It was the day after Eldan had returned from Baarbadal, and he was back at his desk and ready to work. Juha, who had been governing things in his stead, headed over to get a report on what had transpired. Upon entering Eldan’s office, he offered a simple greeting, then got straight down to business.
“First things first... What in the world is going on with Glin? I passed him by on the way here and he...he smiled at me. He actually spoke to me of his own accord. The guy hates humans, but now he’s preaching the miracles of the gods? He’s acting like a priest all of a sudden!”
“Hmm...” Eldan murmured, wondering where to start.
Juha listened as Eldan described it from start to finish—Glin’s run-in with Dias and the dogkin and his trip to the wasteland with Bendia. Even now, Eldan couldn’t quite believe that Bendia had seriously called upon a god. The event had impacted Glin to the point that he was now a firm member of the faithful. Yes, he was a bit overzealous about it, but because he wasn’t causing anybody any harm, Eldan saw fit to leave him be.
Glin had professed a desire to repent for his behavior and had gotten down on his hands and knees before Dias and Bendia, his head touching the ground as he’d begged for forgiveness. It had been a bit of a scene, and Dias and the others had struggled to get the boarkin back to his feet. Everyone now approached Glin with a certain amount of caution, worried that his enthusiasm for the gods might cause yet another incident.
But that wasn’t the only event that Eldan wanted to talk about. He told Juha about the fishkin who called themselves goblins, who were staying in Iluk after becoming fast friends with Dias and his villagers. The ever-capable cavekin had already crafted the fishkin a boat, and they would take it back to their home by the ocean.
Eldan also informed Juha about the merchant from the Beastkin Nation he’d met and how he had succeeded in establishing friendly relations. Soon they would begin trade in earnest and arrange safe passage to the Beastkin Nation for those who wished to return home.
Finally, Eldan told Juha about the bandits he’d brought back and how they had apparently been there in search of intel on Baarbadal. Juha’s brow furrowed at the news, but he quickly came up with an idea and began to stroke his impressive chin.
“I’m impressed to hear of so much happening in such a short time,” said Juha, “but what makes it all the better is how all of it favors us. As for the bandits... Yes, we’ll make an example of the brass by executing them, and put the others to work at one of the mines with a surplus of guards to keep them in check.”
Juha’s idea to handle the actual seekers of the information was to spread false information through local pubs and brothels that the bandits had in fact succeeded in their attempt to get into Baarbadal.
“As for why the bandits weren’t able to report their findings firsthand, we’ll simply spread the news that they were apprehended for something after their successful operation. As long as they can’t access the bandits themselves, their employers won’t have any way to tell fact from fiction. Getting to the bottom of each and every tall tale will keep them very, very busy.”
Juha also thought it was worth getting in touch with Count Ellar in the royal capital, as the plan would be far more effective if they worked in tandem.
“I think it wise to promote trade and safe returns to the Beastkin Nation,” said Juha, “though I think it best we also continue with countermeasures to the modernists at the same time. Thanks to Dias, however, we’ve got one heck of a card to play, and things will likely go even better than I had originally hoped.”
The modernists promoted beastkin discrimination, and so their branch of the temple’s teachings was not something Eldan or many of his people could easily accept. They needed a way to resist the modernist push, and though Juha had come up with a number of plans, the best of them all had essentially fallen into their laps.
“The heroic savior of the nation, now a duke, sees fit to call upon the gods during your visit,” said Juha. “A miracle, to put it bluntly. At the same time, a new temple is built, one that teaches harmony and peace between human, beastkin, and demi-human. While their temple lacks the authority of the modernists, who are allied with Prince Richard, it will nonetheless garner support and amass an authority of its own—power enough to allow for negotiation.”
Juha believed that the prince had allied himself with the modernists to ensure their support, not because he himself believed in their discriminatory teachings.
“With the ability to negotiate, we can ensure the cards fall in our favor,” Juha continued. “But I must say, for such good luck to simply appear out of thin air... I’m almost convinced that it must be some kind of trickery.”
“Indeed...” agreed Eldan.
Even Eldan had to admit that since meeting Dias, he had met good fortune at almost every turn. Dias had become one of his closest friends, his illness had been cured, children were on the horizon...and all the problems that reared their heads like venomous snakes now looked to have solutions.
The flow of events was such that every outcome seemed to benefit Eldan in some way, and if Eldan were the type to believe in divine intervention, then he would no doubt have seen this as further proof. It was, even now, hard to believe otherwise—it felt as though the gods themselves were urging him onwards, along the path to victory.
Eldan knew that he had endured hard times as well even after meeting Dias, but when he reflected on them, he saw that they had still led him to ever more success or otherwise pushed him to grow as an individual. He felt now that he had been led to a place that his former self scarcely could have ever dreamed of reaching.
He almost wanted to chuckle, it was so preposterous, but while he pondered his own good fortune, Juha was thinking about something else entirely. As far as Juha was concerned, Eldan had indeed achieved a great deal, but it paled in comparison to Dias.
Eldan had gained much, but all of it had already existed in Mahati or otherwise had been acquired through development. Very little had come by way of what one might call outside influence. By comparison, Dias had amassed so much that one might even say Eldan was simply receiving the scraps that would not fit on Dias’s already-full plate.
It also bothered Juha that he still hadn’t been able to get to the bottom of who had been the mastermind of the Mahati uprising. He felt like he was a long way from getting any of the answers he wanted.
“In any case,” said Juha, turning his thoughts to other things, “let us begin construction of our own baar temple. It doesn’t have to be huge, but we’ll want to spend enough money to make it impressive all the same... Let’s also track down some of the remaining fundamentalist priests and invite them to serve there. Then we’ll assign some beastkin to study their teachings. We’ll have Glin be the first. We’ll even have them visit Baarbadal occasionally, like a study program. A single temple won’t be enough to ruffle any feathers, so it’s a good start...”
Juha felt a shiver down his spine at the thought, but Eldan clapped his hands.
“A great idea!” he cheered. “Glin’s faith is just as strong as any of the priests I’ve met, and with the baar temple’s teachings likely to spread west, we can expect it to also travel along our many trade routes too! A shared faith will make people feel safer working with one another, and if all goes well it will have a positive impact on trade as a whole. With foreign goods coming through our lands and spreading outwards, we’re looking at profits above and beyond anything we’ve ever seen!”
Eldan’s excitement—and more importantly, the content of what he said—was enough to take Juha’s discomfort and blow it out of the water. Here he was bearing witness to the fruits of his labors. He had taught Eldan much, and now Eldan was able to read into Juha’s suggestions and pull from them the various benefits without them having to be spelled out. When Eldan grew into the man Juha knew he would become, future negotiations would be that much easier.
“But we cannot be reckless in our approach,” said Juha. “We must budget wisely. I will leave negotiations with the Beastkin Nation to you, as it is only fit that you lead... Ah, let us make sure that Lady Neha is present as well. And if we spread our teachings to those who are returning to the Beastkin Nation, I’m sure it will make future relations far easier. That just leaves the matter of getting in touch with the count to spread a few rumors in the royal capital. I daresay that Geraint and his friends are going to be rather busy...”
Eldan nodded his agreement and began preparing his letters and decrees immediately. Juha saw his lord at work, nodded, and then brought forth an armful and then some of documents and plopped them atop Eldan’s desk. All it took was a smile from Juha to let Eldan know that it was all of the work that had piled up in his absence—work that required the attention of the duke himself before it could be considered done.