The Archaic System

It didn't take long before I was standing at the east gate of the town which lead to the east guard barracks. As I neared I noticed how this gate was even better protected than the north and south gates used by civilians. A team of ten men stood outside the gates with halberds in their hands and their were ten more archers on a raised platform behind the wall. The gate was currently open just enough for three men to pass side by side. A few mercenaries were going through the gates in small groups.

I was prepared to be stopped as I went through the gate, but when the man checking peoples badges saw me he came up and shook my hand.

"Hello sir, my name is Jeffrey Tate. I am one of the Lieutenants who will be under your leadership in the future it's a pleasure to meet you," He gave me a big toothy grin.

These are the type of people I like the least, a complete brown noser. I could tell in a heartbeat, this is the type of guy who licked the boots of everyone above him and actually accomplished very little.

"Sure. I'm assuming Lord Morrow told you who I am. Can you take me to him."

The man looked stunned by my unenthusiastic response, but he quickly recovered and said, "Of course sir, when I heard a new Captain would be announced today I volunteered to be the one to greet you at the gate. I am surprised the man who killed Sauer is our new Captain."

He looked at me with what was obviously a fake and exaggerated reverence. Clearly, he was skilled at stroking a persons ego, unfortunately for him that wasn't going to work on me.

Noticing my lack of a reaction he continued, "I can't believe you are so young. You must be a genius to be able to beat Sauer at your age."

The concept of age equaling strength would be a thing of the past in a few years. Plenty of young people will become the elites of humanity. It's actually easier for the young to develop faster since they are able to adapt to new environments and ideas quicker. Of course, my advantage is unique.

We were walking towards a fortified building that's just beyond a large open training ground that was slowly filling up with mercenaries. As we walked the brown nosing Lieutenant continued to lambaste me with words of praise, to which I hardly responded.

Finally, we reached the building and the Lieutenant opened the door and gestured for me to step inside. After walking down a few hallways and taking a couple turns we arrived at a sturdy oak-like door. Again the Lieutenant opened the door and I stepped in.

Inside two men were sitting comfortably in leather chairs with a table between that had a small pitcher and couple documents on it. One man had his back facing me, only the black hair on his head visible. The other was Alexander Morrow who was facing the other chair wearing a flowing golden robe with embroidered red lions adorning the sides. He was relaxed and held a cup in his left hand.

Noticing me, his eyes shot up and a joyful expression spread across his face, "Brother! Come sit down and enjoy a drink with us!"

After he signaled to the corner a person brought over a leather chair and placed it on the side forming a triangle with the three chairs with the table in the middle. I prepared myself mentally because i already knew who the person whose back was facing me would be. As I sat down I looked over and sure enough there was Ward calmly sitting with his hands in his lap and that creepy chilling smile on his face. With his gaunt figure and creepy looks it'd be easy for people to think he is a sadistic serial killer, and they'd be right. Ward killed countless innocents in the past and he never grew tired of it or showed any sign of stopping. He wouldn't be so lucky this time. I was prepared to see him and with great effort buried my inner thoughts and put on a convincing face.

"You must be Cain Ward, my brother mentioned you and the important work you do," I stuck out my hand with a warm smile on my face.

Ward observed me for a moment and then grabbed my hand and shook it saying, "My pleasure, I wasn't aware that Lord Morrow had a brother. I can't say I see a great resemblance."

His hand was abnormally cold to the touch. I couldn't help wondering if the man was even alive at all. I was prepared for him to be suspicious and stand against me, but I didn't think he would start throwing insinuations so soon.

Thankfully Morrow responded for me, "Nonsense, brother has my mother's eyes. He just inherited a lot of his looks from his father."

Naturally, I don't know what his mother's eyes look like, but if they look like mine all the better. Whether he had just convinced himself of that or if it were really true didn't matter to me.

"Of course, of course they do. I didn't mean to imply otherwise," his nasally voice was grating on my nerves.

Morrow leaned back in his chair, "Now that you two have met, Ward have everyone prepare for the ceremony. I want as many people there as possible. I still have a few things to discuss with my brother."

"Of course, it will be taken care of immediately."

Ward rose and left the room hastily. A significant amount of tension left my mind. Even though I despise Morrow and am determined to kill him one day, Ward is at an entirely different level of hatred. Maintaining my composure around him takes ten times the effort it does around Morrow.

After Ward left Morrow instructed the remaining guards to leave the room as well.

After they left he looked at me while holding up his cup and said, "Drink? I wish I could offer an alcoholic beverage, but those aren't quite ready yet. This is fruit juice from a local fruit that grows in the nearby forest."

"Absolutely!" I responded politely and took the cup after he poured some of the juice from the pitcher. I secretly took a whiff before placing it on my lips and not smelling anything unusual took a sip.

After pouring my glass Morrow leaned back and took a deep breath,"Now to business, after looking at your report yesterday we identified the people Sauer had convinced to join his pathetic Coup attempt. I waited till the evening to have my loyal mercenaries dispose of them. Luckily, the corruption didn't run too deep and most of the traitors were regular soldiers. I thought three men, a Lieutenant and two Sergeants, had slipped through the cracks. Fortunately one of our patrols found their bodies late at night. Someone killed them for us."

I nodded my head, "About that."

I pulled out the three tokens and placed them on the table between us. Morrow's eyes shot up in shock as he grabbed the tokens and flipped them over confirming their authenticity.

He looked at me and asked, "How did you get these?"

I leaned forward and retold the events that surrounded the three men.

After I finished Morrow asked, "Why didn't you come and inform me before?"

I then explained about the follow up attack by Sylvia and bringing her back to the Captains Manor. He would no doubt find out from Matilda eventually if he didn't already know.

"After all of that it was so late I figured it could wait till now."

"That's understandable. Nothing more could have been done anyways." He responded.

He stroked his chin for a moment, "What are you going to do with the girl?"

I had left out remarks about her abilities and parts of conversation with her this morning. We had spoke soft enough that I wasn't worried about the guards overhearing. At best they only heard the part about me killing her brother.

"With your permission I'd like to keep her at my manor for now. I haven't decided what usefulness she might have yet."

Morrow seemed to like this answer and gave me a sly smile, "As long as it stays hidden you are free to do what you want with her."

I almost involuntarily had a look of disgust show on my face but was barely able to reign it in. Clearly Morrow had misunderstood my motives. While good for me, his cavalier towards the possible abuse of Sylvia completely disgusted me. I quickly gathered my thoughts.

"Naturally, I will act in the utmost secrecy."

"Now that we have handled that matter let's discuss another topic."

I leaned back and took another sip of my juice. The flavor was quite good, like a cross between orange and mango juice but slightly sweeter.

"Have you noticed that some things about Black Lion Village seem a little too convenient?"

"What do you mean?" Interested in where this was going I leaned in.

"I mean, why does it seem like the people that appeared in this area seem to be exactly the ones I needed to develop Black Lion Village quickly?"

After thinking about it for a second I realized he was right. Without a large amount of carpenters and other tradesmen even after months he couldn't have developed this fast and smoothly. Black Lion Village was already self sufficient and flourishing. There is no way that many people, with the proper occupations had been sent close to here. Agartha is a huge place so they should have been more spread out.

"It does seem awfully unlikely it happened by chance."

Morrow nodded his head, "At first even I thought it was just the heavens smiling down at me since I too was told arrival in Agartha was random. However, just last night I received a missive from the new government, The United Human Federation, explaining everything. Since you are my brother I thought you would want to know and we can work together to develop this village even faster."

My heart began to beat rapidly. What could it be? Had the government found a way to place people where they wanted? Conspiracy theories abounded in my past life, but no one ever confirmed if any of them were true.

"I would like to know! I never imagined they hid something like this from us."

Morrow chuckled at my enthusiasm, "Ok. You must swear you will take this secret to your grave. It must never get out. If the common people discovered it they would almost certainly riot."

"I swear I will never reveal this secret to a single person."

"Ok I will tell you."