Chapter 18

The day after his very seditious meeting with Wolfgang and Fergus, the Baron was tearing up his library in an attempt to find information. When he woke up in the morning he realized that he had no real idea what ‘Brayherds’ meant. He figured it was probably some fantasy thing, but aside from that he knew embarrassingly little about them. The only problem was the library itself.

“Is this place even organized? The only bookshelf labeled is the bookshelf with physics textbooks...wait why does this world have proper physics textbooks? Isn’t this like, the renaissance? Shit's 21st century at least. Wait...I don't think that's right.”

It took him a good 10 minutes of searching, and a not insignificant amount of language unbecoming for a man of his standing, to find a book claiming to have accurate anatomy of all of the world’s different races, and more importantly an accurate summary of their cultures and empires.

“Let’s see...no author...no date of printing...no sources...are the standards in this world so low?”

First he began with the human anatomy section. He basically knew all he needed to know about human physiology to make sure this book had accurate information.

“Hmmm...appendix...gallbladder...well this seems pretty accurate, let’s see about the nation’s page…”

The Baron flipped through the nation’s sections, skimming the pages as he went.

“Mhmm...The Empire...Barons...split into provinces...looks good enough. Let’s just hope the rest of the book is accurate.”

First he flipped to the world map to get an idea of where everything was. Despite being one of the most powerful men in the Empire, he wasn’t sure where anything was, having yet to regain his memories of geography.

There were four continents in all, with two continents connect on each side of the world, similar to how North and South America were in the Baron's old world. The Empire was on the continent of Alwelt, which took up most of the north-eastern side of the map he was looking at. The Empire took up the vast majority of northern Alwelt, with provinces and territory stretching coast to coast. It looked like the Empire was about 4000 miles north to south and 3000 miles east to west. Bickenstadt was on the far northwest of the Empire, below Holenstadt but above Leibenstadt. Caprae Loco was far southeast of the Bickenstadt, on the eastern border of Leibenstadt near the Sicherheit Gebirgskette, the mountain range that seperates North and South Alwelt.

Having seen basically all he needed to from the map, the Baron flipped to the table of contents, then to the Brayherd’s anatomy page.

“Oh, the level of detail hasn’t dropped at all! This is probably a good book.”

The Brayherds looked to be some kind of half man half animal, which given the name wasn’t surprising. The torso was that of a human, the organs and muscles and everything matched up exactly, but the legs and head were that of a goat. And it seemed there was one exception, because there was a tribe of Brayherds with the head of a Bison, though the population was maybe 10% of the total. Then the Baron read something that gave him pause.

“Wait...does that say...twice the size of the average human? As in 10ft?”

The Baron looked closer, attempting to make sure he read that right.

“Oh thank god, only the Bisonmen are 10ft on average, the normal brayherds are only about 7ft on average...oh my god.”

The Baron buried his head in his hands.

“That is so god damned big!”

After getting over the size difference, the Baron went on to read about their government and architecture. The Baron’s eye bulged in surprise as he read.

Their style of government, as well their architecture style, is what the Brayherds refer to as “De Publica Romanorum” In Latine. (see pg.289 for beginning of Latine index). Their architecture has a very heavy emphasis on pillars and arches, featuring in all of their buildings. The average Brayherd lives in a Domus, a building with 13 rooms and a large square hallway connecting all of them, as well as a courtyard in the middle with a hole in the roof to allow for the growing of plants in direct sunlight. Their roofs are made with terracotta tiling, which help protect against the elements in the…

“Publica Romanorum?! Is that Latin!? And those houses perfectly match the ancient roman houses I saw when I toured Rome! Just what are the Brayherds?!”

He frantically skipped to the government section, and unlike before he just chuffed in exasperation.

Their government is what is referred to as a Democracy, or a system in which people, or any group of eligible people, vote on what their government does. They use a Senate as a vessel for their democratic workings. The Brayherds working in the senate, known as Senators, are appointed by a group known as the Censors, who are elected by the citizens of the Brayherd’s capital city of Caprae Loco. Not all beings who live in Caprae Loco are citizens, as to become a citizen one must serve in the military for 10 years. Additionally, there are also what the Brayherds refer to as Famulorum, or indentured servants. The Famulorum are made up of captives enslaved after loss in battle. After working as a Famulorum for five years they are granted citizenship and given a plot of land to farm should they decide to stay.

He didn’t really know what to think of it.

“Well then...that is...strange.”

He truly didn’t expect them to be Romans, especially not the Roman Republic Romans. It would take him some time to put together his thoughts on the matter. It was a lot to take in, and it was a huge problem for him. He knew generally how to deal with Germans and Frenchmen well enough, and he assumed that whatever Fergus counted as he could deal with like how he expected a Viking to be, just a, angry Scandinavian, and generally it’s worked for him so far. But he had no real idea what the Romans were like, and thus didn’t have any frame of reference for how to appeal to their sensibilities.

“I think there was something about civic nationalism or something...maybe they’re all just really haughty? So should I treat them all like the boss’s son or something...no that sounds stupid...I guess I’ll just have to find out when I get there. Oh! I wonder if they have any literature I can read before parlay, that should probably give me a good idea of how they think.”

He didn’t remember talking out loud to himself nearly so much during his old life. Now just thinking without talking tended to make everything feel garbled. Maybe the Baron has undiagnosed ADHD, he heard that people with it tended to talk to themselves quite often.

As he was losing himself in his thoughts, Wolfgang came into the Library.

“Father, it’s time you decide who is coming with you to Caprae Loco.”

The Baron closed his book and left it on the table. He would have to organize them properly at some point, or better yet pay someone else to do it.

“Of course, do you have any suggestions?”

Wolfgang sat down next to his father and handed him a piece of paper. His handwriting was clean and almost too perfect, neat block letters with almost no individuality, which in a strange way gave him his own sort of individuality. The Baron imagined Helmut’s handwriting was most likely very close in style.

“Oh my, you’ve got a report for me, how formal! Let’s see...Brayherds enjoy...wrestling and unarmed combat? And therefore you recommend bringing Fergus and Udo. And, since you think this meeting could be very fortuitous...my my big words there...I should bring along Ludwin or members of his merchant company.”

“You are the last man to lecture me about being too verbose.”

“Yeah yeah, allow an old man to poke fun at his son, it is the foundational interaction of our species after all!”

“I thank you for making my point for me.”

“Anyways, I agree with your recommendations, though I think we should bring some of our own bureaucrats as well.”

“Yes, that is what I recommend in the next line.”

The Baron smiled and hugged his son.

“Oh what would I do without you!”

“Probably die.”

“Oh come on, that’s...only a little fair.”

A couple of hours later they gathered all of the Baron’s inner circle to announce their next mission. They all met in the Baron’s office, the five lieutenants standing in front of the Baron’s desk while the Baron sat behind said desk with his son standing in his shadow.

“I am sure you all have enjoyed the four or so months of vacation time, my coffers certainly did. But now I have another mission for you. I am going to be visiting the Brayherds of Caprae Loco to open up proper relations between our two great cities, and two that end I am going to require three of you, Udo, Fergus, and Ludwin. You three shall accompany me to Caprae Loco as official delegates of Bickenstadt and the Klarwasser Mercenary Company. Understood?”

Fergus and Udo nodded their heads, but Ludwin just frowned. The Baron took notice and looked to Ludwin curiously.

"Something the matter Ludwin?"

"Baron, I am sorry but, I cannot come along for this mission. My grandfather has fallen sick with Tuberculosis, so I am going back to Bvaria to be with him until the end."

The Baron's face softened immediately.

"Oh of course, don't worry about, you take as much time off as you need. However, I would like to bring some people from your family's company."

"Of course, Baron. Just send word to my father and he will send someone over. Am I free to leave? I would like to see my grandfather as soon as possible.

"Yes of course, you may go. Just remember to tell your father to pick some representatives to send."

Ludwin nodded his head and left the Baron's office. Hans quietly raised his arm and the Baron called on him.

“Sir, what are me and Helmut to do while you are gone?”

“Of course, you two have rolls just as important as ours. I want you two to drill the men on a new style of combat. I want the men to practice using pikes in tight formations, the pikes should be at least twice as long as the spears we currently use, as well as men using sword and shield to protect them should the enemy make it past their pike wall. I want Hans to handle this. Helmut will be drilling the cannoneers and musketeers, as well as training our archers how to properly use muskets. Archers are increasingly becoming obsolete by the invention of rifles and I would like to slowly phase them out. Oh, also you will need to commission Waffenstadt to make about 70 Assai’idian Jezail rifles, see Wolfgang about lending them the blueprints. Tell the Baron of Waffenstadt that I will pay top dollar for top product, and if he cheaps out on me I will invade. Does this make sense to both of you.”

“Yes sir!”

“Why don’t you just send Wolfgang to make the rifles?”

The Baron scratched at his beard for a moment, before quickly wiping the sweat from his brow as he realized Helmut was a genius.

“You know, I didn’t even think of that. Yes you just worry about drill, Wolfgang will worry about the supply of new rifles. At the very least I want you to familiarize yourself and the men with how these new rifles feel. As well as continuing to drill our artillery crews, I want them to be the most accurate crew in the world. I pay them top dollar and we get paid top dollar, we better be worth our price.”

“Yes sir.”

Helmut quickly tried to hide his self satisfied half smile as the Baron quickly moved on to anything else.

“Is everyone’s assignments understood?”

All of the men answered ‘yes sir’ in unison.

“Good, then get to it. I want Hans and Helmut to begin immediately, and I want Fergus and Udo to get to researching as soon as possible. Dismissed.”

Everyone began to leave when the Baron thought of something else to say.

“Wait, Udo and Fergus. While you’re in my library, try to leave all books of similar genre in the same pile, if you can.”

“Aye, will do.”

Udo raised his hand confidently.

“Sir, I’m not sure what genre means!”

“Of course not, why make it easy for me?”