Located in the heart of Canpalla, sitting dead center of the Lana Realm, was an enormous fairytale style castle made of granite and beautifully painted a bright white color. While the buildings surrounding the gigantic structure were all visually pleasing, they paled in comparison in both scale and aesthetics.
Six massive towers ending in black cone shaped roofs took up the majority of the front, each massive spire intricately placed to give off a feeling of majesty and beauty. Located nearer to the center of the castle, the building shot upwards for a few more stories before ending in two large more open roofs. A large picture of a blazing sun was painted on each tower, a symbol of the royal House Tomura, the owner of the castle and the land surrounding it.
It was marvelous, at least to most who took the time to gaze at it. However, to Vex Tomura, it was merely a reminder of just how much he despised his family and their way of life. Every glance at the colossal monstrosity made his stomach churn to the point of wanting to hurl up blood. To think about how many slaves and commoners sacrificed their lives working ceaselessly to build it made him angry and bitter. Those who were still alive when it was finished were merely sent off with a pat on the back and a handful of coins that wouldn't last them a month. Merely one of seemingly endless examples of just how trivial the lives of commoners were in the eyes of royalty and nobility. The Tomura Castle was a constant reminder of how f*cked up Canpalla really was.
Even as one of the Guardians who protected the castle lowered the drawbridge, Vex contemplated whether or not he really wanted to go inside. Staying out longer would raise questions from his father, King Kander Tomura, and would probably make him suspicious. As much as Vex wanted to avoid entering, he had no choice but to head on inside as he flicked the reins of his war horse and rode into the castle.
Once inside, Vex was met with bowed heads and kneeling servants as he rode on by, the phrase "Welcome Home Master Vex" resounding off the walls. As he usually did, the young man simply ignored them and hopped off his horse, handing it to a nearby slave.
"Give her a good bath and you can take the rest of the day off. If anyone tells you otherwise, I'll deal with them myself." Vex smiled as the slave before walking away without any further explanations.
The slave, though wanting to have protested, eventually bowed and scurried away, horse in tow.
The words of a royal were absolute. Defying them meant directly defying the royal bloodline and was punishable with death by torture. The older slaves had long since gotten used to how things worked around the castle and would usually accept whatever demand was issued. As it stood, all the slaves were accustomed to the young masters' peculiar orders and would refrain from arguing the majority of the time.
"Where's my sister?" Vex asked as he walked by the kneeling slaves. "Is she still discussing things with the nobles?"
The slave kneeling down quickly nodded. "Yes, young master. She has been going back and forth with them for the past 2 and a half hours. Currently they have not reached an agreement."
Vex let out a sigh. He had been afraid that something like this would happen. Despite his hopes for a peaceful compromise, it seemed that the greedy pig of a noble was standing firm on biting off more then he could chew. If given more time, it was possible Aria could wittle them down verbally and coax them into an agreement but Vex doubted it. No noble would ever settle down if they thought they had the upper hand which, in this case, they did.
The Trade Regulations were obtained through blood, sweat, and tears. That a noble, even if they were high ranking, would come in here and ask for a change just because they felt they weren't making much money in the exchange....it was pure idiocy. For such a request to be made was akin to a slap in the face for royals who had worked hard to establish trade with the other Kingdoms. Normally the noble, if just a low ranking one, would be killed outright without a second thought. However the noble in question was Sir Draxen Valetine (Vall-en-teen), a prominent and top noble belonging to the city of Gremory, the second city of Argio.
Sir Draxen's list of military exploits combined with a overwhelmingly successful business in trade guaranteed him respect no matter where he traveled to in the Human Continent. A person of his status was a pain to deal with as it would be hard to sway someone who always got what they wanted. They couldn't outright kill him as that would spark conflict with Gremory city and its noble families. Aria was attempting to come to a peaceful conclusion while trying to be as polite as possible, but two and a half hours was probably trying her patience.
After thanking the slave and inquiring where they were having the debate, Vex walked away while every other slave waited until he was out of sight before dispersing.
The discussion was being held in the west wing of the second tower, a place where royals would gather when talking to those of sufficient status such as other royals or messengers from other kingdoms bringing news. This was already giving Draxen some face as the conditions in that area was more then suitable. That the pig would still dare to negotiate was like a punch to the throat after repeatedly being slapped in the face. By the time Vex had made his way up the stairs, he had already made the decision to have Koda assassinate Sir Draxen Valentine.
For someone who generally despised selfish nobles and disgusting royals, the white haired young man would gladly take on the job.
Pushing open the door, Vex made his way into the room, barging in without even knocking. Everyone inside the became deathly still.in an instant and, after a quick glance of the infrastructure of the room, he was glad they did. He had entered the room just in time.
A petite young lady with waist length blonde hair and a fair complexion was holding a saber up to a rather handsome man in his mid to late forties. Off to the side, two Guardians stood at the ready in case the man made any particular move towards the girl. The man looked calm and collected despite being at sword point while the girl looked enraged, as if she couldn't wait to plunge her knife deep into the older mans throat. The only thing that separated the two was a large table which kept the girl from outright killing.
"Good evening young master Vex," Sir Draxen said smoothly with a smile. "Its good to see you again. Last time I saw you, you were but a little boy."
Vex pointedly ignored the man as he walked up to the girl and place his hand on her hand. "Lay down your sword Aria. You must contain your anger."
"But Vex, he insulted Koda," Aria said with clenched teeth. Vex could literally feel the anger and frustration coming off her in waves as he struggled to push her hand down. "We can't let him just trash talk him without punishment."
Taking a deep breath, Vex pulled Aria close and carefully pried the saber away from her hand. After he managed to get it away from her, he handed the blade over to the Guardian standing beside them. "Put that back in Aria's room if you please."
The Guardian bowed and left as Vex turned his attention once again onto Draxen who had relaxed back into his seat.
"Thanks for that young master. I knew I could count on you to be sensible." Draxen looked so smug and confident that Vex wanted to slug him in the jaw, but he refrained.
"Know this Draxen Valentine. If you insult my friend in my presence then I wont hold back as Aria did. While she may have held you at sword point, I'll make your head roll. Are we clear?"
Draxen seemed to go still for a minute as the words washed over him. He finally smiled after a few seconds, his arms folding together as he leaned back into his seat. "All I said previously was that hanging out and befriending the useless riffraff was beneath a royal such as yourself. It was initially meant as a compliment but as you've taken offense to it then I shall retract what I said. My apologies."
Vex nodded mechanically, no emotion displayed on his visage as he took a seat across from Draxen, Aria following suit. "So, where are we at with discussions?"
Draxen nodded and began stating what he wanted done. To put it simply, he wanted a larger share in the goods obtained from other kingdoms. As there was exactly 20 cities in the Kingdom of Argio, each and every ahipment was recieved by Canpalla before being distributed out via set percentage of various items. What Draxen was requesting was an increase in percentage of some select products. However, while this wasn't an unreasonable request, he refused to have some of the other products lowered to balance things out. In other words, he wanted to profit and lose nothing while other cities lost a substantial amount.
It was an unbelievably selfish request and Vex was even amazed he had the balls to say it with a straight face. If he were to agree with it then that would destabilize the whole structure that had taken decades to build. Maybe Draxen had a plan, but without a solid plan that didn't rely on luck and faith, it would be foolish to agree to his request. Vex now understood why Aria had spent so long talking with this man.
"So let me see if I got this right," Vex said as he closed his eyes. "You want an increase in the selected goods while refusing to give up your own. Fine, I'll agree to it."
Silence fell in the room as the other two people simply stared at Vex. It was as if he had suddenly grown two heads or a third eye. Having suddenly agreed to the conditions so shortly after joining provided a shock enough to completely stun everyone in the room. Even the Guardians to the side were rendered speechless.
"Vex, why in the-"
"Because it isn't that big of a deal," Vex said casually, cutting Aria off. "I'll simply talk to the other cities and have it arranged. If we discuss with the Elven Kingdom and Dwarven Kingdom then I'm sure we can come to an understanding and increase the inport and export of goods. Hand me the contract."
Draxen looked a bit suspicious but handed over the contract he was holding anyways. It was clear that as long as he got what he wanted, he didn't care about any further implications or plans the royals had. He figured he was smart enough to easily outsmart these kids if the need arose. He was confident that he had won.
After the contract was signed, Draxen stood up, bowed, and left hastily as he tucked the sheet of paper into his shirt. Once he left, Vex let out a sigh as he rose from his seat, suddenly feeling exhausted. Dealing with nobles and family each and every day was always tiring without exception. The only time he really enjoyed himself was when he was with Koda, Julia, and Kuu.
"So, I'm guessing you're gonna have him killed off then?" Aria asked softly as she followed Vex to the door. "Are you sure Koda can handle it? After that sudden change of heart I'm sure he'll see him coming from a mile away. He'll have Guardians positioned around wherever he's staying."
"Thats if he was going back home immediately," Vex replied as he opend the door and walked down the hall. "It's the monthly maintenance for the Central Gate remember? He can't leave here for another 4 days, meaning he wont be able to gather that many Guardians. With Koda's stealth, it'll be easy."
Aria bit her lip as the two walked down the hallway and up another flight of stairs, their shoes barely making a sound on the clean fluffy red velvet carpet. "I hope you're right."
"That aside, I have something to talk with you about," Vex said. "Lets talk in my room for a bit. I've made plans for three days from now and I wanna fill you in on what I have going on."