Chapter 194: Chapter 194: The Balance of Power

“So? Who are we meeting first?” Nela asked as they once again returned to Braydon’s carriage. Even if they had wanted to bother the King for much longer, there was a long line of other lords that wanted his time. So they decided to leave slightly earlier and get on with seeing the litany of lords that Braydon at least wanted a favourable impression with.

“Marquess Downs. It is uncertain if he can tame the lords surrounding him with the approval of the crown, behind the curtains or otherwise, since there is quite the rowdy bunch up north. And I suspect that they will not be happy that he was the only one amongst them that got a large reward. Even if he was the only one who really worked for it. Never stopped their jealousy before.” Braydon did have a suspicion that that was what the King was going for. 

Even if the new marquess was unable to truly bring the various northeasterners to heel, toning down their all against all conflicts would greatly help in exerting influence there. Especially if many of them decided to team up to limit the influence of Downs, they would be far more likely to accept the King’s influence if it meant taking it away from another local lord. Especially one who was already amongst the most powerful in the area.

“And you want to get him on side? Why not just stoke the flames?” Nela did have a point. He already had one powerful person to think about in the east in Duke Burn. The new Marquess could well become another pole of power in the east.

“I was more thinking of keeping from stepping on each other's toes. It is not hard to mark out a boundary between us. We have a natural one flowing through the area. I am sure that he would be glad to have at least a few of the lords in the area not at his throat. There are an awful lot of them.” Braydon was more than fine letting Marquess Downs deal with his own problems but that was only if it had nothing to do with him. As he was also in the east, and had such prime real estate, there was no reason for him not to increase his influence over his neighbours. 

“I see, but you only have good relations with what? Two lords south of the Harmony, need I remind you that Lani might me friendly but she is firmly within Duke Burns sphere of influence whether she likes it or not. She might have been able to play off of him and Duke Ryder before. Duke Ryder is gone. I doubt that Duke Burn will let her be as divergent as she has been until now.” Nela was right even if they kept good relations with Lani, there was little that they could do. Especially since her territory was a small one. She might be a Countess, but that was due to how rich her city was, not because of vast tracts of land.

“I have yet to think of a solution to relations with Duke Burn yet. We don’t exactly have a natural demarcation between us. Hopefully he will set his eyes upon Ryder’s old lands but that is not a long term solution.” It was not the best. Braydon would definitely have gone to pay the Duke a visit if he had been in the capital but it was unlikely that that would happen before the King married his daughter. And there had not been an official announcement about that yet.

“I think having good relations with whomever wins in Shuluk is the way to go there. Do not forget why he is rich. Trade. And the majority of his wealth comes from ocean trade, even back when Duke Ryder was trying to hamper him. There are very few rich places west of the Fiverian coast. So the ships have to go somewhere. That somewhere is the Empire. I am sure that Alima Shuluk would be more than happy to harm imperial interests.” It was apparent that whilst he had been focusing on Fiverian politics, Nela had not been idle. It helped that she had a good relationship with their once Shuluk priest. Father Odom may not have been politically involved but priests heard a lot of things from a lot of people. Not to mention that living in Narabun at least gave one some idea of the situation there.

“Plausible deniability? I like it.” All he had to do was grease the palm of Alima Shuluk. Considering that she had offered him a deal despite the embargo, Braydon doubted that she would be against that kind of thing.

“And only if there is friction with the Duke. No need to sour the relationship proactively.” Nela stressed. It was a backup plan not the first move. The Duchess Regent was a person with agency. Nor was she stupid. And for that matter Duke Burn was not an easy target either. He would not have survived the civil war otherwise. 

“All of this is predicated on her not losing though. Once we get back, we will probably need to go and see her. I am just wondering whether that is before or after clearing out some ‘bandits at the border’.” Braydon wanted to get as much out of his position as possible but he had to be careful about it, lest he turned everyone in Shuluk against him.

“So long as it is within a day’s march from the border then it should be fine. I doubt that she is in any position to complain about anything minor, especially if it helps her. But we do not want to be caught by the rebels. I doubt that they would be so kind.” Nela was right there. The King might silently approve of his actions in Shuluk but it would be different if he or his men should be captured in Shuluk. He would most definitely be hung out to dry regardless of any goodwill Aled had for him. There was a truce to up hold and nobody but Braydon had any interest in Shuluk. Nor would they for a long time.

“We have arrived at Marquess Downs’ residence, my lord.” Rhydian called out.