Juliet placed a gentle hand on Eustace’s shoulder. “Easy, dear. What my husband means to say to you is that the Baron is merely bluffing here. He has no quarrel with you, Richard. He simply means to scare you into submission, so that you may hand me over to him. Now, he may try and make you suffer for defying him, to keep up his reputation, but for a Baron to commit to a full invasion of a gentry? He has no casus belli.”
Casus Belli. A just cause for war. While the Great Game allowed nobles to have ambitions towards one another, it was frowned upon to just wantonly attack anyone you felt like it. There had to be a legitimate reason to invade, lest your reputation be sullied in the eyes of all other noble houses. Without a just cause, allies were not required to aid in wartime efforts. After all, why would you support blind ambition and greed when you could very well be next on his list of conquests?
“Incorrect,” one of the clerks said, causing everyone to look at him. He was a younger fellow with a severely burned cheek, though it seemed not to pain him for he leaned against it out of sheer boredom. “Under the fourth article of the agreed upon Valid Causes for Invasion and Warfare, harboring a claimant who refuses to surrender their claims to the aggrieved party provides casus belli.”
“Who asked you?” Eustace grunted.
The clerk merely shrugged and went back to scribbling notes.
“The record-keeper has a point,” Esha said, speaking for the first time. All eyes fell on her out of curiosity to hear what an elven matriarch had to say. Nelson and Avaline both seemed enraptured at the sight of a real life elf and even the Lady Efera was impressed with her presence. Only Eustace seemed disinterested in her, though I could tell he was staring at her ears with some level of curiosity. In a way, I felt bad for Esha. All eyes were looking at her, not because of what she had to say, but simply because she was a rare creature. A novelty to be gazed at.
If such a thing was bothering the elven woman, however, she hid her feelings well. She continued, speaking with grace and gentleness. “By all rights, the Baron of Leiss is entitled to the claims that Lady Efera holds onto. Yet, without her surrendering her pendant, he is leaving a loose end. While he may claim her lands, eventually a descendant of hers, or worse a champion on her behalf, may attempt to invade for what is rightfully owned. A good conqueror doesn’t just take land. He ensures that no valid claims exist, ensuring that his land stays his well after he has passed.”
“I don’t really think it’s much of a debate that the Baron will not rest until Efera has surrendered her title and Starmetal Signet,” I said. “At least, not a debate amongst reasonable folks.”
Eustace said nothing at that, he merely waved his hand dismissively and sank back into his seat, scowling. Juliet whispered something into his ear, causing him to smirk and smack her shoulder playfully. It was…strange, but these two seemed to be…well, a couple. The marriage was purely political in nature, meant to secure Juliet’s safety last minute but, these two seemed to get along well. More than well, it seemed. Who would have guessed?
“I think it is worth considering an alternative to mustering a grand defense,” Avaline said, speaking up for the first time. “I may not know much about politics, but a Barony is simply too large to fight against.”
“Any suggestions?” I asked. I’d be happy to consider something other than mounting a desperate last stand to stop an encroaching enemy force from decimating my estate.
“Is there something he wants more than Efera? Perhaps we could give him that as a means to stay his wrath?” Avaline suggested.
“Doubtful,” Juliet said. “My father started a very long feud, one that the Baron intends to finish once and for all. My resignation puts a perfect end cap on a conflict that has long overstayed its welcome. If he doesn’t get what he wants, the fight simply won’t end. It’ll simply be paused for a while as I regain my strength.”
“I hope this is not taken poorly,” Nelson piped up, bracing for impact as he spoke. “But have we considered merely giving up Efera’s titles? Surely the Baron won’t care if she signs over everything. She’ll be safe and sound here with Grandfather and no one has to deal with getting their walls kicked down.”
“I’ll be damned if I let that son of a bitch take anything from my wife,” Eustace growled, slamming a fist on the table.
Juliet smiled and rubbed the old man’s back. “Easy, remember your heart, dear.”
“Damn my heart, and damn you, Nelson, for wanting to just hand over your Grandmother’s titles!”
Juliet did not smile at those words. She sighed and put her hand on her forehead, groaning. “Can we please avoid calling me that?”
“Agreed,” Nelson said. “Look, I’m just saying that there’s very little reward for holding onto the titles. How long would it take for us to even remotely have a chance of reclaiming her land? We’re not going to ever fight a Barony and win, so we might as well just assume the titles are lost for good.”
“There is wisdom in surrender,” Esha said. “But at the same time, Lady Efera would lose her family’s homeland. If the Baron wished to take some of her land, so be it. But to take it all? Such a practice cannot be accepted.”
“Then what would you propose? That Richard loses his home? Because that is what we are facing here. The Baron has a great deal of power,” Nelson replied. “This is a situation where someone has to lose and it won’t be our enemy. He just simply has too much and we have too little.”
Those words hung over us like a guillotine secured only by a loose thread. Nelson had a gift, it would seem, for simply saying what everyone was thinking but did not dare to speak out of fear of being called a coward. I must admit, even I felt a little swayed by his words. Why should I lose everything for her? In the heat of the moment, Juliet had considered ending her own life, but now? After the terror and fear had died down? Would she still be so prone to self-destruction? And at what point did my mercy change to obligation?
Wait, wait, no. That wasn’t right. I wasn’t standing up for Juliet out of some chivalrous virtue. She had information about my family’s assassin. Or at least a lead. If she lost her claim, she would have no reason to aid me. The arrangement with Eustace had been a trade. I’d get the woman her homeland back and in turn, they’d give me what I needed so desperately. At the beginning, that had sounded like a fair deal. Now? Now it was starting to sour on me.
“I would…regrettably—” Juliet started to speak, but paused for a moment to clear her throat. “I would be willing to relinquish what is mine. If that is what is needed to ensure Richard’s survival. You have already been so kind to me, it would not be right to force you to take my punishment.”
Eustace grumbled some curses in my direction under his breath, but I found myself letting out a small sigh of relief. What little resentment that had rapidly built up due to Nelson’s speech dissipated at that gesture. “I thank you, Lady Efera,” I said. “But I actually do have something in mind. Something that would benefit us all mutually, but something I cannot afford alone.”
Everyone leaned in at that. Even a few scribes lifted their heads from their papers to see what I had to say. “I wanted to hear if anyone had any ideas better than the one I’m about to propose. But it seems that we have very few options. There is something I have been considering…” And with that, I began to explain my idea of a wall covering all of our territories at once. Immediately when I finished, the questions started coming my way.
“Why not simply wall your own territory?” Esha asked. “Creating a massive border around all of our lands seems excessive.”
“We have our own walls,” Eustace said. “Made of Diamondium! I doubt an extra wall around that will do much.”
“In a word? Solidarity,” I said, replying more to Esha’s comment than Eustace’s bragging about his own defenses. “If we all agree to sharing the same resources, we show the Baron that solidarity exists among the Northern Tip. We’ll show him that an alliance does exist and that we’re a
ll on the same page. And beyond that, the wall would give me the ability to respond to any threat that rears its head quickly.”
I saw a light go off in Esha’s eyes at this. At once, she understood that I was speaking about defending her land as well. This would do well to preserve the illusion that the Kintelis were still sovereign. “I think I understand what Blake is saying. Both the Frankinsons and my own clan are very old powers, not to be bothered or taken lightly. But if we show support of Blake’s wall, we’re essentially showing the world and the Baron that we are putting our resources together. This may give him hesitation to attempt total war.”
“Not to mention it would generate a tremendous amount of prestige,” Nelson said, tapping the table. “Which may be enough to get the more sleepy residents of the Northern Tip to consider throwing their hat in with us. Too many gentries are here in the tip without any real alliances. Could you imagine if we were all united? I’d wager to say it would be like a little country. No one would dare invade us that way.”
“Do you have any allies in mind?” I asked.
Nelson nodded. “I’ve been—” he paused and glanced at his wife, proudly taking her hand and squeezing it. “We’ve been in talks with three gentries about building a formal relationship. Their biggest hesitation is that we have accomplished little in our time as nobles. A great wall would certainly remove that complaint. And most folks would rather be inside the wall than outside.”
“Let’s not get too excited about a large chunk of stone in the ground,” Eustace said. “I’m assuming you want both of our Houses to pay for it? I’m not made out of money, you know.”
“I’m not so sure that’s the case, Grandfather,” Nelson said. “Didn’t you just receive a major windfall from some corn speculation?”
Eustace winced at those words and gave the young man a look that might kill one with a nervous condition. But Nelson seemed not to notice such a glare. “I think it’s worth the price. Prestige is hard to come by. So we spend some silver on something that makes a striking impression.”
“Agreed,” Esha said. “We’ve a great elven festival coming up but I would be willing to postpone it until the Baron has been discouraged or outright repelled. Whatever the Frankinsons are willing to put up, we will match it.”
Nelson looked to his wife first and then to his grandfather. “Sir?”
“Do what you will, young man,” Eustace said, leaning back and letting out a grumpy sigh. “I relinquished the throne to you, remember?”
Nelson nodded. “Let’s fund the wall then. Fifty-thousand silver each.”
Esha did not flinch, but her ears drooped considerably. No one seemed to notice that cue, however, for elven ears seemed to move up and down at all times when talking. Without paying close attention, it was easy to assume the ears moved similar to blinking. I could certainly feel her sorrow at having to part with so much coin. “Agreed. We will fund the wall with the best material 100,000 silver can buy. But the responsibility of maintaining and defending it goes to our gracious host.”
“So be it,” I said. “I thank you all for your time.”
“Now let me bring up my own topic, since we have the floor,” Eustace said. “Does anyone know a decent wagon repairman? Every last one I have worked with are crooks. Crooks, I tell you!”
Esha started to laugh. “I could send a craftsmith to look at it. She is the finest in all the land.”
Though the old man was dead serious in bringing up such a minor topic to a meeting of the minds, his words signaled a shift in the room and people began breaking off to talk. I caught Juliet’s eye and motioned for her to follow me as I stood up to stretch my legs. I had managed to pull together a major defensive structure. Now I just needed the crystals to actually defend it.
Chapter 25
Juliet and I sat outside in the garden, watching as a few maids desperately wrangled the massive slug that had somehow managed to break out of its enclosure. I wasn’t sure who was screaming louder, the maids or the Slugtine we had named Mister Slug. Either way, it was amusing to watch as Nigel, the assigned slug wrangler, attempted to stop all parties from causing any further damage to the property.
“I take it you aren’t pulling me aside to catch up,” Juliet asked as she sipped her tea, eyes transfixed on the vignette unfolding before us.
“Indeed. We have a sensitive topic to broach, and I didn’t want to ask in front of the others,” I said. I took a deep breath and just jumped in. “You must have a warehouse full of mana crystals somewhere. Or perhaps a secret store?”
Juliet took another sip of her tea, expression neutral. I could not tell if she had any such treasure. Though perhaps it was her poker face that led me to conclude that she did. “I have a few…caches,” she said after a moment of absent-mindedly stirring her tea. “But the moment you go digging for them, it will trigger a resource extraction event.”
I nodded sagely at those words. The Lady was sharp enough to notice that I had no clue what she meant. “A resource extraction is like a miniature defense. Basically, you have to put an Extraction Sphere in the targeted region, which alerts the enemy. They’ll send waves at you while you defend. Your goal is to run the clock down, for the Extraction Sphere will instantly transport the resources to your home base once it’s finished.”
“And this works anywhere?”
“No, just on unsecured resource caches. You know, warehouses, secret caverns, etc. If the enemy has a defensive set up in place, you’ll have to fight your way through that, then set up the extraction. So you best hope that the Baron doesn’t know where my little packages are hidden.”
Fascinating. So there was a way to easily steal resources from the enemy! Well, easy as in requiring very little logistics. The actual act of snatching and grabbing seemed to be an all-out battle. But it would be a battle where the stakes were low and the odds were in my favor. After all, the Baron couldn’t possibly guess that I’d actually have the guts to try and take the fight to him. His response would probably be sluggish at best.
I slid a piece of paper over to the woman. “Write down what you know. And we won’t discuss this again, for security reasons.”
There was a moment of hesitation as she reached for the paper and pencil I had placed beside it. “I had intended to keep this as a bargaining chip. In case I was captured. There is no small number of crystals hidden away in these troves. Perhaps…perhaps you could offer them to the Baron to dissuade his attack on you? I wouldn’t begrudge you for such a maneuver. Mana crystals are always popular, regardless of how many you already have. In a lot of ways, crystals are like power. To earn crystals, you must already have some; just like with power, you must have it in order to take away power from others. And to secure the crystals, you must expend even more crystals. Just like a leader must exert a tremendous amount of power to hold onto what he has.”
“But power doesn’t fade like a crystal does. It doesn’t burn up when used,” I replied.
“No, it doesn’t,” Juliet agreed. “And I had to learn that the hard way. No matter how many resources you have. No matter how strong your allies are. You just simply can’t beat someone more powerful than you. I tried and failed. And I wish you would learn this lesson from my mistakes rather than your own.”
It was an easy out. She wasn’t wrong about the value of mana crystals. The prices for units seemed to shoot up drastically from License Level 0 to License Level 1. How much more expensive did they become at higher tiers? No doubt the Baron would be willing to at least stand down for some time in exchange for a whole host of crystals. Perhaps that was why in part he was so determined to gain full control of the land: to get access to those precious resources.
But what would that say about me if I rolled over to this man? That the Blake Household was easy to bully? All it took was a large army parked outside my door to get me to give away free resources? I mean, I couldn’t very well surrender before a single fight took place. And besides, surrenderi
ng would ultimately harm me in the long run. I wouldn’t be able to secure Juliet’s land and thus lose out on learning the secrets she held.
I did wonder, as she offered me a way to simply escape this issue for now, if she truly was hiding this information from me. Eustace had been the one to propose the trade of a homeland for a lead. What if that had been done without Juliet’s knowledge? I considered pressing her a little, to figure out if she was in on the scheme, but decided against it. I didn’t want to risk offending her at such a critical juncture. I might have a better chance getting the truth out of that old bastard.
“I fear that I can’t surrender. Even if he does beat me, at least I put up a good fight,” I said. “I might be able to surrender halfway through the invasion.”
“At that point, he’d just finish the job,” Juliet replied. “If he’s clearly going to win, why would he give up taking your territory? In reality, you only have bargaining chips until he commits to the attack. After that, it’s just going to be a full force assault.”
“Even if I offered to hand you over?”
“He would refuse to believe you had the power to do so,” she said. “Trust me. I have seen this man work. He doesn’t believe in showing clemency during a fight.”
I groaned. “Still, I can’t just surrender. It might sound like hubris, but can a gentry just allow anyone to shake them down? To show we’re susceptible to any thug who wants to get his hands on our resources?”
Much to my surprise, Juliet nodded. “The cure is sometimes worse than the disease. Giving up will indeed tell everyone you’re weak. It would only be a matter of time before someone decides to come after you for your Fire Spice mines. And then later on, you’d have to deal with the Baron again, because he would eventually want to come back…” she trailed off, doing the math under her breath. “It would seem, actually, that you’re quite trapped.”
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