Chapter 33

Sid entered the former slaver headquarters, surprised at the activity that surrounded the place. Rather than tearing it down because it was a symbol of oppression, it had been converted into the town council building. The sign over the entrance proclaimed both roles by displaying a Crown positioned over a Citadel. The upper floor from which the slaver general had watched Sid’s forces defeat the slaver army, had been converted to a royal office. The remaining floors were dedicated to managing the citadel.

Following behind Albert, Sid and Fred were led to a large office where other key leaders of his army were waiting for him. Entering the room, Sid smiled at the sight of Olaf and Barson seated at the conference table. Shaking hands with the men, he said, “It does my heart good to see you again.”

“We came as soon as we heard that you were coming here,” Barson said. The clothes he wore were of much better quality than he had worn in the past. He had started another cloth manufacturing company, and was advertising the result by wearing clothes made from it.

“Connor is on his way here. Sebeson will be joining us in an hour,” Sid said.

“Sebeson? Isn’t that Masterson’s cousin?” Barson asked.

“He’s Masterson’s older brother,” Sid answered with a grin. The younger men reacted as expected by nudging each other with their elbows. Sid was sure that Masterson was going to have some pointed barbs thrown his way in the near future.

“Speaking of Masterson, he’s on his way to the citadel north of us,” Barson said.

“What? Did Colonel Lee win already?” Sid asked.

Connor walked into the room at that moment and said, “Colonel Lee never required our help. Everything we heard about his campaign was a lie. Masterson sent me a message that before he arrived at Colonel Lee’s camp, he was expecting to find a hundred starving men. Instead he found ten thousand men in a well disciplined and well supplied camp.”

Nodding his head, Sid said, “He was using disinformation to lure the enemy into battles they could not win. I should have known that. I was impressed by him when we met at the Jones Citadel.”

“Two weeks ago he brought thirty thousand men to face ten thousand of the slaver army. They destroyed the slavers and are now in control of the whole area,” Connor said.

“So the war is over,” Sid said.

“Yes, the war is over. There are three new kings in Chaos: King Sid, King Lee, and King Chambers. I hope the three of you get along well because I’d hate to see what would happen if you ever went to war with each other,” Connor said shaking his head. All three of the men had started with almost nothing and built armies that destroyed the most powerful military force ever assembled on Chaos.

“Masterson would love it,” Barson said.

The men took seats around the table with Sid seated at the head of the table. Looking over at Albert, Sid asked, “Who else are we expecting?”

“Gregor agreed to come. Michelson and Jackson are coming once they are finished with the weekly council meeting. They considered postponing it until after meeting with you, but there was a murder a couple of weeks ago. The man responsible was caught yesterday and, by custom, the council had to meet to schedule the trial,” Albert answered.

“I understand. When will the trial be scheduled?”

“Michelson wanted to schedule it for tomorrow so that you could sit in judgment,” Albert answered.

Shaking his head, Sid said, “Michelson will serve as judge.”

“You are the owner of the citadel, it is your job,” Barson said looking at Sid.

“I’m appointing Michelson as Lord of the citadel. It becomes his responsibility to serve as judge for crimes within his holding. My job is to hear the appeal if there is one,” Sid said.

“Michelson will happy to hear that his appointment is permanent,” Connor said nodding his head. Glancing over at Olaf, Albert, and Barson, he noticed the young men didn’t look overjoyed to hear the Michelson was becoming a Lord.

“Don’t worry. He’s not going to be all that happy,” Sid said while winking at the young men. He had noticed that they were feeling a little jealous and had a plan for dealing with that jealousy before it became a problem.

“Why not?”

“I’m giving Jackson his own city. He’ll be a Lord as well. That means that Michelson is losing his right hand man,” Sid answered. He looked at the three young men and added, “Counting citadels, cities, and major towns, I have more than sixty Lordships to hand out.”

There were sixty Lordships available and approximately eighty two of the original people who left the Jones Citadel were still alive. Barson sat back in his chair doing the math. It sounded to him like Sid was about to give him a Lordship. Smiling at his friend, he asked, “Olaf, do you feel a slightly twisted idea coming to you?”

The big man nodded his head coming to the same conclusion. The best holding to have was a citadel, but that was primarily a military holding. The value of a municipal holding was closely associated with the population of the municipality. Cities were better than towns. Holdings encompassing villages, usually more than one village, were considered rural holdings. Rural holdings comprised more area and fewer people than a municipal holding, but were more difficult to manage due to geography. Considering how much the trio of young men had contributed to the war effort, he was pretty sure that he’d receive a city holding. He said, “You know, I think there is one just itching to get out. There’s some idea about becoming a Lord that is rattling around in my head, just trying to get out. With my thick head, though, it is going to take a while it to get through.”

Albert looked at his two friends and then said, “I don’t know what kind of idea Olaf has, percolating in his mind, but I have one or two. I can see myself sitting around my manor drinking watered wine and watching wenches.”

Sid laughed and said, “I think you young men are getting ahead of yourselves.”

Barson looked at Sid in shock. He asked, “What do you mean?”

“I have bigger plans for you three,” Sid answered watching their eyes get wider while wondering what Sid was suggesting.

“What kind of plans?” Albert asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. He was rather enthralled with the idea of being a Lord.

“As Fred keeps reminding me, I’m a King now,” Sid answered looking from one young man to the other. He had their full attention. He said, “I’ve got to establish a kingdom. That means I need to have a capital city, maintain an army, and rule over more than sixty holdings. That’s a lot of work.”

“That is a lot of work,” Connor said nodding his head. It was work for younger men than he. He was feeling his age, and wanted to retire.

“Part of what I need to do is put men that I can trust in positions of power. The young men and women who left with me from the original Jones citadel are loyal and trustworthy. A few of them told me that they planned to return home, and settle down at the end of this campaign. Some of the women have married and left to start lives of their own. I have plenty of Holdings to give to those men and women who want them,” Sid said.

Albert listened to what Sid was saying with an impatient ear. He wanted Sid to get to the point and let him know where his holding was going to be located. He fidgeted in his seat. Connor leaned over and whispered, “I’m sure he’ll get to the point, sometime.”

“I wish he’d get to the point soon,” Albert replied in a voice that was a little louder than a whisper. With the end of the war, he was not as busy as he preferred. All that he had ahead of him was to shift production from wartime goods to peacetime goods. That wasn’t much of a challenge.

“The problem is that holdings are a local presence of power. I need men and women to serve the kingdom as a whole,” Sid said ignoring the interruption. He knew that of the three, Albert was the most driven to work. He didn’t like sitting around doing nothing, despite his previous suggestion to the contrary.

Olaf raised an eyebrow while stroking his chin. He started to see where Sid was headed. Despite his big dumb appearance and his act about how clueless he was, Olaf was actually the brightest of the three. Barson was the most social of them and Albert was the hardest working. Leaning forward in his chair, he said, “You need ministers.”

“That’s right,” Sid said. “Specifically, I need a Minister of the Treasury, a Minister of Agriculture, and a Minister of the Interior. Each of those will come with a small, but profitable, holding.”

Olaf and Barson looked at each other. Unsure if he liked the idea of being a civil servant, Barson said, “That is a little different than what I was expecting.”

Albert was overjoyed at the prospect of the work involved. Without even thinking through what Sid had said, he asked, “Which Ministries are you giving us?”

Olaf answered, “I’m sure that King Sid wants you to be the Minister of Agriculture.”

Everyone around the table laughed. Sid said, “Barson has a real talent for trade, so I thought that I would have him as Minister of the Treasury. His responsibilities would include establishing trade policies, collecting taxes, and establishing budgets.”

“I would like that,” Barson said. He broke out in a smile when he thought about how his father would react to the news.

“Your holding will be Weavertown,” Sid said. It was the logical place, since Barson basically had run most of his operation out of that town throughout the war.

“Nice,” Barson said. He had thought long and hard about setting up a house in that area. He’d even picked out the land on which he wanted to build it.

“I figured that Olaf would be the Minister of Agriculture. Anyone who can find so many overly productive chickens like Olaf managed, is best suited for the job,” Sid said provoking a laugh while Olaf shrugged his shoulders and raised his hands in the air with a sheepish look on his face. In a more serious voice, Sid said, “In a way, I think that is going to be the hardest job of them all. Most of our agriculture is just enough to feed everyone. I want us to be an exporter of food to all the rest of Chaos. That means developing an infrastructure that promotes higher yields, better land management, and storage.”