Expanding the Circle

"Baron Incendis," Ezra called. The nobles had become quite cautious due to the exchange of Ezra and Erela, they tried to very much distance themselves from both parties. Despite the fact that most of them sided with Ezra, the Actrix was not a figure to be trifled with, so most of them played the safest route and didn't display any opposition to either side. They sent waves of smiles to both parties. Which Ezra, of course, met with his own even though he knew most of them were feigned. Erela however, was expressionless.

"Yes, Lord Ezra, your deeds are legendary in the town my liege, they call you the Toddler Commander" bowed the baron respectfully, he was not present during the Arcanist attack and for that, he had thoroughly apologized to Reitz who appeared in the town at the time.

Reitz didn't take too much offence and because of that, he was relieved, ever since then Ezra's legend in Anticourt as the Toddler Commander was well celebrated by the bards as they sang in the taverns which stories came from the many knights who saw the prowess of the promising Earl to be.

He felt indebted to Reitz for not punishing him that time, coupled with Ezra's well-known repertoire that was why he was one of the few nobles who was more open-minded to Ezra's lectures and receiving his pleasantry.

"Oh, I think that tale has been exaggerated, "chuckled Ezra

"I doubt it is Lord Ezra," smiled Incendis humbly.

"Anyway, I am glad you came to Bren," smiled Ezra, "I actually wanted to venture to Anticourt after this, you see, I would like to build an establishment in Anticourt, it will be an extension of the Bank of Blackfyre, I wondered if you could spare me some land in the inner district, it will be quite large and luxurious."

"But of course, Lord Ezra, I think I shall add a statue of you to the mix" nodded the Baron as he chuckled.

"Please don't," Ezra unconsciously cringed, he still didn't get over the fact that his face was printed in the many bank notes that circulated, thankfully he was still using gold as means of payment.

"So now for the terms," Ezra replied.

"What do you propose?"

"Well, actually I'll let you choose,"

"Pardon me? Choose?"

"Yes, you can choose between a seven thousand gold payment upon the construction of the building or having no tax for three years and becoming a co-administrator of the bank where you will get a percentage of the profit," Ezra smiled. This was a test, when he saw that the Baron participated in the lectures, he surmised that he was one of the more open ones when it came to policies. After the fiasco with Erela, the nobility seemed to grow cold, even so, Ezra attempted to greet the Baron, from which he received a positive response.

If all went well, the baron would choose the latter, Ezra wanted to slowly expand his circle of influence from Bren and extend it to the various domains, the political setting of Rex Imperium was complex. For one, the viscounts and barons under your jurisdiction should answer to you, however, since duels were the way of usurping power from the higher lord it became complicated.

In effect your vassals became your rivals too unless there was a friendly agreement between the two sides, either house was walking on thin ice. Camaraderie brewed but each house never knew if they would be challenged for the title once the time came thus, it was not uncommon to have spies on each other's domains

"This, this is a hard choice my liege," the baron furrowed his brows as he contemplated.

"I do not require you to choose now of course."

"My liege, I think it would hasten my decision if I knew how much the Imperial Bank of Blackfyre is making," his eyes were hopeful yet his face was doubtful that Ezra would actually disclose the information.

"Well, I can assure you it's much more lucrative than whatever figure you are expecting," Ezra chortled.

The baron looked to his upper right while he contemplated. He looked like he was caught in a really hard position then he finally replied.

"I guess I'll opt for the latter Lord Ezra."

"That's great, there will be some things you must learn though if you are willing. My associates and administrators will teach you the trade, of course, this hinge on your willingness to stay for a few weeks."

"Certainly, Lord Ezra," bowed Incendis.

"It's settled then I hope we can both profit from this venture of ours," Ezra replied.

"Aye, The Great Omnipotence oversees."

. . .

Heinrich strode toward Ulric who had just talked to their servant, they were planning for operations to undertake that very night.

"You look happy," Ulric chuckled.

"Of course, I landed a deal with the lord," Heinrich replied.

"Oh? Is it about the bank? I'd love to find out about its inner workings."

"No, we got a lesser deal but, it's better than nothing. It seems that the boy is well versed in bargaining. I was pushed back at first."

Ulric raised an eyebrow, "You? You've never been cornered in a deal!"

"Well, that boy isn't normal, there is something exceptional about him," Heinrich rubbed his chin.

"Well, his magic aura seems to be a lot higher from children of his age," Ulric nodded.

"I don't think that he is showing his real power," Heinrich observed.

"On what grounds do you base this conjecture? Young nobles have a hard time masking their aura."

"Yes, but I don't think that rule is applicable to him. Look at him he's just too smart."

"Well if you put it that way, he does seem much more intelligent than the princess even though they have roughly the same magic capacity."

"I guess we should observe him from now on more carefully. It's going to be hard but I think we'll manage. What was the deal anyway?"

"We get to trade some of the products the city will produce."

"That's great! At least we can work our way up to build his trust," nodded Ulric.

"Yes, if we can pull this off, we may be able to get into that knowledge centre of his. Maybe we will get ideas from that or some more useful information."

"With some luck, we may not need to take those knapsacks from the children," Ulric smirked.

"Don't joke about something like that, how is the operation? Did you get our agents to scout the children's homes? Do everything. Talk to their parents and negotiate if need be but make sure this doesn't trace back to us. We are going to suffer a major setback if you mess this up, Ulric." Heinrich frowned.

"Don't worry, you are so uptight you know," Ulric chuckled.

"I just received word from Her Imminence, it just came by when you were out earlier this morning," Heinrich replied with a serious tone.

"Oh? What is it?"

"It says that any intelligence on Bren is of highest priority. It's a rank amethyst intelligence directive," Heinrich replied with a serious tone.

"Amethyst? My, that hasn't been behest in basically. . . anywhere in three decades," replied Ulric who was thoroughly shocked," If its such high a directive, then they should have had agents here for years."

Heinrich nodded, "Yes, but I heard Bren just started to lax in restrictions three years ago. So maybe we have a few sleepers here."

"That could be true, if they're using us for information with that directive then they may be sending out more spies?"

"I don't know what this exactly means, we can only wait and see," nodded Heinrich as looked toward the distance.