"Well, I never intended to accept their laughable offer. I just wanted you to hear it before I would ask them to leave."

Smiling at Elia, I picked her hand with my own and turned my head to the guests.

"I think it"s time for you to depart back to your lands. Should I send some of my men to help you find the way, or are you capable of doing it yourself?"

With how they came to my house to basically threaten me into giving up all my lands for some pitiful amount of gold that - just like Elia pointed out - I could make in way less than a year, I couldn"t be bothered to keep up with the pleasantries. Ignoring the fact that the way in which I told them to get the h.e.l.l out of my place could be easily taken as an insult and lead to a duel, I turned my head back to my wife, adoring the slight smile on her lips.

"You… Are you sure you can bear the consequences of refusing me?!"

From the way in which my dear cousin reacted to my refusal, I could tell that it was something that he rarely had to cope with. Most of the n.o.bles would kill for a chance of getting aquatinted with purpure dressed household. Yet, as I aspired to join them on equal terms rather than using their influence to be promoted into their circle, I couldn"t care less about his fragile ego being shattered.

"Do I need to repeat myself? You are not welcomed in my lands, so get the h.e.l.l out of here before my men will help you!"

Before I could even call for the castle guards to come out, someone had to notify them about the bad mood in the room. The moment my words silenced out in the hall, the side doors to the room burst open, with several men armed with my repeating rifles freshly delivered from mining town lined up by the wall, with their weapons lowered but cooked and ready to fire at any given moment.

"We will find our way out of ourselves."

Seeing that I wasn"t joking nor was I willing to reconsider his offer, my dear cousin could only gnash his teeth in anger and stand up before leaving the room.

"Make sure they won"t cause any trouble on their way out. If they dare to act out of line, you are free to shoot for the kill."

While all the n.o.bles were free from being punished by any crime unless the state trail would prove them to be guilty, it applied to my cousin just as much as it did to me. If his death would start an all-out war between me and Ostros, then so be it! I would gain the chance to test the efficiency of my weapons while sapping their strength and allowing some of my allies to use this opportunity to grow stronger themselves. 

To be frank, even if they decided to behave appropriately, considering the way in which they approached me, the conflict was already inevitable. Since they couldn"t get what they wanted with the little money they prepared, I would have to be ready for either a political campaign during which they would attempt to deprive me out of my lands by leveraging their social standing or a real, brutal war, the one that allowed me to solve the problem with Peter. 

Either way, the chaotic times of interregnum suddenly turned even more chaotic for me, forcing me to focus on something different than my current projects.

"Dear, would you be so kind as to bring me a paper, something to write and my seal? I need to write a letter."

No matter which approaches Ostros would take to claim those lands of mine, the best way to secure my position wasn"t to grow in power by myself but to look for allies. My current development would allow me to easily ammas military force capable of repelling any form of invasion. At the same time, the monetary income I had from all the projects of mine was more than enough to buy any favours necessary. Regretfully, it all relied on the fragile baseline of country recognizing or at least ignoring all my actions.

Just by denouncing the customs privilege, most of the incentives behind the Tarnowian marketplace would be gone, turning all the resources and effort invested in it into waste. 

While the fact that they didn"t do their homework when deciding on the amount of money they offered for the lands, I couldn"t base my plans on the hope that they would keep ignoring my moves when planning their next attack. As long as they managed to convince the senate to move Jan Bone to another province while placing someone from their own family on the seat of Sandomir Governor, everything that I have done so far could go down the drain!

"Here. What are you going to do?"

After taking out the items that I requested from a small drawer near the wall of the room, she placed them in front of me and asked.

"While in a direct clash, we can beat them, we will be powerless if they decide to use their influence to ostracize us. We can"t forget that most of our current power and influence will be born not from production but from trading away what we are producing. That"s why, rather than hoping for the best, I think its better to get busy with the investments involving Cheerie family, don"t you think?"

The moment I got the writing utensils in my hands, I soaked the goose feather in Ink and started filling the simple paper with rows and rows of letters, forming the message that another great magnate of the country, Michal Cheerie was most likely impatiently waiting for. With how smitten he was by the beer that I presented to him during the wedding festival, I could count on his goodwill when it came to investing my a.s.sets near his lands, yet that wasn"t even near being enough to buy his support if it meant going against another great clan. 

That"s why, rather than hoping for the best with selling the beer formula alone, I detailed the way in which he could invest his own money into several businesses of mine, even going as far as offering him five RENT deeds for free!

"Do you think that Ostros will go for the lengths requiring us to get Michal"s support? Won"t Jan Bone be enough to s.h.i.+eld us from their ambitions?"

Taking the seal from the hand of the servant that just brought it from my chambers, Elia placed it on the table before reaching with her hand forward and lightly caressing my cheek. Unwilling to make any mistakes on the letter that I was writing, I put the feather away and turned my head to the side, gazing deeply into her eyes.

"I"m not going to take any chances. It was only a matter of time before I would invest in the Wild Steppes and I won"t be able to do anything there without Cheerie family backing. If that"s the case, why not rope him into my faction a bit earlier?"