Crest of the Strongest Knight

Chapter 106 - Taking Charge

"Oh. There they are."

Medrauta's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as she stared at the person who had uttered those words the moment she and Viviane stepped into the room.

She had never personally met the woman, but there was only one person that came to mind when she laid eyes on the woman's tapered waist, broad shoulders, long brown hair, and an eyepatch that appeared to be a new addition to her beautiful face.

"Dame Marilyn...."

"That's me," the woman nodded. "I never expected Eirlys would send me students, but I suppose these are desperate times. Dame Krista told me that you would be coming."

Medrauta nodded in response as she exchanged a brief introduction with the senior knight. Marilyn's presence explained quite a lot of things such as the military presence around the walls, Krista's knowledge of Sakura's ailment, and the detailed strategic maps littering the desk that the senior knight leaned over.

While curious, there was still one particular blunder that needed to be addressed before Medrauta could start asking any detailed questions. Though she moved to rectify her mistake, Viviane was already a step ahead.

"Baron Anson Dietrich. A pleasure to meet you." Viviane curtsied, addressing the bearded noble who had been watching Marilyn and Medrauta's exchange with a measure of interest and amusement.

The noble nodded, moving from his position at the table to bow deeply before Viviane. "The pleasure is mine, Lady Castellia. I only wish we had met under better circumstances."

While Baron Dietrich's bow was mostly interpreted as a gesture of courtesy by the two knights, in actuality, it was the nobleman's attempt at smoothing over his own faux pas. Though he was the lord of Dietrich fief, the dominion of a single territory only granted him the trifling title of baron.

In noble hierarchy, Viviane outranked him so tremendously at the moment that he should never have allowed her to greet him first. In fact, he should have prepared a sumptuous feast and welcoming party for Viviane in advance seeing as he knew that her arrival was imminent.

Had he not been preparing for an inevitable confrontation with Bastiche, Baron Dietrich most certainly would have prepared exactly that for Viviane. Unfortunately, all he could do was hope the noblewoman would be understanding of the awkward position that he had been placed in.

"Circumstances are what we make of them, baron." Viviane said dismissively as she walked toward the table where Marilyn stood at, beckoning for Medrauta and the baron to follow. Even as the words left her lips, she was more than a little surprised at herself. Just months ago, she would never be able to utter things like that.

"Indeed, Lady Castellia." Baron Dietrich bowed once more, stifling a sigh of relief that nearly escaped his lips. The only ducal family he'd ever dealt with was House Revelo, all of them members of high nobility who weren't exactly known for being as compassionate. "As you can see, we are preparing to wage war against the capital."

"Rather bold of you," Viviane remarked. "It doesn't look like you have the numbers needed to match the garrison at Revelo fief." She said, tapping her fingernail against a document laying on top of the map.

Just like the capital of Viviane's home duchy was termed "Castellia fief", the capital of the Revelo duchy was aptly termed "Revelo fief", a result of the empire's naming conventions which generally drew from the surname of the noble house ruling that particular territory. While such a method may be confusing for foreigners at first, people quickly caught on once they realized that a fief was but a mere parcel of land compared to a duchy which spanned multiple fiefs.