Chương 34: Chapter Thirty Four

'Ninety percent of sapient communication is non-verbal.' Truth be told, Piper wasn't entirely sure where she'd first heard that bit of trivia, but the dwarf woman had never found cause to disagree with it. In her experience, communication, more often than not, was more about the subtle gestures that preceded words than the words themselves. Especially in politics. Her current position was a prime example of that fact in action.

Stood together with the two other 'powers' of the newly formed Redwater countship, they appeared to their arriving lord as the leaders of the three factions that made up his new home. Because, behind each of them stood their 'troops' – though in truth, only Lady Stillwater could lay claim to having any actual warriors under her command.

Glancing over at the the crown's recently appointed interim-governess, the dwarf noted that the aristocratic looking blonde human had a quartet of marine-knights behind her, a platoon of royal marines behind them, and finally a dozen members of the county's household guard behind them. Her group, by far, made for the most impressive sight on display. They stood in neatly ordered rows, weapons and armour shined the night before until they practically gleamed in the morning light.

Even the county militia in the back rows looked reasonably impressive in their recently re-dyed Redwater red, blue and white gambesons – and a lot less like the motley collection of part time huntresses and trappers they actually were most of the time. Piper also knew that said motley crew would much rather be standing behind the woman to Piper's left, rather than where they were currently.

Marine-knight, former interim-governess and now chief-headwoman for the dozen or so villages and the single town that comprised the newly renamed Redwater county, Xela Tern's following was easily the largest present – and the most disorganized. More a mob than anything else, the elk-like wood elf's followers flowed out from behind her like a cape, before looping around the periphery of the landing field and into the many streets that surrounded it.

Dolcaster wasn't a large town by any stretch, but it seemed a not insignificant amount of both the settlement's populace and that of the surrounding villages' had shown up for the arrival of the county's new lord. To their credit though, not one of the collection of peasants present for the arrival of their new lord had actually stepped onto the gravel covered landing strip, either common sense or the stern gaze of their village leader's keeping them from taking that final step forward.

Well, that and a small collection of Regina's marines, Piper thought. Because as much as she knew the human would have preferred the added visual weight that would have come with having that extra squad of royal marines added to her numbers, all the subtle power plays in the world wouldn't make up for their lord being unable to land because some idiot wandered onto the gravel at the worst moment. …

Or better yet, said lord stepping off the ramp to find one of his constituents smeared beneath his airship's landing gear. And if Xela Tern were a more political animal she'd be taking advantage of that fact to throw proverbial mud on her replacement's name by having a few villagers get unruly. Of course, if she was a more political animal, she probably wouldn't have been replaced in the first place, Piper thought as she regarded the wood elf.

Indeed, that lack of political niceties and smarts was likely why she'd been placed into the role of interim-governess in the first place. Despite acting as custodian for these lands for nearly four decades, the woman had never once thought to try to leverage those years of service or the support of the populace to try to elevate herself to countess in truth.

Which was why it had likely come as such an unexpected surprise for the rural knight when Stillwater arrived six months ago with a royal writ appointing the human woman as the wood elf's replacement. To be fair, the wood elf had been offered another position as interim-governess in a more prestigious location – replacing a woman whose performance had been lacking – but the wood elf had refused.

Much to Stillwater's consternation, as it now meant she had a political rival sticking around who was much loved by the populace of the territory she'd been sent to administrate. A rival she couldn't legally send elsewhere as while Tern had never been officially made a countess, she did still own a small plot of land nearby.

Certainly, Stillwater had other means of removing the wood elf if needed, but using any of them ran the risk of upsetting the local populace with whom she was already unpopular for replacing the wood elf in the first place. Amongst other reasons… So in short, Tern wasn't going anywhere unless she chose to. Though whether she was sticking around in the hopes of regaining her old position or out of genuine love for the lands and people with whom she'd been living for the last forty years, Piper didn't know.

What the dwarf did know was that the knight wasn't exactly shy about using her new position as 'chief headwoman' to right any wrongs she believed either Stillwater – or Piper herself – to be engaged in. Which led to the third faction. Her faction. The 'fuck it all, I don't care who's in charge, just let me get to work' faction. Hell, she'd have preferred it wasn't even a faction in the first place.

As far as she was concerned, the crown was the one paying the bills, Stillwater had been appointed by the crown, Piper worked for her. Certainly, she wasn't exactly pleased that the Alchemist's guild had been uprooted from their old headquarters in the capital proper to be carted across the country as a gift for some… kid, but that still beat bankruptcy.

Which was exactly what her guild had been facing prior to Stillwater arriving at her door with a request for her and her people to lead a large-scale construction effort in a nearby county. Something that was well within the skillset of a guild that had been forced to… diversify in the face of their growing disinterest in their actual speciality. Something the Crown was well aware of. So… she worked for the Crown – and their coin. … Unfortunately, she couldn't just say that.

After all, not all of the workers behind her had been brought in from out of town. Amidst the small army of blacksmiths, stonecutters, carpenters, alchemists, druids, mage-smiths and who knew what else, there was a small but noticeable population of people that had been drawn in from the local county. Which made sense, the facilities they'd spent the last six months building were not small, and they'd generated a lot of paying jobs.

Jobs the locals were happy to be paid to do, just so long as they weren't seen to be 'betraying the old governess' by siding with the enemy. Thus, Piper found herself propped up as the 'moderate' choice between the two factions. A woman who sided with neither side and was focused entirely on the work of building the many workshops that would facilitate the wishes of the county's new lord.

It wasn't true, of course, but it kept the local workers on track and for that reason Piper was willing to go along with the charade. And so was Stillwater, in public. Still, as she gazed up towards the airship that was even now venting aether from its ballasts as it slowly came in to land, the dwarf could only hope their new lord would be equally as understanding of the reason for their ongoing deception. She imagined he would. He'd arrived on a Royal Sloop after all.

And as far as non-verbal communications went, that kind of statement was about as unsubtle as they came. William Ashfield-Redwater was just like her, a puppet playing at independence while dancing to the tune of invisible golden strings.

Xela hadn't known what to expect of the new lord of Greyriver- Redwater, she corrected mentally for the umpteenth time. Redwater. Redwater. Redwater… The last thing she needed was for the old name to slip out in conversation with the land's new lord. Oh, it was possible he'd see it for the honest slip it was, but it was also just as likely he'd see it as a form of subtle protest against his rule. Most noble types were like that. Real nobles. Not like her. The ones that were born to it.

Yeah, he'd definitely think she was being all rebellious when she wasn't. Mulch below, she'd known from the day she'd taken the post of interim-governess that her time as de facto lady of the land would be finite. That was just how things were. With that said, just because she was no longer the hand at the tiller didn't mean she intended to vacate the wheelhouse entirely. She cared about these lands. These people. And she intended to continue to look out for them.

No matter what some limp-wristed slimy palace toady might prefer, she thought, aiming a gimlet eye in the direction of Lady Stillwater. Turning her gaze from her replacement, the wood elf watched as the titled, but not yet ritually elevated, Count Redwater approached. He was handsome. That was the first thing she noticed – mostly because she was a red-blooded woman who knew what she liked. After that though… he was less of a wilting greenbean than she'd expected.

Not like most of the men she'd attended the academy with. There was a confidence in his stride that she wouldn't have normally expected from a young man his age who'd just been effectively shoved into a position of leadership far beyond what might normally be expected of him. On cue, Lady Stillwater stepped forward to greet him, and though it burned her to let the woman get the first word in, there was nothing she could do about it just yet.

"Lord Redwater," the toad began, having to speak up to be heard over the dull roar of the crowd.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm Regina Stillwater and it has been my privilege to act as the interpreter of your will on our Queen's behalf for the last six months." This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"The pleasure is all mine, and I thank you for your efforts on our behalf." The boy's gaze flitted past the woman to the royal marines behind her, before back to her.

"And I must begin by apologizing for not having made it out here sooner. As you might imagine, between my studies and other obligations, well, it's been busy. With that said, my enquiries to her highness always left me assured that everything was well in hand." Xela twitched a little at the man's apologetic tone. A shame, rumours from the capital painted him as much more of a wildcat, she thought.

Of course, those same rumors suggested that his decision to duel his former-fiance over their upcoming nuptials had in fact been instigated by the Queen herself as a means of shaming the Blackstones, so she supposed she shouldn't have been too surprised. Indeed, her eyes flitted to where the now famous Olzenya Sumond was standing quietly behind the man, along with her other teammates.

Given that she was the one to singlehandedly down three members of said fiancée's team, it was assumed that if the rumor of Ashfield being a royal catspaw was true, then the high elf was all but guaranteed to be his handler and puppeteer within the academy itself. Not to mention the real leader of Team Seven. At the very least, s he was definitely the team's ringer given her decidedly average academic scores prior to that fateful match.

"It is no issue at all, my lord. Our Queen was right in her words, and if you follow me, you shall see that work has been well on schedule to see the many projects you requested made ready for your much anticipated arrival. Ahead of schedule, even." Yes, at the cost of running my people ragged while paying them a pittance for their efforts, Xela thought irritably.

"I've little doubt," the count said as he turned towards the main reason why most of the labourers set to keeping his requests on schedule hadn't quit.

"Indeed, I've been led to understand that the work of Lady Greyfall and people has been invaluable in that regard." The dwarf twitched a little as all eyes turned to her, before stepping forward in a slightly stilted manner.

"A small part, my lord. Given that you apparently asked for the services of my people by name, I've been seeking to repay that faith in our guild by… giving my guidance to a number of project managers who were unaccustomed to tackling a project of the scale set before them without nearby senior guild oversight."

"Unaccustomed?" The boy asked.

"How so?" Piper shifted uncomfortably before Stillwater slid in with a greasy smile.

"What our dear guildmaster is trying to say is that many of the workers her majesty set aside for this task were young talents, simply in need of seasoning and not too set in their ways as of yet. Perfect for the sort of experimental work you're expected to do here."

"How… fitting," the boy said slowly.

"And I assume said decision has nothing to do with the capital's current dire need for craftsmen of any description?" Stillwater coughed.

"It was a contributing factor yes, though one I'm sure you can understand." Xela smirked at the woman's discomfort. It was a secret to no one that just about every guild in the capital was currently being employed by the crown to build everything from nails to entire ship hulls. Indeed, it said a lot about just how much the Crown felt they owed the new Count Redwater that they'd been willing to part with the number of craftsmen they had – even if they weren't the most experienced.

"I suppose I can," Redwater sighed.

"Even if it is irritating." His dwarvish teammate cocked her head.

"Well, given that you're apparently on track and everything's not on fire, can we safely assume that William didn't get a bunch of trainees?"

"They're all licensed journeymen," Piper was quick to point out.

"As the interim-governess said, current circumstances meant that our coterie is a bit lacking in instructors or people with experience as project leads, but it was felt that my Alchemists could fill in there… given our more rounded education." Which was a polite way of saying that few people actually had much use for alchemists as alchemists and thus they'd had to become a guild full of handywomen. … Which in turn begged the question of why this 'William' had asked for them specifically?

Did the Kraken Slayer involve alchemy in some way? Was the boy more involved with the project than he let on? Had the work of the last six months been to create a new manufacturing site for kraken slaying devices? It wasn't the first time Xela had pondered those questions and she doubted it would be the last. At least until she was given more information on the topic.

Because as much as the idea of her home becoming the manufacturing site for some kind of royal secret weapon filled her with a number of complicated emotions… it was also entirely possible that William Redwater just had an interest in alchemy. Or the Queen saw an opportunity to 'repay' the boy cheaply by making him the once impressive but now nearly bankrupt group's head patron. She just didn't know.

And until the facilities that made up the town's new crafting district were ready to start production, that would likely continue to be the case.

"Well, my thanks regardless, guildmaster," the mystery man said.

"For stepping in to take charge of your colleagues and keeping things on track." He raised his voice to the crowd of craftsmen behind the dwarf, having to yell over the ambient noise of the townsfolk.

"And my thanks to all of you for the work you've done thus far. I cannot yet say what the purpose of it all was, but I can say that I look forward to working with you in the future to amaze the entire world." Xela didn't need to look back to know that all those men and women would be perking up with pride at his words. As Piper had said, they were a pretty young group, and while that youth presented issues, they were also to a woman hungry and ambitious. Stillwater hadn't been entirely full of shit on that point.

To hear her people talk about the newcomers, they were a talented group, just one that had yet to fully hit its stride. Stillwater smiled, obviously happy that the small blackspot had been overcome as she turned to the new count.

"I'm sure you and they will in time. With that said, would you care to take a tour of the facilities we've spent the last six months setting up? Lady Greyfall will be happy to answer any questions you might have while we do." The dwarf visibly held back a scoff, before she took on a more diplomatic tone.

"Given that many of the troubles we might have faced due to inexperience were headed off by Lord Redwater's exceedingly exacting plans for the layout of said facilities, I've little doubt my presence will be superfluous. With that said, I do actually have a few questions for him about some of the more obscure workshop items he had us procure." She paused.

"If that's fine with him?" For the first time since he'd arrived, something akin to a genuine smile slipped across the young man's face.

"I'd be delighted, on both accounts." He paused.

"Though before then, don't you intend to introduce me to our third member?" Stillwater visibly frowned and Piper flinched as the boy's gaze turned towards where Xela was standing, the heads of the various villages behind her.

"Ah… no need for that, my lord. She and her companions are simply members of the peasantry leadership who've turned out to witness your arrival. Hardly people you need spend time with." Xela felt said people shift irritably around her at the woman's words, but Xela stilled them with a glance.

"It's as she said, my lord," she said as she sketched a bow.

"We are simply representatives of your county's many villages who've come to pay our respects to our new lord." Though her heart soared as the boy nodded.

"All the more reason to get to know you then. I might be your lord, but I don't yet know these lands. Not truly. Who better to learn from than the people who call them home."

"It might be a little cramped in the carriage my lord," Stillwater vainly attempted to intervene. Which Xela was having none of.

"If it would mean being of service to my lord in elucidating him on the realities of his new land and the people that dwell within, I would happily run alongside his carriage unto whatever destination and time he deigned to hear my words." The boy laughed, though it became somewhat stilted when he realized she was entirely serious.

"Well, when faced with such eagerness what response could I give but yes? Though there'll be no need to go to such lengths. If I'm to be a decent pilot in the future, I imagine me and my team will have to grow accustomed to cramped spaces soon enough. To that end, I'm sure we can fit either yourself or one of your party into my carriage." He glanced back, at the massive ostentatious thing that Stillwater tended to ride around in – that technically belonged to the county and thus him now.

"It certainly seems big enough for it." Xela bowed once more, hopes for the future of her home growing with every word.

"I'm honoured, my lord. I can only hope my insights will prove worthy of your forbearance."

Truth be told, much of the tour proved of little interest to Xela. She was an outdoorswoman first and foremost, and the endless parade of workshops, tools and machinery didn't mean much to her. It was interesting to note that their new lord proved to be rather evasive on what it was all for. Staying true to his word, he dodged Piper's questions on the subject with, if not much in the way of skill or grace, then consistency.

So either the boy was keeping it close to his chest, or he had no idea what he intended to use it all for and everything had been built on a random whim. And as much as she wanted the latter idea to sound ridiculous, she'd spent enough time in the navy with real blue bloods to know that it was all too plausible. For his part, the man asked the dwarf only a few questions, usually relating to the skills of disparate craftswomen or their experience with this or that material.

Questions that seemed to be of no help to their resident dwarf in figuring out his end goals for the facilities, given her somewhat puzzled expression as they walked into Stillwater's office in the town hall. An office that had once belonged to Xela herself, not that she'd ever used it for much. Being a hands-on person, she'd spent more days than not physically going out to address the issues of the populace, rather than letting them come to her.

An approach that Stillwater seemed disinclined to emulate in any capacity given how she practically lived behind the desk present. Still, desk-sitter or not, the woman had proven incredibly talented at keeping Xela from saying much to their new lord, skillfully inserting herself between them whenever their lord asked a question regarding the county. Of which he'd had several, many more than he'd asked Piper. Mostly they'd been about the local industries. The farms. The logging industry. The nearby mine.

How many people worked at each. How much each earned from trade and tariffs. What they produced. How many people lived in the town. How many in the nearby villages. Questions that unfortunately, Stillwater had been more than capable of answering. Still, we're all in here now, I should have my chance, she thought as they each took a seat around the room's long table.

Hopefully she could impress upon their new lord just how much his ongoing projects were costing the county in woman hours, coin and nearby resources like lumber and ore. Which was bad, because if those resources were being used on construction, they weren't earning coin through trade or tariffs.

And while Xela didn't mean to pat herself on the back too hard, but she'd built up quite a treasury in her time as governess – and as far as she could tell, Stillwater was going through it like a scythe through wheat in the name of fulfilling his construction timetable. She needed to request that he slow down enough to rebuild the treasury somewhat. … Before either he or Stillwater got the bright idea of raising taxes to maintain their current pace.

Greyriver- Redwater wasn't affluent enough to survive a tax increase. Not without significant pain. The question now was… how to phrase that in such a way that her new lord would listen? She was so preoccupied with the question that she nearly missed her lord's first words as they settled down. Indeed, they took a few moments for her to register.

'You've done a great job. I'm pleased her majesty sent you. You're removed from your position as governess, and I would like you and her majesty's royal marines to vacate my territory immediately?' Indeed, Xela didn't doubt she was the only one wondering if her ears were working as she glanced up to see a stunned room. Even the double pair of household guards and marines by the door were staring.

"E-excuse me?" Stillwater said.

"I think I misheard you, my lord."

"I doubt it." The boy just shook his head, utterly uncaring of the confusion of both his subordinate's and his team.

"But I'll repeat myself anyway. You've done a great job, I'm very impressed, I want you gone." To her credit, the woman rallied admirably.

"Given you've just congratulated my efforts on your behalf, may I ask why?"

"I'll do you one better. I'll show you," the count said before he turned to the door.

"You four arrest this woman on the charge of… I don't know… arson?" Xela wasn't surprised when the two household guardswomen stepped forward, though they hesitated the moment Stillwater's hands came up threateningly. Bureaucrat or not, the woman was a mage still. Though the fact that that would make the guards slow rather than speed up irritated Xela. After all, this was an enclosed space and the blonde woman would need a few seconds to chant.

If she'd trained her people better, they'd have known that and bum-rushed her the second her hands came up and they weren't holding a bolt-bow. Thoughts of a new training regime paused in her mind as she recalled that she wasn't interim-governess anymore. Still, the sudden threat of magical violence had her raise her own hands, while Piper dove to the floor and the members of the count's cadet team brought up their own hands - and for a moment it seemed like a lot of people were about to start chanting.

Right up until the count, who'd remained seated, shouted.

"Enough!" Everyone froze.

"Enough." He repeated, before turning to the two guards who'd frozen in place.

"You two, good job. You may return to your posts." The two household guards hesitated in confusion, before visibly taking their hands off the pommels of their weapons and walking back to their spot by the wall - where the two royal marines were still standing, and while they'd certainly reached for their own weapons, it was only after the other two guards moved to threaten Stillwater. Which made sense, they answered to her as the crown's direct representative in the region.

"Does that answer your question?" the boy asked as he turned back to the visibly shaken blonde woman. Silence rang across the room before both the boy's dwarvish teammate and Piper both shouted at once with an eerie level of dwarvish synchronicity.

"Like fuck it does!"