The God-Emperor Breathes Again

by Count Talon of Ransom

Ledgers, Meetings, and Revelation

Griffenheim, The Imperial Palace. 7:57 AM.

---

Kaiser Grover still hasn't gotten his ledgers. He sighs, slumping down in his chair, he could feel one of his guards stare at him though he didn't care. He had hoped his vassals would arrive for the bloody 8 AM meeting a little early... apparently not. Of course, it wasn't all of his vassals, not even all of his major vassals, mostly because they either all left to go home or were occupied with other matters. It was just Count Ignatius Bronzetail of Bronzehill and Baron Leer the Vicious, along with the power couple that was Grand Duke Gerlach the Fourth, the Silent, of Feathisia and Duchess Gabriella of Strawberry, his cousin. Of course, that's what they were after the mist's appearance, now they were the same awkward duo who ruined his feast because they couldn't say they loved each other. He somehow sighs harder, his claws rubbing his eyes.
He takes a glance around, two knights behind him by his side, a fireplace directly behind him, and a glass-encased map of the Herzland area above it in the mantelpiece. It was the drawing-room, but it's mostly used nowadays as a room for quiet meetings between nobles and the Kaiser, at least outside the Diet. It's then that the door to the room suddenly opens and Grover jumps up, back into a near-perfect stance.

It's Leer who enters first, that scarred griffon who only managed to survive the Revolution thanks to the fact that Marshal Othmar was nearby with an imperial division, just one minute early. 'Thank the Gods', he thinks, the small smile on his face genuine, 'At least someone has some care for time.'

Leer raises an eyebrow at the Kaiser's appearance, "I'm surprised you're awake and not looking... awful, my liege. You drank as much as Ignatius and he looks..." Leer gives a slight snort as he sits down at the table, the second chair to Grover's left, "He looks like a car ran him over". Leer grabs his feathered hat, takes it off his head, and places it down on the table before starting to, probably unconsciously, scratch at his scars. "No offense of course sir, seeing you in any sort of good state is blessing enough for any day".

"Leer, it's just good enough you're on time, and please don't tell Count Ignatius any of that to his face. I rather not have a fight in this room," before Leer could respond, however, Gerlach enters the room, exactly at 8.

Grover stifles a groan, Gerlach is still wearing armor. Gerlach wears armor to practically every occasion apart from the events that actually promote armor-wearing! Even... well Grover guess it might as well be 30 years, but Grover remembers that one time that Gerlach forgot his armor during a tourney! Though, Gerlach still managed to make it to fifth place, even without his armor. Thankfully Gerlach looks completely sober and not hungover at all, unlike Leer, who is just a little hungover if all that blinking from the sunlight is to be believed. Gerlach probably didn't drink anything that night... now if only Grover could remember what the hell happened that night.

Gerlach wordlessly takes a seat on Grover's immediate right before asking the obvious in his blunt way of speaking, "You're not hungover. I'm surprised, I thought you had a..." Gerlach leans back against his chair, his armor clinking slightly as he does, clearly trying to think of the right word to use, "drinking contest... with Count Ignatius?" Grover gives the slightest of nods as Gerlach shakes his head, the tiniest of smiles on his beak, "He won't like it, but I doubt he'll get too upset your majesty," Gerlach slightly bows his head as he ends his sentence.

A singular minute passes by in silence, Gerlach, as his title says, makes little attempt at conversation; not like Leer or Grover started any either, Leer was more focused on a new painting behind Gerlach, some new piece painted for the 1006 new year, and Grover was absorbed in thought. Specifically about his plans; he knows the main reason why so many of his nobles broke their vassalage to him; his placement upon the Kristellthron. That, and the mist. No one wanted to be part of that. If he can just... live longer, then he could properly integrate at least the diamond dogs of Bronzehill, and that'd be the first domino to a properly united Herzland. He could already see it in his head, first Bronzehill, then Yale, probably Katrinburg after that, their monarch really need to go to a mental asylum, but who after that would- oh finally, another noble entered the room... at 8:02.

Grover gives a small sigh as his cousin enters the room, of course, the entire room hears it. Leer gives what sounds to be a humored grunt as he turns to Gabriella. Gerlach says nothing, glancing towards Gabriella for but a moment before looking down at his twiddling claws. Gabriella's eyes barely narrow, but it says enough; she isn't pleased, and she really doesn't need anything else on her. She sits down next to Gerlach, causing the Grand Duke to slightly lower his head.

'He really couldn't make it any more obvious couldn't he?' Grover thinks before turning to Gabriella, she looks slightly hungover, there's no makeup on her, not that she really puts anything but the bare minimum, at least for nobles, on anyway, and the shirt underneath her clearly hastily put-on coat looks like it was slept in. She looks as good as any person would after heavy drinking the night before.

"Duchess," Grover says, causing the slightest of eye twitches from the tired, hungover, griffon, "I see you... recovered, from last night... of course, if you need to move away from the room for any reason, we won't care," Grover knows that Leer, despite finding it very funny that the very proud Gabriella would ask permission for anything, wouldn't tell anyone about this, and Gerlach? Gerlach cares way too much about her to do that to her. Gabriella says nothing and slightly nods, before placing her head into her claws and resting them on the table. Leer barely contains an amused snort.

It stays like this for another 4 minutes. By the time Gabriella had drunk her 3rd cup of water, the knights in the room were more than willing to get her some, Leer finally asks, "Is that drunk dog even awake? Can we start the meeting now and tell him after he wakes up some hours later?"

Grover is about to answer when a diamond dog practically scrambles into the room and kneels before the group of nobles, "I apologize for my lord, but he is... unwell... he drunk a lot, your majesty... He will... be here by..." he looks up to a grandfather clock in the room, "uh... 8... 15?"

Leer laughs at the diamond dog, "And will he be fully clothed or will he look like his ancestors?"

Gerlach's head snaps to Leer, he gets up from his seat only for Grover to cut him off, "Leer, I know that you know that we had a drinking contest yesterday. I should have you know, that whatever condition Ignatius has when he comes through those doors are because of me, and not himself, or his ancestors. Unless you wish to say your Kaiser is somehow related to the slaves of Diamond Mountain in any way apart from being their descendant's liege lord".

Leer says nothing except raise an eyebrow, 'Curious...' Leer thinks as Grover reclines back into the chair, having almost gotten off said chair during his talk, 'normally Grover isn't so... obviously confrontational... maybe he deals with hungover...ness mentally and not physically... thank the Gods, if he looked any worse then normal, his guard's probably would've thought a necromancer killed the Kaiser.'

Gabriella takes a moment to shift her head to properly see Grover. 'That's... unusual', she thought 'Normally Grover doesn't...' she shuts her eyes again as another bout of dizziness takes her, she'll worry about her cousin's sudden mood change after she feels not hungover.

Gerlach leans back against his chair again, his face unreadable as he looks down at his twiddling claws again, in thought. 'Finally, it's good to see his majesty finally stand up for... well anyone.'

The diamond dog takes this calm moment to quickly run off, probably to tell Ignatius what happened and to hurry up... probably.

Right on cue, at 8:15, Count Ignatius walked into the room, his right arm in arm with a guard and a bag in his left hand. He looks like the word hungover. He's somehow dressed slightly better than Gabriella, though he still looks like he's going to pass out any second. The normally talkative Count says nothing as he's escorted to his seat opposite Gerlach.

He slowly blinks before turning to Grover, "I... apologize for my appearance," honestly Ignatius looked pretty fine... for someone who lost a drinking contest the night before, with only an old beer stain on the collar of his shirt. His shirt itself, like Gabriella's, looked as though it's been slept in. The most noticeable part about Ignatius' appearance was his hair, it was uh... not combed. It was also the peak image of bed hair. Honestly, Grover was glad neither Ignatius' son, Barnaby, nor his nephew, Rufus, was here right now or else the both of them would be howling with laughter at the otherwise highly groomed diamond dog.

"No apology needed, Count, I was the one who started the contest, after all".

"Uh..." Ignatius closes his eyes and lowers his head into one of his paws for a moment, whether in thought or in pain Grover didn't know, before looking back up to him, "I was the one who started it, your majesty".

"Ah, well... I probably misremembered, we did drink a lot that night," Grover really wished he could remember more about what happened last night and this year, but it's been practically decades since this meeting. He'd probably remember it as they go along... hopefully. "Now, the occasion as to why we were dragged out of beds half dead?"

"Something about-" Gerlach starts to speak before getting cut off by Leer.

"The occasion is about the fact that there's been an increase in monster attacks on the border of the Scheißwald Forest and we, once again asking for imperial funds in order to train more rangers for the forest," Leer says, somewhat embarrassed.

"And where did the last grant go, Leer?" Grover asked, barely remembering what happened all those decades ago, "I thought you said they were going to train more rangers as well?"

"They were, we just underestimated the number of monsters in those damn woods!"

"While... while you keep talking about that shit forest," Leer's feathers bristle a little as Ignatius speaks, slurring a little, "We need funds as well. A series of steel mills broke down with some very expensive damage, normally we wouldn't ask this but it's Imperial owned and we can't operate on it without going through the complete mess that is the Imperial-Bronzehill industrial bureaucracy in order to get a loan the proper way,"

Leer sputters, "W-You're breaking bureaucracy just to beg the Kaiser for who knows how much money, just to get some mills up and running? I need money so my peasants don't die from a monster attack while they're sleeping!" Grover knows for a damn fact that it'd take more than a little pocket change to fix those mills, he'd face the same problem after he was put on the throne and the only way to make sure they didn't break down again was to just completely rebuild the mills. Some kind of major foundation or construction fault or something.

"Leer, while yes, it is a problem, you shouldn't have underestimated the number of monsters in that Gods damned forest in the first place. And my people rely on those mills as well, more than half the steel in the county comes from those mills and if they break down then we'll have to scrap almost all of the construction plans for this year! That'll leave who knows how many workers out of jobs!"

Leer is ready to make another outburst when Grover stands up, pounding his claws on the table, accidentally scaring Gabriella awake from her almost-asleep situation. "Gentlebeings, enough! Leer, you'll have that funds, use them intelligently. If I find out you wasted it on some vanity project I will be less inclined to help you," despite the threat, Leer gains a smug smile as Ignatius is about to say something, "Ignatius, enough. Tax season is already here and I can get you your grant next month. Yes I know that's still too long but..." Grover turns to one of the knights in the room, "Knight, get me a map, actually stay there, I'll get it myself".

Grover gets up from the seat, turns around, and surprising a certain griffoness, flew to the mantelpiece and pried the map from its casing before flying back down to the table, placing the map down on it and pointing to an unmarked location in northern Bronzehill. "There's an old imperial-owned steel mill there, it has a lot of spares and you can take them, don't worry about breaking it, it's already abandoned," Grover remembered that spot when those mills broke down when he was upon the throne, he was told there was a decent amount of spares in an old steel mill around that place. Supposedly there was more but heavy fighting around the mill between his and Gabriella's forces during the Herzland Unification war destroyed a large number of spares.

Ignatius leaned over to better look only to raise an eyebrow, "How do you know there's anything there?"

"There was..." Grover quieted down for a moment, "Look, there is just some there, there used to be a battle site against the NRP during the revolution, I remember reading about it in an old report," Ignatius eye's narrowed, not really believing it, "Look, just believe me, it's there and there's enough for most if not all of the mills".

Ignatius said nothing for a moment before bowing to Grover, "Thank you, your majesty," he says before sitting back down.

"Knight, please put back this map," Grover quietly ordered as he gave the map to one of his knights before sitting back down, "Now that that's over, what else is on the occasion?"

No one says anything for a full minute until Gabriella finally breaks the silence, "Presumably nothing then, well great," she says getting up from her chair, "This was a waste of my time, I am heading back to my room," she then leans down to Gerlach and whispers something into his ear, though Gerlach doesn't physically react.

It's only when Gabriella leaves that Gerlach gets up as well, "Sadly, your majesty," Gerlach said as he gave a quick bow, "I have to return home to De Vleugels, last I heard, the LDP is getting a bit uppity with their coalition members and I rather not have the government deadlock itself while I'm not there," Gerlach leaves quickly, barely allowing Grover to even mutter thanks.

"Well," Leer says as he leans towards Grover, "I think Gerlach might've actually gotten over his shyness with ladies," Ignitus lets out a laugh before clutching his head in pain.

---

Gerlach found her right where she told him, in a hallway that was very much not near her room. Gabriella is looking out a window in thought. She clearly notices Gerlach coming and she speaks loudly, "Something's wrong with my cousin".

"And why do you say that? Because he stood up for himself once without devolving into a coughing fit?" Gerlach bluntly answered as he walked up to that same window and looked out it. It was a rather beautiful view of the city, far off in the distance, he could see the hill lands of southern Bronzehil.

"No... well not just that... the fact that he flew," Gabriella looks lost in thought despite answering clearly. Before Gerlach could ask what she meant by that, Gabriella continued, "My... cousin got an illness some years ago, not unusual, there's a reason why they call him the sickly, but that illness was Hort-Wing disease".

Hort-Wing disease. It was a somewhat rare illness but it was a terror to any who got it. It started out with wing twitch, then spasms, and then complete loss of the use of said wings. Even griffons with early symptoms can barely fly, any further and it's practically impossible. Gerlach ran through that barely a few seconds of Grover flying, for all purposes he flew fine... which should be impossible.

"Are you sure he got Hort-Wing? Maybe it was some other kind of wing disease? Like the Paraflap flu or the Aquillean Wing Mark plague?"

Gabriella shook her head, "I saw it Gerlach, the twitches, the spasms... he lost complete use of his wings back in 1004, it's a state secret that he can't fly anymore. There has never been a case of any patient regaining use of their wings after suffering from the disease. Grover... something happened to him..."

Gerlach frowns, "So what, Grover had some magical spell put on him that cured his wings, and instead of telling anyone he just does it? Even then... if he hasn't used his wings for almost two years... would he even know how to fly?"

"You're not helping me, Gerlach. If anything you're making this seem like a miracle... and I don't do miracles, they always manage to help Eros against me," Gabriella sighs, "But... I need to tell you something, I got a... notice... from a friend at Yale... don't ask. My cousin called the Rector at 5 in the morning, meaning my sickly brother, who literally passed out after winning that stupid drinking contest at midnight woke up sometime at 5, or even earlier, and was completely sober!"

Gerlach paused for a moment before realizing something, "Why... why was he calling the Rector?"

Gabriella snorts, "Maar damned if I know, apparently, my cousin told the Rector some years ago to try and make some life-extending machine but the Rector probably thought it was a joke or something and now my cousin asked the Rector to go through all their documents on some Bellzar person who I'm not even sure exists," Gabriella turns around, presses her back against the wall lets out an intense sigh, "He sure as hell doesn't exist in the few records I have access to review. He might as well be some kind of ghost".

"And if he is?" Gerlach asks, amused at Gabriella's attitude.

"Then we might have some actual Gods inspired miracle and at that point, I might as well kiss Archon Eros' claws".

Suddenly a thought crosses Gerlach's mind, "Wait, Bellzar? Bellzar Bolzen?"

"You know him?"

"He's a wanted criminal last I checked, and the last time I checked was back in 100...3 I want to say? Yeah, it was 1003 because it was the same day as that other guy almost killed an NRP Politician with a fork... long story don't ask. But I think he was wanted for... I think it is something about illegal experimentation, then again with how long ago it was and the crime, I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the Yale Rectorate... probably in Gamia if he was smart," Gerlach finally notices Gabriella staring at him and slowly blinking.

"Gerlach".

"Yes, Duchess Gabriella?"

"It's just Gabriella in private please, but... thank you," Gabriella looks back out the window, completely missing Gerlach suddenly becoming very panicked for a moment before his normal blank face comes back on, "You know if we talk more like this, then this empire might actually survive the next couple years," she looks up to Gerlach, a smile on her beak, "We should talk more, Grand Duke Gerlach," she lets out a laugh as Gerlach slowly joins in. As the laughter quiets down, she quietly states, "Again, thanks Gerlach, have a good day, Duke," she walks off before Gerlach could say a word, not that he was going to anyway. Both of their minds were racing, what did Grover want with a criminal scientist?

Author's Note:

I quite liked writing this chapter.

Comments

[Yaboikindabored]

This is some good stuff
I'm hooked!

[Wise2Fox]

Plot thickens ~

[Chaos_Silver]

Great, great chapter! I wonder however, if Grover is the only one who "remember" shift in timeline? Maybe one certain Lord of Chaos is also aware?