Covenant of Fire [Elden Ring]

AN:

Since I'm going to sometimes put important stuff in the ANs and sometimes just my random rambling, I've decided I will put eye-catching labels for important AN messages from now on.

If there isn't a large blaring "IMPORTANT" at the top of a chapter's AN, then it just means I'm pointlessly rambling to you guys because I want to.

Anyways, on to this chapter's pointless rambling. 

I actually enjoyed editing for once with this chapter.

My first drafts are very information dense from my stream of consciousness when I write. It makes sentences very hard to read and understand if you didn't already know what I meant.

When I go through and do my second draft, I have to decompact everything so it is easier to read and more understandable by readers. Way less run on sentences as well, though sometimes I leave some of the shorter ones in for style/feel/comprehension reasons.

This usually adds somewhere from half again as many words to up to doubling the word count. This chapter went from 5k to 9k for example, and I only added maybe 1k words worth of new information that wasn't there the first time. Meaning I had about 3k worth of decompacting to do.

I'm not sure if other writers have the same thing going on or not.

This chapter wasn't any different than usual in any way in particular. It was just more enjoyable to do this and the rest of the editing this time for some reason. Weird.

Enjoy the chapter!

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 The feeling in the air the next morning was strange.

 The misbegotten threat was gone now that they had been imprisoned, yet the reinforcements had yet to arrive to actually put a final end to any potential danger that could come from some impossible series of events that may cause the misbegotten to recover from their position as prisoners.

 People insisted on how relieved they all were that it was all over now yet no one could relax. The tension in the air of what might happen before the final bell toll for the misbegotten came in the form of their reinforcements hung around people's heads no matter what they told each other and how they tried to rationalize or ignore their gut.

 It was like everyone was trapped with a bomb they thought they had managed to defuse. But they didn't know for sure, and they couldn't relax until a bomb squad came to take the problem away entirely.

 So everyone was trying to convince each other that everything was fine now in an unspoken agreement that those they told this lie to would perpetuate the comforting lie back to themselves.

 Or to put it in very simple terms, everyone was being paranoid even though they knew it was unreasonable. But they couldn't help how they felt, so they were trying to convince others in an attempt to convince themselves.

 Very strange.

 John himself wasn't worried. He knew it was basically impossible for the misbegotten to do anything at this point with them imprisoned without armor and weapons and with almost the entirety of their leadership dead.

 Rather than fretting about something that wouldn't happen, his focus was more on what he had discovered yesterday.

 Sihlas was alive!

 But there was a little wrinkle in that good news.

 His misbegotten friend was imprisoned with the rest of them, and Edgar planned on having all the misbegotten all executed after the reinforcements arrived tomorrow.

 John already had some ideas of how he could convince Edgar to spare Sihlas. A series of coincidences had lined up in a way that may end up saving Sihlas's life. If Edgar refused all of John's appeals... Well, John would cross that bridge if it came to that.

 After his hands had been so dirtied by what had happened in the rebellion, John found he didn't hold his own life in supreme esteem like he once had. There were more important things.

 But it probably wouldn't come to that. Tonight after the officer meeting would be his time to strike with his plan. So all that was left for John to refine his plot and wait.

 In the meantime as he and his men kept their work on the courtyard and surrounding area up, in the spirit of convincing each other that nothing could possibly go wrong now, they all discussed what they were going to do after they were released from Edgar's service now that the siege was over.

 A few of his men were planning to stay and help rebuild the city. They thought it would be tough at the beginning, but it also was an immense opportunity that allowed them to have a first mover's advantage in whatever professions they held. If some of them got lucky and played their cards right, they might even rise to be minor local nobility or to incredible wealth.

 Others, who had soured on Morne after all that happened, with everything and everyone they had ever known and held having gone in the flames of the rebellion, they wanted to move away to other, smaller settlements and start over there where they thought it would be safer and have less bad memories.

 "What about you, Sergeant White?" one of his men asked John, "What are you planning on doing? I heard a rumor that our hundrier wants you to join the regulars. You gonna take the offer and join me in being properly recruited after all this is over?"

 John shook his head.

 "I'm going to go back to traveling the land and helping my nomadic merchant friend with his trading for the immediate future. After that I'm thinking about seeing if he wants to head to Liurnia of the Lakes, but we'll see how things turn out. You never know how life will go."

 "Ha! Isn't that the case?" the man remarked grimly for a moment before shaking himself out of it, "Still, Liurnia eh?

 "Well, I've never been there meself, but I've heard from some of the regulars who have fought skirmishes against the cucks for Lord Godrick that the wetland lake in the center of the place is a death trap. Overrun with monsters and creatures who practice the foulest sort of magic.

 "He even told me of a giant lobster that had attacked a twenty of theirs and killed nearly half the men before they slew the thing. Took the knight leading their twentier out from half a field away before they had even seen the thing from the woodline.

 "If it'll just be you and your friend by yourselves, my advice would be to stick to the dry land and avoid that cursed swamp."

 John chuckled.

 "I will take that under advisement. I was not thinking about going to the lake part anyways. I don't plan on going very far into Liurnia to see what I want."

 "So you have good sense then. Better than those cucks who make that miserable place their home, trying to usurp the Carian's lands.

 "Maybe I'd feel sorrier for 'em if they didn't seem to be slowly winning, even if it has taken the bastards since the start of the Shattering to go from a single county to half of Liurnia. The fools can't even finish defeating their real enemy once and for all 'fore they turn on each other and even start snipping at Lord Godrick's domain."

 The man nodded at John's 'sensible decision' and turned to some of the other men next to him.

 "Butcher, Cobbler, and the rest of you spear rubbers, what are you five gonna do?"

 Butcher looked meaningfully at the others in his five who nodded at him. He took a deep breath then spoke.

 "We're thinking of following the Sergeant if he'll have us."

 John's eyes widened! He hadn't expected something like that!

 "Why?" John asked. "I won't be your twentier or a Sergeant after I leave here. I won't even be able to pay you or anything!"

 Butcher laughed.

 "Hahaha! We didn't think you were gonna pay us for it! Not at first at least. We just want to follow you. There is nothing left for us here. We're sure you will figure something out for yourself soon, and then we'll just join you there.

 "Settle down and become a farmer? We'll be your farmhands. End up joining one of the demigods or becoming a mercenary? We'll be right there behind you."

 John was touched. He hadn't expected any of the men to like him that much to do something like this. The idea of a person from the modern world making such a decision was nearly unthinkable to John.

 He wanted to object to their reckless decision-making, but they weren't exactly wrong about him there. He did already have 'something'. It just probably wasn't what these guys expected, what with how he'd be helping in the killing of this world's god if he survived that long.

 And their presence in the group with Sihlas, a former enemy, could cause serious problems.

 Still, they were decent guys and the extra hands in helping the Chosen Tarnished would be good. He had to give them some warning about what they were getting into though.

 He looked at Butcher and the rest of his former five with a serious gaze.

 "I'm not opposed, but there is a good chance that if you follow me you will have to fight. The Lands Between are very dangerous. You could die. Are you sure you wanna follow me?"

 Butcher's face broke out into a smile and he shouldered the man who had originally asked him the question.

 "Ha! See! I told you he would figure something out. He already has something in mind, he's just holding out on us!"

 Butcher turned to John and smiled.

 "And some danger won't stop us from following you Sergeant. You've led us well against those monsters who destroyed everything we had. Killed our friends and family, and burnt and robbed all our property. Of course we're certain about this."

 John held back a frown.

 Yes. They could pose a serious problem with Sihlas.

 Butcher looked at John, the smile not leaving his face as the others in his five joined him with their affirmation. Hauler, as usual, had to say something.

 "A bit of fightin' you say? Well, that's a bonus, not a reason to give up. If you'll have us."

 John sighed. These guys sure were being persistent about this.

 "Fine. I'm gonna be talking to Lord Edgar this evening about all this anyways. I'll give you guys an update after that, and we'll see if you still wanna come with me."

 Butcher and the others in his five let out a cheer, holding the stone blocks from the collapsed walls they were moving out of the way over their heads in victory.

 John just shook his head at their foolish behavior, but a small smile slipped over his lips.

 The men's conversation and work continued, and John was with them as they all spent the day working to fix the damage the rebellion had dealt to Castle Morne.

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 "-that is how we shall arrange supplies when the reinforcements arrive tomorrow," said Edgar looking around at all the officers. "Are there any questions?"

 The officers in the study looked at each other. None seemed to have any questions or confusion about the logistics.

 However someone hesitantly spoke up about a different topic, his voice frustrated, voicing his feelings which were reflected by most of the people in Castle Morne.

 "My lord, forgive me for speaking above my station, but those vile creatures... what will be done with them?

 "It seems from how you have ordered us to treat them that they are not slated to be executed like is the proper punishment for traitors. We are not just going to let them get away with what they have done, are we?" asked a fringefolk knight John knew had lost his relatives in the burning of Castletown.

 Edgar looked at the knight, and then looked over all the others in the study who were obviously just as discontent over the situation as he was.

 Edgar sent them all a dark smile.

 "Be assured my men. I am not just going to let the injustices of the menials upon us go unaddressed. Just follow my orders and hold the peace for now. Calm any of the men who feel the same as you, which is surely many of them.

 "I ask for everyone to wait over the next few days as we receive our reinforcements and begin organizing and recovering from what has happened, and then you will all have your answer of what will be done with them."

 Edgar looked at all the men and saw they were mostly mollified despite clearly not having got the answer they desired.

 "Is that all?" Edgar asked, and this time no one spoke up.

 "Good. You are all dismissed. Return to your duties."

 As all the men started to leave, John and Edgar caught each others' eyes, and seeing a mutual interest in them, stayed put as the rest made their way out.

 Once the rest of the men had left, leaving the two of them alone in the study, Edgar spoke up.

 "Sergeant? It looks like you have something you wish to discuss with me. If so, that is fortunate as I have a few things I wish to discuss with you as well."

 "I do," John confirmed.

 "Excellent. Then let me begin. I want to discuss your rewards for your deeds, but before that, I have one thing I must speak of first.

 "At Morne and all major fortifications of Lord Godrick, we keep a specially trained stormhawk that we can use to deliver one urgent message of great import to Stormveil.

 "I know that a stormhawk from the Ramparts of Regret has already been sent to Lord Godrick informing him of the burning of Castletown and the menials launching a rebellion. I have been waiting to send word with the hawk of Morne of either our defeat or victory so Lord Godrick could respond appropriately to the ultimate fate of Morne.

 "With the capture of the menials yesterday and the information from their leader, the rebellion has resolved all but resolved itself. As such, this morning I sent our stormhawk off with an unvarnished report to Lord Godrick informing him of everything that has happened here and an assessment of Castle Morne's current position and war readiness.

 "In that message, not only do I tell my lord of the events that occurred, but the deeds of men that performed particularly admirably and deserve to be further rewarded. In it, you feature prominently," Edgar declared proudly and gave an expectant look at John, obviously waiting for a happy response.

 John nearly flinched at that news but gave Edgar his best fake smile instead.

 "Thank you Lord Edgar. It is good to hear my deeds won't go unnoticed by Lord Godrick"

 John didn't like the sound of this at all. He didn't want even a single word mentioning him to get to Godrick. He very much would prefer if he didn't exist as far as Godrick was concerned.

 But there wasn't anything John could do at this point. The letter had already been sent.

 Seeing John's smile and hearing his words, Edgar looked pleased and continued with a smile on his face, unable to see John's true thoughts on the matter.

 "With what we have available here with the near total destruction of Morne, I do not feel I can sufficiently reward you for your deeds, especially as I feel you would reject an ennoblement?" Edgar questioned.

 "You are correct my lord. I do not want to be tied down just yet. I want to see more of the Lands Between first," John confirmed.

 "Ah, the discontent of youth," Edgar sighed fondly. "I remember when I had felt the same desire to stretch my own wings two millennia ago back when I first joined the ranks of Lord Godrick's forces.

 "And it is just the answer I had expected from you, which is why I have taken pains to make sure to emphasize your contributions to the defense of Castle Morne in my report to Lord Godrick. Your admirable lack of rapacity leaves me with a dilemma.

 "As is my duty as lord of the lands you have helped, I cannot fail you to give a proper reward for your deeds. Yet I have not the material resources and you do wish to accept land and title. I will still give you what I can spare, but it will be far from sufficient.

 "Instead I have asked Lord Godrick to give you an appropriate reward in my stead. Even with any displeasure Lord Godrick may have towards me and condemnations of my lord's character that others may have, he is not the sort of lord who does not reward the deeds of the men in his service who could prove useful to him.

 "Your deeds here will give him a favorable disposition towards you as you have done him a great service with your deeds that were instrumental in preventing the menials from capturing Castle Morne, the third most significant fortress he controls, and from stealing the only legendary armament under his control. That is more than any of his currently living Knight Commanders or Priors have done for him."

 John nearly cursed right there at Edgar standing across the table from him pleased with himself.

 Now he was gonna have to go to Stormveil if he wanted to claim his reward. Or more realistically, he was gonna have to completely give up on the reward because John absolutely was not ready to be anywhere close to Godrick.

 "But enough about future rewards. Let us move onto what meager boons I can give you now."

 Thank God! Yes, please! Just no more arrangements to meet Godrick!

 "Rather than choose it for you, I have decided to have you ask from me what you desire, and then we can discuss it further to see what I can afford to give you. You know better than anyone what would be most valuable to you on your travels.

 "So tell me Sergeant White, what is it that you desire for your reward?" Edgar prompted, curious.

 As John's focus moved on from his dread of Godrick to Edgar's question, John's eyes lit up.

 This was the best opening that John could have asked for to get what he wanted! So he steeled himself for what he knew was going to be a hard discussion and began his circumspect answer.

 "My lord, do you remember my letter to you warning about the rebellion?" John asked.

 Edgar blinked, clearly not having expected that, and looked at John trying to figure out how this was relevant to his own question.

 "I do, very well. In fact, I have the entire letter memorized with how many times I have looked it over, and I even included a copy in the message to Lord Godrick."

 John didn't let that little nugget of information distract him.

 "Do you remember how it says I got my information from a misbegotten informant that I had befriended? I have never mentioned him further because I had believed that he had died in the first few days of the rebellion.

 "Well, yesterday when me and my men were bringing the misbegotten prisoners to the lift, I discovered that my friend was still alive," John revealed.

 In response, Edgar frowned, displeased and likely already seeing where this was going.

 "That menial, why bring this matter to my attention?"

 Seeing how Edgar's reaction, John kept his tone conciliatory, but Edgar's frown grew deeper as John kept talking.

 "His name is Sihlas. He's one of the winged misbegotten we brought up yesterday. I bring him up now because as my reward I wish for him to be spared execution and take him with me when I leave."

 At this response, Edgar's stormy grey eyes grew so icy that they may as well have been clouds carrying a blizzard. He crossed his arms and stared John down.

 "No. None of the menials will escape proper punishment for their actions. Ask for a different reward."

 John carefully didn't sigh as he met Edgar's gaze unflinchingly. He suspected this was going to be easy, but Edgar seemed to care about this more than John expected.

 "My lord, I wish for you to pardon my friend. He is just a single misbegotten, a teen, a child. He isn't even one of the ringleaders that had been smuggled into Morne. There is no danger to Morne at all in letting him go."

 Edgar gritted his teeth and hissed through them at John.

 "I am not worried of a single insignificant menial being a danger to Morne. I will not allow even one of those menials to escape vengeance from them attacking and dooming my house. Especially if they are going to be leaving Morne to go cavorting around with you, as I know that you won't give them their due.

 "I will not tell you this again. Now, ask for something else."

 John said nothing but met Edgar's cold glare with an immovable calm.

 They kept staring at each waiting for the other to give in, but neither did.

 It seemed that Edgar wasn't going to budge. Even if it was just one teen misbegotten who was relatively innocent and wasn't really responsible at all for the actions Edgar wants to get revenge for. One teen who deserved just as much credit as John for saving his daughter, as far as John was concerned.

 Edgar didn't want Sihlas to 'cavort around', hating the idea of even an ancillary element, barely related at all to those who caused harm to his house, being allowed to have a decent life. Even if it was as a reward to the guy who saved his daughter to spare the person who had allowed the guy to save her in the first place.

 That was extremely disappointing. John hadn't expected Edgar to be so completely unreasonable. And for all he talked about proper reward, it seemed that as soon as it got in the way of something Edgar wanted, his '"lordly benevolence' suddenly didn't matter.

 John's respect for the man went down significantly. He'd held the man in high regard partly due to Edgar's dedication to his principles as was shown in the canon timeline, so from that and the man's reputation, he'd thought that Edgar would actually follow through on what he had claimed.

 Turns out Edgar was more talk than walk when it came to his supposed beliefs and principles, and was willing to throw them away if it got in the way of what he wanted. He refused to give Sihlas any due for the misbegotten boy's supposed good deeds because he wanted something else.

 It didn't matter that it was a lie from John about how Sihlas was responsible for revealing to John the rebellion's plans and plot against Edgar's daughter. As far as Edgar knew and all evidence that had been shown to him pointed, Sihlas was half the reason the rebellion hadn't won and killed everyone. Yet the man refused to lift a finger.

 John nearly scoffed and mentally re-evaluated his plan for how he wanted to go about this conversation.

 Fine then. If his superior was going to be unreasonable about this, then so was John. And John's version of being unreasonable wasn't something as mundane as icy looks and being selfishly and ungratefully stubborn.

 After all, as he and Edgar had agreed, loyalty was more important honor and duty. And unlike Edgar, John wanted to follow through with what few principles he had. If John had to sacrifice his duty to those in this castle to save Sihlas, then he would.

 Already he was planning out how to jailbreak Sihlas if things did not end in his favor, and many of the scenarios necessary in his head for him to be able to do that ended very badly for the people in the castle.

 They kept stubbornly staring at one another as John recalculated his plan when eventually Edgar spoke up, breaking the stalemate.

 "Fine. I can see you are unwilling to ask for something else. Let us set aside the matter of my reward to you for now. My daughter has told me of your plans to leave and travel the lands, which you have confirmed. When is it that you plan to leave?" Edgar asked.

 John didn't mind the sidestepping for now. He was still thinking about how he was gonna try and force Edgar to spare Sihlas now.

 "I was planning on waiting for a few days or until whenever you released all the irregulars from service," John said, then his mind turned to what he may be forced to do that night. "However, recently I have decided that I want to leave tomorrow. I am not sure when exactly. My friend has to get his donkey back, but even if he has to catch up later, I will be leaving tomorrow. That is part of what I want to talk to you about."

 Edgar wasn't happy with this revelation either.

 "Dragonlord smite it! I had hoped that I could speak of this with you under better terms, maybe after everything with the menial had been sorted, but if you wish to depart so soon it seems you have forced my hand." Edgar said cryptically and then sighed, his icy displeasure draining from him to leave him weary-looking.

 Just looking at the man now that much of the energy animating had left him, John could see that the siege had taken a lot out of Edgar Morne. The man obviously had gotten very little sleep over the last month, with bags under his eyes. He'd been pushed to the end of his rope to try and make their resistance against the misbegotten work.

 This weary Edgar looked at John, who still firmly maintained a cool standoffish calmness. Edgar sighed again at seeing this.

 "Sergeant White. John, I wish to speak to you, not as your superior, but as a father. It is about my daughter Irina," Edgar said looking at John to watch his reaction.

 Irina? What about her?

 John allowed a raised eyebrow in response.

 Seeing this, obviously not the response he had wanted, Edgar seemed discouraged but continued speaking.

 "I had hoped nothing would happen to me until my daughter at least had been married and had bore heirs for another house. She would be deeply tied to them and her safety assured in case I fell in my duty like many of my kin had before me. Yet that wasn't to be. Right now my daughter, my house, has no serious connections to any other.

 "You know that I am certain that Lord Godrick will be executing me as punishment for my extraordinary failure here, being saved only by the actions of a foreigner who had come from outside the Lands Between. But it will not end at just executing me. I am certain that all my family's possessions and holdings will be stripped from us as well.

 "As the last man of my line with no one to replace me, and with my daughter being blind and not yet having any children, he will see that the Mornes have much land, wealth, and power and many vassals, yet our use to him has run out as we will be an empty house with my demise, only holding a single unwed daughter.

 "He will strip us of everything under the pretense of punishment and give it to someone who will be of use to him."

 John could easily see how that would be the case. People crowed about morality a lot, but often threw it out the wind for the easy, practical answer when the rubber met the road. And he didn't blame them for it either. It just meant that they were animals, and you didn't get mad at the fox for wanting to eat a chicken.

 If you didn't want that outcome you just dealt with it and arranged it so the fox would never be tempted or able to follow his nature.

 "Some of the commonfolk are envious of the holdings of great bloodlines like mine, but they often forget that everything we have hinges on our loyalty and usefulness to our own lord, in an even more severe way than their prosperity is tied to their own relationship with their land's local lord.

 "No doubt what is left of my bloodline, Irina, will be attainted after I am executed. And the Mornes will be a noble bloodline no more.

 "Lord Godrick will take our lands and wealth to give them to someone more useful. The land of Morne, the castle, and everything my family holds will be given to whichever of my current vassals Lord Godrick finds most useful to himself.

 "With my death and without any lands, position, or possessions, all my family's longtime allies will abandon Irina, and any potential allies who were courting my daughter's hand will grow cold."

 John had no idea Edgar's family was so isolated. Really, Edgar must have been terrible at politicking if he let things get like this.

 "I can't send her to an ally because they will most likely offer her up to be eliminated by whomever is selected to rule over the Weeping Peninsula after me to prevent any future conflicts due to any children she might bear.

 "Without me here any longer, with no land, and with no possessions, being nearly blind and alone and unable to find any work due to her weak eyesight, she will be helpless out in the wider world if I don't arrange for someone to look after her."

 Now John realized where Edgar was going with this.

 Edgar gazed soulfully at John.

 "I suspect if nothing is done and if what I believe to be my punishment comes, that she will swiftly end up dead or find herself a beggar whore, a prostitute in a brothel. A fate I refuse to see for my daughter.

 "Ever since I have had this realization halfway through the rebellion, I have been looking to see how I could save my daughter from this fate. I need someone trustworthy who can help look after her and protect her after my death.

 "I had been considering Crann Stormfeather, who had shown great interest in her, would be a good candidate, but you know as well as I do that that had been doomed to failure from the start."

 John agreed that the Crann option was doomed, for multiple reasons.

 The first was that the bastard had ended up dead. Obviously, that was an obstacle to getting married.

 Then there was that Crann had probably only been after Irina in the first place because of Edgar's position and the fact she looked good. Without Edgar holding his positions as Lord of Morne and High Marshal after his death, John suspected that Crann would have abandoned her for another good-looking daughter that brought him political benefit.

 John had worked with Crann for a few weeks, not to mention what he had learned from his fraud and what others had said about him since, and knew the sort of man the guy was.

 A real nepotistic piece of work, just like a rich kid or bureaucrat who got along through cheating and using others rather than being of worth themself. Literally, his only redeeming feature was his martial prowess.

 But, unlike most of the people in the Lands Between, personal might wasn't enough to justify tolerating such bad behavior to John. It had felt good to help toss the prick from that window, even if he had later turned out to be terrible in one less way than everyone had thought.

 If Crann had lived and Edgar had given him control over Irina, John suspected that he would have just had his fun with her and then left her to die on the streets. Or maybe he would have kept her as a 'mistress' that was little better than a sex slave, whom he did whatever he wanted to and kept her fed and clothed and maybe even entertained, but otherwise she'd have had no choice or influence on anything.

 Still, it had to suck for Edgar that he had thrown away his last-ditch safety net for his daughter over a huge misunderstanding, even if it probably was good for Irina that things had turned out that way. It helped explain why Edgar had been so majorly pissed off the day before when he had learned from John that Crann hadn't been a traitor.

 But John didn't voice any of these thoughts to Edgar as the man continued speaking. They wouldn't help anything and John suspected that Edgar disagreed with his assessment of Crann.

 "After Knight Major Crann's death, I started looking for other options, but most of the rest of the men that I trusted and would have considered had died in the initial attack of the rebellion before we even knew that an attack was happening. They may have even been targeted for that reason.

 "After that, the last few I would have preferred, including your former officer Knight Lieutenant Carth, were sent on those sallies and ended up being slaughtered. Marvion whispering in Crann's ear advice he repeated to me that we send my most trusted men on those sallies, no doubt for his traitorous cause.

 "I was forced into looking for other people who might look after her. So my daughter and I have been subtly investigating a handful of men here who might be suitable."

 John's talk with Irina flashed through his mind. It seemed that much more had been going on there than John had thought.

 Now that he thought about it, Edgar had been showing him quite a bit of favor the entire siege. He'd been pretty friendly to a low-ranked foreign irregular in charge of a small number of his men. John had been brought into some things he'd no right to be in at all as well, like Edgar's negotiation with Morsh.

 John had thought that was because of his actions to help their side or that Edgar just liked him, his personality or values or something,. How much of that had been genuine and how much of it had been Edgar vetting him? Before and after Crann's defenestration?

 John's head spun as he realized that Edgar wasn't nearly as straightforward as he'd thought.

 "We feel that you are the most trustworthy among the men who we have vetted, and I am not sure how much time I have left to keep searching."

 "A big part of that is, ironically, your nature as a foreigner, which would normally make you more untrustworthy. You do not have any ties to Lord Godrick or the bloodlines of Limgrave and the Weeping Peninsula. No reason to offer her up to be eliminated.

 Edgar looked at John's face, a plea in his eyes.

 "All this to say, I ask you, John White, will you take my daughter with you and protect her? As a favor from a soon-to-be dead father."

 John could feel his pulse begin pounding.

 This fucking hypocrite!

 He had just condemned John's friend to death, and here he wanted John to save his daughter! And from his earlier frustration with John's plans to leave tomorrow, the bastard had wanted to wait until after John's friend had been executed and John was 'over it' before approaching him with this.

 The only reason John was even hearing about this right now instead of after the executions was because he had told Edgar he was leaving before they happened.

 John felt his esteem for Edgar drop more. The man had high standards for his own behavior, and John would admire someone who had principles and followed them, but Edgar was betraying all of that and his own daughter for his fixation with revenge, which he seemed to hold higher than anything else.

 He guessed that was why in the game Edgar was just a named NPC in the game and not a special character like Commander Niall. He was notably above the common mooks but he wasn't truly exceptional.

 This bastard, asking John for this after what he had tried to do. Being a ruler of an entire region for so long must have rotted Edgar's brain from getting his way too often.

 And John wasn't stupid either, even if he wasn't experienced in court politics bullshit. There was more to why he was getting this offer right now than Edgar was telling him, even if John didn't know what those reasons were.

 He had played hardball with John earlier. Let's see how he liked it. John still remembered how Morsh had negotiated with Edgar, and John had him over a barrel as well.

 John met Edgar's plea-filled eyes with a cold, hard stare.

 "How about this? You let my friend Sihlas go with me, and I'll take her.

 "No!" Edgar shouted, his weariness instantly turning to anger before he realized what he was doing and regained his composure again.

 John wasn't feeling particularly generous.

 "I am not stupid. I can see the implication behind your actions. You wouldn't be pursuing me like this after I asked for Sihlas to be let go if you had another option besides me. You would have just dismissed me and asked them instead. Maybe have come back to me tomorrow morning if they said no. There is no one else you have found suitable to protect Irina.

 "So, if you want me to make sure Irina doesn't end up turning tricks on the street corner for the men who come to rule this castle after you, then I want my friend's life."

 Edgar looked like he wanted to explode as reddened at John's crudely provocative words.

 Normally, John would have been fine looking after an innocent and nice person like Irina, but Edgar had been the one to start this bullshit. And John wasn't concerned about her dying and turning into Hyetta anymore. She'd probably just live a sucky life, but not die, if John didn't take her.

 Edgar would do everything he could to keep her alive, John was sure. Well, everything except give up on a small part of his revenge.

 "Absolutely not! You think I will allow one of those monsters to travel with my daughter!? They have been eating our men's corpses for weeks! I've seen it with my own eyes through a telescope!"

 Wait, was that why Edgar was being so stupid about this?

 John felt his growing contempt for the man diminish, but not disappear, and felt a small amount of respect return.

 If that really was why Edgar was being this way about Sihlas and it wasn't just a justification for getting what he wanted, then John could understand why the man was opposed. But just because John could understand, didn't mean he agreed or respected it.

 Intentions mattered, but actions mattered more. One could make up for the other, but no amount of well-meaning made up for messing up your daughter's only apparent chance at a decent life and flushing it down the toilet.

 "Okay." John said simply and abruptly as he broke their stare-down with a shrug.

 That brought up Edgar short.

 "What? Okay? You accept taking Irina?" Edgar asked nonplussed at John's sudden reversal.

 John gave him a disgustingly smarmy smirk.

 "No. I meant, okay, we don't have a deal. We'll not do either. I am not here to appease you to get your favor.

 "Maybe your time as ruler of Morne has made you forget that not everyone is supposed to always be sucking up to you. I am not here to beg for a reward from you. I'm here to save my friend's life. You can keep it if you want to try and hold it hostage above my head. I'll just leave without it.

 "You can ungratefully have Sihlas, who saved your and your daughter's lives, executed, and you can drive away the man who you are looking to try and have look after her. Maybe have me killed for my mean words right now as well. I can't control you. You are the one in charge here," John said flippantly, and Edgar flinched at his sharp tone, not refuting John.

 "All this for whatever small goals you have in your head that are more important. Probably something like revenge or whatever. Well you can have your revenge against your daughter's savior. All it will cost you is your loyalty, your daughter's future well-being, and the life of one of the two men primarily responsible for Castle Morne not being a graveyard ruled over by Gharriel at this moment.

 "I remember you spoke of that before. Loyalty being a man's most important quality. Well, gratitude is part of loyalty.

 "Clearly, you hold more loyalty to your idea of revenge than your daughter and your saviors," John finished his rant scathingly, a look of disgust on his face even if his mind was relatively calm and much more detached from the situation than he showed to the High Marshal in front of him who was shaking with anger in of him.

 It was ironic to John that he still thought badly of Edgar for him not being honest and sticking to his contract with the misbegotten, meanwhile, here he was dishonestly perpetuating a lie and using it to make some leverage for himself.

 Well, John would never claim that he wasn't a hypocrite even if he tried not to be one. But if the choice was between being a hypocrite and saving Sihlas, he'd take his friend's life over adherence to some notion of purity of principle.

 He'd pick dirty hands and a clean soul over the clean hands and a dirty soul. The second seemed to be the fetish of those who were overly obsessed with moral purity.

 John didn't show any of this, however, and he kept up his half-faked facade of disgust as he stood across the paperwork-covered table.

 Edgar wasn't some timid person that would just stand there and meekly take it. He angrily pointed a gauntleted finger at John.

 "You! You! How dare you talk to a man above your station in that manner! You do not realize what you are doing, foreigner."

 John raised an eyebrow.

 "Above me? How quaint. You've bought your own bullshit that you noble-blooded idiots spew down the peasants' throats to justify why things are the way they are. To justify why they have to listen to you and why your authority matters more than anything else, even their own well-being."

 John gave Edgar a smile full of teeth.

 "As for me being a foreigner and not knowing what I am doing, it is the opposite. I realize exactly what I am doing. Did you know in my homeland we have no more nobles? They either all gave up their stations or we killed them."

 Edgar didn't react well to this either.

 "Now you threaten me!? You are dismissed. Leave before I do something I cannot take back."

 John coolly stared at Edgar's red face as his superior heaved for breath before he turned and walked to the study door.

 It seemed his aping of Morsh's tactics hadn't worked out. He had went too far. But John wasn't going to fixate on his mistakes. Lesson learned, time to move on. Not everything was lost yet.

 As he walked to the door of the study, John was already calculating how he would bust the misbegotten out of their cells to cause chaos and let him and Sihlas slip away but minimize the chance Irina would be killed.

 How he could manage to escape pursuit when Edgar inevitably realized that it was John behind it. He'd have to warn Kalé and make sure he left or he'd be interrogated about John. Which wouldn't be good or pleasant for either him or John.

 John reached the door and opened it-

 "Wait!"

 John stopped and turned his head toward Edgar.

 The look on the man's face was very unpleasant. Like he had just swallowed a mouthful of shit, even as John could tell Edgar tried to forcefully regain his composure.

 "Come back and let's talk, Sergeant White. At least I can be certain you won't be afraid to confront those with authority for my daughter."

 As John closed the door and walked back to the table, he suppressed a triumphant smile.

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 As John marched his way down the hallway, his adrenaline was still high from all the tension that had been in the room as he and Edgar discussed everything.

 Edgar hadn't liked it at all, but he'd had to bargain with John, and John had gotten all the major things he had wanted out of the man.

 John wasn't going to be naive either. Edgar might go back on his word like he had with the misbegotten. Especially with how much he hadn't wanted to let Sihlas go. Which was why he had arranged things so that Edgar wouldn't have time to screw him over.

 It was go time.

 He had a small pile of writs from the High Marshal in his hand and he'd already made a short stop at the Quartermaster to drop some of them off, most notably the one for the retrieval of the donkey named Rabbit.

 He was leaving effective immediately as soon as he got everything he had negotiated with Edgar arranged, so John was doing his best to haul ass as it was close to sundown. Even now, if Edgar was playing it straight with him, the man was on his way to help his daughter make her own arrangements to come with them.

 John had considered the possibility of something like this immediate need to leave happening as a result of his talk with Edgar yesterday, though he had thought it was remote back then. So despite his rather sudden incoming departure, John already had all his meager things packed up and set with the rest of his stuff in Kalé's room that had been on Rabbit.

 His and Edgar's camaraderie may have been trashed from John confronting and insulting the man, but it had gotten John what he wanted.

 On Edgar's request, they had both agreed to not mention the details of how exactly their discussion had gone down with Irina. Best not to sour his relationship with his charge over what was history at this point.

 Or maybe Edgar wanted to poison his daughter's opinion of John with lies about what had occurred and didn't want John to talk about it, so the lies didn't have light shined on them. But John doubted that was the case as he didn't see how such a scheme could benefit Edgar or Irina.

 John thought the possibility was remote. As to why go through all this effort just to screw over his own daughter that John knew for absolute certain Edgar cared deeply about and he seemed to be doing all this for? But John he'd been wrong about and out-foxy by the bastard multiple times already.

 After all, could a man really live for two thousand years and have never broken a single promise? Even just unintentionally or because of circumstances outside his control?

 No, Edgar had shown John he wasn't someone to be taken lightly or underestimated, even if he does a very good job at appearing exceptionally straightforward despite being a lord who had been in charge of an entire region for hundreds of years.

 As for their relationship being damaged, it wouldn't matter for long. If Edgar was right, he wouldn't be alive or High Marshal for much longer, and John was heading to his hundrier right now with a writ that explained that John, and any of his twenty that wished to follow him, were being released from their service as irregulars.

 John still needed to get to Kalé and talk about exactly what was going on, and apologize for all dropping this on him without asking, but he had other matters to attend to first to be able to give Kalé the full rundown of what exactly was going to happen.

 Besides, John suspected Kalé would figure out the rough picture of what was happening when a man with Rabbit turned up to his room, and he doubted his friend would overly care about their new tag-alongs.

 He headed to the section of barracks the irregulars were assigned and made his way to his hundrier's room. It was only a few rooms down from his own private twentier's room which itself was close to his men's bunk room.

 All deliberately close to each other so the chain of command would be as close as possible to the men if any action was needed.

 John knocked on his hundrier's door hoping the man was hiding-sorry-relaxing in there like he usually was. He heard his superior's assent and entered his hundrier's room.

 The room was of moderate size, about a third again as large as John's had been due to it being a little longer. His hundrier had a few shelves with books and some small things like tools or heirlooms that were beautifully engraved that showed the heraldry and wealth of the noble house and family he had come from.

 In the corner was a large and oddly long medieval bed. For a man of the incredible stature of his hundrier, it was a little larger than a typical twin-size bed, though it was a little nicer and with fancier bedclothes than the plain bed in John's room.

 His hundrier, one of the large fringefolk knights, sat at his table full of half-organized paperwork in just a plain tunic and pants made of soft high-quality cloth, rather than the rough fabrics typical of townsfolk. He'd taken off his elaborate armor which was set on a large armor stand next to the table.

 John approached him and handed the man a particular writ.

 His hundrier wasted no time in reading it.

 After he was done, he stood up and clasped John's arm with a mournful smile on his face.

 "So you're leaving us Sergeant. I thought you would make a great permanent addition to the garrison after all this was over, but it seems that wasn't to be. It was great fighting with you, a reliable officer. One of the better I've had in a few centuries.

 "If any of the men of your twenty want to follow you, they are free to leave as well. The writ says you're all good to keep your equipment, except the surcoats.

 "Safe travels. And I'd say watch out for those demihumans, but they should watch out for you. Ha!"

 John took off his surcoat which bore the tree-and-beast heraldry of Godrick right there and handed it to the man.

 "Thank you Sir. For everything. I learned a lot from you and your men. About how to fight and how to command. I wish you well and I hope we see each other again someday."

 His hundrier took his surcoat, and John headed for his twenty's room.

 The rooms of the men weren't very far from where the officers slept, so it didn't take long for him to arrive.

 The room was filled with twenty bunks cramped together with a simple wooden trunk lying at the feet of each bed. There were a few tables and chairs, but not enough for all the men to sit at once.

 He saw the five with Butcher and his other former squadmates were sitting around their beds bullshitting, as they usually did at this time of evening.

 John walked up to them.

 "Sergeant!" they said as they turned to him.

 "Not anymore," John said. "I'm back from speaking with Lord Edgar, and as you can guess from my lack of surcoat, he has permanently released me from service earlier this evening.

 "I have made arrangements with him for my immediate departure. As soon as my wagon is ready, I'll be heading out tonight.

 I apologize for dropping this on you so suddenly, but if you five wish to join me, you can keep the rest of your equipment. Just make sure to leave your surcoat on your bed."

 "So quickly?" Cobbler questioned, surprised, "Well, this was unexpected, but I am ready to follow you."

 "What did you do, fool around with the High Marshal's daughter?" Hauler mocked John even as he hopped off his bed and began gathering things from his trunk.

 "We the only ones who are going? What about that merchant friend you got?" asked Butcher.

 John nodded at Butcher.

 "I'm glad you asked that Butcher. There is me, my nomadic merchant friend Kalé, as well as a woman who had decided to come with me-"

 "So I was close! Our twentier has gotten 'imself a women!" interrupted Hauler as the men did let out a small cheer, attracting the attention of the fives in the room even as they continued their own discussions.

 Hauler wasn't done.

 "Do you guys think she's one of them fair-skinned noble daughters? I bet their hands are soft."

 John raised his voice slightly to try and get back control of the conversation from them and to cut Hauler off to not learn anymore things about him he'd rather not know.

 "And-and-and you should know, I will also be bringing a misbegotten named Sihlas."

 The cheers from the men he'd been talking to died. The rowdy conversation from the other fives in the room abruptly stopped. Hauler dropped the junk he was holding back into his trunk, stood up, and turned. He marched over to John getting in his face.

 "You're taking one of them fuckers!?" said Hauler full of outrage, which began spreading to the others. "After everything they've done!?"

 John looked at Hauler firmly and did not back away from the shorter, stocky man as he got close.

 "Yes. Sihlas and my's friendship extends back before the rebellion. He's a teenager, a child. He may have participated, but I seriously doubt he had any hand in planning and pushing for the rebellion. He'd have to have done it at 12. He had as much say in what happened as any of you."

 "Now you're defending 'em!" accused Hauler, his accent thickening slightly in his anger.

 John frowned and stared Hauler down, his loud-mouthedness not intimidating John a bit.

 "Yes. I am. He is my friend. Hauler, you and the others are decent men, and I'll welcome you if you come. But if you all have problems with it, then don't come."

 "I won't! I'd never 'ave thought you would be one of them traitors, Scholar. Guess I was right. Can never trust you bookish, fancy-talkin' types," finished Hauler hatefully.

 John looked at the others who had said they wanted to join him.

 "Is that how you all feel as well?" John asked.

 None of them spoke up to deny it. Instead they just looked at him in either disgust, outrage, or a mix of the two.

 John took a quick look around the room at the rest of his former men who had gone quiet. He found similar looks on their faces. John looked back at the five he had once been fivier of.

 "Fine. The offer is open if any of you change your minds. I'll be leaving as soon as everything is prepared. If you aren't at my wagon in the courtyard lift tonight when I leave, then that'll be that."

 John walked towards the door back out to the corridor, when he remembered something and paused at the threshold, turning back to the men.

 "One last thing. Don't go talking about that bit about the misbegotten and spreading it around. The High Marshal will be very angry. He doesn't want word of this known everywhere, and if everyone is talking about this in the mess, Lord Edgar will know which twenty spread it."

 With that, John turned a final time and headed out into the corridor.

 He started making his way to his next destination, the disapproval of his former men already fading from his mind.

 They'd been good comrades in combat, but at the end of the day, they were men of the Golden Order, and they'd just fought a desperate war against the misbegotten. He hadn't had high hopes that they'd be exceptions even if it was disappointing to see this particular expectation of his met.

_____________________________________________

 "Here are the runes," the treasury officer said as he stuck out his hand towards John who resisted the urge to tap his foot in impatience.

 John stuck out his own hand and the man began transferring runes towards him. Five thousand of them.

 About a third more than he'd gotten from executing Gharriel, and another significant step towards having enough runes for another hallowing.

 It was all that Edgar had felt he could spare with how much resources the coming reconstruction of everything would take. They'd have to lower or get rid of taxes for years as the towns were slowly rebuilt and repopulated.

 Getting these runes had taken more than twice as long as it should have.

 Turns out a regular clerk couldn't just authorize a writ to give John that many runes despite the fact she knew it was legitimate and from the lord and High Marshal of the castle. The woman had to go get her superior.

 But it was done with now. He just had one more writ left to execute, but first, it was time to go to Kalé.

 "Thank you! Sorry for getting you from your room. Goodbye!" John said before he ducked out of the doorway and started making his way down the corridor.

 John moved quickly as he went down the hall. He'd kept Kalé waiting more than long enough.

 It looked like he wasn't done with difficult conversations for the night either.

 He and Kalé needed to have a talk. About their situation.

 With the soon-to-be lack of privacy from two new members joining their caravan, if John wanted to have a conversation with Kalé without his new companions listening in, the time was now or never.

 John had decided it was time for him and Kalé to stop keeping secrets from each other. It was time that John told Kalé what had caused John to endanger his life and why.

 It was time for John to tell Kalé about the fact he had meta-knowledge.

 At this point, keeping it hidden had far more downsides than coming clean. Keeping his closest ally in the dark and hamstringing himself by having to go through hoops wasn't going to cut it anymore.

 Not if John was gonna start being serious about all this now. John also just plain didn't want to tiptoe around Kalé and have to find reasonable justifications for his knowledge.

 He had mostly been keeping it secret to this point due to inertia from having kept quiet about it for years, with a couple minor slip ups here and there.

 They had been friends for years during his time at the church, but that had all been fair weather on Kalé's end. Kalé had really proven himself over the last few months, and especially since the start of the rebellion, as a truly solid friend.

 So John didn't mind telling the man about the fact he knew things that he had no business or conventional way of knowing.

 He was also considering telling Kalé some of that knowledge if after his revelation about possessing meta-knowledge his relationship with Kalé wasn't damaged and his friend proved himself even more trustworthy than John already thought he was.

 But before John was willing to do something like that, first John needed to see if he could put his absolute trust in Kalé and receive the same from him.

 He would not allow everything he had worked towards here in Morne to come undone because he ignored a yellow bomb that was ticking away in his friend that Kalé thought he was keeping John in the dark about.

 John needed to see if Kalé would tell him about his Frenzied Flame.

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