Following the rather heated first greetings in the Manor’s yard, Viscount Moore showed Lucas and Allina to her office.
The eting was also attended by a handful of Victoria’s closest advisors and councillors, all of whom had significant say in the operations of both the Moore Family and the Viscounty as a whole.
"Now then," taking her seat behind her desk, Victoria Moore stared fixedly at Lucas, who was sitting across from her, and asked the critical question, "What exactly are the Marquess’ plans for Port Calden?"
Opening the leather bag which he had been carrying earlier, Lucas pulled out a small set of docunts, about 3 pages in total, and handed them over to the Viscount, "This is the general outline of the plan which we have formulated over the past 7 days. You’re not going to like it, Lady Moore."
Knitting her brow slightly at this comnt, Victoria none-the-less accepted the papers from Lucas and began quickly reviewing them.
Sure enough, as she did so, her frown deepened while her grip on the docunt progressively tightened.
By the ti she got to the end of the last page, Victoria Moore’s face had gone red, and the papers she was holding had been completely crinkled up. She was so angry and upset that she was visibly trembling, a rare sign for soone who normally maintained an extrely professional deanor, not batting an eye even when arguing with important nobles of the kingdom.
Her frustration and distress were understandable, though, as the docunt Lucas handed to her was essentially an order for her to empty her coffers and granaries to support the total dismantlent of her entire territory.
Unlike Herald City and Iron Rock, which spread across both the west and east banks of the Belton, Port Calden was located entirely on the western shores. There were several reasons for this, such as access to farmland, wood resources, and terrain concerns, but regardless of the reasons, it was a fact that all of the city had been built up on the exposed side of the river.
Thanks to the setup of Port Calden, all of the Moore Viscounty’s towns and villages were also located on the western side of the Belton facing the Great Western Forest, save for 2 small fishing villages which had both been established less a decade ago.
With the evacuation plan drafted by Lucas and approved of by Celestina calling for every single human settlent west of the Belton River in the South-West Province to be abandoned, it would have been stranger for Victoria Moore not to beco upset.
However, thanks to her recent experience outside, Victoria didn’t imdiately blow her top and begin cursing out the pair before her. Instead, taking several long, deep breaths, the Viscount forced down her rising anger before passing the docunts over to the man standing to her left.
This man, who shared many features with Victoria, was Bastion Moore, her uncle.
Victoria’s mother had passed away years ago, and her father, the forr Viscount, now lived in Rockwell City, serving as the family’s ambassador to the Royal Court while he focused on his cultivation, hoping to break through and beco the Moore Family’s first ever Spirit Initiate.
Bastion Moore, despite being from the generation above Victoria, had always lacked cultivation talent, keeping him stuck in the Core Formation Realm and disqualifying him from becoming Viscount himself. This had left him sowhat bitter, but there was nothing he could do to change his circumstances, so he begrudgingly accepted them.
Even so, Victoria Moore had a savvy political mind and knew it was better to have her uncle as an ally, rather than an opponent, so when she beca Viscount, she allowed Bastion to remain as Mayor of Port Calden and even treated him as her second-in-command.
There was still so occasional family drama, but as such a young family, the Moores were relatively united in their goal of expanding their influence and wealth, so at least in public, Victoria and Bastion presented a friendly front.
As Bastion Moore read the docunt which had visibly upset his niece, however, there was no need to feign unity, as he too couldn’t believe his eyes, soon turning livid at the sheer audacity of the Balfour Marquess.
Were it not for Victoria maintaining her stoic silence, and him not wanting to seem inferior or to his little niece, Bastion would have already exploded right then and there.
With a great huff, Bastion Moore passed the docunt next to the family’s treasurer, who then passed it to the local Garrison Commander, and so on and so forth until all 9 mbers of the Viscount’s ruling council had seen it.
Finally, once she confird that everyone from her side had reviewed the docunt, Victoria asked a single question, "Why should my Moore Family agree to this... this outrageous proposal?"
Having long anticipated such a reaction, Lucas didn’t flinch under the pointed glares directed towards him and simply stated, "There are 3 reasons why you should agree to this mass-evacuation plan."
Glancing around the room to ensure he had everyone’s undivided attention, Lucas continued calmly, "Firstly, you must know that the current situation in Port Calden is unsustainable. No matter how well stocked your granaries and armouries are, with so many refugees crowding into your city, essential supplies won’t last for very long. Re-distributing the gathered population here is not an option, it’s a necessity."
Not waiting for anyone to raise any argunts, Lucas went on, "Secondly, while this will undoubtedly hurt your Moore Family in the short-term, possibly even shatter your foundation, cooperating with the Balfour Family to help solve a major problem for the Rockwell Kingdom will have many long-term benefits that will outweigh any losses you suffer now, as long as you manage to persist."
"And thirdly," here Lucas’ expression dimd as he lowered his tone, "the only alternative available to you it to try to hunker down in Port Calden and hold your ground, but that’s not possible. Try this, and you’ll die, along with everyone else who stands with you. If you’re willing to accept that kind of end, then by all ans, ignore us and do as you please."
The eting room fell quiet again, as Victoria and her council went over Lucas’ words in their heads and whispered amongst themselves.
Seeing this, Lucas made no attempt to rush them. He knew that what he was asking for here was not easy to accept, so he was willing to grant Victoria and the others at least a bit of ti to discuss their thoughts on the matter.
Unlike in Herald City, where the governnt had beco completely corrupt, forcing Celestina to assu total command just to get things done, the leaders in Port Calden were obviously competent, capable, and more than a little ambitious.
No one amongst the higher-ups of the Moore Family was a fool, so none of them impulsively tried to dismiss Lucas’ warnings as re falsehoods or gross exaggerations. Instead, they examined his words seriously regardless of how much they wanted to disagree.
Regarding the Marquess’ special envoy’s first point, no one had any objections. A city designed to house and feed 25,000 could not support 70,000 people for long.
Port Calden was already showing signs of stress, with squaller, cri, and even supply shortages becoming more frequent, and it had only been 17 days so far.
They might be able to muddle through this situation for another month or two, but any longer than that and the city would probably collapse under its own weight.
Many of Victoria’s advisors agreed with the idea of removing so of the refugees and were even willing to help facilitate that process, but it was a completely different story to abandon Port Calden altogether.
Lucas’ second point was one that only so of the more strategic minds amongst those gathered in the office had considered before the boy had brought it up; the Viscount, of course, being one of them.
Victoria knew that for all her family had managed to accomplish over the past 119 years, the Moores were still just upstarts who were new to the political and financial arena in the Rockwell Kingdom.
On the other hand, the Balfours were one of the nation’s founding forces and had been close allies of the Royal Family since before the Rockwell Kingdom even existed.
Even if that wasn’t the case, it was a simple fact that the Balfour Family was a hundred tis stronger, wealthier, and more influential than the Moores.
Cooperating with the Balfours, and possibly even having them be indebted to you, was no small benefit. Agreeing to the Marquess’ plan right now would cost Victoria greatly; and if she wasn’t careful, it could spell the end for her Moore Family, but if she played her cards just right, it might also be the catalyst that brought their long-held dreams to fruition.
In short, this was a gamble, an extrely high-risk, high-reward gamble.
As a firm believer in making steady, incrental progress, Victoria would normally never have considered this kind of high-stakes bet, but the current situation was forcing her hand.
Oddly enough, it was Lucas’ final point that caught Victoria and the rest of her advisors off-guard.
While it was true that many people had already died, and that Port Calden had been attacked multiple tis by nurous beasts, so of them even reaching the Fifth Order, no one in this eting truly felt the threat of death hanging over them.
Taking advantage of the city’s sturdy walls, sharp arms, and stalwart defenders, Victoria, her Guard Captain, and Garrison Commander Finley were all confident that even if a 1,000 strong Beast Tide led by a couple of Fifth Order Beasts were to attack, they could repel the enemy without suffering serious casualties.
A brief round of discussion amongst her council confird to Victoria that this was the point they most needed clarifying before they could make a decision, so she turned back to Lucas and asked, "What evidence do you have to prove that the situation has beco so dire that such drastic actions are now required?"
"If you cannot provide at least so proof that the threat is both real and imminent, my Moore Family cannot agree to your proposal."
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