-37-
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Our discussion drew on much longer than I anticipated, but thankfully having an attendant sent to me was only a simple finger touch away.
I had called Tomin over the communirune and asked for Beno to be sent to the Brooks estate, who arrived quickly and got to work right away.
Haaric had long dismissed the majority of the estate’s servants. Lording over a rural town didn’t draw many important visitors and when one did eventually stop in it was proper etiquette to send notice beforehand, so he’s always been able to find temporary help through the town’s adventuring guild or previous contacts.
My visit, of course, had come as a surprise and Haaric had been caught with no such help. No matter to me though, I have my own zealot willing to man the kitchen and provide refreshments that would suit my tastes.
Having Beno around was really growing on me these days. The others though…
I sighed, drawing Haaric’s attention.
“Was there something bothering you, Airis?”
With a wave of my hand, I dismissed his concerns.
“Nothing you need concern about. I was just imagining how nice it was when I had no attendants fussing over me. I’m a bit envious of your estate. Beno is fine, but the others don’t give me much room to breathe.”
I reached for the teacup with an odd brew I’d never heard of before in it—something that Beno and his middling alchemy skills had come up with.
It was a yellow-orange color, blissfully tangy, and delicious.
Haaric laughed heartily.
“It was like that here not so long ago—well, maybe it was a bit longer than I imagined. When Ilyiann was still with us and Hailey was just a little budding thing, there were very few quiet days.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to bring—”
“Don’t worry,” Haaric reassured me, “I rather enjoy reminiscing about Ilyiann. One day in the future when we’re not planning the demise of tyrants, I’d like to share many things with you considering—”
“I do hope you keep my request to yourself for the time being,” I cut him off just in time as a knock at the door sounded, followed by Hailey entering with Beno in tow.
Haaric smiled and nodded his head, “Of course.”
I greeted Hails with a smile and patted my hand on the couch seat next to me.
Hailey gave us both a pensive look before seating herself.
“We all set out there?” I asked her.
“They all seemed way too eager, but yep!” Hailey cheerfully responded.
After she had been embarrassed by her childhood nickname in front of a band of rugged free-knights, soldiers, and me, Hailey took it upon herself to go rally the town’s soldiers to see if they were willing to be inducted into the Imperial Army.
Well, I suppose that could fall under her duties as High-Commander but I’d have delegated it to someone else.
Hmm. Probably Tomin.
Haaric smiled at Hailey, “The people of Brookshaven have long been loyal to the Vanixian Republic. Many of us still remember the times of the Empire. I had little doubt the soldiers here would hesitate to fall in under your banner.”
He shifted in his seat, his expression tightening.
“Ah, I do have a request though,” He began again, “I would ask that a small garrison be kept back in the town. We have built a strong defensive perimeter, but it would be useless without a handful of soldiers who know how to use the magick defenses and traps.”
Hailey turned to face me as I began to answer—I expected that she had already worked out a garrison troop to remain in the town, so unless I wanted to see both Brooks upset I readily agreed.
“Of course, I wouldn’t dream of leaving the town defenseless. We’ll take only those who have volunteered, and I will leave the arrangement of the garrison forces for Brookshaven to my High-Commander. If there are too many willing to march to Axio, she will ensure enough remain behind.”
Haaric’s posture relaxed and he slumped in his seat.
We continued to discuss minor details, my role in the conversations growing evermore faint as Hailey and her father bargained over which senior officers would stay and who could join us with little impact on the town.
A quiet knock sounded at the door and Beno intercepted whoever was in an instant, as if he was waiting for it.
Hailey and Haaric kept chatting away, oblivious to the visitor.
Beno spoke with someone for some time before slowly closing the door. He walked around the room and dipped his head down close to mine.
“There is a gentleman here who wishes to speak with you about a matter he claims to be of great importance.”
I parsed his words for a moment, knowing that if Beno hadn’t believed the man he wouldn’t have even bothered to bring it up to me.
“Details?”
“Aestori from his looks. Blue hair, which isn’t common, so he’s probably a nobleman. I’m confident he’s an advanced scholar or at the very least book-learned. He lacks musculature entirely. He won’t present a physical threat to you. I have a pair of anti-magick rune-imbued bracelets we could use to ensure your safety.”
Beno’s long-winded response gave me pause.
When did we get anti-magick bracelets?
I’d been shackled before—when the Renaultian divisionals had caught Julius and me. Before being sentenced to death for ‘treason’ and hauled away to a cell in Axio’s central spire tower, I’d been deemed a safety risk and given a pair.
Luckily enough, Julius had the keys when he came to free me and I didn’t suffer in them long.
Losing all control over one’s magicka makes their whole body feel ill. It’s not a pain like feedback from a failed spell-cast, instead a severe bout of nausea but just as jarring.
I briefly recalled the awkward mental episode I’d experienced a while back—he must have snatched them from the Renaultian legionnaires he beat up during the Maarin’s failed power grab.
Waving away both my disturbing memories and Beno’s absurd implication to shackle a noble requesting an audience.
“I’ll meet with him. Don’t bring the shackles. Escort him to the drawing room—the proper one. I’ll be there shortly.”
Beno dipped his head lower, shifting away from me so that his bow wouldn’t intrude on my personal space.
“As you command.”
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He slipped out of the room, Hailey and Haaric still none the wiser that there was a guest and that I’d been engaged in a completely different conversation.
I stood up, finally drawing their attention.
“Don’t mind me. Seems as though someone in the estate wanted to speak with me so urgently he’d risk coming up here uninvited. Beno’s preparing a meeting in the drawing room. Hails you can join me there whenever you and Haaric catch up.”
“Oh, are you sure?” Hailey’s response was less than enthusiastic, a worried tone in her terse words.
Haaric reassured her, “The only people the guards would allow up here are the steward and the equites themselves.”
Hailey’s expression lightened and I excused myself.
----------------------------------------
Beno was standing outside the doors into the real drawing room.
I addressed him as I walked down the hall, “You didn’t take it upon yourself to shackle him with magick restraints, right?”
A slight smile crept onto Beno’s face before disappearing in a flash. He responded in a quiet voice once I reached the doorway.
“I considered it until I spoke with the man on our way here. Annaeus is the name he gave me. He’s been the estate’s steward for a few years.”
“I wonder what the steward of the Brooks’ estate wants to talk to me about.”
“A Renaultian conspiracy to overthrow the town, perhaps?”
Beno’s expression remained serious but I shrugged his comment off, “If there was, I’m sure your tingly sense would’ve already been set off. You read too many books in the Church.”
Beno opened the doors for me and announced my arrival to the occupant, Annaeus, the blue-haired and frail-looking steward.
Hmmm. Doesn’t he look just like Dell?
No—not all elves look alike and they don’t all know each other.
Well, maybe that last part could be true actually. If I was over three hundred years old like Adellin it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to know every important human in a city.
“Greetings and welcome, Your Majesty. I am called Annaeus, and I have the honor to serve as Steward over the estate and township of Brookshaven.”
My mind wandered off track but I corrected myself and returned the man’s greeting—a tidbit of Ikuye’s constant cheerful greetings slipping in.
“Hail, Steward Annaeus. My attendant informed me you had something important you needed to discuss. Please, take a seat.”
I sat down and Beno positioned himself behind me with enough distance to not appear as if he was taking part in our discussion.
“Many thanks,” he replied as he sat, “I’ll get straight to the point to not waste your time. The baron dispatched me to aid your soldiers find lodging for the night and I couldn’t help but notice a great many Aestori in your ranks. I had thought to inquire with the soldiers themselves but was turned away by a group of knights—which I understand, of course, I am an outsider and they are busy on duty. Please tell me, how did you come to enlist so many of my kin?”
I could tell where his story was going before he’d gotten halfway through it. And I understood the unnerving feeling that question would leave if unanswered.
To everyone in Axio, we assumed the entire southern expanse of the Empire and anywhere out past the Strifelands to be overrun with demons.
“It’s a simple enough answer,” I started, “And one I believe you’ll be glad to hear. I’ve been to Umbraedomis and reunited the Aestori under the Empire’s banner.”
Annaeus’ brows furled tightly.
“The ancestral enclave village? Are the Aestori here with you all that survived?”
I let out a mix between a laugh and a sigh.
“Haaah. It certainly isn’t a village anymore. That place could contend with Axio in size. And, no, there are a few thousand Aestori knights in the main army along with arcanists, artificers, waystriders—ah, you get the idea. Umbraedomis remains a fully functioning city while we’re away to make war as well. I don’t have an exact number on the top of my head, but the number of surviving Aestori is in the tens of thousands.”
Tears swelled in the elven man’s eyes and his body slumped in his seat.
“A-Ah,” His voice wavered, “Simply amazing.”
Annaeus wiped his eyes dry with a small cloth, hidden away in an inner pocket of his coat jacket, and knelt down before me.
“Egi Annaeus Seneca fidelitaer Vo—swear my allegiance to the Empire of Light. I make this honor-bound promise to defend the Empire against all that desire to do it harm with word, deed, or force.”
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Annaeus’ unexpected start in reciting an oath of fealty, in elvish of all things, caught me by surprise. I kicked the chaos magick-enabled translating effect on because I still wasn’t fully confident in my elvish without it.
I’d spoken with Adellin in great detail about the importance the Aestori gave to this kind of oath—spoken is too kind of a word. I was lectured by Adellin about these oaths because I was taking Lady Sara’s oath as Archmagus too lightly. Swearing one’s honor was basically saying you’d serve someone until the end of your life. Which for elves was a long time. Lady Sara had served hundreds of years alongside the Vanixian royal family and would continue to do so until she passed on.
In short, Annaeus was being overly dramatic here. But I couldn’t take his decision lightly.
“With a representative of the Church of the Consecrated Light as a witness, I, Empress Airis Vanixi, hear and accept your oath of fealty.”
I responded in elvish then switched back to imperial common, “Arise, Annaeus.”
He looked up at me with a solemn face.
“You are a shining light in a sea of blackness. As people fled north so many years ago I had hopes the bad times would be brief, as they had always been. But decades passed and that hope of mine dwindled. And upon the notice we received that the heirs of Vanixia had been killed…”
A twisted grimace of grief and torment spilled across his face as his words trailed off. Annaeus took a deep breath and steadied himself
“But those days of dread are over.” He said confidently. “By chance, out of all the people you met in the enclave village, was there a man who looked like me and went by the family name Seneca? He’s an author, and scholar like me.”
I for sure met a man who looked like you.
But Adellin never mentioned the name Seneca… but being an author and scholar is a dead ringer for Dell.
“It crossed my mind the moment I entered the room. I know a man called Adellin who looks just like you, he was serving as Lord-Magistrate in a governing council of sorts they called the Tribunal and now serves as my Head Minister.”
Annaeus’ face was a whirl of emotions again.
“Ahh,” He drew out listlessly, “He never did care for our father or family. They had wished the both of us to be knights and bring honor to our House. I’m not surprised he would abandon the name.”
“While I would love to reunite you two, I don’t have any escorts to spare for a trip back to Tolin and I still need experienced people to stick around Brookshaven until the war is resolved.”
“I couldn’t possibly ask for more than you’ve already given me, Your Majesty. I shall do everything in my power to support a decisive victory over those Rena vipers. That forsaken Kingdom will regret betraying the Triumvirate and bearing their fangs at the Empire!”
Annaeus was now full of zeal and vigor.
“Oh, I was wondering,” I began, “Do you have any special talents or hobbies? Dell’s history knowledge is second to none and he’s the best minister I’ve ever met. I know you’re managing the estate and town, but are you also a dedicated scholar?”
Annaeus smiled and produced a crystalline dagger from his hip, “It isn’t much, but I’ve mastered a dozen offensive Tactical class—and over thirty Operation class— spells. The magick defenses on the walls are all mine and about half of the magick-based traps around the perimeter are based on my own formulae.”
That isn’t much?
What Annaeus had claimed was a power level greater than most of the Astral Mages and well above any of the paladins we had in the divisional units.
I hadn’t gotten into a habit of inspecting people now that I could see statuses through chaos magick instead of the obvious Aethermist-based runic interface spell.
TARGET
STATISTICS
VALUES
ANNAEUS
HEALTH
STAMINA
MAGICKA
60/ 60
70/ 70
1225/ 1225
What. In. Aver’teria.
I thought Lady Aisling’s stats were high.
Beno was right. Annaeus would’ve definitely needed anti-magick bracelets if he was hostile to us in the slightest.
Annaeus was in a whole other world.
“Can I just say, I’m really you’re on my side, Annaeus. If I encountered you alone on the battlefield I might have a panic attack.”