Once Spiro is out of view Ornum turns around to his knights.
"Right, so most of you have been with me for nearly a decade at this point."Ornum starts off with a lot of the knights looking between each other.
"And, as several of you know, I'm not exactly married nor do I have any interest in the nobility. So, when I first saw Spiro, it's obvious she's a runaway from a noble family from a different kingdom. So, I saw an opportunity to get the nobles off my back and at the same time; protect her from whatever she's running from." Ornum says
"I have confidence in almost all of you, however, she does not know you all so well. Considering her strength it's obvious she's from the upper end of nobility too." Ornum says getting a lot of his knights to nod along they saw what she did to the tree and the King of the forest.
"I believe a magic contract may be necessary to protect her secrets," Ornum says
'It will also protect me in order for this to work everyone must think she is actually my daughter. I don't want to earn the ire of an entire other kingdom.' Ornum thinks knowing silence is necessary for everyone's safety.
"Contract magic is a very dangerous branch of magic, your grace." An older knight says
"I know, I will work on the clauses with Spiro on the way to the capital. You all can sign it before you return to either our barracks in the capital or your homes in the dukedom." Ornum says which gets a few nods of agreement from the knights.
Ornum nods to himself.
"Now please get our gear ready to head back to the capital, it's a 2 day journey at normal pace." Ornum says remembering how him and the knights rode through the night to get to the Sea of Sands as fast as possible.
"I must send a letter ahead to my brother." Ornum says walking off to find the post station in this town.
===================================
"Father! Im back!" Spiro shouts arriving back to see a convoy of carriages set up to leave.
"Welcome back, come we've got much to talk about on the way to the capital." Ornum
"You actually have a full-blown carriage?" Spiro asks, a little surprised.
"Yes, we are heading back to the capital then from there some of our knights will go to the dukedom," Ornum says
"Our knights?" Spiro asks
"Well, you're my daughter now. We also have some bases to cover when it comes to the knights that came with us and several of my servants that know me well." Ornum says
"We can't say I was born of your mistress?" Spiro asks thinking that would be easier.
"No, you shall be my daughter. I was hiding whose mother died during childbirth so I never got the chance to marry her." Ornum says
"People will believe that?" Spiro asks to which the duke sighs looking melancholic.
"You have some in mind don't you?" Spiro asks
"My beloved actually died 11 years ago. We were betrothed." Ornum says
"I'm sorry for your loss," Spiro says sincerely.
"You look somewhat similar to her. It would be easy to convince people you are our daughter." Ornum says
"Why would you go this far for me?" Spiro asks
"Well, I always wanted a kid… and It's just this feeling. You feel familiar." Ornum says
"Yes… So how do we convince the others that I am your daughter?" Spiro asks not wanting to explore that at the moment.
"It involves a magical contract," Ornum says
"Magical contract?" Spiro asks
'He can't possibly be talking about using nanomachines to enforce contracts that doesn't go against the accord and shouldn't be possible.' Spiro thinks before her code checks the 4 billion page treaty document tells her that it does not, because of a technicality.
"It is a contract that is enforced by magic itself, so there is no cheating it," Ornum says
Spiro nods in response.
"And the punishment?" Spiro asks
"Well, there are plenty of things, from becoming mute to, loss of life and magic. That should keep the people that know you are not my daughter quiet." Ornum says
Spiro nods.
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After a day and a half of traveling and legal work.
"You, honestly, I don't know how to describe your intelligence," Ornum says looking at the final product of what he and Spiro have written.
"Smart?" Spiro suggests
"But you are beyond that. This thing is a masterpiece. Imagine if you were to learn runes... I wonder what would happen if I gave you control over my territory?" Ornum asks awed by Spiro's mind.
Spiro opens the blinds.
"Ah, we made it to the plains already?" Ornum says shocked that they made it through the mountains already.
"Guess we spent a bit of time going over the contract," Spiro says with a chuckle