Interlude 2

Plains of Reclaiming, Province of Asaria.

City of Asaria, Capital of the Asarian Kingdom.

Trumpets sounded throughout the room, and Queen Elais winced.

"Is this truly necessary?" She whispered to her husband, hiding her mouth behind her hand.

"We've had this discussion hundreds of times honey. I know you care little for pomp, but some of our nobles are....material and mindful of their ranks, and would rather dot all the i and cross all the t. Besides, if nothing else it is always interesting to see our guests' reactions to it."

Elais suppressed an eyeroll. Such a....tactful way of saying that half of their 'loyal nobles' were self-absorbed greedy idiots with delusions of godhood. And that the reason to keep all the ceremony was to keep their egos suitably flattered, and see if their guests were of the same type or not.

"Well, I do hope this particular test won't be necessary for our....guest this time. Could you at least tell me who you have hired?"

She felt, more than she heard, her husband chuckle, and barely repressed another eyeroll.

"Come on now honey, like I said, it's a surprise! Where would be the fun if I told you?"

Elais didn't even respond, and simply sighed. Her dear, dear husband could be...annoyingly playful from time to time. Not that she didn't make him pay for it later on the dueling ground. Actually, now that she thought about it, maybe he was doing it on purpose. Provoking her into an exasperated 'training bout' was exactly the sort of things he'd do.

She instantly refocused her thoughts as the musicians stopped, and the chambellan opened the door, stepping through, and slamming his scepter against the ground. The murmur of conversation -always present in a throne room- receded. It didn't quite disappear, of course, but it was at a low enough level to be ignored.

"Milord, miladies, your majesties, I present to you....Grant the Giant."

This time the murmur that was spawned from the announcement wasn't quiet at all, and Elais couldn't even blame the courtiers. She was as stunned as they were. Grant the Giant? Her husband had hired Grant the Giant?!?

Slow, ponderous steps sounded throughout the throne room, and everyone stopped speaking at once. For the first time in years, the courtiers simply shut up during an audience, almost mesmerized by the steps. Then, a shape appeared in the doorway, and a man stepped through.

That man towered over the crowd of courtiers, and even the guards flanking the door. He stood at almost 3 meters in height, maybe even a bit higher. But the thing that struck out the most wasn't his physique, it was his aura. He exhuded confidence and leadership like very few military commanders could ever hope to. He strode through the throne room like it was his own, before stopping at the proper distance from the thrones on the raised dais, and bowed.

"Your majesties." He said in a smooth voice, which almost clashed with his appearance. One would have expected to hear a booming, cavernous voice, not one almost...gentle.

But if anything else, that voice underscored, and amplified his reputation. He didn't need to yell, to make his voice boom through the halls. His sheer presence was enough to make everyone almost lean forward so they could hear him better.

"Grant the Giant. It is a pleasure to receive you today in our court. We are most pleased by your timely arrival, and your acceptance of our proposal."

That seemed to shake the courtiers out of their stupor, and the whispering began anew almost immediately. Although this time it was even quieter, as if they were afraid of being noticed by the gigantic man in the middle of the room.

"The pleasure is all mine your majesty." Grant said, after straightening back up. "I must admit, when it first arrived, your offer intrigued me. The Asarian Kingdom had never struck me as a nation in need of mercenaries, however....peculiar their specialties. Once recent events became known to me however, I realized how urgent the situation was, and made all haste to accept your offer and meet you in person."

Elais almost laughed at the absurdity of the last sentence. Someone who would have made 'all haste' would have taken the teleporter network, had a quick behind closed door meeting with her and her husband, and done. Not come halfway around the world with their personal fleet, and land their flagship, a gods damned sky battleship, in the palace docks and ask for an audience. That struck her as slower....but much more suitable if you wanted to make an impression.

"The situation is indeed urgent, commander." Elais could almost feel the courtiers lean forward intently as Elker, her husband, addressed Grant by his military title, and his tone shifted. "In the past few weeks, a series of events has shaken our kingdom. The greatest, and most joyous of these events was the discovery of a new dungeon in the Angel Falls ruins, between our city of Darthar, and the city of our friends of the Elkis Republic, Erakis. Unfortunately, such joyous news were compounded by acts most worrying. The new dungeon town was attacked, and many of it's guardians slaughtered. Although the assault was eventually repelled, many under the service of our vassal, the esteemed Baroness Aubétoile, and her loyal knight lady Windwrath, were slain. A scant few days later, a series of raids were launched by bandits, outlaws and deserters from the Saphire Kingdom into the province of Sunrise. Thus, we have been faced with two demands from aid from our loyal vassals. However, we dared not split our forces too thin, in case the true target of these strikes was Asaria itself."

Elais' eyes became grim. What her husband truly meant was that they couldn't send their troops to the aid of both fronts without releasing their iron grip upon the heartland of the kingdom, and courting a civil war from their power hungry nobles. They needed to keep an armored boot firmly on their necks lest some of these morons thought that her husband's crown would be better on their own heads.

"I see, your majesty. Very well, I have accepted your offer of employment, for me and my men, how may we serve you and your realm?"

Elker smiled, and then elevated his voice, so all in the throneroom would hear it.

"Loyal subjects, hear me, for this is our proclamation and our word." Spines straightened throughout the room as the traditional sentence setting forth a royal proclamation, which would outline the policy of the crown, and thus the kingdom, was spoken. "It is our will that a detachment of troops from the Asaria Defence Force, and the nobles from which we deem appropriate, be sent forth to reinforce the security of the city of Darthar, and come to the aid of our loyal vassal baroness Aubétoile. It is also our will that Grant the Giant and his loyal troops, now mercenaries of the crown, be sent to the province of Sunrise, to provide aid against the most savage raiders descending upon it. Spread the word, and see that our will is done!"

The entire court bowed, including Grant. Elker kept them bowing for a solid 3 seconds to assert his authority, before nodding.

"The audience is adjourned. I must discuss recent events with my royal council."

The whispers begun as soon as he finished speaking, and people began to filter out of the throne room, as Elker and Elais regally stood up, and made their way out, heading straight towards the royal palace wing. They were scarcely out into the hallway, the door safely closed behind them, and the sound proofing enchantments a distant, highly paranoid ancestor and embedded into them to prevent indiscreet ears from spying on the royal family, had installed activated with a click, when Elais grabbed her husband's shoulder, stopping him cold.

"You...You hired Grant the Giant! You hired him and you didn't tell me?!?"

Elker smiled.

"Like I said, it was surprise! Are you complaining that I hired him?"

Elais held her finger under her husband's nose.

"You...You...Argh!" She threw her arms into the air, exasperated. "Of course I'm not complaining, but Gods! Warn me a little next time, will you?"

"Of course honey. Still, I trust my particular choice in mercenaries will prove...satisfactory?"

The queen rolled her eyes.

"You can say that yeah."

Which, if nothing else, was a massive understatement. In the mercenary world, Grant the Giant was....a legend, plain and simple. And contrary to so many other mercenary captains or commanders, he wasn't a legend because of his prowess in battle. In fact, by all accounts, he was downright mediocre with a blade. What he was however, was a skilled strategist and, especially, logistician. This, coupled with his well known concern for his troops -he had been renowned for foregoing priests and necromancers in entire campaigns, so confident he was he would not lose a single man-, made him and his mercenaries punch FAR above their weight.

Contrary to popular belief, when armies fought, regardless of if they were mercenaries or not, the side that won wasn't the one that obliterated the other through sheer firepower. The reason there were so many prisoners in war, and that even defeated armies could reform themselves and counter-attack was that most of the time they broke and fled instead of died. Morale was one of the most important tools of an army commander, and Grant's men devotion to him bordered on outright fanaticism. Some of his campaigns were famous for his men standing up to impossible odds and having armies 3 times his size break on his line, shattering like a thousand pieces on the impenetrable bulwark that were his forces.

That didn't mean he hadn't been handed his share of defeats, including crushing ones, but...he always came back. Unlike some mercenary commanders, who just gave up, or retired after having their companies shattered, Grant always came back. Sometimes he came back with a new plan, a new organization for his forces, or sometimes it was just with an adjustment of tactics, but he always came back. And always, his old soldiers were present to support him, training new recruits, providing financial capital, or even just advice and information. In many ways his network of contacts, veterans and allies was even more important than his standing forces, as it meant that he could get access to the best equipment, and would always have someone to smooth the way for him and his forces.

Of course, for all his efficacy and reputation, he was also horribly expensive...

"Dear, tell me, quite exactly where did you find the money to hire him?" She asked. She knew that the pockets of the crown were deep, but there was a limit to them as well.

"Well, it is quite simple. When the Sunrise delegations came to clamor for aid, I simply pointed out to them that however profitable in terms of royal taxes Sunrise was, the new dungeon, with the assessment we have gotten, was going to eclipse that fairly easily, if given time. Thus, it would be a better -and cheaper- investment to divert my forces there. Unless, of course, they would happen to know what became of the, oh, few dozen million manas of taxes that were...'lost' to various bureaucratic mistakes in the last few years."

Elais laughed. Sunrise was profitable indeed...but it was also extremely corrupt, and a lot of it's tax revenue had a tendency to 'disappear' before entering the crown's pockets. The problem was that even with that it was, by far, the richest and most profitable province of the kingdom outside of Asaria, and even then that was only due to the dungeon underneath the city.

"That's devious honey!" She frowned. "Still, are you sure that reminding them of Osoros was a good idea?"

Elker winced. Osoros had been the dungeon over which Sunrise was founded...Which had gone into near total isolation nearly 3 centuries ago. In fact, it's very isolation had sparked the massive economic crisis that had eventually lead to the civil war his grandfather had to put down. Sunrise had never quite recovered from the hit to it's economy, and although he wasn't supposed to know it, there had been very...generous bounties put discreetly on certain criminal network, for someone who 'just happened' to stumble upon a dungeon core in need of a new home. He'd quietly dispatched his own agents to find and deal with the originators of said contracts, but so far, no luck, unfortunately. Still, he dearly hoped no one was insane enough to try it, last thing he needed was to defend these idiots from the UDC.

"I don't know. But quite frankly, stepping on their toes and getting them back in line was long overdue." He frowned. "Their....protests in the royal council have gotten quite bothersome over the western reforms, and I am seriously starting to become tired of them. They go crazy every time the crown or our allies 'meddle in their internal affairs', but don't hesitate for a single second to meddle in the ones of other nobles! Or affairs of the crown, for that matter!"

Elais chuckled.

"Well, double standards happen everywhere. And at least this should...keep them in check for a while." Her expression became deadly serious. "We'll just have to make sure they don't meddle in the new dungeon town's affairs though. I don't think they'd sabotage it, but they could use their own commercial strength to take over."

Elker grimly nodded.

"I know. Well, it's something to worry about later. Now, how about I show you Grant's order of battle, and you can see what you want to do with your new toys -I mean loyal mercenaries of course!"

Elais giggled.

"Don't mind if I do!"