Remus travelled to Isham, the capital of the Eastlands to meet with Duke Sylvanus. The quickest way to get from Quinoa, the capital of the Southlands to Isham was to take a boat from its southern port to a port in the Eastlands, up a hill and then descend quickly.
Isham, also known as the sunken city was surrounded by hills that acted as it's walls and also the source of its wealth in coal and iron.
At the castle of Duke Sylvanus, Remus felt uneasy. He didn't expect the Duke to be quite so robust that he looked pregnant and yet sit on a throne set a few metres in the air overlooking everybody else.
Remus had never seen his father on a throne before and wondered how much time it took the Duke to climb the throne and come down every day. Remus assumed that the woman beside him was his youthful mother but was later told that it was his ageing wife. She looked older than he did and she had her face contorted into a permanent scowl.
"Duke Sylvanus, My name is Remus," he said. "I will be negotiating on behalf of my father, Duke Aquitaine."
"I heard what happened to him," the duke said. "What a tragedy. Please send him my regards."
Remus observed their expressions and noted the Duke's look of false concern but the scowl on the Duchesses' face relented into a wry smile.
"I would like to negotiate a trade deal to exchange three units of grain for a unit of iron and a unit of grain for a unit of coal that you will give me," Remus said. "I also want to leave here with one thousand units of iron and 500 units of coal in advance of the grain."
The Duke looked amused.
"You must be prepared to offer me something big," he said. "What is it?"
"I know that the farms of the entire kingdom are no longer as productive as they used to be due to overfarming," Remus said. "When harvest season comes, the supply of grain will fall short of the demand which will raise the prices of grain to almost the same price as iron. I'm willing to give you priority when selling my grain.
The Duke looked slightly impressed.
"You seem intelligent for a Southlander but there is a flaw in your plan," he said. "You already have a sizable debt to the Banking Guild worth ten thousand silver coins. What should happen if you cannot repay both of us?"
"If I cannot repay my debt to you then I will relinquish my family's dukedom and cede all titles to you," Remus asked.
The fat duke became so giddy with excitement and leapt out of his chair.
"I want this deal in writing and sealed with a royal standard," he said.
As soon as Remus left, the Duke's wife tried to reason with him.
"My dear husband, that is a sizable amount of our iron output," she said. "Should we really be bargaining with it?"
"My dear wife, it will be worth it to finally gain control of the Southlands and expand our borders," he said. "Remember that whoever possesses the title of Duke of the Southlands by the time the king dies will be chosen as his successor.
"I understand that but we still have to think about the various outcomes. What if he succeeds and makes a full payment in grain?" she asked.
"I will make sure, he has no grain at harvest time."
The duke then wrote a letter and sealed it with red wax. He then pressed his ring into the wax leaving an image of two hammers crossing each other before handing it to a messenger.
"I want you to deliver this to Darius as quickly as possible. Before the little boy gets back to the Quinoa."
Before dawn the next day, a group of bandits descended on the farms in the Southlands but were met with a rain of wooden bolts. Those who weren't hit by wooden projectiles were expertly defeated by the Southland soldiers or captured including the leader of the bandits. A man named Darius.
Remus returned to Quinoa at midday the next day and got the news of the pre-dawn attack that was foiled from Captain Ed.
"The only thing that I don't understand is how you knew that the bandits would come now?" Ed asked.
"I stacked all the incentives for an attack," Remus said. "Someone as ruthless and conniving as Duke Sylvanus couldn't resist the opportunity to make sure we couldn't repay our loans by burning our crops. It was just too appealing a move."
"That took some forethought as well as a willingness to gamble with everything," Ed said. "I'm happy that you succeeded but I'm not sure I completely support your methods."
On that note, Remus returned to the Aquitane manor to talk to Julius. Immediately the older man saw him, Julius began to limp hurriedly towards him.
"We have a problem," Julius said frantically. "I couldn't find even half of the men that I need to harvest the entire field. Some of the grain may spoil in the field."
"I'll take care of it," Remus said. "Craft, Tractor."
There was a flash of light and a steam-powered tractor appeared.
Within a few hours, all the grain from several dozen was harvested and placed in a silo.
After a long day of labour, Remus returned to Duke Lucian's office and summoned the red-haired servant girl.
"Master Remus, you wanted to see me?" Andrea asked.
Remus was seated behind his father's desk.
"I just realized something and you're the only one that I felt like sharing it with," Remus replied. "Shut the door behind you."
Andrea shut the door behind her and made her way around the desk until she was standing over him. He turned so that he was directly facing her.
"Something has been bothering me about you," Remus said. "And I finally figured it out."
"What is it that you would like to tell me?" she asked.
"Through a very painful experience in my past I've learned how to spot a spy," Remus said.
She just stared at him in stunned silence.
"The only reason I haven't outed you is that I don't think you belong to Duke Sylvanus, the King or even any of the guilds," Remus said. "You're serving someone else completely. Someone that has a vested interest in ruling the Southlands."
She stared at him for a few more moments before breathing a sigh of relief.
"That's a big accusation," she said. "Apart from your past, what other reason do you have for making such an accusation?"
"What are the odds that I would happen to meet someone that I liked, can read, has a working knowledge of the kingdom's economy and has intel on my enemy," Remus said. "I'm not that lucky and from what I've seen the Southlands isn't important enough to attract top-tier servants.
She stared at him in amusement before flashing a smile.
"The Southlands is more important than you realise and my brother wants to control whoever becomes its next ruler," she said. "The Duke doesn't have much time left and his first son Gregory is an idiot. That leaves you."
"At least tell me what you are and what your name is. Your real name."
Andrea smiled and said "Change form."
A pair of black horns suddenly appeared on the sides of her head.
"I'm a demon named Lilith and there's something that I've been dying to ask you," she said.
"I'm listening," Remus replied.
"I'm always wearing a mask, I'm good at it because I've been doing it for hundreds of years," she said. "I've developed the ability to spot other people wearing masks- and I've been observing you since that day that I called you downstairs to have the Maester check your class."
"I'm a human named Yoshi," Remus said. "I died in another world and woke up in Remus's body."
She bent down until Remus could look into her catlike green eyes.
"Nice to meet you, Yoshi," she said.