74 74. The Manor House 10

Novum half carried half drug the fat man out of his own house and threw him as far as he could. The fat man knew that if he did not get up and move that Novum would continue to kick or throw him down the middle of the street until they reached the orphanage. His only hope was that the city guards would help him. That was when he remembered that he paid quite a bit of money to a few of the guards to stay out of this area. Any young guards that still walked through the area would not go against one noble for the sake of another noble.

They were almost all of the way to the orphanage when a young guard came walked down the street. He quickly ran towards the scene and his mouth dropped open in shock when he saw the scene in front of him. Before he could even say anything Novum spoke up. "Young man this is business between nobles and no one else has been involved. You are obviously here because you care for the people in this area. So, I have a job for you."

"How can I help Baron?" He recognized Novum and knew that he was a man of his word.

"You are going to gather all of the kids in the orphanage and take them to the temple and hand them over to Sister Crystal. Tell her that they all need fed and clothed." He handed him a pouch of gold coins. "Give that to her as well." The woman that was in charge of the orphanage saw everything and started gathering up all of the kids in the place. The youngest could barely walk so a few of the older ones picked up the little ones and carried them along. They did not know what was going on but they knew better that to disobey.

"Okay kids. You are going to need to come with me for a little bit and we will get you all something to eat and something warmer to wear." The kids all fell into line behind him and they all headed towards the church without any more questions. The guard was not sure what was going on but he knew that the less he knew about it the better off he would be.

As soon as the kids were out of sight Novum picked the fat man up by the scruff of his neck and tossed him into the building. "So, Baron Wright, what about this house says kids live and flourish here? What about this place says that we are raising the future of this city?"

The Baron got to his knees and looked around the room and realized that there was nothing that he could say that would sooth this man's anger. So, he did not say anything. He was and always had been a greedy man and this would not change anything. He would figure a way out of this and then deal with the young upstart in front of him.

"So what about it Baron? Do you think that this is the way that an orphanage should look? If you don't answer me I will hurt you and hurt you a lot."

"No this is not the way an orphanage should look."

"Then what should it look like? Hunh? Should it have clean floors and good food and clothing? Or should they have to worry about rats and bugs in their beds and food? Should they go to sleep knowing that once winter breaks part of them might not wake up the next morning?" Novum hit the Baron in the face several times and blood was flowing from his mouth and nose.

Novum blew out a long breath and knew that he had went a little far but he would not have taken it back even if he wanted to. This man deserved to be beaten to death but he would not be the one to do it. He grabbed the man by one wrist and drug him through the capitol towards the Duke's manor. No one that saw anything said a word. Several of them stopped and looked but when they saw that both men were wearing noble badges they quickly quit worrying about it.

The guards at the gate saw the baron and reached out to stop him. "The Duke is expecting me."

The guards were not sure what to do when a guard captain came towards them and motioned for them to let him pass. Novum still did not bother to pick the other noble up and drug him all the way to the Duke's meeting room. He walked the right distance away and gave the Duke a deep bow. "Greetings Duke. I apologize on being late this morning."

"It appears that something had to do with the orphanage and Baron Wright. Would you care to give me a rundown?"

"Lat night I found two youth in an alley and the girl was about to be abused by a few men and I got rid of them. I accidently killed one of them and turned them over to the guards on patrol. Then I found out that they ran away from the orphanage because the lady in charge was going to send the girl to the baron here for extra coins that he is supposed to be sending there anyways."

The duke turned towards the mage behind him. "Who is supposed to inspect the orphanage?"

"That would be Gregory Allen sir."

"Bring him to me." The mage simply walked out to find the man. "While we wait, I am assuming that this is not the original reason that you wanted to see me today."

"No sir. Three Mines leadership has decided to invoke the clause in the town charter that passes the leadership of the town to me. They are going to stay on in an advisory capacity and that will become and elected position from then on. I wanted to get your permission to hire on the guards that I am authorized as a Baron. There is also another issue."

"A man showed up a couple of weeks ago and talked to the mayor and told him that our area was being sold to the duke of the next region and that we owed them tax money for the year. I threw him out of the building and out of the town. I wanted you to be aware of it and to find out if there is anything in the works so that I do not offend the person that is taking over the area."

"I see. No I have no intention of giving up you area to anyone. That area provides us with a lot of resources and honestly it is a beautiful area. In the event that something like that does arise you will receive official word from me. I have a feeling that it was a bandit group trying to trick you into giving them gold with out any of the work."

"I have enough guards that I can send a group to you in a few days. I will send out a request for volunteers so that we can get the right guys and then fill those slots with new recruits. You will be responsible for paying them but that amount will be deducted from your annual taxes. Do you have a place for them to stay?"

"Due to a fortuitous encounter I have a full manor and along with a barracks and a few other necessary things. I have started hiring the proper personnel to assist in the management of the area."

"I will have to come and visit you."

"You are welcome any time Duke. I would recommend waiting until spring so you don't get stuck."

"I will send a certain someone first so that they can open up a way between here and there when I want to visit or maybe hunt."

"We do have a lot of great hunting in the area."

About that time the mage walked in with a man that looked a lot like the Baron lying on the ground walked in. "As requested."

"Thank you. Mr. Allen, since you are not asking why I asked for you after seeing your cousin on the ground beaten must mean that you know why you are here."

"Duke, I am not positive. My cousin had a lot of shady deals going on and I am not sure which one of them got him beaten up like this."

"Well if you are not sure which one of them it was that must mean that you are in on all of them."

"No, no, no, no, no sir. I assumed that he got caught for something and that you wanted to see if I knew about it. I did not take part in any of them."

Novum spoke up. "What about the orphanage you were supposed to inspect?"

"The orphanage was in great shape and the kids were doing well the last time I was there." Before he could say anything else Novum crossed the distance between them and kicked the man in leg so hard that they all assumed it was broken.

"So, you are saying the breaking a girls leg because she ran away instead of being molested by your cousin, great shape. That fact that they were fighting with rats and bugs for not only food but a warm place to sleep," he slapped the man hard, "you call that great shape."

"Baron could you stop beating him for a few minutes please?"

"Sorry Duke." There was not a trace of sorrow in his voice as he said it. But he walked away without any regret.

About that time the baron that was unconscious started waking up. "Good Baron Wright you are awake. As of this moment you are stripped of your title and all privilege's that go with it. You are to be taken into confinement until a full investigation is complete into your fraud." The symbol on his chest crumbled at the Duke's words.

"Gregory Allen, you are hereby removed of your position with the region and will be confined until the investigation is complete. Guards please remove both of these men." The guards in the back of the room came forward and collected both of them and sent to to get minimal treatment before they were tossed into holding cells.

"I will have someone appointed to take care of the orphans and get them taken care of."

"That will not be necessary Duke. They are at the temple being taken care of and I will be taking them to my manor. The young ones will go to school and the older ones will start training with a mentor until they figure out what they want to do in life."

"Baron, that is not necessary. It is the responsibility of the region to take care of them."

"Duke, I respect you position but they will becoming with me. I was not asking for your permission I was informing you of what was going on." He saw the mage behind the duke gripping his staff. "I have no doubt that you can take me but I can tell you this is would be cheaper to build a new orphanage than repair the damages to this place while you are trying to do it. I will be taking those kids to my manor so that I can be sure that they are taken care of. Because given the state of things that was not happening here. Two crooked men should not be able to destroy that many lives."

The Duke held up his hand. "You are right Baron Novum. This is my fault. I should have invested more time in the future. Please make sure that you keep the receipts and they will also be accounted for out of your taxes. And thank you. I, I need to start paying more attention to the little things. I will have the guards to you in a few days."

"Thank you Duke. I feel that I should apologize for my crass behavior."

"No Baron you are just what this region needs right now. Have a safe trip back and I will be sure to come and visit soon."

"Oh before I forget, I actually brought you something." He pulled out one of the old bottles of wine. "I got distracted and forgot my manners." He handed the bottle to the Duke who whistled at the age of the bottle.

"This is an amazing gift. Thank you Baron."

Novum bowed his head and took his leave. He needed to go and check on the kids and he still had a lot of people to talk to.