The splendor of the Imperial Palace. Any rustic from the North who laid eyes on it would have fallen quietly speechless with admiration. Even Zamuchin and Dorgon had been struck dumb by its grandeur on occasion. But the man standing motionless in the Imperial Palace now showed not a flicker of surprise, not a trace of unease. The Empire's Chief Minister came waddling forward, hauling his considerable bulk along.
Roy de Wintergard was not dressed in formal attire. Jackson was impeccably turned out, yet it was Roy who carried himself with the bearing of an armed general. Roy was the center of this delegation. Jackson was merely there to assist.
Had any other noble received such an envoy, they would have quietly wondered what was afoot in the North.
"The North's country bumpkins are back again."
"What's that pig doing here?"
Roy had no intention of bowing. Jackson likewise kept his chin level, following Roy's lead. Jackson reached into his breast and produced a scroll. By proper etiquette it should have been handed directly to the Chief Minister, yet Jackson simply held it in both hands and stood there.
"There's been quite a lot of noise lately from that kingdom of exiles."
"How could there not be."
The Chief Minister took his position on the steps, two tiers below the Emperor's throne. Roy could not endure the tedium — or rather, he made a convincing show of being unable to. He shifted his weight onto one leg and planted both hands on his hips. Jackson, head still perfectly erect, waited for the Chief Minister to settle into place.
"Very well, what is your busi—"
"Hey, pig. You're the Chief Minister?"
"What did you just say?"
"We have no business with the likes of you. Go fetch someone worth speaking to."
Roy glanced around. There were a few guards, but nothing to worry about. Their spears and swords were certainly threatening, but he had already made his peace with taking at least two of them with him. Jackson confirmed the Chief Minister's position, then began backing Roy's words.
"We have come on behalf of His Excellency the Grand Duke — since when does the Chief Minister come out to receive such envoys?"
"Ha. It is already rare for the Empire's Chief Minister to receive anyone at all."
"We are here to convey the words of His Excellency the Grand Duke. The only person in this palace who outranks His Excellency is His Majesty the Emperor. Are you claiming to speak in His Majesty's stead?"
"I review matters first, and then His Majesty examines them. You ignorant fools."
Roy spat on the floor. With a sharp ptoo, a glob of phlegm landed squarely on the carpet. The Chief Minister jabbed a finger at him, but Roy paid it no mind. Jackson stood perfectly still, scroll held upright in both hands.
"Then should not the one fit to receive His Excellency's words come down here to us?"
"The Empire's Chief Minister stands in for the Emperor in His Majesty's absence!"
"So you are saying His Majesty the Emperor is not presently in the palace?"
"That depends entirely on how you conduct yourselves."
There was a reason Jackson had been sent. Jackson had no flexibility in him. He was a man who followed proper form when proper form existed — but when something was wrong, he would say so if it killed him. He could not abide injustice, and he took genuine pleasure in what was right.
The Chief Minister quietly curled his hand into a loose circle. It was a gesture that meant a few gold coins would secure an imperial audience.
Roy caught the gesture just as quickly as Jackson did. He stroked his white beard and laughed out loud. Jackson joined in. It was the Chief Minister who was left flustered.
"Wh-what is so amusing?"
"Ha ha ha! I didn't expect it to be this funny. My, my — watching a fool is quite entertaining after all."
Roy's laughter vanished from his face in an instant. His white beard twisted with it. Fury began to settle into those weathered eyes. His brow furrowed deep. Jackson shifted his manner just as swiftly. Where Roy fixed the Chief Minister with a cold, dangerous stare, Jackson wore the expression of a man who had just been subjected to a textbook insult.
"We came to deliver the words of His Excellency the Grand Duke, and you place yourself above him? Does that make any sense to you?"
"You intend to review a letter sent by His Excellency the Grand Duke? Do you have any idea what an affront that is?"
The Chief Minister began to sweat, visibly rattled. The guards started debating whether to subdue these men or simply stand their ground. The argument was sound. A letter from the Grand Duke of the North — Margrave of the North, Supreme Commander of the North — was something only the Emperor had the standing to examine.
"This won't do."
Roy strode toward the Chief Minister with heavy, deliberate steps. Each footfall on the stairs rang out like a hammer blow — he was stamping hard enough that the marble seemed in danger of cracking. He seized the Chief Minister by the scruff of the neck and began dragging him down the steps.
The Chief Minister struggled, but it was useless. Roy's iron grip was so fierce that the man's collar crumpled under it. By the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, the Chief Minister was gasping for breath.
"Mind your manners."
"Y-you people are mad! Hff — hff — you, you insolent—"
"You claim to stand in for His Majesty the Emperor? That's none of my concern. But where do you get the nerve to show disrespect to the representative of His Excellency the Grand Duke?"
"Arrest them all! This is treason!"
Jackson watched the guards begin to stir, then gave Roy a light tap on the back. It was a signal they had agreed on beforehand. Roy stood looming directly over the prostrate Chief Minister, looking down at him with undisguised contempt. Jackson swept his gaze around the hall and called out.
"There is only one person in this place who outranks His Excellency the Grand Duke — so where exactly do you think you're going?"
Dominate by sheer force of presence. That was the essence of Roy and Jackson's combination. In the end, it was the Chief Minister who yielded. He ordered one of the guards to fetch the Imperial Regent's seal. Until it arrived, Roy kept looking down at him. Every time the man tried to haul himself upright, Roy took one step closer and sent him sprawling again.
A guard came sprinting back with the Imperial seal. Jackson fixed his attention on the fact that it was a guard carrying it. The proper order of things had broken down. That much was now beyond doubt.
"You have the seal, so now deliver your message. Hff — hff —"
"You must allow us to verify it first."
The Chief Minister mopped sweat from his brow and held the seal out for Jackson to inspect. Jackson transferred the scroll he had been cradling carefully inside his breast to the Chief Minister. They had been ordered not to leave this room until a reply was received. That applied to Roy as well.
===
Proclaimed by Theodor von Ardrno Ifela Wintergard.
For the past decade and more, I have rendered loyal service to the Empire without complaint, no matter what indignities were visited upon me. Yet the present state of affairs is entirely beyond my comprehension. The recent friction with His Highness the Crown Prince may be attributed to my own moral failing, but the rumors now circulating in the South show neither courtesy nor consideration of any kind. I know nothing of southern customs, yet the talk spreading among the nobility and the Imperial ministers strikes me as deeply unjust.
I may be able to endure the ill repute that comes with such rumors. What I cannot accept is that words are being circulated which cast doubt upon the relationship between the Empire and the North. If these words have flowed in from the South rather than originating in the North, then this is not a problem of the North's making — it is a problem of the South's.
To be plain: it is because of the North's struggle that the South has never been invaded by barbarians. The people of the North have died for this, and yet Wintergard believed it to be an act of loyalty.
Furthermore, when the support and provisions that ought rightly to have come from the South were cut off, the North made every effort to understand, deferring to the South's circumstances. But the present situation has exceeded the bounds of such understanding, and I fear it is moving in a direction that breeds a very different conclusion.
This is because the South and the North have not engaged in proper exchange, and because no account has been taken of the time already spent accommodating the South's conditions. The North now believes it is time to receive what it is owed, in accordance with the Empire's own laws.
Therefore, I shall calculate in full and submit the entirety of the support funds and provisions that the Empire is rightfully obligated to provide. Please take note of this accordingly.
===
"Wh-what is this?"
The scroll continued with a meticulously itemized ledger. The scroll itself was not particularly large, but every line of the bill was written in the tiniest possible hand. Jackson knew that every figure on it was inflated, but he said nothing. He had prepared counterarguments in case anyone examined it closely enough to push back.
For the moment, however, there was no need. The Chief Minister was already so overwhelmed by the sheer density of the text that he was doing little more than skimming it.
"We cannot go anywhere until we receive a reply to this."
"A matter like this ought to be..."
"Wasn't this a matter you anticipated?"
The Chief Minister read on for a moment, then pressed a hand to his head. At the very end of the ledger was the final sum. Nearly a decade's worth of arrears, compounded with interest upon interest. A figure that exceeded the Empire's entire annual budget. The total that would result from scraping every last vein of House Barth's gold mines dry.
"You expect this to be paid now?"
"That's hardly your decision to make, is it? Surely the people who know this matter well are already aware of it."
Jackson gave a derisive snort. Roy let out a quiet smirk. It was the kind of laugh only someone who knew the ledger wasn't airtight could manage. But the ones who had been siphoning off the money owed to the North and living off it — that was none other than the Imperial family and the nobility themselves.
"So you intend to dig in here and wait?"
"Ha. We came to collect a debt. What kind of man walks away from that so easily?"
We came to collect what was taken from us.