Cthulhu Gonfalon

That evening, Leon had dinner in the house of Viscount Tariq. He also met Rickard Tariq, the current Viscount Tariq, who was only 14 years old.

The family of Viscount Tariq had actually been quite small in numbers these years. Viscount Rayson had two sons and two daughters. In theory, that was no small amount. But his eldest son had not left behind any children before he died during a hunt. His ride got a shock, and both he and his ride had fallen down a cliff. His body was never retrieved. Neither daughter gave birth to any sons after they were married. So, the youngest son Rickard became the only heir. He was working hard to learn about politics, striving to become a qualified lord of aristocrats.

But looking at him, Leon was actually quite worried. Rickard was a little weak and his build was thin. He looked like he did not have much courage. The worst part was, Leon could see in an instant that this child’s martial art power was almost equal to zero.

“Uncle Nick, your magic skills are so great. Why don’t you teach him a little?” Leon asked. “The world is so unjust. It is better to have a few skills so he can save himself.”

“His talents are not great. It would be better for him to work hard on learning politics for now,” Old Nick said, smiling. “Besides, I could still live for another twenty or thirty years. Even if my life does end I can still transform into an undead or constructive creature. It will not be difficult with my abilities. With me to guard him, he does not need to increase his martial arts skills in a hurry.”

“It does not take long to learn a bit of swordsmanship or magic skill…”

“You think everyone is as genius as you are?” Old Nick laughed. “Do not use your standard to measure others, you enviable fella!”

Leon thought a bit and laughed too. Then, he told Old Nick and Rickard about the intelligence that he had gathered. But he found neither of them was surprised at all.

“It seems like we need to get prepared to leave, then,” Old Nick sighed. “Sir, I am afraid we must leave now.”

“Ok, let’s go then.” Rickard did not feel nostalgic. “We will go and live in Void Mask’s Theme Park for the time being, and decide again after the storm has settled.”

Leon relaxed a little. He was really worried these two would go berserk and insist on the romanticized idea of nobles needing to die in their own territory. That would be very terrible indeed!

“… It is one thing when a noble dies in his own territory, but now I have to go to another country to fight in a bloody battle! What kind of matter is this?!” Baron Crick Keane shot up and slammed the enlistment papers that came from Grand Duke of Thunder onto the table angrily. He shouted abusively, “Is he f**king stupid?!”

“Well maybe. Even though it is a ridiculous order, you have no reason to reject it,” Knight D’vor Russ sighed and said. He was currently his adjutant. “As a vassal who is directly under the grand duke, You have to obey his enlistment.”

“D*mn his whole family! This old man is asking me to go to die!”

“In regards to your judgment, I strongly agree. But the problem we face now is how to handle this enlistment.”

Crick sighed deep and long before he sat down once more and picked up the enlistment papers to read them again.

[These papers are hereby ordering Baron Keane to lead his troops to aid the Eagle Kingdom in the war, to be enlisted under Prince Haierwen, and to arrive before the first of December, without any mistakes!]

“Speaking of which, Prince Haierwen is purely unlucky this time…”

“Who told him to believe in the Groundbreaking Knight? If he believed in the Master of Mystery instead, the Grand Duke might have been reluctant to involve him.” D’vor shook his head. “The situation now is very clear. Groundbreaking Knight is just fighting for a final chance. If he can succeed, then he will be able to regain some belief based on his prestige in the people. If he fails… then it is probably time for Him to fall.”

“What does the falling of a God have to do with us?!”

“If the castle crumbles, will the people living in it be unaffected?” Nikola laughed coldly. “Baron, Sir, you should stop complaining and start thinking about what should we do.”

“What do you think we should do?” Crick asked in frustration. He kept thinking but he could only feel his head spin. He really could not think of a way out.

“Give up your title and land, then,” Nikola said. “Come back to the grand theater with us. You still have quite a lot of money, and you are not a bad scholar either. In the future, you can put all your heart into writing operas and live the rest of your life comfortably.”

“This idea is almost the most practical one,” D’vor said. “Although as your retainer, it is a very shameful and immoral thing to encourage a vassal to betray his feudal lord. But people like you really should not die under other peoples’ schemes and conspiracies.”

Crick frowned as he admitted that his subordinates were right in theory, but…

“If I were to run away, how would we set the route?” he asked. “We cannot just run all the way to the Void Mask Theme Park. We would still need to use a portal. But the portals in the capital will surely be guarded tightly. Do we have to go to the Federation of Mifata?”

“It’s our only choice,” D’vor said. “And we have to be quick. It is best we leave tonight and grasp whatever time difference we can get.”

“But what about my people and the bureaucrats under me? I cannot possibly bring everyone along with me to run away.”

“We cannot think too much right now,” old housekeeper sighed. “Hope for the Keane family is all on you now. If you die, then Keane family is really finished! Surely you do not think that Miss Anna is able to support the family?!”

“I am asking. If I run away, what will happen to my people and the bureaucrats under me?” Crick said in a deep voice.

The old housekeeper was silent for a moment and then answered, “We will probably be stripped of the territory and denounced for committing treason. By that time the bureaucrats may face a cleansing process. The territory may be imposed with increased taxation. Maybe after a few years, the territory will be granted to someone else.”

Cricked frowned deeply. “What will happen to you and Anna?”

“Don’t worry about us. And don’t worry about Miss Anna,” the old housekeeper smiled. “There is nothing to be afraid of. You are the important one!”

“Sir, now is not the time to hesitate!” D’vor persuaded. “You must leave now!”

“Yes, the sooner you leave the better!” the old housekeeper echoed their sentiments.

At this moment, Rafael, the thief in charge of intelligence, hurriedly ran into the room. He reported that there were high-level adventurers appearing near Keane city. There was also a group of knights, led by pastors and magicians from the Church of the God of Aristocracy, coming into the city. Their leader, pastor Machee, requested to pay a visit to the city owner.

“F**k!” D’vor, who was usually steady as a mountain, could not help but curse out loud. “They are obviously here to stop us!”

“Machee Smith is not just anybody. She is really strong, and not easy to deal with,” Nikola said with a frown. “Dealing with her alone is difficult enough, not to mention her big group of helpers. If we want to run away by breaking through her barricade, it will be difficult!”

“What about using magic spells? Isn’t there a teleportation spell?” D’vor asked.

“There is either plane teleportation under the plane realm or general teleportation under the traveling realm. But Thomas and I do not have access to these two realms,” Nikola sighed. “We can only use portals. But that won’t cover enough distance.”

“Call in magician Damwade. Maybe he’ll have an idea.”

Magician Damwade, who was in the research lab, was quickly sent to them. Once he found out that his feudal lord was facing a crisis, the magician took out a silver scroll.

“I do not know teleportation spells very well. But I do have this “return spell” scroll. It can bring three people back to the Highest Tower,” he said. “Me, the feudal lord, and room for one more.”

Crick’s subordinates sighed with relief. Old housekeeper laughed, “What a coincidence; just enough to bring Miss Anna along.”

Nikola shook his head. “We should let Thomas follow. Even though he is a bastard, his hands are quite strong.”

“He should bring housekeeper Wade,” D’vor suggested. “If the Keane family wants to be revived in the future, we will need housekeeper Wade’s experience and wisdom.”

“What will you all do if I ran away?” Crick asked worriedly. He stopped their arguing. “Machee and her gang are coming with ill intentions!”

“Ha-ha! Once you leave, we will have many ways to survive!” Nikola said smugly. “With our abilities, no one will be able to stop us from running away!”

“That’s right, this is the only way!” D’vor nodded repeatedly. “Quickly, go now!”

Crick was silent for some time before summoning all the high-positioned officers in his territory.

His orders were executed very quickly. The group of officers who were allocated and promoted by him, whose fidelity levels all had an average of 80 and above, were gathered in the government affairs office.

He told them briefly about the enlistment order from the grand duke and the problem of elite forces from the Church of the God of Aristocrats arriving in town. Then he let everyone express their comments.

Just like D’vor and the others, these highly loyal officers all advised him to run away, and disobey this ridiculous order to go and kill in the war between the Eagle Kingdom and Orc Empire. That was as good as sending him to die!

“I can run, but what about you guys?” Crick asked.

The officers were suddenly solemn. Everyone looked at each other. More than one of them expressed that, “Somehow there will be a way,””We don’t think these big characters will vent their anger on insignificant little pawns like us,””The territory will need someone to be in charge of it,” etc.

Crick sighed and secretly shook his head.

A change of sovereigns would bring about a change of ministers. Even he was not exempt from cleaning up the cabinet ministers before. He had a few dead bodies on his conscience from the process. If he ran away and the territory was granted to some other nobles, the officers loyal to him would most likely have their heads chopped off.

Moreover… the commoners of the territory were already living poorly. If an increased tax was imposed, how could they cope? He was afraid that many people would not survive the coming winter!

The young traverser raised his head and looked at the grains in the wooden ceiling. He could not help but laugh bitterly.

“I cannot run away,” he said. “Go and contact Aunt Lily. I remember their house is in a nearby town. They still have magical equipment that can be used for communication…”

But after the magical equipment was activated, there was only a red shining light and no reply.

“The target contacted had been destroyed,” magician Damwade said with a frown. “As expected, I am afraid your Aunt Lily had met an ill fate, considering that her house is on the way from Gale Prefecture to Keane City. We can assume it was probably done by Machee and her gang.”

Crick gritted his teeth and clenched his hands into fists. He took a few deep breaths to suppress his anger.

Now was not the time to be furious. Being furious would not solve the problem.

“Bring Anna here!”

Anna was Crick Keane’s sister. She was also one of only two direct heirs to the Keane family. She was only nine years old this year; still a child who did not know anything. But even if she was a child, she could sense the heavy atmosphere and felt uncontrollably afraid.

“Brother Crick… what is going on?” she asked timidly.

Crick looked at her and his heart was filled with worry.

Handing the family over to this little girl; would that really work?

But… there was no other choice.

He thought for a bit and said, “Anna, would you be willing to believe in His Highness Void Mask?”

“Void Mask? The big green jellyfish? Brother, I thought you wanted me to try and believe in the God of Light?”

The corner of Crick’s rose as he smirked bitterly. “The God of Light… suddenly, I’m afraid only the big green jellyfish is reliable now. After all, He is a fierce character who killed two Gods for the death of his believers!”

“Sir, actually, you can also…” D’vor started.

Crick shook his head. “No, I cannot. Military orders are like mountains. The enlistment order has been given, so I will need to be accounted for anyway. Even His Highness of Void Mask cannot protect a betrayer who refuses his duties.

“Alright. Let’s rearrange our troops.” After making the most important decision, he felt his whole body relax. “I need to use all the time I have left to write some plans and programs for ruling the territory. When I am gone, I will need all of you to please assist Anna.”

All the officers were quiet. There was more than one who started sobbing.

“Do not cry. I am only going to war. That does not mean that I will die for sure.” Crick managed to squeeze out a smile. “Who knows, I might become famous during the war! When I win I will come back to get married and have a bunch of sons… Amyveile, are you interested in changing jobs to become a baroness?”

With the surprised and shy approval from the servant, he laughed as he waved his hand to ask everyone to leave, and concluded the meeting this time.

After he had also ushered Amyveile out of the study room, saying, “I need to write a secret report,” he did not immediately start writing. Instead, he circled around his government affairs office and sighed deep and long.

“F**k it! How did I get so f**ked up!”

Tears were streaming down his cheeks as he smiled bitterly.