Capítulo 96: Politics Ripple Through To Affect All Things
"Only fools believe that they can avoid politics forever."
"It can affect all parts of a person's life even without them knowing."
"From taxes to the economy, politics affects all things in one way or another."
"Cost of living rising? That is usually because of politics. Businesses leaving elsewhere? That is also due to politics and the laws passed by politicians.
"Even a confrontation between merchants can have political implications."
"But if politics can affect something, then it can also be used as a weapon to defend yourself and attack your enemies."
Reginald Coulan, creator and head of House Aurellion in dynasties online.
…..
"Who dares make trouble in his grace's capital!"
A sergeant shouted as armed men began to surround Sigismond and Captain Packard, each of them seeing the Red Blades captain's pitiful condition and becoming wary of these new arrivals who appeared to have considerable martial skill or at the least much more than city guards like they had.
A few minutes after the confrontation between the two had started, this sergeant received a message of the disturbance and gathered men to investigate. However, by the time he got there, Packard, who was known for his skill, lay on the ground groaning with a man whispering in his ear if these men were elite soldiers, then the sergeant would not be afraid, but most were city guards with only a bit of basic training and stood no chance against experienced fighters who could down an expert level fighter within a few minutes.
The Red Blades had a strong relationship with the duke, and as a result, the city guards tended to side with them more often than not and even when they were clearly in the wrong, they sometimes got off scot-free or somehow turned it around to blame their enemies.
"You! You have disturbed the peace and fought in the open! Men, arrest him!"
The sergeant shouted, pointing at the man who he assumed left Packard in such a pitiful position, deciding to take the side of the Red Blades, showing his blatant favouritism towards them as if it was Sigsmond who was on the floor the city guards would have just silently left, only for an authoritative voice to make him stop as steel left scabbards for the Pelican Guards disguised as mercenaries would not go down without a fight.
"Stop! May I ask what we have done wrong?"
Sigsmond said, as a commander who had commanded men for years, it was not hard for him to stop people with only his words, as each seemed to be laced with something that made others obey him.
"You have assaulted someone and openly disturbed the peace."
The Sergeant said as if he was righteous despite showing blatant favouritism towards one side.
"It was a duel that this gentleman challenged me to, and I merely had one of my subordinates fill in to protect me and my honour as my combat abilities are limited."
"This was the result, and now you want to arrest me?"
"Tell me, what would the king think when he hears of these constant abuses of power? Where would that put your lord then?"
Sigismond said with a smile, for while Nathia was not Chavaria, where such actions were likely to end up with a corrupt noble's head on a spike, such abuses were enough for the royal court and the duke's many enemies to make use of these events to attack him maybe even to the point of having royal overseers appearing to manage things in the incompetent duke's stead.
Even though no one would say that the current king of Nathia was talented, he did not send his kingdom into decline, retaining its power even under the pressure of increasingly corrupt nobles and many external enemies.
For years, the nations surrounding Nathia have looked at the prosperous ancient kingdom with envious eyes, wanting its flourishing fertile lands and natural resources for themselves and as a result, the king needed to be careful as any internal strife was likely to be taken advantage of by foreign powers to invade and conquer some of their lands. Unlike in Chavaria, where the emperor could purge parts of the nobility without risk of invasion, Nathia was different. If enough nobles rebelled, and then the kingdom was invaded by the Chavarian Empire and the nations around it, then it is likely that the kingdom itself would fall from the strife and war that was created as its enemies carved it up like a cake each taking nation swallowing its own delicious piece.
Despite popular belief, navigating through this tumultuous political situation where one must carefully balance all sides took no small amount of talent. It is just a shame that the history books are never kind to kings who only retain their kingdom's power instead of expanding it.
There was, however, still a ray of hope for the kingdom, a lonely light struggling against the seemingly endless darkness as the crown prince of Nathia, the king's eldest son, was a well-known prodigy and genius in a few short years even though he was barely 20 years old he had created a solid powerbase in the royal court creating a powerful royalist faction that included Ranier Lantier the best general in Nathia, both the grand dukes and many other noble's who still cling onto the virtue and benevolence of their ancestors.
This, alongside the king's own supporters, has allowed the two to dominate the political scene of Nathia in the last few months, something the Nathian royal family had not done for decades, forcing many nobles to be less blatantly tyrannical for fear that this new royalist power would turn against them.
Many times, people have tried to kill this prince, though none has worked, each time as if he was a god that could tell the future; the crown prince of Nathia seemed to predict each attack and thwart it with expert precision to the point that even those behind it despite their lofty status did not escape from the executioner's axe.
By now, the entire kingdom knew about the recent rise of this powerful new royalist faction in the royal court, and for the first time in his life, this city guard sergeant felt cold sweat trickle down his back and hesitated.
"The king will never know."
The sergeant said with a cruel smile, not backing down.
"Tell me sergeant…."
"Do you really think there are none of the king's spies in the duchy capital? Or maybe the spies of your lord's enemies?
"You may not be familiar with politics, so let me help you out a bit."
"Politics is all about legitimisation and power!"
"And if I was your enemy, such abuses of power such as this…."
"Would be the sword that I use to cut you down!"
"So I would ask you, my good sir, to think twice as your actions may be what nails the coffin of your lord shut."
Sigismond retorted with an oddly cold scholarly elegance that was unbecoming of a mercenary, shocking this sergeant who was unfamiliar with the intricacies of politics. Even Sigismond himself was not that familiar with the subtle art of politics but had experienced its consequences enough to know such simple truths. The man's tone seemed to mix righteousness with the cold ruthlessness of an experienced warrior that sent shivers down the spines of the sergeant and his men.
"Let them go!"
The sergeant thought for a bit before grunting in anger and leaving as it was rare for mercenaries to be so eloquent in their words, which made him suspect that this may be some noble as few commoners could boast of being so educated and articulate with his words. This made him much more careful, as dealing with a commoner and a low-key noble were two completely different ballgames entirely.
If this were just a commoner, then it would be easy to suppress this incident as few would offend someone as powerful as a duke for the sake of a commoner, but going after those of noble blood was a completely different matter as they had far more privileges than the average man a good example would be that a noble could duel and beat a commoner without any consequences especially if he did not start it.
Nobles, even landless ones or those with the rank of Baron, usually have vast networks of friends and familial relations that they could call upon to bring an issue to the royal court, which could rule for either side and have disastrous consequences for even the most powerful of nobles as all the king needed were a few loyal nobles to raise their armies or one of the grand dukes to make a move and a noble let alone a commoner like him would be toast. As usually, it was the commoners and lowborns that paid the price and consequences of a noble's greedy ambition.
After sighing in relief, Sigismond turned back to the merchant, who was still shocked by the smooth way in which this mercenary captain had dealt with all of these problems that caught out so many others.
Other mercenary companies may have started a fight, giving the duke an excuse to deal with them, but instead, this mysterious captain maintained his calm and even argued with the city guard, dealing with things in an upright manner where no one could fault him.
'What was these people's identity? Which commoner would dare to argue with the city guard and anger a duke? For what? Honour? Loyalty?'
'Was this just an elaborate plot by the duke to have these men save him only to betray him later?'
'The duke was cunning enough to devise such plans as even the genius crown prince of Nathia struggled to keep the cunning bastard in check at times as the prince seemed to have met his match in intelligence.'
Ralston, the merchant thought, his mind becoming a scattered mess until Sigsmond's calm voice brought him back to reality.
"Young master Ralston, I imagine there is no more doubt in the skill of my men?"
Sigismond asked with respect but retained a knowing smile on his face, knowing that his actions would soon be spread throughout the city, shocking it and drawing the ire of many influential people, indirectly spreading their name and reputation throughout the land.
"Of course not! Never before have I seen men of such skill at arms. May I ask what price the good captain would ask for his services?"
The player merchant asked, his eyes shining with intelligence as negotiation was his true forte, not fighting or the murky world of politics as he tried to size up the calm man in front of him who seemed to be able to remain calm even if a meteor was about to crush him.
"Sigismond Security Service is not like other shameless mercenary groups who take advantage of people's misfortune for a quick buck. Instead, we consider all your circumstances before offering a reasonable price that both sides could agree with."
"May I be so bold as to ask the problems that the young master is facing so I can both do my job better and come up with a reasonable price?"
Sigismond said with righteousness, bringing a breath of fresh air to this city filled with the sewage of corruption where honour and virtue were not seen as something good but naïve.
"The Duke of Deterner had sided with my competitor, and since then, I have had a hard time selling anything! Only the Count of Brineyard dares to do any deals with me being the only man with the influence and integrity to stand up to Duke Ridorfin's acts of tyranny!"
The merchant complained out loud, not needing to stand on ceremony anymore as the powerful corrupt sovereign of the duchy would come for him whether he put up a false pretence of politeness or not.
"So it is fair to say that this duchy's most powerful man and feudal lord will make moves against you?"
Sigismond asked, even though he already knew most of this from rumours but getting it confirmed by the merchant was another matter entirely as rumours were not always truthful. The Pelican Guard commander was also planning to use it to raise his price legitimately after showing off his and his men's capabilities and seemed to have no issue going against this powerful noble who had tens of thousands of soldiers at his beck and call.
"Yes, so how much will it cost to take me safely to the capital."
The merchant player confirmed, knowing that even if they were more reasonable and trustworthy than the Red Blades, it would still cost a lot for them to be willing to offend such powerful figures."
"Considering that we will be making enemies with such powerful figures for me and 50 of my men to guard you, it will cost you 1000 gold, a much more appropriate price compared to those shameless people from The Red Blades who only know how to take advantage of people."
"I apologise, but any less, and it will be hard to convince my men to take the risk. You only have one life after all."
Sigismond said with sincerity, not forgetting to throw some more shade The Red Blades' way as they were destined to be enemies anyway, but because this journey was almost certain to be dangerous, Sigismond conveniently had no choice but to put his price high, which was such a terrible state of affairs and not in any way planned by the cunning commander one bit.
Such accusations would be terrible lies, of course, only made to impugn the honour of the security service, with no truth to them at all.
But with 50 experts by his side and 100 secretly hidden nearby to join at any time, the Chavarian man in his mid-thirties was confident in taking on the hidden forces of any noble or bandit that would dare try to stop them.
Of course, Sigsmond, being a seasoned commander and war veteran, always knew to keep some cards hidden and close to his chest when possible, especially when dealing with schemes like these, which were a far cry from a war where both sides usually knew how many men the other had as large scale troop movements were not the easiest things to hide.
So, to keep the true number of men he had at his disposal a secret, he didn't even tell Ralston the full size of the force accompanying him.
If Ralston knew that 150 experts were going to be protecting him, he would be more than happy to bring out so much gold, but he did not, and so the Italian player had to think carefully whether it was worth it, but there was one thing that was apparent to him.
Compared to his other options, Sigismond and his men seemed to be the only ones willing to actually offend the duke as they had already attacked and humiliated one of the duke's most favoured mercenary groups and even his own city guards showing the nonexistent amount of respect and fear these men had for the high nobility. This made them much more trustworthy than others who may betray him on the duke's orders. Again, the destain that the Pelican Guards had for other noble houses that were not House Aurellion was coming through clearly something that would be a constant problem for Railius in the future as he struggled to keep them respectful of others.
"Agreed, 1000 gold, though I hope all of your men are as skilled as the Lucian fellow."
Ralston finally gave in and agreed after much consideration. After all, if he failed this quest, his dynasty would be destroyed anyway, so why not bet it all for one last hurrah that might actually work?
"Lucian is the best fighter amongst us, but the others are more than a match for any of those other men that Captain Packard had at his disposal. Do not worry yourself. We will make sure you get to your destination safely."
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
LaziestDragon
LaziestDragon Sorry for the late upload but some Christmas things that were up in the air suddenly happened and demanded my attention so I had to go attend to them.
The next Chapter should be out as of Thursday as usual again sorry for missing the Christmas day release so consider this a late Christmas present.
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