"Romen why are you here?" Duke Albrecht growled in annoyance at his insubordinate Head Servant.

"I've come to give counsel to my liege and help a friend." Romen calmy replied to assuage his liege's growing irritation.

"You were supposed to ensure Seirun learns his etiquette what ever means necessary."

"You don't have to worry about Seirun. By the time you left the dining hall, Seirun was running towards his 'consorts' with his tail between his legs."

Albrecht let out a huge and inapproriate snort at that."Of course you would've seen that. Why am I not suprise!"

"The walls within the Grey Palace have eyes and ears and all those lead to me." The Head Servant said with barely concealed laughter.

"By the tone of your voice, I would expect a detailed report about his lessons from now on until his departure."

"Of course your grace."

"Just say Albrecht when were alone."

"Of course Duke Albrecht." Romen cheekily responded.

The Duke let out a huge sigh and continued with matters of state. "By the look of your face I could surmise that you've already known what has happened."

"Unfortunately, I do and it's not looking good Albrecht." Romen's face quickly turning stern and serious.

"Further elaborate please and please try to summarise it."

"Several grain silos and multiple larders have either been raided or burnt. It seems organised banditry seems to be responsible. They struck at several border towns and villages within the duchy in the span of a single day.

"Routes that they have taken seem to be the most efficient; taking a deceptively shallow river or bypassing several mountainous terrain via goat paths. All this leads me to claim that this is a conspiracy against the duchy and aimed at destabilising it, therefore - "

"Break my hold unto my vassals. The fact that it happened when I announced my only heir were to depart." Albrecht interrupted in fury. His temper barely hidden. Another emotion also crept up and rarely did it ever sneak upon him during his tenure as the Duke. Fear. Fear of what would happen to his son. Fear if he could outlive his son.

"It's a relief to know their intended target probably isn't Seirun." Romen attempted to comfort his friend.

"How so!" Albrecht demanded; desperately clinging to hope.

"If they were to target him, why would their concerted assault be now instead of a week from now when he truly departs. Why attack the border settlements instead of Leidorf's core cities and it's capital. I don't know how many men the bandits committed, but they seem to number between dozen hundreds to a few thousands. This amount of manpower could easily overwhelm the defences of our core cities and Grey city. It would not be enough to directly control the cities but enough to reap, loot and pilage."

Albrecht heaved a sigh of relief at that but he suddenly squirmed in guilt. How many of my subjects have lost their loved ones, lost a roof above their heads and seen the horrors of war! How many of them are going to be orphans or parents that have outlived their children! May Allure grant those who died eternal life, safe from all distress, residing in her Gardens. And may she grant those who survived strenght to rise from the ashes and overcome overwhelming obstacles that they may suffer later on their lives. Albrecht solemnly and dutifully prayed for his subjects who suffered such vile atrocities. May almighty Allure also give me strenght and wisdom to deliver their tormentors to swift justice!

"Your right. This does stink of conspiracy but its purpose is unnervingly unknown. So for now lets live it at that and focus on the issue at hand. Damages needs to be ascertained and levels of relief given to my subjects and vassals who suffered this raid to prevent the threat of starvation. I don't think we can handle this on our own Romen, so if you could please summon the Elector Counts Court Counselors."

"Already done your grace. Your chancellor, stewards and castellan are on their way as we speak. The mayor of Grey City has also been invited."

"Good, and see to it that your 'friends' be put to strenous work. I want some leads and I want them yesterday! Justice needs to happen and may Allure have mercy on them for we will give them none."

Romen smiled and nodded at that and briskly left his grace's solar. Time do some work.

Oblivious to what has happened Seirun continued to argue with his 'lecturer' until the sun set. Finally the double lesson is over. While I would never consider spending time with a lowborn tutor who's nearly a decade older than me fun, I suprisingly thought it was... Interesting. It was interesting to know how father plays his subjects like dumb fiddle. It was enjoyable to learn how he did it. How he would offer them something small and insignificant to idiots who think it's significant and at a crucial time call a certain favour, that would be leaps and bounds better than the initial investment. It's brilliant! It's like offering a hand but taking an entire arm off with bits of the shoulder with it. And the best thing is that father would manipulate them to think that it would be within their silly realm of possibilities. I especially enjoyed listening to Alex... Baron Hensfield talking about how father swindled a group of farmers to grow a lucrative crop and gave them piddling amounts to jumpstart their efforts. In return father imposed a permanent tax unto them and the pox-marked fools praised my father for it! They didn't know that the tax would not only haunt them but their children and their children's children! Those pitiful dunces probably thought that it was 'equivalent exchange' despite being the exact opposite. To think I was skipping these lessons for the consort house and alcohol! I really was missing out.

"Your grace?"

Seirun was abruptly brought out of his 'productive' internal reflection by Baron Hensfield.

"Why are you still here Alex?"

The Baron frog-eyed in pleasant shock. With micromovements of muscles threatening an observable smile. But he professionally shut it down for stoicism's sake. "There seems to be a lot movement within the palace your grace. Since lessons have ended, wan't to investigate what the cause of it is?"

Curiously, Seirun surveyed his surroundings and took a decision. Even if he's a near-peasant, he's still a good company despite how boring he is for the past months he's been teaching me.A better replacement for the old, demented, wrinkly man. He couldn't even coherently formulate his own words and would constantly make mistakes, and guffaw at it! "Fine your a... suitable company for now."

As they wandered aimlessly around the magnificent looking halls of the Grey Palace, ignoring the great bustle of clerks moving to and fro , Seirun stumbled upon a familiar face. The well-amoured man noticed them and came towards them. He took off his barbute helmet, and man clearly in his prime of his life with black hair and dark brown eyes revealed him self as Ser Elvaughn, Castellan of Grey Palace. Seirun looked to him with utter respect and admiration. An honourable knight that taught him how to fight since he was seven. He was there when I could finally lift a warhammer and could finally wield live steel! The only person I could never best in combat.

"Your grace, I hope your lessons were productive. I hear that the Duke has been... Displeased by your lack of effort." The knight grimaced towards Seirun and shot Alex with a sympathetic glance.

Seirun started to blush and fidget as he remembered his father's unexpected outburst, and finally responded,"Umm... Yeah. Yes. He was very disappointed at me." The Duke's heir stammered in embarrassment.

"If only you could apply the same effort to martial training to honing your mind and skills, you'd be one the best Dukes of the Empire in the future."

Seirun, quickly recovering from his stammering fit, smiled brightly towards the castellan. "Don't you worry Ser Elvaughn, I'll not only surpass my father but prove my worth a hundreds time more. I have to, so I can be a good noble example towards my lowborn subjects!"

Elvaughn flicked his middle finger towards Seirun's forehead causing the young man to yelp in pain.

"Hey! What was that for!"

"Arrogance breeds contempt and contempt-"

"Breeds complacence and complacence is the true evil towards self improvement," Seirun finished for him.

"Well memorised. It's a shame you haven't taken it to heart yet. You've been living in such a sheltered and affluent area for most of your life, and you don't know how happy I was for me to hear you accepted your father's offer. Make use of this opportunity to expand your horizon and make new friends in Deorum. While I can only hope for a miracle back here in Leidorf."

"What miracle?" Seirun responded with dumbfounded confusion.

"For you to be humbled and your arrogance is somewhat mitigated. I think almighty Allure has to move her Garden and earth to remove your arrogance so let's not pray for that."

Baron Alex Hensfield standing by the side listening to their conversation with unimaginable fixation couldn't help but loudly snort at that. He only just managed to hold back the tidal surge of laughter but some of it escape as fits of giggles. 'I can't help but see Seirun in a new light now and I guess we're now in a first name basis. I guess he has a sliver of chance of flourishing in the capital. Better than zero when I first met him'. Alex thought.

Seirun twitched his head to glare at his lecturer, promising bloody vengeance for this minor slight. I have a good memory Alex! Embarrassing me like that to Ser Elvaughn! "I've been sufficiently humbled! You've beaten me enough times in the courtyard and bruised me enough since I was seven!" Seirun petulantly responded.

"It clearly wasn't enough to crack your hard head. As much as I like this conversation but I have to ask why are both of you wandering about when the sun is out."

"We wanted to know -" Seirun pouted at Alex -"I wanted to know what all the commotion is about."

"You don't know?" Elvaughn wondered why they weren't informed. Must be him. The knight's mind honed into Romen.

"No," both replied at the same time.

"There has been a huge raid yesterday and we've started getting the news from ravens at noon. It says that these barbarous bandits have been pillaging the border areas of the duchy. I've been busy organising hundreds of refugees turning up at the city. And more will come as the bandits continue to harass our troops. In fact I'm here to deliver a report to your father."

Seirun's eyes swirled in excitement, his back straighter and hands clenched in anticipation. "Two opportunities have landed to me in a day! Two ways I could rightfully earn my spurs! I'm definitely telling father to post me in a subjugation campaign against these disorganised bandits! I don't even care if I'm delayed to go to Deorum. Thank you Allure for granting me this!

Seirun with speed and vigour quicky capitalised on this oppurtunity and excitedly said, "I can deliver the reports to father my self Ser Elvaughn, and you can go back towards your duty."

"I'm afraid this is both a written report as well as a verbal report. But you can come with, me after all your the heir and should be allowed to listen to matters of state." Ser Elvaughn walked towards the Duke's solar with a thrilled Seirun following him leaving behind a panicked and hyperventilating Baron.