The Young Count

After staying the night at the keep, I made my way to the western border of Veraxus. Beyond the gates and guards, thousands of commonfolk of many cultures and creeds were crowded in a small piece of land in front of the western gates. Behind the refugees were brigands, who were formerly of the Marxus army, marching towards the refugees to force them to die at our border. I heard hundreds of pleas to the border patrol, whom were also commonfolk as well. As they performed their jobs perfectly, I saw the moral dissonance in their hearts.

“Men! This is your Lord Count speaking! We will open the gates and give these people a place they can call home for the time being. We will save the commonfolk that the nobility failed to nurture and protect. We can and will protect them.”

The gates swung open, and hundreds to thousands of people poured into the grassy valleys of Veraxus within a day. I ordered my personal patrol corps to provide accommodations for these people. During the coming days of the transition, I saw another army in the distance. They did not have black capes, and they did not look like the brigands. With my enhanced looking glass, I spotted someone in full plate armor with a three-pronged helmet that seared into my mind. This person was in front of the strange looking army of bronze, and he was flying a First Era Imperium flag. The same flag that Laila found during the tunnel expeditions. The same flag that the King had told us about at the Royal Court. The same flag that Trishia had mentioned about earlier. So this was Princess Stephania’s army. If they were truly hostile, they would have invaded while we transitioned the refugees, since the black-capes had no mercy for commonfolk. The knight saluted me in the old Imperium salute, and led the army further west away from the gate.

“Lord Rytus, is that you?” A commonfolk woman walked up to me while I was using my looking glass, catching me by surprise. “It’s me, Rachelia, Phylx’s sister.”

“Oh, Lady Rachelia! I am sorry that the gates were closed for you for so long. I wish I was here to lead you in sooner.”

“No worries, me Lord. I’m glad I left home. The black-caped men destroyed Wepich right after I took all of my family. They chased us, too! They kept shootin’ thunder at us while we ran away.”

Those evil bastards.

“Do not fret, my Lady. I will protect you here. However, I am curious. How did you outrun them? The roads are not adequately protected in that region, and I heard that they had men with hand cannons on horseback now.”

“Oh, we owe it all to Princess Stephania’s brave knight! Oh, if you saw how they swooped into the black-capes while they chased us… The knight charged into the capes by himself, and the thunder things were bouncing right off his armor! And the soldiers had something weird with them… They had these long sticks, and when they aimed at the capes, fire came out! The soldiers were weird too. They wore really old armor. Anyways, they gave us some time to escape. I wish they were there to attack those bandits too. They kept pushing us into the gate and cutting off food for us.”

Was this the power of the tunnel people? From S.T.’s letter, they seemed absolutely defenseless. Unless he was trying to lead that usurping army to their deaths with a letter. Who was S.T. then? How did he know that they were tunnel people? With this new information, I could infer that the infighting with the nobility was just a ruse. S.T. was planning something from the shadows, but what, exactly? And what was his relation to the Duke and his claim to the throne?

“Anyways, me Lord, I meant to ask you where my dumb older brother is, and where is my nephew and his wife? I want to tackle that kid and rub his frizzy hair.”

I froze for a short moment before I mustered the courage to tell her the truth. I told her about the hero that was her nephew, and that the army had honored him with a regiment called the “Paxton Pack”. She cried into her hands, which were scarred from picking cotton all of her life. I comforted her as much as I could, but no amount of comfort could release the pain of losing someone you love, or bring them back in any measure. I sent a patrol to take her to General Phylx shortly after.

Eventually, the people who settled next to the forest in Lythan build small towns and trading hubs. Due to the density of the forest and the speed of growth for these trees, there was enough wood to last for several years, if not more. Traders who used the ancient tunnels finally surfaced after a long trading mission, and they brought goods and supplies from across the ocean. I did not allow them to use the tunnels anymore for the chance that they would meet with the Princess’ army. Luckily, they had not yet, despite using the long Wechia tunnels to the ocean.

As soon as the economy of Lythan and Veraxus fell from the civil war, we were able to stabilize. I commissioned a new service line of builders, which consisted of farmers, masons, and traders who left their goods at home to flee. To accommodate the great influx of refugees, I had to build multiple-level buildings, which would efficiently provide housing for the people, and open up the land for more development. I estimated that the nobles generally paid most of their farmers and laborers one silver per season of work. In my realm, each laborer would earn one silver for every day of working on a new improvement on these lands.

In only a few months, my lands were filled with bustling towns, and dare I say, cities. Since some of the commonfolk lived in The Captial, they were more than willing to bring that large city society to their new home. They no longer lived like refugees, or commonfolk. They lived like free citizens akin to the early Imperium ways. This ideology reminded me of the First Age Imperium ironically, where no emperor was in power, and the empire was ruled by a court of representatives from each Imperial province, which included many commonfolk and middle tradesmen. Sadly, this society collapsed from the influence of very rich merchants and military generals that reached the top of the court. They declared themselves the new nobles of the Imperium, and ushered the Second Era. Greed had felled many of mankind’s greatest creations, but not mine. I promised myself to protect my people, and greed would never take me.

***

A letter arrived on a late autumn morning. My heart raced with the uncertainty. Wechia? I was certain that Lucius and his son were dead. Perhaps someone in their family succeeded them. However, Britis never had a child with Juliana, so who was next in line?

“To Lord Count Rytus Paraxus,

I am pleased to announce my succession to the County of Wechia, as my being a distant cousin of Britis allowed eligibility to the position of Count. I have been learning about you through stories from the Arkan War, and observing the development of your land. I am eager to ask you for an alliance as neighboring counties. We can help protect each other from this usurper war. We both care about the people we rule over, especially the refugees as of late. What do you say?

Feel free to come visit anytime you wish. I will be at my keep.

Count Axten Quidox of County Wechia.”

It was surprising that there was a succession that was viable. I had believed that the County of Wechia would have fallen by the commonfolk by now without their slimy rulers. I had to meet this new lord.

I traveled to Wechia with General Phylx and Sevrus to negotiate an alliance with this new count. Compared to my lands and the Capital, this land felt barren. The villagers lived in artificial squalor, and the infrastructure was morbidly primitive, as if an ape was a lord. As we arrived at the keep, we noticed how magnificent it stood compared to the rest of the land. Twice as many commonfolk were seen within the walls of the keep, and most of them looked like refugees from the provinces near Arkan, with dark skin and deep brown eyes. This seemed strange because they had to cross my land to settle here, but I saw no signs of these refugees at all. These refugees were also tending the gardens and cleaning the ponds, which would normally be the maids’ duties. Every one of these refugees had an air of resentment, as if their presence here was a mistake.

The doors opened to reveal an even more disturbingly clean and beautiful keep. The walls were lined with several paintings of Lucius and his son in different poses. The centerpiece of the ceiling was a chandelier made of the rare topaz crystal, only found in a land across the ocean. The obscene flaunt of wealth that Lucius possessed when he was alive had made me hope that he was burning in the lava of Underearth with his dogshit son.

Count Axten was waiting in the dining room with more dark skin servants preparing meals for us. He was young, and he dressed in an elegant purple and red robe with lines and patterns of gold, much like the old Imperium royalty. He had a smirk of power, showing his apparent joy to rule over anyone, even in a dining room.

“Welcome, Lord Count Rytus Paraxus, and his slaves to my beautiful abode!” I saw Phylx and Sevrus grit their teeth at the same time.

“Slaves? You f-” I held my hand in front of Sevrus to stop him from exploding.

“Thank you for your letter and request of an alliance, Lord Count Axten. These are my equals. They are as much in command of my lands as I am. This is General Phylx Casus, who served in the Perseus War directly with my father and the King of that time. This is Sevrus Aeralus, my steward, and he oversees every bronze coin that enters and exits my land. If we are to parley about an alliance, I would like some respect for my men. Otherwise, I have no interest in what you offer.”

Axten was visibly surprised, and perhaps evem irritated. He seemed like the sort that never had anyone deny any of his requests.

“Ah, my apologies, Lord Rytus, General Phylx, and Sir Sevrus. As a new count, I have not had a chance to practice my manners with other lords. Please, have a seat and eat your hearts out. We have monster turkey with crazed boar gravy, mashed potatoes harvested from the Mountains of Murdot, and boiled carrots with olive oil.”

“Thank you for understanding, Lord Axten. I am curious, how did you import such rare ingredients when trade routes to other countries have closed?”

“My family controls a trade guild on the coast that is willing to pay large tolls to pass through the other countries’ borders. We just pay extra for the ingredients, which is obviously of no expense to us.”

“Trade route bribes do not look good for our kingdom, for your information. Our nobility would say the same, should you try something like that again. Just be careful next time.”

“Duly noted, Lord Rytus. So, an alliance. What are your terms for an alliance with me?”

“I want to extend a trade route to your keep and its surrounding towns. To do that, you must allow my builders to construct better roads.” For years, I had heard complaints from traders who used the tunnels about odd sights and sounds. Due to the pesky Lucius being gone, I would finally be able to use the surface roads for trade beyond Wechia.

“I would also require that your villages have better housing situations. General Phylx can assist with this task with our patrol corps. Lastly, I need to station troops near your border with Mortheca. I need to protect our lands from any usurpers, and that county has fallen to one. What are your terms?”

“Excellent, those terms are more beneficial to me than expected. As for me, I would want 10% of your trade profits since they will be through my lands. In addition, I want to add a consul to your keep to engage in communications faster. I encourage you to do the same, as I would like this alliance to flourish in the years to come.”

“I accept your terms. One more thing. From where did your servants originate? They seem quite far from their lands.”

“Oh, the darks? They were refugees from the northwest. They walked a long way from home, and they were saved by my county, like yours. I gave them work and a place to live, and they proudly serve me.”

Something was wrong. As I suspected, it was too far to simply walk to this county from the Northwest Territories without at least crossing my own borders. If they came from the northern border, then they had to cross through the current war zones, which was far more dangerous than anyone would care to risk. I simply acknowledged his statement and accepted his alliance. I mainly accepted the alliance to observe Axten closely.

I did not trust this young Count, and neither did Phylx nor Sevrus.