"The dukes of Plantaria remain a mystery to many nobles, though they would not understand my family's well-laid plants that spanned generations."
"Many wondered why they did not rebel against Chavaria in its early days when they could easily rally both the nobles and people together."
"But people don't seem to understand that it is in its early days when the empire was at its strongest."
"With hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers and a dozen skilled commanders, they knew they had to wait to restore the ancient Kingdom of Nadron."
"Had to wait for the infighting to begin and when all were exhausted from the fighting strike like a thunderbolt."
Duke Ancel Gallomour II of Plantaria
….
'Damn, quills! Why do they have to be such a pain in the ass to write with!'
Railius grumbled as he once again threw another scrunched-up failed draft to the ground in rage as Jordis Leon's first son and Railius' companion, servant, bodyguard, and friend dutifully picked up the thrown paper ball and burned it. A small flame appeared in his palm, turning the failed letter to ash.
As the son of the renowned 'flaming spear' Leon Mantelon, the young boy had plenty of magical training, if only in secret, with his father in preparation for when he took his place as House Aurellion's most trusted subordinate.
If Leon did not need to maintain his cover as a butler to help protect his lord's noble house, then Jordis' training would have come along much faster, but it would be too suspicious if a skilled spearman who could seamlessly use fire magic suddenly appeared in the service of House Aurellion just when Leon left the army so he posed as a spearman of the master level and suppressed his fire magic which is how he managed to stay under the radar.
This worked until the loyal grandmaster donned his armour as people recognised him, and seeing as Leon seemingly disappeared when Butler Zhou suddenly appeared, it did not take a genius to figure out that they were, in fact, one in the same and that Butler Zhou was merely a fake identity used to hide Leon in the capital as House Aurellions protector. This armour also allowed the recently deceased Scorpius, who had worked with Leon for years in the military, to recognise the man and send the 1,000 imperial guards and other troops after him, nearly ending in Leon's and Railius' deaths.
Two hours had passed since the officer's meeting, and Railius still hadn't written a legible letter for Leon to give to the duke. Even in school, the young player never had good handwriting, having barely passed his English GCSE, but trying to use an inkpot and quill was truly too hard for the lazy man.
After another 30 minutes of cursing and complaints, Railius finally managed to complete a letter he was happy with and quickly went to put it into the envelope, only to tear a corner of the parchment and have to start from scratch again.
I swear to god, when I'm powerful enough, I will get a scribe to write down all my orders. Otherwise, these bloody quills will drive me crazy!'
Railius thought to himself but then shouted angrily, unable to hold back his overflowing emotions.
"You have got to be fucking joking!"
Railius shouted in rage, prompting the two Pelican Guards who were guarding the entrance to his tent to rush in, only for them to see Railius scrunch up another paper ball and throw it outside the tent, narrowly missing one of the rushing guards who masterfully dodged the harmless paper projectile.
Seeing the guards enter, Railius' raged-filled eyes seemed to peer into their souls before he ordered them in an unusually cold manner.
"Give me your sword!"
Hearing the cold order that nearly sent shivers down his spine, the loyal guard quickly drew and handed his steel blade to his young lord, only for Railius to struggle to hold it even with both hands due to his undeveloped body and leave the tent, heading for the nearby trees to bash the poor plant that did nothing wrong.
Jordis, the young lord's ever-loyal servant and companion, merely sighed, used to his friend's antics and followed him, leaving the guards looking at each other, wondering what was wrong and what could send their usually calm lord into a rage.
'This is what you get for slacking in class, my lord.'
Jordis thought to himself as he left, reflecting on their time in class together where his lazy lord routinely slept when Leon wasn't training him. It was not that Railius couldn't understand what was being taught, in fact, sometimes his intelligence was frightening and left teachers speechless, but no matter how much potential the young lord had, without hard work, it would all go to waste.
Writing was one of the things his lord found the most boring, for he routinely escaped from lessons to focus on things that caught his interest more like politics, military strategy and philosophy, and now he was finally being punished for his slothful ways. Jordis only hoped that in the future, Railius would put more effort into learning how to write as every general needed to read and write relatively well.
20 minutes later, just when the guards started to worry and were about to go find their lord, they saw two small figures walking slowly towards the tent, both letting out sighs of relief that Railius had not run off again. They were surprised to see beads of sweat trickling down the young lord's face as he dragged a ruined steel sword across the dirt-laden ground and calmly returned the ruined sword to the guard before re-entering his tent.
Railius felt much better after releasing his anger and spent the next 10 minutes meticulously writing out a neat letter before carefully putting it into an envelope, which he sealed with a wax seal that showed a pelican the sigel of his noble house.
He then gave the letter to Jordis to give to his father, Leon. The rings around the young boy's eyes showed his exhaustion as he instantly fell asleep after leaning and saying a few words to his loyal servant.
"If you ruin that fucking letter and make me write another one. I'll kill you myself! Understand!"
Railius had said in a low voice, which only his loyal servant could hear.
….
City walls 20 feet high and made of sturdy stone surrounded a bustling city where men drank the night away in taverns and enjoyed themselves into the early hours of the morning. A shadowy figure lurked among this bustle, crossing through the streets silently, no one seeming able to sense his presence even as the spears of watchful sentries guarded the walls and streets of the prosperous city.
After using all his strength to throw a grappling hook, its steel points grasping and embedding themselves into the nearby square-shaped battlements as in a flash, a black-clothed figure scaled the walls, slipping through the city's defences like a rat skittering unwanted around a home.
Even the elite guards that protected the city lord's castle, a stone structure built on a hill that dominates the dwellings below its large stone towers, a testament to the wealth and power of its occupants, could not detect this skilful man who passed them as if they were nothing but air.
Many powerful lords and dynasties built castles as their main residences in their territory's capital city to help defend themselves from foes who broke through the city walls, allowing them to lock their gates and wait out a siege or the arrival of reinforcements.
It was also more challenging to infiltrate castles than manors as its high walls and narrow corridors were effective against even the most persistent assassin who could not hide or manoeuvre easily in the series of tight corridors compared to the more open manors.
While grandmaster assassins and fighters could still infiltrate, sending such powerhouses out like this was very rare, either due to its significant costs or due to the risk of losing a loyal powerhouse. It was also customary for powerful noble families to have at least one grandmaster who could fight and detect even grandmaster assassins who specialised in the arts of stealth and sabotage.
Alfgeir Halfdansson had been serving the Dukes of Plantaria for over 25 years. Once a mercenary and raider who hailed from the cold northeastern islands of the Svanski Confederacy, he was spared by the previous duke when his mercenary group was captured after helping a rebellious lord rise in revolt against the Kingdom of Nadron.
This led to a 4-year long civil war in Nadron, which was orchestrated by Amulius Lunaris, the Chavarian Minister of War, to lower the national strength of Nadron in preparation for the Chavarian Unification Wars, which was put down by the current duke's father, the loyal Ascelin Gallomour.
Now 55 years old after Ascelin spared him, he came into the service of House Gallomour and has been serving the noble family ever since.
The benevolence of the old duke paid off greatly when, at 45 years old, Alfgeir became a grandmaster loyal to the dukes of Plantaria, becoming the noble family's second grandmaster, helping to cement their power.
Now an old man with a head of grey hair, he looked at the small light that emanated from the duke's office with a sigh, the two elite guards outside observing all movement vigilantly to prevent any attempts to harm their lord. Ever since the old Duke Ascelin Gallomour died 15 years ago fighting Chavaria in their unification wars, the ageing grandmaster has been serving the current duke.
An intelligent, virtuous and diligent man, Duke Ancel Gallomour II cared much about his people and the old Kingdom of Nadron, for which his father and 2 of his 4 brothers had died defending and managing to rally the loyal ex-Nadron nobles who had not rebellion against Chavaria into a powerful faction which even the emperor of Chavaria had to be wary.
Knowing that the current empire and the imperial family had too much power, he tried his hardest in vain to prevent rebellion. Hence, Emperor Cassius I Crestier had no reason to purge them and replace them with nobles loyal to the crown.
Despite failing to stop rebellions, he had managed to preserve most of the old powerful families loyal to Nadron, happily helping the emperor to deal with the corrupt ones whose greed helped cause the destruction of The Kingdom of Nadron.
After subduing Nadron, these corrupt, greedy noble families unexpectedly found themselves the emperor's next target as he could not trust them who quickly betrayed their kingdom and liege as if they could do it once they could do it again, so the emperor wanted to get rid of these problematic parasites once and for all.
For the imperial family of Chavaria, the Dukes of Plantaria were a constant source of headaches because they had great prestige in the old kingdom of Nadron as one of its most loyal and prestigious noble houses. Combine this with generations of virtuous rulers, which created a loyal populace who loved their lord, and what you have is a powerful enemy you can't remove. They could be said to be the representatives of Nadron now that the royal family is extinct, able to gather the people and nobles together to support them.
Because they made no political mistakes, the emperor had no reason to go after them he could use to deal with them. If he tried to fabricate a reason, ignoring the reaction from the other powerful nobles who would be afraid of being next and lose trust in the imperial family, it would likely lead to a civil war and instability in the old Nadron territories for decades to come which would deal a great blow to the newly born empire even if the imperial forces won the war the thanks to Amulius Lunaris, the minister of war rebellions would become commonplace putting significant strain on the empires finances and manpower.
It was normal for the diligent duke to work into the early hours of the morning, meticulously managing his domain and allies even if his advancing age made many fear that working so hard daily would negatively impact his health.
As the grandmaster reflected on his life, Alfgeir sensed a faint, unfamiliar presence that put him on guard. Many people wanted to kill the duke, so the loyal grandmaster was used to dealing with assassins, but his intruder was different.
Apart from him, two loyal master-level fighters protected the duke's castle and usually dealt with intruders or assassins, so for someone to get this close to the duke's office without even being detected could only mean one thing.
This was a grandmaster and no ordinary one at that! Sensing the mysterious figure was close, Alfgier drew his sword from its ornate scabbard on the left side of his belt and called out to the intruder lurking in the shadows.
"You can come out now, or do I need to swing at you to make you appear."
Alfgier said, his short blond hair swaying lightly as a gust of wind blew down the tight castle corridor, revealing a man clad in black clothing holding a red-tasselled spear in his hand. One look was all it took for the Northman to know he was facing a formidable opponent.
"So I finally meet one of the duke's loyal grandmasters took long enough."
The black-clad man said, holding up his hands to stop Alfgier before the Northman could engage him, trying to extinguish the palpable tension in the room.
No lord would easily allow a potentially hostile grandmaster to be in their castle unless there was a special reason or occasion, which is why Leon knew that the man in front of him was loyal to the duke and not likely a spy from one of his enemies as not even the Emperor of Chavaria ruler of one of the biggest and powerful nations in DO had that many spare grandmasters just lying around.
Leon then took out a pristine letter bearing House Aurellion's seal to the duke's loyal grandmaster and held it out to the man, speaking in a quiet voice.
"I'm not here to fight and am merely a messenger. Would you be so kind as to personally give this letter from my lord to the duke? It is best if my presence in this castle does not become common knowledge."
Leon said, panting slightly, finally getting to the duchy capital after two days of riding from the Aurellion camp, leaving his trusted aid, Aldorus, in charge and watching over Railius, giving him the confidence to undertake this risky mission.
'Who sends a fucking grandmaster as a messenger!'
Alfgier thought as he took the letter carefully, looking for any suspicious movements, still concerned about this mysterious grandmaster's intentions, but apart from staying out of sight, this mysterious man made no other hostile movements.
Calling for a few nearby guards to watch Leon, not that it would stop such a skilled warrior, but the clanging of their armour against the stone floor would at least warn him of this mysterious grandmaster's hostile intentions, the loyal bodyguard of the duke walked to the nearby office and gently knocked on the gold rimmed ironwood door.
After about 20 seconds, a voice came from the other side of the door.
"Yes?"
The calm voice asked succinctly as he put down his well-used quill and looked at the half-empty ink pot on the smooth surface of a wooden table.
"Your grace, it's Alfgier. A letter has come for you. May I come in?"
Alfgier said respectfully, for unless it was an emergency, no one was allowed into the duke's office without his permission, as the man liked to work alone in the peace and quiet of his office.
"Oh…. At this time of night?"
The duke said from the other side of the door, intrigued as it was rare for a message to come so late at night.
"Yes your grace, a suspicious man infiltrated the castle and requested I give a letter to you personally."
Alfgier said, still in the same respectful tone as he looked at the two elite guards guarding the office. He gave them a subtle indication that they should keep their mouths shut about this particular interaction between him and the duke on pain of death delivered by the grandmaster himself.
"He showed no hostile intent?"
The voice said, now booming with a practised authority only a veteran ruler could have.
"No your grace, none at all. Would you like to read the letter?"
"Yes, please come in, old friend."
The duke said, smiling slightly as Alfgier opened the door and gave the letter to the duke.
Seeing the seal at the back, he immediately recognised the seal on it and took the carefully written letter out of the envelope.
'Ohhhhhhhh.'
'What does that old foxes Lucius' son want with me?'
The duke thought, intrigued even more as he began reading the letter.