A Familiar Face

Li found himself in front of the golden gates for the first time. They were, true to their name, a grand set of gold-plated gates sealing off a narrow path that stretched upwards to the cliff top where the novel estates lay. The one time he found himself in the estates, he had taken an interesting underground pathway filled with vampires, so going the proper route had a rather official air to it.

There were several knights guarding the gates, and Li approached while holding out lord Lys's note in his hand. He didn't want to go through the whole 'halt' and 'state your business' formality.

One of the knights read the note. It didn't have much on it, simply listing the relevant address Li was to go to and a short sentence stating that any who had the note was granted free passage.

The knight only really paid attention to the bottom of the note, at Lys's dove seal, and nodded, giving the note back to Li and waving the knights behind him to open the gates.

Li found the path to be remarkably scenic. It circled up the cliff, and to his side he could see the vast expanse of lake Lys below, its glimmering and rippling waves of blue swaying from side to side as the midday breeze gently carried them.

He could get a sense of how isolated these nobles were from the rest of the city. To them, the city was just part of the view, a backdrop to be noticed but never truly experienced. He could make out the harbor, several fishing boats sailing out to the lake, looking like floating brown spots of wood atop the sun-sparkled blue waters.

The air was far cleaner here, untainted by stench of the city where gutters festered with sewage and dumped cooking oils, only ever dissipating when rain washed it down.

When Li reached the top, he understood how wealthy the top end of Riviera – the retired merchants and nobles – was. Massive mansions just as grandiose as that of the vampire count's were the norm, and there was even a tower that spiraled into the sky. It was apparent that Lys's friend, the man who headed this security service, ranked among the elites, and Li wondered what kind of man he was going to be dealing with.

But when he stood where the address led him, he knew who he was going to be dealing with. He double-checked the note to make sure, but he rarely made detail-based mistakes.

He found himself standing in front of the gates to the vampire count's mansion, its blackened wood standing out among the other estates.

There was just one knight guarding the gate. Instead of the spiked black and crimson armor that the vampire knights wore the night Li intruded on them, this time, the knight only wore a relatively mundane magical tier set of plate.

"Remember me?" said Li as he crumpled Lys's paper and shoved it into his pocket. He wouldn't need any invitations here, not after how badly he scared the vampires before.

"Great One." The vampire knight bowed his head and opened the gate. "The count is within."

__________________________________

"Thank you again, Claire," said Count Alarie as the maid put down a tray with two teacups, just as she had done the last time Li had met the vampire.

"Thanks," said Li as he tasted the tea. He was meeting the count in a far better mood than before, and he had to admit, the tea did taste pretty good.

The maid smiled and bowed before leaving, her steps delicate and quick.

Compared to lord Lys's study, the count's had a different air. First of all, there were no windows, meaning that, aside from a few lit candles, there was no light. Not at all a hindrance to nonhumans such as the count and Li who could see through the dark. But aside from the gloominess inherent to a vampire's study, there was a great sense of effort and time spent here.

Lys's official office seemed bought. A meeting table, a desk, and a few chairs – that was all he had. Expensive, of course, but there was no sense to it. It was as if Lys's idea of nobility was to stack up as many precious jewels and metals he could on his furniture.

But the count's study, though certainly fashioned with an expensive artisan's skills, did not ooze luxury as its main attraction. No, there were instead books. Books everywhere, packing perhaps a dozen shelves. Strange contraptions and alien creatures suspended in animation within glass display cases stood atop the shelves, no doubt things from other worlds.

The study of a scholar before that of a wealthy noble.

"You're a man of many talents, Alexei," said Li. "First, Black Vine, and now this security company? What's it called, huh, Black Guard?"

"Black Securities," said Alexei with a sigh. "I understand the naming of my properties seems rather ominous, perhaps childish, but I must admit it does stand out and builds up a recognizable brand name."

"Speaking of businesses, what are you doing with Black Vine? I'm not rubbing it in your face, I'm just curious."

"I do not let my buildings rot idle. I am repurposing them. The pharmacy by the harbor, for example, I am turning into a tavern for the fishermen. I must admit the loss of the drug trade has halted a significant amount of my profits, but I have stored more than enough coin over the centuries to weather the setback." Alexei shrugged away the topic. "But trivial matters aside, how may I assist you?"

"A couple of things, now that I know you're so close to Lys, but first off I want to hire your company for a repeating job. I've found a way to grow out harvests essentially every week, and that means the extra has to go somewhere. I want you to go ahead and set up transportation to get any extra grain and donate it to the orphanages here."

Alexei brought his bony white hands together and rested his chin atop them. "That can be easily arranged. Aside from the temple, I run a great share of the orphanages. Transferring goods from my own business to my own orphanages will be a very simple matter indeed."

Li wondered if the orphanage was named something like "The Black Orphanage" too, but he didn't pry. "It might not be too simple. I want you to have the donations under the name of Old Thane, not just a goods transfer between your properties."

"The farmer? Would that not run contrary to evading attention? I should wonder that the crown will immediately investigate how a human farmer manages to grow crop at such an astounding rate. Rather, to think further, you as well – have you decided to utilize your divine powers to accelerate you husbandry?"

"Not at all. These are the other matters I wanted your input on. The duchess herself has made this possible. She gave me miracle seeds that grow within the week, and I initially did suspect her. However, the seeds worked as advertised, which also makes sense, as if she understands the scope of my power, then she would never willingly risk angering me.

Instead, she was overly accommodating, and I've confirmed from Lys that he too was to accept almost any demand I made. You're close with Lys and know the ins and outs of this world – what are your thoughts?"

"Hm." Alexei closed his eyes in thought. His crimson third eye also closed, although slightly slower than the others. "For your donation request, I can satisfy it as I now understand that the crown is enabling you. I worry that perhaps they are scouting out who you turn to for aid, but as Lys recommended you, my bases are covered."

His eyes opened and he shook his head with a sigh. "Now, as for your more pressing questions, I cannot give a clear answer. I am somewhat close to Lys, yes, but I would not consider him a friend. Aside from his life, he is beholden only to his coin. We are merely business partners benefiting mutually from the flow of coin to city - I secure shipments and make this city safe for wealthy investors who comprise the bulk of his wealth."

"By business, are you talking about the drugs as well?"

"No. He is still strangely a man of honor – that has been bred into him from his time as a knight. He would not approve of such illicit activities, and yet his simplicity allowed me to dine at his estate without ever fearing he may find out."

Li clicked his tongue as he drew in another sip of tea. "You've got nothing for me, then?"

"I do. I do not understand why she is assisting you, but I will still urge you never to trust or rely on her."

Li nodded. "I understand what you mean. The impression I got from her wasn't great. She's sharp, and she knows how to hide what she's thinking and feeling. Nobody gets that way without hiding secrets for years."

"Indeed. What I say now must not leave the confines of this study, for it is history that has been erased from all records," said Alexei. "Before the duchess, there was her father, King Beaumont. I knew him personally, though under a different name and appearance, of course. I was a court advisor in that life. The king was a good man. Realistic, if a bit harsh, but a man worthy of a title to rule.

Before 990, the kingdom of Beaumont was yet independent. Yet at the turn of that fateful new year, the elven praetor met with Beaumont and spoke of a prophecy that the demons would invade at the start of the new millennium. The praetor gave Beaumont a choice: join the Republic he was to newly found or face the demons alone. Beaumont knew that hatred of the raiding beastmen ran strong among his human subjects, but he also understood his kingdom stood no chance without elven military might.

The praetor must have known that prophecy for nearly a decade, for that is how long the elves have utilized source magic to build up their industries and forge their great war machines, all under the guise of progress. Yet it was prudent of them to wait until there was but a mere decade until the invasion's arrival to pressure Beaumont."

"The history books I have at home don't have any of this in them. All they talk about is the tyrant Beaumont and his betrayal of humanity. How the duchess repaired her father's sins by seceding from the Republic." Li shook his head. "I knew already that wasn't entirely true, it all sounded too fairy-tale like, but how could a daughter ruin her father's legacy like that?"

Alexei laughed, not at Li, but at the absurdity of what was said. "Family means nothing to the duchess. When the demon wars began, she was but one of many princesses, the daughter of a royal concubine, but a concubine nonetheless. I remember seeing her at court when she was little. A meek little thing, afraid of the world, afraid of the new and unknown, always clutching at a toy.

But after the demon wars ended, something changed in that meek little thing. She became a sinister serpent, she did, even craftier than the serpent goddess Zahaka. When she witnessed her ward Sunstar end the demon wars by defeating the all-powerful Burning One, she began to understand the might of the heroes."

Li raised an eyebrow. "Sunstar is her ward?"

"Indeed. She was but a teenager when they met, but she took pity on the poor, starving little boy who had yet awakened to his vast powers and took him in. You see, under Beaumont's rule, they were considered mutants, less then human, and were rounded up and brutalized. That gave her inspiration. She used her position as princess to save the heroes. She built many shelters for the poor and weak with the hidden purpose of finding heroes to bring to her side.

It took many years, but in the end, famine and Beaumont's waning sway among his subjects as he continued to bow to the inhuman praetor in the north allowed her to stage a coup. The kingdom of the sun, Soleil, founded in 1020 upon swathes of blood loosed from royal corpses.

It was a swift, silent operation. A hero to put the entire royal castle to a deep sleep. A hero to brainwash any peasantry near the castle, wiping their memories entirely. Sunstar to crush the skulls of her own family. And finally, a hero to turn her father into a monstrosity of the flesh so that she could parade him as one who consorted with demons and inhumans, one whose foolishness and immorality caused him to turn into a monster that slew his entire bloodline save for, of course, the duchess herself."

Alexei leaned into his chair and crossed his arms. "It was all too easy to consolidate power afterwards. Any loyalist dissent that came afterwards, she crushed from within, warping minds or assassinating with her heroes such that none were left to speak ill of her. History, she rewrote. Her youth, she maintains with blood magic, bathing in the blood of young peasantry who will simply believe their children have fallen prey to a wild beast or monster. The temples, she ransacked, for it was there that much rhetoric was developed casting heroes as mutants.

Instead, she filled the temples with sycophants that praised the heroes as pinnacles of humanity, as killers of demons and defenders of all. It is surprising to see how quickly the beliefs of peasantry change when their bellies are full and their safeties guaranteed. Now, ten years later, Sunstar is worshiped as a living god, though he is anything but."

"Is this why you want you're lying in the shadows, collecting coin and drawing your kin together? Is it to overthrow her?"

Alexei shook his head. "Not necessarily. I will be honest. I do not mind the duchess for now. I care not of the bodies she piled to rule, for she rules aptly. The people do not starve, nor do they want. The realm does not burn, rather it flourishes. Stability and peace are all that I care about.

I only warn you that despite her attempts to lengthen her life, she is only mortal.

Like many mortal rulers before her, I fear her mind may crumble and she will give into tyranny. Her past behavior is not entirely indicative of stability. It may be that she will fall to crushing this realm, and when that happens, I must be ready to take power from her.

This is why I caution you against her. I surmise her intentions are not harmful to you. She understands your power, and she fears for her kingdom. She ingratiates herself to you so that you may not raise your hand against her people. But were her mind to deteriorate, she may lash out against you, a paragon of power, a threat, and thus inconvenience you."

"The moment she raises a hand against me is the moment everything she's built is gone. She must understand this."

"That may be so, but broken minds are not rational. Perhaps it may be to pass that she is willing to throw away her kingdom for a chance to even so much as scratch you." Alexei put his hand over his breast. "But I swear that it will never come to that. I do not wish for your power to ravage this world, nor would I ever stand such insanity upon the throne."

Alexei put a hand to his forehead to contemplate for a few seconds before nodding. "I must thank you deeply for bringing your situation to my awareness. I will increase my surveillance on the duchess and Lys. Should any incident arise that brings her rule to question, I will eliminate her myself. You will not have to dirty your hands with such a trivial matter, I truly assure you."