Itching Ears

"Hmm, any news?" Heinrich asked Ulric as he opened the door to his room. He stood on his desk as he gazed at the window. He picked up a mug of ale delivered by the barmaid. He had just finished writing letters and ciphering them. The wax on the seals were still hot.

"Yes, it seems like there is quite a stir, from what I heard the guards seem to be tightening security for an event tomorrow," Ulric took off his cape and dusted it to hang it from a rack.

"Oh, what event is there? I just finished writing the reports, so I couldn't accompany you."

"Well you know me, I like moving about more, it was just announced a few days ago, but it wasn't much of an affair then."

"What exactly are you talking about? What wasn't much of an affair?" Heinrich faced toward him and raised his eyebrow.

"Actually, I'm surprised this was a thing, it seemed that this has been going on for some time now, ever since around three years ago."

Heinrich was quite irritated because this was a frequent habit of Ulric of trying to be enigmatic.

"Cut the blasted suspense, my good man!" Heinrich clapped his hands, he hated having to be made to wait

"Haha, you were never one for drama, Heinrich," Ulric chuckled often he did what he did because it annoyed him so much. It entertained him so when he saw Heinrichs annoyed expression.

"Anyway, it seems that someone is going to give lectures,"

"Lectures about what exactly?"

"I don't know, it looks like they are catered more to children, it seems that the Earl is recruiting as many children as possible. I heard from the news that the Lord is going to subsidize the labor of children from twelve even up to seventeen years of age, regardless of magical ability. Basically, he is going to pay the parents of the children for the potential labor for the day. It was a rumor but I validated it."

"That's insane! Why would he do such a thing? His coffers are sure to be empty in less than a year. What would he do with that manpower, anyway?"

"From what I heard, he is going to turn them all into scholars of sorts? I'm not really sure. As for his coffers, don't be too hasty to conclude. They have a booming enterprise. We just arrived a few days ago so we didn't know the main trade that Castle Blackfyre is engaging in,"

"What is it then? But that, scholar idea is a waste of money in my opinion," he scrunched his brows the intelligence didn't make sense it was like giving away free money to peasants and serfs.

"It's called a bank. Our men tell us that they let other lords or merchants borrow money, then they pay them in the future at for a certain fee," Ulric sat on the couch and kicked his boots away.

"Remarkable, literally making money out of money. No messy traveling to boot," Heinrich's eyes lit up as if he was struck with an idea. He was thoroughly impressed with the concept.

"Looks like Bren isn't your average Earldom, they have also been releasing a few peculiar products which I find innovative. I heard they are selling something called sugar. It looks like salt but it tastes sweet like honey, even sweeter actually. It is quite popular among the nobility here, they use it to sweeten cakes instead of using honey." Ulric kicked back and put his feet on an ottoman.

"I've heard plenty a noble bought it and ate it directly though. The consistency of the cakes is impressive. I tried one at an inn in the merchant's district, it tastes good. They also sell meals that are not seen in the entire empire, like jelly or pizza, which I haven't tried yet," he continued.

"I see, curious where does all these new things come from though?"

"Who knows? We are working on it though, from the looks of it, it's probably Earl Blackfyre's ideas."

"I wonder how that bank business works exactly though," Heinrich rubbed his chin, looking thoughtful, "It would be useful if we could look in to that. We might get new ideas."

"Yes, we'll observe for now. We might learn a thing or two and implement it in our cartel," Ulric nodded.

"By the way, who is going to deliver the lectures? Is it the Lord?"

Ulric grinned, "Here's the fun part, it's actually the Lord's son."

"What?" Heinrich was flabbergasted, "He's like eight, and you told me that these lectures started three years ago, right? So, what he started when he was like five?" he was utterly shocked.

"You do know that the greater the magical capacity the smarter one is, don't you? I heard from the locals, that the Lord's son has a large magic capacity and that he obliterated three baron-ranked arcanists at two years old,"

"Sounds like a load of bull to me, that's just the locals giving too much credit to the lord, although I do admit the commoners here are quite fond of their lord and they seem to take pride in their citizenship." Heinrich nodded," Anyway, knowledge is different from intelligence, Ulric you know that. Besides, what possibly could he teach?"

"Who knows? Some random things he read in books," shrugged Ulric, Maybe the Earl is just fulfilling the whims of his son? It's not uncommon, you know. Lords do all sorts of extravagant behavior for their children sometimes."

"Doubtful. Someone who conceptualized a bank isn't an idiot," said Heinrich as he took another sip of his ale.

"Perhaps, but he is the only son of the Lord though, so it wouldn't be unusual to give him special attention, plus if the rumors are true, then his son is truly special," Ulric commented.

"Peculiar, only one child? how many wives does he have anyway? Is he . . . somewhat lacking in virility?" Heinrich chuckled at the thought.

"He has just one wife," Ulric replied.

"That is quite odd," Heinrich nodded." it's not uncommon to have twenty wives you know? Women of nobility can only sire one or two children in their lifetime. The more offspring you have the more chances that you would produce a successor. Specially that strength is the deciding factor in inheritance of the land, we know this."

"Yes, this domain is quite strange indeed."

"Anyway, it was announced at the square that every noble in Bren is invited to the lecture, since the imperial princess will be present,"

"This is a great opportunity!" Heinrich almost bellowed in glee," We have the chance to mingle and get acquainted with the princess and her retinue. No wonder the guards are in a stir they are securing the grounds for the princess, you could have told me this directly you know," Heinrich sat down as he sipped his ale looking at the window sill.

"But it is more fun this way isn't it," grinned Ulric. Heinrich furrowed his brows, he wished that Ulric would just deliver the report directly.

"How about the weapon? Do you have any leads?" Heinrich asked.

"Not yet, we did get our spies to tail Lord Hearth but looks like he is nowhere to be found now"

"That is strange. Do you have any idea where he went?" Heinrich rubbed his chin again, he noticed it was getting rough. He liked to don a clean, pristine, look.

"Last time we checked he went into Castle Blackfyre, from that time he hasn't been seen around Lord Ezra,"

"Looks, like he was punished, we won't see him any time soon," frowned Heinrich, "How about the lead guard of the lordling's retinue. Do you think he has one as well?"

"Perhaps, but we are not too sure, we are checking each of the lordling's cortege and, of course, the lordling himself. We have been tailing him and it seems that he has been holing up inside a strange looking building in the smithing district. It was too tightly guarded and we could not get inside. One of our men went within a few yards of the district and there were suddenly guards out of nowhere surveying him. From what our sources tell us that it was a building created specifically for the little lord. It's five storeys tall almost six, it so odd looking that it looks out of place."

"Oh? Now I'm quite interested in the lordling himself. What does that little kid do in there anyway."

"Maybe that smith was making playthings for him?"

"Doubtful," Heinrich commented in a dismissive manner.

"I hope we can get men inside. From what we saw there were a few people who entered aside the lordling, there were men and children. We identified one of them as the Blackfyre family smith, but other than him, there were people we don't exactly know the backgrounds of. We are working on it though," Ulric's tone was serious.

Heinrich nodded, "Good, we might finally be able to unlock the mystery of that weapon. We're definitely attending that lecture." Heinrich smiled satisfied at the new information that was unfolding to him.