While Galahad was adjudicating a minor theft case. Karlos asked for an audience.

Galahad looked at the two men and said.

"As there isn't enough proof to prove that Aelwin is a criminal but the clues we do have point in that direction. My judgment shall be the following, Aelwin will provide ten copper coins worth of services or goods or currency to Veragon. You are both dismissed."

After the two men left Galahad allowed Karlos entrance and said.

"So Karlos what matters require my attention?"

Karlos bowed and said.

"My good Sire, One of the men that has arrived together with the refugees is a man going by the name Marius Cementarius. He claimed that he has abilities that might prove worthwhile to you."

Galahad nodded and said.

"Well, indeed I do need more capable subordinates. But if it is worthwhile, it is for me to judge. For now, let's just see what he wants and is capable of. Karlos, would you please bring this man to me."

Karlos bowed and said.

"I shall oblige my liege."

Soon after Karlos returned followed in tow by a man in his mid-forties. The man was of average height and built and was both bald and clean-shaven and walked with a measured and methodical step. He was wearing a rather foreign-looking armor a mixture of scale and chain mail. With scales covering the torso area and upper arm and chain mail covering the underarm and neck, he was also wearing red linen pants. Just before he reached five paces from Galahad he bowed in a rather awkward manner in stark contrast to his previous measured actions before saying.

"Greetings Prepositus, I am Marius Cementarius Arabicus ex centurion of the mercenarius Legio Ist Arabicus and son of Gaius Cementarius Barcarius the builder of Barcaria. I have come here looking for employment."

Galahad raised his left eyebrow and asked.

"So mister Marius from my understanding of Umbrian society you must be a rather skilled commander. So how did you end up at my court?"

The man responded and said.

"Well, Prepositus the reason is rather simple. After the battle of Yargon took place as the leader of the first century of the second cohort the highest-ranking member of the army alive. I decided that rather than taking the long trek back to Umbria without any supplies. It would be better to surrender my Legio to the Frankians. Since I knew the Dekarxi would have my head for not bringing glory and treasure back to Umbria but instead costing them it. I was prepared to accept my fate and lose my head. But a good knight named Sir Varolin von Barquis which had a good enough understanding of Umbrian politics to realize what my fate would be if I returned and believing that I did the honorable thing by surrendering. Implored the king of the Frankians to allow me to go to voluntary exile rather than return to Umbria and face certain death. I was accompanied by five other men my old contubernium mates. Those five were the Decanoi of their own troops but decided to follow me since as my a.s.sociates their careers were pretty much over. So we headed north in the hope that we will manage to ama.s.s enough wealth in this Barbarian land to return to Umbria as Equites. But after we reached the Temple of Diater the northernmost oracle. We were given a divine mission to come to the northernmost point and serve for ten years before returning to Umbria. After heading straight north we reached the Dukedom of Novick where we were ordered to take the s.h.i.+p and head to here. As such we will be in your command for ten years and then we will return to Umbria as Servi Dei."

Galahad nodded and said.

"I a.s.sume you would want to establish a temple to your G.o.d? ."

Cemantarius shook his head and said.

"No there is no need Diater and the local G.o.d Emas are the same G.o.d under different names. As long as you have a shrine to him and we are allowed to wors.h.i.+p in the temple as we wish at certain times of day we would be most content."

Galahad nodded and said.

"Currently there is no such shrine, But I do plan to go on a pilgrim to get the authority to build one."

Cemantarius's eyes s.h.i.+ned and he bowed deeply before saying.

"I now understand why Diater sent me here. Please allow me to come with you on the holy pilgrimage. Diater must have wanted me to come to spread his wors.h.i.+p and cement it."

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Galahad nodded and said.

"We will do so then. For now please make yourself acquainted with both Boris and Martin at the barracks. Nickolas, please give the man a permit allowing him and his men access."

Karlos quickly wrote down a permit. Galahad took it and carefully read it before sealing it.

Then Cemantarius said.

"Thank you very much my Prepositus. As a token of my appreciation, I have decided to gift to you these two books as a means to show my grat.i.tude for hearing me out."

Galahad took those two books and looked at the t.i.tles. While the script seemed similar to the ritualistic Occitan script. There were some unknown letters. Galahad then smiled towards Cemantarius and said.

"I am in your debt for such great gifts."

Cemantarius bowed and left the room.

"I am happy your pleased Prepositus."

After Cemantarius left the room. Karlos said

"Sire, Why did you allow this man to come here and straight away stay with the troops? He could be a spy or something worse."

Galahad looked at Karlos and said.

"Boris can't really act against me. While Martin is rather trustworthy. Additionally, he claimed that his father was a great architect and I hope that he has inherited some of his abilities. The fact he gifted me books is also a good sign. Showing that he values knowledge or at least that his backer thinks I value knowledge. If there is such a backer it is most likely the Duke. But Cemantarius like every other man has his own ambitions and I think I saw a hint of fervor in his eyes when I mentioned the pilgrimage. Finally, all the men traveling with him are at least seasoned soldiers and at best would make decent sub-commanders."

Karlos nodded and said.

"That is indeed true Sire, But if he is just a fanatic. Isn't the number of extremists we are getting rather worrisome though? Boris and his men are rather extreme and now with Cemantarius, most of the army will be made up of fanatics. The general public is also much more religiously minded after your last public event."

Galahad nodded and said.

"While this is true the fact that there is more than one faiths should help me keep the balance. But yes, I am also somewhat worried. On the other hand could you please tell me what the books are about, I can't read that language."

Karlos took the books and looked at the t.i.tles for a whole minute before saying.

"Those books are indeed something special. The language is somewhat similar to Frankian. But it does have some stark differences. Most likely it is Umbrian but it must be an older version. As I do have some minor understanding of the modern Umbrian language. My suggestion would be to seek out your brother to help you decipher the contents of those books. But if the books contain ill.u.s.trations they could give us a hint of their contents."

After opening the first book he was greeted by an ill.u.s.tration of a simple man wearing rather odd clothes.

This ill.u.s.tration also shows a bountiful harvest surrounding the man and some small bees flying around him.

In the next ill.u.s.tration, it shows a box-like thing with the height, width, and length of an arm.

The next ill.u.s.tration show's a frame with a honeycomb structure being placed in the box, the frame has almost the same height and length as the box but is only one-tenth as wide.

In the next ill.u.s.tration, it shows the man placing those boxes filled with frames on top of each other, additionally, there seems to be an exaggerated metal latch to secure those boxes together.

In the next ill.u.s.tration, it shows the man placing a small metal mesh on top of the second box for no obvious reason.

In the next ill.u.s.tration, it shows that the tower had grown to five boxes in height.

The next ill.u.s.tration shows the tower surrounded by four logs with a simple gable roof (Triangle roof) on top of them.

In the final ill.u.s.tration, we see the man holding a pot. From inside the pot, a golden viscous looking liquid is dropping on to the earth.

Galahad furrowed his eyebrows and said.

"This seems to be a technical manual for beekeeping. But those apiaries are rather odd. Do you have any idea, on why they would create such an odd apiary?"

Karlos shrugged and said.

"Perhaps in the middle continent where the summers are long and the lands are prosperous were winter is but a rarity bees are so common such big apiaries can be sustained. What about the second book?"

Galahad opened it and inside it, they were some complex looking mechanisms, more sketched rather than ill.u.s.trated.

Galahad shrugged and said

"Most likely, just a series of magical devices we can let my brother deal with it."

Karlos bowed and said.

"As you wish sire."

Galahad nodded and said.

"Anything else?"

Karlos shook his head and said.

"No sire, Do you need me for anything else?"

Galahad shook his head and responded.

"No, You are dismissed. But take those books to my brother."

An hour later a messenger arrived, After entering the hall he bowed deeply and as soon as Galahad motioned him to speak he stood up and said.

"Baron Emanuel von Kompoli calls Sir Galahad to attend a meeting in two days' time in regard to a newly sprang bandit group. The Bandit group has thus far only terrorized the Hamlet of Erfia. Baron Emanuel, on the request of the recently returned Sir Monert, requests the a.s.sistance of any virtuous Knight in solving such a grievous matter which puts the stability of the barony and the nearby region at stake.

Such a.s.sistance shall be in the form of both council and manpower. To test the skill of the brave men ready to lay down their lives to eliminate the threat. A small, joined, and melee tournament shall take place. Where all the va.s.sals which have sworn fealty to Baron Emanuel shall take part. The tournament shall take place in Gragon at the same time as the meeting. With at least four men partic.i.p.ating to represent each va.s.sal. The top three compet.i.tors will be granted an enviable honor.

Additionally, the top three shall be given one whole gold coin, half a whole gold coin, and thirty whole silver coins respectively from each va.s.sal whose team failed to qualify to the top three.

Finally, this meeting is to celebrate the return of Sir Monert, Sir John, Sir Kellor and Sir Norodon and to morn the disgrace or death or slavery of the rest of the unfortunate Knights. Specifically, Sir William has been sold to slavery as he didn't have enough funds to pay his ransom, Sir Mathew has died in glorious combat, Sir Bardeon died in glorious combat, Sir Derrick died in glorious combat, Sir Verkion has been sold to slavery as he didn't have enough funds to pay his ransom, Sir Halderon is still missing, Sir Hedrion was found running a bandit group and has been declared an outlaw and as such has been stripped of his pedigree and a bounty has been placed on his head. The bounty is worth ten whole gold coins and shall be paid to the man or men who shall bring him to justice either dead or alive."

Galahad nodded and said with a neutral tone while seeming a bit disconnected.

"I will be there. But I would like to enquire about the specifics in regards to the compet.i.tion."

The messenger bowed and said.

"Each lord shall either personally lead or adjudicate the leaders.h.i.+p to one of his subordinates. Each lord will fight every other lord. The minimum amount of men a lord can have is four but the maximum is eight. For every man that they knock out or force to surrender the team will be rewarded with one point, while the enemy team will lose one point. The top three will be decided based on the highest amount of points. In the case of a tie. The tie-breaker shall be a priest of Lados which will decide which team fought the most honorably and valiantly."

Galahad nodded and said absentmindedly.

"Dismissed I shall be there."

The messenger bowed deeply and left the room. After the messenger exited the room Galahad continued to stare at the sealing before snapping out of it and ordering an attendant to call for Karlos.

After a short while, the attendant was back followed in tow by Karlos. After the attendant left the hall Karlos bowed deeply and said.

"Why did you request my presence Sire? Is something the matter? Or do you want my report on the books?"

Galahad thought for a moment before saying.

"What about the books?"

Karlos nodded and said.

"Your brother said it will take some time to decipher them. But he does own a lexicon of Old Umbrian. Additionally, he suspects that those books were given as a gift because the man either couldn't read them or those books are terribly out of date. In regards to the ill.u.s.trations, he suggested we make an example apiary. He believes that by the time he would have finished the book it shouldn't be too full. As such it would be prudent to start the project now"

Galahad nodded and said.

"Then after I dismiss you go to Nickolas and request a copy of the schematics and then send them to a skilled woodcutter. Promise him half of the honey from the first apiary."

Karlos nodded and said.

"It shall be done. So do you need me for anything else?"

Galahad nodded and said.

"I want you to prepare the Umbrians we shall test their mettle in two days' time in a tournament in Gragon."

Karlos bowed and said

"It shall be done. Anything else?"

Galahad nodded and said.

"Additionally I would like it if you could get about twenty logs in the central square in the form of a funeral pyre. Additionally, I want you to inform everyone not to disturb me for the rest of the day under any but the direst circ.u.mstances. Is that understood?"

Karlos bowed and said.

"Yes, Sire."

Galahad nodded and said.

"Additionally, Please also inform my wife that this rule applies to her as well."

Karlos nodded.

Galahad sighed and said.

"Dismissed."

After Karlos left the room and Galahad was left alone his working leg buckled and knelt towards the floor his eyes teared up and he started crying. At the start, it was just a couple of tears but then it grew ever violent. It wasn't long before He started to violently beat the floor and shout.

"Why G.o.ds have you forsaken me? First, you took my Biological father before I ever truly met him and now while he is still in his prime years my Spiritual one. How is this fair? How am I supposed to be virtuous when all I see is the virtuous dying and the wicked living? Why are such dregs as Hedrion allowed to live while good men must die from either beasts, disease, or swords? Why have you forsaken us G.o.ds and given us such an incapable prince that his only accomplishment is to be born? A man which threw the lives of his subjects to the wind with reckless abandon, not for honor but prestige? Are our sacrifices not enough? Indeed I am but a terrible man not pious in the least. But Sir Mathew was an honorable and pious man. There was no man like him."

But the G.o.ds didn't answer his quarries and fear overtook his heart.

*Are there G.o.ds?*

He thought.

*Is there an afterlife? Was it all for not? After all, didn't the very existence of his castle prove how short-lived everything was? Perhaps he could have done something if he joined the war and spoke with the prince and advised him to retreat? But what if he killed the prince? What if he had convinced Mathew to desert? *

The philosophical questions remained unanswered. But the practical ones had a lot of simple ones.

*He couldn't meet the prince let alone kill him and Sir Mathew would never discard his honor.*

The rest of the night was filled with a mixture of more philosophical questions, memories, what-ifs and the fear of one's own mortality, the one of his loved ones, and the one of his achievements. That circle of pain continued until he exhausted himself and he slept upon the same floor where he mourned.