Reborn: 6-10

by D. W. Jackson

  “Thank you,” Ash said honestly.

  Ash first thought about heading to Emelia’s, but instead decided to return to his own house first. It had been more than a few days and he knew that Yuki and the others tended to overly worry. While Ash walked toward his home, he didn’t pay much attention to his surroundings instead he started to read through the thin book that Rina had given him.

  In his previous world, Ash had went to church a number of times and had even read a little of the bible, but he never believed that there truly was a god. Now it was less about faith and more about proof. After everything that had happened, it was impossible for him to deny the existence that there was something more powerful out there in the world.

  The book started much the way he expected but Ash still found it interesting.

  In the beginning, a great god banished the chaos of the emptiness and replaced it with order. Chaos is the foundation of everything, but only though order can life flourish. To keep the fragile balance of the universe, thirty-two gods were born. Each god was given dominion over one aspect of chaos so that life could flourish.

  The goddess Altina was one of the three greater gods. Harien was given dominion over creation, Jarol was given dominion over destruction while Altina was given dominion over the cycle of life and more commonly became known as the goddess of the harvest. From birth to death all things were in the domain of Altina.

  The book continued to talk about many of the other gods and the first days of the world. It was slightly interesting but mostly irrelevant to Ash and seemed to be the standard. Altina seemed to be rather laid back and didn’t really seem to care much about what people did while they lived. There were many small rules, but five large ones stood out amongst the others and were called the five cardinal sins.

  All life is scared from a lowest blade of grass to dragons, yet all life must end. Altina wishes all creatures in her domain to live long lives, but understands there can be no life without death. She governs all things living under the sky and these are her five holiest of commandments.

  1.) All death must serve a purpose. To kill a living being without meaning is the truest sin.

  2.) No wantonly wasting of the earth’s bounty.

  3.) No one shall purposely cause the fields to go barren.

  4.) No life should be given to those that have already left the embrace of the earth.

  5.) The life of an innocent soul shall never be taken by the hand of the wicked.

  The five laws were a little odd, but the more Ash read the more he understood the hidden meaning behind the words. The first law seemed the most ambiguous as Altina left a lot of room as to what it meant to kill without meaning. In the end the only sure fire way to break the law was to kill someone or something for no other reason than it was breathing.

  The second law was a lot easier to break, but it also had a lot of leeway. Thankfully there were a lot of small proverbs that helped Ash understand what was meant. Just not eating the food on your plate wouldn’t cause the wrath of a god, but let say you had a silo full of grain and could not sell it yet refused to let the poor eat and instead let it rot then you would gain the goddess ire.

  Law number three had to do with what people in his last world called the scorched earth tactic. It didn’t just mean the fields either, but also humans and animals. It was ok to kill, but if you were to purposely cause a woman to no longer be able to bare children then you would break one of the sacred laws.

  The forth law was the most cut and dry of all the others. If anyone practiced necromancy then they would easily earn themselves a reaper’s mark.

  The fifth law was also fairly straightforward. While it said innocent it mostly referred to children but it also covered those that had certain mental problems. Killing a child under the age of ten would almost always gain someone the reaper’s mark but there were a number of ways to get around it as well.

  After reading about the five sins, Ash could agree that any one of them would be worth someone’s death. Some of them did seem a little weird like refusing food to someone, but if a person could watch a person starve while he had a large amount of food that was rotting away then they were anything but a good person.

  Just as he finished thumbing through the book, Ash found that he was near a large book store and decided to stop by. After asking a few questions, Ash was able to find the religious books of what were considered the other two major gods.

  Quickly flipping through the pages Ash found the gods major rules and found that most of them were different than the ones of Altina. Harien the god of creation had no problems with necromancy, yet he did have the same law about salting the land. Oddly, he also had a law about destroying art. Jarol the god of destruction on the other hand detested necromancy as his first two laws banned it as an unforgivable sin. Oddly though he also had a small law against destroying the ability for people to give birth. The law said, “No one shall destroy what has yet to be created.” Ash looked through the book but only found one passage that said without life there cannot be death. Looking back at the law, Ash started to understand why to god of destruction might forbid it.

  Seeing his house as he looked up from the book, Ash smiled and placed the books in his inventory planning to put them in his study later. After learning that reapers were so overpowered, the last thing he wanted to do was get another god’s assassins to target him so he wanted to make sure he did his best to stay clear of their major laws.

  “Master,” Yuki said, running from the courtyard and jumping with her arms wrapped around Ash’s neck.

  Shortly after Yuki appeared, the other slaves walked out into the yard to welcome him home. Allice didn’t jump on him, but she did bow deeply with her eyes shining brightly upon seeing him.

  “Let us go inside,” Ash said as he pried Yuki off.

  Shortly after he got back Allice, handed Ash a large envelope with the Hawkwing’s crest on it. Ash quickly opened it and read through the letter.

  Lord Ash Hawkwing, as soon as you get home please present yourself before the duchess.

  The letter was short and left Ash feeling slightly worried. He didn’t know what happened that would make Emelia send such a letter, but he hoped that it didn’t have to do anything with the rumors of war. He was just getting used to his new life and didn’t want to lose it so quickly.

  “Allice, let everyone know I need to head back out,” Ash said as he slowly put the letter away.

  “Is anything wrong master?” Allice asked upon seeing the look on his face.

  “I don’t know yet,” Ash replied as he patted Allice lightly on the head.

  Knight's Code #7-5

  I didn’t take Ash long to reach Emelia’s manor, or at least it didn’t feel like it took long since his mind was in an uproar. Every step he took, Ash began to imagine what might happen if war really broke out. If he wasn’t fast enough to act, not only would he be pressed into becoming cannon fodder, so would Yuki, Shina, Lillanis, and may other people he cared about. In a large scale battle, Ash wasn’t even sure that he could keep himself alive much less everyone else that he cared about.

  When Ash arrived, instead of leisurely being taken to where Emelia was he was instead taken to the small meeting room and made to wait for her arrival. This raised the tension that was building in his heart and Ash couldn’t help but imagine the worse coming to pass. When Emelia appeared from the back, Ash looked at her face closely and noticed that it looked only slightly worried which eased some of the burden on his heart.

  “Emelia what is going on?” Ash asked before she had a chance to sit down.

  “Ash, something has happened,” Emelia said, her voice carrying a serious tone which she seldom used with him. “I don’t know how, but it seems that the king has learned that you are a subhuman.”

  Ash’s heart dropped and he felt as if the world was pushing down on his chest. Ash tried to speak, but his mouth felt dry and his tongue felt as if it were made of lead. “W-what does that mean?”<
br />
  “Well…It is complicated. There is no direct law that separate pure humans from everyone else. Not that they haven’t tried it, but each time it happened the goddess of the harvest would pull her blessing from the land and the kingdom would decline. While the kingdom can’t openly make laws to oppress, there are plenty of ways that nobles work around it to keep who they want down. Thankfully we were wed by a priestess of Altina so not even the king will try and force an annulment.”

  “Then what is the problem?” Ash asked slightly nervous.

  “Mostly, it has opened you up to the nobles as fair game,” Emelia said with a heavy sigh. “In the past any time a non-human was made a noble they have worked both in the open and behind the scenes to destroy them. The king hasn’t made any demands, but he has voiced his displeasure so that I know that should any nobles move on me then he won’t offer aid. Honestly, even him doing this much is a kindness but the reason he has told me wasn’t out of good will, but because he hopes that I will denounce you and take a more respectable partner.”

  “Why should he care if you denounce me or not?” Ash asked, not fully understanding.

  “First, while we are a duchy of the kingdom, we are the third largest duchy, the second richest, and the first when it comes to ore. If the Hawkwing duchy is embroiled in internal war then by law until the three years after the conflict is resolved, the defending party cannot be called upon for taxes, not troops even in the time of war. Even if it is a small conflict, the king’s hands will be tied. In the case that I request his aid in mediating the conflict and he refuses, then we can withdraw from the kingdom without redress. While I say we could withdraw, that is rarely done because while we won’t be considered traitors by law, there is no kingdom that would simply let us stay independent unless there was enough strength to back up the claim.”

  “I see,” Ash said while thinking deeply, wondering why politics were so murky and backhanded. “What should we do then?”

  “The first choice is to have our marriage annulled on the grounds that I was lied to and have you executed,” Emelia said with a pained look on her face. “This would be the best choice for the duchy. The second choice is to stay married and start preparing for what will happen next.”

  Ash felt a bead of sweat roll down his back. “Which one will you chose?”

  Emelia gave a weak smile. “The second obviously but since you were gone when this news was made public, I have so far left the other nobles think I was leaning to the first choice.”

  “The other nobles already know?” Ash asked slightly surprised.

  “I am sure they knew about it before the letter from the king was in my hands,” Emelia said with a disgruntled sigh. Now that you are home, you should know that you and your home are in danger. Since yesterday I have stationed a few knights to watch your house so I doubt that anyone will try anything there, at least not easily. Tonight you will stay here and tomorrow we will make an official statement as well as enacting a few new laws that might help stave off some of the danger.”

  “What kind of laws could help us in this situation?” After he asked the question Emelia handed him three sheets of parchment that have already been signed.

  The first law made it against the law for anyone to be made a slave unless they had been judged in a court of law. The second law allowed anyone who wished it, to gain full citizenship of the duchy as long as they agreed to join and serve four years in a militia group. The third law made it illegal to take slaves out of the duchy without documentation of their trial.

  Ash read the laws four times and while he understood them, he didn’t see how they could help. The second law would give them an extra fighting force, but how many people would really want to become citizens of a duchy at war. “I don’t see how these will help much.”

  “I love you, but you are not cut out for politics,” Emelia said with a warm smile. “Right now the laws concerning slavery are fairly open to interpretation. Anyone who is made a slave has the option to request a trial, but few do and even fewer are actually given a trial. No slaver would try to make a human a slave without a proper reason but nonhumans are often easily enslaved often for reasons as simple as they can pay some absurd tax on non-citizens. Non-humans can always ask for citizenship, but before they were almost always declined even if they were born within the duchy, now they can easily join the duchy legally and at the same time give us a fighting force that can be called on. With the rumors of war, I expect a lot of non-humans to apply for citizenship. The third law will make it hard for slavers to try and take slaves outside the duchy or transport them through the duchy. The main reason these laws will work though is you.”

  “How will I make this work?” Ash asked while scratching his head.

  “Because you are a non-human yourself. If I was to simply make these offers, no one would believe them, but with you they will trust is. That is why tomorrow we will make these laws know as well as the fact you are a subhuman.”

  “Won’t all the nobles under you revolt?” Ash asked as he thought about it.

  “No…At least not outright,” Emelia said with a wicked grin. If the nobles go against their oath to me, then no matter where in the kingdom they will be viewed as traitors and beheaded. They have two choices, either release their titles and lands or follow my orders. Some might resist as much as the law allows, them but none of them will rebel outright, though thinking about it they might try to have me assassinated.”

  Emelia didn’t say anything else and just let Ash soak up everything she had said. Ash was the first to admit he didn’t understand the first thing about politics, but even he could grasp at what this could mean. “I don’t know what we should do. It doesn’t seem like the time to be building a fort.”

  Emelia got up from her seat and quickly crossed the few paces that separated her and Ash and sat in his lap. “On the contrary, I think the fort is the perfect idea,” Emelia said giving Ash a light kiss. “Whenever a duchy is embroiled in an internal war, they always build hasty wooden forts at their borders. We will have to do that as well, but at the same time, having a strong fort here will help bolster our strength. Not to mention one of the knight captains had a great idea for the fort.”

  “What kind of idea?” Ash asked slightly intrigued.

  “As you know, the Adventurer Guild has many schools throughout the different kingdoms to raise promising talents. Unlike adventurers, Knights work off a squire system to train. The knight captain’s idea was to create a knight school using the fort. This is not the first time that this has been suggested, but since keeping a large number of knights is expensive, a duchy has yet to do it.”

  “Then how will we afford to keep all the knights?”

  “That is where the knight captain had a true stroke of genius. If the best comes to pass and we remain with the kingdom under our own power then the school can be used to teach all the kingdoms knights, but that is only if we can produce good knights. It is chancy, but even if we have to close the school later, right now it is worth the cost.”

  “Well, it will take years for the fort to be finished. We just don’t have the coin to build it any faster,” Ash said biting his lip.

  Emelia let out a light laugh. “Previously I only allowed you to use the duchies excess funds for the year. Did you really think that was all that was in the vault? We are a large duchy, we produce a lot of goods that sell very well and have little needs. Most of that is thanks to the labyrinth, but also because of the vast and fertile farmlands. Thanks to this and the fact that the Hawkwing family has been in control of this duchy for more than three hundred and fifty years, we have accumulated a great deal of wealth. Right now I plan to fully open the coffers for this.”

  Ash couldn’t help but feel a warmth spread through his chest as he looked at Emelia. “Why go this far for me?”

  Emelia gave him a light kiss while lightly laughing. “I would like to say because I love you, but that wouldn’t be the truth. Long ago our family used t
o be kings in their own right, but after a long period of war, thanks to a traitor, my ancestors were forced to give up the throne and take what was then only an unremarkable duchy. Though many generations have passed, we have never forgot that we have the blood of kings and thanks to that, we have never had a very good relationship with the current royal family. This might give me the chance to realize my families’ dream of once again being their own masters. If you look at it like that, it would seem as if I am just using you,” As Emelia spoke she looked down with a slightly ashamed look on her face.

  Seeing the look on Emelia’s face, Ash couldn’t help but laugh. “Emelia, I might have been the catalyst for this, but if you truly didn’t care about me then you would have simply had my head on a pike instead of going through all of this. Even if I am being used, I don’t mind. You are my wife and being used a little here and there is the least I can do. Now, what we need to do is plan. What all should we be worried about. I know I am not the best at politics, but maybe I can think of a few things.”

  A slim glittering tear ran down for Emelia’s right eye and she gave a weak smile as she kissed Ash once again. “We don’t have to worry about coin. Even if all trade is cut off, the treasury has enough to keep the duchy afloat for more than fifty years with ease. The duchy can also feed everyone with what is produced easily. The only thing we really import is meat and clothes.”

  “How many other duchies surround us?” Ash asked.

  “Three altogether. One to the southwest, one to the direct south and one to the north. On the east we are protected by mountains. The northern duchy is the least likely to attack us as it is relatively small and has never held much military strength and relies heavily on us for trade. The other two are not as large as us, but if they work together we will be hard pressed to fight them off with our current strength. Their main fighting force will be slaves though, so they won’t be as motivated.”