Vivian wasn't naive enough to think she could fully trust in the mysterious new contact she had. But every time Vivian gave it a long thought, she just couldn't find a reason ms. Nuir would help Maine out of all places. Maine had nothing to offer a powerful merchant such as Nuir.
Vivian knew first hand just how influential the mysterious woman she was dealing with was.
With just a few letters, Nuir got Vivian inside the private circle of Nobles responsible for the distribution of Wheat and Grain from the South to the other parts of the Empire.
Or, the Grain Moguls of the South as they are called by other Noble Factions from the other three regions. Darius and Deacon are of course both part of this financially powerful faction thanks to their parent's titles and fiefs being located in the South.
If they wanted, they could've easily been a foil to Vivian's plan. Luckily for Duke and Vivian, the two idiots were too busy with their parties and sword training to focus on things, to them, were petty. Things like the "Market" and the "Economy". To them, that was work for Merchants, not prestigious Lords like them. And so the two did not notice Vivian secretly entering into their domain of influence.
This was one of the reasons Vivian trusted Nuir. If Nuir wanted to, she could've easily ratted Vivian out to any of the Nobles. But even that seemed unlikely as most of the money Vivian invested came from Nuir herself! This was the main reason Vivian trusted Nuir, as the woman was basically giving Vivian free money!
Which somehow made Vivian even more cautious! [No one gives money for free...] Vivian skeptically thought.
"Ms. Nuir. Ms. Nuir... Ms. Nuir, huh... can I really trust you?" Vivian asked as she repeated her name and opened the very first reply letter she gave Vivian.
{Hello, Mrs. Vivian, or should I call you Madam Pendragon now? I've heard you got married to Lil Duke there, and now you've been sending letters to the old Madam's contacts... Pretty smart move. You must've found one of the Madam's old contact ledgers. Sadly those are all just minor contacts, they probably won't even respond to your letters. As they're just "fakes" if you will. Luckily for you, the Madam always liked to keep one of us "real" contacts in her dummy ledgers just incase. Since you're the one running the Maine household now, I thought I should introduce myself before the others get to you first. As they say, the early bird gets the worm.
Hello, my name, or at the very least you can call me Nuir, or Ms. Nuir. I was one of the Madam's, Duke's mother's closest friends. I do hope you message me back. And don't worry, I know not many who say this can be trusted, but you can trust me}
"A friend of Duke's mom, huh..." Vivian sighed. The final deciding reason why Vivian trusted Nuir despite her mystique was her introduction. She was one of the trusted friends of Duke's mother, the previous countess of Maine...
"Huu, I should train my strength if I'm going to go against those bandits again..." Duke sighed as he remembered the scary Bandit Boss Waxer.
[Hmm, Aura might just be the key to getting strength... I mean I do feel a lot of stronger every time I let it out... But how do I release it intentionally? Maybe if I do that training exercise the blonde brat taught me. Yes, that tingly feeling I get when doing it is almost the same with Aura, maybe if I train with that, I can also train my Aura!] Duke began doing the weird motions taught to him by the blonde pretty boy he met at the Palace.
For three long hours, Duke continued the strenuous routine with intense concentration until he could no longer go on.
Duke felt his pore sore and painful, and his veins were starting to bloat. He felt any more training would do more harm than good.
But Duke's training didn't end there. Duke began to grit himself as he took a wooden sword and started to swing it once, twice, then thrice. Again and again, until he could no longer feel his arms.
Until...
"ONE THOUSAND!!!" *HRGAAA!* Duke shouted with great vigor. Until Duke reached a new limit to his swings!
*Clap Clap Clap*
"Ohh! You can do a thousand now!" Byran enthusiastically clapped from behind Duke as he watched him swing the wooden sword.
"B-Byran! Y-You were there?!" Duke suddenly turned red in embarrassment.
"Yes, I heard you shout a thousand! Amazing! Just yesterday you were having problems with 200!" Byran happily shouted as he gestured his arms wide open.
"Actually... Actually it was just 300..." Duke lowered his head as he admitted the truth.
"I... I was just shouting 1000 to sound cool"
"O-Oh, is that so. No worries my boy, now warrior would judge a fellow practitioner how they train their arts... uhh, right?" Byran awkwardly smiled as he tried to cheer up Duke.
"Well, looking cool in battle is important too... I guess, plus in the future, it won't be long till you do TEN thousand even!" Byran patted Duke on the shoulder with his signature wide grin.
"I guess... oh yeah, Byran is everything ready?" Duke felt relieved Byran didn't laugh at him for faking numbers as he asked Byran about the military matters.
"Yes, the men are well armed and ready to go..." Byran responded firmly.
"How about the food and supplies?"
"Yup, all caravans are packed and ready. We won't be experiencing any food shortages like last time, hahaha" Byran chuckled. Duke was traumatized by the experience last time they went out without any food and had to rely on the locals of Kath for food. Duke didn't want that to happen again. The Villagers were already struggling, he didn't want to add to their burdens.
This trait of Duke's made Byran extremely content to serve at Duke's side. It somehow reminded him of Gwaine's younger self. The kind and gracious Nobe and Lord of Maine. During a time when he was the young squire getting lessons from the already Grizzled War Hero Gwaine.
[Oh fate and it's twists and turns... Who would've thought someone as lowly as me would one day mentor the grandson of our untouchable General! Hahaha] Byran laughed to himself.
But Duke's kindness wasn't the only thing that reminded Byran of Gwaine. No, it was also those disturbingly frightening eyes that spark rage and primal terror during times when Gwaine was extremely angry or emotionally scarred.
Indeed, Byran knew... Duke still hadn't moved on from Annie's loss. Nor from the humiliation he had let Vivian feel during the party. The chubby and sweet facade of Duke that made him look weak and stupid was forcefully removed by this terrible and cruel world, exposing an ancient and primal beast no man could ever dare think to go against.
"Then let's head out... I still have a grudge to settle" Duke said with intense ferocity.
Duke had many wrongs done to him. And he was about to make each one right.