When they went Past the Inn on the way back, the Baron simply said.
"Since we reached the outskirts of My fief proper. I will no longer impose on you. I am sure your fiefs require your direction. But before we exchange pleasantries and head our separate ways do any of you have any questions?"
Galahad nodded and said.
"Well, Sire I was always wondering now with the whole war thing the distance between you and your Exoristoi will be larger than a hundred kilometers. As such how can you go to war? Wouldn't all of them automatically die?"
The Baron smiled and simply said.
"Well, actually it is quite a simple matter. We are going to leave our rings with our regents as such even if we and our armies are thousands of kilometers away the Exoristoi will still be fine."
Galahad nodded and then asked.
"What if someone kills the ring bearer and proceeds to steal the ring?"
The Baron shrugged and simply said.
"Every person that wears the ring is cataloged. If it is one of the Exoristoi, he will immediately die. Otherwise, the person will become a wanted criminal with his location known to the authorities thanks to the ring. While the Exoristoi remain unharmed until the ring is returned in the control of the authorities and put back into use."
Galahad nodded and simply said.
"Alright, thanks, Sire."
The Baron then asked again.
"Does anyone else have any queries?"
A tall stout man in his sixties simply said.
"Sire, You know I don't tend to speak a lot. But when I do I always try to say something important. What are your goals for the war? Do you want to get a lot of merits so you can be awarded a piece of the new land or do you want to get out with minimal casualties?"
The Baron thought for a moment before saying.
"Sir Adam I would prefer to get out with minimal casualties as my fief currently is doing rather well and I have no need for another one in the middle passage."
Adam Nodded.
The Baron looked at them one by one and said.
"This seems to be it. I will call you all in three months. You may take your leave now."
At that note the knights split into groups the none landed ones followed Baron Monver back to Gragon while the landed ones split up with each going to their fief.
When Galahad arrived in the afternoon. He was quickly informed by his wife Katarina which was left managing the fief in his absence that a merchant was seeking an audience with him.
Galahad simply smiled and said.
"My lovely wife I am rather tired currently and I am not in a state to make policy. I would prefer if we just spent some quality time together creating an heir."
And with that, the couple retired early for the night deciding to better spend their time rediscovering each other's every inch.
In the next day, Galahad gave the merchant an audience. Soon a short round man in his thirties walked inside the still rather bare-bones throne room. As he arrived before Galahad the merchant deeply bowed.
Galahad then said with an authoritative tone.
"Rise mister, I heard you requested an audience so what do you want to ask of me?"
The merchant stood back upright and said.
"Your lordship I am the owner of the Drunken Fox Inn and I would like to purchase land here to open another Inn and a brewery. I plan to bring in people from another settlement as you don't currently have any freemen only Exoristoi and Serfs."
Galahad eyed up the man before saying.
"Alright so how big is the space you want and where do you want it?"
The merchant said.
"A decently sized space close to your gates."
Galahad nodded and said.
"Alright, I would require one whole gold coin and fifty whole silver coins for the space. You will be taxed according to the number of patrons you are getting. With each patron counting for half a whole bronze coin in the case we end up with a half we will just round down. By the way, how do you plan to get it built? My men won't work in the construction effort since they have other tasks to attend to. Will you bring in outside help?"
The merchant simply responded.
"I will just hire the men currently constructing the temple of Ploutia."
Galahad nodded and said.
"Then shall we officialese the contract?"
The merchant nodded and just like that they wrote down the contract for the land acquisition. They then send it to the scribe's guild to officialese the purchase. The purchaser once again paid the costs for the use of the scribe guild.
After the meeting concluded. Galahad spent the rest of the day leisurely reading The Duke. At about early afternoon George requested an audience. Galahad quickly obliged and moments later George was before him.
George said excitedly.
"Sire while I and the boys were working on constructing the keep. Some of my miners had stacked the stones on a still rather flat piece of the previous keeps foundation. When I went to inspect the remaining stones I noticed a long groove. Taking my time inspecting it. I found the grooves would create two rectangles next to each other. In the dichotomy's middle was a crease in the shape of a crow. I used my earth magic to create a granite crow and attempted to push it in but nothing happened. After that, I called over the miners in the hope we could use brute force to break in. However, hard they struck it with their picks they didn't manage even a small dent. After that discovery, I came rushing back to ask if you have an idea on how to open that passage?"
Galahad thought for a while before saying.
"I never spotted it before, You said it was in the foundations what do you mean by that?"
George quickly replied.
"It is completely reasonable that you never found out about this. As it was covered by one of the old keep's walls."
Galahad thought back to any objects he might have that could act as a key. After a while, he thought of his newly bought signet ring. Galahad then said to George.
"I have an idea. So where is it exactly?"
George simply responded.
"Follow me."
As they arrived before the two one-meter long half a meter wide rectangles.
Galahad said to the miners.
"You are dismissed."
He then pointed to one of them and said.
"Henry go fetch me, Boris and Martin."
Fifteen minutes later both Boris and Martin stood before him. Galahad then quickly explained the situation to them. After that was done and dusted with he took out his new signet ring and tried to fit it into the crease. Nothing happened for the first five seconds. When Galahad looked towards his men ready to say something the twin rectangles collapsed downwards. As it was natural Galahad followed shortly after them falling legs first straight down into the darkness. Mere moments later a loud thud was heard as Galahad crushed into the ground. His men looked towards the hole worryingly. Before sighing in relief at the sound of a loud grunt followed by a torrent of swearing.
Galahad looking up said.
"You lot stop looking at me and do something. I am not paying you to stare."
Boris responded with worry written all over his face.
"Sire first and foremost you aren't paying us. Secondly, are you wounded?
Galahad bellowed angrily.
"Do I look fine to you? How would you feel if you fell unexpectedly from a height of two meters? Eh EH? but I think I am mostly fine nothing feels broken at the very least."
Boris visibly relaxed and said.
" We can't really see any blood Sire from up here either and it is good that you are fine. But how is the prosthetic?"
As Galahad wearily stood back up, he said while knocking the dust off his coat.
"I can see a few minor scratches and dents but not any major issues."
Galahad then looked around and said.
"You know you can come down here there is a steel wall ladder, Additionally there is a large stone door before me."
Boris nodded and simply said.
"Alright, Sire."
Soon the rest of the group was down the shaft.
Before them laid a thick stone door barely discernible from the walls adjoining it.
This was further exacerbated by a series of intricate carvings depicting the tale of a young man of lowly birth but high morale character covering the hardly visible seams.
The carvings had the intrepid hero facing opponents and tribulations requiring mounting psychological, moral and physical strength. Eventually, the tale reached its zenith with an epic struggle of life and death between a symbol of chivalry molded from a humble peasant and a monstrous dragon.
The tale ended with the hero slaying the dragon and the carving circling back to the beginning of the tale where a young peasant boy is instructed by an aged knight.
In the middle of what was assumed to be a door was a small and simple cupular(cup-like) protuberance(protrusion) with a small hole at the point where the protrusion met the door. Above them an epigraphy wrote.
"All I ask from thou inheritor is a crimson testament"
Galahad thought for a while and then said.
"The inheritor should be my family line. Crimson generally refers to blood and the color red and testament means proof. So I will need to draw some blood and then deposit it to the protrusion to prove my identity. At least I think so, any other ideas about the meaning of the text?"
While both Martin and Boris nodded in agreement about the meaning of the epigraphy. Martin after thinking for half a minute said.
"With all due respect Sire. But what if you are not the inheritor of the man depicted here? or what if there is some sort of trap? or even you might end up falling headfirst into another hole."
Galahad considered it for a moment and said.
"That is a fair point, Martin. We could go back to the castle and deposit the blood in a vial. Before having a servant pour the blood into the protrusion."
They quickly returned to the Keep proper and got a small vial. Galahad then made a small incision on his wrist and drew enough blood to fill a moderately sized vial. With miss Emelia soon after treating his wound. After Galahad's surface wound was cleaned and bandaged. Galahad together with Martin, Boris, and a Guard headed back to the entrance of the newly discovered under-croft.
The guard headed down and soon after a slow rumbling sound followed.
After Galahad,Martin and Boris reached the bottom the stone door had already disappeared into the ground and the guard was awed by the small fortune of about a hundred whole gold coins, a small library with twenty or so books, an ebony desk with a bunch of reports and a sheathed sword.
Galahad smiled from ear to ear and then took a gold coin from the pile and offered it to the guard while patting him on the back, before earnestly saying.
"You have the next week off. Go have some fun, you earned it"
Galahad then stood there for a moment taking everything in. Before looking back towards the Guard, Boris, and Martin and saying.
"It seems safe, as such you are all dismissed. While I value your assistance. This crypt most likely contains some information meant for my eyes only. So I will take some time to properly look around"
The men nodded and quickly left the chamber.
Galahad then spent some time looking around. Soon he spotted a small pile of paper sheets on top of the desk. The ink was black and semi-faded but the characters on it were still discernible.
"Greetings Inheritor I am Sir Volder the Black. I don't know how many years have passed since my death. But I hope the little treasure I left behind will be of some help. On top of the desk is my old sword Judgment. While for the most part is just a high-quality steel sword, it does have one special ability. What special ability you might ask? Well, it is extremely powerful against the undead. With even a single scratch, able to send them back below the ground where they belong. As for my book collection, it is rather average. Nothing fancy like wizard books or any martial techniques. But there are several books about history, geography, strategy, and even some about myths. Finally, you should know that this is the first part of my inheritance to find the rest you will need dedication and good luck. I wish fortune upon you my inheritor and remember prosperity through adversity. "
After Galahad finished reading the papers, he took a look at the sword on the desk. The guard was in the style of a full guard and made of plain steel the leather handle was weathered but it was still holding fine and as for the pommel it was shaped into a crow's head. The sword was one-handed and quite well balanced. It was about a meter long with the blade taking eighty centimeters of that. After that, he re-sheathed the sword and went to get a sack to move all this gold out of the chamber. After he moved the gold, he got some Exoristoi to move the furniture into the keep. As for the sword he had already taken it.
With his newfound wealth first and foremost he repaid the rest of his debt amounting to nineteen whole gold coins. Ordered nine sets of mail armor from Eledor for another eight whole gold coins. He spent an additional sixteen whole gold coins and twenty whole silver coins to buy a hundred and sixty-two thousand bushels of wheat enough for six hundred people for a year. He also bought fifty sets of gambeson armor in the case of an invasion for thirty whole silver coins and fifty sets of spears and shields for fifteen whole silver coins. Additionally, he bought fifty sets of bows for fifteen silver and twenty-five thousand arrows for five whole gold coins. Finally, he bought two hundred more sets of tools for another one whole gold and twenty whole silver coins. Before he ordered the wheat, he first commissioned the creation of four large silos. Finally, he ordered about ten more low tier warhorses for his guards costing him an additional ten whole gold coins. As for Ale, he added to his order another one hundred and forty-six thousand gallons of ale for one whole gold and fifty silver coins. For now, he decided to keep the rest of gold into the treasury in case any issues came up.
Three months later. Most of the projects were over the Silos were rebuilt the keep was now more than half completed. The temple of Ploutia and the Inn were finished. Additionally, five of the laborers decided to stay accepting Galahad's offer to become local freemen. He expanded the farms northwards shrinking the forest by quite a bit and the extra lumber was used to finish several houses and complete the palisade wall. As for income, he earned eight whole gold coins from taxes. One whole gold coin from selling the loot from the goblin extermination, furs, and antlers and four whole gold coins from his mine. He also asked both Miss Emaria and Eledor to take some more apprentices. A couple of the militia members got married. Strangely enough, no more goblin sightings which war rather odd in these parts. Either way, as it was now March the Baron called for a meeting about the up-and-coming conflict.