Chapter 438
While Ajax was relaxing and taking a well deserved break the sa could not be said about his brother. After finishing his term with the guard Tom had beco a lot more politically savvy by necessity. Even now he was attending court in the royal palace as the representative of House Hearthbound.
“Your Majesty, you must reconsider.” One of the newer Baron families cried out. “The training thod for the youth should be refined by the nobility before it is spread throughout the kingdom to the commoners.”
The Baron’s words did nothing to convince anyone that he in any way cared about the commoners or that he believed the ideas he spouted with such ‘conviction’.
“That decision is already set in stone.” the king refuted the attempt. “We are here to discuss other changes that are coming.”
“Your Majesty, are you sure it is wise to raise House Hearthbound from Baron straight to Duke.” Another noble changed the subject. For one it was sothing Tom very much agreed with, his family wasn’t ready to settle one of the larger compounds in the capital with anything more than a bare bones crew.
“House Hearthbound must be amongst one of the ducal houses, their contribution to the greater good are remarkable.” Tom would have been a lot more flattered by the remarks had he not realised that the noble was an ass kisser through and through and was now looking for a new master to provide him with benefits.
News that they were going to be raised to landed dukes had spread like a wildfire through dry grass. This in turn had caused a few issues for them, especially Judy. Though she might not even admit it to herself, the reason why Judy pushed so hard to make the company a success was that she felt afraid of ending up like her mother had been when they lived in Open Caves.
Judy had been the only one to see her mothers passion die slowly day by day. Tom had seen her raising young children so she was too preoccupied to focus on anything else and Ajax had been so tunnel focused on his training he had missed the signs.
Once they were finally well established in the capital Judy was finally able to let loose, so she naturally started the rebellious phase she skipped during her teen years. This manifested itself in the form of flirting with so of the more interesting noble boys she ca across.
The discovery of the duchy had been the beginning of the end for Judy. Every single noble son she had interacted with was now being pressured by their elders to get close to her.
“We need to stop bickering amongst ourselves and start preparing for our foreign guests.” Duke Manashaper’s voice cut through the noise despite the gentle yet strong tone he used. “This is our chance to make history, for the first ti in millenia humanoids are taking a step forward in evolution.”
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Court was going to be held well into the night but none of the topics were all that interesting to Tom. Having done his job as a representative Tom quietly departed from the royal palace and instead started to head towards their growing fields and the forest beyond them to look for his bond.
Over the years Fluffy had finally reached his full height when he was about the size of an average horse. Unlike Tom, Fluffy hadn’t branched out into politics and had remained a regularly active predator that road the borders of the forest. One ti he even dragged ho a broken and slightly chewed body of a bear.
Once he collected his bond he quickly returned to their current estate. Not much had changed on the inside but there was a massive change when one looked at the outer edges of the Villa. Dotted all around were carefully crafted statues all from so mana infused rock.
Tom quickly found his father, sister as well as Hatchet and Luna in one of the tea rooms as they were called. “Is it going any better?” he asks his sister though he already expects that not much had changed in her situation.
“We’ve got so news.” Judy sprang at the distraction from the disaster that was her suitors. “Dad, look we’re getting out ho back.”
The ssage that Ajax had sent them shared which portion of the kingdom House Hearthbound would rule over.
“It would be good to return.” Hatchet said with a nod as he stroked the thick beard that had grown in. “I wonder if there is anything left of Open Caves, did soone rebuild or was it left as it was, a destroyed town carrying with it the horrifying mory of what happened that night when the lizards descended on the village.”
As he spoke Hatchet was massaging his arm subconsciously reliving the mont he had lost his original arm, the movents were so small that they could only be there to ensure that the regrown arm was there and not just a fignt of his imagination.
“He’ll finally be held accountable.” Sam said referring to the foolish young noble who triggered the lizard migration by steeling one of the eggs.
“This can’t be right.” Luna said as she took a look at the map Judy had spread out. “You have control over a dungeon?”
Up until now dungeons had always been owned by crown, they all wondered why the were being given official ownership of the dungeon and what responsibilities they were going to get along with the reward.
The person most pleased by how things were going was King Gryndor. The man was old and starting a year ago he had started feeling his power and prowess decline as ti passed. The feeling of passing on the throne and leaving Gryndor in the best position they had ever been in.
It was too long after Tom had made his hasty exit that the king followed suit, right now everything was going his way but he had too much experience to think that it would last. More than that he was starting to get worried about whatever it was that the beastkin were planning, he very much hoped that their dreams of expansion would head outwards into the wastelands rather than inwards and towards dominating his peers.
Unfortunately for the king he simply didn’t have the ti to personally focus on the beastkin. He had enough going in between solidifying the alliance with Sylvanthal, keeping everything peaceful at ho in regards to Ajax’s promotion to duke. Finally both the Empire and the Republic had started to reach out to him to enquire about getting on the delving exchange.
The king had quickly replied to both nations with noncommittal answers. The ones sent to the Republic were a lot more honest but King Gryndor was unwill to cent any deal until he saw how the first attempt turned out. Or rather this would be the second attempt as Ajax was the first to do this but he didn’t feel it would be fair or accurate to use Ajax as the comparison for all who ca after.
It wouldn’t be long until Ajax returned and the king was looking forward not only to see how much he had grown over the course of his journey but also because he couldn’t wait to see how Ajax would manage a duchy. It was easy to always give the ‘correct’ answer in a hypothetical in class and another thing entirely to make decisions on the spot that could completely change the direction of their lives.
“Only a few more weeks.” the king whispered to himself with a wide smile.
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