Chapter 125 - 126
The County of Karolen was a beautiful place, a vast grassland that was home to countless herds of healthy livestock upon which its humble inhabitants depended on for all sorts of sustenance. Wool from a Karolenian sheep was worth ten times that of the next most reputable source, while milk from its cows and goats was sweeter and less likely to spoil than those from other regions. The secret to Karolen’s success within its respective markets was none other than the land itself, the most fertile amongst all of the other counties that made up the Providence Region of the Holy Lucian Empire.
Maels had toured much of his new territory over the past week and a half, enjoying the lax interlude between his long awaited transition from a senior priest to an accredited bishop of the church. He had recently been granted a wealthy state to oversee along with an immense increase in influence within the Collegia of Clergymen and by extension throughout the empire as a whole. As someone who had always operated in the dense shadow of his deceased father, it was immensely uplifting to have received such recognition for his own merits.
He had recently returned to the imperial capital of Lahn after successfully completing a high-difficulty task that had been assigned to him by none other than Archbishop Vestach himself, one of the few frontrunners to replace the aging Cardinal Varus when the time eventually came for His Eminence to ascend to the Higher Heavens. This accomplishment had not only enhanced his own standing within the archbishop’s circle, but had also raised the prestige of the circle itself.
Not only had Maels succeeded in convincing the infamous religious-denouncing king of an enemy nation to embrace the Lucian Faith, but he had also built up ties between Archbishop Vestach’s faction and the royal family of the easternmost province of the Baldor Empire, the Kingdom of Cessia. Because of Maels, churches and cathedrals were now being constructed all across the largely-pagan kingdom, and hundreds of deacons and priests were in the midst of being assigned to various towns, cities and fortresses within its borders.
Thinking of his hard-earned successes, Maels shifted his thoughts to the man that he was set to meet with on this bright summer afternoon. "He should be here any time now," he muttered, absentmindedly fiddling with his white robes after plucking one of his short auburn hairs from its neckline. "Hopefully it doesn’t take too long."
Maels was a tall man, enough so that most of the seats within his new residence were noticeably too small and confining to comfortably accommodate his lean figure. Readjusting his position where he sat at one such seat, he made a mental note to have every room furnished with larger, more forgiving pieces of furniture.
His guest was already half an hour late, which he couldn’t help but take as a slight considering that they had only been acquainted for a short while. Normally the master of his temper, Maels was feeling quite fidgety as he awaited his company with rising anxiety. Although he wanted nothing more than to retire to his quarters to see to some private matters, there were many things that required his attention at the moment and so he had decided to postpone such activities in light of the unexpected message he’d received from the court magus of the count of Karolen.
Maels was sitting at a large work desk within one of the spare studies that his new residence seemed to have so many of. When he’d first stepped foot within the Whitestone Palace he had been quite overwhelmed with satisfaction in knowing that such a beautiful, expansive building was to be his home for the foreseeable future. Within the Providence Region, joint rulers assigned by the Collegia of Clergymen had lived at this ancestral estate for countless generations and it was from here that they had directly administered various aspects of the county’s governance. Constructed of dazzling white marble, the hexagonal building was an anomaly of ancient magics and artful engineering. While the palace looked as if it had recently been constructed, it actually predated the Inverted Wars by several centuries like many other structures within The Land of One Hundred Counties.
A knock came at the heavy brass doors on the far side of the spacious room, which was lined with bookshelves on all walls and lit by magic crystals that had been embedded into the stone ceiling countless lifetimes ago. If there was one thing that Whitestone Palace didn’t lack, it was books, for nearly every room contained at least one full bookshelf.
"The count is here to see you, Your Grace."