Is he really 10 years old?

"He impressed me that day. On that fateful day, I met that young lord of Aurellion, though I would likely not see how he would go before I die."

"How flawlessly he managed to navigate through the complex world of politics."

"What I did take Solace in, though…. is that the Chavarian empire had lost such a terrifying talent and has even made them an irrevocable enemy."

"One who would make endless trouble for the empire and whose family had the potential to even take it down one day in the distant future."

Duke Ancel Gallomour II of Plantaria

….

The tension between the two men could be cut through with a knife, but while their bodyguards had their standoff, each taking in the skill and presence of the other man, the two negotiators were instead calm, ignoring their scuffle as if it were not there. If the bartender were not a war veteran, he would be shaking as he hoped the two powerhouses would not battle. Otherwise, even his tavern may be destroyed in their deadly battle! For a fight between two powerhouses of their calibre was no joke, for they were at least at the master level and likely the grandmaster level. 

Though he was sure, the duke would compensate as they had served together and became friends despite the difference in their social status, which the duke gave zero shits about it still did not sit well with him that the fate of his tavern was dependent on the calm emotional state of two touchy grandmasters.

This was also a reason why the duke was loved and respected, for he did not care about your background. As long as you were helpful or talented, the duke was more than happy to help you out and even give you a position in his court if you merited it. The barman known as Old Joe to the city took an arrow to the knee during a battle, and instead of becoming a city guard, which was typical for wounded soldiers like him, he instead decided to start a tavern, which now the duke used to have a secret meeting with an obviously powerful client.

The bartender's experience taught him not to ask questions or inquire about these sorts of things, or he may lose his head. After all, many people have been silenced this way by influential people who could not allow what they saw or heard to be told to others. It was why the duke chose this place that was run by one of his old friends and comrades in the first place as the venue for their meeting, for he could rely on the tight-lipped bartender to keep his mouth shut.

'This little shit!'

The duke thought to himself as he calmed the anger that threatened to consume him and thought back to Lucius Aurellion and how he was just as weird and frustrating as his son. It did not help that both men strutted with a confident arrogance that implied they had a backup plan no matter what you tried to do against them. Even now, the young boy made himself at home and acted like he owned the place despite being in someone else's capital. Whether he did this intentionally or was just eccentric or naïve would require more pondering from the intelligent duke.

"Are you sure you want to be insulting the person you want help from?"

Duke Ancel said calmly, but frost was laced into his words, showing the duke's disapproval at the blatant disrespect, ignoring the child's blatant attempt to put him off, finding it even slightly amusing as it had been a while since the duke had dealt with such a person as he found the boy's antics to be somewhat entertaining.

The lords, both old and young, motioned for their loyal retainers to stand down, diffusing the situation though if looks could kill, both would have died a hundred times over, for both were waiting for the other to make the first move but didn't unless their lord commanded otherwise showing the two men's loyalty to their masters.

"Not usually, but I thought it would be fun! After all, what I can enjoy is fairly limited these days. I apologise if my joke offended you."

The boy said respectfully, the young player managing to keep up a child-like appearance so the duke would put his ever-vigilant guard down, putting the blame for his actions subtly on his regent for not entertaining him properly and on his age.

'Since when did you become so good at pushing the blame onto others? Seems you need some special training to keep your mind occupied! Not that it will make you any more disciplined, not even god would be able to break through that boy's stubbornness, but at least it will make you a bit more controllable, or he may end up getting himself killed.'

Leon complained to himself as Railius unwittingly just made things worse for himself as his loyal but vengeful regent began thinking of all the training he would put his young master through, making an unconscious foreboding shiver run down the boys back though it would not be till months later that the unfortunate little lord would find out the reason for it.

Many times, Leon had tried to instil some discipline into Railius, but to his continued frustration, it never worked. Instead, it would lead to his young master going on escapades to escape from the drillmaster's relentless training sessions, making him sigh again and again as nothing was more reliable than being able to protect yourself, but even when the loyal regent complained, it was still done on a foundation of Loyalty to house Aurellion living up to his mantle as the grandmaster of loyalty.

As Leon thought this, he returned his attention back to the conversation between his little lord and the duke.

"But this meeting happened because you were curious and wanted to test me, right?"

Railius said with a knowing smile, confident in his assessment of the situation, for if his letter did not intrigue the man, then the duke would have already ordered him killed to destroy any suspicions the imperial family may have about him.

"So if you can test me…. Then, can't I also test you?"

"Otherwise, wouldn't it be somewhat unfair?"

Railius continued in a relaxed manner, waiting for the speechless duke to respond, for he had already successfully gotten the results of his own test.

'Rumors can be true, for normally, some doubt must already be in place for one to take off effectively, whether one is innocent of a crime or not. Just the accusation alone is enough for people to believe something and accuse the same person if it happens again due to humanity's gossiping and drama-loving nature. But you must see a rumour confirmed before truly believing it. Some people even cut contact or break friendships due to rumours as sometimes the pen can be deadlier than the sword, impeaching a person's character and making even the kindest man seem like a devil in people's opinions.'

Railius thought as he had seen many people get their lives destroyed due to baseless accusations, losing family, friends and even their jobs because of them becoming a shell of their former selves.

Ignoring this conversation within himself, Railius was impressed by the duke in front of him, who far exceeded his expectations for the result of his little test just now to decide how the young player would proceed in the negotiations.

The test was to give insight into the duke and his character by deliberately insulting the man and watching how he reacted. If the duke got mad and attacked him, he would try to escape while not dealing with the duke ever again, as a person who would attack or start a war over stupid pride had no right to work with him in the first place and while an overly emotional person was easy to control and can be predictable that was not what Railius needed from the duke as someone like that may let their secrets out when their guard was down.

If the Duke got overly angry but controlled himself, then Railius would use him to get out of the empire, and not much else for a man of calm and cunning was needed for what the young player truly desired.

Finally, if the duke reacted as he did and calmly brushed it off, then Railius would try for his true objective, which, apart from escaping from the empire, was a long-term alliance with a powerful noble family like House Gallomour that he could leverage in the decades to come to make problems for the empire if they came after him in the future.

This is because if the duke led a rebellion, it would lead to a long civil war that would, at the very least, occupy the empire's attention for a few years while Railius moved elsewhere if they combined forces and attacked on two fronts then even a power like the empire would struggle to deal with them assuming Railius had an army of at least 70,000 men which the young player could only dream of right now.

However, he needed someone who was calm and cunning to work with someone smart enough, like the Duke, to avoid unnecessary conflict and calm enough to see the bigger picture and not get wrapped up in his emotions, or the emperor would be able to either purge or overly suppress the Duke and the old Nadron nobles easily making them useless to him in the long run.

'Is he really a ten-year-old boy?'

Duke Ancel thought to himself, for he was sure that while the boy had a plethora of strong fighters and military leaders under his command, he had no one who was well-versed enough in politics to know that the old duke really did meet him to test his potential after being intrigued by the letter he got.

'Is there a secret advisor I don't know about advising him behind the scenes?'

The duke continued his scattered thoughts, for it was well known that Leon Mantelon was no great man of politics and that the rest of the men loyal to House Aurellion were from the military, but if that cunning old fox Lucius was willing to hide a grandmaster fighter at his son's side….

Would he not also be willing to leave a master politician as well?

'But if the kid had that sort of person, would he not send him to negotiate instead of the boy himself? For it is too risky for him to do it himself, and if his own grandmaster is as overprotective as Alfgier is of me, then it would be impossible that he would allow the last of House Aurellion to personally go into the lion's den when they had a capable person to do it instead.'

'Ahh, why does this kid have to cause me so many headaches?'

Duke Ancel thought, his mind reeling, trying to figure out if this all came from the boy or someone behind the scenes.

"For you to realise my true intentions shows you have intelligence and can be worked with even if your personality is currently err, how should I put it…."

The duke paused and looked at the ceiling for a second to think of the most diplomatic way to say it.

"Problematic."

"But something like this can be mellowed out with age. You are only a child, after all, and it's not like your father was known for being the most polite person in the world, preferring to get right to the matter of hand."

"Take as a piece of advice from an old man to a promising youngster. Be a bit more polite in your tests next time, as not everyone is as tolerant or calm as me, especially when you want to get something from them."

Duke Ancel said.

"True, but if it were not you, I would not have said something so provocative in the first place. Your reputation is quite good, you know! So much so that it even rivals my father's well, at least in Nadron, and I needed to confirm it for myself."

"Whether you were as wise and calm as the rumours claimed you were."

Duke was still surprised that a boy as young as Railius could think of testing someone like this because if he was this attentive to politics as a child, Ancel could only imagine how terrifying he could be in the future. He could imagine Railius as an old man testing person after person, weeding out people's true intentions or joining a royal court.

It then seemed to dawn on Ancel just how terrifying his opponent was using his young age as a shield, allowing him to be more direct and blame any mistakes or insults on childish antics. Insulting people to see their reactions and how calm and composed they could be and tested people's personalities to find those that he wanted to work with all to learn what makes them tick.

He learnt what will lead to an emotional response and what will not. What he can offer to persuade people all of it…. All of it was intentional, a web of schemes weaved so subtlety that even he, a man who had been fighting politically with the emperor and minister of war for years behind the scenes, had only realised after it had already been done and the boy's tests complete.

This made the intelligent duke respect and be impressed by the boy and at how, despite his young age, it was him, not his regent, who was negotiating with him, showing the man's devotion to the young even if it was built upon loyalty to boys father to be able to have these people put their lives on the line for him and even go against the empire showed how terrifying of an opponent house Aurellion was as essentially these men were willing to go to hell if it meant their young lord survived.

The duke, however, despite his internal dialogue with himself, looked calm on the outside and decided to ask a final question that would truly determine what he would do. Whether he would let this talented boy live or try to end him. For no matter how good he was at testing people, if he could not use these tests effectively, then they were pointless. In fact, if he pissed too many people off with them like he nearly did with him, then these tests would be a detrimental thing, not a positive one.

"So tell me, Lord Aurellion…."

Duke Ancel began talking seriously, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he gazed at the boy, his brown eyes seeming to look straight into Railius' soul, his facial expressions cold and unreadable.

"Tell me why I should not kill you now and send your pretty little head to the emperor for a reward?"