Steel and Sorrow: Rise of the Mercenary king - Chapter 274

Chapter 274: Studying the land Chapter 274: Studying the land Talek, the son of Sir Robert-the knight whose loyalty had been key to the previous prince’s rule-stood under the clear, bright blue sky.

Few truly understood how important his father had been for the new princess’s rise to power .Even Talek himself didn’t know the full truth about what his father had done or how far he had gone to secure the throne.

It was Sir Robert who had led Arkawatt’s brother to his doom, making him believe he was marching toward the glory and crown he had always dreamed of.

The man thought his moment of triumph was at hand, unaware that Robert was leading him into a trap.

Even when Alpheo’s warriors burst from the trees, breaking his army and ending all hope, it was likely he never realized how carefully he had been deceived.

What he thought would be the start of his reign instead became the end of his life-and the lives of his family.

Sir Robert’s mission had been carried out perfectly, leaving no way for Arkawatt’s brother to escape or fight back.

In the end, his ambition destroyed him, and he died without ever understanding how his greatest dream had become his nightmare.

It was a heavy story, one Talek might never know, hidden beneath the same blue sky that now stretched endlessly above him.

Talek’s gaze lingered on it, as though seeking answers in its tranquil vastness.

There was a reflective stillness in his stance, hands resting lightly at his sides, his face calm but touched with a faint trace of melancholy.  Talek couldn’t shake the growing worry gnawing at him.

Since his father, Sir Robert, had returned home with the victorious prince consort , he hadn’t been the same.

The man who once carried himself with quiet pride, who had always been a stable and dependable , now seemed like a shadow of himself.

He no longer smiled as he once did,instead, he turned to drinks more often, his goblet rarely empty, and withdrew from the world outside their castle walls.

Days would pass without Sir Robert appearing at court or even leaving their home.

It was baffling to Talek.

Their family had never been better off.

The princess, in her gratitude, had rewarded them generously, a castle to call their own, lands to rule over, and a steady stream of income from customs.We finally got it all .

We have gained wealth, status, and respect.

By all accounts, he should have been celebrating his good fortune, he is now a lord.

Talek thought as he pictured the image of his father drunk in bed before he left the house for his task.  Talek couldn’t understand it.

What had caused his father to behave this way?

To retreat from his duties as the head of their house, leaving Talek to step in and shoulder the responsibilities he’d always expected to learn from him?

It wasn’t lost on Talek that something weighed heavily on his father’s mind-something tied to the rewards their family now enjoyed.

A castle, lands, titles, and the princess’s apparent favor.

Yet even with all this, there was no word of rebuke for Sir Robert’s prolonged absences from court.

No summons to explain himself.

That, more than anything, hinted to Talek that whatever had been done to earn these gifts carried a cost too great for his father to bear openly.

Perhaps, Talek thought, it was the marriage itself that broke him.

The sight of their new princess taking the man who had killed her father as her husband.

Perhaps it was the weight of bowing and calling “Your Grace” to one who wore the crown with blood-stained hands.

But truthfully, Talek didn’t care about any of that.

For their family-and the princedom as a whole-things had never looked so promising.

What had been a fractured land teetering on the brink of collapse was now a budding power, strong enough to hold its own against larger threats.

The new rulers were the best thing that could have happened to anyone in Yarzat , Talek thought, his conviction firm.

If his father had heard him, Talek was certain he would have been struck for saying so, as the man hated both rulers seeing them as traitors, one of her own blood the other to his employer.

Yet it didn’t change the fact that it was the truth.

Turning away from thinking about the sorry condition of his father , Talek’s eyes turned, as they landed on the court’s eccentric engineer, Pontius.

The bald man was kneeling on the ground, scribbling furiously on a piece of material that resembled parchment but seemed far lighter and more flexible.

A faint breeze tugged at its edges as Pontius held it down with one hand while with a small stick of charcoal he started writing something .

Talek frowned slightly, watching the man’s focus.

Pontius appeared completely absorbed in whatever calculations or notes he was making, his lips moving silently as if he were murmuring to himself.

Talek had been tasked with escorting the engineer on this journey, along with five other knights, to survey the field where the new aqueduct was to be constructed.

This grand structure would supply the capital with much-needed water-a project of immense importance, and one that Pontius approached with unwavering zeal.

Talek took a step closer to the kneeling engineer, his tone polite but carrying a hint of impatience.

“Do you need anything, Engineer Pontius?” he asked, folding his arms as he peered down at the man’s hunched figure.  He was tired of waiting.

Pontius froze for a brief moment, his hand tightening on the piece of parchment-like material.

He turned his head slightly, enough for Talek to catch the brief flicker of annoyance in his face.

“No,” Pontius replied, his voice clipped and barely masking the irritation bubbling beneath the surface.

His jaw tensed, and he quickly looked back to his work, scribbling again with renewed intensity.

Talek could see it clearly-Pontius was trying to rein in whatever had made him wince, as if Talek’s simple question had struck a nerve.

The young knight exhaled silently through his nose, fighting back the sigh that threatened to escape.

He had no great love for these outings, and the engineer’s prickly attitude only made things worse.

With nothing else to occupy his thoughts, Talek turned his gaze back to the rolling countryside, sprawling lazily beneath the bright afternoon sun.

Escorting Pontius on this monotonous task felt beneath him, especially now that he was the heir to a lordship.

His family had been elevated to nobility, a rare honor, and one he believed deserved duties befitting his new status.

Surveying land for an aqueduct and babysitting the court’s engineer hardly seemed appropriate for someone of his station.

And yet, he clenched his jaw and kept his thoughts to himself.

He knew better than to speak out against Pontius.

The man wasn’t just an engineer; he was the little jewel of Yarzat’s Fox-especially now that the prince consort had clearly showed everyone at court his ambitious plan for the city.

Not worth it, Talek thought bitterly, his grip tightening on the hilt of his sword reining the desire to cut the man down where he stood .

He could endure a few hours of tedium if it meant avoiding the ire of someone that he now served.

During the past few days, Pontius had been in an unusually jubilant mood.

Talek had never seen the man like this before.

The bald, arrogant engineer, who normally carried himself with the sternness of a man who had fucked everyone’s mother twice ,acting like a bootlicker.

Pontius had always fancied himself an architect above all else, lamenting that his true talents were wasted on war machines and fortifications.

Yet, with the prince’s announcement of the aqueduct project, he seemed to come alive, practically vibrating with enthusiasm.

Talek could hardly count the number of times Pontius had loudly praised the prince’s consort, crediting their foresight and vision for initiating such a monumental endeavor.

“A marvel of governance!” he had declared more than once, his voice booming with admiration.

“A leader who understands the value of progress!

What a great day for these people!” Pontius was practically glowing, like a dog finally tossed a juicy bone, and Talek couldn’t help but roll his eyes every time the man launched into another effusive monologue, practically seeing the brown on the tip of his nose.  He practically worships him Talek thought bitterly as he wondered how could Alpheo even stomach such a man.

 While Pontius celebrated this project as if it were the greatest achievement of his life, Talek found it hard to muster the same excitement.

To him, it was just another chore, another tedious task that kept him from what he believed to be more important matters.

During Pontius work, Talek unkowingly threw glimpse at his notes, and couldn’t make sense of it all.

He stood there, watching as Pontius poured over his drawings and calculations, mumbling to himself about angles, pressures, and materials, none of which made the slightest bit of sense to Talek.

They had a river right there-couldn’t they simply dig a trench to lead water into the city?

It seemed so much simpler to him, a clear, straightforward solution.  The more he looked at Pontius’s sketches, the more confused he became.

The drawings seemed to show intricate bridges, but not the kind that he understood-no wooden beams.

Instead, there were sketches of structures that looked like bridges, yet didn’t look like bridges at all.

They were somehow… different and whom mostly important he could not get the use of.

“What does all this mean?” he muttered under his breath, but before he could voice his confusion aloud again, Pontius was already launching into another long-winded explanation about water flow, and getting consequentally angry that Talek did not understand one bit of it, as apparently he regarded the matter as child’s play .

Was it my fault that I had not been educated in such useless subjects?

He cursed in his mind as he held himself from striking the man down onto the dirt.