“So the man invading my country has come to my home asking me to help him in doing so?” Marquess Serchi said as he and Braydon sat across from each other in the great hall of his city. Braydon had left for Serchi with a small entourage of his men as soon as possible In spite of all of this, he still could not tell if the man had been surprised that he had come to Serchi to ask for assistance.

“Is it really an invasion when you have the consent of its ruler? I am merely assisting a righteous cause.” Yes, yes it was an invasion. But that was not the point of their conversation.

“And what does one as righteous as yourself need from me?” The Marquess asked. He was clear on what his own reputation was. Righteousness meant little to him. And he knew that everyone else thought as much too.

“A token force to make the rebels think twice about turning around to retake the castles I have taken from them.” Braydon said and waited for him to name a price that he could negotiate down to something reasonable. There was no way that it was going to come cheap but he could try to make it as good as possible.

“You would have me attack my own countrymen?” If ever there was a faux outrage, this was it. Braydon could almost tangibly see the insincerity in his voice.

“No, I would have you send your men to make them decide not to attack me. Lest they want you to join in against them.” Braydon was quite clear on this point. If he was actually hiring an army from the Marquess it would be a whole lot more expensive than he wanted it to be.

“And what if they decide that they do not care about that and attack anyway?” A valid complaint.

“Then they are out of their minds. They can barely hold on against the Duchess Regent as it is. Adding another marquess to her side is not something that they would want to do.” Braydon at least assumed that the rebel lords had some wits between them to have lasted for this long.

“How many men is a ‘token force’ to you?” Marquess Serchi asked, his previous outrage at standing against his countrymen nowhere to be seen.

“A few hundred.” Braydon basically wanted enough to rival a viscount’s entire army. The first lords that would be showing up were at most going to be viscounts anyway. If they decided that they would not mind Serchi as their enemy then his men would still be able to defend themselves. It would also be enough to make the rebels unsure if the Marquess was actually on his side or had been paid to have his men stand there and look pretty.

“What makes you think that I have that many men to spare? Guarding the border is serious business.” Marquess Serchi once more brought out his insincerity. Despite having a considerably long border, Serhesh and Shuluk had never once gone to war since the Grand Duchy became independent of Barakhil. It was probably one of the most peaceful borders on the entire continent.

“I am sure that smugglers get through regardless of how many of your men guard the border.” That was how little Braydon thought the chances of a war between Serhesh and Shuluk were. Even if the border was unguarded the Serheshi were more likely to increase the number of merchants they sent than the number of infantry. The last time that the Serheshi had a serious military conflict was the last time that Barakhil had been a thriving empire. Hundreds of years ago.

“10,000 denars.” He named a price that would have made Braydon spit his drink if he had one. That was clearly a little too much for what Braydon was asking. There were some viscounts that might sell their fiefs for less.

“I could pay them not to attack me if I had that much just lying around.” Braydon did have that much just lying around but that was beside the point. He was going to use it for other things, like hiring enough men to guard the castles that he had taken once he was in a secure position.

“You should know that this war has hurt me dearly. The Serheshi merchants want nothing to do with it. I need the denars to continue on.” Marquess Serchi said with so much sincerity that Braydon almost did a double take. He knew it was a blatant lie given how much should have been raked in from tolls on merchants over the years. Apparently the Marquess could perfectly lie when it came to money but not anything else. It was honestly an impressive dedication to riches that he would only expect in the merchants the man made his fortune from fleecing.

“Then how about I tell you that I can guarantee that any Serheshi merchants that enter the lands I have taken will be allowed freely into Fiveria until the civil war is over. I will make sure of it.” Braydon knew that he would be missing out on a significant source of income if he did not toll Serheshi merchants coming through his lands but that would be a price he would have to pay.

“And why would that matter to me? It is not like there are any merchants that will step foot in Shuluk until this whole thing blows over.” Zero multiplied by any number was still zero after all.

“Not if I can guarantee that my new lands will not be attacked by the rebel lords. Serheshi merchants have a hard time getting to Fiveria in the first place. You should have heard about our conflicts with Casburland, there is no way in hell either one of us is letting the other benefit from trade going through our lands. If the Serheshi can circumvent that, I am sure that the slight risk will mean nothing to them.” If there was one thing that Braydon knew, it was that if you paid merchants enough they would sell you the rope that you hang them with. Fiveria had been the exclusive domain of Leighian merchants for a long time now, there was no way that the Serheshi would want to let up a chance to enter the country.

“4000 denars.” His convincing had been successful but that did not mean that Braydon was going to be able to hire Serchi’s men for free.