yet today? No?
The Baron responded in a strong and steady voice, though still trying to be as smug as possible.
“That’s not my problem. Get better men.”
The pirate gripped his nodachi with both hands, assuming a stance similar to that of a major league baseball player
“You dare question my men’s integrity! I will kill you!”
The Baron almost instantly closed the distance and touched a pistol to the man’s stomach. The pirate, to his credit, didn’t even flinch.
“You don’t threaten people here. And you certainly don’t talk to such a pretty young thing in that way. Such barbarity is reserved for when you’re on my payroll. When you are within this place, you act civilly.”
The pirate scowled, but soon took one hand off his nodachi, letting it dangle across his back, one hand still on it, gripping lazily, pinky up, fingers barely flexed around it.
“You’d better point that gun somewhere else, old man. My boys get a little rowdy when not commanded by me, or when they are explicitly commanded by me.”
The Baron scowled and pushed the barrel harder into the pirates side.
“Shirahama must have lost his mind, entrusting the existence of this place to one such as you. Are you really willing to jeopardize the deal I have with you Wako? Over what? A shopkeeper’s high prices? You Wako used to be so honorable! Just look how the mighty have fallen.”
The pirate tightened his grip on his nodachi, trying to loom as well as one could when the person you’re trying to intimidate is nearly a head taller than you.
“Back in my homeland, such words would constitute Kenka Kotoba, or ‘Quarrel Words’ in Reikers. I would be in the right to cut you down where you stand.”
The Baron smiled and raised his chin, exposing his neck as an insult.
“Oh, is that right? With what you said to that ‘effeminate freak’ earlier, I would be in the right to cut you down where you stand.”
“Oh yeah? You wanna get into a fight over some faggot?”
The Baron’s smile faulted for a second. He walked over and placed a hand on the pirate’s shoulder.
“Faggot, huh? You’re really going to come here and quarrel with my faggots?”
The pirate smiled, and after a moment of silence, both of them broke out into laughter.
The laughter had a very hard edge to it, no one around them could bring themselves to join in, or even look away from the two men. The Baron bent down and laughed hard, keeping himself up with his hands on his knees. The Baron spoke, laughing in between every couple of words.
“Quarrel words, huh? What an excellent phrase. Say...think you could send something along to Shirahama for me?”
The pirate laughed standing straight up, chest out, head held high.
“Oh? What would that b-”
Before he could get the last syllable out, the Baron punched him square in the face. The pirate flew back and landed on the ground hard, the force of the Baron’s punch lifting him in the air.
“Tell him I will be paying a visit in the near future.”
One of the pirates men drew his sword and rushed at the Baron, who’s eyes began to glow dark green as he uppercutted the air, causing a spike of earth to emerge in front of the charging pirate, who managed to avoid getting impaled by ducking under the point, slamming into the stone and dropping his sword. The Baron looked to the other pirates, and saw that none of them were willing to move. He addressed them in Japanese, or what they called ‘Wa’.
“Drag your leader back onto his ship and leave. Be glad I am not ordering you all killed and your ships scrapped. And tell Shirahama that if a single one of you dipshits calls one of my people a fucking faggot, your whole fucking cave is getting collapsed, after the offender experiences what it’s like to have their organs removed while they are alive.”
The pirates looked to the Baron, confused as to how he knew Wa, but quickly got to work either moving all their cargo back to their ship, or dragging their leader back to their ship. The Baron spit on the ground, brow furrowed as he watched them trying to lift their massive leader.
“Their leader should’ve drawn first. Only way you’ll beat me. Still not a guarantee.”
After taking a moment to compose himself, he turned to face the stall’s owner, who was visibly swooning over him.
“Are you ok…?”
After a second the person closed their eyes and shook their head violently. The Baron frowned.
“So, you’re not ok?”
The person raised their hands, palms facing towards the Baron.
“No! No, no, I am ok. I, just…”
They trailed off, and after waiting for them to continue, the Baron sighed and spoke up.
“Well then. Tell me, what do you sell.”
After a few moments they gestured sheepishly towards their ‘shop’, a small stall.
“Um, fruit and black powder.”
The Baron stared at the stall for a solid 5 seconds before turning back to them.
“Why do you sell fruit and black powder?”
They smiled sheepishly.
“It makes money.”
“Mhm. And are you the only fruit and black powder seller?”
“No.”
The Baron threw his arms up in exasperation.
“Then why were they so mad at you specifically?”
“I don’t know, that big guy just looked at me and my prices and started yelling! It was scary!”
They ran forward and hugged the Baron, who nearly rolled his eyes.They spoke while their face was buried in the puffy shirt on his chest.
“He did the same thing to a fishmonger last week! I think they’re just trying to start trouble. Or maybe they just want to bully people.”
The Baron narrowed his eyes at the shopkeeper for a moment, before gently extracting himself from their hug and tussling their hair like a father does to a child.
“Whatever kid, I have other things to attend to. Stay safe…ma’am?”
The shopkeeper smiled awkwardly and nodded before returning to her ‘shop’. The Baron quickly made his way back to the inn, heading up to the Prince’s room without even greeting the innkeeper. The Prince greeted him at the door with a glass of Brandy.
“Here, for you. How’d it go? What were the Wako doing this time?”
The Baron gratefully took his glass and sipped it, sighing contently.
“Their leader was just arguing with someone about their shop prices. I tried to get an idea of what was happening, and he threatened the little shopkeeper and called her a faggot! After that I punched him out and told them all to piss off. Can't believe he would call one of my gender incongruents a faggot. The gall!”
The Baron shook his head angrily.
“They got the message loud and clear and immediately set about leaving. Oh, and he threatened to kill me, too.”
Wolfgang tried to maintain a neutral expression. He still didn’t know what incongruent gender identity meant, and he was beginning to suspect his father wasn’t fully aware either, but he knew that his dad got really upset when you treated them poorly. Wilhelm chuckled and sighed as he gazed at his somewhat thin arms.
“Well, it seems you ended things the way I wish I could have. But alas, I only have a way with words, I am not all that strong.”
“Well, we can’t all be gifted ones, can we? Now, what were we talking about before I left?”
“Well, I feel we were wrapping up, I think I understand what’s going on now. I’ll make sure to have the locals bring you notes when I think of something. We really need to communicate better. Oh, but before you leave, I have two questions.”
The Baron looked to Wolfgang, who just shrugged and went back to what he was doing, half reading a book.
“Alright, what are your questions?”
“Firstly, I would like to know how you plan on meeting with and winning over important orc leaders?”
The Baron took a moment to think before speaking.
“I know a man who works closely with the orcs, he owes me a favor, and he told me he would introduce me to an orc leader if I ask him to. And after that, I plan on selling my services to whoever I get introduced to and help with their never ending wars. From there I will serve with distinction, as I always do, and after I have proved myself strong and useful, I will propose the idea to whomever I am serving.”
The Baron leaned back in his chair, kicking his feet up on the table.
“I will remind them that the Empire wouldn’t mind wiping the orcs off the face of the earth, but I would mostly rely on them respecting my strength. I have heard Orcs tend to respond well to that sort of thing.”
The Prince closed his eyes, thinking very quickly, and after a moment he nodded his head.
“That’s fine. Your plan is a tad simple, but it should work well with the Orcs. They’re smart when they want to be, but they tend to prefer that sort of thing. Now, for my second question: have things progressed to the point where my sister is willing to take overt action against you?”
The Baron took a moment to think before speaking, taking a sip of his brandy.
“How exactly do you define ‘overt’? She sent Landwerte to Bickenstadt, and they told me she wanted to make sure Brusilov was telling the truth.”
The Prince’s face darkened and he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“In that case, I believe you should be careful. Very careful. More careful than you currently are. Tell me, does she have good reason to suspect Brusilov? Meaning is he working with you at any level?”
“Well, working with me isn’t exactly the right way to put it. It’s more that he has decided to be very lax when spying on me. Any information he gives the Empress should be either useless, outdated, or harmless.”
“Then you might have to prepare for him to be ousted from his position. My sister is not a fool. She will figure it out eventually. I will admit, most of the people serving under her are…subpar, to put it lightly. Nepotism has really ruined the ranks of her inner circle, but look at what she has been able to accomplish using subpar tools!”
The Baron nodded his head as Wilhelm spoke. Wolfgang was writing things down, though the Baron couldn’t quite see what.
“She runs an empire of this size, using what everyone knows are complete fools, incompetent rabble through and through no matter how hard she tries to train them. And yet, she makes it work. Imagine what she would be able to do if she had decent tools, or, gods forbid, good tools.”
Wilhelm shook his head solemnly.
“When Brusilov gets replaced, and trust me, he will be replaced, she will not settle for her usual clowns. She will find real talent, possessed by someone who is actually loyal to her.”
The Baron scratched the back of his head. scrunching up his face in thought.
“Ugh, that’s more of Wolfgang’s wheelhouse. Wolfgang, have you put any thought into this sort of thing?”
Wolfgang’s facial expression soured.
“No, I have not. I do not have as much of a grasp into the Empress’s thought process as he does, being her brother. Say, Wilhelm. do you think I could come visit you occasionally to get an idea of how the Empress thinks, as well as to have someone to bounce ideas off of.”
Wilhelm looked extremely excited, but managed to hold himself back from screaming YES at the top of his lungs. He has been exceptionally bored lately.
“...I think such a thing technically requires the Baron’s permission.”
They both looked to the Baron expectantly. The Baron quickly finished off the drink he was sipping before speaking.
“Oh, yes, of course you can. You know the way now, right? Just come to the fish shop and ask for Johan, the fishmonger will let you through.”
The Prince nearly jumped for joy.
“Thank the GODS, Baron! You have no idea just how bored I have been as of late. Now, don’t get me wrong, your men are a treat to have around, but, the innkeeper is mute, and the others aren’t exactly scholars by any means. I would love to have someone just as well educated as me to talk to from time to time, even if it is just about planning and politics. You know, I have been so bored as of late I have taken up writing fiction!”
Wilhelm glanced over to his desk.
“Mostly world spanning adventure stories, and most of them feature a diverse cast of different races and backgrounds working together. Say, could you have someone read through them and decide if they’re good enough to publish? Such things can have a positive effect on how willing people are to trust other races. I know my sister has commissioned stories that do the opposite.”
The Baron happily nodded and gestured towards the Prince’s desk.
“Of course! Just give me your works and I will have them looked at. Propaganda is quite important, after all, and the less obviously propaganda something is, the better! Plus, the world could always use more books!”
The Prince walked over to his desk and retrieved three stories bound with twine. Each one of them looked to be a couple hundred pages long. The Baron took them and nodded a bit, slightly impressed.
“Damn, you’ve been busy.”
The Prince rolled his eyes.
“I’ve been bored, Baron. Unbelievably bored. Being dead doesn’t leave open many opportunities for me to do something interesting.”
“Well, such is life. And unfortunately for you, we really should get going.”
The Prince’s face fell for a moment, before quickly remembering something he wanted to say.
“Oh, Baron. I recommend you sell your services to the Orcs of London. They are generally seen as the most powerful group in Orcland.”
“Thank you for the advice, I was just going to go with whatever my contact suggests. I’ll go with your recommendation, unless said contact says it’s a horrible idea. As always, Wilhelm, it has been a pleasure. Wolfgang and I have to plan an expedition to Orcland.”
End of Book One (: