SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant Chapter 928 - Deal for Roderic

Valttair rested both forearms on the desk before he answered. He had clearly worked this through long before Trafalgar came back from Myrrhvale, and nothing in his face suggested any part of it was still being decided.

"I will meet Roderic privately once we reach the Council. He and I have avoided a direct conversation long enough, and I have no intention of letting that continue after everything his family has done."

Trafalgar kept quiet and gave him room. There was little use in breaking in before he understood what Valttair meant to put in front of the Vaelion patriarch.

"The mine comes out regardless of how that conversation goes. Nearly two thousand Morgain died because somebody walked into our territory, used routes they should never have known, and spent weeks building an operation under our ground. I will not bury those deaths to make an agreement easier for Roderic."

Caelum stayed beside the desk without speaking. Trafalgar already knew the patriarch had spent months gathering everything around the mine, Aurevane and the Dead Meridian, and he had never known how the man intended to spend it.

Valttair's voice stayed as cold as before.

"What remains private will depend on Roderic. Aurevane, Esmond, the people Vaelion tried to silence, the resources they spent scrubbing the traces, and what we found around the Dead Meridian. I have enough to make the other Great Families look a great deal harder at everything House Vaelion has been doing."

"You still can't formally prove every part of that," Trafalgar said. "Some of it is solid enough to use. The rest would start out as accusations until the other pieces are on the table."

"I do not need every piece proven before I speak to Roderic alone. He knows what his family has done, and he knows which parts I can support if he forces me to put them before the Council."

Trafalgar understood the approach now. Valttair was not bluffing. He only needed Roderic to grasp how much Morgain had turned up and how badly it would go for him if six other Great Families were invited to read the same pages.

"So the mine becomes public either way, and everything else is what you use to push him into an agreement before the rest surfaces."

"That is how I intend to come at him. Roderic will pay for what happened in our territory. Money, resources and concessions large enough to answer for what his family's work cost us. I will also want guarantees that Vaelion withdraws from anything touching Morgain ground."

He paused briefly.

"If he takes those terms, I have no reason to turn out every other secret his family has buried right away. If he refuses, I put far more on the table and let the other heads decide how comfortable they are with what House Vaelion has been doing."

That changed the whole position Roderic would walk into. Refusing Valttair would no longer mean arguing with one rival family. It could mean handing the other six a reason to stand beside Morgain against Vaelion.

Trafalgar glanced at Caelum before he looked back to Valttair.

"And if the others take it seriously, Roderic can't wave it off as a private quarrel between Morgain and Vaelion."

"He will not have that door. Every Great Family rests on the same understanding. Their territory is theirs, their internal affairs are theirs, and another Great Family does not quietly cross those lines without paying for it."

Caelum spoke for the first time since the explanation began.

"Even families with no reason to back House Morgain would have reason to move against Vaelion if the evidence came out. Letting something like that pass would set a precedent that could be turned on their own borders later."

Trafalgar nodded slowly. That was what made it dangerous for Roderic. Valttair was using the rules that kept the Eight from tearing at each other every generation.

"That's clever. You're giving Roderic a way to hold the damage down, and only after he pays what you want and stops what he's doing. If he refuses, he's looking at seven Great Families instead of one."

Valttair showed nothing at the compliment, which was what Trafalgar had expected. The patriarch had asked for his opinion, and nothing in the plan had sounded open to change.

The private meeting with Roderic was happening whether Trafalgar agreed with it or not. Valttair wanted another pair of eyes on it beforehand, in case there was a weakness he had gone past.

Trafalgar could live with that. Their relationship had never rested on affection, and their interests pointed close enough to the same way that neither of them had to pretend otherwise.

"If Roderic takes your conditions, what happens after the Council?"

"I will deal with Vaelion properly later, once I have everything in place. For now I only need Roderic held long enough for me to turn back to the problems inside this family."

Maeron and Rivena were the nearer danger once Vaelion had been pushed off and Roderic understood what waited for him if he crossed Morgain again.

Valttair moved on without any change in his voice.

"Rivena will not come to the Council. She stays restricted inside this castle, and the restrictions tighten while we are away. I will not bring somebody I do not trust into a gathering where every Great Family is watching us."

Trafalgar had expected that after everything else. Leaving Rivena behind also gave her far fewer chances to reach anyone outside while most of the important Morgains were gone.

"You should also expect a great deal more attention than on your last visits," Valttair went on. "Your talent is public. You hold Euclid, your name has travelled through several wars, and you have connections inside other Great Families."

"I'd worked that out."

"Then work this out as well. Nobles, merchants and representatives who looked past you before will find reasons to come at you this time."

"I can manage that. I'll listen, work out what they actually want from me, and avoid promising anything unless there's something worth taking in return."

"That is what I expect. Remember that even idle conversation there becomes useful to somebody later. You attend as my son, the lord of Euclid and an heir of House Morgain. Carry yourself accordingly."

Trafalgar rose from the chair once Valttair finished. The meeting had given him a great deal more than he expected when he walked in.

Roderic came first, and the terms for him were already drawn. After that, the patriarch meant to turn the whole of his attention back to Maeron and Rivena.