Chapter VII

Elsewhere in a manor's courtyard. “My Lord Garretsen.” An elderly man wearing what appeared to be a butler uniform came out of a set of double doors and called out to an obese man in lavish clothes, whom was lounging in a chair being fed fruits by some half-naked servant girls. Snorting the obese man snappily exclaimed, “What it is!? Don't you see I'm busy!?”

The butler immediately cast his gaze to the ground while bowing and meekly said, “A thousand apologies, Your Lordship. However a messenger has arrived with a letter for you and he said that it is rather urgent.” Garretsen grunted back. “Hmph, it can wait! I'm in the middle of enjoying myself.” “Yes, Your Lordship. I shall take my leave.” The butler turned around and was about to leave the courtyard but suddenly halted in his steps. “Wait!” Squaked Garretsen. “Who sent it?”

The butler turned back around to face Garretsen and replied, “Milord, It came from your retainer, Lord Stokes.” Garretsen raised an eyebrow as he huffed, “Stokes? I gave him that town to lord over...what was it called...umm...Beckton! Right, that was its name. What the hell could he possibly want?” The butler remained silent as he stood there waiting for his lord to finish.

Garretsen looked at the butler and groaned, “Place the letter on the desk in my study, I'll read it when I'm finished here.” The butler responded respectfully, “Yes, Your Lordship.” He turned around and walked out of the courtyard back through the doors he entered from. The moment he was through them he muttered under his breath, “Repugnant pig.”

After an hour had passed, Garretsen finally left the courtyard and headed to his study. Arriving there he walked over to a cabinet and made himself a drink. He then sat down at his desk. Looking over the contents that were on his desk he sighed, “Alright, which one is that letter?” He rummaged through some of the papers on his desk. “Ahh, this must be it.”

Picking up a letter and unsealing it, he began to read while sipping his drink. After reading through it, he furrowed his brow and snorted. “Hmph! A village didn't pay their monthly tribute?” As he continued sipping his drink he thought, 'Since he's short on manpower because of this damned war with the Volux Kingdom, he requests I send him more men? Hmph! Fine. I suppose I can do so. After all, it will put him further in debt with me.'

He couldn't help but laugh to himself, “Gahahaha!” He stood up and walked over to the door of the study, opening it. He shouted, “Attend to me!!!!” His shout echoed throughout the manor's hallways. Afterwards he returned to his seat and began to write something.

Shortly after, there was a knock on the study's door. “Enter!” Garretsen called out. The door opened and the elderly butler from earlier walked in. “Your Lordship.” The butler acknowledged Garretsen. “Hmph! Good. You're finally here.” As he said this he picked up a sealed letter. “Take this letter and give it to Jaidyn.” The butler accepted the letter and said, “Yes, Your Lordship, right away.” The butler bowed then left the study to deliver the letter. 'Now then...I suppose I could go enjoy those servant girls some more, gahahaha.' Garretsen thought to himself. He gulped down the rest of his drink then set the empty glass down and left the study.

The elderly butler had left the manor's grounds and was currently on his way to the city's barracks. The city of Amberhelm was ruled over by Lord Garretsen, who ruled with an iron fist. Amberhelm was located within the Kingdom of Kreris, which was currently at war with the Kingdom of Volux.

Both of these kingdoms are in a rather central location on the continent of Itos and are surrounded by nations of varying sizes. In this central area, wars were a common occurrence as many nations wished to expand by conquering smaller countries without angering any of the existing superpowers.

The kingdoms of both Volux and Kreris could be considered small. However the Kingdom of Volux was one of the more powerful small nations, while the Kingdom of Kreris was considered to have only average strength. Due to the war with the Kingdom of Volux, the King of the Kingdom of Kreris, called for all of his vassals to send as many soldiers as possible to participate. This resulted in leaving most of his vassals short-handed when it came to internal matters.

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 The elderly butler had just arrived at the city of Amberhelm's barracks. Within it, he had just knocked on a closed door. “Come in.” A man's voice sounded out. Not hesitating, the elderly butler opened the door and walked inside, closing the door behind him. “Oh, it's you, Liles. What do you need?” Amiably asked a man with brown long hair and a trimmed beard as he looked up from the papers on his desk.

“Jaidyn, the piglet seems to have another task for you.” Liles's voice was filled with disdain as he insulted their lord. Chuckling, Jaidyn solemnly said, “Hahaha, Oi, you ought to be careful talking about him like that.” Liles shrugged as he said, “I just speak the truth.” He continued in a regretful voice, “My Redthorne family's ancestor never should have gotten involved with the swine's family back then...”

Jaidyn slightly nodded as he replied, “Aye, that's true, I wish my Hall family never became indebted to him back then either...but if that didn't happen we wouldn't have become friends, haha.” Liles smiled as he shook his head and reached into his pocket, “Right, the reason I'm here this time” he paused there and took a sealed letter out of his pocket, handing it over to Jaidyn, “is to deliver you a letter from our lordship.” Jaidyn raised an eyebrow as he dejectedly said, “Wonder what he needs done this time...”

Jaidyn broke the seal on the letter and opened it up. Reading the letter he furrowed his brow and frowned, “A village near the town of Beckton, seems to have not paid their tribute this month, he wants me to send some men to 'teach them a lesson'...” Sighing he continued, “I swear, I can't stand our lord's way of doing things...but I have no other choice...”

Shaking his head, he said to Liles, “Alright, thanks for delivering the letter. I'm gonna have to scrounge up some men to send over to Beckton, so I can't chat for long...” Liles smiled and shook his head, “It's fine, I need to get back to the manor anyways. You know how our lord is...” Nodding, Jaidyn said, “Indeed. Next time, at the Silver Hatchet Tavern, the drinks are on me.” Chuckling and saying farewell, Liles left the barracks.

Jaidyn walked out of his office and walked through the halls. He finally reached a training field where some men were currently sparring. He looked around, seemingly looking for someone in particular. Jaidyn stopped in front of two men who were in the middle of sparring.

Of the two men, one was tall and had bulging muscles, while the other was of average height and well-built. “Levak! There you are. I was looking for you.” The tall man with bulging muscles had his back turned to Jaidyn, but upon hearing his name called out he turned around and crudely said, “Hmm, oh boss, what da yah need?” Jaidyn slightly furrowed his brow as he said, “I've got orders for you.”

 Levak groaned, “Oh, orders great. What needs doin boss?” Jaidyn reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small badge. He tossed it to Levak. Catching the badge, Levak asked, “Eh, what's this boss?” Jaidyn smirked and said, “That's the mark of a Corporal. You're gonna lead a squad of men over to the town of Beckton. There's a village around there that didn't pay their tribute to our lord. We got orders to bring back the tribute and then some. As well as to 'teach them a lesson', you think you can do that?”

Levak grinned, revealing a few missing teeth as he said, “Hehe, of course boss. No problem.” “Good. Once at Beckton, report in to Caden Stokes. He's the lord of the town. He should fill you in on any details. You'll leave first thing tomorrow morning. It should take about half a day to get to Beckton.” Replied Jaidyn. “Roger that boss. We'll get it done.” Jaidyn nodded, then turned around and left. As soon as he had left the training field, Levak started to chuckle, “Hehehe, gonna have ta gather the boys. We're gonna get ta have some fun.”