The Ancient World Order

Chapter 9: Julian Magnicus of The Empire

"For fuck's sake!" Aldus snapped, burying his face in his palm.

"I will bring one immediately!"

"No no, never mind!" Aldus insisted. "The bottle will do fine."

Aldus drained half the bottle in a matter of seconds. "Nothing cures a hangover as more wine. Thank the almighty Magnus for that!"

The squire remained in the room as Aldus got dressed; with the prime purpose was to act as a hanger. He shied away as Aldus showed him his private parts.

What a dorky little boy! Aldus thought as he looked at the embarrassed young squire.

While putting on his pants, Aldus offered the squire the bottle. "Don't be shy, try it!" He encouraged the squire.

"I can't my lord, father says I am too young." The squire said.

"Ah come on, you should really try it! Do you know what fine selection you brought me?" Aldus stopped halfway through while putting his pants on. "Who is your father by the way?"

"Lord Gary Bucksby." The squire said, standing at attention as he said the name.

Aldus made a bizarre laughter. "Bucksby? Your father is the overly fat and pompous one?"

"I guess that would be him. I am his son and heir of Brittle town, Harland." The squire replied proudly.

The Bucksby house had been vassals to House Morg for more than hundreds of years. There was nothing special to them. They had neither rich land, any army to speak of nor any resources to trade with. They were simply uninteresting, an average house, as Charles always said. Their family resided in the Brittle castle in Brittleton. Just as their house, the castle was a minor one.

"Of course, you are!" Aldus said as he embraced Harland. "Forgive me Harland, but I am a bit hungry. I have to meet up with my siblings for breakfast!"

"It is lunchtime now, my lord." Harland replied.

"As I suspected." Aldus said. "I always preferred a steady lunch before a boring breakfast. May I ask you to tidy up here? It seems that my servants are currently busy somewhere else. But that shouldn't affect my tidiness, should it?"

Harland shook his head.

"Good, then we have an understanding." Aldus said as he exited his room.

Outside his quarters, Aldus strolled around in the yard, swallowing fresh air to clear his head. As he thought back on what happened yesterday during the feast, a mind battle took place in his head. Back and forth he reconstructed conversation and arguments he should have said or not said. He concluded, if he would have taken it easy with the booze, he would have crushed them all.

The fat merchant from Estaria especially! Kandu, was that his name? Aldus went through their conversation, over and over. What a deplorable accent! And the ideas he had! Laughable, advocating for the free trade cities exempt from taxes, how that would make the nations prosper.

The further Aldus thought about it, the more it annoyed him. He remembered he had a good argument, but just couldn't remember what.

On the way to his sister terrace, between the training grounds and the exotic gardens, there was a minor gathering of Imperator guards and Sir Donn, the captain of the Morg household guard, and Sir Marden. They rather appeared to be some grunts with brute jokes.

The two knights were the same breed, they both originated from small insignificant houses, earning their position by excelling in combat and was fiercely loyal. That's why they were well suited as brutish bodyguards rather than anything else, they were not really the commander types.