“So you are saying that the person who hired the plurality of mercenaries in the past month was Earl Braydon Fiton?” One thing that the King had not thought about when elevating Braydon’s title was that there would now be two Earl Fitons in Fiveria. It was easy enough when talking to Braydon since he preferred to be called by his given name over his family name but it was a hassle when there were any official proceedings involving him.

“Yes, Your Highness, so far we have counted roughly 200 mercenaries to have been hired by his knight. It is also a possibility that he has hired the large mercenary company that has recently stopped their journey for unknown reasons in Wathamalin.” It had been surprisingly easy to find out what had been going on in Wathamalin and the King did not doubt that it was because of the help of the guild leader pulling strings to make sure his investigators got what they wanted. Rather than the speculative report he had expected to receive, it was fairly certain of the number of men that had been hired and by whom. And it even came much faster than he was used to when it related to the city.

“And do you know what he has been hiring them for?” Aled did not doubt that Braydon intended to use the mercenaries now that he had hired them. Their numbers were far too great for a simple filling out of his men, especially if it included the company the clerk had just mentioned.

“There have been no rumours regarding this. Were it not for the letter received it is likely that nobody would have noticed.” The clerk responded.

“Hmm. And nobody else in the region has hired large numbers of men?” Aled asked even though it had just been reported to him earlier. Braydon was the only lord to even hire more than 50 men let alone 200.

“As far as we are aware. Even the newly appointed lords in the area, few that they are, have preferred to slowly levy their own fiefs.” The clerk reconfirmed what he had already said.

“Send somebody to go ask Earl Braydon about this. And make it quick. Whatever he is doing, I want to know about it before he goes and does it.” The King ordered the clerk before shooing him out of the room.

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“You're telling me that one of the scribes you mentioned the other day has actually turned up to inquire about it?” Braydon looked at Nela in surprise. He knew that she had mentioned them asking more questions to clarify what they were being offered but he had not at all expected that one of them would show up on his doorstep. With how quickly they had arrived, it was obvious that they had sent out their response at the same time as starting their own journey to his lands.

“Exactly that.” Nela nodded as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

“And you expected this?” He had to ask.

“Not at all.” She nodded in the same manner.

*sigh*

“So he is in Mapjess now?” Braydon made sure to confirm.

“He is likely on his way here.” Nela corrected.

“Well since someone so esteemed has decided to pay a visit, it would not do me any good to not greet him personally.” Braydon stood up from his desk that was currently just occupied with the map of western Shuluk.

“It has been a while since I last saw Geir.” Nela commented as they slowly made their way through the castle halls.

“You seem to have a good grasp on his character?” He knew that Nela had met the man before but that did not tell him much about how well she knew the scribe.

“Not too well, though he was always known to be slightly different to other scribes. The man at least leaves an impression.” As everyone that Nela seemed to know, he left an impression. Braydon could hardly be surprised.

“Favourable enough of an impression for you to reach out to him.” Braydon was fine with a scribe being a little odd if they could still do their job as well as any other.

“Yes. Though I did not expect him to even be among those that would seriously consider the offer. Last I knew of him, he had a relatively well paid job.” That was something that they would have to ask him about.

“Has our guest arrived yet?” Braydon asked a guard as they left the keep.

“Not as of yet, Sire.” The guard confirmed what Braydon then immediately saw by the lack of an extra carriage sitting around. Not that he was going to mention that he could have just looked for himself. He definitely realised that before he said something. Definitely…

“You could have just looked.” Or Nela could point it out for him.

*sigh*