33. An Invitation
Peori expressed surprise at my visit, although I was quite certain that he <
Peori poured me a drink, and I accepted as gracefully as I could, but as always I cast [Detect Poison] on it. Peori took no offense; in fact, he cast the same spell on his own drink. Once we had the niceties out of the way, we settled into his sitting room. He sat in a large hooded chair, while I sat on the same sofa Loren had occupied while waiting for the dance to start. I gave him the news.
“So, Crescentis is for us,” he said at the conclusion of my tale.
“I’ve received reliable word to that effect,” I confirmed.
“That’s a lodestone in our court. It will draw some new support in, while driving the xenophobes and bigots out,” he commented.
“Good riddance.”
“Unfortunately some of those xenophobes and bigots have actual power, my boy. Or the illusion of actual power, which is the same thing. Have you acted on this information at all?” he asked.
“I’ve come to visit you,” I said. “I figured you’d know better than I how to exploit it.”
Peori nodded. “A wise course of action. Word will start to spread quickly, well before any official announcement is made. I’ll notify everyone I think should hear it from me, and I’ll give you a list of everyone I think should hear it from you. We may not be the first to spread the news to them, and depending how the news is broken it might be viewed in either a positive or negative way. National politics are tricky enough, international matters doubly so.”
“Wonderful, more documents to [Scribe],” I said, rubbing my wrist.
“How are other things in your lands?” Peori asked. “I hear that you’ve been busy with the reconstruction of North Shire.”
“We’ve selected the Area for the Traveler Battlegrounds,” I informed him. “It’s actually right on top of the largest bandit fort from the Battle of North Shire. The Travelers are planning to renovate both the bandit hideout and the fortresses that were constructed by my forces and use them as staging points for their little game.”
“It must be nice to have so many dungeon cores that you can squander them in such an undertaking,” Peori said.
“There is a question that has been bothering me for some time, Marquis. When I busted the Rozen Guardian dungeon for you, why did you have me reclaim the dungeon core instead of destroy it? I was desperate for your support and would have gladly given you any number of the cores that had dropped.”
Peori cocked his head. “You don’t know? But you’re a Dungeon Master.”
“I’m largely self-taught on the matter.”
“Dungeon cores grow in level. Not the level of the dungeon they spawn, but of the core itself. A Dungeon Daughter Core is usually level one, although a particularly powerful core might produce daughter cores of higher levels. When you establish a low level dungeon, and it is delved by Travelers frequently, it levels up and unlocks additional options. The Rozen Guardian Core was level 10 when I first used it. I thought that the hedge maze would be far more popular than it turned out being among the Travelers. If I had asked you to destroy the dungeon instead of reclaim it, I might have gotten six to ten daughter cores, but it’s unlikely any of them would have been greater than level three.”
I considered his explanation for a moment. “Thank you for the information.”
“I am hoping to level the Rozen Guardian core to level fifteen,” he explained. “If I can manage that, then I may call on your services once more to reclaim it again for my court mage. Higher level dungeon cores may be useful to talented mages, you see. There’s little difference between a level one core and a level twenty when it comes to battlegrounds, but I would suggest using your lower level cores for them whenever possible.”
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I nodded. After that explanation, Peori quickly scribed a list of nobles for me to spread the word about the alliance I had struck with the Naiad court, and I was preparing to leave when Peori’s butler came into the room, looking rather embarrassed.
“My lords, there is a messenger here. His name is Hender, he is the head valet to Duke Storm Teoran. I tried to put him off, but he insists that he knows you are both in the building, and that he has very important documents for you to see.”
I frowned at the intrusion, but turned to Peori, who shrugged. “Show him in.”
I had last seen Hender when I had confronted my uncle in his own home in the wake of my grandfather’s murder. I had turned his boss into a toad using [Polymorph] after the man had insulted me, and Hender had stepped in to handle the situation. Aside from the fact that he worked for my uncle, who was likely a fratricide and was in the way of putting Rain on the throne of Yuikon, I had a neutral opinion of the man.
Hender appeared wearing a servant’s suit and promptly bowed to Peori and I in order of rank. We acknowledged his adherence to protocol with nods of our own, and once that was out of the way he promptly got down to business.
“I carry with me two documents written by the hand of Duke Storm Teoran himself. One of them is addressed to Marquis Peori. The other to Earl Jeoran. I know nothing of their contents, and am serving only as a messenger in the matter,” he explained.
I nodded and extended a hand to receive the missive, confirming the seal before breaking it. I quickly scanned the document, my frown growing deeper the further into the letter I got.
Dear Nephew
It is a shame that matters of State have driven you away from the my counsel and into the lap of the fickle hearted Peori. I hope that you have not been picking up his habits. When we last spoke, you were such a pious young man; I am surprised that your saintly ear will turn itself to hear the words of such an unremorseful sinner.
Still, I refuse to believe that our differences are irreconcilable. I believe that it is time for this posturing over the right to sit in the seat of my father to end. This subtle game that we are playing, gathering the soft power of the nobility to try to tip the scales one way or the other, it serves not the interests of Yuikon.
Since you have recently entered the ranks of high society, I thought that perhaps we could settle the matters between us like gentlemen. I am inviting all of the claimants to the throne to a formal dinner in three weeks to discuss the matter openly and honestly. Obviously, as three of the claimants are under the age of majority, I am also inviting their advisors and would-be-regents.
This will not be a celebration of debauchery or decadence in the face of propriety, such as the parties thrown by that scandalous rat Peori, but a formal affair in which we attempt to resolve the roadblock our nation is experiencing before it rises to a more serious threat. I am enclosing the details of the event. Your mother is also invited, obviously, and I am including invitations for you to use at your discretion for up to five others.
I truly hope to see you there, Nephew, and that the differences between us can be bridged without the need for escalation.
True to the letter’s promise, there were a total of six invitations included in the envelope, one addressed to me and five with no name attached. I turned to Peori, who was examining an invitation of his own.
“It’s a trap,” I said.
“Obviously it’s a trap,” he agreed. “And one that we can’t avoid without looking like cowards.”
“So what do we do?” I asked.
“I can’t tell you what to do in this matter, Hail,” Peori said. “It’s your choice to make.”
“Is there any response you would like to give my master?” Hender asked. I looked at the man for a moment, and then I turned him into a toad with [Polymorph].
“Yes. Please convey my annoyance,” I said, and I turned to leave the room.