THE FERRETING FROM HIGH PLACES
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The Office of the Hall of Publications,
The Town of Crimsonton,
Kingdom of Velicia,
Break of Dawn,
The Eighth Day of the Month of November,
Thirty Third Year of the Reign of King Jesse Crestings
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"Was she safe despite the wolf attack?" the Duke of Walterus asked, knowing that it should have taken a pure miracle to have saved her recklessness.
"Yes, sir. There was no sign of humans consumed per the survey of the Hounds' carcases. The fangs were clean of human blood", the man reported.
The elder stroked his beard, eyes pensive. He disliked the sound of the strange woman being in the midst of the gents carrying on vigilantism. He needed to dive deeper. It was inevitable to imagine she could have survived the rampage without being saved, but her presence there made no sense with his judgement.
"Must we make mention of her wandering there on our papers, Sir? Would it not rouse curiosity and bring us better market?" one of the reporters suggested.
"No, no, I prefer we keep the matter under wraps for the time being. But do elaborate, did you mention she was working for Hildeth?" the Walterus patriarch asked.
"Yes, Sir, she is of no great position. Possibly just a maiden settling old family debt by labour, since the cottage she hails from lacks parents", the man reported. He was of such knowledge for reason of being a man that had lived in the village of Drift-Combe before moving to the Town of Crimsonton a few months ago.
"Alright then, Gerald. That's good work done", the Duke nodded. He marked the portions of script that were to be presented on their newspapers for that day and sent the reporters off to submit the article for reproduction to the hand of the scribes.
The Hall of Publications was engaged completely, as it always was on dawns of days following wolf rampages.
Then, the man at the helm of the company took the scroll that he had set upon the face of his desk before the reporters had come. It was a letter from the Imperial Castle bearing news that was pleasant to his ears, straight from the table of the Regent Queen.
It mentioned that the Duke did not have to pay his visit to the Palace, as he oft did when his office broadcasted the news of vigilantism, but that Prince Rayzenn himself would attend to the Walterus Estate during that day regarding the affairs of the previous night.
It was practice that the Prince bestowed the Duke with small favours every fortnight to withhold his scribes' quills from mentioning in the official Velician news that there was vigilantism.
Naturally, word of such would bring shame to the name of the Kingdom's knights that they were incompetent in the art of protecting the people's village from bestial ravages and capturing the mysterious men that were taking imperial duties into their own hands.
It was believed that if the Hall of Publications abstained from mentioning it altogether, it would at least keep the Kingdom apart from the Village of Drift-Combe from knowing of such affairs, or simply have them assume that the word of vigilantism was merely a fantasy conceived by the people.
In order to receive the favours, the Duke would usually pay his visits to the Imperial Castle by the morning and hold personal discussions with the Prince.
But that morning, his own estate would be bestowed with the honour of inviting the royal heir for the business. It would be the ideal hour to show off his daughter, Charlene, as a potential bride worthy of the Prince's hand.
The man knew, further, that the regal descendant would require confrontation with Knight Erion that day, regarding his progress at unveiling the vigilante's identity and the discomfiting of the beasts.
In order to make matters much easier for the son of the throne, the Duke decided it would be favourable to have the meeting with the Knight at his estate as well. He drew a parchment out and decided the contents of his letter to the Imperial Castle.
Taking the quill in hand and dipping it in cerulean ink, the man began writing to Regent Queen Eliza of the fact that Head Knight Erion was one amongst the guests invited by his daughter to a session of high tea and reading that noon and that the man would be in attendance at his estate. He further wrote that it would afford the prince convenience for the matters of confrontation, should he expect such.
Once the message was drafted in neat cursives, the Duke applied the seal bearing the Walterus coat of arms to the nether edge of the page.
Then, he summoned his groom and handed him the letter, saying, "Have one of the swiftest envoy birds set out to the Imperial Castle to deliver this letter."
The Hall of Publications was a great entity, consisting of various departments. There were news collectors strewed across various parts of the Kingdom, assigned the duty of bringing swift heralds and affairs to the office; then, the officers were given the duty of filtering the most juicy contents of their raw insights to bring forth the finest news that was relevant to each city or town or village; then, since news would be scripted by a set of scholars who would proceed to hand their drafts to scribes that would calligraph countless copies of the news on fresh parchments and scrolls; and finally, there were delivery boys or envoy birds built with two pairs of wings and long tails, trained to convey the news articles to their far destinations.
There were bulletins of news in every town square or city wall or outside taverns, meant for people to read them. Apart from such, nobles and others were bestowed their personal copies of the news. This was the order of business at the Hall of Publications, scaling the entire Kingdom.
Once the man attending to the Walterus office had set out to fulfil the Duke's desire in taking the personal letter to the Imperial Castle, it was time to prepare the next part: the meeting.
The Duke asked the tea lad serving him his early morning beverage to fetch a delivery boy. Once the guy was brought to his office, he commanded him, "Be swift; hasten to the Hildeth Boutique as quick as you can and place an order for the most spectacular gown they can afford to make. It must suit Miss Charlene as an apparel befitting the women of high society, flattering in every sense, of the latest fashion. Make it fancy, yet a piece she could be found wearing at the estate for a day to day affair, leisurely and lacking event. The prince shall be our guest and she must look most appealing."
The lad nodded thrice and hasted to the door.
"And this one more;" the Duke said, pausing the young man for an additional, odd instruction: "Have them deliver the dress to the Manor by means of a young damsel by the Luna-dynn surname. She may wait in the courts for the payment to be made after the meeting"
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