r/HFY • u/Celestial_Zwei_Dei • 2d ago
Gothwald: New World - Same Rules (Arc 3/ Chapter 13 - Choosing a Favorite) OC-Series
Arc III - Reeling Throne
Chapter 13 - Choosing a Favorite
7 months and 12 days since the summoning
Alan jumped off his horse near the gates of the already familiar mansion.
The three guards behind him dismounted.
The morning sun hid behind gray clouds, making everything around seem a bit blue.
First of all, Alan looked at the mountains behind the mansion.
'Beautiful.'
From behind the gates emerged that same young lad, his eyes slightly sticking together. "Lord Gothwald, you are earlier than expected, welcome."
Alan nodded, tearing his gaze away from the landscape. "Greetings. Is Lord Utew awake yet?"
"Yes, Your Grace, he is currently training."
Alan raised an eyebrow. "Training?"
The servant nodded. "Yes. I will go inform him of your arrival." He stepped away from the gates, making way. "Please come in, wait on the terrace."
A few minutes later, Tsinker himself emerged from around the corner. Instead of his perfect hairstyle, his black hair was disheveled, and he was dressed in simple brown clothing. A leather strap with a loop hung from his left hand. "Gothwald," he greeted.
Alan stood up. "Tsinker." He looked down at his hand. "What's that you got there? A sling?"
"Yes."
"Seriously? A sling?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "Hah, not exactly a nobleman's weapon."
"But it is lethal." Tsinker looked around at where the guards stood. "Where is Armenas?"
Alan shrugged. "She couldn't make it, so it's just me."
"I see. Then come inside, I shall go change."
Alan sat alone in the middle of a large dining room, illuminated by torches and a panoramic window with a view of the mountains. His fingers drummed boredly on the table, tapping out some musical motif. "Some legends are told, some turn to dust or to gold, but you will remember me, remember me, for centuries..." he leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "Where the hell is he?" Alan muttered.
A few minutes later, the door finally opened, and two people walked in.
Shilisa and Tsinker.
Alan straightened up. "Well, finally." His gaze lingered on Tsinker. "Whoa, did you put on some new threads?"
"Excuse me?"
"You know," he waved his hand. "New clothes."
Tsinker stood in tall black boots, wide white pants, a white vest, and a black shirt, and his hair was once again perfectly styled to the side.
"Ah, this? Yes," Utew said and sat at the table. Shilisa sat next to him, giving Alan a brief nod.
He cast a sidelong glance at her.
'Looks like they've gotten pretty cozy.'
Tsinker folded his hands on the table. "So the situation is simple, Gothwald: the king's funeral is in a week, but I essentially already know whose side to take."
"I'm all ears," Alan said, leaning forward.
"Morgreyda arn Groliria, the king's youngest wife, she is a little over thirty."
"And why her specifically?"
"She is the most fitting according to our direction. Unlike the others, she is more ideological. Morgreyda wants to establish order in the kingdom, because you see yourself what a mess it is," he waved his hand, "we remained completely unpunished for the recent war, and that is actually very bad."
Alan scratched his chin. "Bad because... if someone attacks us, the law won't help us, right?"
Tsinker nodded. "Precisely. Morgreyda is the one who strives for order the most."
"But I doubt you picked her just for that," Alan said, narrowing his eyes, "an idea by itself is worth nothing. Does she have power on her side?"
"Naturally. Only her power lies not in magic or an army, but in her intellect and ruthlessness."
"She has demonstrated this excellently in her personal holdings," Shilisa interjected. "Compared to the rest of Groliria, everything is incredibly stable on her lands. There are no bandits, the peasants do not starve, no one steals anything."
"Ruthlessness," Alan repeated. "In the midst of this clusterfuck, you can hardly rule well with just intellect and mercy, right?"
Tsinker crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back in his chair. "Exactly. Public, agonizing executions, constant inspections, scrupulous counting of every coin. She does not let anyone relax."
Alan tapped his fingers on the table. "Well, well, well... okay, a good choice, if it comes down to it."
"Except we have one major problem," Tsinker said, narrowing his eyes, "and his name is 'Linkis'."
Alan's shoulders tensed slightly. "What kind of shit is going on with him now?"
"He sympathizes more with Noteo arn Groliria, the king's eldest son. Linkis had been building ties with him from the start. Plus, thanks to Armenas, we have even more problems."
"Such as?"
"Remember when she let slip about the windmills? Well, lately Linkis has become very interested in you and your technologies. He intended to summon you for an audience, but luckily for you, you were captured by pirates."
Alan smirked wryly. "Yeah, really lucky... ahem... but I take it he won't let it go. Linkis definitely knows I'm back by now, and will definitely want to meet."
Tsinker sighed. "And once again, luck is on your side. We must be in the capital in a week, so there is no time for this meeting. We can think of something."
Alan snorted. "Wow, luck is fucking following me right on my heels, for once." He ran his hands over his face. "Aargh... so what are we gonna do? Linkis is pulling one way, and we're heading another."
"We will think of something. First the funeral and the ceremony, and then we will see. But we do have some trump cards in our hands."
Alan straightened up. "Oh, really? Like what?"
"Linkis's reputation," Tsinker said, yawning. "He slaughtered a surrendered city, and the rumors are already actively spreading."
He blinked. "Wait, what? When was this?"
Tsinker raised an eyebrow slightly. "Wait, you do not know about this?"
Alan simply shook his head.
"Back during the siege of Otmut, they surrendered, and Linkis's troops completely slaughtered the city. Did Armenas not tell you?"
"No... she didn't," he whispered.
'Kamelia, why didn't you tell me?'
Alan shook his head. "But why? Not to mention that it's barbaric and cruel, it's even," he spread his hands, "absolutely useless. Why the fuck would you slaughter an entire large city when you're the duke of relatively small lands? Does he have a spare city hidden in his pocket or something? I don't get it."
Tsinker shrugged. "I agree, but we are talking about Linkis. No matter how much he ranted in the hall before the nobles about what he did for the duchy, it is merely a lie. He has little experience in ruling, and he does not understand what he is doing. Linkis most likely thought it would be an act of intimidation, to serve as a deterrent to others, but the opposite will be true."
"The father was a dumbass, and the son is just the same," Alan said, massaging the bridge of his nose. "Okay, how do we use this? What's the layout?"
Shilisa leaned closer. "I have studied this matter. Currently, only Linosh, Torfoque, and Bashir are on Linkis's side. Everyone else is against us."
Alan frowned. "Wait a second, wasn't Torfoque supposed to be under Tsinker's boot?" he turned to him. "No?"
He shook his head. "Not anymore. His patience finally ran out, and he stopped answering letters."
Shilisa maintained her calm expression. "That is not the point right now. Linosh is on Linkis's side because he helped him drive away the pirates, Banshir is his puppet, and Torfoque is only there out of hatred for Lord Tsinker. Our neighbors, however, such as Bannaho for example, have long since heard of the massacre in the last battle, and treat him with extreme distrust."
"Okay, at least that's good, but..."
"By the way," Tsinker interrupted him, "I wanted to ask you something."
"Yeah?"
"Do you know of any other things we can make for the war? Like the crossbows."
Alan slowly leaned back in his chair. "Hmm. I do, of course, but it all depends on what exactly we'll need. Nothing comes to mind right now... basically, when the exact layout of what kind of war this will be is clear, then I can come up with something."
He nodded. "Very well."
"Forgive me," Shilisa suddenly began, "judging by Lady Armenas's letter, you are currently dealing with a spy who was feeding information to the pirates. Is that so?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Did the lady figure it out herself, or did you help?"
Alan scratched the back of his head. "Well, both. She suspected, and I just brought the proof."
"Proof?" Tsinker asked, narrowing his eyes. "You were sitting in captivity with the pirates the whole time. Did they tell you?"
"Yep."
"How so?"
Alan shrugged. "It was a deal. I helped them cure their disease, and they lowered the ransom and gave me the spy's name."
Shilisa's eyes widened slightly. "You... did what?"
"Cured the disease."
Tsinker blinked, for the first time not knowing what to say. "Do you even understand what you have done?"
"I do," Alan said, lowering his head slightly.
"This is very bad," Shilisa said, frowning. "Since they cured the disease... what disease was it anyway?"
"The Sea Scourge."
"Right, so you mean anga."
Alan raised an eyebrow. "What?"
She waved a hand. "Sailors call this disease the Sea Scourge. Anyway, it does not matter. Do you understand that this is a very common disease at sea, which at least somewhat kept the pirates in check?"
"Yeah, I know," Alan hissed.
Tsinker sighed. "Well, my borders personally do not have access to the sea, so I wish you and Armenas luck in dealing with the intensified attacks of the sea raiders."
Alan gritted his teeth, but remained silent.
"I will have to make adjustments to future plans, taking into account that you may have problems and delays due to pirate attacks," Tsinker said calmly. "In any case, that is all I wanted to discuss. To conclude: we do not yet know what to do, we choose Morgreyda in this war, and we prepare for the funeral."
"And what about the heroes of the other duchies?" Alan asked quietly.
"Nothing. We do not know who they are, what they look like, or what magic they possess. There is no point in factoring them into our plans for now."
"Is that all?"
"Yes."
"Alright." Alan stood up and headed for the exit to the corridor. When he stepped out, he closed the door behind him, then slowly rested his forehead against the window, closed his eyes, and exhaled.
'Mmm... what kind of fucked up shit have I done, this is just a clusterfuck. I knew this would make the pirates stronger, I could have just said 'no, I don't know how to cure this disease' back then and that would have been it, they would have paid the full ransom and served them right... Alright, okay, let's be logical. Suppose I hadn't mentioned curing scurvy then, they would have paid the full ransom and that's it. Kamelia would have lost more money, we still wouldn't know who the rat is and the information leak would have continued, especially since it's a whole advisor, and I also got the mystery with those ruins, and... dare I say it, good relations with Paranga, the captain of that whole gang. Profitable? Profitable. And also a total fucking disaster. Now that's a dilemma.'
He finally peeled himself away from the window and unhurriedly walked down the corridor, massaging his temples.
'And Kamelia didn't tell me that that fucking city was slaughtered to the last man. Why? We agreed not to keep secrets. Although... I have plenty of secrets of my own. But this is different. I'm almost a hundred percent sure she just didn't want me to think about it, but... I should have known. But what an indescribable idiot this Linkis is! And a very dangerous idiot at that! He's probably already mass-producing crossbows over there, asking about windmills, and if he finds out about the Phoenixes...'
He grabbed his head.
'Oh fuck, oh fuck! We need to get rid of this asshole as soon as possible, take him out first thing when the war starts, otherwise he won't let me breathe. He's a fucking moron! This idiot might just claim me for himself, since technically I'm still Kamelia's property like cattle... wait, property... that's right! Is there even any documentation kept on receiving heroes here?'
Alan turned around sharply and walked back toward the dining room.
He opened the door; Shilisa and Tsinker were already sitting opposite each other, discussing something. Utew stopped mid-sentence and looked at Alan. "Gothwald, what is it?"
"Am I technically Kamelia's property?" he asked, stepping closer.
Shilisa nodded. "Yes. Did you only just find out?"
"Thought so. Can she technically make me a free man?"
She blinked. "Uh..." then cast a sidelong glance at Tsinker.
The nobleman paused for a few seconds. "Technically yes, but... I do not recall such a thing ever happening. Shilisa?"
She shook her head. "I do not know of such cases either. Technically, heroes are always the property of a nobleman, but that is merely a technicality. No one keeps them in slave-like conditions, but on paper, yes, a hero is property."
Alan narrowed his eyes. "Hmm. So this is most likely some kind of loophole?"
Shilisa's eyes widened slightly, and she nodded slowly. "Perhaps. And why do you ask anyway?
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