Book 3, chapter 28

28. Audience

I wanted to spend the night at Niles’ Inn, but in the end, duty called.  I did spend some time talking with Sophia, mostly about light subjects after getting the heavy ones out of the way.  However, I received word that both the inquisitors and representatives of Marquise Peori had arrived in North Shire.

Rather than spending another Fast Travel, and potentially put myself at risk, Larissa opened a portal between the two locations.  With The Recent Past now becoming the predominant timeline, teleportation abilities were no longer being limited.  And creating portals that could be traveled through both ways was a thing that Larissa could do now, with her training under Archmage Blancherathetera.

During our lunch together, Thomas informed me that the majority of Travelers who had not taken part in the battlegrounds were already taking the leap, while about thirty percent of the remainder were making preparations to do so in various fashions.

Even though the world was so much larger than me, than Yuikon, than one little conflict between a bandit faction and a lord, the simple fact that I could create battlegrounds was enough for them to uproot themselves.  And I had caused this division, this fork in the world’s timeline, simply because I had wanted to be with my brother after he was born.

And I would be.  Once I had met with the representatives of the inquisition and the Marquise, I would retire to Thorn March for a few weeks, and rule North Shire from there.  It shouldn’t be a problem, not with Daemon and my other canon liegemen doing all of the actual hard work.

Ebbyvale was instanced when I arrived.  Four of them stacked on top of each other, with a new one created when I arrived.  It was empty of Travelers at first, but quickly my friends began slipping into it, pulled by the weight of [Mark of Karma] after they had finished whatever had occupied them when I arrived.

Tarisha was waiting for me with a full honor guard of ten endgamers.  At my request, a pavilion was set up, and my throne brought from the temple to sit underneath it while I met with my guests, who were expected to arrive within the hour.

“Are you okay, My Lord?” Tarisha asked as I reclined in my throne.

“Just tired,” I answered.  “I didn’t realize victory would be so exhausting.”

“I assure you that defeat would have been even more tiring, but you wouldn’t have had a chance to appreciate your weariness.  It’s only the unequivocal nature of your victory which is allowing you to appreciate your fatigue,” she explained.

I nodded.  “Well, I guess I’m glad to be tired then.”

There were a few minor details to be dealt with before the representatives arrived.  Everyone was clamoring to speak with me, but I put them off by promising to hold court next week, instructing them to contact Daemon for the details.  I really don’t know what I’d do without Daemon and Tarisha.

Aside from that, a few Travelers tried to stage a breakout for Tervin and the other Freelancers in one instance of the town.  To their surprise, however, the terms of the surrender were much more binding than they had anticipated.  The Freelancers who tried to accept their rescue were rendered unable to move, and the ones carried out of the cell would vanish into smoke, only to reappear in their prison moments later.  Despite the system itself apparently ensuring that our prisoners remained in prison, Phil took this as notice to step up his game

Finally, there were the citizens themselves.  I was surprised to learn that I was no longer as popular in North Shire as I had been before the battles.  Many of the locals were cursing me for bringing calamity down on them.  Others, for the loss of their husbands, brothers, and sons.  That those men had been part of the freelancers did not lessen the weight of the accusations against me.

That blow was a hammer to the wedge that had been my duel with Voss.  I asked Bell, the old woman who had apparently once married into the Mooncrest family, but more recently had won the election to become Alderwoman of Ebbyvale, to inform all affected parties that they would receive compensation in gold for the loss of their loved ones.  She bowed respectfully in the Irvine style, despite certainly knowing the correct way.

“It is the freshness of the wound that causes them to lash out,” she informed me.  “Once time has passed, they will accept that the--”

“I’m certain you have some well thought out advice or words of comfort,” I interrupted the woman.  “But honestly, I’m either about to start crying or challenging random citizen to duel me to the death.  I’m not entirely certain which.  So, for their own sakes, I suggest you get them out of danger.  Because they cannot refuse a duel if they are challenged by their lord.”

Bell grumbled.  “Was going to say that the blood was on their own hands for letting the boys run about in the first place.  But I take your meaning.  I’ll shut them up.  Any who speaks after I finish with them will deserve whatever you give them.”

Bell moved from under the pavilion and began speaking to the other Natives in hushed tones.  She drove off the waiting crowd, and the incoming batches as well, until at last I saw the procession that I had been waiting for.

Marquise Jeori had chosen as his representative his bastard son, who had been raised in the house of Baron Selmy.  Keithan--who bore the name Selmy because the baron had never formally recognized or condemned the adultery that had gone on not under his nose, but effectively in front of the entire court--wore black armor trimmed with silver as he approached.  His cloak was blue, like Malkios’s, but trimmed with black instead of silver.

With him was Madame Inquisitor Trenac herself, one of the highest authorities of the law in Yuikon beneath the king himself.  With Grandfather dead and his throne vacant, she might be the highest judge, though she has no say on matters of state unrelated to the pursuit of justice.  She was dressed in white, with a red-trimmed cloak.

With them were three dozen members of the royal army.  I caught the lapels of at least three lieutenants, and eight sergeants.  Before I could contemplate this too much, Trenac activated an item, and all the instances crashed into one as an event started around the pavilion.  Travelers who were not part of my instance were ejected just outside of it, while a shield prevented any from attacking or crossing the threshold.  Except for those marked by me with [Mark of Karma].

“Greetings again, Keithan Selmy.  It has not been so long since we parted as friends after our duel,” I said amiably, refusing to acknowledge the building attention that was the Travelers looking in through the soap bubble event walls that Trenac had set up.

“Friends?  Hail, you challenged me to a duel, and it was a draw.  I introduced you to a noble who has done right by me in the past.  That is the extend of our friendship,” Keithan answered.  “And before you ask, I am here in my official capacity under the royal army, and not the authority of a certain Marquise whom we are both acquainted.  I am to investigate the source of violence and the use of battlegrounds in the area.”

“I can certainly help you with that endeavor, Captain Selmy,” I said.  “Will you not come under the shade with me and we will discuss the matter?”

“I too am here to investigate,” Inquisitor Trenac said simply.  “Although my scope is much more broad.  Several weeks ago a party of Travelers arrived, having ridden through what looked like the seventh hell, to deliver a missive requesting a formal investigation into the corruption of these lands, signed and sealed by, well, you yourself.  I am here to carry out that investigation.”

“And you too are welcome under my pavilion, High Inquisitor,” I answered.  “We will discuss the events in the Shire as I found them, and my actions to date to rectify them and bring these lands into suitable state to be called a part of Yuikon, rather than a rebel nation all of itself, where travelers were not safe from highwaymen and the locals were bled for every copper piece.”

Glancing through the soap bubble, which occasionally switched views from one instance to the next, causing the faces to change on the crowds despite nobody moving.

“Let us begin with the battlegrounds.  Whence came the cores to create them?” Keithan demanded.  “And who authorized their usage?  It takes a captain of the royal army or higher to --”

“The laws that govern the use of cores in the military differ from the rights of a noble to exercise his authority over his own property,” I said, interrupting him before he got too far down the wrong tangent.  “To answer the questions in reverse order; who authorized the use of battlegrounds in the lands of Earl Hail Jeoran?  I, Earl Hail Jeoran, made that authorization.  This was done in order to arrest or eradicate a faction calling themselves the ‘Northridge Freelancers,’ a group of bandits and highwaymen who were in open revolt.  The royal army was notified of their presence several times in the lead up to the final confrontation, and has only deigned to send a delegation in the aftermath to make certain that its own resources have not been squandered.  Does that explanation satisfy the legality of my use of cores on my own land?”

Keithan looked like he had just swallowed a pineapple whole.  “And whence did the cores come?”

“Display title.  [Dungeon Master I],” I ordered, and the system complied, changing my active title.  Once more Keithan looked constipated as he realized the implications.

“You are required by law to report all Dungeon Busting activities to the lord of the land prior to--”

“It is not your job to govern the collection of Dungeon Cores, Keithan,” I said sternly.  “You came here to answer a single question, did you not?  Were my battlegrounds legally employed under the laws of Yuikon?”

Keithan looked at the others he had brought with him, and he found no friendly faces.  He sighed.  “We have dueled with swords, and now with words. In both instances, I have come up short, for I see this as a draw as well.  Until I know which dungeons the cores were gathered from, which is information I cannot compel from you, I do not know for certain that this was not the action of a foreign nation and instead a legal instance of a lord defending his own land.”

I nodded.  “Do you have the ability to tell whence a core comes for yourself?  I’m told it’s a very simple spell.”

“I can,” Inquisitor Trenac said.  She had pulled a drink from her inventory and was stirring it slowly, occasionally taking sips from the blue liquid.

I pulled one of the sister cores that I had used to create the Battle Core, drawing gasps from the Natives at the casual display of either wealth or power.  “This came from the same instance as the five cores that have been spent during my personal crusade on my lands.  You have my word that I have used no core that has not been personally gathered by myself.  I loan this to you now, Inquisitor Trenac, so that you may verify its source before returning it.  It is the same stock as all of the others I have used in my land.”

Trenac waved her hand, and the core floated between us.  When she caught it on an upturned palm, she took a moment to examine it before casting a very simple spell.  Then she simply threw it back to me like a softball.

“Zhesa Castle Raid,” she said.  “There were rumors you were there.  Now we know what happened to all of the cores that were created when it was destroyed.”

“If that’s true,” Captain Keithan began, “Then isn’t it also the case that Lord Jeoran has been spending the Crown’s cores?  His grandfather--”

“His grandfather obviously meant for the boy to have them,” Trenac said impatiently.  “Or they would have been divided up and stashed away immediately in the weeks between the raid being busted and the Regicide.  The boy is spending his own coin, Keithan.  Stop trying to talk some of his wealth into your pockets.  If you really want a core so badly, go bust a dungeon yourself.”

“That is not what is happening,” Keithan protested.  “I am simply performing my duty.”

“Duty which you failed to perform for weeks, before the boy was forced to take matters into his own hands.  Now you chastise him for doing your job for you,” Trenac challenged.  “Put it aside, Keithan.  You’re only making yourself look foolish.”

Keithan was silent a long moment, looking back at his men for reinforcement, only to find that they, too, had taken my side.  A lieutenant stepped up and bowed courtly to me.

“My Lord Jeoran.  It rankled upon many of us that we heard of an insurrection within our land, and that the nobles who supposedly hold sway while the throne was empty were too busy jostling for power to do anything about it,” the woman stated.  “I, and many of the others, are proud that you should shove politics aside and simply do what needed to be done for your lands.  If I may be so bold as to put words into my captain’s mouth; now that you have done all of the hard work for us, how might we serve with the cleanup?”

Keithan looked at his lieutenant, surprised, but did not contradict or countermand her.  If anything, he looked relieved to have someone push him over the subject.  I considered for a moment what I would have of them.

“I suppose where we need the most help is guarding and trying the prisoners,” I admitted.  “Upon their surrender, I vowed that I would commute any capital crimes to life imprisonment for the leader and his lieutenants save for murder itself, and I am bound to that oath by the Battle Core itself.  It is the same oath that prevents them from escaping.  However, there is no need to house them indefinitely in the hastily constructed cells beneath the constabulary.  If your men, and perhaps a few loyal Travelers, could escort them back to the city.

“You’re not even letting us stay for the banquet?” one of Keithan’s sergeants asked.

“If there’s to be a banquet, it will be an unofficial one,” I said.  “Today was a necessary battle, not a glorious one.  As soon as this audience is concluded, I will be retiring to be with my family.  My brother was born recently, and I haven’t seen my mother in some time.”

“I see,” Keithan said.  “Well then.  I will arrange the prisoner transfer with your men.  It is good that they are bound by oath to be tried for their crimes, but that doesn’t mean they will be model prisoners.  I would request aid from your own army and whatever--”

“Request whatever you want,” I said.  “I delegate all these decisions to my constable – sorry, Deputy Phil and my Lieutenant – oh wait, the system says he got promoted during the battle.  Captain Laurant and Deputy Phil will handle any coordination you require, Keithan.”

The man looked annoyed, but accepted the dismissal as the two Travelers waved to get his attention.  That left me with just Inquisitor Trenac to deal with tonight, but she too waved me off.

“I suppose I should say something about how if you don’t like my judgment, you won’t be able to duel me to get rid of me as you did Voss,” she commented, sipping on her blue drink.  “Like it or not, you asked for the inquisition’s help in rooting out corruption in North Shire.  Voss was a disgrace to the inquisition and you did us a favor by ridding us of him.  But while he was Duke Storm Teoran’s lapdog, I am a Ramsay Hound, Hail, with no master but my own concept of justice.  And you have slipped my leash and set me after a prey.  I will not stop until every hint of corruption is cleansed from the Shire.”

I sighed and shrugged.  “Good hunting, then.  I am tired.  Larissa, will you make me a portal to Thorn March?”

My court mage did as requested, and most of my party went through, including my guards, except for those Travelers who were remaining behind to deal with the mess.