Viscount Barolks was clapping with a big smile, his second wife Caren, who is Ashley mother was wetting the ground with her tears. My parents were busy, they couldn’t have the same display, or i ‘m sure they would have done it in a more embarrassing way.
I was standing in front of the matrimonial officer, sent by the capital, to supervise my wedding. Ashley and i kissed, the numerous guests applaud, i took her hand and led her to the dinning hall, where we would, eat and dance.
It took a whole year to plan this wedding, mother, Elise, Caren put all their energy in this project. A lot of noble were here, i greeted most of them, dad is doing his job as an host while mom is entertaining the wives.
Elise is managing the waiters who are mainly the soldiers from the barracks who were teach how to serve in a noble party. There were also all our merchants partners in this wedding, mother had an headache to organize the sits, to avoid putting commoners with nobles. While they would not mind in a normal time, in a wedding it could be interpreted as being seen as inferior.
This kind of thinking is beyond me. The little devil is sitting near me, smiling and eating like an ogre, completely forgetting her manners. It could be said, that our baronet food is the current new trend in the kingdom.
Moreover the production is limited, the price of butter, cream and cheese are rising yearly. Our liquors are also selling very well but the price inflation isn’t as high as the diary products. It can be said that my wedding is one of the best food party of the kingdom. I told Eva to conduct herself better, she looked at me like i wronged her.
My marriage took a political side when the father of the current Duke chose to accept the invitation send by father. We thought, they would gave a polite refusal, but once they announced their participation, all the noble from the Duke faction send letters to get invitations.
This afflux of prestigious people has its perks, we can advertise our products, we will have a lot more wedding presents, dad would deepen his relationship with them and finally i will be able to meet them all.
I practiced dancing with mom and Elise every day to be able to dance with Ashley after the banquet. There were a lot of young people in this marriage, nobles and merchants brought their families.
Our parents gave us the mission to make friends. But from the despising looks we get until now, it would be miracle if we get to know some people.
« Don’t eat too much i will dance with you after i dance with Ashley » i said to the ogre next to me
« I don’t want to dance! I want to eat desserts. » said an unhappy Eva
« You will have to burn all the fat you eat, or you will get big and mother will not let you eat sweet anymore » i threatened her.
« Mother Alana will not do that, she give me honeyed milk every morning » She said proudly
« You will dance with me or i will forbid the foxes to play with you » i threatened her
« Noooooooooooo » screamed tragically the little elf.
« Ahaha, she will dance with me not with you, don’t you Eva? » said Ashley teasingly.
« Yeah! I will dance sister Ashley and play with little Hirad » Said the smug little devil.
« Why don’t you want to dance with your big brother » i said with a wronged face.
« Grandpa said that i shouldn’t dance with any other man than him. He gave me sweets to seal the deal » she said proudly, like she made the deal of the century. I was vexed to lose against sweets, i will complain to mom about the unhealthy diet of my sister. I will complain for her own good, she can’t be bought for a bit a sweet that easily!
« I will give you more sweets than Grandpa if you dance with me » I could see the struggle in her eyes when i said that.
« Dad said a good person keep her words, and i should not fall to temptation » Said the unsure little girl.
« Sure John is a bad man for tempting you to break your promise. » intervened a newly wed girl.
« Hey we just get married, shouldn’t you be on my side there? » i protested
« I will always be on the side of a cute elf! » Said the loli lover. I was quite speechless, i began to sympathize with dad. He is always bullied, first it was only mom, next grandpa came back, it was hard on him.
In addition, Elise has been brainwashed, he is now bullied by a group of strong bullies, he can’t get his way of with violence. I am sure he is happier in the borders killing monsters.
The cold starters, are being cleaned, the main course is constituted of different meals every recipe was stolen from an other world, making it a new territory to be discovered by our guests.
While the waiters did their job, Bernard who did the herald job announced «Viscount Macron and his son are coming accompanied by their knight George ».
The two uninvited made their way toward Ashley and me. I raised from my sit, put a business like smile. « It is a honor to … »
« So this is Ashley Baroks, you are not as beautiful as your sister » interrupted the soon to be dead son of a b….
« Glad she doesn’t suit your taste it can only mean she’s a beauty ». i riposted and i quickly continued completely ignoring him and George.
« Thanks you for your visit Viscount Macron, it’s a honor to have you participating to my wedding » Dad appeared by my side and took the lead without letting them the opportunity to retort.
« Viscount Macron its my honor to have you in my home for my son wedding. Come with me, the Old Duke is here, he will be happy to see you, waiters show the Viscount’s son and George their sits ».
I hoped for a peaceful wedding, but its rare for small nobles, only Kings, Dukes and Counts would have a grandiose ceremony without people coming to perturb the happy moment.
The waiter showed the retard his sit, he was in the same table that noble kids of 5 to 8 years old. His face was contorted in anger and when he turned to abuse the waiter, he saw him already serving other guests far away from him.
As for George, all the noble were at least Baron he couldn’t sit in the same table as them, he was placed with the merchant which should be an insult from his point of view.
« Don’t listen dumb people, you are beautiful, he clearly came to perturb the wedding, insulting the bride is i believe the lowest way to do it, it shouldn’t be the end of their low blow ».
I said to comfort Ashley who was sulking. He can insult Eva for being a descendant from a slave, i am 100% sure, we will be verbally attacked on that, i mean low people can only be low, predict them is quite easy. But the Viscount should have more tricks that his retard son but its dad duty to manage him.
The party continued with the exclamation of satisfied eaters, people came to me asking the recipe, i said they would all be published in a cookbook, they could buy it, tomorrow in the city.
To accommodate all the guest we built 3 more inns in the city, while the old duke and the 4 counts that came would sleep in the mansion which have been renovated and enlarged.
Since the duke response, we saw this ceremony was an opportunity to make money and advertise all our baronet products, in order to find new partnership. It also was an opportunity for competitors or opposing nobles to spy our infrastructures and questions our workers, we took all the necessary disposition to avoid them to leak secret informations.
Waiters are taking out the finished plats, desserts time has come, i saw Bernard opening the door, he came toward me at fast pace, he was noticed by a lot of guests, nobles were for the weakest bronze knights.
The hall became quieter as second passed, Bernard bend to my side and whispered « my lord bandits are sieging the wall, their numbers are over eight hundred, some of therm are exposing their strength we counted, 9 silver knights, 21 bronze knights and 107 copper knights, the rest from our first prob is constituted of normal soldier. Should i ask for the Baron to take care of this? »
« No my father duty, is to entertain the high nobles, we can’t let them have a bad impression of us. Call James, come back with him » i said, we were prepared for all kind of actions, sudden revolt with fake citizens, attack of bandits, attack of monsters or magical beasts, even assassinations.
All kind of schemes have been imagined. This attack should be Viscount Macron main action, maybe there would be an assassination attempt while the bandit divert a part of our soldiers.
If it was the baronet before our new policies, we would have to beg the duke for help and humiliate ourselves in front of all the Landerson faction. The new Bladebreaker baronet can deal with this kind of attack. Grandpa came in front of me and knelt and took off his helmet, he is so good actor, i look like a king looking down to his most faithful follower.
« James awaits his order young lord » said a zealous Grandpa.
« James take the Baron army to fend off the Bandits attacking our walls » I said in a relaxed way, as it was not a big deal.
« Yes, young lord, this lowly one will execute your will or die trying » said the over excited young-old man. he stood and left for the waiting army in the backyard. My guards are now 400, only 100 didn’t broke through the copper skin, since they only came recently.
Dario has now 10 apprentices, we renegotiated our contract with the merchant buying our iron, he gave up nearly 90 % of our iron in exchange for the monopole of our liquors sells, beer and wine, are not under this category only strong spirits. Dario and his apprentice built 505 armors and weapons in 4 years.
The slave armor is of medium quality while the human guard and our family armors are of high quality, we couldn’t show too much of our wealth, the price difference between mid-quality stuff and high quality is aberrant, a medium quality sword is 10 gold, while a high quality is 150 gold depending of where its bought and enchanted sword are limited in numbers and cost more than thousands of gold depending of the enchantment.
Our family armors and swords were enchanted by Mom, dad and i have (Mongoose) put on our swords, Grandpa has (Savagery) on his hammer. We have two sets of weapons and armors, one to defend the baronet when no one is around to see us, and a public armor without enchantment.
Dad said that once he broke through platinum rank in a dozen years, we would not need to hide anything anymore. Thank to my eyes, we did an assessment of all forces in the kingdom of Helias, the strongest is the royal family with a platinum knight and 12 gold knights, Dukes families have less than a dozen of gold knights.
The room was silent after i gave order to James. I stood « Everyone, a thousand bandit thought it was a great occasion to be wild, the blade breaker guards is taking care of it, we will not be disturbed ».
« Like your baronet has enough strength to fend off an invasion of 1000 enemies » said a retard.
« I believe i’m clearer of my territory forces than you. » i retorted lacking any form of respect in my voice.
« Your army is constituted of slaves what can slaves do? The bandits will soon be ravaging your city and attack this mansion, you are putting our lives in danger » he said offusked
« With the number of nobles and their escorts, this mansion is as safe as the capital, or maybe you are saying that every one here is as weak as you? I don’t believe that anyone here is an easy kill. Moreover i’m willing to bet that the bandits in front of the wall will not go through it. Are you willing to bet? » I said my piece in a polite way.
« Why wouldn’t I, what are we betting? slave? armor ? Women? What about the bride? If i win i will take the first night instead of you. If you need i will give your small baronet some gold ». In a verbal challenge the one who get angry lose, so i tried hard to stay calm.
« It doesn’t look like a lucrative bet to me, if you win, i give you a whole high quality set of armor, if you lose you give me the Macron spear ». The spear is a family heirloom, it has no valor, it symbolic, its the spear that killed an officer of the monster empire, this spear is the symbol of the rise of the Macron family. If he lost it in the bet, it would be a lose of face not a economic loss.
« Ahah, i Vulcan accept the bet. » Proud and full of himself, he answered happily.
« We will wait for the report from my men while eating the dessert. » I sat and drank of glass of cherry wine.
« How can i trust a slave, i will send one of my men » he said with a face full of indignation.
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« Like i can trust them, too » i responded.
« Don’t worry i will send someone from my escort » said a powerful voice.
I bowed toward the old Duke « Thank you, Your Grace for your intervention ». Vulcan bow was a step behind mine. the intervention of the Duke stopped the discussion. And the party continued as anything never happened, i could hear the guest betting too on the winner.
I’m not considered as the favorite. As time passed i used my eyes to look to the battle, my men were outnumbered, but slowly but surely the number of enemy was diminishing. Of the 400 guards, 186 were silvers knights this battle was won before it began, the armors of my guards hide their skins the enemies can’t judge their levels.
I looked around the mansion, and saw that above my head there was two peoples. All the personal and guest are in the ground floor, no one is in the first floor. Through my soul link i told to the foxes to surround these people. I kept my business like smile and told to ashley and Eva « Go to mother side for few minutes, tell that Eva is lonely, mom will understand »
« But i’m not lonely and i’m well here. » protested the little glouton.
« Its a code with mom, you have to go to her for few minutes, and now, stop wasting time » i accompanied my words with a solemn face, the little lady nodded and took her leave.
« Dad, its smell fishy its poison » said Lucia via the soul link, she stood outside the door with Wilsy
« Dad, both of them wear black clothes that hide their heads, they use a potion to grind the floor » said Darko. am I the target of the assassination? is it Ashley or Eva?
« Wait a bit tell me if they do something else. » I can’t keep to look at the ceiling. I observed Vulcan, he gave quick look to the ceiling. Reality is harsh, this is the opposition that dad had until now. I don’t know for the Viscount but the son is clearly incompetent. They took times to scheme against us, we did the same, it seem that our plans would be easier to apply than predicted.
« Dad, they will soon dig out a hole in the ceiling. Its done, they are looking down. they are taking out a bottle »
« Attack them kill them quickly ». i want them to kill quickly to avoid noise.
BOOM, the ceiling cracked a debris fell with two people and a fox, i avoided, the falling rocks and caught Darko.
« Hello, dear uninvited guest, it seem that my little foxes found you » Two guards came to my side, while the members of the nobles escorts went to the side of their masters.
« Lucia heal Darko please. » She jumped down toward me, i had to catch her, she stayed in my arms and casted a heal spell on the injured fox.
« Take those intruders, put them to jail make sure they stay there ». A show of authority, Mother get to my side and began to sing, the debris of the ceiling began to mend and rose back to their position on top of my head. Some noble began to clap for mother performance, she answered with a smile and a bow, she stole the two foxes and went back to the ladies tables. I asked for three new chair to the waiters, Ashley came back. Eva was being molested by the Ladies, this loli is lady killer.
« Look, Eva she’s being fed and touched by everyone there, i think she will hate you » said Ashley
« Its good to see her suffer a bit » i said with a smile.
I am amazed by how unfazed are noble, when something happen they observes, comments, critics and go back to what they were doing, like its normal.
« Wilsy stay up there to patrol, your sibling have been stolen by mom, i can only count on you » i said to the lonely fox.
The desserts were all eaten, the musicians began to set their stage, the knight send by the Duke to observe the fight came back. He went by the duke side and whispered him his report. The old Duke smiled, stood, all the eyes were fixed on him.
« First i wish to said, i too betted on a winner, i betted on Robert, but my dignity as a Duke forbid me from cheating, i mean i only bet a thousand of gold some pocket money nothing worth mentioning. » He laugh and the counts followed, polite laugh from other nobles could be heard.
« The Bandits ran, they lost 4 silvers knights, 13 bronze knights, dozens of copper knights and countless normal soldiers. I believe Robert would give you better details later. Only 7 guards died during this battle, i can say i’m surprised by this baronet strength and also unsurprised to see Robert win, when was your last defeat on the border? » Said the smiling Duke
« I was too young and though i could go head on with an Orc officer. i got my arms broken » said dad with a small laugh, the Duke and some noble who should be dad friends laughed too.
«Were those troops trained by you? »
« No, Your Grace, they are my son guards, he trained them and will lead them during his service in the border, in a year and an half. » said dad to the Duke and he turned toward the rest of the guest.
« There will be a tournament in 6 months between the guards to see who will follow him to war, an arena will be constructed and betting will be allowed, if some of you are interested let me know we will create VIP sits. » Dad shamelessly advertised our future arena.
This announcement got the Duke curious « you will build an arena just for guards fight? ».
« This new building will be used, for magical beast races, every one saw our tamed foxes, we will soon publish a book about how to raise and rank up a magical beast. Each person will be able to let his beast compete in the race. There will be category to make fair races. There will also a new game that we will introduce in our baronet called Goalball, were 11 players versus 11 players would try to put a ball in a iron cage. We are currently writing the rules. » answered dad, now i’m asking myself if he paid the Duke to help him in his advertising session.
« Oh! I will come to see the Goalball game it seem interesting, when do you think it will be ready ? » This man was definitely bough by dad.
« The first Goalball match will be in 9 months, once the rules written, we will send them to every noble. If they wish to create their own team and participate to the tournament, they will need to contact me directly. Each team will pay ten gold to participate, and the winning team earn all the money more a part of the betting done in the arena. » answered dad
Chat began between noble and between merchants too. If the old Duke was participating it mean a lot of people will and a lot of money may flowing in our baronet, moreover the winner of the tournament is not decided.
« My lord, Your grace, excuse this lowly one for its interruption, could commoners and merchants like me create their own teams? » Asked a thin and young merchant.
« it will be citizen of a territory who will play, it depend the lord of the territory policies, during the tournament in Bladebreaker city, we will ask a letter of introduction from the local noble. No slave will be allowed. Copper, Bronze and Silver knights will play against same colored skins players. The normal player tournament will be called Iron division, others competitions would be Copper, Bronze and Silver division ». Answered dad
« Thanks you my lord » said the merchant and went back to sit. The chatter began again.
« The road to your territory is unsafe, do you plan to let commoners die in the forest? » Asked Viscount Macron
« My son and his wife will do drills in the forest in preparation for war, i will coach them in their first battle, while cleaning the forest of unneeded form of life » Said dad
« The forest is vast who know what reside there and if 9 months will be enough » countered Viscount Macron
« I will help them to clean, with baron guards and my army, i am sure we will clean most of the danger » intervened Viscount Harolts.
« In fact, even if we don’t end cleaning all the dangers, i plan to create different post in the way between Viscount Harolt and my territory during the event. » assured dad
« What if a raid from the monster empire raid your baronet while all nobles are in your territory? » continued Viscount Macron
« I would simply crush them, this baronet is not the best target for a raid, and he is easy to defend, there are richer territory to loot. » Said dad confidently while exposing is silver color.
« Ahaha, i will be there, i would like to see who will perturb me, and my team » Said the duke while smiling. The Old Duke is clearly offering his protection to the event, it was also a warning to the schemers.
Everyone chatted and continued to drink, the servant changed the layout of the hall, an other room was prepared for those who wanted to speak in a quieter place, His Grace, the counts, dad and a lot of nobles even merchants followed, this time it will be a more open part, merchants will be able to sit with nobles to speak business and share informations.
The band started to play young nobles and merchants began to dance together, old couple and young ones were sharing the dance floor. I took Ashley hand and lead her to dance.
« Now that we are married i will give you a sweet name. Honey? No that’s too classic. Darling? sound bad to me. Sweetheart? That sound childish. Lil’john? nope… I will take to time to think of it. » she was having fun in her own world, so i made her spin to reorganize her ideas.
« How about John? that’s my name and i like it » i suggested.
« No, no, no and… no. I except a sweet name for myself too, you better to think of it. » After that we continued to dance silently. She stepped on my feet 3 times.
« I think foot crusher would suit you » i said teasingly
« Dickhead would describe you in a single word, i believe we found our sweet names » she said annoyed. The song ended, we went to mom side, i asked her for a dance while Eva went to dance with Carmen and Viscount Baroks rushed to take Ashley hands, he seemed to fear that his daughter second dance would be stolen.
« The wedding went as far as planned, tonight work hard to make me a grandchild » said mother
« She is already pregnant, i worked on it for the last two weeks. » i said with a smile to mom.
« How do you know? » Said a surprised and excited mom
« When i look to people, i often lose mastery of eyes, and since dad asked me to have a descendant before leaving to war, i studied procreation and pregnancy, i mean i’m used to see innards and skeletons, veins, there is days i’m so tired from training that i lose total control over my eyes and i don’t see people face anymore. So when i loose control over my eyes i study the human body and found how to detect the start of pregnancy. » I said to mother, i currently focus on dancing, i lose control to my sight times to times. I saw skeletons dancing around me. The most interesting is the skeleton playing violin, i found it fun.
« Oh dear, that’s a wonderful news, i’m gonna announce it tomorrow to Caren ». said mom happily
« I will tell it to Ashley tonight. It would be awkward that her mother know about her pregnancy before her ». i told her, to avoid a blunder.
The song ended and i rushed to steal the little devil. She gladly danced with me.
« Please, big bro don’t let me with the ladies. They pinch my cheeks, play with my ears, look my belly is too round, i ate so much, they forced me to eat. » she said with a miserable voice.
« Its because they like you, you should be thankful of their intension ». i said to tease her, but i quickly change when i saw tears threatening to fall.
« Good at the end of the song, we take Ashley and go to the room dedicated for the young conversations. » the song ended and i proposed to Ashley to follow us, but she chose to stay to dance with her mother and mine.
We went to the room, who was already packed, we sat on a table where a lone soul sat. He was, younger than me, thinner, he had messy hair,but his dress showed he was a mage apprentice.
« Hello, we will disturb you a bit » i sat next to Eva in front of the man
« Its your home do as you want, i’m Francis, you are John Bladebreaker and this young lady is? » he said nonchalantly
« My little sister Eva, she has bean abused by the old ladies until now and we came here to let her rest. »
« Since when are you a mage apprentice? » i asked francis
« I began to train when i was 8 it has been 5 five years, i can only cast a spell, i can’t be called talented » he said indifferently
« My mother will publish a magic book in the next month, its a confirmed theory about the interaction of the natural elements with the mana and how to avoid to be limited in the choice of the elements of the spell » Advertising has become my second nature.
« Why do you said its confirmed » he asked excited
« My mother can cast spell from any element as long she has enough mana, without feeling opposition or having back flash ». i said proudly, while looking to the little elf completely lying on me.
« Is there a way to obtain that book before the date? » He asked with a lot of enthusiasm
« No, sorry, where do you live, i can send you one from the first batch of printed books » i faked compassion while answering.
« i came with my grandfather, he is the old Count Guldan, we are a lineage of mage, but my talent is really bad. It came from the fact that only a elements blend with my mana and its go out of control each time. » he was desperate when he explained his situation. I used my eyes and found that his mana and body were full of fire element.
« In mother book, it means that your mana has blended too much with one element, and that you have to find a way to make it pure mana again. » i explained him to give him hope, and the will to buy the book.
« How do we do that. » he returned to his excited self.
« Knight training, i’m sorry i’m not a mage, mother began to train like a knight few years ago i believe this has something to do with the theory, i didn’t really read the book, i only politely listened to mother when she tried to explain her research to me. » Sorry mom for your image.
« Is there a way to have this book first? » he asked with a glint of hope in the eyes.
« I can present you to my mom, she like to share her work so, you may not need to buy it ». And you are the grandson of a count, obviously you will have your way.
« If this book is a solution to my problems, i will definitely buy it, even if your mother tell me the solution » He assured me.
We went back to the dancing room, i had Eva in my arms, she was sleepy. I explained to mom who was Francis and his problem, let’s not lie if he wasn’t the son of the count, he would wait for the book to be published. Mother explained our theory, i called the foxes which were lying near the wall, they followed me, i told Wilsy to meet us in front of my bedroom. I put Eva in the bed, and ordered the foxes to protect her. I used my eyes to see, if i were followed or something, it was all clear.
When i came down Ashley told me that mother was asked to meet the Count Guldan, This week of preparation, training, planning, observation through my eyes tired me, even if there was still guest, i only wished to sleep. I went to ask dad his permission, he told me it was normal for a young couple to be hasty for their first night, i didn’t need excuses.
i just answered « she already pregnant, i will announce her that in few minutes, be ready to be grandpa in 9 months ». i wanted to show that i don’t need excuses.
I went to Ashley and told her that i was tired, if she wanted she could follow me. We went to her bedroom, i striped my clothes and fell like a log.
« Will we consume our first night dickhead? » Mocked the young bride
« Do you wish to do it, foot crusher? » i riposted
« No i’m dead tired, you don’t look really ready for it » she said before yawning.
« I change your sweet name to perceptive girl… no that sound bad. Let’s sleep sweetie. » i said while jumping in the bed.
She striped too, and came under the blankets, i turned around and took her in my arms. « I have something to tell you. You need to be ready mentally for that news ok? »
« I’m tired, i believe it numb me enough to hear anything. » she said soflty
« Good, you are pregnant, good night » i let her go, turned to let my back face her and closed my eyes
« Whaaaaaaaaat, wake up dickhead! » she jumped, and threw herself to me, and shook me until i gave her my attention.
« What aren’t we sleeping? » i said
« How do you know it before me, i’m the one concerned by having something in my belly, what did you see? » she inquired
« i saw the egg in you belly being impregnated. It was two days ago. » i explained
« Why do you tell me only now » she said angrily.
« Wedding present? » i am not really sure of myself there.
« What a shitty present i want a new wand » she protested
« Let’s talk about it tomorrow » i said with a tired voice.
« Dickhead, dickhead, dickhead, you are a fucking dickhead, I marrieeed a diiickheeeaad, I marrieeed a diiickheeeaad … » she started to sing it, but strangely i fell asleep listening to it.