Everyone in the chamber focused intently on Rya as she hurriedly wrote on the parchment, her quill moving swiftly with urgency. The soft murmurs of the audience receded into silence. Each stroke of her pen created an ink trail that mirrored her thoughts, adding a tangible tension to the atmosphere.
"By the Goddess! She''s weaving a curse!" one of Duval''s aides shouted, his voice trembling with fear.
"If you accuse my fiancée one more time, I will send you to the dungeon... Do you hear me?!" Quinus spat as the man slumped down in his seat.
"Earl Nathaniel... What are the market prices for your goods?" she inquired, her pen gliding swiftly across the paper.
Nathaniel''s heart raced at the unexpected attention, shock flashing across his face for just a moment. Yet, he quickly masked it, determined not to reveal any sign of vulnerability.
"The cost for a bale of wheat stands at 60 Fiafyrian silver, while a bale of cotton commands a price of 800 silver pieces," Nathaniel explained with a hint of pride in his voice. "We also grow some specialty crops that our farmers cultivate, but those are only sold within our own Kingdom."
Rya nodded thoughtfully, her quill scratching fervently against the parchment as she absorbed every detail.
"How much do you export in a year?" she inquired, looking up with keen interest.
"Well, our fields yield an impressive 120 million bushels of wheat and 5 million bushels of cotton," Nathaniel replied, a smile spreading across his face as he considered the bounty of their land.
Rya leaned in, curiosity piqued. "And how much of that do you manage to ship out through William''s ports?"
Nathaniel hesitated, his brow furrowing as he weighed the numbers in his mind.
Rya had a glint in her eye as she double-checked her math and entered a variety of percentages for using their neighbor''s port. She envisioned both a best-case and a moderate scenario. She was glad she had asked Zellin Cordforge how his domain generated its income.
Rya''s day job back on Earth was as a consultant, a role she had assumed would define her career for the foreseeable future. However, after her unexpected teleportation to the vibrant and dangerous new world of Tertius, everything changed. In the bustling town of Ironside, the relentless demands of her former life—grappling with BPRs, dissecting Value Stream Mapping diagrams, tracking KPIs, and laboring through endless spreadsheets—became distant memories. The tranquility of her new surroundings allowed her to breathe deeply, shed the weight of corporate jargon, and embrace a simpler existence.
Rya never expected to enjoy returning to her old way of life, yet a small part of her had longed for the challenge. As a consultant, she could apply the knowledge she had gained from her work in a way that felt more meaningful, impactful, and far more interesting. She had never viewed herself as a businessperson, but the more she learned, the more everything seemed to fall into place. Plus, she didn''t want her MBA to go to waste, even though she no longer needed to pay back the loans—or should we say she couldn’t.
Baron Thaddeus''s interest piqued when he heard Rya inquire about one of his cities, while Duval felt irritation that his emergency meeting was being overshadowed. He was ready to cut in on the Dark Elf until he noticed something unusual. As he scanned the room for clues on council members'' allegiances, he usually overlooked Alaric and his supporters, who constantly hindered him. However, from his peripheral vision, he observed William’s expression of concern or confusion, paired with Alaric’s evident discomfort. After a moment of scrutiny, Duval concluded that Alaric was attempting to undermine this discussion. Duval remembered only once seeing Alaric so defeated: when his assassin turned against him and eliminated all his spies within the palace. King Cyndre''s fury had erupted when Alaric tried to murder Quinus as a baby, leading him to contemplate immediate execution. At that time, Duval feared that executing the Arch Duke would ignite an uprising among the Minor Noble Families. He believed that a civil war would undoubtedly provoke an invasion from neighboring kingdoms. Thus, Duval devised a swift strategy to sway the King''s decision and punish Alaric by depleting his wealth and imposing a ten-year wage garnishment. He was certain that if Alaric lost all his fortune and title, the minor nobles would rally to his cause, and both Alaric and his son would forfeit their claim to the throne, causing Alaric''s supporters to gradually abandon him.
Duval was convinced that his elaborate plan was impeccable, a carefully crafted scheme that would surely sway the loyalties of the Minor Nobles. However, to his utter dismay, a majority of them remained steadfastly loyal to the Duke, resisting the allure of the substantial bribes he dangled before them—money drawn directly from Alaric''s own coffers. It became one of the most significant blunders of his life, an unexpected turn of events that left him reeling. In hindsight, he realized he should have anticipated this outcome; the Minor Nobles had always shown disinterest in his cause, preferring the stability and prestige that came with their allegiance to the Duke.
''Well. Well. Well... Is the great and ever-smug Alaric nervous about something?'' Duval thought to himself, trying his best not to smile. ''Maybe I''ll take whatever this Dark Elf has to offer, and then we can vote her out of the kingdom... I mean, the whole point of this emergency meeting was to prevent Terenthiel and the Divine Three from knowing that a Dark Elf was here in the first place... And the cat''s out of the bag now... So, I might as well let this detour run its course... and see if she can help me or not. In the best-case scenario, Alaric and his allies finally lose their leverage within the kingdom... And the worst case? Well? Kicking her out of the kingdom might just take a day longer.''Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"You''re correct, your lordship. We used Gilduirn to store the purple slag and other raw metals that we ship to the southern Domains. However, we don''t have many agricultural goods stored there due to the food production in the Berger Domain. Still, I don''t think storing more goods in Gilduirn would be an issue," Young Lord Johan Dule said.
Rya looked at the map again to locate Berger Domain. It was directly south of the Royal Maldurian Domain, which they were in.
Rya was brought out of her thoughts when Nathaniel said, "That''s good to hear. Then, I believe the next destination for transporting the goods would be the City of Fidelia, located on the southeast side of the Silverglade Enclave. Fidelia has the Eder River running through it, and it is the biggest river that can support a ship carrying goods downstream through the Tharsult Domain to the city of New Larna."
Rya paused briefly, allowing the weight of Nathaniel''s words to settle in her mind. She took a deep breath, before asking her question.
"That''s perfectly fine, Thaddeus... But could you please show me a little more respect?" Prince Quinus said, his voice tinged with slight annoyance.
disembark at New Larna, and then they will go through the Kartoll Kingdom to the seaport of Cresmond... This will not only be beneficial to the kingdom but will strengthen the relationship between the Kartoll Kingdom and us," Rya said as she finished scribbling down the numbers and estimated profits.
''Is he acting dumb, or is he just an idiot? All that jerk knows is how to pray and try to kill non-humans. If anyone is pitiful, it''s him.''
Rya pretended to be amazed when she heard that. "Sorry... I must be ignorant, but what''s the difference between a forced donation and being taxed?"
"It seems you lack the ability to negotiate when no one fears you, Terenthiel. You came in here thinking you could push us around because of your Paladin. But now that everyone realizes we are stronger than you, that fear has vanished. Let me remind you that the only reason you’re still here is that the Prime Minister allowed it. Otherwise, you and your Paladin would have been kicked out a long time ago," Quinus said in a bored and indifferent tone.
Duval felt a tightening knot of panic in his stomach as the Crown Prince''s ominous words echoed in his ears, hinting at the onset of war with the Alliance. He had been anxiously watching, waiting for Rya to unleash her financial strikes against William, but now Quinus was poised to draw swords instead of coins. The stakes had never been higher, and the impending chaos threatened to engulf them all.
Duke Alaric found himself in a perilous game, desperately seeking a way to thwart the Dark Elf who threatened to unravel his ally’s standing. William had been his lifeline, supporting him through the financial turmoil that followed after the disastrous assassination attempt on his own nephew. Now, Alaric understood that he needed to provoke Quinus into revealing weakness—enough to make the other nobles doubt the Crown Prince and rally against this insidious Dark Elf.
His most potent leverage lay in a tragic secret: the death of his only son, Marcus. Alaric suspected that Duval and Sebastian were aware of his son''s fate, yet the other Major Nobles remained blissfully ignorant. So, he set to work, plotting a strategy to plant seeds of doubt within their minds. His goal was clear: to depict his nephew as an ambitious tyrant, a puppet manipulated by the Dark Elf. If he could twist the narrative just right, he might just turn the tide of power in his favor.
And so Alaric finally saw his opportunity to strike. All he needed to do was get under his nephew''s skin and, in the heat of the moment, claim he had evidence to support his lies. He just needed Quinus to lash out to make him appear guilty, which wasn''t much of a problem since getting under people''s skin was one of his talents.