With the official news of the birth of his niece, Amondo paid a visit to the constable to tell him the news. But not before sending a page to his secretary Marvin Abela to ask him to break out the large personal banner he had brought with him in case of this very thing occurring. While he would be the next baron of Membe he wouldn’t officially be so until he had sworn fealty to the Emperor who is also the king of Bantis and relief is paid for the lands he had now inherited.
This was done in person or via his appointed agents such as the escheator. The investiture ceremony where this all happen’s couldn’t be performed until the escheator completed a survey of the barony to find out how much was owed. Anyway until then he could fly his personal banner atop of Membe castle but the Baronial Banner that was currently at half-mast had to be lowered first and it couldn’t be raised until the end of the investiture ceremony.
Upon arriving at the constable office he wasn’t unsurprised to see that he had removed the baronial crest from his clothing and was holding the badge worn by Amondo’s retainers in his left hand,
“I see you have heard the news, I imagine you have already sent orders for the messengers to head out to spread it?”
“I have milord two to spread it through the lands directly under your control, one each to the lords of Hasford and Wainthe and one to the duke. They should already be on their way, I hope I haven’t overstepped my authority but I felt that the soon the news spread the better.”
“That’s fine and if you wish then by all means you can wear my badge the position of constable is still yours for the time being at least.”
“What milord?”
“Don’t worry it’s just possible that I might have another role in mind for you but it is far too early to say for certain.”
“Ah I think I understand now milord, I didn’t hear but how fares the new mother?”
“She is as well as can be expected and might even be able enough to move into the Manor House with the baby in a few days.”
“That is good news, the investiture ceremony won’t be for a few weeks and until after it there isn’t much we can do but there are still a few things that can be taken care of. You might not be the baron of Membe yet but you are now the head of the Malla family.”
“Of course the betrothal of my sister and other things like that. Have all of the bequests in my brothers will been settled?”
“All but one milord you can guess which I can imagine, afterwards the funds in the treasury were almost non-existent and things haven’t improved much since.”
“The mistress if indeed she even deserved that title, I will have a thousand gold and the same in silver added to the Barony’s treasury from my own funds. There is more where that comes from but some of it has already been reserved for various projects and the like. Please have the bequest handed out by the end of the day and exactly how much funds are there in the treasury?”
“Well after the bequest is paid and before you add to it I believe the treasury contains about eighty gold, one hundred silver and two hundred coppers.”
“I knew things were bad but not that bad and I imagine the debts are even worse than that. I know that five and a half thousand Gold is owned to Eugene Haas but what about the other creditors?”
“Well sir only being in charge of the castle and a few other things I don’t know the full picture, you’d have to ask Milel Athy to be sure but from what I have learnt over the last few years between two and three thousand is owed to other creditors, the largest of which is the Lay Order of Skanies.”
“I plan to speak to Milel just as soon as I finish talking to you but before then other than my sister Caro’s betrothal and my brother’s future betrothal what other family matters need attending to?”
“Well there’s a small matter concerning your brother Juan and it appears that your brother Dako owes some money to a gambling house in the ducal capital plus the family of your sister Rhea’s first husband and her are having a bit of a disagreement over the management of the land that is hers for life as part of her dowry.”
“So how much does Dako owe, is it Rhea or her first husbands family that want me involved and what it’s the matter concerning Juan?”
“In the order, you asked not that much just a hundred silver, it’s both of them and apparently your father left a letter for Juan that Leonid refused to pass on to him.”
“Well, I suppose I’ll give Dako the silver this time after I educate him on such matters. I’m surprised Rhea never brought this matter to my attention, knowing her she mustn’t think she’s in the right on whatever it is. As to Juan I really must write to him myself, so I’ll just include the letter from father with my missive. Not that I hold out much chance he’ll read it, he’s even more stubborn than father ever was. Now has the father of Caro’s betrothed gotten cold feet or is it still on?”
“You’ll have to ask Berthold about that I haven’t heard anything on that front. However from what I hear I doubt it Kwan Addo isn’t one to turn his back on any decision he makes, not since the last time he did so anyway.”
“What about Dako how are his prospects?”
“ I’m afraid that no one is likely to look in his direction until the fate of the barony has been decided once and for all.”
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