Foxtails and Fairytales: Facades and Fables of the Phantom Prince

[Arc 13] Ch. 1 Succession War

[Benedict Elkwood]

As the Fourth Marquis of Elkwood I rose in fame and inherited my title through merit after the last war with a neighboring kingdom. I have lived a relatively unexceptional life outside of succeeding my father at a young age and staying out of the political scene. I'm fairly young for a Marquis but my father has been easing me into the role. It's all thanks to a special battalion I created from the ground up. It's made of freed slaves that were demonkin, beastkin, and half elves.

Growing up as a human I never liked the way they were treated and convinced my father I could use the slaves better than their current managers out in the fields.

And I did.

I motivated them with pay, freedom, and a better life. Every birthday I asked for two things. Funding, and to stay away from the noble court (political drama, and marriage interviews). By the time I reached my sixteenth year most of the slaves had become free, being able to buy their freedom and their kin's freedom. The community became more accepting of the productive ex-slaves and then something surprising happened.

A contingent of elven freedom fighters staged a 'rescue' after hearing about the many half elves I had purchased. To their surprise the conditions of the slaves exceeded their expectations. And the half elves even without slave crests refused to leave. They freedom fighters then broke into my room in the dead of night and interrogated me.

The true elven warriors were unlike anything I'd known before in my training. I'd heard of the great Hero Trainer Zorlo but it seemed like his proficiency for the arts of war was not lost on the rest of his race. I struck a bargain with them after we reached an understanding about my motivations. Which was to genuinely increase the state of living for all of the people within my territory.

That bargain involved me 'recovering' an elven child. Which translated to a pretty troublesome venture when I encountered the first prince of the kingdom Vance Gildeshire. Together we rescued not only the elven 'child' but also a whole pack of slaves. More like he wanted to save them but didn't have anyone to dump them on.

Vance Gildeshire is by far the most troublesome person I have ever met and had the displeasure of calling my best friend. Since that day I've received nothing but headaches from him and his schemes.

But back to the elves, it turned out that the elven child had an extremely high aptitude for magic. And that several of the other captives were family members of the Elite Elven Guards that broke into my room and went with me to stage the rescue. I had not only completed my part of the bargain but placed several High-ranking Elves in my debt.

My accomplishment was so endearing that I was taken to the elven kingdom and was able to meet one of the Twin kings of the elves. When I was asked for what I'd like as repayment. The thing I feared most was retaliation from the slavers and the powers-that-be behind them. So I turned down money and requested training for my people. A dangerous proposition since my territory borders the lake that separates the human kingdoms from the elven kingdoms, and we haven't exactly had a peaceful history.

I was granted my request with a list of obvious conditions involving not using my forces to attack the elves in a psuedo-peace agreement.

Seven years later my army was instrumental in a war with a neighboring kingdom and I achieved more glory than I ever wanted and was able to succeed my father.

All of my hard work to stay out of politics went out the window.

Nothing made that more clear than the day my best good friend Vance graced me with a request I couldn't refuse.

*

"I refuse." I declared. I was sitting on a couch in a waiting room. I was having such a good day. Now even the honey lemon tea I had prepared had turned unpleasantly sour. As a marquis, my family estate was fairly well off and we were allowed to have a much larger standing army to "defend the border". The taxes we collected were reasonable and as the current Marquis I made sure our wealth was put to good use. Without burdening the populace.