Family Business 56 (Patreon)

Family Business

Chapter 56

-VB-

I fiddled with the traveling cloak while I tried to ignore the whimper of the man in front of me.

Traveling became … normal for me. It’s kind of hard not to when I had two big jobs that both required my personal presence. I was both the Duke of the Duchy of Jorasmang and a minister working directly under the king.

What did that really mean, though?

Socially, I was untouchable. For anyone but another duke to question me would be the closest thing to suicide-by-noble that one might get away with. Or not if they question my family, wives, and children. Should that happen, then I will put my entire resource into ensuring that the target of my ire begs for death.

Economically, I was an integral part of the kingdom. Jorasmang City was recently called the textile capital of the kingdom because we imported a lot of wool from the mountainous provinces of the kingdom to the west and north(cheaper than anywhere else in the , brought that wool down through the river system (cheap), and then processed the wool into textile rapidly because one of the businesses I encouraged the vastaya to get involved in was textile manufacturing. Sure, the scale of each vastaya “factory” was family-sized, but there were still hundreds of families adding to the overall textile production. There were also special textiles we produced with my own magic potions that made for a very good anti-stab, anti-slash, and temperature-regulating fabric. Sufficed to say, the rich and noble loved it and could not get enough of it while the textile manufacturers could not get enough of my potions.

Academically, I headed the one and only magic academy in the kingdom. If you wanted your kid inside and learning for their own safety, then you better kneel, beg, and scrap at my feet.

Politically… This was actually my biggest problem.

It wasn’t that I was having a problem but that I was having too good of a situation. I had way too many opportunities but not enough time or delegates to take advantage of them. I was a prominent duke with the ear of the king but I could not stay and influence the king because of expectations and what I actually had influence over. The king expected me to improve the kingdom’s deficit of magicians and only really listened to matters regarding magic, though I could stretch it like I had when I talked to him about rewarding Vayne. Other nobles wanted to get close to me, and I already had a few offers of betrothals for my children that I returned with some politely worded letters.

I even had “teachers” of my magic academy acting on my behalf on certain matters and a few of my Black Guards doing the same with the army. This left me with nobles and civilians for me to contend with.

Sure, a few of them wanted me dead for “ruining their good kingdom by tainting it with the corruption of magic” still, but I ignored them for the most part and used my own political capital to ensure that they didn’t have any prominent positions, roles, or even a government.

One such man was right in front of me, forced to kneel after I had invaded his home with four of my Black Guards, four of my coach guards, and one Shayna Vayne.

“Baron Michael Markins,” I growled.

“What are you doing, duke?!” he hissed at me, spitting through his bulky and rather impressive walrus mustache. “You are violating the law of the land and the rules of nobility!”

“You know, you’re right about that,” I smiled serenely. “Even I, someone who breaks many rules, know not to break the law. However, it is another thing entirely if I find bandits trying to ambush me on my way home from the Great City of Damacia.” I then let out a gasp. “But I ran into a band of no good bandits! It was a bad thing that I only had two guards with me as I had told a few of the nobles who didn’t like me.”

“What I didn’t tell them was that my Black Guards were always nearby, and I never mention them to anyone. Not even my brother knows about this and he is Garen Crownsguard. The king doesn’t know about my personal Black Guard bodyguards.”

I dropped the act, who paled as he realized what was coming. I crouched down and met his terrified gaze coolly. “Ya got jebaited, bitch,” I said as I pulled out a dagger from within my travel cloak.

“W-Wait, I can help you!” he squealed. “I can tell you who told me! E-Everything!”

“Sure-.”

“Please don’t kill me! With your magic!”

I stared at him for a moment before shrugging. “Sure. Who?”

“It was Count Charteuse!”

Charteuse? He was… not a friend but he certainly didn’t have any enmity with me. As far as I was certain.

“Got proof I can use against him?” I asked as my guards leaned forward a little, and the squealing pig blurted something about his desk. I stood up and walked over to his fine table and looked around. I pulled out drawer after drawer and then found a really nice piece of paper wrapped in a single string. I undid the string, unfolded the paper, and read it.

…

I hummed before throwing the dagger. It flew true and struck the baron. Its tip landed with a meaty thunk on his forehead and sunk deeply. He keeled forward with lifeless eyes as blood trickled down in a steady stream.

“Ah, sorry, but I promised to not kill you with my magic,” I tutted. Then I turned to my guards. “Burn the place down. Keremin, I need you to report back to my brother about what happened here. Sorry about the long travel back and forth.”

Keremin, one of the newer Black Guards, bowed. “It is no trouble, grandmaster.”

And then he was gone, moving so quickly that he seemed like he teleported away.

Humming, I led the way out of the baron’s manor, soon to be a pile of ash.