Galahad woke up on his bed feeling groggy and lightheaded. Opening his eyes the first thing he saw was his squire looking over him.
Jack then asked curiously.
"Sir why were you passed out on the floor and why did your brother and his entourage leave with such haste?"
Galahad then remembered what happened yesterday and became livid.
"Where did my fucking brother go? I will take his skull and make it into a mug. How dare he humiliate me like that? I am a Knight, he is just an unlanded noble."
Jack looked at him and responded wearily.
"Sir your brother left with his entourage about a day ago leaving no indication of where he was going. But I am sure with the power of your liege lord we can find him and bring him to justice."
When Galahad heard his squires plan his eyes light up.
"That is it I will write a letter to Baron Monver and he will bring my stupid brother to justice. Well done squire I am sure we can make him a wanted man all across the kingdom."
John the nodded and simply said.
"I shall bring parchment, ink, and quill Sir."
Galahad then nodded and after a moment of contemplation, he smiled with a self-congratulatory grin and said proudly.
"Ah and bring me the most important merchant of the village. Ι have a proposition for him."
Jack then bowed and said solemnly.
"My liege your wish is my command. I shall bring the task to finish"
Galahad just nodded and dismissed him.
After less than ten minutes John came back with a couple pages of parchment and a bottle of ink as well as a duck feathered quill. After he placed the items on the wooden desk. He bowed and left. Galahad then left his bed and sat on the velvet chair. He then dipped his quill in the ink and wrote.
"To my dear friend Baron Monver von Gragon.
I am deeply saddened to inform you that my dear brother's visit didn't go as expected. His first move when he met me was to insult me and my honor as a knight. When I politely asked him to leave as to not cause a deeper schism between us. His response was to attack me incapacitating in the process for a whole day. As you understand I was deeply infuriated. Since my only goal when meeting my older brother was to have a banquet in his honor and exchange stories over a horn of beer. But thanks to his horrible actions. I am forced to ask you for a favor. So you may restore my honor and in turn your honor. My request is rather simple. Dear friend, I ask that you declare my brother a criminal and offer a reward for his capture in the hope that we will be able to bring him to justice and thus get back our honor.
Signed Your friend and loyal knight Sir Galahad von Highkeep"
After that Sir Galahad left the ink dry for a bit. When the ink was sufficiently dry, he carefully rolled the parchment into a roll and took out of the cupboard a long piece of silver wax. He then took off his signet ring and put it over a candle fire. When the ring was sufficiently heated up. He carefully cut a coin-sized piece of wax and laid it at the end of the scroll. Next, he pressed the head of the ring over the piece of wax melting it and ascribing his personal symbol over it. He subsequently, steadily and methodically cleaned the ring before putting it back on. After the whole ordeal was over. He stretched his arms and stood up. He then laid in his chair deep in thought. Before deciding to head to the main hall to get some food. As he arrived a young voluptuous blonde maid bowed and said sweetly.
"My lord what would you like for your meal we have fresh bread, cheese, wine, beer, and sausages. As for the main course the hunters caught some wild rabbits as such we could make rabbit stew or we could make you some grilled chicken as one of the hen's recently stopped laying eggs.
Galahad then smiled and said happily.
"I would like some red wine as well as some yellow cheese and bread. As for sausages, I will prefer the ones with pepper. For my main course, I would prefer the grilled chicken."
The maid then bowed again smiled and said
"My lord your wish is my command. But sadly we are out of pepper sausages"
Galahad then said dismissively.
"Then go get some from the market."
The maid then forced a smile and responded weakly.
"Em...my liege the market doesn't sell pepper sausages as they are quite an expensive good and none but you can afford them. But we should have some by morrow if we send someone today to buy some from the town of Gragon. However, we can easily procure some without pepper."
Galahad with a slightly annoyed tone said.
"What an underdeveloped place "sigh". Fine don't bother with other sausages then. Just prepare the main meal with at most haste. A knight cannot dine without meat on the table. Oh and as a punishment for disappointing me. I would like you as a dessert"
At the last remark, Galahad smiled lecherously.
After that, the maid blushed and said
"Siiiire your wish is my command."
The maid bowed deeply and headed to the kitchen.
Soon the squire came inside the great hall followed by a short grey-haired man in his late fifties. The man seemed relatively clean and was wearing slightly better clothes than the average peasant. But his callous filled hands showed that he was, in fact, a farmer."
Both the man and the squire bowed. After Galahad gestured for him to talk, the peasant asked with a hint of excitement.
"Your squire told me that you called for me my lord. How may I be of use to your excellency?"
Galahad then thought proudly. I will show my stupid brother who is the smart one. Not only I won't work hard managing the fief. I will even have all the booze food and women I ever wanted. He continued on to imagine the scene of his brother on his knees begging for his life while he was looking down upon him now a duke with a large harem. After all, I am a lord and he is just an unlanded noble. After a few minutes of daydreaming.
and an awkward cough from Jack
He returned to reality and said solemnly.
"Oh you see my loyal subject, I have a need for a man such as yourself to manage the treasury. As my time is far too valuable for me to spend it on such menial tasks. Your job is to balance the budget to cover the various expenses of the fief and fix any issues that come up. I also give you permission to manage the taxes."
The old peasant then smiled and responded happily.
"Indeed my lord such tasks are definitely beneath you. I Michael will do as you command"
Galahad nodded and said to his squire.
"Go to the kitchen and tell the maid to bring more wine and food for our new treasurer."
Soon after the maid came back bringing cheese and bread as well as two wooden mugs and two large jugs of red wine.
As he was about to enjoy his meal Galahad remembered the letter and looked at his squire.
"Squire go to my quarters and take the letter I wrote and find a messenger to deliver it to lord Monver von Gragon. After that, you may come back and get some food"
After a while, the squire came back and started silently eating while Galahad was excitedly telling stories to Michael. Michael either praised Galahad, disparaged his enemies or lessened the achievements of other men.
After the meal was over Galahad took the beautiful maid and retired to his quarter. At midday when Galahad woke up the maid was already gone. He smiled in self-satisfaction and looked at his desk were a still closed scroll laid with the seal of Baron Monver. As he broke the seal of the scroll and read. He became paler and paler.
"To my friend Sir Galahad von Highkeep. I am afraid I am not able to grant your request. First of all, sadly there isn't any proof of such transgressions. Secondly, I am afraid to inform you that your older brother is much more powerful than me or you. As a matter of fact, he might even be as powerful as a count. So I will consider it wise for mine and your sake if you could apologize to your brother or at least stop antagonizing him. After all, it is well known that he is quite a terrifying man. If you want to know more, we can talk in person in my Keep. Signed your friend and liege Baron Monver von Gragon,"
After a moment of contemplation, Galahad realized that if his brother really wanted, he could have already killed him. As such he wasn't in any real danger. Either way, he could still prove to his brother that the idea of getting a treasurer was a good one.
As the days passed by Galahad got into a routine of joyously drinking, mating, and eating while occasionally visiting baron Monver, instructing Jack on the chivalric code and hunting. Rarely his treasurer would come by and ask him to seal different documents. While at the start he read them carefully eventually he didn't even bother to look at the first paragraph. Becoming a glorified rubber stamp. After all, as long as he had money to continue his lifestyle he didn't care. Soon though he got bored with the constant banqueting and as such he started spending more time with his men at arms training and competing in arms with other knights.
But good things don't last forever. Half a year later one of the hunter parties didn't return. Nothing too worrisome after all hunters could be missing for up to several weeks especially if they were chasing some good prey. The next day the other hunting party left. At about noon the same day, one lone hunter from the second party returned. He was bloodied from head to toe and he collapsed as soon as he reached the northern outskirts. One of the farmers found him and took him in carefully treating his wounds with rudimentary techniques. While the hunter was unconscious lumberjacks and women searching for herbs or wild greens kept going missing and the villagers felt like they were being watched. A day later when the hunter woke up. His first action when he regained his senses was to shout at the farmer next to him with a gruff voice and a tone implying urgency.
"Tell the lord a Goblin Horde is nearby, and he needs to call reinforcements as quickly as possible otherwise the Hamlet is doomed."
He then stopped and realizing how gruff his voice was said.
"Ah, and I need some food and water. If you are so kind, I will pay you back later"
Jerald was shocked. He remained stunned for a second before his mind churned. He could go to inform the lord and get drafted into the militia. Putting himself and his family lives in the line to defend the Hamlet and his current livelihood or he could take his family and his savings and escape with his life and most importantly with his family alive. After all, putting his hopes on this new lord was simply suicidal, his lord might be a decent fighter, but he was also a drunkard as such finding him sober is rather unlikely. He would simply do his family and himself a disservice by leading all of them to death. And even if they won, they were no guarantees that he and his family would survive the whole ordeal. Or that his life would improve if they won. Jerald having already decided on his course of action forced a smile and gave the man some cold stew while responding.
"I will do so just rest for now."
The Hunter nodded and after finishing the bowl of stew and drinking some water closed his eyes quickly falling back to a state of unconsciousness.
After Jerald made sure that the Hunter was fast asleep he quickly gathered his family and their valuables on his cart. He also borrowed one of his neighbor's donkeys with the excuse that he was going to Gragon to sell some rare mushrooms and he would give him a few silvers if he kept his mouth shut. Furthermore, he also asked his neighbor to watch over the farm while he was missing. His neighbor smiled and said he will do so. When the Hunter woke up Jerald and his family were already past Gragon heading towards the capital where hopefully they could make a better life for themselves.
The next day when the Hunter woke up he noticed that the house was abnormally empty. After all, no one in the right mind would allow a complete stranger to stay in their house unattended. After trying repeatedly and finally getting up he swiftly realized that everything valuable was gone. Still lightheaded from the long sleep and losing all that blood it took him about a minute to realize his folly by trusting Jerald with the information. He then stood up and limped towards the keep. In vain hope, that he could inform the lord before it was too late. But barely a meter away from the house the sound of bows firing was heard. He smiled bitterly as the arrows struck true and he closed his eyes for the last time.