To Build An Empire

At the moment, only Ash stood before him in his throne room. The sun had begun to set and color the world in a dark orange and pinkish hue. She stood directly under the light coming in from the large windows to the side. Her head was lowered in deep thought and contemplation.

She had already been standing there in total silence for the past twenty, waiting for Jonas to start the conversation, but he kept quiet stewing in his thoughts.

"Master." she called, hoping to get his attention.

Jonas slowly turned towards her, jaws clenched and brows knitted. "Ash, why?" He asked, voice beginning to rise without him noticing. "Why are their people starving and so thin? Do we not carry more food then we could possibly eat in a half a year? I-I understand that making sure the entire population, one-hundred percent of them, eat to their full is near impossible, but we should never have entire villages of tens of thousands of people who probably hadn't had anything to eat in a few days."

Ash couldn't help but grip her cape. She had difficult memories to parse through, and this moment only brought them up to the surface. "Young master, it's just the way it has been for ages. People do not know anything different. The pain and lack of food is just another part of surviving in this harsh world. It may be difficult, but they know nothing else so it's normal. In all honesty, you giving them food may have...unintended effects."

"Unintended effects?"

"You'll understand soon enough, My liege." Ash bowed deeply, her back straight like true and tried soldier.

"This is the second time, Ash, you've said that. But I will wait as I did last time. I trust you." He looked back out the large windows of the manor hall in thought. "Bring the rest here. We have plans to go over."

Ash nodded without a word. She walked out at a brisk pace.

---

Jonas sat there for five long minutes until they arrived. For the entire time he waited, his mind kept running a million miles a second. He couldn't help but think of those people just outside the manor waiting for him or at the very least, news about why he had arrived.

No noble regardless of status ever spared even a glance towards them when ever one passed through. And yet, Jonas arrived and actually looked to care or looked surprised enough to see them.

He tried to think of ways to possibly get enough food to last them for multiple years in case his plan for greenhouses failed. He was beyond determined to help them some way.

Just as he began to think of a feasible plan based on mass hunting--if the prey were available--and scavenging any wild fruits and vegetables that still were out there in the wild, Ash, Frezar, and the rest finally made it.

Each gave him their own form of platitudes, from Frezar's more intimate salutations to Destrian's pitch perfect soldiers salute. The man, Jonas noticed, was a knight through and through. He literally breathed to be a white knight protecting those weaker than him.

The man was the son of a lower noble just on the fringes of entering high society through merit alone. As a large landowner, the father had raised a poor destitute land into a thriving trade hub large enough to get the patronage of one of the seven council members. Now it had blossomed into an actual city almost as large and Petrous and PennyHarbor.

Of course, the father didn't even own a tenth of the city anymore. With the financial and political support of the highest elite came an enormous sacrifice to give the lion's share to the council member. He was more than fleeced with how well the city had been growing without any help from the high nobility, then again the family had made more money then they could spend.

And more importantly, the father is the magistrate of the city and the most powerful person after the council member in the area.

In actuality, it was the next city on their path towards. Jacoby.

"Jonas!" Raneria came in a huff, her face a tint of purple from having been running. "How could you have a meeting without me?! I want to kill some bandits too, you know! You are always so mean to me! WHy can't you be more like Gregor! He's always so nice and spars with me too. Honesty, I would probably destroy you."

She laughed in a far to arrogant way. It was almost comical how cartoonish she looked.

"Hurry up and sit." He pointed at the seats arayed before him. Each person had taken their own with a few seats extra.

She ran with a slight bounce in her step. Of course, she pulled a seat--scraping the ground in a body cringing sound--and plopped down next to Gregor. She batted her eyes at him.

Jonas frowned. Who told her about this meeting?

He suddenly noticed how Gregor wouldn't look him in the eyes or actually raise his head up at all. All Jonas could do was stare incredulously at him as the others began to laugh.

Frezar coughed into his hand bringing them back on track. He had to deal with this first, then he will return to pick a few bones with this orc. Gregor was his guard, she couldn't hog him anymore.