Noble Lord

Baron Kimal Jeremey is a benevolent lord. Unlike other baronies, his territory imposes not many taxes leaving the villages to have much leeway for their expenses and not giving them a hard time.

Moreover, Kimal is a family man. He is loyal to his wife and proud of his young twins, a son, and a daughter. The two are cute little troubles that he very much welcomes into his life.

As the youngest lord in the province of Fendra, the other lords has a tendency to look down on him. His father's death to old age leaves him his nephew as the only heir of the barony. At first, he was reluctant of accepting the title as he prefers his current career path of becoming a scholar in service of lords.

Kimal is by every means a talented man, and the young King of Beyronald sees this and convinces him of accepting the barony. It was a funny twist of fate. Chancing on the young King is an opportunity of once in a lifetime, but Kimal has no desire to take a hold of it.

The only reason he is a baron today is because of the charisma of the young King who seems to be about his age. And now that Kimal is baron for a couple of years, he makes sure he sees to his duties.

However, Kimal is unambitious and is just too happy about meeting the status quo. If someday his King wishes his help, he would surely answer his calls and offer his abilities. But for now, Kimal desires to just leave a peaceful normal life with his family.

Not bothering on improving the rather special villages like Brunhen Village is decadence on his part. Turning that either to an outpost or township would surely net his gains, but Kimal doesn't dare do that for now, because plenty of eyes are watching over him.

The Zauns and Urdens are especially surrounding him. Most of the paths to Lorekleim Forest are on his territory too, which is an incredible gold mine for him. The Zauns also have access to the forest but not much as him.

People don't know that he is in the King's faction so he has some level of secrecy protecting him. With the Zaun and Urden who strongly belong to the noble faction, they must be keeping a wary eye on him. This necessitates him acting incompetent. He cannot clue the others of his involvement with the King.

Since his induction into the barony, there is not an incident that happens in his territory. But that suddenly changes one day when a group of refugees comes to his estate begging him to allow them refuge.

As a benevolent lord, he allows them. Since then, Kimal becomes more sensitive and alert to what is happening to his territory.

Some days ago, he learns of the presence of a merchant who is buying wheat, processed grains, and meat in bulk from his territory. Kimal senses something wrong immediately going on, so he forbids the selling of any product to this merchant.

Rapidly, raids on his territory have become more eminent. The burning of granaries and farms reaches his ears, and it seems that it has been happening for a long time without him knowing. He concludes that this is not the work of ordinary bandits. He is being targeted.

Is it Zaun? No, those bunches are too incompetent, however, as loyal lackeys to Count Urden, the possibility of them having a hand in this series of incidents is still possible.

So, is it Urden? Possibly. They come from a warmongering bloodline, and from the rumors, the current lord Urden is a bloodthirsty schemer.

"Milord, the merchant has returned. It appears that he is buying lumber in bulk. He said that villages from the north wish to rebuild. Do we allow him?"

Kimal looks over at his lieutenant. "Is his half-elf bodyguard still with him?"

The lieutenant nods affirming positively to his question. "Yes, milord… What do you wish me to do?"

Kimal's militia forces are strong. Though the law dictates that a barony can only possess less than 200 soldiers, that doesn't stop him from including the 'civilians' as his volunteer militia. As a lord, he has the power to enforce policies on his subjects. And since his induction, he makes sure that every household at least has one capable fighter.

If a skirmish is really inevitable, Kimal is confident of holing himself in his estate and resisting whoever the invaders were. Though their food storage is a bit concerning with distributing the food to refugees, Kimal has the confidence of his King.

At the first sign of an 'attack', Kimal will make sure to send an SOS to his King through his pigeons. If the young King learns of an attack, he can use this as justification to move his military, aid Kimal, and at the same time, fulfill his own agenda.

This is how much Kimal trusts his King.

Kimal slants on his seat, and with his face unchanging, he instructs his lieutenant. "Try to buy the service of the half-elf. Make her work for us as a spy. Since she is a demi-human, she wouldn't have that much loyalty to her lord."

Demi-humans don't look favorably at humanity, and for a good reason too.

The day concludes itself peacefully welcoming the advent of the night.

Kimal for some reason cannot sleep. He looks over at his beautiful wife, a once simple villager girl who had very high spirits. He fell in love with this girl at first sight for her tenderness, humor, and street smarts. He looks over his twins, his son that is usually stoic but is quite the storyteller, and his sweet daughter who is very expressive with her emotions.

Leaving the three to their sleep, Kimal comes to the altar of the ancient god of knowledge and wisdom just by their bedside. He kneels on both knees, and then he closes his eyes in solemnity. "I pray to the divines for them to show me a path forward, to ease my fear of the nagging invisible terror, and for my family to be in your safe embrace. I pray to the god of knowledge and wisdom, Aprasius, to descend upon me…"

Interrupting his prayer midway is a terrible scream.

"AAAaaahHHhh~ fIre! FiRE!"

Kimal's eyes open at once, and he runs off into a flurry. He sees just outside the bed chamber the hallways to be in flames. The fiery element scatters everywhere. Chills run down Kimal's spine. They are under attack. The servants and guards adjacent to their bed chamber are frantically trying to kill the flames with buckets of water.

The layout of the manor is one that desires functionality over aesthetics. That is why his servants' and some military officers' bedrooms are near to his. This foresight allows him to adjust his mind in an instant as his people busy themselves with the fire.

His wife and children wake up at the commotion.

"Dear, what is happening?"

Kimal grips his fist causing his knuckles to turn white. The foreboding feeling is coming true. The only thing he can do now is to remedy the situation as soon as possible. He sifts through the cabinets and finds what he is looking for.

"Do you remember what I told you when we are under attack? The time is now. Get our children, and go." With one last loving look at his family and a glance to the altar of Aprasius, he bolts outside the bed chamber and rushes to the flames.

The wife of the lord and mother to her children resolves her heart and brings her children to a secret passage in the room. As she promises to his husband, she shall protect their children.

Kimal is in his pajamas and is running on his barefoot. For a lord to look like this is shameful, but he doesn't care. "Where is the lieutenant!?" He screams at the top of his lungs as he grabs a bucket of water from a servant.

He leaks a drop of the vial's liquid from his hand. It is an alchemical solution consisting of slime powder, sand, and a secret binding agent. It is Douse, an anti-flame solution that was the invention of the empire in countering the incessant burning tactics using slime substitutes.

The solution dissolves and mixes with the water. Kimal throws the bucket at the raging flames, however, it just did little to kill the flames. "Fuck, what did they mix in this?" He cusses as he finds himself in a corner.

Kimal throws a quarter of Douse Potion in another bucket of water and finally kills the flames. However, there are even more scattering flames. They appear to be just 'normal flames' that were the offspring of the bigger flames so he leaves them for the manor servants to work with.

He returns to his bed chamber and grabs himself his light leather armor with his baron insignia, a swallowtail. He handily wears his gear and then grabs the spear that was his family heirloom. The spear is pure steel and is a true divine weapon.

Some of his elite soldiers also have steel, but his spear is one that had been in the hands of a dwarf. It is incredibly tough, and he can even use it as a pseudo-shield against weapons with greater weight.

Kimal breaks off in a run as he finishes gearing himself. He arrives by the stairs, and from below, he sees the corpses of his dead soldiers with arrows piercing them.

Kimal sees his lieutenant by the entrance of the manor cowering on the corner. Similarly, the soldiers who barely have any armor are cowering, hiding in inconspicuous spots. Kimal frowns at the awkward sight.

His eyes land on the many dead soldiers with what seem like arrows to be poking at them. All of them lie dead by the entrance. His imagination starts working, and he doesn't like what his brain is telling him.

"Milord," His lieutenant approaches him still crouching and with dread in his eyes. "We don't know how many are the enemies but we are pinned… We cannot get in contact with the barracks, and I am afraid they also have been hit."

Suddenly, one of the soldiers finds courage and tries rushing out from the manor. He has an iron chest plate on him, which may be the only thing giving him confidence. He runs off like a loose arrow, but before he even takes one step outside the manor, he goes flying backward as a steel bolt finds its mark in his chest.

Kimal shudders at the sight. What kind of strength is that? To pierce crude iron is absurd at its highest. Kimal crouches lower. He approaches the dead soldier and proceeds on checking it.

"Milord, please don't risk yourself."

Kimal ignores his lieutenant. The arrow seems shorter than they usually are, and from its sheen, it must be metal. "Hold my spear for the meantime." He tells his lieutenant. Kimal dashes and grabs the dead soldier by its foot. He returns to his cover with a steel bolt following his steps.

He is lucky not to be hit by that.

Kimal scrutinizes the unusual arrow. He plucks it from the dead soldier, and from its weight, he can tell. "This is steel. The simple wooden bucklers are literally nothing to it. Crude iron is like paper to it. Even refined iron would have dents after suffering a blow from this. Only steel can withstand this…" He explains in a trance as fear grips his heart. The words of helplessness leave his mouth so easily. "For them to have the technological capability to launch an arrow like this with such velocity… I can only imagine."

It was dark and he cannot see the snipers, yet the snipers see them. It is almost a full moon, and it's understandable why the enemies were able to pin them like this with their superior bows.

"We should retreat," Kimal concludes.

But.

"We cannot," His lieutenant tells him the reality of their situation. "The backdoor is on flames. The servants are still working on them. The fire is too strong by our rear, and soon, the manor will be engulfed in flames…"

Kimal shakes his head. "This manor had a secret passage underground. It is narrow, but we can make a run for it if we hurry."

"But milord, your family might be put in danger! That is where they would be escaping, right?"

Kimal feels touched by his lieutenant's loyalty, but he cannot risk his soldiers anymore. There must be a way. There should be still hope.

"We surrender," He proclaims, causing his lieutenant's heart to stop. "We surrender!" He shouts allowing his soldiers and servants to hear. "Raise the white flag!" He declares.

This way, his people can still live. And even if the enemies desire his death, it wouldn't spell his people's deaths either.

"Raise the flag!"