Road to the Crown

24th October 1574

"What's does the report say?"

Sitting down in an inconspicuous tent set at the edge of the local forest, upon seeing my group, anyone would most likely think that we were some sort of mercenaries or hired swords returning home after either winning the bet of picking the employer or after the rest of our forces was defeated. 

Given how I couldn't bring any serious force here in order to not bring any attention to this place in the first place, I could only rely on acting low-key to seriously get by. 

"Sir, just like we expected, it turns out that it wasn't a raiding force, but a covert diplomatic party. Should we go with the plan, or just surround them and apprehend all of them? While doing so might result in some casualties on their sides, as long as we will be able to take even a single officer alive, all our questions would most likely be answered. There is no point in putting your lordship at such risk!"

This wasn't the first time when my men protested about it, and I could tell it wouldn't be the last. Given how I was only starting to finally recover from my injuries, I was still incapable of proper fight. In the case of the talks with the party that we were tracking would beak up, the instant escalation of the conflict bewteen our unnumerous groups would bring a lot of danger to my personal health, given how I was barely able of protecting myself.

Or rather, that would be the case if I was as stupid as to direct my life with words like noblese oblige or nobles' honour. It went without a question that the other party was armed to its teeth. Given how they were acting under cover, right in the hinterlands of the enemy homeland, any mishap or missfortunate accident on the way would force them to fight their way back to their own lines. 

In this kind of situation, I wasn't as naive as to believe that the other party would respect the sanctity of the envoys. With that said, one could think that as disabled from hand-to-hand fighting as I was, if any fight were to ensue, my side with far smaller numbers would be bound to lose.

"Like I said, there might be some words exchanged there, that only I will be able to denounce or acknowledge. After all, don't we have several mobile units stationed all around their path, ready to jump into action right when the first shoot will be fired?"

Looking with a huge sympathy at Hans who was the biggest opponent of me going into the… coincidental meeting, I only swung my head to the sides a few times before reaching with my hand towards one of my adiutants.

"My gun, please."

Even with all the improvements, no matter whether they were inspired by the feedback from the soldiers or became a thing after creating special think-tanks ordered with nothing but the task of improving this basic weapon of my forces, my personal gun was still a grade above the rest. 

Obidiently following my order, the young man who worked as everyone who I would need at any given moment, pulled out a simple looking gun from the nearby chest. This piece of luggage was one of the very few things that I always carried close to me, even at the cost of my mobility.

With my fingers reuniting with this dear weapon of mine, I couldn't stop myself from running my hand down the barrel of the gun. 

Despite being stored in the chest at all times that it was not used, a bit of dust somehow managed to find its way inside the box, dirtying my precious comadre. 

"With our guns, I don't think we need to worry about anything though? Additionally, right now we don't really have any choice."

Smiling gently, I pointed the muzzle of my gun towards a hill nearby. Just when the attention of my retainers turned towards the place I pointed at, the small cloud of smoke that was rising above it revealed the appearance of the front guard of the cover Muscovite diplomatic mission to Ostros.

"Announce us."

Giving the order to one of the few remaining cavalrymen from my military. In one moment, he was standing on the ground and receiving orders, and in the next moment, he was already galloping towards the potentially enemy force!

I didn't need to wait for long for the events to develop even further. After some sort of exchange between my man and the foreign unit that we were simply too far to hear, a small detachment of riders separated from the main group and followed my man back to our camp.

"What is the meaning of this? You better explain why we are not meeting in Ostrog!"

As soon as his horse entered the premises of the small camp of mine, a tough-looking guy jumped off from his saddle, instantly approaching my simple seat. Yet, contrary to his expectations, rather than being intimidated by his brute-force approach, my men instantly prepared their guns to shoot, pointing over seven barrels directly at the man's face and every place he could attempt to dodge to. 

"It would be advisable for you to keep the proper tone while speaking to your masters, you dog."

While I never got the chance to meet with Ostros, the way they acted starting from the unreasonable demands of the envoy through the sudden invasion on my lands all the way to the method they used to conduct the war, was more than enough to grasp the general feeling of their behavioural standards. 

"What did you say?!"contemporary romance

My words managed to push not only my soldiers into action but also the rest of the small detachment that arrived in the place along with either the envoy or the envoy's aide that was currently failing at throwing his weight around.

"Like a good master to a dog, I taught you a lesson. Next time you shout, do a step forward with any other intention than kowtowing to me or even make a face that I will consider funny, your head will part from your neck, and the only remaining escort of yours that I will keep alive will have to go and fetch another dog for me to slaughter. This process will continue for as long as worthless slaves like you will learn their place, or the envoy himself will come to greet me."

Instead of explaining this strange situation, pushing my weight around seemed like a better choice. While my view of the mindset of the current age muscovites was obviously biased by how I learned the history from the point of view of their ages-long rivals but seeing how the man nearly instantly turned patient and respectful, I couldn't help but feel the doubts about whether these stereotypical assumptions I had about muscovites of the time being actually right!

"Yes, master. I came here to rely on the question of the envoy. Please, forgive me my rudeness."

Falling down to his knees, this brute man kneeled down and lowered his head, revealing a huge scar on his neck.

In this one moment, I suddenly felt a huge wave of guilt overwhelming me. This mark on the man's upper back meant that he actually either was in the past or continued to be an actual slave!

As someone from the future where slavery was commonly scorned and considered to be the lowest that humanity ever got outside of genocides, realising that I was actually so directly rude to a man who went through the hell of slavery…

"What's the envoy's question then?"

Forcefully stopping those regrets of mine from influencing my decision-making process right now, I cut short muscovite envoy's aide series of apologies, I pushed the opportunity a bit further. After all, the main point of this meeting, was to sound off the intentions of the entire muscovy, so that I could use my forces not wherever the glorious Commonwealth command would lack men, but where my military could actually change the course of the war!

"His majesty envoy wants to know why did the meeting's place change from the capital city to some obscure place at the side of the forest."

Even though his disposition already changed to one of an obedient dog, I could still feel the threads of threat in those words of the envoy's aide.

"Right now we are in the middle of the war. Contrary to what was suggested, Commonwealth forces did not depart from this land, forcing us to face no only the wrath of Tarnowski household, but also nearly all the high nobles that have their lands nearby! If you travelled through our northern lands, you should already realise the gravity of the situation."

Saying those words, I felt a huge wave of gratitude towards Cheerio's patriarch. If not for his swift actions in giving the lands that I conquered away to the nearby nobles, I wouldn't be able to use this incredibly convincing point to sway the opinion of the envoy!

"We have indeed seen the influx of nobles in the lands that we expected to be completely devoid of people at this point… Should his majesty the envoy take it as if you failed to move those meatbags away in time?"

Just by hearing how the man in front referred to the serfs that were bound to the land and lord they lived under, the blood in my veins started to boil. Sadly, if I didn't want this chance to go to waste, I had no other choice but to suppress the hate that was growing to dangerous levels within my soul and keep my act together!

"Let's say… due to your side negligence, a lot of our plans turned awry. After all, we can't forget about Tarnowian's leader… special abilities!"

done.co