"You lead a people only by offering them a better future –
a leader is a dealer of hope."
I hadn't been blessed with a fit and athletic body in my previous life. On the contrary, I had always been of rather frail, constitution, proved by the fact that I died earlier than I had expected.
As if that wasn't enough, at one point I had over-indulged in pleasures, and this had certainly contributed to my untimely death.
This was one of many mistakes I was determined not to repeat.
Free from constraints and family ties, I was now able to raise my new body to its ultimate fitness, making it want for nothing.
I kept myself in constant training by hunting, and combining my prey with vegetables and fruits, I was able to follow a balanced and highly energetic diet that gave me the strength necessary for new exercises in an endless virtuous circle.
Five years after having made the agreement with Borg, the small and skinny boy had become a young man who was preparing to enter adulthood at his full strength.
I had toned muscles, sharp eyesight, and quick reflexes. Much aware of how a good appearance is the best calling card, I had also taken care of the external appearance, no longer forced to cover my true self underneath fancy unforms and war medals.
In the meantime, I had finally left my home in the ghetto to move to the cabin with Drufo, finally dismissing the non-existent Mr. Haselworth and taking his place in the eyes of the world.
Of course, I had always taken good care of public relations. As I'd expected, working for the Borg had been my pass into the power chambers of all of Western Erthea. That pig might be an arrogant, slimy, opportunistic son of a sow, but he was a man of his word who also knew how to praise talent and keep his investors happy. From the day I entered his service, remaining there even after honoring our agreement in full, he had never once broken his promise of an honest relationship, first deducting every single goldie from my debt with absolute precision and then paying me punctually for every job I did for him.
It was also thanks to me and the income I provided with my work that in just three years he had been able to leave the musty cave for a real warehouse, built in a secluded area a stone's throw from Via Magna.
The day he had introduced me to my first Torian merchant he had called me the best investment of his life, and with such credentials it had not been difficult for me to win the good graces of many influential people, bestowing favors and services that I could one day hope to take back.
Some of those dapper fixers had been foolish enough to involve me in such dirty business that when the time was right it would have been child's play to blackmail them into cooperation.
After all, when I said to Borg that hunting was the sole thing I would have done for him, I had never said that I would not devote myself to other activities on my own.
However, being aware that one day I had to unite various races and peoples who now hated each other to death, I had given myself rules that served to preserve my reputation in front of all factions.
By not getting involved in the slave trade, for example, I had improved my image in the eyes of those high-ranking circles who flaunted reformist ideas while engaging in the smuggling of weapons intended to fuel or crush insurrections in the ghettos. I made friends on both sides of the fence.
However, it was mainly in the province of West Eirinn that I made every effort to make myself known.
In addition to supplying the Castle with the best quality goods, I periodically went down to Dundee to sell skins, tools, and meat to the local merchants – and in this respect, Wallace General Store was proving very useful.
Growing up, Mary had become a commercial genius, capable of weakening the resistance of the stingiest merchants with clever dialectics – which I had taught her – with a flair for good business worthy of a director of the Voorcompagnie.
Another place I'd started frequenting growing up was Giselle's Black Deer Inn. When she began assisting her father in running the place she had the good idea of increasing income by setting up a bulletin board for notices and making an agreement with the local guild of adventurers.
Special hunts and other similar requests brought me a lot of money and increased my reputation in the province. Moreover, since everyone gets talkative after a couple of beers, by hanging out at the inn, I could sample the popular sentiment and understand how the wind was blowing.
Besides, old Rutte had been appointed Mayor of the village two years earlier, so keeping him as a friend and helping him when he asked for favors was obviously a smart idea.
For the sake of the quiet life, he had tried to put an end to the sinuous reunionism of the resistance organization aiming to unify Western and Eastern Eirinn that was too often talked about in his inn, by keeping the most troublesome customers out. And with Giselle available, there wasn't even a need for a bouncer.
On the one hand, this had opened the doors of the Black Deer also to the members of the militia, increasing the information I was able to collect; but on the other hand, it had made it more difficult for me to taste the discontentment towards the Governor and the Empire.
Throughout all of this, I was also able to find some time to study – even after obtaining my school diploma with honors I had continued to broaden my knowledge with the books that I was able to buy from passing merchants and booksellers, accepting them when possible as a form of payment for my services.
I studied a little bit of everything, especially alchemy, geography, and of course tactics and strategy. I'd even built my own workshop in a shed behind the cabin, using knowledge from my old world to make simple tools like thermometers, barometers, or sextants that hadn't yet been invented on Erthea and that I knew would come in handy.
But evidently, what I was doing was not enough for my client, who finally decided to come and ask me about the situation.
One night, after dozing off on a tree branch during a bear hunt, I found myself again in the company of my friend Faucheur, sitting opposite each other at the desk in my old study in the Tuilerries. Of course, he was sitting in the seat that had once been mine.
"Didn't you say we'd never see each other again?"
"If you'd done a good job – but the situation seems to be moving a lot slower than it should be."
Which brought us to the question I've always wanted to ask him: "I do what I can with what I have at my disposal, as I always have. Maybe if I had been reborn in better circumstances, things could have gone differently and faster."
"Consider it a form of insurance. A way to make sure you did what I expected of you."
The meaning of those words was clear, and it was something I had always suspected.
"Had I been reborn as a member of some noble family, or even as a ruler, I would have had far fewer constraints or impediments, and a far greater freedom of action. But under the current circumstances, my mission cannot avoid freeing the slaves."
"It would make no sense to save Erthea from a Demon Lord and at the same time leave the misery of many of her inhabitants unchanged. As I warned you, Erthea is full of problems, and solving them is as important as stopping the invasion."
My eyes traveled to the semi-transparent globe spinning itself above the desk, and I could make out the shapes of two different continents. One was clearly Erthea, the other, almost twice as large, must have been Treibam. To all eyes, there must have been no less than five thousand miles of boundless ocean separating them in all directions, and given the level of naval technology of that world, it was not surprising that their inhabitants had never met.
"And this?"
"A little present from me. You will never find such a detailed map."
My ego in other times would have prevented me from accepting, but it was information that I couldn't have found in any other way. In seconds, I memorized the most important aspects of Erthea's geography: a black spot suddenly appeared north of Treibam, spreading rapidly to cover almost the entire continent.
"Time is running out, Emperor. The Demon Lord has conquered the last free nation of Treibam. If the small resistance groups still opposing him are defeated, the invasion of Erthea could happen sooner than expected."
"Is this Demon Lord by any chance the same Dark Lord who used monsters five hundred years ago to try to subdue Erthea?"
"They are quite similar, but they are not the same being. That's all you need to know."
"I understand. Anyway, you have nothing to worry about. I worked more than you might imagine. The seeds are planted now, and they will soon bear fruit."
"I hope so. I had high expectations of you. I would never want them to end up being misplaced."
The beginning of the transformation of my body into dust heralded the end of that meeting.
"See you soon, Emperor. And never forget that I'm watching you."
And the opportunity indeed arrived. Sooner than I expected.
A few weeks later, at the end of an almost uninterrupted ride that lasted a whole night, I found myself staring into the distance at the mighty and majestic lines of the Castle, perched on the top of a hill in the center of a vast plain and surrounded by a small town.
It had been the Governor himself who summoned me with a letter, and although the reason for this summons had not been specified, instinct told me that I was about to finally collect the prize for all the favors done to that lustful belly.
While I waited to be received, I took a few moments to carefully observe the fortress and the state of its defensiveness.
Two lines of walls: twelve towers on the outer one, and four on the inner one. Ballistae on one tower, every two. Channels for hot oil. Doors with iron grates. Garrison, about two thousand soldiers.
Even if at least a hundred years had passed since the last time that place had seen a siege, one could easily see that since the times of the Grand Duchy that building had been designed to withstand all kinds of battles.
A legionary came towards me while I was calculating the range of the archers positioned on the walls calling me by name, but he had to take off his helmet so that I could recognize him.
"Septimus."
"It's been a while, Daemon. How long, two years?"
"Nearly three. Since you left for Rhodes to enlist. You've come a long way from what I see. Barely sixteen and you're already a Decurion."
"I was more enterprising than my companions. Or perhaps just more reckless."
He smiled, but in his eyes I could read the awareness that only those who have been face to face with a battle could reveal.
"What are you doing here, anyway?"
"The Governor called me. And you? Last time they told me about you they said you were in the east fighting the Barons."
"They reassigned me after my promotion. I now serve in the Fifteenth Legion. Starting from next week, I will be assigned to Dundee fort. Can you believe it? A disaster maker like me, second in command of a garrison."
"Yes, I do find it hard to believe. But I'm sure you earned it."
The arrival of the butler interrupted the reunion.
"Master Haselworth, follow me. His Excellency awaits you in the dining room."