Over the past few weeks, the housing for the migrants from the capital had been finished, a small consolation considering Braydon had to find a way to house more than the entire original population of his fief. The vagrants outnumbered his subjects, including those that came from the capital. Whilst the king was willing to bankroll the construction of the mine and the housing for the migrants he sent, the royal coffers were not infinite. Nor would the nobility not demand that the king stop using the nation’s wealth as he pleased.

Duke Oakley had already been putting pressure on at the behest of his brother, based on the news that the king had started funding Braydon had come to light. This has probably been a scheme that Sam had thought up, while George had all the willingness to be dastardly he had a fief to run. One that was larger and had more intricacies than his poor viscounty. That did not mean that he didn’t have the time to screw him over so long as Sam did all of the scheming behind it.

This meant that these temporary villages would end up becoming permanent rather slowly, something Braydon was not particularly fond of. It meant that he would have less control of his land and say in how the villages were built. Though, at least with the mine running, the people in these vagrant communities were getting fed and he got a decent income. Not to mention now that he had iron, equipping his men would be much cheaper. The only problem was that the blacksmiths were in Wathamalin, which had several lord’s fiefs in the way, not least the 3 barons who he did not trust would leave his equipment alone if it were to go through their land.

And this was what Braydon wanted to tackle first. Housing was a long running problem that would sort itself out over the next few years, there would definitely be more vagrants after all. He wanted to make sure that the barons were not such a nuisance. And for this he wanted to consult Nela, to see if she had any grand ideas.

“Well you need more men.” Was the response she gave. He knew that, a typical baron would have the ability to pull in an army of one or two hundred. He could use 70 men and at least half of them were on patrols. This was not a new problem for him. From his new subjects he might be able to get another 20 or 30 men, but that would not likely be enough. It was lucky already that none of the barons had factional patrons but he would like a bit more certainty than being outnumbered.

“That is not a problem I can easily fix, there are not many men to levy.”

“Are you being wilfully blind of the piles of cash you now have? Hire some mercenaries.” Nela rolled her eyes at Braydon, she knew he was smarter than this. And his embarrassment proved it. ‘Why did I not just ask Rhydian? At least he would have kept his mockery to himself.’

“Though that probably won't be enough, you’ll want an informal alliance with one of the barons, and I suggest it not be Baron Monrow.” She had had her fill of pleasure at his expense for this conversation and got down to business. ‘This is why I asked her, she comes up with odd strategies.’ Braydon decided to act as if the mockery had never happened and continued on.

“Why not him, specifically?” Braydon wondered this, Monrow was the one that he got along best with and was the more likely to keep his promises.

“Because you want someone that will try to stab you in the back once it is over.” Now this sounded odd, but Braydon had a more pressing question.

“You appear to have skipped a few steps. Like the part where I actually take land, what happens there?” Braydon had hoped to get his own back for his embarrassment earlier but no dice. Nela took it all in stride as she explained what she had in mind.

“You want to take all three of the baron’s land, you would be too vulnerable if you did not. The problem is that if you do not take it all at once, the other factions will try to stop you before you take more. Thus you want to take as much land as is feasible at once.” Nela laid out her thinking before explaining why she thought ‘divide and conquer’ was the best strategy.

“The problem is that even if you hire mercenaries, with the current state of Cliforge you can only take on one of them. And I am sure that you are aware that all they have been known to team up against outside invaders before now. They have a sort of gentlemen's agreement.” Now it became clear to Braydon why he needed one of the three as an ally. It would reduce the amount of men he had to face and take half of the remaining burden.

“So why one who will backstab me? The alliance would be unofficial, why could I not just take his land?” This was what confused him still. Both ways would mean he would fight the last baron alone, so why not take the initiative?

“That’s because of the other noble factions. Nobody has been able to consolidate meaningful power in the east and northeast. By helping one baron take over another, everyone will think that you are already allies. And those three all have legitimate claims to each other's lands as successors of the old viscounty.”

“And I would get to fight a legitimate war of self defence when the last remaining baron attacks me.” When she brought up the legitimacy of the invasion he realised why she wanted him to ally with a more untrustworthy baron. He had not even considered the moves that the dukes would make should he try to effectively double his land, and gain a significant fiefdom on the west of the Brimstones. They were only ignoring most of his actions for now, because he was locked out of Fiveria proper. That would all change if he took a viscounty west of the mountains. He would then control what was effectively a small earldom.

“Exactly, unless one of the dukes is confident that he can beat all of the other factions, he probably won’t attack someone on the King’s side. There is a reason why Earl Blake tried a more peaceful solution to get my father’s land after all.” Her words caused him to go into a cold sweat. ‘So this is why George liked to pick Sam’s brains so often.’ Though he always wondered why Sam did not try to fight for the inheritance, he likely would have won it all.

“Who do you think is better to choose as an ally, Walker or Abel? I know for a fact Abel is slimy, we’ve both seen it first hand. What do you know about Walker?” Braydon would rather ally with Baron Walker, he had an intrinsic distaste for Baron Abel. But he knew that he had to make sure the plan worked successfully was a higher priority.

“I would suggest Baron Abel be your pick. Baron Walker is the kind to betray immediately rather than at the end to gain the most benefits, if his record is anything to go by. And we both know that while repulsive, Abel is an intelligent man.” Both of them would rather not work with Baron Abel but he was the better candidate than the other two.

“And I suppose you want me to meet him in person rather than a letter?”

“It would be more secure than a letter.”

“Sigh.”