Anton sat in his office within the branch of the Golden Bank he had made in Chent. Although his mission had been long, it wasn’t hard for him to amass wealth and power within the Free Cities to the point where he managed to get a place on its ruling council. The death of the pirate Lords had left a power vacuum that was waiting to be filled. Infighting amongst the rchant lords and rcenaries had ant the positions were never truly filled.
With his resources, connections, and the secret support of the Empire, it had been easy for him to gain influence, using the wars that broke out to amass imnse wealth. The ruling council was suspicious of Anton for good reason. With the Empire’s expansionist policy, the council had believed him to be working for the Empire for a while, but when his funds were used to support both sides of the conflict in the Commonwealth, the suspicion slowly dwindled, and his reputation shifted from Alfred’s supporter to that of an opportunist. It wasn’t hard to make this appearance to the lord of Chent. No one knew Anton was in Alfred’s inner circle, only knowing the Emperor had helped establish the Golden Bank.
With the straightforward explanation that Alfred allowed the creation of the Golden Bank to ensure economic stability and facilitate growth throughout the Empire, the remaining suspicions were dispelled. Although everyone knew he still worked with Alfred, it was only expected, as the largest lender in the Empire.
"They have arrived." Anton’s secretary walked into his office, bowing towards Anton. With a smile, Anton got up and followed his secretary out. Following him into a neighbouring room, two rcenaries sat along with a few rchants. Anton looked at them and nodded, taking a seat at the head of the table they were around.
"Gentleman, it is ti," Anton said coolly, looking at the smiling faces that nodded eagerly. ’God, this place is great.’ He had noticed quickly in Chent that nothing was more important than money. Loyalty to the system didn’t matter; only who was the highest bidder. Usually, it would have been impossible to buy so much support, but he had the resources of the Empire backing him. To outspend the Council was an easy matter for him, although that alone wasn’t enough.
"Your promises. Can you back them?" One of the rchant lords said with a greedy voice. Anton looked at him and nodded.
"With the collapse of the Commonwealth, many of your previous rivals have been dealt with; a gap has been purposefully left for you to fill." Anton looked around the room, "This applies to all of you. The Gold Bank will support you with all its resources to expand in its lands, as well as give each of you control of one of the many free cities as your personal domain. Obviously, you must follow the major laws of the Empire, but a degree of freedom will be provided."
The rchants, hearing that, all smiled, happy to expand. The business prospects weren’t the main thing they were after however, sothing Anton learnt quickly. Controlling one of the many cities within Chent was. Despite the council’s existence, no mber of it was allowed to directly own any of the cities; it fell under collective ownership. To the n around him, it ant a loss of profit they could directly benefit from.
The rcenaries were easier. Many of them didn’t care about the things Chent provided. Sure, they liked the independence of the Free Cities, but as wandering soldiers, they rarely stayed for extended periods. With the big payday that Anton was providing, it could allow many of them to retire without having to see the battlefield once again. Seeing no disagreents, Anton stood up and clapped his hands.
"I shall call a eting of the council. I hope you all will be ready to move." The n all nodded, and seeing that Anton smiled, they left. His secretary quickly ca to his side. "Send word to His Majesty. Chent has fallen in line." The secretary nodded and walked off.
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"Why have you called this Anton? We are all incredibly busy." The most senior mber of the council said with a bored tone as he looked around the table. Anton smiled and pushed forward a docunt. On it was the imperial seal of Alfred and the Empire.
"With , I have a condition for the complete vassalisation of the Free Cities." Anton cooly spoke, ignoring the piercing gazes of those around him. The docunt was fake, Alfred leaving things to him, but the seals were real, sothing he had borrowed form Alfred.
"A funny joke, Anton." One of the mbers said coldly, "But not sothing you should say again."
"I am not joking. His Majesty has decreed that Chent shall beco a vassal state. You will all accept because it is what he desires." Anton said smoothly as he stared at the old man opposite him. The man’s eyes were dangerously cold.
"We should have expected this from a dog that ca from the Empire. After all, didn’t your, Blessed Emperor, fund your banks opening?" The old man scoffed, "Do you think we would accept such a thing?" The man picked up the docunt and tore it in half, throwing the pieces at Anton. "Give your answers to the Emperor and let him co and take our lands himself."
"Last chance to accept," Anton said without a change in tone. "He doesn’t wish for war but will happily accept if that’s what you want."
"Let him." The old man said with venom, and those who supported him happily nodded. Anton sighed and stood up.
"As a businessman, I had assud you would be smarter than this. Able to follow the safest and most profitable path, but I guess not." Anton looked around the table at those who supported him. The council was made up mainly of rchants, but on its council were two rcenary companies. They were the ones who gave the council so much confidence; their companies were renowned throughout the continents for their strength and size after all. "Gentleman, if you may."
His supporters all nodded, including the two rcenary leaders. Getting up, they pounced on those who opposed Anton’s desires. Whilst the rcenaries quickly disposed of those near them, killing them quickly, the rchants struggled, breaking into little fights until the rcenaries saved them. Anton smiled and retook his seat. Whilst the rcenaries would usually rally every company within Chent to defend the City’s states from foreign invasion, the Empire had shown itself to be formidable in recent years.
The strength of its armies showed how worthless it would be to fight a war with the Empire. It had, after all, destroyed and integrated two kingdoms into its sphere of influence in less than twenty years. They all knew they could have rallied support from the Gotcis or Lisaponics, but when gold and the promise of survival were dangled in front of them, the choice was easy.
With the corpses still warm, many of the rchants felt sick at the sight of the dead and had to step out to calm themselves down, whilst Anton and a few others patiently waited. Minutes passed, and as they ca back in one by one, Anton looked around.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, the council has shrunk, making the previous vote null." Anton interlocked his fingers and leaned on his hands with a thin smile on his face, "All in favour of the Free Cities coming under the banner of the Empire as a vassal, please, raise your hands." So of the n still hesitated, but with a glare from Anton, they quickly fell in line and voted for the agreent.
Once the last hand was raised into the sky, Anton took a deep breath and leaned back into his chair. "Perfect. His Majesty has given complete liberty to take control of the finer details of the agreent. Whilst we shall go into more detail about that later, our first action will be to offer tribute to the Empire. Now I know many of you will not wish to give away your hard-earned gold, so I will cover all the costs of this. Do not worry."
Anton slowly rose and looked at the rcenaries, "The gold is already in your nas. Provide proof of your identity, and it will be transferred to you; otherwise, you may leave it in my care." Anton fixed his sleeve and looked at the n. "This is a monuntal day for both Chent and the Empire. So please do not do sothing as foolish as think you are better off without it, or sothing terrible may happen."
Resting his hand on his heart and lowering his head, Anton would have looked like the perfect gentleman if it weren’t for the bodies lying around the floor. "Now then, I must write up the contract for His Majesty to approve. It has been a pleasure."
Stepping out of the room and walking down the council halls, his secretary sat waiting for him, reading through a random report. "Is it done?" The secretary quietly asked, scared that soone might overhear. Anton smiled and nodded.
"We can’t have the people of the free cities knowing the true details. Suppress the information as best as you can."
"It will be hard. With so many witnesses, we can’t hide it forever." Anton frowned but understood. "And when they do not appear in public for a while, questions will be asked, and they will easily be traced back to the Empire.
"The old man died from a heart attack, unable to believe that the council would willingly agree to beco a vassal state. He was an old bastard known for his short temper. As for the rest, publicly, we will buy them out. They couldn’t accept living under the Empire, so they happily sold their assets to start anew elsewhere."
"What do you really want to do?" The secretary asked with a detached tone. Anton thinly smiled, happy he had a worker who understood him so well.
"Take it by force. Nothing public if it can be helped. Keep deaths to a minimum." The secretary nodded, the two walking in silence back to the carriage waiting for them.
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