The Royal Court

A few weeks went by without a reply, but I had many responsibilities to attend to. I had to secure a trade operation deal with a few merchant guilds that would supply extra livestock and Thraliga. The expenses were large, but they were worth each bronze coin if the deals were secured in my lands. I had to expand my patrol corps as well due to the increase of bandits and roaming monsters in the area. A few lords had asked to increase my patrol routes to their borders, so I built rest houses along the routes to those borders.

Normally, these tasks would not take much of a toll on me, but having the weight of my lover’s suffering had added another level of distraction for me. My emotions were uncontrollable, and I was afraid of failing my people again. My duties as a Baron had been tested by my search for love again.

On a tiring, long night after negotiating with nobles and guild masters, I retreated to my chambers for some much needed solitude. Of course, the God of Luck would not have it my way. I received two letters this time: one from my lover and one from the Deputy. I decided to open the royal letter first so that I could save the comfortable letter before I slept.

“To Lord Baron Rytus Paraxus, Baron of Lythan,

This is an official summoning from the Royal Court of the King for your services. There are scouts from the Arkan Kingdom that have been spotted to the north and northwest border. Our scouts confirmed that there had been large recruitment efforts by the Arkans for their conscript army recently.

The Royal Court requests you take heed of our glorious army, as your father has before you. We implore you to make haste to the court as swiftly as possible. There is much more to discuss.

Mori pro corona, mori pro terra, mori pro honore!

Deputy Chrysum Matus, on behalf of King Theatus III, the rightful King.”

I did not know whether to be completely surprised or to be completely unreactive to this situation. It definitely made sense that another kingdom would see our sorry state and take advantage of it. The most difficult issue was that if I were to leave my lands and people to defend the kingdom, who would defend my realm? Another war leads to another trade collapse, and this leads to another difficult time for everyone. Had there been no civil war, had I not fallen on my emotions with the Thraliga forest, my people would have had a better chance.

I opened my lover’s envelope, hoping for something positive to happen.

“My Dearest Honorable Love,

I am humbled to be offered a safe home and protection through your lord’s realm. If my responsibilities had been less complicated, I would have accepted your plea. However, the gods have different plans for me… My mother and my people are not typical people of this kingdom, and they require a special form of secrecy. If we were to accept help from a lord during these times, the kingdom would surely fall, and all of its citizens would be thrown into more chaos and war.

Unfortunately, this is all I could share with you about my situation…

Please trust me as I trust you to stay safe within your own town. I have heard rumors that the Arkan Kingdom has plans to invade, and I am utterly worried about the outcome of the war, especially right after the civil war. I want you to stay safe and stay healthy for as long as you can. I want to see you alive on Earth, not in the Great Sky after we perish. It is my turn to beg you, please try to stay in town for as long as possible.

Alas, my time has run short again tonight, so I will have to tend to serious matters just after I deliver this letter to you.

Remember that the weight of your world is shared with me… I will help carry your pain, so do not suffer alone… My love for you is strong enough to lift the entirety of Underearth over our heads… So do not cry, for I will cry for you, too.

Your Eternal Beloved”

Finally, some information about her. She was a noble, but her people lived in secret against the kingdom. What did that mean, exactly? And again, the access of high level information that no normal lord in the kingdom would have received continued to surprise me. Her views on the nobility and the commonfolk were common reasons for civil wars, so she could be a usurper. However, if she was a usurper, she would not still be alive after the Deputy crushed them. These thoughts raced through my head like a jouster circling an arena with no opponent. Just who in Underearth was this woman? Was there a possibility that she was an enemy to the kingdom? If she was an enemy to the kingdom, she was my enemy as well. She would be a source of my people’s suffering, and I detested the suffering of my people.

The morning arrived, and my rest was nonexistent. To travel to the capital, I would unfortunately rely on my horsemen and a carriage driver to take me, which was never my favorite mode of travel. Before I left, I wrote my letter to my mysterious lover as swiftly as I could. I should not spend too much time before reporting to the King.

“My Darling Beloved,

We worry about each other’s survival very much. It pleases me to the deepest core of my heart to read your words of care and love, as the world is much more unmerciful and unloving at this point in time.

That being said, I had hoped for you to be able to accept my proposition to receive my lord’s protection. My town is kind, and respectful of the stories and the walks of life that folks carry with them. I truly believe that it would work out for both of our benefits.

We both are people who try to fight everything ourselves, and I believe it is time to fight together.

Today, I will be accompanying my lord to the capital of the kingdom, and I will stay in the capital to trade for goods before the invasion begins. There will be a chance that I will be conscripted to fight in the invasion. I do not know when I will return, but once I am home, the first thing that my hand will pick up is a quill to write you a letter.

Please write back to me as soon as you can. My heart burns for you like the flames of a morning fireplace. Oh how I want you in my arms and beside me while I serve my customers in my tavern.

Farewell for now, my truly beloved…

Marcus”

That was all I could muster for now. I needed as much time as I could to travel to the capital in time for the court hearing. My body was at its limit from the restless nights and the local traveling. My soul was tattered from the constant warfare, and my mind was beaten from the negotiation efforts. I hoped that the carriage ride would allow me to finally sleep…

***

The capital at last. With so much advanced architecture and many artistic marble statues that litter the streets, one would think that this kingdom had an exalted way of society. We were just greedy demons with some arbitrary power predetermined by our bloodlines. We had no right to express this level of creativity and majesty in this world while tens of thousands still struggled with access to clean water, food, and safety.

Though I deeply believed these words, I was bound by my sense of duty to serve the king, which ultimately benefits my people. I also thought that my lover would share the same view if she were here with me. As long as I kept the King in my close circle, I wielded the power of the King to protect my own realm.

Being welcomed at the King’s castle was always strange to me. I was forced to walk on a red carpet into the main hall while the maids, butlers, even gardeners, stood in line to greet me. This went for all the other nobles as well, but the enthusiasm was much less prevalent compared to my reception for some reason or another. Inside the extravagantly decorated hall filled with diamond chandeliers that lined parallel with the hallway, the black and white tiles made of onyx and pearl, and the court table made of the last of the Elder Oak, the King sat at his throne, with an empty seat next to him.

The King waved to me to approach him. I obliged and bowed down with one knee on the ground.

“My Lord King, I, Baron Rytus Paraxus of Lythan, have arrived at your court at your behest. I am honored to appear in front of you, and I will serve you until your last breath. Mori pro corona, mori pro terra, mori pro honore!”

The King offered his hand to me, and I kissed the royal crest on his ring. I absolutely hated performing these archaic rituals.

“Please, Baron, make yourself at home at the table. I believe you are the first one to arrive, as usual, so I will call a maid to offer some refreshments. Thank you for upholding the royal decree so well, Rytus.”

The King waved his hand, and instantly, 4 or 5 maids appeared with roasted duck with wine sauce, sauteed grapes in olive oil, capital wine, and a cold towel. Perhaps this might be the only benefit of being royalty that I could personally accept. The King and I discussed private matters of economy, realm upkeep, and military training, which were the only matters that the King ever connected with me with. He was close friends with my father when he was still Crown Prince during the Perseus War, so he favored me over many lords that attempted to win any favors from him.

As I enjoyed my meal, some nobles arrived to join the table. They were given the same treatment as I was, though they ate like pigs and treated the maids like brothel girls. I wanted to react the way I wanted to, but in the view of the king, I kept my mouth full of food and my eyes on my cup of wine.

When the sun approached twilight, the rest of the nobles joined the table. The only noble who did not join was Count Shithead, of course. His son came on his behalf, but instead of joining the table, he attempted to court some noble ladies and maids in the other room. How the King had not already hung both of their heads on the Pearl Gates was a mystery to me.

“Welcome, my subjects, and my noble lords of this realm. I thank you for arriving at such short notice to the Royal Court. There is much to discuss, so I will not waste time.”

The King signaled his Deputy to begin his discussion.

“My lords, as mentioned in the letters I have sent to you, we will be preparing to defend the crown and the land from the Arkan Kingdom. Their timing was tactically impressive, and also spineless. We have lost many soldiers during our civil war with the usurpers. We are now asking your Barons to levy their armies to fill our ranks. If we do not have enough soldiers, we will not have any Baronies left to defend. I implore all Counts and Dukes, levy your Barons for our survival.”

The Deputy bowed and dropped to one knee on the ground towards the court table. Out of all the nobility, the Deputy seemed to me as the most qualified to become Count or Duke. His speech, though very simple and pragmatic, was delivered like a bard at a tavern performance. I was heavily moved by his charismatic and emotional plea. The Royal Court all stood up and bowed to the Deputy.

“Thank you, my lords. The King has also formally proposed that Lord Baron Rytus Paraxus perform his father’s duty as Marshal Commander. This proposal comes from the high competency that his father, Lord Baron Tytus Paraxus, has shown during the Perseus War, and has no doubt passed on to his son. Lord Baron Rytus Paraxus has shown masterful command in his rule over Lythan through the Usurper War, and also through his realm’s highly honorable status in this kingdom.”

It was blisteringly clear that some lords did not enjoy the fact that a small Baron could control the Duke’s army if he wanted to. However, with the Deputy’s help, most of the Royal Court stood up and bowed to me.

“My subjects, my decision is final. I shall anoint Lord Baron Rytus Paraxus as Marshal Commander. Any disrespect towards the Lord Baron equates to directly disrespecting my authority. Will you have him as your commander?”

The Royal Court erupted. “Aye, Sire!”

“Good. Deputy, please continue.”

Though with my disdain for our government administration, I would have to thank the King himself for noticing my efforts in my land, and my merits as an army commander.

The Deputy continued until the moon rose, and battle plans were drafted with my opinions taken seriously. While we did not know the full capacity of the Arkan Kingdom, we did know that they had drastically improved their army with new technologies. What new technologies were we facing? Our intelligence was severely lacking due to their skillful counter-espionage.

This did not bode me well, the idea of drafting a battle plan on such flimsy information. However, the pressure on my responsibilities was heavy, and all we could muster at this point was to observe the enemy on our first clashes and adjust our plans. If our army failed, my head would be rolling the streets of our capital, and some other lord with half the aptitude of a crazed ape would rule over Lythan instead. I wondered what my love would say about this matter, assuming that she may be a mighty warrior and a commander herself.

A few days passed as the nobles completed their logistical plans. I spent as much time away from their social circle as I could after our intense meetings. Though they were obligated to respect my authority, I could sense the bloodthirst in their words; they were ready to pounce on my first mistake as soon as our plans failed. Instead of allowing their stares to pierce me, I spent my nights at the local tavern listening to stories of the commonfolk and watching the bards and minstrels play songs of the Imperium. I reminded myself of the reason and the responsibility of my sword. This sword was to protect these people, as this tavern was a significant reminder to me that we were all living a life worth remembering.

Hopefully, I shall return with my own stories of conquest and survival for my love.