Chapter Text
He watched with concealed anger as Aub Klassenberg left the meeting room. They had just finished discussing the matter of young Eglantine. Again.
He had barely been in his new office as the Zent for more than a season, and Klassenberg was already trying to treat him as if he was their puppet who had to dance at their every whim.
He was now glad that he had not listened to Magdalena’s suggestion of making her his third wife instead of his first. The former Aub Dunkelfelger, who had retired this year, had not been pleased with their sudden starbind in the first place. But he had at least been pacified when he openly declared she would be his Goddess of Light.
Magdalena had protested quite fiercely at first, stating that she did not want to destroy the harmonious relationship he had with his other wives, but her worries were honestly unfounded.
Ralfrieda and Clementia had not been overly fond of their demotion, Ralfrieda more so than Clementia, but they had been nonetheless accepting enough in his opinion. Magdalena’s lineage as the daughter of the archducal family of Dunkelfelger, a greater duchy, made it obvious that she would stand above his other wives. They were just from the middle duchies, so it was an obvious choice to make.
At least Werdekraf, the new Aub Dunkelfelger, seemed accepting of the agreed upon arrangements. He even offered a few guard knights to join his own retinue, instead of just Magdalena’s. He returned the goodwill wholeheartedly, promising both Aub Dunkelfelger and Aub Drewanchel to find the Grutrissheit as soon as possible in an additional meeting. They seemed pleased enough when he extended his promise to abdicate, should someone beside himself find the all important book of Mestionora.
It was a wise decision in hindsight, as he could already clearly see the issues beginning to make themselves known. With his lack of access to the royal magic tool he could not fully fulfill his promises of giving his allies their due rewards for supporting him in the civil war. The losing duchies’ territories were split up between his supporters, but without being able to rewrite the borders they were apparently more of a hassle than they were worth. Some whispers even reached his ears that Aub Ahrensbach called them a burden. But to be honest, the greater duchy was an… unreliable subject at best. So their protests were far from the most important thing on his mind.
His preemptive promises at least worked to make both Dunkelfelger and Drewanchel his most steadfast allies, expanding his support base to more than just Klassenberg, Hauchletzte and Gilessenmeyer. It worked splendidly to reduce Klassenberg’s influence over him, much to their poorly hidden chagrin.
But he still had to make some concessions to Klassenberg, as his most steadfast supporters in the civil war, which had led to this meeting in the first place. He had reluctantly promised for young Eglantine to be offered the opportunity to rejoin the royal family. The young girl was apparently a surviving daughter of one of his departed brothers, so her claim was valid enough. He would maybe marry her to one of his sons, securing his chosen heir her hand and gaining Klassenberg’s support through this bond. This way his sons could focus their efforts on the remaining greater duchies.
“Adrian, I want you to bring me everything you can find about this young lady Eglantine.”
He should have ordered for this much sooner, but it had slipped his mind with all the events taking place right now. Adrian was originally from Drewanchel, an adoptive son of their Archduke. His service to him was part of Drewanchel’s proof of support, and Trauerqual had to admit that having such a capable scholar under him did much to alleviate his workload.
“As you wish, my Lord.”
He glanced at Loyalitat next, his current commander of the Sovereignty's Knight Order. Looking at the young man from Hauchletze reminded him of his former knight Raublut, who had sadly fallen in battle. His friend had used his own body to shield him from a desperate attack on the battlefield, paying for his loyalty with his own life, to save Trauerqual's. It was a tragedy that he would die in the very last battle, after surviving so many before. But that was sadly just the cruelty of fighting a war.
“Loyalitat, please do your best to assist Adrain.”
“Of course, Zent Trauerqual.”
He made his way back into his office, being faced with the huge stack of boards on his desk again. At least he had enough experience with effectively going through reports from his experience as a professor at the Royal Academy. But it was still such a chore…
He also had to visit the Royal Library again soon, he was still searching for clues regarding the lost Grutrissheit and the location where it could be found. He could only hope that his search would yield positive results soon, before the country began to slide into even further ruin.