NOVEL FROG Chapter 41: More Planning
“I would be willing to help. What do you think Lucy?”
“I like the idea. I doubt they would risk a fight inside the capital. We would have no reason to hold back and it would devastate the city.” Lucy said with a mischievous smile.
“There are a lot of civilians there, let’s try to not flatten the city.” I replied with a smirk.
Loriel looked a little uncertain. “In the worst case scenario we should retreat and not blow up the city.”
“It’s ok, we are only joking, mostly.” I teased. “So what are you offering for our help?”
“Ah yes. While you did not claim any relations with the old house of Delphinium I would be willing to give you their lands, they are currently under my control. No heir has emerged in all this time and with you sharing the name nobody will question it.”
“What duties and obligations would come with that honour? Also, there are two of us.” I pointed out.
“Ah. I have to admit I am uncertain about the nature of your relationship. I also assumed you wanted to stay together. The idea would be to make you a countess Amaya. I am sure we could also find an appropriate title for Lucy. As for obligations, you would have to pay taxes and lend aid in times of war. That is basically it. And follow the laws, obviously.”
“Where exactly are those lands? What does the local economy look like?” I wondered.
“They are located near the black forest. The area is somewhat dangerous but controls part of the access to the forest and its riches. As you know, the spidersilk is highly sought after and there are plenty of adventurers seeking entry. Aside from that, there is some farming. But most of the wealth in the region comes from the hunting of beasts. Considering your power you would be excellent in managing the region and you could easily make a lot of profit.” Loriel reasoned.
I suppose that explained why the old family fell to a monster incursion. So the land was in a dangerous region but all those monsters had a certain value. By giving us the area the queen would destroy her monopoly on the spidersilk, now we would have access too. I would not be surprised if there was pressure for that to happen anyway. And the queen wanted to install a noble who was not involved with any other political faction. Also the region would need someone who understood fighting and took monsters seriously.
So in essence the queen's reward would bind us to the Dominion. It would also put us in a remote region where we could not cause too many problems. Loriel would profit politically from the move as well. At the same time, it would be rather profitable if handled correctly. There was certainly a lot of potential in that offer.
“Lucy, what do you think?”
“The title sounds nice. I don’t think I would need my own lands. I am happy sticking with you Amaya, as your aide or some other position. I could see us exploring a monster infested wilderness together.”
Accepting this would come with a lot of responsibility. But I did have a lot of money to help develop the land and hire the necessary staff.
“We will need some time to think about it but it does sound reasonable to me.” I would have to discuss it with Lucy some more.
“Great” Loriel said. “As long as you are interested in general I am sure we can come to an arrangement. Until the summit starts there is not much to do. I would like you to tell me what you intend to say there. Maybe I can help you with the speech. We should not mention the Empire’s experiments though. I want everyone to worry about the demons. That is a concerning matter but something the emperor can still try to blame on someone else.”
“Makes sense. So we focus on the demons and the inquisition. Maybe imply they have been infiltrated by a cult. We make a lot of noise about this and investigate the experiments quietly.”
After that we started discussing the details about our presentation. I finally told Loriel the events from my perspective. Obviously I did not mention my origins. Neither did I include turning Lucy into a warlock. But I filled her in on everything we discovered so far. It was a long but productive discussion. When it was over Loriel excused herself. With the meeting concluded we went to explore our new accommodations.