Chapter 438

    While Ajax was relaxing and taking a well deserved break the same could not be said about his brother. After finishing his term with the guard Tom had become a lot more politically savvy by necessity. Even now he was attending court in the royal palace as the representative of House Hearthbound.

    “Your Majesty, you must reconsider.” One of the newer Baron families cried out. “The training method for the youth should be refined by the nobility before it is spread throughout the kingdom to the commoners.”

    The Baron’s words did nothing to convince anyone that he in any way cared about the commoners or that he believed the ideas he spouted with such ‘conviction’.

    “That decision is already set in stone.” the king refuted the attempt. “We are here to discuss other changes that are coming.”

    “Your Majesty, are you sure it is wise to raise House Hearthbound from Baron straight to Duke.” Another noble changed the subject. For one it was something Tom very much agreed with, his family wasn’t ready to settle one of the larger compounds in the capital with anything more than a bare bones crew.

    “House Hearthbound must be amongst one of the ducal houses, their contribution to the greater good are remarkable.” Tom would have been a lot more flattered by the remarks had he not realised that the noble was an ass kisser through and through and was now looking for a new master to provide him with benefits.

    News that they were going to be raised to landed dukes had spread like a wildfire through dry grass. This in turn had caused a few issues for them, especially Judy. Though she might not even admit it to herself, the reason why Judy pushed so hard to make the company a success was that she felt afraid of ending up like her mother had been when they lived in Open Caves.

    Judy had been the only one to see her mothers passion die slowly day by day. Tom had seen her raising young children so she was too preoccupied to focus on anything else and Ajax had been so tunnel focused on his training he had missed the signs.

    Once they were finally well established in the capital Judy was finally able to let loose, so she naturally started the rebellious phase she skipped during her teen years. This manifested itself in the form of flirting with some of the more interesting noble boys she came across.

    The discovery of the duchy had been the beginning of the end for Judy. Every single noble son she had interacted with was now being pressured by their elders to get close to her.

    “He’ll finally be held accountable.” Sam said referring to the foolish young noble who triggered the lizard migration by steeling one of the eggs.

    “This can’t be right.” Luna said as she took a look at the map Judy had spread out. “You have control over a dungeon?”

    Up until now dungeons had always been owned by crown, they all wondered why the were being given official ownership of the dungeon and what responsibilities they were going to get along with the reward.

    The person most pleased by how things were going was King Gryndor. The man was old and starting a year ago he had started feeling his power and prowess decline as time passed. The feeling of passing on the throne and leaving Gryndor in the best position they had ever been in.

    It was too long after Tom had made his hasty exit that the king followed suit, right now everything was going his way but he had too much experience to think that it would last. More than that he was starting to get worried about whatever it was that the beastkin were planning, he very much hoped that their dreams of expansion would head outwards into the wastelands rather than inwards and towards dominating his peers.

    Unfortunately for the king he simply didn’t have the time to personally focus on the beastkin. He had enough going in between solidifying the alliance with Sylvanthal, keeping everything peaceful at home in regards to Ajax’s promotion to duke. Finally both the Empire and the Republic had started to reach out to him to enquire about getting on the delving exchange.

    The king had quickly replied to both nations with noncommittal answers. The ones sent to the Republic were a lot more honest but King Gryndor was unwill to cement any deal until he saw how the first attempt turned out. Or rather this would be the second attempt as Ajax was the first to do this but he didn’t feel it would be fair or accurate to use Ajax as the comparison for all who came after.

    It wouldn’t be long until Ajax returned and the king was looking forward not only to see how much he had grown over the course of his journey but also because he couldn’t wait to see how Ajax would manage a duchy. It was easy to always give the ‘correct’ answer in a hypothetical in class and another thing entirely to make decisions on the spot that could completely change the direction of their lives.

    “Only a few more weeks.” the king whispered to himself with a wide smile.