10th July 1574
"It's a pleasure meeting you, sir. I hope that your nephew passed the message about our plans for the future in advance."
Bowing deeply in front of the elderly man that invited me to his place, I pretended not to see the huge variety of the hunting trophies filling the walls of his guest room. While it could be said to be a testimony to this guy hunting capabilities, I could bet that at least half of them were actually bought on the market just for the sake of intimidating anyone who happened to be in this room for the first time like me now.
"Oh, come on. I'm too old for such pleasantries. We both know that it was you that wanted to meet with me, so cut the crap and speak directly, sir brother. Right now, I'm but a weak, old man rather than the senator representing the might of commonwealth behind him!"
