11.
"That duke was so arrogant! Dammit, I would've given him a piece of my mind if not for the guards outside." Mikhail said and his comrades nodded one after another.
"Shut your trap." Vadim said shutting them down.
'I have a bad feeling about this. My guts is telling me to not provoke the Duke.' Vadim thought to himself.
'His territory was screaming in prosperity, with a good economy, just how big and strong his army will be? I should warn Father about this. If they didn't listen then its their fault.' Vadim thought as he tried to remember everything he saw in the Blackwood capital.
'The guards at the gate aren't wearing worn down armor at all, it even looks new and looks like they are well polished.' Vadin thought as the danger bells started ringing in his head.
He thought of ways to convince his father to avoid starting a fight with the duke. If his father convinced the others to avoid the Blackwood Dukedom, then they won't be suffering a huge loss. He knit his brows as he knew that it was going to be hard but he needed to do it.
*
Three days have passed by but the expected attack was nowhere to be seen. I was reading the compiled reports of the expected harvest at the end of the year and it was on the positive side.
Wilhelm who was by my side, spoke.
"It seems that they won't be attacking us. News from the spies that we planted in their group said that they were considering of retreating and avoiding our area." Wilhelm calmly said.
"That Vadim guy, is a smart man, I just didn't expect him to be able to convince his father and the others to avoid us. But... the other greedy nobles will always find a way to trouble us. You'll find out what I meant. It'll be best if they take a step back after seeing what I'm going to do." I said and continued looking over the reports sent to my room.
Wilhelm looked at me weirdly who was sitting on a wooden stump placed at the top of the chair while I read the reports.
*
Two days later, another carriage came and I was surprised about the person riding the carriage. It was Uncle Gilltian, the Emperor himself followed by people I know but have never seen personally, the four dukes besides me.
"Welcome to Blackwood, your majesty." I knelt down to show respects and nodded at the Dukes following him.
"Rise." Gilltian and the dukes were lead to the conference room.
"May I know the reasons for your visit, your majesty?" I asked formally although we all knew the reason why. Gilltian looked at me with pleading eyes. I could see the meaning of his pleading eyes.
'Don't make my job harder, I beg you.'
I rolled my eyes at him then he started talking.
"I heard that you barred them from inspecting your territory, may I know the reason why?" Gilltian asked.
"Like I said, my territory is clean, I don't want others to waste their time inspecting, only to find nothing. Its inefficient. Instead of chasing after the Revolutionary Army, they still have time to come here to inspect the area of my influence." I replied but none of the Dukes interjected, as expected of old wolves.
"What you said may be true but others won't simply believe your words at face value. As you can see many nobles were killed by the Revolutionary army and their anger won't be quelled easily." Gilltian said as he waited for my answer.
"I can let them inspect my territory, every inch of it, but there's a few conditions." I said making a duke react.
"Watch your mouth, boy." The Duke of Dhulka said but the Emperor raised his hand to stop him.
"My conditions are simple. First, I don't want anyone causing havoc inside my territory. Second, If they want to denounce my subject, they must release an evidence that they are indeed working with the Revolutionary army. Third, if anyone violated my terms, I will chase away the people who caused trouble, including the army they came from." I said looking at the Dukes before staring at the Emperor.
"Don't try to trick me by forging false evidence against my subjects, I have eyes all around my territory. Don't even try to cut away the person who caused trouble, if someone caused trouble, I will kick the people associated with him as well, no exceptions. My investigators are pretty capable as well. If I heard one of my subjects cry about injustice, I'll make you pay." I laid down my terms, it is up to them if they want to accept them or not.
"Isn't the evidence part just make this inspection take a long time?" The Duke of Redwolf asked while I calmly answered.
"You're the one who wanted to waste time in my territory. If you want to waste time here, at least do the job properly." I said making them silent.
"Thank you for your time, Duke Blackwood. We'll take our leave and we will discuss about your conditions. You'll receive an answer soon." The Duke of Whiterun said.
They stood up and left the conference room, leaving me with the Emperor.
"Looks like your territory is doing well." Gilltian commented after making sure that they left.
"Hehe, if I want to protect my territory, I need to do at least this much." I said and Gilltian ruffled my hair.
"Penelope and Fahrein raised a capable child." Gilltian said as I chuckled.
"Of course, a tiger father doesn't beget a dog son." I said making Gilltian laugh hard.
"True. True. Fahrein and Penelope will be proud of you, brat." He said while I only smiled at his remarks.
"Looks like they will be avoiding your territory." Gilltian said to me.
"Why do you think so?" I asked with a mischievous smile.
"You brat, where did you get such a large amount of blankšum metal? Even the Guards at the wall are wearing full plate armor of blankšum." He asked in curiosity.
"Just luck, we found a mine near and mined it." I said as if it was nothing.
"You know and you still asked me why they won't make a move?" Gilltian put me in a headlock and scratched my head with his knuckles.
"Stop, stop, alright!" I shouted in grievance while Gilltian laughed hard.
"I won't pry about your secrets but still, be careful, a territory with a blankšum mine will make them be eager to take a bite of your territory." Gilltian warned me and I heeded his warnings.
"Let's forget about this politics stuff. I want to see them." Gilltian said solemnly.
I led the way to the garden and to the small hill where they are buried. Gilltian was filled with emotions after seeing the grave of his best friend and his wife, whom they fought over.
"Do you know the history of this tree?" Gilltian asked me.
"Mother always told me the story that father professed his love for her at this same exact tree. She said that this is a tree that will never wither." I replied to Gilltian.
"Indeed this is the place where your father professed his love. She wasn't wrong, after all this is the place where we both professed our love for her. In the end, Penelope chose Fahrein. It stung but I became happy for him, we fought for her love fair and square so I'm content on who will be able to take her heart." Gilltian said as if he's recalling a story of old times.
He knelt down in front of the grave and stared for a few minutes before speaking.
"Its been a long time, isn't it?" He said. I left him alone to have some time to talk to father and mother. I was not far away when I heard him sobbing in front of their graves.
I turned to look back at him kneeling while bawling his eyes out. It might just be a moment but my eyes might've seen the figure of my father and mother comforting Uncle Gilltian.
I smiled sadly as I turned around and left.
===============================
Crap, I was supposed to post the earlier chapter on timer but I didn't and it got posted prematurely.
Surprised that they didn't attack? I just don't want them to be outright one-sided villains like a common trope where the MC smashes enemy armies like flies with his armies' strength. It would only cause unnecessary loss for both sides, it will end up with weakening them both in the process. I will make a chapter like that in the future but not now.
So the Five Duke families are the following
1. Blackwood
2. Dhulka
3. Britra
4. Whiterun
5. Redwolf
Although its obvious, this is just like my guideline so that I won't forget them easily. :P