Chapter 11

After sifting through what remained of the documents and books in the prince’s study for a couple of hours, finally getting access to a calendar which told him it was the 16th of September, 1659, which surprised the Baron because flipping through the calendar revealed that the names of the months are the same, but the days of the week were different. And finally, after sleeping for god knows how long, the Baron started to hear the rubble being cleared away outside his door.

He quickly began to check through the rest of the documents left behind, making sure there was nothing obvious that the prince didn’t have time to get rid of. It took the team of men over an hour to clear away the rubble enough for someone to walk through. A man walked in as the Baron was skimming through a novel called “Chef“ by Hans Bruekner. The Baron looked up from his book and smiled.

“Uwe! I thought you left.”

“Aye Baron, but Fergus told us you were trapped, and before I became one of Brusilov’s Finest, well, I was...a pirate...but before that I was a miner!”

“Interesting, is Bar...Bar…”

“Bartosz is restin’, he don’t got the body strength I do and we weren’t expectin’ combat so he stayed behind.”

“Well, I assume I’m good to leave then?”

“Aye. The city is taken, and Brusilov is expectin’ you, so you’d ought to get movin’.”

The Baron got up from the desk and began to leave with Uwe, but stopped and looked back at the piles of papers covering the room.

“Hey Uwe, tell me, what do you think about the prince?”

Uwe gave the Baron a confused look.

“I mean, his cause was alright, but my loyalties are to Brusilov and him alone, and Brusilov is loyal to the Empress.”

The Baron walked over and picked up a leather journal bound with twine, the pages were sticking out unevenly, on the front in big, messy handwriting read ‘A Treatise on the Empire. Written by Prince Wilhelm Reikspal’.

“Interesting, and the Empress is ok with this? Brusilov having his own personal troops that are only loyal to him?”

“From what I hear, she’s not ok with it per say, but she knows there’s nothin’ she can do about it. That’s somethin’ Brusilov always says ‘bout her, she’s real good at recognizing her limits, and she doesn’t dwell on stuff she has no control over. ‘Bit weird to have that mindset if you rule an empire, in my opinion, but I know that ain’t worth much.”

“Interesting, that is good to know. Do you think Brusilov is actually loyal to the Empress?”

“I don't know. Probably. We fought against the prince, but he never really trained us to be loyal to her.”

The Baron held up the prince’s journal.

“Good to know. Tell Brusilov he might want to expect something by mail in the coming months. Or not.”

“Don’t know what that means, but I’ll let him know.”

The Baron started walking to the exit again.

“Excellent.“

The Baron made his way to the war tent. He had forgotten how massive it was for a tent, it was as big as his home in the old world, and he wasn’t exactly wanting for space, being a well off American in the midwest. He stepped inside and joined everyone at the table they had discussed plans the day before. Brusilov, again at the head of the table, began his speech after acknowledging the Baron’s presence.

“The siege of Leibenstadt was a complete success. You all managed to distinguish yourselves well. I would like to go through everyone’s accomplishments briefly. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge Helmut’s command of the artillery.” He walked over to Helmut and handed him a medal. It was a blue ribbon with two cannons crossed on it and five stars above them. Superimposed behind the cannons was a gauntleted arm holding up it’s pointer finger.

“The Empress, at my behest, has implemented a commendation system. In addition to the material and political rewards we give you for your work, you will also receive something called a medal for your work. Think of it as a symbol of your excellence. This one is called the ‘Imperial Artillery Accolades Badge’, We plan on giving it only to those who show extreme excellence in managing artillery.” He stood up straight and addressed the rest of the room.

“Helmut was able to coordinate our artillery teams with extreme efficiency. Out of the hundred shots fired by our artillery teams to bring down the walls, only 15 were missed their mark. He personally helped each team calculate the angle of their cannons so that they would hit their targets and do the most damage, and for that, we are granting him double our discussed pay.”

Everyone cheered and shouted encouragements at Helmut, who just smiled slightly and bowed his head.

“Next, Udo, Hans, Johan, and Ludwin, you all worked as squad commanders during the assault. All of you performed well from what we could tell, there were no fires set and civilian casualties were lower than expected, and as far as we could tell from all of my reports, Udo’s squad performed the best, they killed the most defenders and high value targets, and for that Udo gets this medal.”

He handed Udo a red ribbon with a man pointing to the distance with his hand at the sword at his waist. Behind him was a group of helmets and shields bunched together.

“This is the Imperial Commander’s Badge, awarded for excellence in commanding.”

“Thanks Spymaster, it’s an honor to accept accolades from you.”

Everyone clapped for him, the other squad commanders celebrated less enthusiastically than they did for Helmut.

“Next, Fergus, Ahmad, Hans, and Baron. You were each part of the infiltration squad, as was I. Before I hand out our next medal, I would like to hear what the Baron did while he was stuck, as he has yet to give a report, for obvious reasons.”

The Baron leaned forward in his chair and smiled.

“Nothing special happened, really, the most interesting thing would probably be a meeting with Prince Reikspal in his personal study.”

Brusilov stared at him, his face betrayed no emotion.

“The room I got stuck in was the prince’s study. We talked for a bit as he was trying to find an opening to escape. What we talked about was nothing really important, it was mostly about how he wanted to be free of his sister, wanting to be independent and all that. When he tried to run, I killed him, though I couldn’t retrieve his body, so I cannot say without a doubt he is dead, but I did put a bullet in his skull.”

Brusilov recovered much faster than the people surrounding him.

“What do you mean you met the prince? Our intelligence told us he was hiding out in the Assai’id Confederation. And what do you mean you could not retrieve his body?”

“Well your intel must have been wrong, because he was here. I met him before and he remembered our meeting, sharing some details only he would know. As for his body, well, he was escaping out of a slide as I shot him in the skull. You could send a team down the slide to find out where it goes, but I doubt his body would still be there.”

I really hope he buys this.

“Well then...I suppose the medal goes to you. I doubt there are any objections to this.”

He looked to everyone and they all shook their heads.

“Well...then it is my honor to bestow upon you,” He pulled out a black ribbon with a knife dripping blood on it.

“The Wetworks Specialists Ribbon, my personal creation. The Empress created the other accolades, well one of her artists did, I personally designed this one, and I hand them out myself.” He handed it to the Baron and walked back to his spot at the table.

“Baron, I am sure that the Empress will allow me to bestow a new honor upon you, but at the moment I do not have something grand enough to give you, so that shall have to tide you over until a later date. However, on a somewhat related note, everyone who is not a member of the Klarwasser Mercenary Company is requested to leave. You will receive your pay at the quartermaster’s tent. Those members of the Klarwasser Mercenary Company shall discuss with me the extra payment described in my letter after everyone else has left.”

All of the other men filed out of the tent, leaving just the Baron and his Lieutenants.

Udo spoke up.

“Didn’t you say we were going to get a personal request of the Empress? Meaning that we get to make our requests to the Empress herself?”

A feminine voice carried through the tent.

“Of course, Herr Fudopfiegler. You should count your lucky stars that I am here to speak to you, I am a very busy woman.”

Her voice was sweet but severe, it had a quality to it that commanded your attention. It was firm and steady, as you would expect from a ruler of a country as big as the Empire.

She stood in the entryway behind everyone. She wore a plate cuirass and sleeve. she wore no helmet or gloves. Her hair was short, only reaching down to her cheeks, and her hair was black as night. She was exceedingly beautiful, a porcelain doll couldn’t match her perfection. She walked over and took Brusilov’s seat. Brusilov hovered behind and to her right in parade rest.

“I wanted to reward you all for your dedicated service to me. I truly appreciate your forced march to help with my siege of Leibenstadt. As you have read from Spymaster Brusilov’s letter, I have decided that you may all request of me a single favor, within reason, that I will fulfill to the best of my ability. You may address me. Decide who will ask first, but please, make it quick. I have a province to reorganize.”

She sat in her chair like it was a throne, crossing her legs and waiting for them to address her with a vaguely bored expression on her face. Everyone turned to look at the Baron.

“Um...lets just go from my left to my right. So that means we begin with Helmut and end with Fergus.”

The Empress spoke up.

“Also, the Baron and I have something to discuss in private, after I hear all of your requests, you are to leave and prepare for your march home, as your expertise is no longer needed here.”

Helmut stood up and bowed to the Empress.

“My name is Helmut Freier, son of Waffenstadt. I believe my request is fairly simple. When I retire from the Baron’s services, I would like an official teaching position at the Imperial Gunnery School at Waffenstadt.”

“Then consider it done. I shall have an official document written up and delivered to the Imperial Gunnery School at Waffenstadt. When you leave the Baron’s services all you will need to do is find your way to Waffenstadt, you will be welcomed with open arms.”

Helmut bowed again and sat down. Next Ludwin stood up and bowed deeper than Helmut.

“Ludwin Albrecht, son of Bvaria. I wish for you to set up an agreement of Imperial patronage with my family’s merchant company. We specialize in Bvarian beer, but we also deal in general goods.”

“Ah yes, I had a feeling you would ask for this. I will send my Imperial Trademaster to discuss terms with the Albrecht Merchant Company, They will in the very least be the sole supplier for the Grand Imperial Army’s beer reserves for five years, which is no small task, my men do love their beer. Anything more than that will be up to the rhetorical skills of your father’s men.”

“Thank you Empress, I am sure we will not disappoint you!” He bowed even deeper than before then went to sit back down, being replaced by Udo who did a very uncomfortable and short bow.

“Uh, hello Empress, I uh, I’m Udo Fudopfiegler, son of Grossenstadt.” He was fiddling with his hands nervously.

“I uh...I want a pension for when I retire from mercenary work. Enough for me and my family to live comfortably in my old age.”

The Empress looked down at him, smiling slightly down her nose.

“Of course. It will be done. After you retire simply come to the Imperial treasury building at Grossendorf, they will give you your pension and whatever else you require.” Udo sheepishly returned to his seat and Hans shot up and bowed deeply, falling into a parade rest immediately after.

“I am Hans Volkner, son of Grossenstadt! It is an honor to meet you, Ma’am!”

The Empress smiled and tilted her head slightly, resting her chin on her fist.

“Ah, quite the energetic young man! And the only one so far who knows how to act in the presence of their betters. Go on, speak! What is it you desire?”

“Empress, all that I desire is money for my family to live off of comfortably. I require no stipend for myself, I simply wish for my family to live a good life.”

The Empress sat back in her chair and smiled.

“Then it shall be done, I could never deny such an earnest request from such a polite young man! Your family will never want for anything. You may join them when you see fit. In addition, should you wish to leave the services of our magnanimous Baron here,” she turned to address everyone.

“And even should the Baron himself wish to dismantle his mercenary company, the Grand Imperial Army will welcome you with open arms. You would begin at the rank of Beauftragter Offizier, meaning you will be just two steps removed from becoming a Großgeneral, equivalent to the Baron’s rank in your mercenary company, and the Baron himself could start as a Großgeneral should he wish. I am always seeking out talent, and I have never met such a group of talented individuals before in my life. We could use you in our upcoming battles, and I assure you, there will be plenty.” She turned back to Hans.

“You may sit.”

Hans did as she said and Fergus stood up and bowed in the Imperial style. Everyone looked at him like he just turned into a fish and started flopping around on the floor.

The Empress sat up in her chair, staring down her nose at him.

“You are the Baron’s pet from Orkney, are you not? Fergus Ulpagahn the Berzerkeri, if I am not mistaken. Do tell, what is a son of Gán doing so far north?”

Fergus spoke through gritted teeth, much slower than he usually does, making sure to properly enunciate his words and doing his best to ameliorate his strong Orkney accent.

“Tha Baron always treats mah like an equal. He sees not mah dress and hears not mah accent, all he sees is a strong and reliable comrade. If aye may speak my mind, Empress, that attitude a’ yars will be your downfall.”

She continued to look down her nose at him, open contempt clearly written on her face. Everyone looked taken aback, with the exception of Hans and Brusilov, who looked ready to strike him down should the Empress give the order. She sat back in her chair, crossing her legs again and waving her hand dismissively.

“Go on, tell me of your request. I have promised my services to you, and I intend to keep my promises, even for one of the savages we call 'allies'.”

Everyone around her relaxed slightly. All eyes were on Fergus as he contemplated his answer.

“Aye want one thing: your word. Aye want your word that you’ll leave Orkney’s culture intact should ya try and take it.”

The Empress’s eyes widened in surprise, then she laughed and grinned at Fergus.

“You want my word? Are you sure? I hear you Orkney men go on long diatribes about how ‘the word of Empire dog is worth less than that of a real dog,’ or something along those lines.”

“Aye cannae say aye disagree with that, but aye cannae say aye agree with that either. Working with tha Baron taught me that much. Aye’ll be tha first ta admit us men a’ Orkney donnae trust ya farther than weh can toss ya, but luckily fer us, our arms are strong, so to say. Your word may be worth less than a dog at tha worst a’ times, but this isnae tha worse a’ times’. Aye doubt ya can become tha leader of a country without at least a little integrity.”

The Empress smiled and leaned forward, laughly slightly with every word she said.

“I thank you for your faith in me, Fergus Ulpagahn. You have my word then, your culture will remain intact so long as I am Empress.”

Fergus sat down, his expression was complex and unreadable.

“Well now, it is time for you all to leave. The Baron and I have business to discuss.”

The Baron’s Lieutenants got up and left, leaving just the Baron, the Empress, Brusilov, and the Empress's honorguard.

“Brusilov, take your guards and my retinue and leave. All of them.”

“Understood, Ma’am. Покинуть товарищи!”

Suddenly a bunch of men dropped from the supports above them. They were all dressed in fabric colored and patterned to blend in with the tent.

The Baron’s jaw dropped.

“No matter how many times I see your men work I am still amazed. I knew they were there and yet no matter how hard I tried I could not find them.”

Brusilov bowed to the Empress.

“Only the best for you, Empress.”

He whistled and motioned for his men to follow him and then filed out of the room, followed by the Empress’s honor guard.

“Think of it as a gesture of good will. We have much to discuss, and what I wish to speak to you about is of a...sensitive nature.”

The Baron leaned forward in his chair and raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“First, I would like to discuss my brother.”

The Baron sat back in his chair.

I hope she’s not angry that I ‘killed him’

“I doubt that he would die before telling you his plan, he admired you quite a bit, you know. So, pray tell, what did he say to you?”

Hmm, how should I play this?

“Well, he said something about how he felt the Empire had overstepped its bounds. He wanted to divide the Empire and he said it would be easy because your army was too far away, though ultimately he revealed it was simply a power play, he knew that he would never have power in his lifetime and he wished to create a new dynasty with him at the head. That’s about all I could gather from his inane rambling, most of what he said was begging me to spare him, but suffer not a traitor to live and all that, so I shot him as he desperately tried to escape.”

The Empress smiled and stood up, taking off her armor. She was wearing a standard nobleman's outfit, minus all the frills and aspects that would make it harder to move.

“I thank you for ending my brother in such a fashion. As you said, he needed to die for the stability of the Empire, but I would never want him to die in pain. Judging by your previous exploits, I doubt he felt much.”

She pulled over a board with a map of the Empire on it.

“As much as I hate to say it, what my brother attempted does have its merits. Our Empire has grown far too large far too quickly. From what my economic advisers tell me, unless we find a way to double the Empire’s annual income, We will be bankrupt in 60 years. This has happened before, to the great empire of the elves two centuries ago, and they were slightly smaller than us. They grew too fast, precariously balancing their empire like a house of cards, and all it took was one revolt for the entire house to fall in on itself, turning into a hundred squabbling fiefdoms until three new unifiers were able to unite them. Their current head of the army launched a revolt in his province, which led to many other provinces rising up in revolt at the same time. Even with the combined resources of their remaining loyal provinces, they were stretched too thin to resist. They were able to smash a couple of revolts, hoping the brutality of their campaign would cow the rest of them, but it only galvanized them further, and now all that remains is a small enclave in the mountains who barely have the resources to keep themselves alive. I thought that the Empire would be different, that because we knew of the mistakes of the past we were immune to them. I was wrong.”

She picked up a pen and began writing on the board as he was talking, first circling the name of the province they were in, Leibenstadt, at the far south-western side of the map, the most south-western province in the empire.

“At present there are four problem provinces, if these four rise up in revolt at once, we would be powerless to stop them. Leibenstadt, as we have seen, is full of revolutionaries. Their culture was annihilated before my father’s time, but they seem to still somehow remember a time before the Empire. They seem to resent us for our campaign to fully integrate them into the Empire, and are therefore willing to rise up at any opportunity they can find.”

She moved over to a province at the far north-west of the map and circled it.

“Holenstadt, previously a country whose name I cannot for the life of me pronounce. We conquered them only 50 years ago. The people there still remember a time before the Empire. They will be even easier to whip up into a ferver than Leibenstadt, they still remember their country’s name and cultural identity. Many people of that province hate me personally with fervent passion. We underestimated the resentment of our conquered peoples. There is no possible way for us to hold onto it in its current state.”

She moved down in between those two provinces and circled the province hugging the shoreline.

“Your home province of Bickenstadt. I doubt you would betray me, but alas, you are not the only person I need to worry about. I am sure I do not need to inform you of the independence movement within Bickenstadt, and, as I understand it, using the institutions your humanitarian father put in place within your province they could legally leave the Empire. Your province contains the Land of Everlasting Rain, with its riches and fertile rice fields they could possibly lead your province to revolt, they are powerful enough and have the resources to keep their new country independant, but Bickenstadt city itself is the source of a large portion of the Empire's tax revenue, losing either of these cities alone would be disasterous to the Empire, let alone your whole province..”

The what?.

She then moved to a province inbetween Bickenstadt and Leibenstadt, but farther west than either province.

“Lastly is Waffenstadt. Much like your province, their danger isn’t because of a cultural issue. They have a general seperatist movement, but in their case, the Baron von Waffenstadt is less interested than you are in keeping the Empire together. We have had some bad blood in the past, trade deals gone wrong, raiding of caravans, follies of youth, that sort of thing.”

That doesn’t seem like just a youthful mistake, I think she may just be a bad person.

“So, why are you telling me this? What do you have to gain by pointing out how weak the Empire is?”

“Allow me to finish my explanation, then we can speak in ‘hypotheticals’. As I was saying, our Empire is facing the same issues as the great elven empire of old, as well as a new issue they did not have. Their revolts came because of their size, they overextended and simply did not have the infrastructure to keep it together, collapsing under the it’s own weight. We sought to overcome that by quashing and assimilating the different cultures and fostering an attitude of duty and loyalty to the Empire, artificially creating enough men to keep the Empire together, and with new technologies that improved roads and wagons, our supply lines are smoother than ever before, more than able to move what goods the Empire needs from place to place. But it backfired. All we did was conquer people who do not think like us and make them angry, likely to revolt, and easy to whip up into a violent fervor. This is where you come in.”

She circled Bickenstadt, Holenstadt, Leibenstadt, and Waffenstadt, drawing a line between those provinces and the ones on the other side of the map, using the river that cuts the continent in half a natural border.

“Everything I say now is purely hypothetical, understood?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Perfect. As you may have guessed from my drawing here, what I am not proposing here is splitting the Empire in two.”

She waited a few moments to let her proposal sink in.

“The Empire as it is, is simply too big for a single person to run, especially when they are hated by much of the populous. The Empire gathered its manpower by conquering other peoples and turning them into Empiresmen, all of our original core provinces are somewhat unimpressive, with the exception of Grossenstadt of course, when it comes to manpower and manufacturing. The Empire requires those provinces to keep it running, They need Waffenstadt and Leibenstadt’s manufacturing base to keep the army armed and the gears of state moving, We need Holenstadt’s manpower and Bickenstadt’s mercantile prowess to keep both our infrastructure in good shape and our economy from collapsing respectively. If we lose even one of those provinces, the Empire is done for.”

The Baron leaned forward in his chair.

“So, what you are saying, hypothetically, is that we should split the Empire in half to avoid these problems? If the Empire were smaller, then it wouldn’t be spread thin. Is that what you’re saying?”

“More or less. If we downsize the Empire, we downsize the materials and manpower required to keep it safe. We need to make sure we keep our provinces within our yolk, but we have neither the manpower nor the technology to keep them there, and I am extremely unpopular in Waffenstadt and especially Holenstadt. I do believe that my reputation is salvageable in Leibenstadt, and I am particularly liked in Grossenstadt and the other core provinces. If we split the Empire, you would receive all of these problem provinces, you are liked basically everywhere in the Empire, and you seem to be a genuinely kind person, at least in the eyes of the people, if you reverse some of the Empire’s policies of cultural obliteration they will most likely worship you. And if you deal properly with the Baron von Waffenstadt, give him favorable trade deals and what not, then he would most likely continue to work with you.”

“And how would you get this past the Barons? I doubt that all of them would agree to your plan, it sounds like you want a centralized state, well, two centralized states, which would mean that the Barons lose power. How do you plan to deal with them? And how will this actually reduce the manpower needed to guard our borders, there is still the same amount of land we need to patrol and people we need to feed.”

“Well, for the most part, we could simply kill the Barons that refuse to work with us, give prominent positions to the ones that will, and intimidate those who are undecided. This would be a slow process, of course. We cannot simply do all of this overnight. We will have to slowly groom those who could be useful to us into loyal servants, and slowly whittle away the powerbase of those who would oppose us. We can do this through legal means and illegal means. But overall, the first step to all of this would be granting you ownership of the province of Holenstadt, and me ownership of Leibenstadt. Since I have the power to appoint Barons, this could be done easily. And if the other Barons have any problem with it, well, there is nothing they can do about it. I apologize, but that answer will just have to do for now. As for conserving manpower, since the Barons will not be worried about patrolling the borders between provinces, we could massively increase the manpower available for other things. Since we wouldn’t worry about us attacking each other, we could take the troops that would be manning the borders between the two of our countries and place them elsewhere.”

“Interesting idea, but wouldn’t this only work for the time period that both of us are ruling?”

“Yes, it would. For the most part. Unfortunately, I have no solution for this yet. All we can do is hope for some technological marvel to reduce manpower needed for all things, or that our successors are as reasonable as we are. The best thing we could do is-”

The Baron put up his hand and cut her off, smiling dangerously.

“But, that is assuming that we are reasonable. What if, say, one of us decides to betray the other down the line? What could you do to assure that I wouldn’t betray you, or vice versa?”

The Empress undid the strings holding up the collar of her shirt, showing off her cleavage, and bent over the table, getting in the Baron’s face.

“Well...we could marry. And perhaps have kin.” Her voice was sickly sweet. Allure was oozing out of every syllable she spoke.

She leaned back from the Baron and sat down in her chair again.

“This would bind us together, we would be honorbound to work together, to make a better future for our children.” her voice went back to her usual cold and firm tone.

“That sounds grea…” The Baron wanted to agree to her proposal right then and there, but suddenly, it felt wrong to him. He wasn’t quite sure why, but he could not marry her. Looking at her was making him feel...sad. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes and he had no idea why.

“I...give...give me a moment.” He managed to fight back the tears with sheer force of will, but his sudden silence obviously gave the Empress pause. Her face showed genuine concern.

“Baron? Are you ok? Baron? Do you need some water?”

He could barely hear her, all of his effort was being diverted into composing himself.

“Baron? Baron! Johan!”

He finally snapped back to reality.

“Yes?”

“Are you ok, Baron? Do you need anything? I know you are getting on in the years, but you are only 53 years old, and in excellent health. Please do not tell me you are having mental problems? All my planning will be for naught if you are unable to work with me!”

The Baron managed to form a disarming smile through sheer force of will.

“Oh, it’s nothing! I’m still recovering from my injury, sometimes I just need to stop for a moment. The doctors tell me it should go away with time!”

The Empress looked less than convinced, but shook her head.

“I will not push the issue if you do not want me to. I will simply trust your word on the matter.”

The Baron sat back in his chair and sighed.

“Anyways, Empress, I just had an idea for our budget deficit problem.”

The Empress sat forward and smiled.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“Why don’t we just make peace with the elves.”

The Empress gripped her chair tightly. Her smile quickly disintegrated into a barely noticeable snarl.

“We could downsize military action against the elves, which saves money, and then open trade relations with them, adding to our treasury. I hear the elves make pendants with very fine detailing, well jewerly in general, among other things, and they could possibly introduce new ideas and inventi-”

“You want us to deal with the degenerates?!” The Empress exploded in the middle of his explanation.

“The elves are a degenerate race of lowborn humanoids. Those long eared savages have nothing to offer us. We would be better off wiping them off the face of Die Erde once and for all! We’ve driven off what little colonization efforts they could muster along our shores, all we need now is incorporate as much manpower we can and destroy them!”

The Baron was completely taken aback. He could barely hide the shock and disgust he felt after her racist outburst.

“I uh, understand where you’re getting at, but we need to set out prejudice aside and be practical.”

“Prejudice? I assure you this is no mere prejudice! The Elves are a threat to all humanity! That degenerate race would backstab us the second they saw the opportunity. No. There will be no peace until the elves, the dwarves, the hou, and the orcs are gone. There is no future for humanity alongside the subhuman races, they must be destroyed.”

There is no arguing with delusion, the Baron thought, She seemed so reasonable at first! And what she said about gaining manpower, was the Empire created to commit genocide against the other races?

“Well...I guess I will need time to come up with another solution then. Do you mind if I retire to my quarters for now, I may be a hardy man, but I am still getting up there in the years. Politics is more tiring than battle, and there has been plenty of both today.”

The Empress composed herself and sat back in her seat.

“Ah yes, of course, if you need to rest then you need to rest. Just one last thing before you leave. Whether you go along with my plan or not, I am granting you dominion over Holenstadt. If you were able to change Bickenstadt from a backwater fishing village into an economic powerhouse rivalling Grossendorf, then I feel leaving you and your men in charge of Holenstadt will bring about positive change. Who knows, maybe if you make Holenstadt prosperous, my plan will be unnecessary, and we can focus on building up the military and creating a foothold in elven territory.”

The Baron stood up and walked over to the Empress.

“Who knows?” He said with a slight smirk on his face.

The Baron shook her hand and left the tent, returning to his personal tent. He briefly acknowledged the guard as he was entering, quietly ordering to let no one enter until the next day. As soon as he was out of sight, he crumpled onto his bed, sobbing silently. He didn’t know why he was feeling this way, it was maddening! Such profound sadness like nothing he had ever felt in his life, and it was even worse because he couldn’t even remember why he felt so sad. It was extremely worrying to him, for the most part the Baron's emotions had been completely superceeded by his own, but now he was feeling a strangers extremely strong emotions, and it was unbelievably unpleasant.

"Jesus christ. What do I even do about this?"

He absentmindedly looked over to his bottle of brandy.

"Well...I've seen worse coping mechanisms."

He reached over and downed the whole bottle in one go, almost immediately drifting off to sleep.