105 Chapter XLVI: Plans

I clap my hands dramatically only for nothing to happen. My eye twitches and I clap more forcefully and hear a chuckle from the nearby wall.

"Coming boss, no need to get your robes in a twist." Davos literally walks vertically up the walls of the balcony and sits his ass down without a care about the now extremely confused Nords staring at him in bewilderment.

Fucker wants to pay me back for my previous trolling, eh? Hehehe too bad you are playing against the master. "Allow me to reintroduce to all of you Davos, formerly of Windhelm, now of house Dagoth."

Falk stares at him with narrowed eyes "And you are certain that this... Davos can infiltrate the sprawl and get into contact with our target?" He asks with great doubt in his voice.

Before I can answer Davos shrugs "I did literally just slink my way into one of the most guarded places in Skyrim."

Firebeard raises a finger, holds it up for a moment, and then lowers it to his chin realizing he was right.

Torygg speaks up "We cannot waste time to confirm his skills in any case, and I doubt Reyvin would lie about his capabilities." After receiving nods of agreement from his stewards he goes on "We must first choose our target, just sending someone in would bring no results for weeks, weeks we do not have."

I nod "That is true, I am going to presume we all got our information from the same source, but will reiterate just in case: There are three major organizations within the sprawl, followed by countless minor ones usually paying homage to the big three."

Falk hums in agreement and brings out a stack of parchment "Indeed, the first is the so-called 'Massif' trading company, headed by a Louis le Massif, a fat Breton said to deal in all things immoral and lucrative."

His son frowns "How immoral are we talking?"

With a false smile, I say "Skooma, forced prostitution, slavery and even some Daedric degeneracy if rumors are to be believed."

Sybille sends me an amused look the moment I mention the degeneracy part but I shrug it off, which just seems to encourage her further... damn it.

Torygg immediately shakes his head "If even one of these is true his head will fly."

I scratch my growing stubble "He is also believed to be somehow related to the Wayrest nobility so allying with him could potentially bring outside benefits." Before anyone can judge what I said I continue "Naturally I prefer we draw and quarter his fat ass, but I feel obligated to voice the options."

The King sends me a look of disgust mixed with a tinge of understanding, before firmly saying "He dies."

"Understandable." I nod.

Falk clears his throat "Next up is the so called Freemen, a bunch of lowlives pretending to be the local thieves guild, but are in truth just the local thugs. They are for the most part passably moral in the sense that they don't cross any unforgivable lines but the area they 'govern' is a chaotic mess where only the resourceful or strong have any say."

"The leader?" Torugg inquires.

Falk shakes his head "They are a loose union of gangs that agreed not to bother each other."

"Big no on this one." I say immediately.

The King turns to me "Why?"

I stare off into the still lightly burning edge of the sprawl "They have no central ruling figure, organizing them into any kind of cohesive force would be an exercise in futility and we would just end up arming exactly the kind of people that stop the sprawl from being pacified. Quite frankly I would prefer the fat Breton over them."

Falk nods reluctantly "I am inclined to agree with Lord Dagoth."

I chuckle "Just Reyvin will still do Falk, there is no sudden need for formalities."

He sends me a reserved smile and nods.

Torygg seems to be growing more and more anxious as he slowly asks "And the final group?"

Falk once again brings out a stack of papers and reads them quickly "The final group are the so-called Sprawl Tyrants, a militaristic group made up of great war veterans and their families, they call themselves the Brotherhood of Tsun and are led by the one known as the Silent Brother." his growing excitement is soon replaced by barely contained disdain as he reads on "They force others into working in the small mines they managed to discover within the scattered rock formations near the swamp... this also includes older children."

Before Torygg can go ballistic I ask "And do they take good care of their... interns?"

Falk hesitantly nods.

"Then they are our most likely candidate." I say and everyone shifts their gaze at me with mixed emotions, I continue staring at the sprawl while giving my explanation "Tsun is said to be he who tests the worthy in Sovengarde, is he not? So they are openly saying that they see this unfortunate situation as a test of their worthiness even if they are cruel I doubt they would dare dishonor the name they chose."

Torygg hmm's in agreement "That is true, but that alone cannot be your only reason for advocating them."

"You are right, of course. The primary reason I would choose them is that they are a group of war veterans, meaning they would easily understand the need for law and order." I turn back to the rest "Also adding to that is the fact that they have a leader who is presumably a Nord veteran whom you could easily justify giving a Thanehood to if he decided to help you. And as a final bit of spice in that already delicious looking stew they could be excellent recruits for the coming war, meaning good paying jobs for the residents and a way out of their constant poverty."

Ingvar frowns "What do you mean coming war?"

Falk sighs "Ulfric, boy."

"Oh."

Torygg is silent for some time, now also staring down from the balcony, he quietly asks "And I am to just reward the men and women who forced children to work as you say?"

I sigh "Personally I would butcher them in any other situation, but in this kind of scenario they would be justified if they actually kept the kids alive and fed. The situation down there is a terrible one and no solution we have on hand will be perfect."

Torygg returns to his silence, and we all spend a tense minute waiting for him to come to a decision, he sighs tiredly "After your explanation I would be a fool not to listen, very well. The Brotherhood of Tsun will be offered royal pardon and patronage in return for their help." He turns to Davos "Is there anything you need from us?"

I choose this moment to interrupt and hand Davos a scroll that would send out a signal once activated "Once you arrive and if they are not completely useless, activate this and I will come to negotiate with them."

He nods and turns to Torygg "Some kind of identification would be useful, to prove I am who I say I am."

"Very well." Torygg nods, and signals Falk to give him a sealed scroll "Go with our blessing."

Before Davos can slink away I say "You are permitted to recruit agents from the locals and promise rewards to them in my name, just make sure they aren't a waste of space."

He almost stumbles at my whimsical de facto promotion, but quickly gathers himself, bows, and leaves the same way he came in.

"Before we all go about our business." I say after Davos leaves "What is the situation with the Reachmen?"

Falk once again starts shifting through his stack of parchment and pulls out a scout report "They have retreated into their western mountain caves to spend the winter, their lack of proper resistance to the harsh cold combined with their abject poverty makes them incapable of attacking with anything larger than skirmish groups."

I nod slowly "So they will not be a problem for some months at least?"

"Yes, we have approximately three months before the conditions allow them to make any big moves." Falk explains.

Torygg sighs "If it isn't one thing then it is another."

Falk grunts in agreement "Yes, even when we deal with the Forsworn Ulfric remains a thorn in our side."

"Let us not forget the Thalmor." I say gravely "They could easily be the ones behind most of our current predicaments." before anyone can respond a thought occurs to me "Speaking of..."

I pull out a rolled up scroll and hand it to a confused Torygg, he reads through it and scowls before looking at me with a mix of gratitude and annoyance "And you could not have given me this earlier?"

I shrug "Davos just finished breaking the little shit, and besides you could have done nothing about it even if I gave it to you earlier."

Falk looks at Torygg cautiously "What is it?"

The King merely gives him the scroll and a couple of moments later he joins his liege in scowling at me "This is why I hate mages..." I hear him mutter.

"Hey, I resent that!" Sybille half-yells.

As ballsy as always, Falk merely stares at her and smiles lightly "Did I stutter Stentor?"

She huffs but doesn't seem offended.

Falk turns back to me "The agent revealed his superiors talked about some kind of operation in the west, do you think it could have something to do with the Reachmen?"

I hum and nod "Quite frankly I would be surprised if they weren't somehow involved in it, the Reachmen were always more interested in Markarth than Solitude. Forcing them North must have come with some hefty support, likely in the form of expensive gifts to the cabal of Hagravens that lead them."

Torygg cuts in with his scowl deepening further "And you think they might have something to do with the current situation as well?"

"Less likely" I state "They made an attempt only recently and it is not in their nature to rush things."

The King nods slowly and sighs "By Talos, I cannot wait for the day when I get to butcher that elven bitch Elenwen."

"You sure you should be saying that out loud?" I smirk.

He rolls his eyes "As long as I am not openly against them they understand very well how resented they are here."

I nod "Understandable, and there is no need to worry, I already blew up all their spy familiars before we started this conversation."

Falk gapes "They have spy familiars!?"

Sybille and I burst into laughter, realizing that we completely forgot to inform everyone about our little game of whack-the-bird in the morning. Seriously, if they keep sending them over my familiar made up of literal fire will manage to get fat.

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