CH291 Ashen Departure

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The next day, during a court meeting with his retainers, Earl Drake Fury announced that he would personally lead his soldiers to join his Hounds in the Marblebrook Plane.

He intended to assess the progress of Norton Stormwind (Lightning Mage), Diana Lynchfield (Illusionist), and Kara Temple (Druid) in the Earl's ongoing war against the plane's inhabitants.

Because of this, Drake revealed he would not be available for the upcoming negotiation talks with the Kellermans. Instead, he declared that his heir, Alex Fury, would lead the negotiations on his behalf.

He further ordered that the negotiation team was to follow Alex's instructions as though they were his own.

The announcement sent ripples through the hall, especially among the civil officers of the fiefdom.

The military officers, however, took it in stride. They had already read the reports from Alex's last campaign and were familiar with his sharp intellect and tactical acumen. To them, it was no surprise that the Mad Earl trusted this son of his with such an important responsibility.

Alex, present at the meeting, easily noted the scepticism in the eyes of the civil officers. Unlike their military counterparts, most of them were ignorant of his achievements during the last campaign. More crucially, they had no grasp of just how little Earl Drake truly cared about the Kellerman negotiations.

To Drake, the Kellermans were nothing more than wounded prey he could butcher whenever he pleased. The only reason he tolerated these talks was because the "prey" was not fat enough to warrant his immediate attention. Still, he didn't want the injuries he'd already inflicted on them to attract opportunistic predators before he had finished feeding elsewhere.

Negotiations, therefore, were simply a way to keep rivals at bay while he chose when—and how—to strike.

After the meeting, Alex personally sought out the civil officers one by one, speaking with them at length. By the time he was finished, they were no longer resistant but fully on board with him leading the negotiation team.

It hadn't been difficult nor did he have revealed classified details from the campaign. Instead, he approached them with humility, asking for their advice before expanding upon their suggestions—elevating them in ways the officers had not even considered.

Alex soon demonstrated his ability to lead the negotiation team with sheer intellect, leaving the civil officers with no credible reason—aside from his youth—to oppose him. Yet even that argument held little weight. He was an adult and the heir of Earl Drake; in matters of law and societal standing, his age meant very little.

In short, Alex had everything required to represent his father.

True to form, Earl Drake wasted no time. By the very next day, he quietly departed Ashen Castle for another fortress deeper inland, where the gates to his planes were housed.

He hadn't even bothered to bid Alex farewell. The young man only learned of his father's departure from the castle's chamberlain when he arrived hours later.

Alex could only shake his head wryly.

Then again, one could argue their farewells had already been spoken days earlier.

With Drake gone, the burden of governance shifted squarely onto the shoulders of the fief's civil officers.

The Era of Interplanar Conquest had changed many things—including territorial administration. In earlier times, a fief's prosperity rose and fell entirely with its lord; prolonged absences often spelled disaster. But in the current age, governance had evolved to allow rulers to leave for stretches of time, particularly for interplanar campaigns, without their domains collapsing in their absence.

The price of this system, however, was heavy bureaucracy. Every major decision had to be settled before the fief lord departed, meaning unforeseen crises would inevitably be slow to address. As such, while a lord could be away, it was never advisable to vanish for too long.

Five years was considered the universal "sweet spot"—not too long, but not too short either.

Once Alex confirmed with the civil officers that the fief would remain stable during his father's absence—after all, he intended to inherit these lands one day—he began preparing for his own journey.

Unlike his previous trips to and from the Enclave, where he had been forced to endure rump-bruising horseback travel with no say in the matter, this time Alex made arrangements through Haggleworth. The gnomish CEO secured the Golden Palace's transport wyverns to ferry him.

Haggleworth sent not just any wyverns but a pair of the largest beasts in the aerial fleet—each outfitted with mounted carriages upon their backs, designed for the comfort and security of prestigious passengers.

The wyverns' massive frames and fitted carriages made the journey unusually comfortable. Even Dread could stretch out inside one of the carriages, alongside Udara's mount and the crates of materials Alex had chosen to bring with him to the Enclave.

For a fleeting moment, Alex felt like the chairman of a multinational company travelling in style—two private jets at his beck and call.

Unlike his past journeys to and from the Enclave, which dragged on for weeks—his last trip had taken nearly a month on horseback—the wyverns cut the travel time down to just three days. And that was with rest stops along the way.

Wyverns, unlike the airplanes from his previous life, needed breaks every so often. Not because they tired easily, but because a fully rested wyvern was far more reliable in emergencies. Better to give them a few hours of recovery than risk them faltering if danger appeared mid-flight.

Besides, a rested wyvern was a compliant wyvern—and a mount's compliance was priceless when flying thousands of feet above the ground.

Their route brought them to a bustling Skyport within the Dragonspine mountain range, in the city surrounding the DragonHold Enclave.

Golden Palace staff were already waiting at the station, quickly moving Alex's luggage. Thanks to them, he didn't need to linger and supervise.

The moment Dread steadied himself after the long aerial journey, Alex mounted him and set out for the Enclave. Udara and his beast companions fell into formation with ease.

Fen shifted into his adolescent snow-white wolf form and loped along Alex's left flank. Udara rode on his right, a half-step behind on horseback. Overhead, Senu darted joyfully through the skies, eager to take in the new landscape.

She had heard so much about the Enclave from both Alex and Fen that her wings practically hummed with excitement at finally seeing it herself.

By the time the group reached the gates of DragonHold Enclave, a familiar, diminutive figure was already waiting.

Three feet tall, copper eyes gleaming behind thick spectacles perched on a hooked nose, thinning auburn hair slicked back… and most telling of all, mages scattering like frightened hens at the mere sight of him.

Who else could it be but the Chief Financial Officer of DragonHold Enclave—Baldrich Pinchcoin!

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