MARCO:
The mansion felt strange without my father and it took me a while to get used to everyone calling me "Lord Derderián" now. For many years I was told that one day I would be Lord. However, it felt SO distant. As if that day would never come.
My father's office was now mine. His huge chair would be like my throne. I was the new king of the house and I commissioned the best artists in the capital to paint new portraits of me.
Contrary to what you may think, being a Count can be very boring at times. My day went from solving villagers' conflicts to signing documents, and visiting our allies. There was something that was bothering me. Everything was so… "normal", so… "expected". I began to think that we needed a radical change in the family.
"We must expand our army," I said at a dinner with my mother and my little brother.
My mother was stunned by my comment. She took a deep breath and spoke to me like I was five years old.
"Do you know why the Derderián house has managed to survive so many years? Because we know our place. "
"That's the problem, mother," I disagreed, "you judge the condition of our house based on the past. On the contrary, I think about the future. "
"About the future?"
"Yes. For now, we have survived, yes, but what will happen when at some point we must defend ourselves from more powerful houses? We will always be at the mercy of others who can defend us and fight our battles for us. "
"Let's see… Lord Derderián," she said wryly, "explain to me, how do you plan to expand our army? Where does the money come from? Who will train the men? "
"I have already thought of all that, Lady Derderián," I replied without falling into the provocation of her tone, "As Lord that I am, I have a plan to make our house more powerful than it has ever been. We will begin by training the peasants of our territories. We will go from having a hundred men to five hundred, for at least the first six months. The financing will initially come from our main asset: our crops. We control the main agricultural sources of the southern capital and those must be exploited. There will be a tax cut for those who agree to join Count Derderián's army and there will be land incentives for families with more than two male children joining military service. And who will train them? Well, easy ... Who has trained me all my life? We will have five hundred soldiers the first year. Then a thousand in the second and by the third I plan to reach three thousand men. "
My mother did not answer. She looked at me with admiring eyes, as if she had just accepted that I was no longer a child, but Lord Derderián.
My brother's mouth was open.
"I am aware that extending our army would cause discomfort for the Duke," I continued, "but I already have it all planned. In order to justify our military expansion, I must justify it, and how will I do that? Surely you ask yourself because I will help the Duke to achieve something that he has always wanted. "
"And what is that?" My mother asked.
"Defeat the Duke of the North," I answered confidently.
My mother shuddered.
"That is ... ambitious, Lord Derderian."
I spoke to my younger brother for the first time at that dinner.
"Lucio, what do you know about the northern territories?" I asked.
My little brother was a bookworm. His entire head was a library in which hundreds of data had been stored about our kingdom and the exotic lands beyond our borders.
"The north," Lucius began, "plunged into perpetual winter for two centuries, due to the Wolf King, the only legendary beast still alive after the fall of the Dark-Skin Empire. That is not to the liking of Alba Terra's Crown. The existence of such beast endangers the security of the kingdom. For decades the houses of the north have fought for the privilege of slaying the legendary beast. Intrigues, betrayals, and alliances have been made to finally assassinate the Wolf King, end the eternal winter, and bring security to the Kingdom, but no house has succeeded. Today it is the Soto house that has the Duchy of the North and has sworn to put an end to the beast. "
My mother looked at me confused.
«What did I tell you? An entire encyclopedia in that little head»
"Very good, Lucio!" I applauded. It seemed that I was doing it out of mockery, but my congratulations were honest.
"Very… educational, Lord Derderián," my mother said, "however… I wonder what all that has to do with your expansion plans."
"Oh, Lady Derderián… why do you think the Duke wants to defeat Soto? Because he is the lord of the snow? No, nothing like that. "
My mother opened her eyes like two large plates. As if she had just realized something obvious that she was not able to see before.
"Yes, mother ... Defeating Soto is only the beginning ... the true target has always been the head of the Wolf King. We will kill the last sacred beast. "