Herald of Steel

'Imagine the rewards Lady Miranda and Lord Cassius will bestow upon me for bringing them Achillas! Ahhhh!!!!!'

As soon as Lord Bernard was offered just the allure of this forbidden fruit, he found himself momentarily out of breath and daydreaming.

General Achillas was doubtlessly a huge prize for the other side and so, for it to be him the one to hand the man over on a silver platter like that…. ahhhh….. the greedy lord quickly imagined being showered with endless riches, rewards, and titles for his great deeds. If Lady Margaret was generous enough, Lord Bernard could see his fief being doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled overnight.

What a boon!

Hence the offer proved a tremendous allure for the man

"My lord you mustn't! Think about the family! The Heeat family is too strong!"

However just as that sweet dream bubble was beginning to take shape, it was suddenly and ruthlessly popped by this crass shout from Lord Bernard's left side, and everyone was forced to whip their heads towards it.

Its originator was one of Lord Bernard's bodyguards, although that was far from his official title.

Tall, muscular, with snow white hair and slightly freckled wrinkles around his cheeks and forehead, this wizened veteran of nearly sixty was in fact so much more than that.

Named Ser Ballmer, he had begun his service under Lady Margaret's great grandfather, served as the Old Lord Margraves's personal bodyguard for over thirty years, and held the post of 'weaponsmaster' for more than twenty years- where he was tasked with training the next generation scions of the family.

All of this went to easily show that he was one of the most distinguished warriors of the Margraves family if not all of Galiosos.

And after the late Lord Margraves's demise, this formidable man had sided with Miss Linda almost instantly, for he was commanded as such by his former master, to guard various important members of the family from all enemies, be it inside or outside.

As a matter of fact, given his current post, he usually would not even be here, but beside Miss Linda, the next head of the family, protecting her as per her grandfather's orders.

However, due to him being assigned to Lord Bernard until the lady got here, Miss Linda had allowed the man to accompany Lord Bernard on this campaign, asking him to make sure of the latter's safety.

And this was what he was trying to do here, as after advising Lord Bernard like so, Ser Ballmer stepped up to glower at Ser Robert with shining, angry eyes, then growled in a deep, threatening tone,

"Robert! Is this what has become of you? When did you become such a coward? That you would go as far as to even break your oath!"

Ser Robert was one of Ser Ballmer's many students and each word uttered by his old instructor appeared to pierce the younger commander's conscience like long needles.

This admonishment from his teacher seemed to make him feel like he was back to being that immature teenage boy once again and thus the former student suddenly found his head becoming heavy with shame and remorse, and naturally drooped downwards.

To Ser Robert, Ser Ballmer's presence appeared to suddenly grow multitudes in size and strength.

"How is handing General Achillas over breaking our oaths?" However before Ser Robert could truly begin to rethink his choices, he was suddenly knocked out of this doubt by his ever trusty adjutant Anoon.

Who then quickly stepped up and fearlessly returned the glare, before turning to quickly point to Lord Bernard,

"What Ser Ballmer said is all wrong! General Achillas is neither part of our family nor officially an ally. In fact, it could be easily argued that he is our enemy! How else would one describe his order for his men to seize all our ships? Look who many of our brothers have died due to him!"

"Handing him over to Lady Margaret for judgment is not treason! On the contrary, it is our duty!"

"...." The elegant speech left the opposing side completely tongue tied. Ser Ballmer being a commoner was never the articulate type and so found it hard to contest the claim.

Especially when all that Anoon had said was technically true, the Heeat and Margraves were yet to officially declare themselves as allies, mostly due to the fact that the Margraves family was divided into two, so there was no one to officially declare such a thing.

In fact, the two factions were fighting exactly to choose that one person.

And besides, actions spoke louder than words as they say.

The fact that the Heeat family had deployed ten thousand of their men to this island very best spoke volumes to their commitment. Thus they saw little need for such pointless theatrics.

But good luck trying to point that out to a person who loves to nitpick.

And even if Ser Ballmer would navigate his way out of that, there still remained the issue of Achillas truly ordering his men to cut the Margrave's troop in order to make space for them.

Ser Ballmer had seen and heard all of that with his very own eyes and could never condone or defend that damnable act.

Thus towards Anoon's clever rhetoric, the muscular man suddenly found himself to be very powerless, his fair face visibly turning darker and older.

It was a sight that Anoon of course relished, and even somewhat regretted he could sketch the current expression in a canvas for all future generations to see.

After all, it was not every day that one got to see the famed Ser Ballmer get defeated in battle, even if it was only in a verbal duel.

But the black man quickly pushed such distracting thoughts down and turned to work on his momentary advantage.

Thus turning to the now ruminating Lord Bernard, further enticed with a cunning smile,

"Even if my lord does not wish to defect, we can also use General Achillas to simply exchange him for your father. I hear he is still trapped inside the mansion. I am sure Lady Margaret will be more than happy to do the trade!"

"...." This secondary idea proved perhaps even more juicy for Lord Bernard, who certainly was worried about his father's safety.

So if his security could be ensured…. the man's thoughts ran off.

Lord Bernard was a filial man and combined that with the fact that he did not have the slightest affection for the general, well the situation was suddenly proving as such that he might be able to kill two birds with one stone just like that.

His only hesitation till now had been his concern over how the Heeat family would react and how it would affect his family. However just as pointed out oh so cleverly by Anoon right now, even if he were to do this, it did not seem like he would not be doing any disservice to his family

In fact, he might be even doing them a favor as General Achillas had clearly proved himself to be a menace. And judging from the looks of what happened here today, the Heeat family seemed to have been cut from the same cloth.

Thus he had little qualms about handing the man over.

'Saving father and killing Achillas… ahhh!' So sensing his two greatest joys to be within grasp at once, Lord Bernard found himself looking at his single surviving ship with a gleeful look.

He was of course only thinking about that single inhabitant there- General Achillas, whom he suddenly found very glad was alive.

This was not always the case, as initially, when he heard the man was seriously injured and grappling with death, Lord Bernard only wished for the man to die even sooner.

Thus at the sight of the fall, he had let out a literal cry of joy, jumping up into the air and appearing ecstatic, and only stopping himself short of pumping his fist in the air like a child.

And that too was only because he was afraid such a thing would affect his noble image among his men.

Hence imagine his disappointment when he learned not only was the general not dead, but he was instead even being treated by them.

Lord Bernard cursed at Ser Robert for even bothering, thinking he should have just declared him dead and left him to rot then and there.

And this acrimony was not solely because of his hatred for General Achillas.

It was also because, with the general gone, it would technically make him the highest ranking military commander after Lord Parker.

And who did not want even more power?

The thought of such an eventuality quickly made the greedy lord salivate.

Hence quickly thinking about the proposal, Lord Bernard turned to address Ser Robert with a solemn nod and a cunning glint, ordering him

"Commander Robert has made some good points just now. We Margraves indeed need to look after our own interests. So here's what we will do."

"You will transfer yourself to the ship holding Achillas and sail for Lady Miranda. Exchange him for my father and swear fealty to her. While I will stay behind and deal with Lord Parker. This way we can have feet on both boats!"

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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