The Big Picture

The silence in the room made Luckas awkward, to break the strange atmosphere of the room Luckas decided to chat with Byrth.

-" So, are we really going to visit your previous village today?"

-" Yeah, I don't think Jeffrey will give us anything to do today, so we need to take advantage of our free time."

-" Okay, we should ask for a carriage, how far are we from there?"

-" Fuck, I thought that we were going by horse, I forgot you don't know how to ride them, if we are going in a carriage it should take a bit more, fours hours total."

"That's quite a bit, do you plan on staying much there? We need to be tomorrow."

-" I'm not staying there very long, we should already be here at night."

Luckas and Byrth continued to talk while waiting for Jeffrey, after some time Alan started to tap his leg anxiously, Luckas thought that he was annoyed with them, but, he barely looked at them and just keep staring at the tent door.

Jeffrey arrived with Cyl after some time, Luckas observed how Alan instantly became even more agitated after Jeffrey's arrival, seeing how Alan was acting made him sure that what bothered Alan wasn't Byrth and him, something must have happened.

-" First I would like to inform everyone here that a new army counselor will be joining us in a few days, I dispatched Bryson to keep an eye on the bandits who may have ties with the Tuivell family." Jeffrey finished speaking and stared at Alan, he knew that he would have something to say about this.

-" Why didn't you send me there? I was even prepared to move the forces of my family, beside that Bryson is the strongest here, he should be anchoring the camp not guarding a trade route."

Luckas finally understood Alan's frustration, he thought that Alan's fixation with these bandits was because of the attack of his younger brother's convoy, at first Luckas hoped that Alan could convince Jeffrey to let him go there, but, he soon realized the reason Jeffrey didn't send him there.

-" You are too invested in this matter to act in the best interest of this expedition." Alan was surprised, he expected Jeffrey to say this, not Luckas.

-" It was you who gave the idea to send Bryson there?" Alan gazed hatefully at Luckas.

-" No, I didn't even know about Bryson's deployment before now, this much is pretty clear from the way you're acting." Luckas maintained a calm face as he talked to Alan.

-" Oh, it must be nice to be so smart, but you stop interfering in other people's business."

-" This is clearly my business, as I'm a counselor too, and if you want Jeffrey to reconsider his decision you should try to calm down."

Alan wanted to keep discussing with Luckas, but he saw that Jeffrey face didn't look too good, so he shut up.

-" Luckas is right, I didn't send you there as you are too involved emotionally with this matter, I made this decision after talking with my grand-uncle, he is afraid that the Tuivell family would choose to escalate this matter."

-" So we are supposed to sit silently while they keep provoking us? How we have fallen to bow our heads to the Tuivell family."

-" Alan, I share my frustration with you, there is nothing more I want now other than completely destroying all of those involved, but, in the kingdom's current situation, escalating this matter now would only cause doom for us."

-" Can you expand the reason why are you afraid of the Tuivell family escalating this matter?" Luckas need a better understanding of the situation for giving other opinions.

Jeffrey nodded and looked at Cyl who distributed a stack of papers for everyone.

-" Taking inspiration from Luckas previous briefing, I prepared this report, while it isn't so detailed as the one Luckas made there is plenty of information there, I hope to use this method to better prepare us in future situations."

Everyone nodded and started to read the report, apparently, the Tuivell family had a marriage bond with one of the Dukes who lead the Anti-King faction, this faction felt emboldened by the skirmishes at the border and even ignored the King's calls to arms.

Most of the nobles of this faction were based in the south, the lucrative trade routes between Helmer and Iqecia made those nobles wealthy, especially Duke Fred Herman who took advantage of his newfound influence to conspire against Duke Isaac Norton.

The Norton Household encompassed most of the frontier between Helmer and Iqecia, this made them very influential in the south region too, Isaac Norton incurred the animosity of the Southern nobles when he started combating the corruption and smuggling in his territory.

Isaac Norton and Ferd Herman were at first neutral on the conflicts against the king, but, when the skirmishes started to heat up, Isaac had to seek the king's help, so the southern nobles who already had an unfavorable view of the conflict further distanced themselves from the king, culminating in Fred Herman joining the anti-king faction.

Jeffrey watched as everyone read his report, he frowned as Alan stopped reading before finishing it all, but let him be, this report was made for Byrth and Luckas, especially Luckas who still didn't have deep knowledge about the country's geography and politic.

Luckas was lost in his thoughts, Iqecia was riddled with conflicts, internal and external. He now had a better idea why Jeffrey wanted to be cautious and not provoke so many enemies, Luckas mind raced as he started to connect the dots.

-" Is the Tuivell family marriage alliance with the Herman family?" Luckas wanted to confirm some of the facts before giving any opinion.

-" Yes, one daughter of the Herman Family married the young master of the Tuivell family." Luckas nodded at Jeffrey's answer.

-" The Southern nobles don't really appreciate the Duke's presence at the border I suppose? So the Tuivell family may have the objective of forcing him to come back, but, is this worth the cost for them?" Questions never stopped popping up in Luckas's head. " What they have to gain by provoking the Strafhamton Duke? We should be stronger than then militarily right?"

-" If the main force of the territory comes back, there is no chance for them to win." This was the first time that Alan spoke since his outburst earlier.

Jeffrey waited patiently for Luckas to come to a conclusion, he had high hopes for the young man.