The door swings open to the elder's room where the five elders sit by a large table
"Hello we were expecting you, Miss Herz," says one of the elders to Agatha, standing at the door "We would like to discuss something important with you"
"What is it that you need from me," asked Agatha, getting nervous from the serious atmosphere in the room
"We would like to make you a proposition that will help the empire, and help you achieve your personal goal, so please sit and let's talk," says the elder at the foot of the table in front of Agatha
Agatha bows her head and walks to a seat at the table
"Greetings elders may I ask what you mean"
"As you certainly know the empire has been suffering from worsening crime cases for which the emperor does not have the resources to prevent"
"And we also know that is a problem of a personal nature to you and thus we would like to assist you with our personal fonds"
Knowing the nature of the elders Agatha cautiously asked with suspicion in her voice "And what would be the price for your generosity"
"As you know unlike his predecessor the emperor does not share our opinions on many matters, but it is still our duty to advise and help him thus we would like you to inform us of the emperor's decisions or bring us documents he chooses to keep from us"
"We are doing this for his sake, of course, he shouldn't carry the weight of the empire alone at such a young age, and that is why we are here after all"
Agatha had been bothered by the rising criminality for a while now but didn't have a way to interfere, and she started to worry that Viktor was overworking himself so with the proposition of elders sounding quite reasonable she responded
"If this is for the sake of the emperor and empire then I shall accept your proposition, but if I sense that you are taking advantage of me for your own goals then I shall immediately stop and report this to his majesty"
"That sounds reasonable of course, then we have a deal, now then you may leave and we will tell you which documents we want in the upcoming days, goodbye Miss Herz"
Agatha stands up from her seat and walks toward the door, then she turns around and bows "Goodbye elders"
After the proposition was concluded, Victor started to notice small changes in Agatha's behavior, she seemed more nervous and on edge than usual but he decided to brush it off as a personal matter, but that wasn't the only unusual thing that he noticed, the elders were quiet which disturbed him almost more than when they constantly bothered him with their aggressive and coldly calculated ideas because that was how it was from the day he started to reign
Then a few weeks later Agatha came to his office bearing news with a bit puzzled expression on her face "Greetings Emperor may I speak to you for a moment"
"Of course what is it"
"First I'd like to report that the food shortage in the southeast seems to be resolved but we do not know the specifics as it is under the jurisdiction of one of the elders so you would have to ask personally, and the second is that... Prince Orvus has gained a considerable reputation and received the nickname protector of the commoners from the people by stopping a bandit gang in one of the eastern kingdoms"
"What happened, is he alright?" asks Victor in a concerned tone, "he seems to be fine and is reportedly heading back to the palace as he ran out of money, he will be back in about two days" answered Agatha
"Then that is well, we should hold a feast for his latest endeavors to encourage him to this noble behavior, but him being a hero sure is a bit uncharacteristic, I will ask him about it when he arrives"