22 Duke Von Ritter (1/2)
”Welcome home, Mia.” Duke Augustus Von Ritter said warmly to his daughter.
”Thank you, Father.” said Mia.
”And I see that you've brought guests with you?” He said, while glancing suspiciously at Ethan and Johan.
[I don't want him to be hostile toward Ethan, but it wouldn't be bad if he understood the situation surrounding Johan] Thought Mia.
”Ethan here is a guest who gave me great aid in the Ancient Forest, but Johan here is a traitor against humanity whom I am bringing to the king to face judgment for his crimes” Said Mia while pointing to Ethan and then Johan respectively.
”I see. And I see that you have five fewer knights with you now than when you were last here.” Said Augustus.
”Yes, Father. Five of my subordinates died while we were fighting the Red Dragon of Calamity.” Said Mia.
”The Red Dragon of Calamity?! Weren't you on a mission to subjugate some goblins attacking a village?” Asked her Father.
”There was no village where Von Geld said there was. Just a dragon in the location he gave us.” Said Mia.
[It won't take long before Dad puts two and two together. He's smart, and he's always been overly protective over me. He'll go into a murderous rage as soon as he realizes that Von Geld tried to have me killed. It's not that I don't understand the feeling of wanting to deal with Von Geld, but he's too well protected right now with his position as treasury minister. It would be better if he were removed from the position first.] Thought Mia.
The duke thought for a moment and said ”Von Geld... I see! I'll send some people to deal with him right now! No, Better yet, I'll go out and deal with him myself! You there, prepare my horse! That b****** thinks that he can hurt my daughter and get away with it! It's now clear to me that the Von Geld Family has been allowed to remain unchecked for far too long. What is the little king even doing with his own national ministers running wild like that.” with it being very clear that by 'deal with' he meant in a permanent way.
”Father, if I may, may I speak to you privately?” Said Mia.
The Duke answered in the affirmative, and made a motioned towards his servants and knights. His servants then led the Sun Knights plus Ethan toward the guest bedrooms, and his knights led Johan toward the dungeon cells. Everyone else left the room. When the room was empty except the two of them Mia began to speak.
”I believe that he's too well protected now with his position as Treasury minister. Therefore, I believe that any action against his person would not be prudent while he retains that post. I further believe that once I get to the capital I can get eight of the other national ministers to vote to remove him from his post. Could you hold off on dealing with him until after that? I'd also like for the King to not get directly involved, because that may trigger a civil war which would weaken the country.” Said Mia.
The Duke thought about this for a moment and said, ”You do have a point; there would be far less repercussions dealing with Von Geld removed from his post. Alright. I'll wait until you remove him before I act. Anyway, I understand the six ministers who are of the Royalist Faction voting to remove him, but what about the other two?”
”Von Buch and Von Wiezen. Thanks to that young man, Ethan, I believe that I can get both of them on my side.” Said Mia.
”Alright, I can see that a lot has happened in the Ancient Forest. Perhaps you should start at the beginning.” Said the Duke.
Mia then began explaining to him exactly what happened in the Ancient Forest, from fighting the dragon and finding Ethan with no mana, to the Battle of Vergelegen and everything that that entailed, to crossing the Strom River. She even talked about her exact plans to get Von Buch and Von Wiezen on her side. She only omitted the part where Ethan found a new use for the spark spell, but in its place said ”I received reliable information from a source which I can not identify that the Western Empire will attack the Vorbei Kingdom in a little more than two months.” When she got to the end of the story, her father looked pensive.
”I see. So it sounds like this Ethan person comes from a strange land indeed. Coming from anyone else, I would not have believed this story, but I do not think that you would lie to me.” Said Augustus.
”Yes father.” Said Mia.
”And we will need to prepare the Kingdom's defenses if the Western Empire truly plans to attack so soon. We should mobilize all of the knights and begin training many military aged commoners as well into regular soldiers.” Said Augustus.