The battle between Port Calden’s defenders and the pair of Fifth Order bears lasted another 5 minutes after Allina Crest’s intervention, the end result being the death of the High-Rank beast, while the Mid-Rank one managed to retreat with only minor wounds.
Although there were no deaths amongst the humans, both Commander Finley and Commander Jensen, the two Mid-Rank Spirit Initiates, suffered quite serious wounds from the High-Rank bear’s desperate final struggle.
Still, this was a decisive victory for Port Calden, causing many of the defenders and civilians in the city to cheer and celebrate.
Leaving the task of processing the corpse of the High-Rank Fifth Order Beast to the civilian volunteers, Commander Crest led her strike team of Spirit Initiates back to the Lord’s Manor where all of them received treatnt from the best Herbalists and Doctors available.
Simultaneously, Lucas was finishing up his talks with Viscount Moore, the two of them having gone over the rough details of what the evacuation process would be for the next 5 days.
Needless to say, Victoria was very impressed with Lucas’ abilities, especially when it ca to making adjustnts to the plans to better accommodate the situation in Port Calden.
For example, while the city was quite well known in the South-West Province for its ship building industry, it surprisingly didn’t own many large vessels of its own, instead selling most of them to various rchant groups or noble families throughout the kingdom.
Lucas had mistakenly assud that Port Calden would have many boats capable of ferrying a large number of refugees away from the city, but when Viscount Moore inford him of the reality, he swiftly adjusted the distribution of resources from both Herald City and Iron Rock to compensate.
The young boy also pledged to assign a greater number of troops from the Raging River Legion’s forces to guard land convoys heading north from the port city.
Witnessing how he handled this issue, as well as a number of other serious logistical problems, made Victoria Moore realize that Lucas had not been sent here by Marquess Balfour to just act as a ssenger. The boy was more than capable of making difficult and consequential decisions affecting the overall evacuation strategy in real-ti.
Such maturity, intelligence, and insight were things the ambitious Viscount frankly admired, especially in soone so young and so well connected.
From the mont he had stood between her and Commander Crest to calm the rising tension between them, Victoria had put away any kind of contempt she might have had for the boy; but, after really interacting with him for a while, she realized she had still greatly underestimated Lucas.
Regardless of him being the Disciple of Celestina Balfour, it would be in the Moore Family’s best interests to forge a relationship with this boy, Victoria thought to herself, He may be unknown now, but as long as sothing doesn’t happen to him, it won’t be long before he gains real power and influence.
There was always a chance that lightning could strike and kill Lucas tomorrow; in fact, a similar scenario really had played out once already, but if Victoria always assud the worst possible case scenario was going to happen, she would never be able to make any decisions.
Every choice in life carried risks, it was learning to manage those risks while seeking opportunities that made one an effective leader.
Thinking so, Victoria Moore shifted her attitude again, not to the point where she started fawning over Lucas or trying to flatter him, but now really treating him as an equal, soone who deserved her respect and could be negotiated with on even terms.
Lucas didn’t miss the Viscount’s change in deanor, or how she began speaking to him more politely, but he also didn’t care. He knew from the start that he would be underestimated or looked down upon by most, and only after he proved his competency would others treat him appropriately.
There was nothing the boy could do about this, so he didn’t pay it any more mind than he needed to.
As for Viscount Moore herself, Lucas actually evaluated her quite highly.
She may have been a bit stubborn and aggressive, but she wasn’t arrogant or unreasonable. As long as he presented a logical argunt that was backed up by facts, Victoria would seriously consider his opinion and draw appropriate conclusions.
Even when the two of them disagreed on sothing, the Viscount wouldn’t dismiss Lucas’ thoughts in a perfunctory manner, but instead offer alternative solutions. She never tried to force her way just because she thought her ideas were better, preferring to argue her point with the goal of convincing the other side.
Victoria Moore, despite being much younger, was clearly a far better ruler and administrator than Arnold Baker, whom Lucas had the displeasure of dealing with over the past few days.
As for comparing her to the actual Count, Richard Baker...
In any case, Victoria was still proud and sowhat uncompromising, but she wasn’t completely inflexible or narrow minded, allowing Lucas to have a frank conversation and reach a mutually beneficial agreent with her in short-order.
Lucas and Victoria wrapped up their discussion just before noon, bringing their eting to a close.
The Viscount extended an offer to the young boy to stay for lunch in the city, hoping he would allow her to play host so they could talk a bit more in a less formal setting, but Lucas tactfully declined, saying he still needed to reach Iron Rock and et with Count Carlson before the day was over.
"I see," Victoria nodded, not insisting while still leaving an open invitation for the boy to et with her whenever he wished.
Before Lucas could leave, however, Victoria asked him to wait a mont, "If you’re going to speak with Mathias Carlson next, perhaps I can give you so insights which might make your negotiations go a bit... smoother, than they did here."
Intrigued by this proposal, Lucas sat back down and motioned for the Viscount to continue.
Taking a second to collect her thoughts, Victoria began by prefacing her remarks, "I have dealt with Mathias on multiple occasion over the course of the last 10 or so years, so I believe I have a fairly good grasp of his personality and priorities, but you should still take what I’m about to say as my personal opinion, not hard fact."
"Of course," Lucas nodded, "I have no intention of judging a man before I even et him."
Not taking offence at this subtle jab, Victoria Moore continued, "Count Carlson, and the Carlson Family as a whole, are primarily motivated by profit."
Raising his brow, Lucas couldn’t help wondering what the Viscount ant by this; after all, wasn’t profit the primary motivation behind most people’s actions?
Seeing Lucas’ reaction, and understanding what he was thinking, Victoria flashed a wry grin and shook her head, "I don’t an that the Carlsons are greedy profiteers who can be bought with money and resources. I an that at his core, Mathias is a businessman, soone who looks at the world as though it is one big market in which everyone is both a seller, and a buyer."
"Interesting," Lucas muttered, descending into his own thoughts for a mont before asking, "So, you’re saying that if I approach Count Carlson with the evacuation plan like I’m trying to negotiate a business deal, he’ll be more willing to engage with ?"
"Exactly," Victoria nodded, again appreciating how quickly Lucas was to process information, "Mathias is more concerned with profit and loss than any other noble I have interacted with. He’s even more obsessed with it than most rchants I know."
"Of course," Viscount Moore suddenly snickered, shooting Lucas a pointed glare, "I’m sure once you show him that Beast Core, he’ll agree to anything you propose; after all, nothing is more valuable than one’s own life, except for possibly the lives of your loved ones."
If he had been an ordinary child, Lucas might have averted his eyes or awkwardly coughed to hide his embarrassnt at this pointed remark; however, he just shalessly flashed an innocent smile, one that perfectly fit with his young age and said, "En, I think so too."
Despite how disarming Lucas looked in that instant, Victoria didn’t buy for a second that he didn’t understand what she was trying to imply.
Anyone from the Rockwell Kingdom who was told a Seventh Order or higher beast might suddenly appear outside their ho would imdiately think about escaping. If Lucas had brought out the Beast Core from the start, it would have saved them all a lot of ti and effort.
Viscount Moore suspected that the only reason Lucas hadn’t done just that was because he wanted to probe her reactions first to get a better idea of how to deal with her in the future, all while being assured that she would ultimately agree to his terms because the threat was too great for her to do otherwise.
It was a nasty tactic, but Victoria felt that if she was in Lucas’ place, she would have done the sa, so she didn’t really fault him for it. She just wanted to prod him a bit and see if she could coax an apology or so kind of concession from him, but it seed her efforts had been in vain.
Letting out a sigh and relaxing back into her chair a bit, Victoria finished up by saying, "Mathias is actually quite friendly and easy-going when you’re not negotiating with him. He also enjoys eating rare delicacies, drinking strong spirits, and collecting exotic treasures, hobbies he probably picked up thanks to his family’s excessive wealth."
"Is that so?" Lucas’ eyes flashed, a couple of ideas coming to him after hearing this particular insight.
Catching this cunning glint that looked oddly out of place on such a young child, Victoria quietly laughed to herself, wondering just what kind of expression the nobleman she had signed so many deals with over the years was going to make when he had to deal with this unusual little boy.
User Comments
0 comments from readers