Chapter 363 - Mister Weyblon
Myjack ca to receive him. “Sir, where are we going to go now?”
Claude weaselled into his carriage with a heavy heart. “Let’s go back ho. I don’t want to return to line HQ.”
“Yes.” Myjack closed the door and told the coachman their destination. Their carriage began to move as Gum escorted them with a tent of guards on both sides.
Ranger’s command headquarters was located in the capital of Anfiston, Grinosburg. It was the largest mountain city in the colony as well as a core mining centre. Claude had always suspected that the reason Grinosburg was made capital of Anfiston was the two large gold mines nearby. The forr viceroy and high-commissioners must’ve paid the mines real concern as how filled their pockets were greatly depended on them.
He recalled the ti when Prince Hansbach ca to survey Ranger. When the independent colonies were about to be dissolved for the formation of the war theatre, the viceroy and the high-commissioner of the colony didn’t seem quite willing to take their leave. According to so leaks, the viceroy was allowed to obtain a tenth of the produce of both gold mines. That could easily amount to a thousand crowns each year.
Grinosburg was situated in the mountains and travelling to it required going uphill, which was a really long journey. Line 131’s camp had once been located in the town of Ferro, which used to be in Balingana and so 150 kilotres away from Grinosburg. However, the restructuring of the war theatre caused the town to fall under Robisto’s jurisdiction. One of Claude’s first victories on Nubissia was the night attack on Ferro back when 131 was just a tribe. They managed to take out a whole line of enemy garrison soldiers and took so three thousand of them as hostages.
However, Claude’s ho was in the town of Lanu because his family liked the weather and view there. Angelina had brought their mother, Kefnie and her child there once and tried hard to show them Lanu’s appeal. She lived there when she first took Bloweyk to report for duty too, so she did the sa this ti. Claude directly got a mansion beside Lake Lanu for his mother, wife and child to stay in. It was the first house he got on Nubissia.
“Myjack, when we return, send soone to line HQ to deliver my orders. Have them retreat to Lanu to set up camp. We’ll have to stay here for quite a period of ti,” Claude said.
Claude had decided that he would move his command post as field marshal to Lanu and make it into the new capital for Anfiston. That would save him half a day’s ti for having to travel to Grinosburg. Not to ntion, embarking from Lanu to Robisto would be much faster and would allow them to respond much quicker at the frontlines.
The carriage travelled along a path towards the beautiful lakeside manor. Weyblon Manor was the sumr ho of a mining guild’s top executive. Every sumr, the executive would bring his family along to the manor. He rented it to Claude willingly for a monthly rent of one crown and the two could be said to have built so rapport.
The carriage stopped and Claude noticed a familiar carriage when he got down. The black coach had a stylised ‘Wey’ on it. It appeared that soone from Mister Weyblon’s family had co to visit. However, he wasn’t sure whether it was the man himself, his wife, or the whole family.
Having one’s surna and household insignia on the carriage was a tradition of this world. However, Weyblon wasn’t a noble and didn’t have the right to bear an insignia or have his surna on his carriage. So, he chose to use part of his surna as the marker for his carriage. This was sothing that the administration approved of and carriages with that logo were undoubtedly his.
Claude grimaced. Even though he rented the place for one crown, Weyblon had made many visits over the past few tis and the gifts he brought were a few tis the rent’s worth. He didn’t know what part of him caught the man’s attention for him to spend so much money ‘investing’ in him. Though, he supposed that the man was a rather good judge of character, since he was about to be promoted to major-general in three short months. He would also take over Miselk’s post as field marshal.
Butler Alek ca to receive him in a hurry and bowed deeply. “Sir, welco ho.”
The butler was also soone Weyblon recomnded to him. Alek used to serve a count in the royal family. His own family had been serving the count’s household for three generations but unfortunately, when ti ca for his turn, things went downhill. The new successor of the count had been spoiled bad since childhood and had a horrible temper. He did whatever he pleased and ignored the earnest pleas and advice of his subordinates.
After the new count tried investing and failed multiple tis, the riches of the household was soon drained up. In the end, the count lost all self control and drowned himself in alcohol all day and blad the world for his problems. As the butler, Alek had tried multiple tis to cheer the count back up, but the constant advice only served to annoy the count and caused him to fire him imdiately.
Not expecting that his loyal advice would earn him such an end, Butler Alek left the household in grief and decided to emigrate to the colonies in Nubissia with his family. He eventually settled down in Anfiston and got a job with Weyblon’s company. When Weyblon heard about his experiences, he offered him the position of a butler for his family, but Alek refused, insisting on serving nobody but nobles.
So, when Weyblon heard that Claude was trying to find a place for his family to stay, he offered him the lakeside manor for a cheap price and recomnded Alek to him. Despite just being just- an honorary baron, Claude was still quite young and had a bright future. He was just right for Alek, whose principles was to serve nobody but nobles.
Claude nodded and pointed at the carriage. “Did Mister Weyblon co to visit?”
“Yes. He had co to visit Madam Ferd and Madam Kefnie. The old madam was quite happy to join them for a al. Mister Weyblon also said that you would be back today, so he took a rest in the guest room during the afternoon. I think he has sothing he wants to discuss with you about,” the butler said.
“Okay. Make us so food for now. I’ll take a bath after and head to the study. Go check if Mister Weyblon has fallen asleep. If he isn’t, invite him to the study for .” Claude removed his outer wear and handed it to the butler.
By the ti Claude and Myjack finally sat down to start their als, Kefnie ca downstairs from the main hall to the dining hall. She was once again pregnant. In less than half a year since she ca to Nubissia, Claude successfully managed to impregnate her once more.
“Why did you co back today?” Kefnie asked with a surprised look.
As Line 131 was based in Ferro, Claude could only return once a month. He would have to go back after staying for three days.
Claude stood up and gave his wife a light kiss and stroked her face. “We won’t be going back. I’ll be staying ho for good. My unit’s also going to move to Lanu.”
“Really?” It was great news for her. The two of them often stayed far apart since their marriage. The more Claude was promoted, the less ti he had to spend at ho. This was contrary to her wish that he would be quickly discharged and sent ho to spend the rest of his life peacefully with his family and children while she lived the blissful life of a housewife. However, she now had to be a housewife, the mother to her child all the while learning how to behave like a good baroness...
Claude sat back down. “Of course it’s true. By the way, where’s Tesoray?”
Tesoray, their son, was born in Year 582. It had been six years since then and the child was at his naughtiest. Given that Claude seldom returned ho, the child spoiled so badly by her grandmother was quite unfamiliar with his own father, much to Kefnie’s frustration.
“He caught a hornet in the garden this morning and got stung. That sent him crying for most of the day. Mother got Anna to co back and patch him up. He went to sleep after having lunch. I’m sure he was spent from all that crying.”
Claude didn’t really mind it. It was all too common for naughty boys to get a little scuffed out. That was how he had spent his childhood anyways. Kefnie on the other hand was always full of worries. She thought that there must be a hornet’s nest sowhere in the surroundings and that was a huge threat to Tesoray. She asked Claude to send his guards to look around and figure out a way to deal with those pests.
He wanted to say that the hornets were the ones who would be threatened. The brute of a child would no doubt try to seek revenge the mont he discovered the nest. However, he couldn’t stand letting her wife continue to be fraught with worries, so he reluctantly agreed to her request.
Having had his fill, Claude took a bath and changed into casual clothes to receive Weyblon. Changing into casual clothes ant he was treating him as his own. After giving the man a warm hug, he asked how he knew he would be back ho.
The reason for that was quite simple. Word of Miselk summoning Claude to him had spread to Weyblon, so he figured that Claude would definitely be returning ho since war wasn’t expected to happen anyti soon. There was no way he wouldn’t go back when ho was just so close.
“Alright, my friend, just spill it to directly.” Claude got Weyblon to take a seat. Alek served them two cups of red tea before closing the study’s door behind him after he left.
Weyblon had gotten used to the manner in which Claude talked. He smiled and said, “My Lord Baron, first, I have to congratulate you for your impending promotion to major-general, as well as your appointnt to the field marshal position by Lord Militant Miselk. The reason I ca without informing you ahead of ti is a personal matter I would wish to discuss.”
Darn, what’s it gonna be? Claude’s heart sunk. How in the world did `Weyblon get sothing so sensitive when most others in the corps didn’t know about it? Was it because war theatre HQ leaked like a sieve and most of the contents of their discussion during the afternoon had been spread all throughout the colonies?
Seeing Claude regard him so warily, Weyblon figured out the reason. “Don’t be so nervous, Lord Baron. 99 percent of people in Anfiston don’t know about this. I got my information from the royal capital.”
Claude breathed a sigh of relief. It wouldn’t be weird if that were the case. Nobody there treated matters of the colonies as classified information. They would gather and discuss the matters once the slightest change was observed to show how amazing their information networks were. Miselk’s recomndation for his promotion and the plan they discussed during the afternoon might as well be leaked to Shiks already.
“You have a source in the royal capital too?” Claude asked with interest.
Weyblond nodded. “Us mining rchant guilds have an office set up in the royal capital. Every year, we have to send all the gold and silver we mine to the kingdom’s bank there.
“That’s why when we heard the news of Ranger being transferred back and the Lord Militant stepping down as field marshal, we were greatly shocked. This greatly relates to the safety of our families in Anfiston.
“According to those from the ministry of the army, we heard that the Lord Militant recomnded you to beco field marshal of the colonial war theatre as well as the fact that you will be forming five enhanced folks following Ranger’s transfer back here.
“Since the kingdom’s bottom line is for you to keep Anfiston, we had a discussion and ca to the conclusion that your talent more than qualified you for becoming field marshal. We’re pretty sure you’ll be able to defend Anfiston adequately and feel much relieved, since we don’t have to give up on our businesses here.”
Claude grimaced. “Wow, I wonder where all that confidence in ca from?”
Weyblon laughed out loud. “Well, Lord Militant Miselk thinks your top leader material. You are also quite famous for your exploits in the corps. During your service in the five-year war, you also managed to eliminate more than five thousand enemies with fewer than a clan of n! That was a miraculous victory that earned you your knighthood, right?”
“Looks like you guys have done your howork,” Claude said, shaking his head in resignation. “Alright. Let’s get to the main topic.”
“Well, Lord Baron, we are aware that 100 thousand households of settlers are going to co into Anfiston to serve as reserves for the five folks. Our mining and comrce association’s president, Henderman, would like to et you to discuss sothing about the immigrants.”
“Has your association co up with a proposal?”
Weyblon nodded. “Word from the royal capital is that the settlers will be assigned to agricultural work here. The association hopes that a portion of the settlers be allowed to populate the four mountain cities to beco citizens and workers. After all, there are many positions in the mining cities that aren’t suitable for the nikancha people. We didn’t have a choice back then because we were short on manpower. But now that we have the settlers, this problem can be easily solved.
“Additionally, we will be able to increase the numbers of Aueran citizens in the cities. That way, the ssy nikancha folk won’t be able to roam freely in them anymore. If so settlers would like to start their own businesses, we are also willing to offer them loans with small interest to start them off. Additionally, we will provide free accommodation for the settlers that move into the mining cities.”
Population ant wealth. The rchants and mine owners in the association were rather sharp. They had long set their sights on the settlers.
“I understand. I’ll discuss this matter with President Henderman when I’m free. Naturally, we’ll only allow willing citizens to move to those cities. No coercion shall be tolerated.” Claude gave a neutral reply.
Weyblon nodded thankfully, knowing that Claude had already done him a favour for not dismissing it outright. “The other matter I’m here to talk about is the association’s donation fo 100 thousand crowns to the new war theatre’s funding. We are dissatisfied with the level of support the ministry of the army had given and believe it to be far from enough.”
Donating 100 thousand crowns for the military effort?! That fellow had brought him a juicy, fattened duck! He expected Claude’s mood ward up imdiately and he launched into a flurry of thanks, failing to notice that Weyblon emphasised the new war theatre. That ant they would only donate the funds after Claude took up the position formally. Claude would one day be ‘one of them’, so he’d have to stand up for them too.
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