Chương 75: An Attitude Rooted In Complex Psychology.
"Ruthless yet kind."
"Uncompromising yet pragmatic."
"Monstrous yet righteous."
"But most of all, grudge-bearing."
"The psychology of the early rulers of House Aurellion is as much a mystery as their eccentric ways. In one second, they can forgive rebellious subjects who rose out of desperation and in the next exterminate families who rose out in rebellion out of greed."
"In one second, they will give a country a great deal, and the next impose consequences or stipulations due to even the smallest slight in the past, whether malicious or not."
"This unpredictability was a great weapon, for there is a quote about these future great monarchs who care for their people's well-being."
"The king's disposition is like the sea that can turn from a raging storm to a calming sea in the blink of an eye, yet unlike nature, it seems to be much better controlled."
Levath Rammat, Historian and politician in the Kingdom of Athurus.
….
Duke Ancel remained silent for a few seconds, surprised that Railius would bring out this card. His face's usual expressionlessness had finally been broken by a child no less as greed glinted in the man's eyes, feeling like a bomb had been dropped on their negotiations.
"Are you serious?"
"They are the ones who helped you escape the imperial capital and killed 1,000 imperial guards, right?"
Ancel asked, not believing that anyone would give up such a secret as, by now, the confrontation a month ago between the Pelican and Imperial guards had long been spread throughout the empire, which gasped in surprise when they heard of the Imperial Guards' defeat.
Nearly 2,000 men, including 1,000 imperial guards, were massacred by the 1,300 loyal protectors of Aurellion, sending shockwaves throughout the empire who, until now, had regarded the Chavarian imperial guards as the peak of martial might within the empire.
People had even heard how 300 Pelican Guards fought to the last man to defend their lord and how only 25 of the 300 loyal soldiers survived the battle, being rescued by their comrades in the nick of time.
"Yes, them."
"So, do you want to have some of your own?"
After hearing the confrontation, Leon spoke up, which nearly spilt rain on Railius' meticulously planned political parade.
"My lord, I am sorry to say, but the Pelican Guards will not serve any other lord, nor are they willing. They would rather die than submit to anyone who is not the legal or appointed heir of House Aurellion."
Leon said coldly and thus unknowingly nearly put his little lord into a conundrum. Luckily for him, Railius did not intend to give him any of his men in the long term or force them to swear loyalty to another family.
After all, where else could he find such loyal simps to carry out his orders without hesitation?
Of course, while the young player's motives were practical, he had begun to form emotional connections with some of his loyal soldiers, so to say that he only cared about their use was not entirely true.
Railius sighed before giving the duke his actual proposal.
"I will not give you the training manual because that is stupid and part of my family's power base, and as you can see, my current Pelican Guards are too loyal to me to abandon me, for they would not have fought to the death against an empire otherwise."
"But I can give you two of my commanders to help train some of your men and give you 500 Pelican Guards to help you out for 5 years, though I would like to stress their loyalty will remain with me."
"This last part is non-negotiable."
The boy said firmly, putting an authority in his voice that was uncommon for his age while laying out the outline of his proposal as not only his men but he himself did not want to part with such loyal men who would go to the fires of hell with him if he commanded it.
'What an extraordinary little shit!'
It was then that it hit him. At only 10 years old, this boy had not only given him a likely terrifying prospect stopping him from trusting or taking the emperor's side but also put his most valuable card on the table.
House Aurellion was renowned throughout the empire for their martial prowess and the loyalty of their soldiers, and now the duke had the opportunity to get such soldiers for himself.
Another part of the proposal that Railius had not mentioned but was most likely aware of was that even if they did not have the manual, because the trained men would be loyal to Plantaria, then they would learn aspects of their training manual, which, in the long term would allow his family to have soldiers similar to the Pelican Guards if only slightly inferior as they will not have the entire training manual.
Considering that the Pelican Guards in their current state could go toe to toe with the legendary Chavarian Imperial Guards, then even if he got an inferior version of them, it would still help him train up troops that are only slightly worse, giving him some of the best soldiers in the empire under his command.
"Ah, one more thing, if you learn anything from the training, take it as an extra gift from me and remember that even after 10 years, my family only trained 3,000, though considering our losses, we probably only have 2,000 left but at least I'm alive thanks to them so how many men you can train in the 5 years you have them will be up to you and the resources that you put in."
Railius added casually, not understanding how terrifying it was that 3,000 men were enough for him to escape from the ironclad Chavarian capital. Even if he was forewarned of the attack by an hour, he still had to fight off other nobles and imperial guards to escape and to be able to do that with only 3,000 was extraordinary.
If the duke knew that only 2,000 of the 3,000 men were mobilised, then he would be even more surprised, but this also meant that he had the young lords' permission to learn their techniques, which he was planning to do anyway, so by doing this Railius could get more concessions from the duke despite losing nothing in practice.
But what really surprised and, to an extent, pissed off the cunning duke was how calm and casual this young boy was about it. Even with an invisible knife to his throat in the form of the duke's men killing him right there and then didn't seem to bother the young boy, who ignored the preverbal knife to his throat.
There is a saying that was common throughout the Chavarian empire.
'Nothing is more terrifying than a man with no regard for his life.'
The reason for Railius being like this, though, is nowhere near as grand as the duke believed, for in the real world, Reginald, the player behind Railius, had never felt like he was that good at anything and whenever he was about to gain any confidence in anything he was mercilessly crushed at it by someone taking away any sense of accomplishment that went along with it.
It did not help that the young man looked up to his older brother, constantly comparing himself with him. For while Reginald could only be seen as average in school at best, his older brother, by nearly 5 years, was a student who always got A's and A* in GCSE and college and even got a 1stdegree in university two while Reginald himself failed one of his first modules due to not understanding and hating references alongside his traditional lazy attitude.
(A/N for those of you not familiar with the UK education system, grades 6 – 10 are considered secondary school, and you take exams at the end of your last year, which are GSCE's and grades 11 – 12 are what we consider 6th form or college while further education is considered university this is in reference to their equivalent years in America I believe)
Because of this unscholarly like behaviour, the young man has little to no respect for the concept of university as a whole or anything that came out of it, for as far as he was concerned, they never bothered to follow the logic of his arguments but instead focused on references and who said what where and where is the source to back up your logic even if there is not one or you don't care about it. For a lazy man, he was surprisingly practical, not caring where things came from as long as they were logical and seemed morally right, but was always willing to listen to someone as long as they were happy to have a conversation about ideas, not where they came from.
This frustrated the young man who only stayed at university due to the urging of his mother to get the piece of paper and because as long as he learnt to reference, he could spend only a few days or maybe two weeks at most on all his assignments collectively while still passing and spending the rest of the time playing games and going to lectures which is why he can enter DO now without too much backlash.
Reginald also played many of the same games as his brother and routinely got beaten by his brother, who was 5 years his senior, due to his increased maturity and their age gap. This has led to somewhat of an inferiority complex with his brother and makes him see his life as purposeless with little to no value. As a result, he is carefree because it did not matter whether he amounted to anything anyway, for as far as he was concerned, he was a failure in the first place, so failing more was to be expected, and this would come across as someone who did not care whether he died in the game for he could always start again from scratch if he wished.
Of course, the duke had no way of knowing that this nonchalant attitude that annoyed so many people was rooted deeply in the young man's psychology and instead became afraid of it working to the young boy's advantage.
He also subconsciously put a hand on the hilt of his sword as a sudden urge to kill the boy in front of him emerged, the calm duke becoming fearful of the boy's future and how much untapped potential he had. His raging killing intent was picked up by Leon, who became increasingly alert, ready to spring into action at any time. Seeing their Grand Commander get touchy, the other armoured Pelican Guards also became vigilant, preparing themselves for a confrontation and ready to give their lives for the last of their old beloved lord's bloodline.
It then subsided as quickly as it came as the duke realised it was not him that this talented boy would be against but the empire. So, if they are both enemies of the empire, why not work together?
Even if the duke refused to take into account the latent potential that lay dormant in the boy that would almost certainly be used against the imperial family in the future, just the training of his soldiers and potentially learning even some of the secrets of the Pelican Guards would go along way in improving his families military strength.
After all, their dynasty did not yet have a unique unit like the imperial family and other martially inclined nobles, so if they could learn things from House Aurellion and the Pelican Guards, then they only needed to use that and innovate a bit, and they will have their own powerful unique unit like Railius did after all if he did not have the loyalty of these men then his dynasty would have long since died out.
Even when Railius' mother, Thorilsia Caskarm, had her own family's troops to help her escape failed, as they were trampled under the steel-shod hooves of the imperial guard. Even in the past 10 years of the empire's history since its foundation, not one person has escaped from the imperial capital and the imperial family until Railius did, shocking everyone and making them realise just how powerful that house was and how determined they were even giving up a marquisate to survive instead of trying to defend as many other nobles would do.
The advantage that House Aurellion had was that they did not have hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of years of history tying them to the land as it was a big decision usually for a noble house to abandon their territory and go into exile where they will not live with the power and luxury they once had.
"So what do you want in exchange for helping me train troops for a few years?"
The duke asked, interested in what demands the little lord in front of him had, for it would give him more insight into just how good Railius was at negotiating.
"It's simple really. First off, I want your help in escaping Chavaria. You see, we don't know the local political landscape. For example, I want to know which Beastmen tribes are more hostile to the empire. Which ones are friendly? It would not do for me to escape from Chavaria, only to run into one of their allies and be captured and killed. As I understand it, the Beastmen United States are much more decentralised than our empire in its power structure."
"Second, I want your help in moving the families of the soldiers who want to leave Chavaria to the haven I plan to create in Nathia for my dynasty."
"After all, the least I can do for my loyal men is ensure their families are safe and taken care of, even if the power I hold right now is limited."
Railius said righteously, but the duke could see through the advantages and hidden intentions of the scheme.
'Impressive how he hits two birds with one stone.'
'Not only can he be seen as a benevolent young lord who cares about his people and subordinates, but he can even raise the next generation of Pelican Guards if the soldier's families accompany him!'
'The Pelican Guards, after all, will be 8 years older by the time he comes of age properly, and as a result, some may be too old to fight, but if he can get their families to join him, then he can train their sons and daughters to take their places in the future.'
'If he makes this a tradition within their families, then he can have a small loyal force of exceptional soldiers for years to come as long as his heirs continue to care for them properly.!'
The duke could already imagine the tradition of a Pelican Guard training his son up to replace him donning his armour and fighting loyally for the Aurellion cause whether House Aurellion can make sure that this does not become a corrupt system where only those with the right connections or bloodline can enter the Pelican Guards is another matter entirely.
'All the groundwork has been done! Now, to see if it will pay off!'
Railius thought and gave the duke a minute or two to think over his proposal before putting his final and potentially most important request to Ancel.
"The first two points are non-negotiable, but I would also consider a long-term secret alliance with your grace and your dynasty if that is something you think you can benefit from."
"Do we have an accord?"
Railius said politely, revealing his true motives to Ancel.
"We do pleasure to be working with you, lord Aurellion. We should get into the details now, no?
The duke said with a smile, offering his hand to the small boy for a handshake.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
LaziestDragon
LaziestDragon Thank you for reading and for your continued support.
The next chapter should be out on Monday as my health has improved over the last few days sorry it's late I had internet issues and had to work hard to get this out due to being out of commission for a day or two and taking it easy so I don't collapse.
As always there are 10 advanced chapters on Patreon for various tiers for those who want them.
With the shameless plugin done see you on Monday
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