Chapter IX: Spymaster [2]
"Oh please, cut me some slack, would you, Vel?" replied the silhouette, opening the door of the balcony to enter, yet keeping itself on the shadows. "I am doing my work dutifully, just so you know."
"I believe I did not order you to bring some captives from the rebel's army, and yet you have gone on your way to endanger yourself," Velmund sighed, letting go of his aloof face. "Yet, I cannot deny the fact that I will be able persuade the warrior-thane of the Celbriac Horde to join our fight thanks to those soldiers in question."
"Hold on, how did you know I was the one responsible for that?"
"I talked with William and Reona. They both said that the messenger who brought the letter I read from you was the one who also initiated combat that led to a hostile encounter between the rebel soldiers. As they worded it, 'the messenger threw a dagger that landed squarely on the leader's face.' And I could think of a few people who had that skill with throwing knives aside from you and Renkou."
"Yes, I admit it was my disguise that they saw. But, I did so because of the information I gathered from Norsmund. As I anticipated that you would need this proof to–"
"In the light of a discovery of how the tribes were involved, I presume?"
"Great, I knew from your face that you're already aware of this. I swear, I always wonder why you needed a spymaster in the first place when you can just figure out things by yourself."
"You are overestimating me. A man can only be in one place at a time. I only knew it when I talked with the warrior-thane about my plan. It was mere coincidence that he told me about the illegal campaigns of the Marquis to extract slaves from Norsmund. But aside from that, what else have you discovered, my beloved childhood friend?"
The silhouette emerged from the shadows, and a hooded figure of a lady revealed herself to her master. She wore a long brown cloak that extended from her head to her feet, which hid her short black hair and fine linen clothes that concealed a varied set of knives. She had a stature marginally shorter than Velmund, as evidence of her younger age, yet she spoke maturely and teasingly towards her master and friend a year older than her.
"It delights me to hear you calling me that, my dear Vel?" Mana chuckled, offering a gesture resembling the Raven Knight salute while one of her knees was planted to the ground.
"I would assume that you have plenty of things to disclose with me that cannot be divulged upon a piece of parchment."
"I do, and you will both be pleased on my work and be displeased at the same time of what I have discovered."
"Then by all means, continue."
"To be begin my report, I would like to start with the things about the man who perpetrated this rebellion. As you suspected, the war that broke out between Regalia and Norsmund was concocted by Marquis Quillton, the current lord of Ruggleford. To tell a little about his background, this man was not originally the apparent heir of House Quillton, rather, he was a bastard son of the late lord of Ruggleford from a liaison that he shared with a certain noblewoman wedded to one of his vassals. You see, the previous Marquis Quillton was a bit infamous with his so called 'night crawls' and rumors would always spread about this at both inside and outside his court. Back then, that noblewoman's husband confronted the Marquis, and as their conflict escalated, anyone can guess the poor guy's fate going against a high-ranking noble. At the end, the husband was accused of 'plotting an assassination' against the Marquis with the help of forged evidence, and after the vassal's death, his widowed wife was sheltered in the Marquis's castle to be his concubine. Moving along the story, the Marquis saw potential in his young bastard son who outshines his twelve step-siblings in the fields of literature and arithmetic, but most importantly to their father: swordplay and war tactics. After the young Quillton received his training, he was made captain of the Marquis's army after he was knighted at the age of twenty-one, and continuously rose the ranks in the military. A few years have passed, the old Marquis's life was claimed on the Runtallian Invasion of Norsmund thirty years ago, and on the subsequent days of his funeral, the succession of House Quillton was destabilized due to a mysterious bandit raid that led to the death of the first-born son and all the possible heirs and heiress of the deceased Marquis, all except the current Quillton who is staging a rebellion right now, who at the time miraculously survived and defeated the bandits that infiltrated the castle singlehandedly. In spite of that, the most probable scenario I can come up with was him hiring a group of sell swords to act as bandits in order to assassinate all of his rivals for the title of marquis, yet there is really no way of confirming this as all evidences were erased and the bandits who assaulted the castle were all killed, too. The alleged usurpation caused rumors, of course, but quickly shunned after silencing all who opposed the bastard son's rule.
"Upon prying on the way he governs his province, I discovered that since he rose to power many years ago, he managed to consolidate his rule among the local lords of Ruggleford through forced subjugation, always relying on the militaristic measures or discreet assassinations. Like Regalia, Ruggleford's main produce is grain crops, and in addition to its large merchant fleets that mostly trade with the city-states of Veramune League east of Norsmund via sea, the province appears to more or less boast a stable economy. Or at least in the surface… With the exemption of the Marquisate's capital city and the settlements on its vicinity, almost all the towns and villages in the province are under poor living conditions and poverty due to heavy taxation and forced conscription of peasants to the army. Ruggleford is a border territory with Norsmund, after all. Although, even for a noble of his station, Marquis Quillton sure has an exceptional and sizeable army. Another sustenance for that stupidly large provincial army of his is the Marquis's involvement in slave trade, which the bastard outsources from our warmongering neighbors, but if demand becomes higher than supply, he sometimes compromises with local source with the good ol' bandit raid trick.
"That brings up the matter of how he wrapped his fingers around the chief-thanes of two of the Four Great Tribes and the unsuspecting Duke Gaverone. For the past few years, the Marquis was actually slowly stoking the hostilities between the two nations whilst purposely pinning the blame solely on the Duke, hence any diplomatic envoys we sent are all rendered useless. It was always through the pretext of 'self-defense' that he would launch small raids and skirmishes on border territories of the barbarians to further enrage them– which to no one's surprise why he always dedicate all the glory and honor to your father as he played the role of an obedient vassal– until two major events have taken place that finally bore the fruit as he meticulously brew a war between the Duke and the chief-thanes. The first was the territorial dispute for the land of Kurlon. At first, no one would wonder why a noble would suddenly gift a territory to his overlord to just curry favor, but it really was just a ploy to entice the Duke to enter the arena he is about to set. As for Chief-thane Dariun, he was brought up into this because of two reasons. One is obviously the attacks on his people which he endured for years and even the capture of civilians who were later subjected to slavery. Second was a fake rumor that started to circulate that reached the ears of the Council of Four about an impending invasion of Norsmund by the Kingdom. As I've mentioned before, the Marquis has quite the history for forging evidences. Fake letters, forged documents, false flag operations, and abductions. That's how he tricked Chief-thane Dariun to declare war on the Duke. As for the other chief-thane, I suppose you would know that already seeing that you've already talk things through with one of his advisors and warrior-thane. It was mainly because of her daughter that was sent to him without a body.
"Regarding the attack on the city… the Marquis was able to amass an army of ten thousand men. The host's size is absurdly large considering that he also needed extra troops to defend his land against Ill-spawn raids rampant now that it's vermin season. It even exceeded the former numbers of the Duchy's standing army, even if you include the so called 'new recruits' the general drafted with two weeks worth of training from the citizenry. The bulk of their forces are composed of slave soldiers, armed serfs and peasant levies, but there are a good portion of well armed troops in the form of regular men-at-arms and Veramunian mercenaries. I am not aware how he was able to amass that many troops without the Duke's notice or at least by causing some rumors, but my best guest is that he was slowly building up his force under our noses for at least months now. Counting the court mage and four other magic casters on his payroll, I would say they can be a formidable army to match even without the ill-equipped and poorly trained levies at his disposal pushing their numerical advantage. As for how they managed to bypass the numerous fortresses and castle towns on the north on their way to the capital city so quickly, I was informed that instead of besieging each one, they simply sailed through River Dalewood and marched along the main road at the northwest by taking control of the town of Cantbury, completely ignoring them save for two fortresses– with only token forces who quickly surrendered– that directly blocked the road. There were also a few settlements that were scoured and had their food confiscated. Despite establishing their own supply lines on River Dalewood, they had the audacity to resort to raiding and stealing from the people. Greedy bastards. Still, the Marquis was not a total imbecile to raze each villages to the ground. But that is not to say they just let the towns and various garrisons off the hook. After the surprise attack in the capital a week ago, a detachment of his forces was dispatched to neutralize the remaining garrison troops in order to prevent them from coordinating with the city or the Duke's army at Kurlon.
"The city is currently isolated from outside and trade is disrupted due to the blockades on the roads leading towards the city, although that should be the least of our concerns right now. Aside from me and a handful of messengers, no one has managed to pass through the blockades. In fact, if not for the sortie organized by Night Owl to act as a diversion, the other messengers wouldn't have even made it out to inform the other provinces. Although caught off guard at the first day of the assault, the city garrison was able to muster its force to mount an adequate defense and is currently standing strong. The defense is being lead by the commander of the City Watch, Sir Kursoe Baldwin at the mome–"
"Say, was my brother sitting idly for him to not personally lead the defense of the city?" Velmund interjected, bearing a perplexed look while thinking a notion he found mostly absurd. "For my enthusiastic brother who is always athirst for glory, it is an understatement to say that his actions were out of character."
Mana was silent for several moments, fidgeting nervously. "I don't know how to tell you this, Vel, but…"