After dawdling for around half an hour, Roland leisurely entered the parlor. After arriving he saw a man with a very round belly impatiently waiting beside the long table. While the man restlessly walked up and down, the additional layers of meat on his face swayed in accordance with his steps. Seeing that His Highness had finally appeared, the Baron stopped his walking and reluctantly went through the royal greeting ceremony.
“Sit down,” Roland went to the table and placed himself in his seat. According to his usual habits, even if it wasn’t time for dinner, he would let his kitchen at least prepare a dessert, but today he did not even let them prepare tea.
“Your Highness, Prince,” murmured Cornelius, and started speaking even before he sat, “How could you let that stupid stonemason take my house apart? That was still a good house. From the parapet, the logs used for the roof beam column was also of the best quality. When I had it built, I had to spend more than one hundred… no, one hundred and fifty gold royals!” While speaking he agitatedly waved with his hands.
One hundred and fifty, hearing this Roland had to use a lot of strength to suppress his laughter. If it was still the Prince from before, when looking through the old memories, maybe I really would have believed that. But now… “You mean the house located the furthest to the west?”
“Well,” said Cornelius while nodding, “It was the grand mansion, second only to Baron Simon’s.”
“It’s such a pity, that it was located too close to the wall, and had hindered the passage of my men,” Roland said , after stopping for a moment then he continued, “but the Town Hall had already decided on the compensation.
“How much…?”
Roland stretched out two fingers, “Twenty gold royals.”
“That’s too little! Your Royal Highness…” shouted Cornelius while spraying spittle everywhere. Eventually, he calmed down. Then he took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Well, twenty, twenty gold royals, where should I go get the money?”
“Get?” Roland put on a puzzled look. “The money has already been paid to the owner of the house.”
“What? Wait, wait… I am the owner of that mansion!”
“It’s not you. It’s Blair, the captain of my second militia.”
“Who is that?” the Baron asked once more in a loud voice, “Your Highness, you are mistaken, I am the Master of the House!”
“But I didn’t see you during the winter,” Roland picked up his brow, “How then can that house be yours?”
“Of course I wasn’t there; I went back to the Longsong Stronghold. Who would stay in this god forsaken place, this place is only able to be used as a feeding ground for the demonic beast?!”
“So you want to say you fled because you feared the demonic beasts. And you still have the face to call yourself a Lord?” asked Roland.
“I, uh…” the Baron was suddenly stunned and didn’t know how to reply.
“Guards,” Roland clapped his hands, and immediately two guards came into the parlor, holding Cornelius between them.
“We’re in the Palace Hallo, what do you mean with this!?”
“Very simple, you now have two choices,” Roland stood up from the seat, freezing Cornelius with his look, “First, you admit that you’ve wronged, that the house doesn’t belong to you. And then I can look at what happened just now as nothing more than a farce. Your second option is admitting that during the Months of Demons, you betrayed your Lord, fleeing from the battle without the permission of your Lord, shamefully escaping to Longsong Stronghold. If you take this option, I will put you in prison for desertion, where you will wait for the day of your hanging. Which one do you choose?”
The sweat pouring from Cornelius’ forehead didn’t stop, he swallowed in fear, hesitated for a moment before he quivered: “Your Highness, I… I made a mistake, it was not my house.
“So this was all a misunderstanding,” Roland shrugged, and then said to the guards, “Send the Baron on his way.”
When Cornelius was nearly through the door, the Prince stopped him once more: “Right, when you take your ship back to the Longsong Stronghold can you please deliver a message for me? Tell those… ah, who have maybe the same misunderstanding as yourself, in case they don’t want to choose the second option, they don’t need to waste their time by coming to Border Town.
“Anything you want, Your Highness,” Cornelius said with a forced smile while leaving the room. But the moment he turned around, Roland could see how his counterpart was gnashing his teeth.
Like this, I ought to have created a big enough uproar within Longsong Stronghold, right? Roland thought.