The Zombie Knight

Chapter Two Hundred Six: 'The advancing vista...'

The past few days had been busy for the young Lord Goffe, but not in a particularly abnormal way. Daily meetings and training and overseeing things around Warrenhold--he was starting to realize that this was just how his life was going to be from now on. It probably wasn't going to let up anytime soon.

As he was becoming more accustomed to the routine of it, he was starting to find it slightly easier to squeeze in time for patrols or even for actual leisure--which was a thing he'd almost forgotten how to do. If not for Garovel's insistence that he occasionally take some time to just relax and decompress, Hector probably wouldn't have done it at all.

It helped that the underground hot springs were beginning to take shape. There was still quite a bit of construction left to do on them, but they weren't all flooded anymore, and there were two small but functional areas.

The heat was still a bit too intense for non-servants, Hector felt, but it was much better than it used to be. Soon, he would be able to open this place up to everyone and hopefully provide the current residents of Warrenhold with an extra bit of much needed comfort. He still had no idea what to call this place or who he should put in charge of it, but he could worry about all that later.

Right now, he sat alone in the hot water with his eyes closed, breathing in the steamy air and trying not to think about anything in particular.

And not succeeding.

There were so many different things vying for his attention that just keeping his thoughts organized between them all was beginning to become a tiresome task unto itself. Garovel had suggested that he hire a personal secretary, and while Hector had been very resistant to that idea at first, he was starting to come around. It certainly wouldn't solve all his problems for him, but if things kept up like this indefinitely, then it would probably be a huge help.

Who the hell could he get for a job like that, though?

He added that to the list of things he could worry about later.

At the moment, he felt as though there were three big issues that were more demanding than any others.

The first was House Gaolanet. After his and Garovel's little investigation in that empty mansion, the Gaolanets had been at the forefront of his mind. He knew he should probably talk to them, and he supposed that a simple courteous visit from one local lord to another would be a good enough excuse, but what would he say to them, exactly? It certainly didn't help that he suspected they might have been the culprits behind a string of mysterious poisonings over the last few decades.

And then, of course, there was his meeting with Leo tomorrow. Hector at least had a plan for that one, but thinking about it was still nerve-wracking in the extreme.

It felt like the fate of the entire nation might be riding on his ability to deal with Leo. He didn't want to think that was actually true, but the more he allowed himself to dwell on it, the more he was becoming convinced of it.

Well, at least he wouldn't have to deal with Leo alone this time. That was the only thought that was providing Hector with any degree of comfort.

The third issue that was on his mind, however, was his meeting with the Rainlords tonight. All the heads would be gathering to discuss their plans moving forward.

And Hector had something quite important to tell them. He wasn't sure how they would react to his proposition, but he was trying to remain hopeful.

Not his forte, that.

He tried to enjoy his soak in the hot spring as best he could, but there was just no way he could relax. And the entire day seemed to drag on and on as the anticipation for tonight's meeting continued to build in his mind.

Training hadn't been able to take his mind off it, nor had meditation, and now making the rounds throughout Warrenhold wasn't doing it, either.

Eventually, however, the time came. He made his way to the Tower of Night, to the largest conference room therein, on the floor just below his own chambers.

A couple of the heads were already there, he found. Dimas of House Sebolt and Horatio of House Blackburn, along with both of their reapers.

They exchanged courtesies and waited for everyone else to arrive.

'Nervous?' came the private voice of Garovel, who was of course there with him as well.

'Kinda,' said Hector.

'Don't be. It's a good strategy. I'm sure they'll be receptive to it.'

Hector hoped so.

Zeff of House Elroy appeared next. Then Evangelina of House Stroud, Diego of House Redwater, Joana of House Cortes, and finally Salvador of House Delaguna.

Diego wasn't technically the head of his family, but he and Evangelina were the only representatives of their respective Houses, and no one else seemed to object to his presence here.

Garovel started them off. 'Thank you all for coming. Hector and I have something very important we would like to ask everyone, but before we do, please allow me to make it clear that we completely understand if you decide to refuse us. We know that we are asking a lot.'

'You're makin' me antsy,' said Mevox, the reaper of Salvador Delaguna. 'No need for all the preemptive politeness. Just tell us what it is.'

Garovel looked to Hector, as did everyone else.

Honestly, Hector would have greatly preferred to just let Garovel handle everything, but they'd already talked this over and decided that they would both participate in the conversation. For some godforsaken reason, Garovel seemed to be under the impression that Hector had to be the one to tell everyone the basics of the idea. And if this group here were comprised of anyone else, Hector probably would've refused, but because it was the Rainlords--because it was these Rainlords, in particular--he felt like he could handle it.

It was still intensely uncomfortable with all their eyes on him, though.

"...We would like to start deploying small teams of servants on missions," said Hector, "for the purposes of gathering both resources and intelligence."

A few of the heads seemed surprised and exchanged looks with one another. However, Dimas Sebolt and Salvador Delaguna did not.

Those two, along with Horatio Blackburn, made up the most important three in this regard. More than ninety-five percent of the Rainlords currently staying in Warrenhold belonged to those three families. Perhaps some version of this idea had already occurred to them.

Dimas' reaper, Iziol, asked the first question. 'Start deploying them where, exactly?'

'Wherever we need them to go,' said Garovel. 'All over the world, potentially.'

'All over the world?' said Ezura, Evangelina's reaper. 'Is that not a bit excessive?'

'We have specific targets in mind,' said Garovel. 'Some are quite far away. And we will have more in the future.'

'What are these targets?' asked Axiolis.

'In short?' said Garovel. 'Legendary treasure.'

The whole room was quiet for a moment.

'Our escapades in the Undercrust reminded me of the absolute deluge of powerful artifacts scattered throughout the world. We encountered several of them while in Himmekel, due to the exploits of one particularly troublesome Hun'Sho. I wish we could have retrieved all that we saw down there, but given how heavily guarded that area was--and no doubt still is--I think our time would be better used pursuing the same goal in other parts of the world.

'And right now, while Hector and I are more than happy to have you all staying here at Warrenhold, we also understand that YOU don't want to stay here indefinitely, do you?'

"Of course not," said Zeff.

'And to that end,' said Garovel, gesturing broadly with a bony hand, 'what we require now is not just time to rest and recover strength. We require NEW strength, don't you think?'

"That is true," said Evangelina. "And hunting down artifacts of power sounds much more appealing to me than trying to forge alliances with more people who might betray us later."

Hector saw a couple nods of agreement.

'That's all well and good,' said Mevox, 'but the problem with treasure hunting isn't the usefulness of it. It's the IMPOSSIBILITY of it. If we don't know where to look for these treasures, then it doesn't matter how powerful they are. We'll never find them. Are you sayin' you guys have leads for us to go on?'

'Yes,' said Garovel. 'We do.'

Mevox tilted his skeletal head. 'And where exactly are you getting such valuable intel from?'

'It's not that I don't wish to tell you,' said Garovel, 'but operationally-speaking, the fewer people who know, the better.'

'Right...'

Hector could see Zeff and Axiolis both staring at him.

'Additionally,' said Garovel, 'it is important to us that we continue to keep a low profile on this one. And that means not sending out any of our most famous combatants on these missions. They would only draw attention.'

'I agree in sentiment,' said Yovess, the reaper of Horatio Blackburn. 'But while assigning these missions to young servants who have not yet made names for themselves out in the world would certainly be possible, such servants are also significantly less experienced, which would make things much more perilous for them without anyone around to help guide them.'

Dimas decided to chime in. "And if we truly wish to operate discreetly, then even sending a reaper who is widely known would be a bad idea. And most of our reapers are widely known--at least insofar as being associated with the Rainlords."

'Yes, that does present a problem,' said Garovel. 'I would therefore ask that you think very carefully about who to select for these assignments. Lesser known reapers are harder to come by, so if you have any in your family, then they might make for good candidates. Depending on how many we have available to us, we may wish to form teams without any reapers on them at all.'

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'Your point is a valid one, but I dislike that idea greatly,' said Sentsia, to Hector's mild surprise.

He had never heard the reaper of Nere Blackburn say anything at all--and not just in this meeting. He wondered briefly if she and Garovel had ever spoken before. Probably, he figured. Garovel seemed to spend the majority of his time lately just talking to all the different reapers around.

In fact, ever since they'd first traveled to Sair, Hector had gotten the impression that Garovel was trying to collect as much knowledge from every other reaper they encountered as he possibly could--without seeming like that was what he was doing, perhaps.

But maybe every reaper was constantly trying to do that. He was beginning to see what Rasalased had meant about all reapers being hungry for power.

'Overall, I think this is a fantastic idea,' said Sentsia. She shared glances with Yovess and Horatio. 'And given the... circumstances of our own House, I believe we may be especially well-suited to these tasks.'

'How do you mean?' said Garovel.

Mevox was quick to answer for her. 'She's referring to the fact that the Blackburns have been holed up in Marshrock for the last thirty years, barely ever setting foot outside Luzo. Y'know. That thing they did which caused pretty much all of our current problems? Everyone remembers that, right?'

'Mevox,' said Iziol.

'What? Was anything I said wrong?'

'It is true,' said Sentsia. 'We are at fault. But that is all the more reason that we, as a House, should work harder than any other to aid all of our kin here now.' She held Mevox's gaze steadily.

'Hmph. Nice words.'

'Thank you.'

Garovel took control of the conversation again. 'Well, in any case, there's no need to rush. I'd like everyone to take the next few days to evaluate potential candidates for both deployment and support. I want to be clear that the point of these missions is not to engage our enemies or to stomp out injustice wherever we find it. The objectives are strictly reconnaissance and, if possible, artifact retrieval. And that being said, those whom you wish to send should be capable of defending themselves if the need arises.'

'Makes sense to me,' said Mevox.

'Agreed,' said Yovess.

The meeting continued for a while longer as they moved on to other subjects, such as housing arrangements. Some of the Sebolts and Blackburns wanted to either swap rooms or move in to some of the recently renovated areas in the Entry Tower--which segued into the larger topic of Warrenhold's restoration.

It was proceeding well, by all accounts, but Hector knew that it wouldn't be able to continue like this indefinitely. Not without reliable funding.

That was also one of the big motivating factors for these treasure hunting missions. It wasn't just about finding powerful artifacts. It was about finding valuable ones.

Garovel had already expressed some of his reservations about that to Hector in private. The idea of selling legendary artifacts for cold, hard cash apparently didn't sit perfectly with the reaper, and Hector could understand why. There was more to "value" than just money, of course. History and sentiment were important, too.

But with all the new financial demands being placed on them recently, Hector found it a little difficult to care that much about such things. Rebuilding Warrenhold and feeding all its residents were much greater priorities in his mind.

Then again, perhaps the so-called Bank of Darksteel would soon be able to help with that problem. After meeting with Lionel Carthrace at the Gala and not being very satisfied with how it had gone, Hector had decided to meet with a couple more members of House Carthrace, just trying to get a clearer picture of Amelia's true character.

Those brief meetings hadn't really gone much better, though. He met with Lionel's son, Kenneth Carthrace, who seemed entirely uncomfortable and rather like a frightened mouse the whole time. Kenneth did speak a bit more favorably about Amelia than Lionel did, going so far as to say that she had always been kind to him, but Hector's main takeaway from that meeting was just feeling sort of bad for the guy.

Which was really odd, because Kenneth, at least on paper, was supposed to be the vice president of his family's real estate company, the CPG, or Carthrace Property Group. Hector would've expected a bit more composure from the man.

His other meeting had been with Lionel's sister, Delilah Carthrace, who certainly had more fire in her than her nephew--that was for sure. She actually kind of reminded Hector of Amelia in some ways, if Amelia were about twenty years younger and about five times more angry-looking.

Delilah had not had many nice things to tell him regarding Amelia, either, but the examples she provided had been similarly questionable to Lionel's. Things like Amelia "acting disrespectfully toward her in the presence of guests," "giving shameful gifts to her children without her approval," and "promising her a job only to renege on it later."

That last one, Hector remembered hearing about from Lionel.

He decided to ask Amelia about it directly, and lo and behold, the old woman's version of that incident turned out to be quite different.

"I never promised Delilah any job at all," she'd said. "She just assumed I would give her the position and then became furious when she eventually found out that I had hired someone else for it. Oh, and she did not appreciate it when I explained the concept of nepotism and the corresponding problems with it."

All in all, Hector had felt like he'd heard enough by now. He decided to give the Madame Carthrace the green light with the Bank of Darksteel, and now the whole thing was finally in motion. He'd already met with a few of the new people she wanted to hire, and he'd even given his approval for most of them as well.

Everything was moving a bit fast for his tastes, but he supposed the economic crisis facing Atreya wasn't going to wait for him start feeling comfortable. The sooner they were able to get things set up, the sooner the nation might be able to recover.

In theory, at least.

Funding the Bank was still a problem, of course, and while Roman's ten million troa in help was more than enough to meet the minimum threshold required for legally opening it, Hector and Garovel had decided to ask the Rainlords for their assistance as well.

That had been a much more difficult meeting than this current one. Understandably, none of the Rainlord families had seemed especially eager to lend him such a large sum of money, but in the end, they did agree to help--and to the collective tune of twenty-five million troa, no less.

Hector had to credit Garovel with the victory on that one. The reaper had been able to reframe their "loans" as "investments"--which was true, Hector supposed. He fully intended to pay them back.

Assuming this bank didn't blow up in his face, that was.

Oh god, what if it blew up in his face?

One more thing he didn't want to think about.

Hector's current meeting with the Rainlords seemed like it was nearing its end until a new subject was brought up.

'Before we adjourn, there is one more matter that I would like to discuss,' said Sentsia, looking straight at Hector. 'Since it seems that we will be staying at Warrenhold for the foreseeable future, I would like it if we could organize a more rigorous training and education system for the children here.'

Hector's brow receded.

'I have been concerned about that as well,' said Axiolis. 'As I understand it, each of the families have taken on the rather burdensome task of homeschooling all of our own children, and I fear that is not the most efficient use of our available talent.'

'You might be right,' said Iziol. 'Perhaps we should appoint instructors for all of the families and organize a formal schedule.'

'That is what I was thinking,' said Sentsia. 'This is a serious matter. The children's education is perhaps more important now than it has ever been.'

'I agree,' said Axiolis.

'Indeed,' said Yovess.

'Perhaps we should also be searching for highly-qualified teachers to hire during these mission deployments,' said Sentsia.

'That may be asking too much,' said Iziol.

'It may,' said Sentsia. 'But it can't hurt to be on the lookout, at least, no? We can figure out how to actually bring such people here safely and agreeably later. I imagine it will largely depend on the instructor-candidates' circumstances, anyway.'

'If we intend to go that far,' said Mevox, 'then we should just consider the project to be the establishment of an entirely new academy.'

'This is sounding more expensive by the second,' said Yovess.

'If we want well-qualified personnel from the outside world, we'll have to pay them,' said Mevox. 'Unless you want to kidnap them. Which I wouldn't be entirely averse to.'

'I would,' said Iziol flatly.

'Yes,' said Sentsia. 'But I do think that a formalized "academy" is a good idea as well. In fact, I would like to put forth Silvia's name as one of the instructors. She has experience with teaching, and--'

As Hector listened to the reapers' discussion, he didn't feel the need to interject. It sounded like they had things pretty well handled. And the idea of establishing an academy here at Warrenhold?

He didn't hate it. In fact, he kinda loved it. The kids here deserved a quality education for as long as they were being forced to remain here.

Though, as a high school dropout, maybe it was weird to be having an opinion like that.

Oh well.

The meeting lasted for a while longer, and he didn't say a single word more until the reapers eventually got around to asking if they had his approval to pursue this academy plan. And he certainly wasn't about to refuse them.

And with that, they finally dispersed, but the reapers' enthusiasm for the topics discussed remained apparent, and Hector could hear them continuing to plan amongst themselves as they left.

Once he was back in his room and alone with Garovel, Hector flopped onto his bed. His body and his mind felt equally exhausted after such a long day of training, meetings, and constant anxiety.

'Sentsia sure surprised me today,' said Garovel privately.

Hector didn't bother to open his eyes, but he knew what the reaper meant. 'Yeah...'

'I've hardly ever heard her speak, but she seemed quite full of ideas and the motivation to make them heard,' said Garovel. 'I wonder what changed.'

Hector was only half-listening now. 'Hmm.'

'Maybe she's grown comfortable enough around us to come out of her shell a bit.'

'Mm.'

'It's good, whatever it is. We'll need that kind of fire, moving forward.'

'Mmhmm.'

'Are you even paying attention to me, right now?'

'Yeah, of course I am.'

'So you think it'd be a good idea to make Leo the principal of this new academy the Rainlords were talking about, then?'

'Mm...' With effort, Hector's eyes unbolted themselves slightly, and he propped himself up on his elbows to look at Garovel. 'The fuck...?'

'Just checking,' said Garovel. 'You know I don't like it when you ignore me.'

'And you know I don't like it when you start spouting bullshit.'

'Heh. Well, in the event that our current plan for Leo doesn't pan out, it wouldn't hurt to have a backup strategy or two.'

'Uh-huh...'

'Obviously, I don't think he would be suited to being a principal, but then again, I'm not sure he'd settle for a job that doesn't carry with it a sense of importance.'

'Yeah, and I'm sure the Rainlords would just love that...'

'You seem surprisingly relaxed,' said Garovel. 'I thought you'd be more nervous for the meeting with Leo tomorrow.'

'I've been nervous all day long. I'm tired of it.'

'Well, that's one way to look at it, I guess. Want me to knock you out?'

'Don't think you'll need to...'

'Already drifting off, huh?'

'Mm...'

It felt like a bit of time passed as Hector teetered on the edge of sleep, sliding comfortably into its warm embrace, until Garovel's voice arrived again, still retaining the echo of privacy.

'Hey, uh, before you fall asleep, there's something I'd like your opinion on.'

'Mm?' was all Hector managed in response.

'It's something I've been conflicted about about for a while now. Ever since we were in Sair, actually.'

'Mmhmm?'

'And it's... kind of a big deal.'

Hector's eyes slid open once more, but he didn't sit up to look at the reaper again just yet. 'What is it?'

'I've been putting this off for a while, since there have been so many other things that have been taking precedence. Repeatedly. And, uh... I'll be honest. Maybe I should've told you about this sooner. Try not to get upset with me.'

'Garovel. What is it?'

'Well, it's not the easiest thing to explain. Um. It has to do with the Rainlords.'

Hector decided to sit up now as he waited for further elaboration.

'You remember in Luzo, after the battle at Marshrock? When the Rainlords were discussing how to move forward peacefully?'

'Yeah?'

'Remember when Ismael Blackburn explained how someone had used Ibai's status as an aberration against them? Blackmailing them, essentially? And basically kicking off all of the events that ended up forcing the Rainlords to flee here from their ancestral homeland?'

'Uh-huh?'

'Do you remember the name of that person Ismael said was blackmailing them?'

Hector was struggling. 'Er... not really.'

'Well, it was a very powerful man named Parson Miles. He holds the rank of captain general in the Vanguard. That means he only takes orders from eight people: the seven field marshals and Sermung himself.'

'Okay...?'

'Zeff also has quite the beef with him, you may recall. He and Evangelina both claim that Parson killed Socorra Garza, the head of House Garza, in addition to ordering the capture of Zeff's family, which led to the death of Zeff's wife, Mariana.'

Hector didn't like where this was going. 'Why are you bringing all this up, right now?'

Garovel looked abruptly hesitant. 'Because... I've actually met Parson Miles before.'

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