A Background Character’s Path to Power Chapter 440: Baron’s Decision
Baron Nusayel promptly agreed to the request from his visitors.
Deep down, he actually favored this setup. Even in their shattered condition, the Salom tribe consisted of tough fighters from the north. After healing, they would act as a strong barrier for the fortress, greatly strengthening the area's protections.
Yet, upon noticing the intense suffering carved into the expressions of the mother and her daughter, he set aside those tactical considerations. He extended his profound sympathies and genuine regrets for failing to stop such a disaster.
Next, he set up accommodations for the Chieftain and Uru’en in the castle’s East Wing, as the remaining tribe members received quarters in the former garrison area of the town. He dispatched his top healers and cooks to tend to them, guaranteeing a quick and complete restoration.
While the newcomers settled into their new refuge, a graver concern festered at the core of the castle.
The Baroness received the report of Lumin’s passing with overwhelming sorrow.
This marked the second devastating strike within far too brief a span.
Initially, they mourned the death of their son, Amaniel. Then, Lumin—the enigmatic youth who had rescued both the Baron and Baroness, and safeguarded the keep—vanished. In her eyes, he embodied true goodness, a rescuer whose departure crushed her last shreds of poise.
The castle lingered in a oppressive haze for several days.
Only the unexpected arrival of Lady Nisha, the Baroness’s enigmatic companion, started to dispel the shadows. The private conversation in the drawing room remained a secret to all, yet following Lady Nisha’s exit, the Baroness started to mend, regaining the will to rise again.
Moreover, the castle’s inhabitants increased once more with the onset of summer break.
The junior Luthaire offspring came back from their schools. But rather than the typical cheerful gathering, their homecoming unfolded in quiet melancholy. Like the others, they continued mourning their eldest brother, Amaniel. The vacant chair during meals acted as an unending, aching symbol of the void in their household, keeping the brothers and sisters wrapped in ongoing grief.
Amid everything, Baron Nusayel remained the solitary support preventing the structure from crumbling.
He strove to bolster all around him: handling the domain’s affairs, guiding the Salom tribe’s assimilation, soothing his spouse, and staying resolute for his offspring.
Despite his own profound wounds, he pressed on with this effort.
Pain gripped him as well, his thoughts tangled by the unending cascade of misfortunes striking his lineage.
Yet he served as a noble, a parent, a partner.
Standing tall was his only option.
With the summer warmth growing fiercer, the concluding phase unfolded.
The Trial of the Crown formally started.
The competitors, offspring of the King, set out for the appointed challenge site. Alliances hardened, and nobles hurried to declare their loyalties.
Numerous observers anticipated Baron Nusayel’s support for Princess Aurelia. She had been a dear companion to Amaniel, and her sworn knight, Vance, maintained a strong tie to the Luthaire family.
Owing to various factors, such as the fresh scar from Amaniel’s demise, the Baron opted for firm neutrality in this perilous contest.
Still, another key element influenced his stance.
...A letter without a name.
Delivered a month before the Royal Banquet, it rested on his desk unmarked by any emblem.
Its message was blunt and alarming.
The note plainly declared the Final Trial’s venue as the Hollowlands and urged the Baron to avoid involvement to ensure his survival and his kin’s safety.
The writer identified solely as a familiar of their boy, Amaniel. He explained sharing this detail purely to settle a prior debt to Amaniel, and this alert would clear the obligation.
Initially, Nusayel dismissed its credibility.
The Hollowlands stood as a doomed realm of horrors, an improbable spot for a kingly ordeal.
Then the Royal Banquet occurred.
As the Prime Minister revealed the final trial’s site, a shiver coursed through Nusayel’s body.
The missive held the facts.
Acknowledging the alert’s accuracy, Baron Nusayel reached his decision.
He resolved to rely on the counsel from his son’s shadowy ally.
Shutting his portals, rejecting every standard, he embraced quietude.
That said, his outward hush didn’t mirror inner apathy.
Nusayel couldn’t forsake the young woman who had befriended his son closely, or the devoted knight pledged to her defense.
Prior to Princess Aurelia’s group leaving for the capital to merge with the caravan, the Baron orchestrated a subtle handover.
Accessing the innermost rooms of the Luthaire treasuries, he fetched three particular safeguarding artifacts. In addition, he supplied a fair sum of aura coins for journey expenses, sufficient to support the pair through the ordeal.
Yet the greatest offering proved to be the knowledge.
He imparted all his insights on the Hollowlands, encompassing... The core intent of the correspondence.
Disclosing the unsigned letter would invite doubts. Thus, he wove the caution into a farewell counsel for Vance to pass to the Princess.
’The Hollowlands is not a testing ground. It is a graveyard. Do not treat this as a competition for the crown. Treat it as a struggle for survival against the land itself. Trust no one, and above all, do not hesitate to flee if the darkness becomes too heavy.’
This enigmatic admonition stemmed from the eerie phrases of the "friend" who professed insight into the impending massacre.
It represented the bare minimum he could offer.
It formed the sole means to pay tribute to the connection his son had forged with them.
While the trail’s dust calmed beyond his lands, Baron Nusayel positioned himself atop Eclipse Castle’s battlements.
Gazing at the distant skyline, his fingers clutched the chilled masonry.
He had exhausted every possible action.
All that remained was anticipation and a prayer that, no matter the victor or vanquished in the crown’s chase, they might just make it back in one piece.