Meanwhile in a certain Mansion in the Western part of Aelius kingdom was a man with brown curly hair and royal clothes sitting on a chair. he wasn't tall compared to other people. he was 5 feet and 7 1/2 inches, he had sharp eyes and he had a slight stubble on his face. by all means, he looked quite handsome. He had a physique of a strong man and he gave an aura of oppression when people met him. he had quite a bad reputation among all the circles whether it was the nobles or commoners. He was very well known for his cruelty to his enemies. The name of the man sitting the chair was Lukav Aelius. He was the second prince of the kingdom and was known to be as cunning as a fox in the noble circles.
He was also under house arrest 7 years ago under the personal orders of the king. At that time he created quite a big scandal that was even known among the masses. The rumor was that he caused a lot of deaths of nobles and commoners 7 years ago. The day this massacre happened was very widely known as The New year incident of Red Lake City.
At this time he was drinking wine and reading one of the reports provided by his butler. This man followed Prince Lukav from a young age. He was his most trusted and loyal follower. He was a man with white hair, a normal physique and his eyes reflected his experiences of the past. His name was Duncan.
While reading one of the reports he asked his butler, "Since Hector is planning such a big banquet, I don't think it would be a normal socializing event so what is Hector planning this time around?"
"From the reports, he is planning this banquet to introduce new nobles and businessmen as well as making some plans for his future, we are not sure about the accurate details, but from my personal point of view, he is going to make his future plans with other aristocrats when they will meet at the banquet as it will last for 5 days. However, from the recent reports, we got information that one of his men was quite humiliated in an auction a few days ago by a new merchant. Apparently, that merchant is also the producer of new soaps we got into the market recently."
"Judging by Hector's petty temperament I am sure he will try to take his revenge from him immediately"
"Quite the opposite this time around, he is remaining cautious this time as Marquis Ray, Morgan Family and Duke of Southern Forest are backing that merchant and have interests in the soaps produced by him as they are one of the main suppliers of that soap in the market. However, as you think, I think he will try to find a roundabout way to seek face for his humiliation at the auction. Most probably he will plan for that in the next Banquet as well. Currently, that merchant lives in the Northern domain at North-frontier town and is a disciple of Grand Potioneer Melanie. He also bought a fief of North-frontier town from the proceeds of his new soaps from Baron Mendez."
Lukav laughed and said to Duncan, "This merchant is quite interesting to have made a connection with so many nobles in a short period of time and he also managed to antagonize Hector. What is his Majesty's position on the issue?"
"Well, he has said to keep a neutral position to his followers for now, but as you know they will try to take any advantage if they get a chance so the neutral position is most likely a ruse and they will do as the situation follows."
When it came to important matters Lukav said in a very serious tone to Duncan, "As for the important matters, is there any new news on Felix?"
"No, as far as the latest information is concerned, he is still cooped up in the military camp and busy preparing for the war next year and heavily training every day with his men so he can gain something from the war. But this time, Duke Blackwolf from the west is making some movements towards the merchant who pissed off Hector, it seems it is because of the high-end market of soaps which is being captured by that merchant but I am not sure about his movements if they are related to him or is he planning something else." This time Duncan replied in a very serious manner.
Lukav made his conclusion, "Most likely Duke Southern Forest and Blackwolf will have a go at each other's throats and this is also the most likely the reason why he backed that Merchant."
"Meanwhile, keep a watch on that Merchant and north-frontier town. Since he is not afraid to confront Hector and other nobles he should be worthy enough to keep a watch on him. Anyways our position will be to be on good terms with him, send him a gift and congratulations on owning a fief to him and yeah make it public, it should annoy all those assholes in the imperial capital. And since he is a disciple of that old ghost then it would be a benefit for us in the long run and he must be quite capable to become her disciple. This would also explain how he managed to make such better soaps."
"Ok, master, your orders will be followed as instructed, do we attend today's meeting in the evening with that Marquis Evan? Master, how do we deal with that spy who was caught recently?"
"We will attend, make preparations for the carriage, we will head there immediately. As for that traitor, execute him, make him feel as much pain as possible and like always make an example out of him in front of everyone so that people think twice before joining us and think more doubly before becoming traitors in our faction. And kill anyone who opposes this execution."
Lukav concluded his reports and headed inside to prepare for one of his meetings with Marquis Evan.
Duncan sighed a bit but he still followed his orders to the point.
During this time, John and others set off for North-frontier town,
After getting the deed, John was now going to aggressively bring in a lot of new technologies which he was hesitant about in the past few days. He already understood that he needed people whom he can trust and he also needed to be strong enough if he wished to protect himself and his friends and this was also one of the reasons why he trusted men under him so he can judge them early on.