Rise of a Manor Lord: A Progression Fantasy Isekai, page 21
He shouldn’t move rashly. He couldn’t get greedy. So he would continue to firm up his own people’s loyalty, discover his rarity, and defend his manor. Once he’d done all that, then he could start making moves. Maybe even alliances. Given his unique ability to lie his ass off in any negotiation, he could likely accomplish a lot with a little creative bullshit.
Finally, after discussion, he and Lydia had agreed they would still allow people who joined the manor to join the blood pact. Given Drake’s adjustments, his blood pact could no longer compel anyone, and it could protect his people from being forced into the blood pacts of other evil manor lords. All of the benefits with none of the slavery.
A loud knock sounded at his door. He doubted his maids would bother him if it wasn’t important, and no one else in the manor seemed confident enough yet to just roll up and knock on his door. He checked over his dark silverweave outfit and found it presentable. “Enter.”
Emily popped her head in the door. “You’ve a visitor, lord.”
He glanced at her in surprise. “Westin?”
“No, lord. A little girl, wisp of a thing with ratty blond hair. She says only Lord Gloomwood can help her save her captive father.”
“Emily, you understand that all sounds suspicious as fuck, right?”
“I love that word! But I’m only informing you out of courtesy, lord. My vote is to simply stick her on a horse and send her riding.”
“To Shadowfort?”
Emily visibly considered. “That’s a much nicer idea than I had, lord.”
One day soon, he was going to need to sit Emily down and have a talk with her about why child murder was bad. “Where is this little lost girl now?”
“We’ve detained her in the lobby. Our zarovians are standing watch over her. Also, Oli is with her as well. Comforting her, for sure, but if it turns out her rarity is shapeshifting murder monster, Oli will make her cinders before she can harm a hair on your head.”
“Is shapeshifting murder monster a rarity? Also, how could she deny that?”
“Never can be too careful, lord. Especially with you.” She beamed at him.
Drake glanced at his recently demolished lunch and mentally debated. What were the chances of some little lost girl wandering out of the woods and asking for him specifically? Next to nothing, given all he’d seen of this world so far. This was obviously a trap.
So how should he handle it?
He could send this lost child to Shadowfort without seeing her, but then what? What if she actually was just some lost little girl, and she got eaten by carnivorous beavers on her way to town? He’d feel just awful, and moreover, he’d never know who sent her.
His new world was all politics, intrigue, and murder, and he needed information to navigate that. Even if the arrival of this little girl was part of some sinister trap hatched by another ruthless manor lord, he was in his manor, on his turf, and prepared. He has his battle maids to fuck up any shapeshifting murder monsters. Might as well take the bet.
Finally, if one lost little girl could demolish his whole army, he was well past fucked already. He should go down swinging. And if this girl was somehow just who she said she was—some little lost waif—maybe he’d get points with the noble court for helping her.
He remembered his vow to Westin to go on some grand crusade to redeem the reputation of Lord Gloomwood. He’d only added it to sell the lies he needed to keep his manor from being razed, but the more he considered the idea, the more he liked it.
He wasn’t going to risk his people for nothing. But anyone he helped could help him in return, and helping people wasn’t just about altruism. It would help him build the strength of the manor and expand his army of newly loyal employees.
“Lord?” Emily prompted. “Shall I send her on her way?”
He’d been thinking too long. “No, I’ll talk to her.” He rose. “I’m the only one who can help her save her captive father. That’s what she said?”
“Just that, lord!”
“So given I just got here four days ago, it seems like my reputation as a doer of good deeds is already spreading far and wide. Unless she’s under the mistaken impression the other guy would help her. In which case, she’s definitely a shapeshifting murder monster.”
“I’ll keep Chopper ready just in case, lord.”
“Attagirl, Emily. Let’s go.”
He followed her out of his private tea room and down what he was now easily able to identify as the lower western hall. The manor had a lot of rooms and multiple hallways, and on the west side, he’d verified earlier today, there were two main hallways.
He’d taken to mentally arranging them as the upper and lower west halls, even though the network of rooms between was much more complex than that. Still, he knew Zuri’s fire hazard was at the end of the lower west hall, and the parlor where he’d taken tea with Lydia was through the second door he passed once he left the lobby and entered the lower west hall.
Moreover, he’d just finished lunch in a room halfway down the upper west hall, and they were heading east now and would cut south through a central hallway with no windows and paintings of the prior lords of Gloomwood to reach the lobby. Sizewise, his manor was about the size of a small shopping mall, just more piled up on top of each other.
He was rapidly learning how to navigate his massive manor. He’d keep exploring, keep memorizing, and improve his navigation skills over the coming days. They reached the wide, grand wooden stairs that would lead from the central hall to the lobby.
He took in the current situation as he strode down the stairs with Emily walking confidently at his side. His two big armored zarovians were standing right by the front manor doors as always, holding spears as tall as he was. He distantly noted both of them were the same pale shade of green, which made them different than the orange and yellow ones who had been there this morning. A shift change had occurred.
Lydia stood in one corner, visibly consulting with two other women who looked to be in less ornate maid uniforms, perhaps arranging some manor business. She was still here in the lobby. And what did appear to be a little lost girl—assuming she wasn’t a shapeshifter—had her back to him. The waif wore little more than rags.
Olivia knelt just in front of the girl, smiling warmly, with one hand resting on her visibly bony shoulder. So just touching the little girl wouldn’t kill him. She wasn’t a bomb.
His youngest battle maid straightened as he descended the stairs, smiled up at him, and said something to the little girl. As she pointed, the girl pivoted to stare up at him with wide blue eyes. She had long blond hair that would have looked nice if it weren’t so tangled, a little button nose, and slightly sunken cheeks. Was anyone feeding her?
Drake wasn’t an expert on child ages, but she might not even be ten. How could she harm anyone? Her ragged dress made it clear she was little more than skin and bones, and unless rarities and magic let people add and subtract mass—which he wouldn’t put past weird magic—he saw no way this little girl could take down anyone.
When he finished the stairs, the girl tucked both hands behind her back, pushed her toes in her worn sandals together, and did that waist wiggle thing shy kids always did around strange adults. She was the most convincing shapeshifting murder monster he’d ever seen.
He stopped ten paces away. “I’m Lord Gloomwood. You need my help?”
The little girl gasped. “So it is you! I knew you’d come and help me!”
Drake kept his face neutral. “Why don’t we start with who told you that?”
“The puppet with the emerald eyes, lord. Besides Daddy, he’s my only friend.”
Make that clinically insane shapeshifting murder monster. Drake wasn’t about to get any closer to her. “Time for the interrogation, kid. What’s the name your parents gave you?”
“My father named me Anna, lord.”
“And are you a shapeshifting murder monster?”
She stuck out her lower lip. “I most certainly am not!”
“And you’re certain I’m the only one who can help you free your captive father?”
“Yes, lord!”
“So who’s holding him captive?
“They’re a group of powerful mercenaries. They have Daddy in a cage right now, and if I don’t bring you back with me by tomorrow at sundown, they said they’d chop him up and feed him to the dogs.” At that, her lips quivered.
People in this world couldn’t lie. So this girl was telling the truth, or the truth as she understood it. She might be legit. As he mulled it over, it even started to make sense.
The downside of becoming known as a do-gooder was all sorts of unsavory types would start taking hostages in hopes of drawing him into increasingly ridiculous traps. So if he was going to try to improve his manor’s reputation, he should probably play the do-gooder thing closer to his vest. Maybe not give off the impression he would run out to help just anyone.
“Final question,” Drake said. “Do you have any plans to betray me?”
“I do, lord. Unless you agree to come with me, betraying you is the only way I can save my daddy. I’ll have no choice but to trick and capture you to save him.”
She’d just come out and said it. He also understood why. She was already trapped.
So today, the question was if he’d let this little girl’s father get fed to the dogs.
31
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE CONFIDENCE OF MORONS
Drake didn’t want to let this crying child’s father become dog food. But she had also just admitted she’d come here to betray him. He needed to know the rest of her story.
“Where are these mercenaries keeping your father?”
She sniffled and wiped at her adorable little eyes. “I couldn’t say, lord, but far outside your woods in some vast green fields. They transported me by horse to the edge of your lands. After that, I walked the whole day through these woods to find you. All day!”
This child had gumption, he’d give her that. He looked at Emily. “What do you think? Can we spare the forces to save her father?”
Emily shrugged. “These bounty hunters sound like real jerks, but this lovely little girl and her dog-food daddy don’t even live in our territory. We can’t just go tossing our soldiers at every little problem in the big wide realm. It’s rough out there.”
She was right about that. Still. Dammit. He wanted to help Anna.
He turned back to the still-on-the-verge-of-blubbering child and decided to crouch. The least he could do was speak at her level. “One more question. Do you have a rarity?”
Anna’s sniffles faded as her whole face lit up. “I do, lord! And it’s special.”
“What is it, then?”
She moved a toe shyly. “Can I whisper it to you? I don’t want everyone to know.”
Not a chance in hell, kid. “You can whisper it to Olivia, and she can whisper it to me.”
Not that he intended to throw his slavishly devoted battle maid under the bus. But Olivia was the one with freakish fire powers. He suspected she was also fast on her feet.
Anna nodded. “I suppose I could let Olivia know it. She’s so nice.” She looked at Olivia. “Promise you’ll only tell the lord?”
“I promise, Anna.” Olivia looked up at him hopefully. “Lord?”
“Are you comfortable with that arrangement?”
“Of course, lord.” She knelt again. “Just whisper it here.”
The little girl leaned close and said something in Olivia’s ear. Olivia’s eyes widened, but she merely looked impressed, not alarmed. She nodded and rose.
What game was Anna playing? Or was she so guileless she believed Lord Gloomwood would rush off to save her father for free? And was she right, dammit?
Olivia walked over to join him and Emily, then leaned close and whispered directly in his ear. “She says her rarity allows her to teleport people places, lord.”
That sounded useful as hell! Drake eyed Anna as he considered how useful a rarity like hers could be. Maybe if he saved her and her father, he could recruit her for Gloomwood Manor. She’d definitely be willing to help him out after he saved her old man.
“Anna?”
“Yes, lord!”
“Can you really do what you say you can? You’ve done it before?” For the moment, he would humor her by not broadcasting her rarity for the entire manor to hear.
“Oh yes, lord! I’ve done it many times before!”
“All right. Let’s talk about a deal. If I agree to rescue your father, would you be willing to come live here with me and use your power for my benefit?”
Lydia hurried over to stop at his other side. “We should verify what she can do before we make any offers.”
He was momentarily annoyed Lydia would think he wouldn’t do that, but she was simply looking out for him just like he’d asked. “Agreed.” He looked to the slightly less suspicious waif once more. “So, Anna. Would you be willing to demonstrate your rarity for us?”
“Oh, sure I would! I could even do it to you if you wanted, Lord Gloomwood!” She looked around again. “But could we go somewhere a little more outside?”
“Why outside?”
“My rarity works better there. Inside there’s more... complications? Complexity.”
In other words, she might accidentally teleport someone into a wall. Not the type of rarity he needed. Come to think of it, was this world round like his, or flat? If it was round, how could he know she wouldn’t teleport him right off the planet?
“Just give me a moment, Anna. You stay right there. Don’t move.”
“Of course, lord. But please, I like your deal, and I hate those mercenaries. If you can save my daddy, I’d love to come live in this nice big mansion. Daddy would like that too.”
No one else was in this lobby other than his battle maids and the zarovians. Drake doubted the zarovians would care if he consulted with his warriors. And if they did, so what? The big lizardmen apparently thought very little of humans already.
He motioned for Olivia, Lydia, and Emily to join him, then walked back to the side of the stairs away from Anna. Olivia appeared delighted to be included. Once they had enough distance to speak quietly without Anna overhearing, he looked around.
“So? Thoughts?”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “You want... are you asking us what we should do, lord?”
“I’d like your opinions.”
“But you’re Lord Gloomwood!”
Had he lost her confidence already? Better pivot. “And it’s because I’m Lord Gloomwood that I trust you all to advise me. This is still my call, but I want your thoughts. We’re all a big team now, remember? Everyone’s input matters.”
As Olivia stared slack-jawed and starry-eyed, Lydia spoke before Olivia could muddle herself further. “The mercenaries would never have sent Anna here if they expected you to be able to recruit her yourself. They must be confident she can betray you.”
“Right, but... can she? She’s just a kid.”
“So what’s her rarity?” Emily asked. “What’s the big secret?”
“She can teleport people,” Drake said.
Olivia gasped. “How did you do that?”
Had she just caught him a lie? No, wait. He was good. “You said you wouldn’t tell, Olivia. I never said that.”
She pursed her lips. “Ooh, that’s mean!” Yet she didn’t look displeased.
This was a reminder he’d have to be careful with what he said and how he said it. People on this world weren’t able to lie, and if he just lied regularly, someone would figure out he could do that. He’d lose the only ace he had up his sleeve before he learned to use it.
Lydia leaned close. “No one invites a manor lord to battle save for other manor lords. If they know we’ll expect a trap and do not care, they are confident they can defeat us in battle.”
Emily nodded. “They’re tempting us to slit their throats while offering a valuable rarity we really might wish to seize for our manor. This is a good trap, lord.”
He glanced her way. “Please don’t compliment the enemy mercenaries.”
“Why not? Doesn’t mean I won’t still chop ‘em.”
“So here’s my question,” Drake said. “How do they know we won’t just keep her? If I were a ruthless fuck, I could just take Anna for myself.”
He couldn’t, not now, but these mercenaries couldn’t know that. So far as they knew, his blood pact was still a standard evil blood pact. Or... had they found out it wasn’t?
“You did say she can teleport people, lord,” Emily said. “Perhaps that includes herself?”
“But if someone forced her to join a blood pact, couldn’t they forbid her to use her rarity?”
Emily blinked. “Lord… is this humor?” She laughed, but obviously with effort.
Lydia glanced his way. “Let’s try to keep the jests to a minimum, lord. We all know that no person below the age of sixteen may enter a blood pact. Let’s focus on our goal.”
“Right.” Drake once again mentally thanked Lydia for being herself. “I’ll stop joking around.”
That explained why the mercenaries had risked sending Anna here. It suggested they didn’t know he’d changed his blood pact, simply that even the most evil of blood pacts wouldn’t let anyone under sixteen join them. An odd caveat, given the rest.
Olivia perked up. “Well... I think we can’t let her leave without helping her.”
Lydia offered her a level glance. “And what about the next time?”
Olivia blinked in obvious confusion. “Next time?”
“If we help her now, what about the next time someone comes asking for help? And what if dozens come after them? Hundreds? People don’t just ask manor lords for favors.”
“I suppose,” Olivia said. “But wouldn’t it be nice if they could?” She stared hopefully at Drake.
