章節 343: Interlude II: The Emperor Strikes Back
(General POV)
"What is it, Jukulus?" The man seated upon the ornate throne marked with rubies questioned in a bored tone, the previous session of the Elder Council had left him with little tolerance for idiocy and he was inching ever closer to just culling the greedy fools and being done with them forever.
Extracting resources to aid his northern province and ensure the Empire's security had recently become akin to pulling teeth, the excuses the bastards gave were so blatantly ridiculous he felt his hand twitching towards his sword on multiple occasions throughout the council session.
The greedy cowards all wanted to dig their heads into the sand and hoard their food like a bunch of idiots in hopes of the problem passing them by. There were even some particularly idiotic slobs who thought that abandoning High Rock and the promised aid to Morrowind was the right choice 'Why should we help the provincial barbarians?' one of the fat fools dared to ask.
Oh how sweet it would be to just turn them all to ash and install someone competent in their place.
Still, the headache was worth it in the end, as caravans had already started heading north under heavy guard. The fact he had to promise temporary concessions and invest in extra legionary guards for the goods was a source of frustration, even if rumors of dragon sightings above Bruma did justified the move somewhat.
Naturally, things refused to end there as the Fighter's Guild, the Synod, and the College of Whispers all inflated the prices of their aid to ridiculous degrees for any task or request located anywhere near the northern mountain range.
Or at least they tried to in any case, he thought with a satisfied grin.
It would take him many years, probably decades, to stop finding enjoyment in the sight of the faces of the representatives as he threatened to make their guilds illegal and organize replacements. Many a member would have no issues transferring as it was the leaders who demanded the exorbitant prices and it would leave the corrupt fools penniless with the snap of a finger.
Some bastards among the nobility did step in to protect them though, so he was forced to permit a moderate increase in pricing, something which enraged him to no end. The guild were meant to protect the people and their employees (to a reasonable extent) not extract as much wealth as possible for their duties!
'Patience Titus.' He told himself tiredly 'Their time will soon come.'
His Chancellor, a reedy Bosmer and one of the rare few truly loyal to Tiber's dream, offered a shallow bow and spoke quietly "An ambassador from the Dominion has... requested an emergency audience with you."
"Requested?" Titus raises an eyebrow "Do I look quite that senile to you already Jukulus?" Even as he spoke an idea planted itself within his mind, this may just be the opportunity he was looking for to finally make a change. A rather radical change at that.
"Of course not your majesty." The Bosmer bows again even as his smirk betrays his amusement "Shall I send them in?"
The Emperor waves him on, almost eager to see how he could twist the upcoming discussion.
A minute or so later the grand entry to the palace is split open, letting in a tall Altmer woman clad in black and gold and flanked by four elite guards. She smirked as she beheld the man seated at the throne, immediately thinking him old and frail, and spoke "Greetings, Emperor of Cyrodiil."
"Tamriel." Titus corrects immediately and without inflection "I trust that our friends in the Dominion are capable enough to educate their messengers on proper decorum at the very least." He finally looks up at her "Or have your masters fallen so low that they are incapable of even the falsest politeness hmm?"
The woman scowls at the insult, practically vibrating in place as she took a moment to respond "It would seem I misspoke."
She goes to speak further but is interrupted once more "It does not seem you misspoke, you delivered insult without provocation." Titus once more corrects her lazily, his voice that of a man talking down to a child and his presence suddenly more imposing "Now are we done with this stupid waste of my time?"
The woman bristled, half tempted to just storm out of the palace at the veritable river of insults to her own intellect. But that would be accepting defeat and that was not permissible, so she grit her teeth and spoke "Apologies, Emperor of Tamriel." She pulls out an official looking scroll and continues "The Dominion has seen fit to forward a complaint."
Titus barely stops himself from rolling his eyes "Speak."
"As you wish." She nods, felling just a tad more smug as she began reading "It has come to the attention of the leaders of the Dominion" She pointedly does not name any titles "That the northern Imperial province of Skyrim, filled to the brim with Talos worshipping heathens as it is" She almost smiles as she feels the glares of numerous imperial guards "Has failed in its task to provide safe passage for our Justiciars and allow them to operate so that they may root out this heresy."
The Emperor stares at her for a moment and grunts "Elaborate."
She nods almost happily at that, her voice growing sweeter with each spoken word "Numerous loyal Thalmor Justiciars have been disappearing for years now, and many more were outright slain by the current rebellion ravaging those lands. The Dominion gladly offers to send more forces north to pacify the region and, of course, find and punish the culprits of such vile crimes."
"Current rebellion?" Titus raises an eyebrow, making sure to sound as baffled as possible "I am unsure of what you speak?"
The Envoy's smug expression sours somewhat "I am sorry?"
Titus' newfound grin could quite accurately be described as shiteating as he spoke "The Stormcloak rebellion has already ended, the Imperial forces have triumphed over the rebels without much difficulty, proving our glorious legion's skill at arms once again."
The woman stutters slightly, that was impossible, they made sure the rebels had enough arms "B-but did the rebellion not start a mere year ago at most?"
Titus' grin somehow manages to grow even wider "Yes."
The Envoy's face pales, the fact that they had not gotten any news from the north in months now was a growing worry but they had all accepted it as a logistical issue of distance more than anything else, no one wanted to send a mage skilled enough to transfer messages from such a great distance to Skyrim, especially not now that a Dunmeri Magister had gotten involved.
Then realization strikes her then, all of their spies not responding, receiving unclear messages when they did, many of the members of the High Council looking worried and fretting over the north with increasing frequency, and then sending her here to pressure the supposedly half dead Emperor.
Things were not adding up and the prideful Altmer did not like the fact one bit.
What did reach them however, were the carefully preserved and delivered corpses of their Justiciars, with almost haunting regularity and propriety at that. The fact that the exact time and place where they died was listed on the bodies did not help calm matters whatsoever.
"What of the fallen Justiciars then?" She unconsciously gulped as she spoke once again "Dozens of our agents have fallen already to unknown attackers, and we were granted no perpetrators. Does the Empire wish to go against the White Gold Concordat?" She could have pushed and phrased that better but her current unease made her slip.
Titus blinked as if in realization "Ah! Must be the dragons." He 'explains.'
"What?" The Envoy looks at him oddly.
"Did you not hear?" The Emperor smirks "Alduin the World Eater, the dragon lord of myth and legend has descended from the heavens upon the lands of Skyrim, I hear he has a particular taste for elven meat."
She blanches at the meat comment and glares "Our loyal agents are being systematically targeted whenever they leave the Embassy! The Dominion will have its due, or we will-"
"Proof please." Titus interrupts.
"What?!" The woman almost recoils.
"Proof or nothing." The Emperor waves his hand flippantly "I cannot convict anyone, nor can I allow foreign investigation without strict proof of the issue at hand."
Admitting that they were somehow delivered the corpses all the way in Alinor, where no one could detect anything save for the squeaky laughter that vaguely resembled that of an infantile Argonian, was not an option so all the Envoy could do at that point was grit her teeth and demand "The Empire will honor the Concordat or-"
"Or what?" All of Titus' joviality disappears as he stares at her with pure uncontrolled hatred "Did you not hear me when I mentioned the might of our legions?" He quirks an eyebrow "Or did you forget that humans take at longest a fifth of the tame it takes for an elven population to recover after a war?"
The air grows tense as the Emperor leans in from his throne "I have also gotten some interesting news from on west." He whispers but his voice carries across the whole throne room "I hear that the Crowns of Hammerfel have began to push your forces back from the mainland, all the way to your little enclave in Shady Grove."
"What happens in the territory of the Dominion is no business of yo-" The Envoy begins.
And like clockwork the Emperor cuts her off "Then it is none of your damned business what goes on in the provinces of the Empire!" He shouts her down without restraint "I have tolerated the arrogance of the Dominion for too long and I refuse to let such an insult continue!"
"You wish to provoke conflict with the Dominion?" The high elven woman hisses.
"Wish?" The Emperor thunders "I wish for nothing but for you to get out of my palace and never return unless you have learned how to treat with a foreign sovereign!"
Unconsciously she takes a step back, the sheer presence exuding from the supposedly genial old man having an almost physical effect around him "This isn't over." She declares and turns to leave.
"Oh trust me, it most assuredly is." Titus glares down at her back "Now get out of my city or by Talos I will have you drawn and quartered."
The Envoy misses a step and almost falls over but then realizes what had just happens and her prim and proper gait is barely held back from turning into a sprint as fear overtakes her, her bodyguards following swiftly behind her.
"Was that truly wise, my Emperor?" Jukulus asks, a bit discombobulated by the sudden shift in... well everything.
"They will not be able to react immediately, nor anytime soon for that matter." Titus explains gravely "Spread the word to the people, their freedom of worship of the Divine will be impeded no longer."
"As you wish my lord, but." The Chancellor pauses "May I ask why you made such a decision?"
Titus frowns "The nobles and the guilds have greatly overreached, growing fattened on their wealth and positions while the people slowly descend into suffering. Their decision to profit from the dragon crisis and the idiotic propositions of fragmenting the Empire further has merely firmed my resolve." He looks up, looking far more tired than he was but a moment ago "The rightful ruler of all Tamriel awaits to succeed my reign and by Talos she will get the best damned Empire I can leave her."
Jukulus offers him a wry smile at that "So you will not leave her the internal issue, but another great war?"
The old man merely smirks at that "She is Dragonborn, she can deal with it."
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The Thalmor Ambassador to Skyrim seethed within the rooms of her Embassy, her forces were effectively forced under house arrest about a month ago, any of them attempting to leave would soon just disappear without a word, neither blood nor a corpse being left behind.
She shuddered as she remembered the terrible laugh that accompanied each disappearance, a noise for which one would usually be mocked now inspired terror amongst her ranks.
At least they had supplies to last them years until she managed to deal with all of this.
Even as the thought entered her mind she scoffed at the very idea that she would not return to her home in disgrace.
The wind around her picked up and she sensed a presence behind her, before she could so much as twitch to turn around she felt herself being flung into a nearby wall, numerous bones breaking at the sudden contact and stopping just short of outright killing her.
"Ambassador Elenwen." A rich, familiar voice came from under her assailant's hood "The High Council is greatly disappointed by your lack of results." The man crouches before her, revealing a familiar and terrible visage "Worry not though, I am here now." The sadistic smile on the Altmer's face was so utterly terrifying she preferred focusing on the pain.
Unable to move, all Elenwen could do was shudder in ever growing terror as the fact that the High Justiciar now had his eyes on her. She let out a pitiful whimper as he tapped her broken cheek lightly "I am not about to kill you so save your pitiful tears." The man whispered with false gentleness "You are still useful after all." As he began healing her, pointedly making sure it hurt as much as possible, the once arrogant woman felt she preferred death to what was coming.
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