Kingdombuilding: All My Inventions Are Novelty

A gentle breeze carried a drizzle, scattering lightly over the road.

On the official path to Brambleford City, merchants and travellers hurried along. Though May was approaching, the lingering chill in the air seemed to thicken with the spring rain.

Among the mixed flow of merchants and commoners, a pair of bailiffs with their hands resting on their waist knives stood out conspicuously. The pedestrians instinctively kept their distance.

Strangely, however, the two bailiffs seemed to treat the prisoner walking ahead of them with unusual respect, nothing like the impatience they typically showed toward other convicts.

”General Benjamin, Brambleford City lies just ahead.”

Catching sight of the city walls in the distance, one bailiff spoke cautiously.

The prisoner wore a grey convict’s uniform; his hair was streaked with grey and tangled, his long beard dotted with bits of straw. The thick calluses on his hands bore witness to years of hard labour.

”Mm. My thanks to you both.”

Benjamin glanced at Brambleford City. He had thought he would spend the rest of his life toiling in the mines, but half a month ago, Alaric had exiled him here instead. When the news arrived, even the mine overseers’ attitudes toward him had shifted.

Back in the mines, those overseers had never cared about his past military glories. To them, he was just another labourer doomed to die in servitude.

But now, they had suddenly become obsequious, even attentive, on the journey. Clearly, they sensed this old general was about to make a comeback.

”Not at all, not at all! Escorting General Benjamin to Brambleford is an honour for us.” The bailiffs smiled ingratiatingly.

In the mines, they had treated Benjamin harshly. Now that this famously hot-tempered general was returning to power, they were terrified of retaliation.

To their surprise, however, Benjamin had remained calm throughout the journey, treating them with courtesy and respect.

It seemed five years of hard labour had smoothed the edges of this old warrior.

”Is that General Benjamin ahead?”

A loud call rang out. A young man in plate armour strode toward Benjamin.

Benjamin’s gaze first fell on the youth’s armour before rising to his face. ”And you are?”

”General, I’m Liam!”

Ever since Simon had tasked him with arranging Benjamin’s reception, Liam had waited at the city gates daily. Three days later, he finally spotted the bailiffs escorting him.

He had met Benjamin in Eldora, but five years had aged the once-vibrant general into a gaunt, weathered figure, hence his initial uncertainty.

”Liam? Lancet’s second son?”

”Exactly! Six years ago, I played at your estate.” Liam grinned.

Benjamin reached out and gripped Liam’s shoulder. ”Mm. Six years have gone by in a blink. You’ve grown into someone I barely recognise, though I can still see that old rogue Lancet in you.”

Liam chuckled. During their time as generals, Lancet and Benjamin had always stood together.

Noticing the rain thickening, Liam said. *Uncle Benjamin, this isn’t the place to talk. The Prince of Brambleford specifically ordered me to bring you to the castle as soon as you arrived.”

”The Prince of Brambleford?” Benjamin’s mood soured. Since Alaric had exiled him to the mines, he had grown disillusioned with the court, with the emperor, with everything. ”What does a disgraced minister like me have to discuss with a prince? Just take me to my new labour site.”

Liam was taken aback. ”Uncle, why say such things? His Majesty sent you to Brambleford to return you to service, to resist the reavers!”

During the journey, the bailiffs had shared some Brambleford gossip, but as lowly functionaries, they knew nothing of court affairs like the impending reaver invasion.

Still, the eunuch who delivered the edict had been unusually deferential to Benjamin, convincing them the general was being reinstated.

”Reavers?” Benjamin’s eyes sharpened.

Liam hesitated, glancing at the bailiffs. ”You two, go claim your reward at the magistrate’s office, then return on your own.”

”Yes, sir!” The bailiffs brightened and hurried into the city.

Only then did Liam explain. ”Uncle, His Majesty exiled you to Dunmere for hard labour, but secretly, through Lady Isolde, he ordered the Prince of Brambleford to reinstate you. The reavers will invade soon, and Dunmere is in peril. Do you truly wish to watch the city you once bled to defend fall again?”

”Is this true?” Benjamin seemed to awaken like a slumbering lion. ”Your Majesty... After six years, have you finally understood?”

Equally stirred, Liam said, ”His Majesty tacitly approved my coming to Brambleford. But the situation is too complex now. Come meet the prince, he’ll explain everything.”

Benjamin’s disillusionment with Alaric stemmed from repeated concessions to the reavers. Years ago, stationed at Dunmere, he had been forced to watch helplessly as lands were ravaged, forbidden to deploy a single soldier.

That memory had haunted him ever since.

Now, at last, Alaric had come to his senses.

”Very well. Let’s go at once.”

At the castle, they learned Simon had left for the Armaments Department early that morning and hadn’t yet returned. They settled in to wait.

Curious, Benjamin asked, ”Why would the prince visit the Armaments Department?”

In his experience, princes never set foot in such lowly places.

Liam smiled. ”That’s precisely what makes the Prince of Brambleford different. If I told you one thing, Uncle, you’d be even more shocked.”

”What?”

”In just a few months, the Prince of Brambleford has executed or exiled most of Brambleford’s noble clans. The survivors have fled to the mountains as bandits. Strange, no?”

”Truly? I recall the Goldwynd, Redwyck, Chandlier and Duskry families once dominated Brambleford.”

”Now the Goldwynd and Redwyck clans are extinct, their properties confiscated. The Chandelier and Duskry families voluntarily disbanded their private armies and live purely as merchants.”

Benjamin nodded slowly. ”This Simon was the most wayward of all the princes in Eldora. Who’d have thought he’d grow so bold?”

Liam’s initial impression of Simon had also been colored by his Eldora reputation. But the longer he stayed in Brambleford, the more he sensed something extraordinary about the man.

The city’s thriving atmosphere alone proved Simon’s popularity.

It was this, more than any poem, that had gradually softened Liam’s prejudice.

As they spoke, a hearty laugh approached. Simon, astride a fine horse and surrounded by guards, arrived at the castle.