In a large room with two people, one was sitting on a couch while the other was standing beside the main seat.
"How long will it take for Baron to come?" the man asked in impatience. He had brown hair, black eyes, a handsome face; his eyes had a bit of contempt as he spoke to Dias.
Colin had recently been promoted to a royal messenger. He had believed he would be able to meet Marquises and Dukes, but for his first assignment, he was asked to deliver King's summon to a countryside noble.
He was born and raised in the capital; hence, he looked down on those in the countryside like every other Noble from the capital. They considered them inferior nobles, who were not as important or influential as those from the capital or surrounding areas.
It had been two hours since Colin had arrived, but the Baron had not yet come to greet him. He believed that the Baron would fawn over him, trying to win him over with gifts and what, not for a favour. But contrary to his expectations, the only person who greeted him so far was a butler, and even he had remained silent for most of the time, speaking only when he asked something.
Just as he was about to speak up once again, the door opened, and a young boy with black curly hair and red eyes walked in wearing a black suit.
"I hope you...," the boy was about to speak, but Colin cut off his words.
"I have been here for two hours, yet the Baron has still not come to greet me, a royal messenger and now he sends a kid to speak with me? You better ask the Baron to come now, or I might complain about this behaviour when I go back to the capital," he spoke as he eyed both Damon and Dias.
Damon did not say anything but rather walked towards the head seat and sat while eyeing Colin, confused. Just as he was about to speak again, Damon cut him off this time.
"My name is Damon Acheron, Baron of this territory. Before anything else, let me ask you this," he looked at Colin with his red eyes, causing him to flinch a little, "do you think a mere royal messenger has the right to speak to a baron like this? I wonder who gave you the audacity to behave like this."
Colin was shocked; he had heard that the new Baron was young, but he had never guessed that he was a twelve-year-old kid. He believed he would scare him and get benefits, but who knew it would bite him in the ass.
"T-this I..." he was about to speak when he was cut off once again.
"Give me the summons before you speak again," with his cold eyes, Damon stared at Colin, making him flinch. He hurriedly took out a leather scroll from his pouch and handed it to Damon.
Colin no longer had his previous arrogant attitude; in fact, he was in the wrong all along. Regardless of whether he was a royal messenger, he was not above a Baron.
Damon went through the scroll, which had the royal seal; it asked him to visit the King within six months to get his approval as the Baron of the fief. He silently read through the whole thing while nodding slowly; once he was done, he rolled the scroll back up and handed it to Dias.
"Show him the way out and come to my office with Philip, Barnard and Curtis," he gave an order before walking off.
Colin, shocked at the turn of events, had not spoken since, the blatant disregard towards him, the disrespect shown to him. It was something he had experienced for the first time. But before he could do or say anything, he found himself at the castle's gates.
"I wish you a safe journey back," Dias spoke with a small smile before walking away.
Colin turned around and looked at the back of Dias and the castle before gritting his teeth.
'I will get you back for this humiliation; how dare a countryside noble look down on me, someone from the capital.'
He walked to his carriage and quickly climbed inside.
"We are going back," he ordered.
Damon sat in his office going through documents when he heard a knock on his door.
"Come in," he said, and four people walked in.
"Greeting..."
"Cut the formality; it's just four of us here, no need for this. Sit, I have something important to share with four of you," Damon said while shaking his head. They were his Knights and Butler in public, but he treated them as he would treat his family in private.
They did not say anything before walking to the chairs and taking a seat. They were not surprised by Damon's behaviour; he had always treated them as a family when it was just them; it was one of the things that made their loyalty to him even deeper. The respect and care he showed them.
"Philip, Barnard, you two are in charge of the hundred elite soldiers of our territory," Damon spoke while the ones he addressed nodded their heads, then Damon looked at the third Knight.
"Curtis, you have been in charge of hundred city guards and hundred castle guards," as he heard his words, Curtis nodded his as well.
"As you all know, starting today, we are recruiting more people. We are making a different unit; we are making a small army for ourselves," explained Damon, but he could see the confused expressions on their faces.
He smiled before taking out a piece of paper from the documents on his desk and placing it in front of the four of them.
"This is the reason," he said as the four looked at the piece of paper, and as soon as they did, their eyes almost popped out.
'Caresta Kingdom falls under Northern Kraghon Empire, with no surviving member of Royalty alive.'
"This is no public knowledge yet, but it will soon be known to all in the next few days," he took the piece of paper back before looking at the stunned expression of his Knights and Butler.
"You should know what this means, right?" he asked.
"If Kraghon Empire has taken over the Caresta Kingdom, then that means they won't stop. The nearby Kingdoms will fight back, and even if the Aetas Kingdom doesn't share any borders with them, we would have to send reinforcements. After all, an empire's power could not be underestimated."
The smartest of the three knights, Curtis quickly explained the situation, and Damon nodded.
Kraghon empire had started a war after almost a hundred years of 'peace,' and anyone could tell that this could quickly escalate to a situation where the whole continent might get swelled up in the tide of war. Friendly kingdoms might turn to enemies, and enemies might become allies.
"There might also be nobles who ran away coming towards either the Aetas or the Griffindor Kingdom, while some might run towards the Stardust Kingdom," this time, it was Dias who spoke while looking down with a hand on his chin. Then he looked towards Damon, "Is this why you asked for food supplies from Baron Foxridge?"
Suddenly the three knights looked towards Damon with light shining in their eyes.
"Yes, we might soon get swept in an all-out war, and we need to secure as much food as we can. It's about time we develop the most resourceful place in our whole territory," he spoke before taking out a map.
The four were confused since Acheron territory depended on its farmlands as a source of income; there had never been anything other than that.
"We have one thing that even the capital might be envious of, and I never realized why we never utilized it," said Damon while looking at the four people who were looking at him in confusion.
He opened the map and placed his finger at a specific point.
"The Sea of Hartie," he said before continuing, "we have a sea which connects us to Waterloo Empire. All we need is to develop a port and start trading. It would be hard, but if we can make this a reality, the number of merchants that would come to our territory would increase exponentially. More merchants mean..."
"More wealth, more goods to trade. With every caravan that comes, they would have to pay taxes. We will be controlling the port, so if anyone wants to travel to waterport city to trade, they would have to pay us a fee and then also pay overseas tax when they come back, or we could monopolize the whole port to ourselves."
Dias completed the words Damon has left unsaid. He could not help but marvel at the idea of it happening; the amount of wealth they could accumulate would directly relate to the growth of their territory. He could not believe why no one had ever thought about it?
"Father knew he was sick and wanted to spend most of his time with me. I also believe he wanted to leave this task in my hands," said Damon as he saw Dias's expression.
"This is not something that would happen overnight, and it might take us about a year to complete the port and anything related to it if we start today. We do not know the waters, nor have we ever sailed to the Waterloo Kingdom. We need someone capable enough for it, but we need to increase the strength of our territory until then. If and when the said plans are complete, the flow of people would complete, which would mean 'bad people' would appear as well."
He looked at Curtis before giving a slight nod, and Curtis understood what it meant.
He was in charge of city and castle defence. He was also the one who was given the authority to recruit more people, and now he fully understood the different reasons for it. He stood up and placed his right hand on his chest, bowing.
"You can leave that responsibility to me. I would make sure it is done to the best of my capabilities."
"I trust you."
Then Damon turned towards Philip and Barnard.
"You both are in charge of the two elite squads made of fifty men each. I want to increase that number to at least a hundred each; you can use my authority to announce in the whole territory that if anyone awakens, they can come to join us, and we would pay for their development along with anything necessary."
"But my Lord, wouldn't that cost a lot of gold? I don't think we that much gold at hand at the moment," Dias expressed his honest opinion.
Damon smiled and looked in a particular direction.
"Don't worry, we will have enough gold in a few months; our friends would make sure of that," a playful and evil smile appeared on his face.
"Alright, this is it for today, you can go ahead and complete your tasks, and Dias send people to look for a capable sailor within our territory," he gave them a final order before they all stood up and walked towards the door. And that was when he once again called them.
"Wait!! Barnard Philip, Curtis, you three stay; I have something I need to inquire you about," he said, and the trio came back before sitting on their seats once again.
"You three have been Knights for a long time, so you three might know something about this," he said before he explained what happened to him during his practice where he absorbed mana, but he did not say that it was him but just inquired about it. And the answer came as a surprise to him.
"I believe none of us have ever experienced anything remotely similar to this. Yes, we use mana to increase our strength but not in a manner you have explained us," spoke Barnard, and all three of them nodded.
Damon fell in deep thought; he had believed that it was something that happened to everyone, but now he had learnt that he was wrong. It was then that Curtis spoke.
"My Lord, there are rumours among mercenaries," he said, and Damon nodded, asking him to continue, "it is said that elves can control mana even before awakening, though it is just basic mana manipulation, it just shows how gifted they are with magic. But it is mana manipulation, not mana strengthening their bodies."
"Which Elves?"
"Forest Elves, my Lord."
Damon fell into deep thought before nodding again and asking them to leave.
Once he was alone, he stood up and walked up to the window. Rays of the sun fell on his face, a cool breeze blew, and his black hair danced with it.
'I should keep this to me for now.'
Then he looked outside at the vast farmlands relaxing his mind.