Swiss Arms 68 (Patreon)

A/N: came out a bit late, but here it is!

Swiss Arms

Chapter 68

-VB-

Isabella von Gorizia

She knocked on the door and heard Hans telling her to come in. Opening the thick door with well-oiled hinges, she pushed it open with only a minor effort.

Inside his improved solar, Hans sat behind a large desk with a lot of papers. As she walked over to him, walking around the two “sofa” and a table between them, she noted that a lot of the papers were not administrative but rather maps.

“What are these for?” she asked him.

“That one is for property lines,” he replied. “This one is for public grazing lots. This one here is for properties not for sale.”

She stared at them before raising an eyebrow. “You are allowing the commoners to purchase a lot of land instead of lending them out.”

“It gives them the incentive to manage it better,” I replied. “If it isn’t your land, then are you really going to care about how well it does as long as you get your fill?” I asked her. “Because I certainly wouldn’t. Why put in the effort into a land that someone else is going to take from me sooner or later?”

“... I suppose not.” She then cleared her throat. “I want to talk to you about something.”

He paused and looked up at her. “Sure.”

“I want to hold our wedding - and wedding night - before you leave to fight Bavaria.”

He paused before pushing himself away from his desk. He stood up and stood in front of her.

“I’m sorry.”

She blinked. She didn’t expect that kind of a reaction. She thought he was … Well, truth be told, she wasn’t sure how he would respond. She knew that he would at the very least hear her out because he listened to everyone. What she did not expect was a sudden apology.

Her lips opened and closed in her befuddlement before she got herself back together.

“Why are you apologizing?”

“... We agreed to get married, but after one close call, I’m already leaving again to fight another war,” he replied sheepishly. “It’s like I’m intentionally avoiding our wedding. I’m sorry if that made you upset.”

“I’m not upset,” she quickly replied. “To be honest, now that I did get your attention and your agreement, I’m not sure what I am supposed to be doing with myself. I have been doing the things ladies of the house are supposed to do, but all of your ‘bureaucrats’ are too competent. I barely have to do anything.”

He smiled. “That’s great to hear.”

She poked him in the chest indignantly. “No, it’s not! The things I can do to feel good about doing something shrink every day! Are you doing that on purpose?!”

As he blustered and tried to give excuses, Isabella couldn’t help but feel both relieved and happy.

What else was there to say? She found a wonderful man.

-VB-

Hans von Fluelaberg

‘I guess I should be glad she’s not unhappy with me.’

A lot of things were happening all at once. Though I wouldn’t call my current feelings for Isabella “love,” I did like her enough that I agreed to marry her. I definitely treasured her for the help, attention, and love she was trying to show to me. However, this wasn’t the only thing nipping at me for my attention. The Duke of Upper Bavaria was silent right now, but for all I know, this was just him getting ready to try and attack me again. I had a few rangers still helping out Toggenburg as he tried to subjugate Sargans. Internally, some of the less prosperous villages were now more openly grumbling about their membership and the new laws forcing them to provide manpower and tax to the Compact (never mind the fact that the manpower was less than two dozen for each village and the tax was less than what they used to pay per person). Within Fluelaberg itself, I found spies who tried to get into my fort proper but got caught. I also needed to redesign the training regime and tactical layout for all of the rangers, some of whom died because of my mistake in confusing my base abilities for basic human abilities.

There was a lot, but I also needed to take advantage of the permission I got from the emperor.

… Well, if I held a wedding while having high security and intensified training for my rangers and militiamen alike, then it wasn’t like the duke was going to suspect anything if he had spies in my town, was he? That’s two problems solved together.

Yes, I should solve problems one at a time.

Speaking of which, the wedding.

“So,” I began. “How do nobles do their weddings?” I asked.

Isabella looked at me, not quite understanding what I just said before her eyes widened in realization. Yes, Isabella. I used to be a commoner and that class change only happened like two years ago.

“It is a public event like most weddings are,” she began. “My father would hand me to you, and you would make declarations about inviting me into your household. Your wedding would reflect the best that you can provide at the time.”

‘So it’s not that different from a well-to-do merchant’s wedding,’ I thought to myself while nodding along with her explanation. ‘Or even a commoner’s wedding.’

“I see. I suspect that there is more, however?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Politics.”

I chuckled. “It’s everywhere.”

“It really is. For someone of our standing, it wouldn’t do for a simple village friar or priest to hold the ceremony, especially for someone like you. You might want to write a letter to the bishop if he is willing to hold the ceremony for us.”

… Drats, I could have asked him when I was there.

“I will,” I replied. “But it would mean that our wedding would take some time before it happens.”

“As all good things should!” she harrumphed. “I will be cross with you if you rush this.”

I raised my hands up. “I won’t. I promise.”

“Good.” Then she looked crestfallen. “It’ll have to be after you win against the Duke of Bavaria, right?”

“... Probably, yes.”

She understood my position. I was happy about that.

After a few moments of silence, she nodded to herself, looked up, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and smiled. “Then I’ll be waiting for you, so you better end it quickly, alright? I know you can with that ridiculousness you exude like it’s perfectly normal.”

I laughed. “Sure. I’ll try my best.”

-VB-

Rudolf von Wittelsbach

Duke of Upper Bavaria

Munich

… It had been a month since he sent those heads and a letter he personally penned to the baron.

Yet he had not received a response, not even from his trusted knight who personally took charge of the delivery.

With the perpetrators of those bandits gone, Rudolf didn’t know why he hadn’t received a response yet. The baron couldn’t be … ignoring him, right?

There must be some issue with travel. A month should have been more than enough for travel from Munich to this new fort called Fluelaberg if the information he took from the executed guild masters were true. Perhaps there was an avalanche? In the middle of summer? A rockslide? Actual bandits? More wars?

He sighed impotently before turning to look at the paperwork on his desk.

The execution of seven guild masters led to some … rather tense situation within the city. The artisan and guild members didn’t fucking care that their former masters have been found guilty of treason. Sure, some of them were happy to replace the old masters as the new masters, but most of them were “upset” at the “violation” of their “rights.”

He just wanted to punch them all so bad…

Part of the paperwork in front of him was a result of this. Some of the guilds started becoming rebellious and began supporting his brother over him.

The bastards.

Oh, they couldn’t openly revolt without risking their positions within the city but they could make life harder for him.

Which they did.

“Nothing is going right for me,” he sighed as he started working.

-VB-

Duke Louis of Upper Bavaria

“It’s done?”

“Yes, Your Grace. The messenger has been killed and all remains have been burned to ashes.”

“Good. Now, have an actor deliver this letter to him. He will be … very upset that a baron has the gall to make demands of him, a duke.”

-VB-

Summary:

Isabella and Hans talk, Rudolf suffers, and Louis plots.