Nero Walker, Book 3 Ch.49 (164) (Patreon)

General Branson sat down at the table with Sergeant Wesker and Rose Vikander. He could see that they were both waiting to hear what he had to say. Between them, there seemed to be an unspoken agreement that any orders they were previously operating under were now no long valid. It was one thing to monitor an unusual but promising young noble, but it was quite another to spy on a unique.

Breaking the silence, the general kept his voice low when he said, “Obviously, this situation wasn’t something I’d planned for.”

Before he could continue, Rose interrupted him. “Did you know? Is that why you chose someone like me to get close to him?” she asked, her usual timid persona having been completely disregarded.

Rose, as a social chameleon, always chose to present herself in a way that furthered her goals. Whether it was hiding in plain sight while on a hunt, or looking like a scared little hunter hoping for help from an established senior in the military, she only showed others what she wanted them to see. Now, it seemed that she was no longer in the mood to play the weak little girl, instead she looked like an angry young woman who’d been forced into a dangerous position and now wanted answers.

Surprised at the question, the general leaned back in his chair and chose his words carefully. He absolutely did not want this young woman testifying in front of some tribunal about how he had manipulated facts in order to coerce her into spying on a new noble, let alone a unique, while in his employ. Trading favors like he’d done with her was not only legally gray, it was also enough to permanently affect his career prospects.

“No, I didn’t know he was a unique. I knew there was something ‘off’ about him, but nothing more than that. To be honest, I was more concerned about his foreign perspective than I was about his talent in magic. As that wasn’t a concern, I didn’t feel the need to investigate it. That’s the reason you were chosen. You were to focus on his mentality, his skills and talents were merely a secondary consideration, at best. Nevertheless, here we are. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that we won’t be spying on him anymore, so neither of you need to file anymore reports on that matter,” he said, his voice utterly serious.

Looking to Rose, he said, “Our agreement will stand. You’ve done good work, and I’ll keep my word. You’ll stay with the elites, and I’ll find you a new team.”

The general turned his head to address Sergeant Wesker, but changed what he was going to say when he saw that the man was staring at him in confusion. “You have a question sergeant?” he asked.

Sergeant Wesker coughed into his hand to clear his throat, then straightened up as if he were addressing a superior officer, which of course, he was. “I’m not sure I understand what the problem is. I mean, you both seam to be acting like we’ve done something wrong. But, I was under the impression that monitoring a troublesome noble wasn’t illegal. In fact, I specifically looked into it, and there wasn’t anything in the regs that said anything we were doing was wrong. So, what am I missing?”

Rose was the one to answer. She was obviously still angry about what the general had gotten her into. “It’s not the spying. It’s the possibility that we were directly monitoring and influencing the path of a unique. Directing the path of noble is illegal, and I can only imagine the consequences of doing it to a unique citizen. The general personally chose Lord Walkers team-mates, his trainers, his assignments, not to mention the army’s culpability in the assassination attempt on his life. All of this looks really bad if taken together,” she said, her voice nearly frozen it was so cold.

The general grimaced at the accusation, while Sergeant Wesker replied, “Well, he’s the general? Of course he’s going to be making those calls. But he’d be doing the same thing for everyone in the army. How is him doing it for Lord Walker any different than anyone else?”

The general scoffed and replied, “It’s not so simple. The problem is that by putting you and Rose next to the young man, it can be interpreted that I knew there was something special about him. Add in the fact that your team ran into assassins, ones who’d had help from members of the military, and then the matter was swept under the rug with an arbitration agreement… from a certain perspective, it doesn’t look good.”

Rose looked at the general, her face the picture of disbelief. “Really? You think that’s the biggest issue? You do realize our team was front and center in front of the kobald invasion. And it was the army who specifically put us there. With how little Lord Walker trusts Sergeant Wesker, I can’t imagine what conclusions he’s coming to. Even worse, the captain was the one who put forward the application for Lord Walker’s status change, which makes this whole situation look even worse. It’s like you all waited until you’d be caught hiding him, then reluctantly admitted that you knew all along. Not to mention that you failed to protect him from assassination plots while trying to use his status as a new noble to force him into the army and under your control.”

The general paled at the young woman’s interpretation of events. If this ever went to tribunal, he’d have to carefully manage the questions he’d be asked, because a lot of what she said was, in a way, very true. He had pushed for Lord Walker to join the military. He had carefully chosen who would be part of the training program, and then limited those who’d he’d had a chance of interacting with. He was at fault for surrounding him with spies, and then promising that they were all removed while leaving one of his own on the young lord’s team. Then there was the assassination attempt, and the subsequent arbitration agreement to hide it. Finally, to top it all off, he’d personally agreed with the location chosen to deploy the young man’s training group. While, at the time, he’d thought he was a perfect place to hide the young lord away from the action, he’d inadvertently put him right in the middle of the kobald invasion.

If interpreted the wrong way, this did not look good for him. It did not look good at all.

-----

Nero’s smile was wide as he watched the High-Academic stutter, unable to come up with a response to his carefully worded reply.

From the corner of his eye, he watched Lord Bennings approach, having taken an interest in what she was hearing. And after being called out by Nero, she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter.

“Unfortunately, High-Academic, Lord Walker is correct. As a representative of the Academy, you’re under a legal obligation to approach this matter with scholarly objectivity. From your tone, it is obvious that you are intent on abusing your position and forcing this potential unique to follow your orders. That is not only an abuse of your position, it is also illegal. As the duly appointed director of Dorchester’s Tower of Law, I am invoking a temporary injunction on your duties until such time as I can speak with the Academy and inform them of what has happened,” she said, her voice never wavering while her tone remained perfectly controlled throughout her verdict.

Nero’s happiness was nearly roiling off his essence field in waves. That had gone massively better than he expected. At best, he’d hoped for some support from the room, but he’d never imagined he’d get the snobby-bitch fired. Even better, whoever they sent as a replacement would be hesitant to piss him off after seeing what happened to their predecessor.

High-Academic Nurling’s face was so red, Nero wondered if she were going to have an aneurysm.

Right as the woman started forming a reply, which would have no doubt been a hate-filled diatribe full of threats and questions about whether or not they ‘knew who she was’, Lord Bennings silenced her with a raised hand, and continued, “There is no point arguing, the paperwork has already been filed. For now, I suggest you enjoy the party and then retire to your room along with your team until such time as your superiors contact you.”

Turning her attention to Nero, Lord Bennings said, “Lord Walker, your statement is not needed, as I will be including a memory engram of what I witnessed into my report. If you’d like to add anything, please schedule an appointment with the Tower of Law. You have until tomorrow morning to have it included in the full report.”

After that, she turned away, but paused at the last second only to look back at Nero and add, “For what it’s worth, I’m proud to see a citizen of Dorchester having such trust in the system. We at the Tower of Law hold to our oaths, and stand between the citizenry and anyone who willfully interprets their position as a right to abuse those who are below them. Your service to the city has been noticed, and appreciated. Dorchester is behind you.” Then, she finished turning and walked off back to the group she had been speaking with.

While Nero watched her leave, his jaw dropped open in shock, High-Academic Nurling hissed, “This is not over Lord Walker.” Then she too turned around and walked off to rejoin several of her subordinates, all of whom looked like they were regretting ever coming to this little slice of Oglivarch.

Nero couldn’t help it, and started laughing uproariously. ‘Talk about buying time to figure some things out!’ he said to himself with some relief.

Feeling a harsh slap to the back of his head, Nero’s laughter abruptly fell silent. Rubbing the back of his head, he looked up to see an irate Vera standing next to a relieved, but nervous city-lord.

“What the hell woman? What was that for?” he asked.

Vera glared at him and replied, “Can you not just keep your mouth shut for five minutes and let me do the job you asked me to? If you were going to cause such a disaster, why did you even bother begging me to come down here?”

Nero shrugged and replied, “I just wanted to buy a little time. I didn’t know it would be this easy to throw a wrench in the whole thing. Besides, I still need you to interpret Nick’s nonsense about how I’m now all special and whatnot. You, at least, I can understand. Before this situation gets truly out of our control, you need to explain to me what’s going on, and between the two of us, we can hopefully come up with a game plan.”

Vera listened to Nero, then started nodding along, understanding where he was coming from. Turning to the city-lord, she asked, “I’m assuming Dorchester would like to retain Lord Walker as a noble within its walls?”

The city-lord suddenly smiled, her face returning to the political mannequin Nero had gotten used to. “Of course! Dorchester is proud to have fostered such a talent, and while it suffers under the many threats outside its walls, it hopes that Lord Walker will remain to aid it in its time of need.”

Nero felt like clapping, impressed with the woman’s impromptu bullshit. Despite how she sounded, he could tell that she meant every word of what she was saying. A fact which Nero found incredibly odd. ‘What’s the point of talking like that if you’re going to tell the truth?’ he wondered.

As he looked at the city-lord with a hint of confusion on his face, he felt Nick approaching from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw it was actually both Nick and Cathleen, the woman suddenly appearing in his senses. ‘Seriously! How the fuck does she do that?’ he wondered.

Even more surprising, he saw Rose stomping towards him, her face looking incredibly serious in way he’d never seen before. If he hadn’t known it was her, he would have thought she was a completely different person, maybe Rose’s older sister. She had the look of a person intent on getting a job done, and was no longer hiding behind the bubble-headed facade she’d been using to appear as non-threatening as possible.

The moment all three of them approached, Nero felt like he was surrounded. Behind him, the city-lord and Vera flanked him, while Nick, Cathleen, and Rose arranged themselves in a semi-circle in front of him. Nick and Rose exchanged a look, silently offering for the other one to go first.

Cathleen, however, didn’t bother with any niceties. “I’m guessing with all of this going on, you’re probably not going to be staying with the elites. Whether or not you stay in Dorchester is probably also in question. Either way, I’d like to officially request to join House Walker under your banner. As I doubt you have any idea what that means, I’ll wait for your reply. In the meantime, I’ll remain at your side, standing between you and your enemies. Where you go, I go, my lord,” she said, her even tone indicating her utter seriousness with what she was saying.

Everyone was silent, but Nero felt a link request come through from Vera. Opening the connection, he felt her excitement as she said, “Repeat my words exactly! I, Lord Walker, head of House Walker do solemnly accept your fealty and promise to…”

Nero interrupted what she was saying, by mentally shouting, “Nope! I’m not doing shit until we all sit down and talk about this. I’ve been agreeing to way too much while relying on way too little information, and that’s going to stop right the fuck now.”

Vera’s response was immediate, and full of annoyance. “Fine, that’s your prerogative. But honestly, Nero, do you have to curse so much. You do realize that with translation magic, all that is coming across is you saying variations of ‘expletive’ when you use words like that. It doesn’t mean anything to us other than you are feeling particularly strong about whatever point your trying to make.”

The entire group remained silent, waiting for Nero’s response. Only a few seconds passed. Yet, they were all aware something was happening when they saw Nero’s face fall, seemingly saddened at some inner realization.

Misinterpreting Nero’s facial expression, Cathleen frowned and asked, “Do you not want me to follow you, little lord?”

Nero visibly shook himself, forcefully putting aside his complete and utter horror that he could no longer use swear words the God in his infinite wisdom, his forefathers, and the all-encompassing internet intended.

“Cathleen, I’d be honored to have you with me. But until I have a solid grasp on what all of this means, I’m gonna just rely on you being my friend and teacher. This whole noble thing was strange enough, and who knows if I’m even going to agree to become a unique. So, for the time being, how about you just watch my back and I’ll try and listen what little advice you feel like giving. Sound good?”

Showing one of her rare smiles, she replied, “Of course, my lord. I’ll await your response, and protect you until such time as you provide me an answer.”

Nero nodded, happy to have put off what threatened to be a rather long conversation.

Rose took that opportunity to speak up. “Lord Walker. I would like to respectfully request to also join House Walker. You once offered your help if I ever needed it, and I fear that the time has come for me to rely on your kindness. So, my lord, will you accept my pledge and allow me to serve you faithfully as an adherent of House Walker?”

Nero’s face twisted into brilliant display of total, and utter, confusion. “You want to what now?” he mumbled.

Nick added helpfully, “Actually Vera, dear. I was thinking that if Nero becomes a unique, we could fold House Verena into House Walker as possibly a branch family, then we could be his representatives in Dorchester while managing his interests. What do you think?”

Nero’s head whipped around to look at Vera, feeling the connection he had with her snap with her shock at hearing what Nick was saying. For the first time, Nero got to see what Vera looked like when she was caught completely off-guard. Even when he’d verbally dismissed the city-lord as a possible marriage candidate, she hadn’t looked this flustered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw City-Lord Cosgrave standing there, her face totally consumed by some inner calculation that Nero immediately dismissed as irrelevant.

Figuring that with the evaluation team put on temporary hiatus, and having no desire to touch base with the general, Nero clapped his hands and said, “Alright, so all of this seams super important, and probably requires some serious contemplation on my part. However, until such time as someone explains what the hell you are all talking about, I’m suggesting we go to Nick and Vera’s house and take a nap. It’s been a long day, and I don’t feel like being awake for any more of it. Therefore, I’m going to sleep. We’ll talk about this all later.”

Turning to face the city-lord, Nero said, “Thanks for the great party. It’s been a blast. If anyone asks, I’ve got a stomach bug, and I had to leave early. I’m sure we’ll talk soon. Goodbye.”

With that, Nero ignored everyone around him and started walking off for the door. ‘I’m so totally done with today. I swear to god, I need an A.I. or some kind of personal assistant whose only job is to follow me around and explain what everyone around me is talking about,’ he thought to himself, completely finished with the madness he was leaving behind.

Not bothering to wait for the keep’s aide to open the doors, Nero used his field to throw them open and walk out into the hallway. Abruptly coming to a stop, he looked left and then right, immediately realizing that he had no idea how to get to the front door. Hanging his head, he took a few second to breathe deeply and stop himself from screaming at the ceiling in frustration.

Feeling a calming hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see Vera smiling down at him with an understanding look on her face. “Come along, Nero. Let’s get you home. We can figure this all out tomorrow,” she said.

Nero nodded numbly.

As he let himself be led through the halls in silence, he thought about how crazy this world was. Every single interaction was something to look forward to. Monsters and politics, magic and plots, friends and… enemies? Was there some big bad working behind the scenes that he’d missed? Eh, it didn’t matter. For the time being, he was alive and he was rich. That’s all that mattered… well, that and magic.

Tomorrow he’d deal with the details.