“And… done,” said Clare after brushing clean the large stone stove and the fireplace underneath it. “You can bring it back here now.”

John squatted down, grabbed the large cast-iron pot by the handles, and, with a heave, lifted it up and placed it back on the stove. All other kitchen assistants had gone out to make sure that the kitchen would have enough ingredients for the coming event.

“There’s a benefit for your advancement,” Clare commented as he bent down to grab the smaller pots. “Now I don’t need to carry all that weight myself.”

John laughed. “Oh yes, that’s exactly why I worked so hard to advance.”

“I’ve been cooking for you for years now. It’s only fair that you help me every once in a while. Even more so now that the castle is becoming hectic again.”

John knew what she meant. The castle bustled with activity as the servants cleaned, hanged silver and brown banners, placed vases of flowers in the soon to be occupied rooms, and much more as they prepared for the coming guests. It all looked even more chaotic than when John first arrived at the castle.

Just like back then, Hagen wanted to prepare his forces for the coming war on Knight’s Crossing. This time, though, he didn’t have the time to receive his vassals one by one, so he would talk to them all at the same time.

Despite its large size, the castle couldn’t house each and every one of his vassals. As such, Hagen prepared various houses at the noble district for the less important of his vassals.

“Tell me, how do you think this war will go?” Clare asked after John had finished with the pots.

“Hagen will win,” he answered without thinking twice. “From what I heard, Earl Skanler is barely holding on to his power as it is. When the war starts, I doubt he’ll be able to keep it all together for long.”

On one hand, John was glad that Hagen, Athalia, and everyone else he knew here at Rochdale was likely to not be endangered during this conflict. The downside to it was that, after the war ended, Vasilis would likely take over as the new earl of Knight’s Crossing.

John had no doubt that, one day, he would become strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Vasilis. But if the man did manage to become earl, he’d become much more powerful. Not cultivation wise, but in the number of forces he’d have at his disposal if Hagen, as earl of Rochdale, was anything to go by.

The best outcome would be if Hagen simply didn’t take part in their war. Let Vasilis and that earl Skanler kill one another for all John cared.

Clare sat on the stool by the counter. “That’s what I’ve been hearing as well. Part of me hopes that this will all end at nothing, just like last time. It doesn’t matter how quickly the lord wins, there’ll always be deaths. Young deaths.” She took a deep breath, a sad look on her wizened face. “There’s nothing more painful than a parent living longer than their child.”

John could sympathize with her. He never had any children in his past life, but he was forced to deal with the loss of his parents in both lives, as well as his brother Lucas, whose body was never recovered. The feeling of loss was worse than any physical pain he ever felt, and it never completely goes away. Time may heal all wounds, but not completely. There’ll always be lasting damage.

Clare stared him in the eye. “From the look on your face, you know something about it.”

John nodded. “Not a child, obviously. I lost my mother though. That’s what led me to move away from home, and that’s how I stumbled on Bella and Nevil.”

“Lady Athalia would likely say that was in the plans of Alella. If you hadn’t lost your mother, then you wouldn’t have left home and so Bellatrix and Nevil would have died.”

“You think differently?”

“I’ve been alive for almost two centuries now. After living for so long, it’s hard for me to believe that there really is someone up there looking out for us.” She paused. “Seventy-three years ago, my sons and two of my daughters were conscripted at the last war for the region of The Tongue between Somerford and The Great Plains. They were out on scouting duty when they were ambushed by Olsen soldiers. They all died. Two days later, Duke Olsandre and Duke Olsen began peace talks. In the end, they decided that the region would remain independent, the same way as it was before the war.” Her voice didn’t crackle, and neither did she cry, as if her tears had dried long ago. “My children died for nothing.”

Lacking the words to console her, John placed a hand on her shoulder.

She looked at his hand and then back at him. “Thank you. I’ve stayed awake at night too many times thinking about it. It’s best to keep your mind busy with something else. My work or your training for example.” She stood up from the stool. “Thanks again for helping me here. My assistants should be coming back soon.”

John nodded. He walked to the end of the kitchen and left through the back door into the courtyard. A metallic gleam at the edge of his view caught his attention. He turned to the right and found Marleya standing beside the door in her full armor, leaning against the castle’s stone side.

“Hey,” she said. “Sorry for eavesdropping. I was about to go in when I heard you and Clare talking.” She walked away from the castle and towards the shade under the castle’s walls.

John glanced at the door before following her. He was sure that it had remained closed the whole time. “You were able to hear that?”

Marleya shrugged. “I’m a Paladin, remember? Advancing doesn’t improve just your strength, but all of your senses.”

That made sense. No matter how much time had passed, he still wasn’t completely accustomed to this new world.

“Is there any chance that this war won’t happen?”

“Maybe, but I doubt it. Lord Hagen has already begun stocking up on grain to support the troops, and every blacksmith in the city is now occupied with orders for weapons. We’re already committed to it.”

John knew for a fact that he wouldn’t be fighting in this war. Even if he were already a Paladin, he doubted that Hagen and Athalia would allow him to. As such, he had only thought about it in terms of how it would affect his goal of killing Vasilis. He had forgotten how cheap a soldier’s life could be.

“What Clare said about the war with the Olsens…”

“The fourth and last war for control of The Devil’s Tongue. It happened before I was even born, but I learned about it at the academy. Long story short, a war as unnecessary as the three others that came before it. It happened neither due to material gains nor honor. Its single reason for happening was that the Olsens and Olsandres wanted to fight one another, as they often do. Sadly, Clare was right. Her children did die for nothing.”

John knew nothing about the conflict itself, but it seemed credible from what he knew about the Olsandres and the Olsens. “And this war will be different?”

Marleya nodded resolutely. “We’ll be fighting to remove a maniac from power and putting him where he belongs.”

“He's already on his way to being ousted from power. Give it a little more time, and he’ll no longer be a problem.”

“And how long will it be until that happens? The more time we wait, the worse things become at Knight’s Crossing. A rabid dog is fated to die. But until that happens, they can still cause a lot of harm, more so the worse their situation becomes. That’s why we need to swiftly put it down.”