247 Chapter 24Viscount Redore finally managed to stabilized the situation with the residents of the city by distributing to the common people a portion of the gathered supplies that was supposedly to be delivered to the Albernans who were defending the Tortuga Fortress. There was no other way for them to earn the trust and loyalty of the people easily but somehow by distributing a portion of the supplies, it would hopefully calm their nerves a bit and would lower the chance of a rebellion happening. The viscount was afraid of such a thing happening since they are outnumbered by more than ten to one by the residents of the city and if a massive uprising happens then they had no other choice but to abandon the city that they have painstakingly captured and the sacrifices of their comrades would be in vain if they can’t maintain control of the city.

The Ereians were exhausted after their successful assault of the city but they didn’t seem to mind the exhaustion as they dragged their fatigued bodies along the walls and around the city to make sure that everything is fine. Along the alley ways of the city, a team of four or more Ereians went around to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, apprehend individuals who are moving about shadily. Often they would capture a few of the residents by mistake since almost everything seemed suspicious by the actions of those that they captured but who could they blame, the residents were clearly in fear and are very careful of the foreigners that took control of the city and they too the Ereians were in fear that a huge scale rebellion might just take place.

There was a rare silence in the city which was normally bustling with crowd even till the middle of the night, patrons would visit the famous establishments for a round or two or those with the coins to spend would go around looking for something that would catch their eye be it women or objects. The tired Viscount was about to retire to his quarters for his well earned rest when a knocking on the door of his study or the former study of the marquess who was in charge of the city. Since the manor and its servants were lacking in a master to serve, the viscount happily presented himself and accepted the gracious opportunity since he didn’t know if when would he be able to go back to his own territory and enjoy his life as a noble. He sure was lucky since he was still young and didn’t have a family of his own to worry about unlike his comrades who were plagued by worry day and night if they will ever get to see their beloved once again.

“Come in…” he uttered in a sleepy voice as he yawned and fixed the stack of scrolls that he was done reading through, it was all the reports and statements of the supplies that was gathered in the city. The door opened and one of his trusted guards who also served as one of his second in command in battles came into his view.

“Sir, our soldiers captured a pair of suspicious people moving around the slums.”

“Dekar, our soldiers have captured plenty of suspicious looking individuals already during the past few hours, there is no need to report every single capture of suspicious looking people to me. You guys can take care of the matter yourselves…” the viscount replied as he let out another yawn then stretched his back against the back of the chair that he was seated on. During the past few hours, reports of the capture of suspicious looking people have been flooding in towards his study and he had to pay attention to it since the leaders of the city are still nowhere to be found and he was hoping that his soldiers would manage to find and capture them but the repeated mistaken captures had taken a toll on his nerves as he was fed up with the results.

“But…”

“No buts, you guys can handle this thing by yourselves. I’d rather have some much needed rest than handle reports of captured suspicious looking people, I have grown sick of it…haist…If we could only find the marquess and capture him then I would be able to relax.” The Viscount gave out one heavy sigh as he stood up then headed towards Dekar who looks like he had something really important to tell him.

“Alright then, what’s up with this report of suspicious looking person that looks like it is really important to you.” He continued after shaking his head a bit.

…..

“It’s the Marquess of Desa, well it’s still not a hundred percent accurate since we don’t know what he actually looks like which is why I asked the soldiers to bring him here in his manor for his identity to be verified by his servants. He is outside and i already sent people to inform the senior servants of the manor to come outside.” Dekar smiled from ear to ear as he was finally able to share the good news to their lord.

The looming drowsiness of Viscount Redore suddenly disappeared as his sleepy eyes turned full awake and alert after hearing the news that there is a huge possibility that they have captured the marquees. He headed out of the door and almost shoved Dekar aside and made his way towards the halls of the manor.

“How did the soldiers figure out that he was the marquees in the first place.” The Viscount turned his head towards Dekar who was walking briskly beside him.

“Well, I was leading some soldiers in patrol and we apprehended them after we notice them coming out of a pleasure house, the one that was said to be the most expensive in the city since they have the best quality goods, a variety of beautiful ladies that would invoke your desires for some action… according to the residents.” Dekar started to get nervous during the last part of his sentence since he slipped out a key detail of his recent activities. ‘Shit’ he screamed inside his head but he had no way out of the situation since he knew that his lord figured out that he had visited that place which is why he knew about its prices and its goods since by the tone of his words when he was describing the place, he was sure as hell that he was excited.

“Uhuh…continue” an emotionless response answered his worries.

“Uhm… We approached them to asked some questions at first since we no longer want to arrest more people by mistake but their eyes were shifty and their responses were out of sync. The two of them were also wearing commoners clothes which was even more suspicious since they came out from a well known expensive establishment which no real commoner would be able to afford. When we invited them to be escorted by us towards the quarters of the army for some further questioning, the two actually made a run for it but they were quickly taken down by us. The first thing I noticed when we arrived at the quarters was the luxurious looking rings on one of them and after some hands on searching, we found the seal of the marquess on one of them.” Dekar went all serious as he told the tales of the event in hopes that the viscount would forget about his recent activity.

It took some time for the senior servants of the manor to be gathered and when they caught sight of their previous master, most of them bowed their head as they greeted their former master. “Idiots!” the Marquess of Desa screamed in frustration after his servants failed his order that they would pretend that they don’t know him if they will see him again for as long as the city is in the control of the Ereians but can he blame them, they had been doing such a thing for many years and they have been taught to do so since they were young, it was already ingrained in their minds and body that whenever they see the Marquess, they had to bow and greet him.

“Finally!” Viscount Redore exclaimed in excitement as he approached the Marquess who was clearly fuming at his servants.

“You can’t actually blame them for this… Come, come, I have a lot of things to discuss with you.” The viscount smiled as innocent as he can to show that he means no harm to the noble who was clearly despairing and in fear since it has been normal for the one in charge of the city to be executed by their enemies once he was captured and didn’t surrender.

“Don’t worry… I have more use of you being alive than dead and I still need your help to deal with a lot of things pertaining to the city.” The viscount reassured the trembling marquess, it’s not that the marquess refused to surrender but he didn’t get the chance to so since the Ereians stormed the city by surprise and took control of it too quickly for him to announce his surrender. He was about to head to the walls to proclaim the surrender of the city when the walls were taken and the Albernan soldiers retreating away from the walls which was followed by a slaughter by the riders that just entered the city. The Marquess of Desa feared that he might also be killed by the rampaging riders by mistake which is why he turned tail and fled then went into hiding.

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