The Relic: Deadly Liaisons at Sea

Chapter V: Planning for the Future

They ate dinner prior to Charlotte's training in the evening time. The one sitting at the end of the table wiped his face with a napkin before looking to the auburn sitting to his left. "I've informed the state that you are in my keeping for the time being." While Simone had wanted to keep Charlotte's identity a secret, Elliot had mentioned that there might have been a snake hiding in their midst ever since the fall of fleet admiral Rothschild's estate. So without Charlotte's full permission, he revealed to the state that a Lottie Lionsheart was found by the Protectors. This group was an unknown group of men and women working toward the sanctity of keeping the stone safe and put under their protection until further notice. It was a secret organization only known by close family members or those who had been affected by the stone in their lives.

While the state found the Protectors to be a justified entity that took up only one percent of the actual government officials, the higher ups did find that the Protectors were estranged to search of the Relic stones. As the pirates continued to search for their fabled item of lore, the Protectors would step in and protect the rights to those stones. This only caused the pirates to consider the small government team as a baneful existence to deal with. According to the pirates' rumors, for the past eleven years, the original stone managed to escape any of the parties' notices. There was even discussion of someone already being in possession of the stone but were actually in the Protector Program to keep it safe. This though did not stop the pirates from flying themselves into a frenzy, trying to find this fabled item. In consequence, it was shown through the many towns getting destroyed and causing many homeless victims seeking refuge within the state.

And just as Elliot suspected someone would, an insightful eyewitness from the state revealed that Charlotte Rothschild had somehow possibly survived the attack on the estate. Conspiracy theories began to pop up on the frontlines of the newspapers with the stories of her being rescued by several vessels nearby. These newspapers littered the streets for weeks with faces of young girls fitting the description of the seventeen-year-old Rothschild heiress.

Unfortunately, these news articles didn't do any good for these innocent girls. If any of the girls whose faces appeared on the newspaper were found, they were met with a pitiful end. The state put an end to the rumors declaring that Charlotte Rothschild was to be known as killed in action until she stepped forward proving her lineage, thus ending the acts of piracy against any other innocent girls.

The state offered other news about the Division, that the prized vessel that Elliot Cheric first built for Earl Drummond had been decimated with a majority of its crew fatally injured or found to be in the care of Olivia Cheric. Some newspapers weren't deterred in attempting to piece together their delivery routes compared to the time of attack on the estate. According to the previous report given to the state via telecom, the Division had been one of the first fleets on scene at the estate. While they had not disclosed picking up any individuals, it could have been a cover-up to protect the identities of those survivors. This led some reporters to begin their speculation about Charlotte Rothschild possibly resting at the Cheric estate to recuperate from the attack and unfortunate storm. Some other papers wrote that it could have been possible that she had disappeared into the depths of the sea. While it was a small action in itself, it created a domino effect of larger proportions upon the general populations within Chiariotti, the region the Cheric household resided in. Higher rates of piracy started to spike on the borders along the sea and even affected the coasts of Gailyna and Zyttle.

From the main branch of the state, there was a consensus that the state's main Admiral Force Fleet (AFF) would make temporary quarters within Olivia Cheric's estate to prevent an attack on the same scale at the estate to happen, much to the inventor's anguish. It was from that moment many statesmen and stateswomen from all different classes and ranks filtered into the main countryside of Chiariotti. With Etrius, the main state headquarters being so close to Chiariotti's borders, it only added the amount of guardsmen and personnel being set over.