Letter

The lord's office, Castle district.

Lord Ulric was sitting at his desk while taking care of some official documents that seemed to be endless.

The room he was in was quite spacious containing a large and beautifully decorated desk that seemed to be made of the finest wood, two large bookshelves that were filled to the brim with all sorts of books, a stunning chandelier full of candles as well as two large windows behind the lord's desk that let in a substantial amount of light.

All these things made the room look bright, spacious and elegant; just enough to impress any that entered it, yet still gave a sense of humbleness and simplicity.

As lord Ulric was still deeply focused on dealing with the paperwork related to the territory that was in front of him, he suddenly heard someone knocking on his office door.

"Come in" said lord Ulric.

The door slowly opened and from it entered a man the seemed to be about 1.8 meters tall, in his early forties, has brown eyes, meticulously well cared for graying hair as well as a well maintained white mustache.

He was wearing what can only be described as a butler's uniform, making him look sharp and clean.

"My lord" the man expressed to Ulric with a small and courteous bow.

"Ah yes, Alfred you arrived faster than I expected" said Ulric with ever so slight surprise.

"Of course my lord, serving you is my duty as well as my priority" replied Alfred.

"Oh drop it, Alfred, we both know that you are much more than just a servant"

Alfred was the head butler for the Blackwell family, not only that, but he also came for a long family line of butlers that had served the previous heads of the Blackwell family faithfully for many generations.

Alfred was no different from his predecessors and can be said to be the lord's closest confidant and the man who knew the family and more precisely the current lord's secrets, habits, character as well as temperament the most, all of which spoke volumes of his importance to the household as a whole.

"So, have you finished the assignment I have given you?" asked lord Ulric.

"Yes my lord, I have asked all those that interacted with the young lord about his state ever since he woke up after his accident, I asked for any changes that may have happened to his character or behavior. Most have reported nothing of interest or to be concerned about at the moment, though many have noticed that he has become a lot more curious about his environment as well as his eagerness to explore it." Replied Alfred.

" I see. That's a relief. You know Alfred, as much as we have everything we can dream of, wealth, power, prestige as well as an abundance of virtually everything. It is moments like these that reminds us that we are no different than our subjects. All it takes is a simple accident for us to be buried right next to them, yet the nobility these days has convinced itself that it was naturally superior."

Lord Ulric lamented, then continued.

"Here I am, sitting here today with all my power and prestige, yet it was all useless in the face a simple horse-fall that almost took my son away from me" he sighed.

Alfred said nothing to his lord; he simply listened to what he had to say. Right now he just needed to keep silent and nothing else.

"Anyways, just keep an eye on William from now on, if anything unexpected happens inform me immediately, you are dismissed" commanded Ulric.

"As you command my lord, I shall inform the servants to observe him as well as inform you of any news." Alfred responded, bowed and left the room.

A few minutes later someone once more knocked on the lord's office room.

Lord Ulric put down the quill that he had just picked up and said "come in".

From the door entered Oswin Harrison the captain of the castle guards.

"My lord". The captain saluted after he entered.

"Harrison, what news do you have for me?". Question lord Ulric.

"My lord we have received news today from your eldest son Lord Marek." Harrison replayed. He took a letter from his pocket and placed it on the lord's desk.

"I was just about to send a messenger to get some news from him; it has already been about a week since he set off to deal with the bandits' problem, he should have been back by now. I guess that he encountered some difficulties?"

commented lord Uric. He picked the letter opened it and started reading its content.

Apparently, the letter was not too long, since it took the lord less than five minutes to read it.

"I see that I have been proven right, the bandits have demonstrated themselves to be more troublesome than we thought. From Marek's message they know the territory like the back of their hands, they probably have a local working with them or worst, they are made up of locals themselves. Apparently, he had little success in tracking them down".

Lord Ulric explained.

"My lord, should I rally the guard and go to the young lord's aid? If you give me five days I can guarantee their extermination". Harrison saluted and said.

"No no, there is no need for that. I sent him to deal with this task as a learning opportunity; he is the next in line after all. If I send you then what is the point? You would solve it for him and he will learn nothing. The situation is not serious from what he wrote, let him struggle a bit, after all, if he can't even deal with a bandit group, then how can he take over the territory after I die?"

answered lord Uric.

"As you command my lord." The captain of the guards saluted and was dismissed shortly after while holding a letter in his hands that the Lord gave him, it was to be delivered to his eldest son.

Lord Ulric sighed.

"Ohh Marek, you were always a warrior at heart but never a commander, so how can you one day be a lord and take my place? I hope that this experience teaches you something about seeing the big picture. Sometimes using your brain is better than using your brawn."

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Business district, the Singing stream tavern.

It was quite rowdy inside as people came and went, chatting as well as drinking to their heart's content. The tavern was not what you would call a people' tavern, as it serves the poor providing cheap ale and food. Nor was it very luxurious, serving high-end food and refined wine.

It was more something in between those two, more so targeting small and medium-size merchants and artisans that are doing well for themselves.

William had just finished a cup of ales. "ahh, nothing better than some good ale during the day don't you think? What's the matter; you look like someone who just got sold into slavery or something, cheer up man, fatten your belly and quench your thirst for life is short"

Edmund was still in a trance looking at all the food and drinks in front of him. He still could not believe his situation as the day went from strange to even stranger.

It started with him minding his own business and stressing out while trying to think of a way to repay his loan, or at least to convince the loaners to extend the deadline until he could pay them back.

Yet as he was walking in the business district in plain daylight, ha was suddenly dragged into an alley by the very same people he dreaded meeting.

From there thing things just went from "I am about to get my ass kicked to, I just got bought like some cheap goods" when this man next to him "purchased" him and instead of working him like a slave, the first thing he did was drag him to this tavern and ordered a table full of food and drinks for the both of them.

He had seen quite a bit during his life, yet this was the first situation that completely stumped him to such an extent, he did not know if he should be grateful to the young man in front of him or if he should fear him.