I Only Love My Greatest Enemy

Eris' horse clip-clopped down a dirt path flanked by vast fields of wheat as well as pastures filled with cows and sheep. Count Hapsburg was next to her. The two were surrounded by their guards. Up ahead of them was a village surrounded by a palisade.

Its houses were whitewashed wood and brick with thatched roofs. There was a stone church on a hill overlooking the village. Several towers line the wall, an arquebusier on each.

The noble party stopped upon reaching the gate. Several gibbets were above it. Corpses filled the metal cages. Some were old enough to be skeletons while others were fresh. A sign hung from one of the gibbets.

"Such is the fate of all bandits," it read.

"Armand seems to have dealt with the bandit problem. I was hoping that I could use the bandits in Concord land against Brutus, but Armand probably dealt with most of them. Even if there are any less, I doubt any of them would trust Armand's fiance. If anything, they might try to kidnap me to use me against Armand," Eris thought.

The gate opened, and an old man walked out to meet them. He was hunched over, hobbling on a cane. His clothes were that of an upscale farmer's. Essentially, a relatively wealthy peasant.

"It is not often that nobles come to our village. And especially not nobles flying the Hapsburg banner," he said.

His gaze turned to Eris.

"You must be the little lord's fiance," the old man stated.

"I am. I presume you are the village elder?" Eris asked before thinking. "I wanted to talk to the elder, but this subhuman went over here to talk to me. Ugh."

"Yes. I am. I won't bother you with my introduction. I know who you are, and I doubt you want me to waste your time with the name of an old peasant," he said.

Eris' mood did a 180.

"Finally! A commoner who knows his place! He must have walked up to me because he didn't want to waste my time!" she thought.

Count Hapsburg chuckled.

"There's no need to think that way. Come, tell us your name," he said.

"No! Father, don't ask that! The commoner's being reasonable!" Eris was internally panicking.

The village elder shook his head.

"I don't have much time left, anyway, just another 10 years at the most. There's no point in you hearing my name," he stated.

"I can't believe I'm thinking this, but thank you, subhuman," Eris thought.

"Nobles don't live long. I'm sure that I have even less time left before someone assassinates me," Count Hapsburg insisted. "Go ahead, tell me your name."

"Father, no!"

The old man nodded.

"Dammit! The commoner can't refuse a noble's command like that!" Eris thought.

"Alright, then. My name is John Cobbler," the village elder said.

The Hapsburg girl felt like bashing her head against a wall.

"By the gods, I'm going to do my best to forget this subhuman's name after this," she thought.

"John Cobbler," Count Hapsburg appraised him. "We need to see the records of your village. Escort us to them."

"Of course. We keep the records in the church," the cobbler said.

The nobles and their guards were brought through the town. Count Hapsbug looked around as they moved. Most of the activities done in the village were the same as in any other settlement. However, Count Hapsburg noticed that the commoners in the village seemed fairly happy.

"This is a pleasant place," he said.

"Things got much better for us ever since the little lord took over," John Cobbler replied. "He freed all the serfs, giving them the option of leaving or staying on as free tenants."

"I didn't believe that Armand actually freed his serfs when his parents told me he did," Count Hapsburg stated.

The village elder chuckled.

"We didn't either. But when we got the paperwork, most of us chose to stay. A lord who's willing to do something like that is a good sign," John said.

"Was there anything else Armand did that's notable?" Count Hapsburg asked.

"The little lord cracked down on the bandits. He put big bounties on their heads and hired mercenaries to patrol the roads. Some of the bandits tried to hide in churches, but the little lord paid the priests to turn them over. A few priests didn't accept the payments, but the little lord turned out to have some connections in the church. He pulled on them, and that was the end of things," the village elder answered.

He then shrugged.

"Of course, there are still a few bandits left. But that isn't the little lord's fault. He got rid of most of them. That's all we can ask."

"It's annoying, but there's no way that Armand would tolerate bandits. I should do my best to get rid of the rest of them, considering that I might be one of their next targets," Eris thought.

Count Concord nodded.

"It sounds like Armand is a very attentive lord," he said.

"We're all grateful to the little lord," John Cobbler stated. "And we hope he's able to rule us well in the future."

Eris felt a tinge of anger flash through her.

"Of course, he is, you idiot! This is Armand we're talking about! He'll be the best ruler your pitiful village ever had!" she thought.

Soon, the group made it to the church on the hill. They dismounted and stepped inside.

The church's interior was fairly barren. It had some tapestries and stained glass but no artifacts or relics. John Cobbler walked up to a set of cabinets on one side of the church. He pulled out a key and unlocked the door. Numerous books were inside the cabinet.

"We have birth records, death records, marriage records, crop yield records, and everything else you'd need here," John Cobbler said.

"Thank you," Count Concord replied.

"Don't mention it. I'm just doing my job. I only request that you leave the records here in this village. If you need to take any with you, we can make copies."

Eris stepped forward.

"I would like four copies of all the records," she said.

"Of course, My Lady," John Cobbler bowed. "I will tell the printers to start working right away."

The old man hobbled out of the church.

"Four copies seems a bit excessive," Count Concord stated.

"It seems that way, but it is reasonable. I don't want to risk the records getting lost, stolen, or altered," Eris spoke before thinking. "I will keep the fourth copy hidden on my person. I think that a certain childish fool might try to alter them. And I am not going to make repeated trips to this trash heap to look at the records again."

An expression of deep contemplation crossed Eris' face.

"These records will be invaluable to my and Armand's plan to save my parents. I'll need to start on it soon. I just need a little more influence over Armand's parents, and I should be ready. I doubt it'll be easy. Brutus and that little shit might interfere. But I will save my parents and cement my and Armand's hold over the Concord Estate. We'll have a lot more power much earlier if I succeed," the girl thought. "Hopefully, I'll be able to restrain my urge to kill Armand's brother while I'm here."

A month later, Marshal Ludwig Staufer was in a room with Armand. The Marshal looked through the book that the boy had been writing, going from page to page.

"No illustrations. It won't be easy for people to tell which monster is which, especially since some of them look alike," Ludwig noted.

"I apologize, but putting in pictures would take longer. I thought that you might want to get the book out as soon as possible," Armand said.

Marshal Staufer waved it off.

"No need to apologize. You made the right call. Your descriptions will have to do for now," Ludwig stated. "We'll release a second edition with illustrations. I'll get a professional artist here for that. You can watch him draw to make sure he gets what the monsters look like right."

"Thank you," Armand nodded.

The Marshal paused when he got halfway through the book. All the remaining pages were empty.

"You're making good progress. Most people can't write as fast as you," Ludwig complimented.

"Thank you, but it isn't an issue of fast writing. I am just familiar with these monsters and trying to be concise," Armand said.

"Good idea. But like you said, I want to get this book published as soon as possible," Marshal Staufer stated. "How about we publish it in two parts? What you have now will be part one. We can get an artist started on the illustrations for the second edition of part one, and you can write part two."

"That's perfectly acceptable," the boy spoke before thinking. "As long as some knowledge gets out, it'll be better than none."

The Marshal nodded.

"Good," he said.

Armand then spoke up.

"Marshal Staufer, what are we going to do after I finish the book?" the boy asked.

"Go to various lords and try to convince them to actually listen to what you've written in it," Ludwig answered.

The Marshal grimaced.

"Some of them will believe us the moment we show them the not wolf heads. Some of them will think we faked the heads as part of some scheme. Others will think that we're panicking, that we've seen a few monsters, and think the world is filled with them," he said.

"We could bring up the Nosfer," Armand suggested.

"I intend to do that. But some stubborn nobles won't even believe us after that," Ludwig stated.

The boy nodded.

"This brings back bad memories. People can be stubborn and overly skeptical. And when factionalism comes in, they will try to sabotage you just because you're part of a different faction, even if they like what you're doing," Armand thought. "But I can't risk Marshal Ludwig figuring out how experienced I am. I need to keep playing the part of someone who knows little about politics."

Marshal Staufer shook his head.

"Dealing with those fools can drive you to drink," he said.

There was a loud knocking on the door. Marshal Staufer walked over and opened it. A man stood outside. He was taking heavy breaths.

"This must be urgent, considering how much you're panting," Ludwig said.

"Her...Her..." the man struggled to speak with how winded he was. "Her Majesty the Queen is here."

Marshal Staufer didn't show any shock.

"The Queen?" he asked.

"There's no way he isn't surprised. He's good at hiding his emotions," Armand thought.

"What's the Queen doing all the way out here?" Ludwig wondered.

"She probably heard of Rozwialzly's magical talent and wants him to cure her son. Her Majesty was bound to come here sooner or later. It looks like it's sooner."

Marshal Staufer started walking to the door.

"I'd best greet her," he said. "Come with me, Armand. It would be inappropriate for me to greet Her Majesty without my adjutant with me."

The two of them left the room and walked to the front of the fort. Outside of it stood a party of professional soldiers, clad in fancy armor and carrying weapons of the highest quality.

A woman stepped out of a carriage in front of the soldiers. She was tall and had a regal bearing. There was a neutral expression on her face. This woman wore a long, orange gown with purple highlights. Numerous pieces of jewelry, gems glistening in the sunlight, coated it and hung from her body. A crown adorned her head.

Marshal Ludwig Staufer and Armand knelt before her. The woman raised her hand.

"Rise," she said.

They did as commanded.

"It is an honor to see you, Your Majesty. I'm sure you'll be happy to know that this fortress is operating as well as it possibly could," Marshal Staufer stated.

"That does please me," the Queen nodded. "But on to business. I heard many rumors about your operations here, reports from various nobles. Some say that you're hunting monsters. Others say that you're hiding monsters. As ridiculous as those rumors are, there are some that believe them."

The Mashal shrugged.

"We aren't hiding or hunting monsters, but we met some of them. If you would like to see their skulls, Your Majesty, I would be honored to show you them," Ludwig said.

"A later time. Right now, there is one rumor that interests me. I heard you have a sorcerer among your ranks, a commoner who can cure the sick with magic," the Queen stated.

"Yes. We have him teaching some apprentices. We've been bringing in sick children for them to cure."

"Bring him to me!"

The Queen's voice was so abrupt that Marshal Ludwig was stunned for a moment. Her calm expression had turned into one of desperation and sadness.

"My son has the Nosfer plague! He's in my carriage! Please, Marshal Staufer, I'm at my wit's end! Bring this sorcerer here! Make him save my son!"