Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

The queen and her daughter must have practised keeping their faces from showing too much emotion as I told them everything that happened during the dragon attacks. When I got to how I was treated afterwards by then Colonel Ellen Rivers, and what my work life was like in the army at the new front, I could hear the both of them grit their teeth.

“I always worked sixteen hour days.” I told them. “I was getting to the point that my skills were no longer needed, considering we had used up all of the supplies and ingredients I had, so I went to the colonel to take the punishment she had assigned before.”

“She gave you two weeks instead.” Rose said, her face blank. “That much I've gotten out of her.”

“Did she tell you that I was pretty much left alone and fended for myself?” I asked and she shook her head. “If I hadn't been smart and brought food and water with me, as well as the potions I managed to keep...”

Both women looked slightly concerned as I described taking the completely untested regeneration potion that I had just successfully brewed, then the ten days of near delirium and agony as my foot grew back, as well as my lost toes and small fingers.

“It even healed all of the damage I had from growing up in the marsh.” I said and tapped my cheek where the snake venom hole used to be. “I used to have a hole big enough to put your finger through.”

Rose reached up and lightly touched the spot for a moment, then motioned for me to continue.

I told them about Helena managing to get my medical discharge release confirmed by the king, which happened before I had healed myself, and then I described how Colonel Rivers had taken it as a personal betrayal.

The queen sighed and shook her head. “That girl...” She looked at me. “I'm sorry that she didn't tell you what you meant to her.”

“She did as she ranted at Helena. She said I was an integral part of saving the kingdom and that my dereliction of duty endangered the entire kingdom. She also said that I was going to be needed for years.” I said.

Both the queen and Rose looked like they knew something and were reluctant to tell me.

“I did my duty and ensured all of the kracken tubes had enough ammunition, right up until I wasn't needed, then I went to the stockade. Even if it wasn't my duty to be in the stockade, I still served the entire two weeks. I also didn't complain about how I was treated or about being left there. I learned later that the colonel enjoyed that I was suffering.”

“Then you took her arm.” Rose said in a soft voice.

“No, she publicly declared the made up charges that she added to the discharge papers to make me dishonorable, then she robbed me of several hundred thousand crowns worth of money, loot, and rewards for winning the battle.” I corrected her. “Then I took her arm instead of killing her.”

The two women fell silent for several minutes and they sat there as they thought about what I said.

“I've heard from several sources that you took her arm on purpose.” The queen said, slightly angry. “To get her out of the army.”

I nodded. “I didn't want her at the new front with the enemy, not in the mental state she was in at the time. She could have prolonged the war, or worse, not listened to orders to cease fire when it was called.”

The queen lost the anger and sighed. “Did you know she... we... lost her younger brother, Matthew?”

“Not at the time. I didn't find out until recently.” I said. “Although, I did warn her that it would be too late to make a difference that far away, even if the plan had succeeded without any hiccups or delays.”

“Then you did have hiccups.” Rose said.

“Yes. After the devastation the dragons caused in our scouting forces, we revised the plan and doubled up on the transports and the troop movements. We actually ended up finished before the due date she had originally set.” I said and gave Rose a sad look. “It was still too late. He and his entire brigade were lost when they were ordered by your older brother to charge at the enemy's front line that was fully prepared to receive them.”

Rose caught her breath and the queen let out a sigh. “M-mother? Is it... no, it's true, isn't it?”

“Yes.” The queen said and gave her daughter a sorrowful look and then looked at me with a glint of steel in her eyes. “We were trying to protect her from that information.”

“That's a mistake.” I said and she looked surprised. “With the older brother removed from the line of succession and the younger brother dead, she's second in line for the throne.”

“How do you know that?!?” The queen asked, surprised.

“No one is going to trust the older brother after intentionally getting his brother killed.” I said with a shrug. “You only have two daughters left. Who else would take the throne?”

The queen opened her mouth for a moment, then she closed it with another sigh. “You are a lot smarter than people give you credit for.”

“I don't understand why they keep underestimating me. Is it solely because they can't see past my background?” I asked and she didn't respond. “Did you know the reason so many people passed the entrance exam was because I talked about all of the answers on my unfairly graded test paper?”

The queen gasped at that realization.

“They let you cheat?” Rose asked, intrigued.

“I didn't cheat. I was done and before I left, I just happened to discuss the answers they didn't mark.”

“By the Son's Light.” The queen gave me a searching look. “You were taking the test through them.”

“Most of them had 85% to 90% as their final marks. Since I only had the time to share the hardest part of the exam...”

“You easily passed with just that section.” The queen whispered and sat back in her chair. “You could have skipped the first part entirely and still passed.”

“I technically did.” I said with a smile. “Several students barely made the minimum, one of which was my class partner. She passed with a 67 and told me that she only passed because of me.”

“Wooooow.” Rose whispered, admiration in her voice.

“I don't know what her other classes are like; but, the classes she takes with me really showcase that the test is skewed a bit too much in favor of people who are close to being mages and already have lots of training.” I said. “I helped her and gave her some proper instruction for several classes and now she can make potions twenty times better than she did at home. Her basic enchanting carving is coming along nicely, too.”

“Is that all?” The queen asked and seemed interested in my answer.

“She already knows how to cast magic normally and can construct her own spell diagrams, as well as do the advanced math.” I said with a shrug, without admitting my own severe deficiency in both of those areas. “I'm sure she's wasting her time in the class as much as I am, considering she does her own self-study during class.”

“She can already make the spell diagrams and she barely passed the entrance exam?” Rose asked, surprised. “How is that possible?”

“She's shy and normally can barely speak.” I said and both the queen and Rose raised their eyebrows. “I've been helping her with that, too.”

“How?” Rose asked, her interest piqued as she sat up straighter.

“I shouldn't say.” I said.

“Why?” The queen asked.

“I mentioned it to some of the other students and they seemed genuinely shocked.” I said and refrained from saying it was Helena's sister and her friends. It wasn't necessary information. The queen and Rose exchanged looks for a moment and then looked back at me.

“I promise to not say anything about it if you tell me what you've done to help her.” Rose said.

“No. I've decided that it's her choice to tell people if she wants to. I'm not responsible enough with the information for it to be safe, assuming it's not all around the academy already.”

Rose had a gleam in her eye, similar to her mother's. “I'll be going there next year.”

“I thought you were only fifteen.” I said and she smiled.

“My birthday's in the middle of the school year and there's an early admittance clause for exceptional students.” Rose said, pleased with herself. “Thanks to mother's help with getting me the right tutors, I've shown the proper propensity and potential to become a high ranking mage. I've already written the practice tests for entrance and I had 95%.”

“She's specializing in casting.” The queen said and looked quite proud of her daughter. “Unlike her sister, who was groomed from birth to have a pivotal role in the kingdom as the princess, my fourth child was given to me to raise how I wanted.”

I thought about that. “She was a spare?”

The queen laughed and Rose looked amused.

“No, it was more like the rules and regulations of being the royal family were relaxed for both her and myself when she was born.” The queen said and gave her daughter a loving smile. “I don't think I've ever enjoyed being a mother so much while raising my little Rose. She was such a delightful and obedient child.”

“M-mother.” Rose said as her face flushed red in a blush.

“Unlike her brothers and older sister, who were unholy terrors that ran through the castle like little demons!” The queen said and then laughed.

Rose leaned close to me to whisper. “I ran, too. She just never caught me.”

I gave her a smile and she smiled back before she schooled her face and looked back at her mother.

“We're getting off track.” Rose said. “We're supposed to be listening to David tell us about his life.”

“I just did.” I said and she shook her head.

“What happened after your fiance rescued you?” Rose asked. “I want you to tell me all about...”

The parlour door opened and a resplendent man entered without knocking and the king and two men in uniform came in with him.

“Ah, there you are.” The king said and walked over to us with the other man. “I thought you might have gone on a tour of the castle.”

“I didn't know that was an option.” I said and he chuckled.

“This man is here to show you the documents we've prepared for you.” The king said and started to sit beside his wife, except there was no chair there. Suddenly, one of the men pulled over a chair and slid it right under the king's bent knees and the king sat down as if the chair had always been there.

The resplendent man asked one of the maids to remove the tea service after the king was served. We all accepted another cup of tea and the maid moved the tea service off to the side to another table. Another maid wiped off the table to make sure that it was clean, then the man carefully laid out several documents as he explained what they were for and what they meant.

I liked what I was hearing, which meant he was leaving something out. There was no way that neither the king nor he wouldn't put something into the documents to make me swear eternal loyalty to the crown or something stupid like rallying my territories to gather troops in times of war. The only troop would be me, which meant I would be fighting wherever they wanted to put me and not on my own terms.

“Do you mind if I read them?” I asked and the man looked surprised.

“It's all very politically worded and I'm sure you don't need to waste time by...”

“Now I have to read them.” I said and put my cup down. “Princess Rose, I don't know a lot of the references and terms, since I grew up without any schooling. Could you help me?”

Rose's eyes seemed to dance as she put her cup aside as well. “I would be happy to help.”

I could almost feel her happiness at being asked to use her knowledge. “Thank you, your highness.” I said and then the two of us poured over the documents.

We were halfway through the second document when Rose hissed and pointed out the sentence I couldn't read.

“Father, please tell me you didn't have Klaus add this in on purpose.” Rose said, her voice dripping with harsh bitterness.

The king sighed. “I knew I should have asked to move this to my office instead.”

“I would have asked her to come along.” I stated, matter of factly. “I'm not stupid. I just don't know a lot of things. I've been correcting that as much as I can lately, though.”

The queen gave me a slight nod of approval.

“I'm also not dumb enough to sign whatever you put in front of me without checking it first.” I said and lightly touched Rose's hand. “Let's keep checking for anything else that potentially puts me and my entire family into eternal servitude to the kingdom, or worse, consigns me to be at the king's beck and call.”

Rose smiled at me and nodded, then we went back to work.

“That's not necessary.” The king said and waved at the papers. The resplendent man plucked up the two remaining sheets before Rose and I could read them. “I'll have replacements done up for you.”

“I'll be reading them as well, father.” Rose said, her voice stern.

“Rose, my little flower, you can't honestly think that I can hand over all of that land and political power without some reassurances?” The king asked.

“What political power?” I asked, confused.

“It's simple, really.” Rose said. “With each lordship granted and depending on the size of the land...”

“That's enough.” The king said and stopped her from explaining. “He doesn't need to know about all of that right now.”

“Why not?” Rose asked.

“Bequeathing the title has to go before the next session of the lords. Depending on their decision...”

“Father!” Rose spat and stood. “Don't you DARE hide behind political fog and try to deny David's right to be a lord by having those ignorant fools make your choice for you!”

“Rose, please calm down.” The queen said, soothingly.

“Lords are appointed BY THE KING.” Rose said loudly and her voice echoed off the walls. “You are giving him the marsh and all of that land. Even if it's completely useless as farmland or unable to be developed, it's still LAND!”

Her parents seemed a bit stunned at her being so adamant.

“You've given knights and barons large plots of lands for their contribution to the kingdom. You've also raised their titles officially to lords without even consulting Klaus, let alone the other lords.” Rose said and took a deep breath. “I WILL NOT let you deny this man his RIGHTFULLY DUE REWARDS for saving us from even more WAR and taking ANOTHER sibling from me!”

Yes, they are definitely stunned. I thought with a bit of pride at the young woman. I had been slightly premature in my previous judgment that she was more like her mother, because what I had just seen was exactly like her sister's rant at me. At least this time, it wasn't directed at me and was used for me instead.

“Klaus, write up the proper documents and leave out anything that binds Mr. Drake... no, Lord Drake to anything, including taxation. You can also remove the provision to provide a percentage of the land's population as troops for the standing army, since no one but him lives there.” Rose said and saw the shock on the man's face.

“Rose, you can't just...” The queen started to say.

“It's not like he can send just his finger to fight, mother.” Rose said. “He would be the only viable applicant and he would be stuck for the rest of his life in the army as if he was still a conscript, because as each term of service ended, he would have to send another member of the population for service.”

The queen took in a quick breath and looked at her husband. “Is that true? No, never mind. I know the laws as well as Rose does.” She sighed as she thought about it. “Her interpretation is correct.” She looked at her daughter and smiled. “That was very astute of you to catch that.”

“David gave me the idea when he asked me to look for anything that would bind him for eternity to the crown.” Rose said. “It reminded me of that clause in the land ownership contract that we read first.”

“I missed that.” I said and reached out to take her hand. “Thank you.”

Rose's face flushed red and she bit her lower lip. “You're welcome.” She said and held my hand, then she sat back down beside me and looked at her father. “Go ahead, father. Make it so.”

The king sighed and waved acceptance at Klaus, who picked up the other documents and left.

“He's going to be a while.” Rose said and gave me a pleading look. “Please stay for supper.”

The king groaned a little and the queen had to stifle a laugh.

“Your sister won't be too happy about that.” I said.

“Oh, don't worry. I'm going to have a few words with her while I change into proper meal attire.” Rose said. “We have some outfits for you to choose from if you want to borrow...”

“I can send for my maids and my best suit.” I said and Rose smiled as I waved one of the maids over and gave her the information.

“Yes, my lord. Right away.” The maid said and left at a fast walk.

“Now that that's taken care of, tell me about what being rescued by Lady Henrietta was like and what happened afterwards.” Rose said and she sounded genuinely interested.

I glanced at the king and he gave the hand signal to proceed, so I did and started to tell Rose the story of my escape from the garrison and everything that happened afterwards.