When David, Margret, and Kerim had declared their support for Zeke's plan, the atmosphere lightened considerably. Zeke nodded at each of them in turn. This had been a very crucial part of his strategy, and he was glad that it had worked out.
"So what are we doing, bossman?" Kerim asked.
"Might as well start with you," Zeke said. "Your part is one of the most important ones."
"It is?" Kerim asked with a raised brow.
"Well, not you specifically, no," Zeke continued, getting a snort of amusement from Margret. "But you do have a very important Mission. I want you to be in charge of the crew of the Alexandria."
"Erm… I already am?" Kerim said as he pointed to his captain's hat.
"I'm aware," Zeke said a little more seriously. "But you won't be doing so as their captain this time. How many engineers do you have?"
"Five," Kerim answered immediately.
"That's good, then," Zeke said. "They need to get started on our workshop. The men should be familiar with the machinery, but I still made a list. You will need to split the rest of the crew up to get all the raw materials we need. It's all on here."
After finishing his explanation, Zeke slid over a piece of paper to Kerim. The captain silently took the note and quickly went over every entry.
"Timeframe?" he asked eventually.
"A week at most," Zeke replied.
"Budget?" Kerim followed up immediately.
"No more than 10,000 gold, for the entire list," Zeke replied just as quickly as before.
Kerim remained silent for a while. He seemed to be doing some internal calculations. There was a full minute of silence in the room before he spoke up again.
"The money shouldn't be a problem, but we are gonna cut it close with the timeframe," the captain finally said.
"You have my utmost confidence," Zeke said with a smile, but his face turned serious the next moment. "Can you do it?"
Kerim let out a long sigh. "Aye, should be doable if the boys are properly motivated. There's room for that in the budget, I think. But I should really get going. If I don't catch them before they start drinking, the day is gonna be wasted."
"Good man!" Zeke said, the smile back on his face. "Don't let us keep you then, captain."
Kerim saluted lazily as he got to his feet and left the room. Despite his laid-back attitude, the man's strides were swift and full of purpose. Zeke watched him leave, and as the door closed, he turned his attention to Margret.
"Margret," Zeke began solemnly, "you will be relieved from the position of personal guard."
"…Great," Margret said in a stony tone as she averted her gaze. Her posture had stiffened, causing Zeke to sigh.
"Margret," he said once again, "I'm not doing this because I think you are unfit for the position. In fact, I think your talents are wasted like this."
"…Sure," the woman replied flatly, looking stoically at the wall. She clearly didn't believe him. Margret had spent enough time around Zeke to know how easily he could bamboozle someone with his silver tongue.
"Margret," Zeke said for a third time but with a lot more emphasis, causing her to finally look at him again. "Do you still trust me?"
"Yes," Margret replied.
"Then, will you at least hear out my reasons first?" Zeke asked.
A bit of red crept up on her cheeks. After a moment, she gave a curt nod.
Zeke saw this as a sign of how much she was attached to the position. He had known that she was protective of him. The fact that she was sulking like this after being dismissed warmed his heart.
"Don't worry, you will still report directly to me. But your new job is incredibly important," Zeke explained.
"What am I doing?" Margret asked in a serious tone.
"Right now, I am blind," Zeke stated. "I don't know what any of the other players are doing. First and foremost, the Goldfinger company. I can't imagine that they are just gonna wait for five weeks."
"Yes, that seems unlikely. Especially if they are working with another player behind the scenes as you suspect," Margret agreed.
"Exactly," Zeke said with a grave nod. "And this has to change…"
Zeke fixed Margret with a penetrating gaze. "It's not an easy position to fill, let me tell you. I need somebody I can trust fully. That person has to have the respect of the veterans as well. It would need to be somebody who has both my trust and the ability to command." He gave her a serious look. "Do you know anybody who would fit that description, Margret?"
The woman had gotten slightly flustered from the praise. She had of course immediately caught on to the fact that he was talking about her.
"I get it," she said stoically, but the slight smile on her face made it clear that she was happy with the level of trust Zeke put in her and her abilities. A moment later, her demeanor sobered.
"Who is going to replace me, then?" she asked. "I can make a recommendation if you need one."
"No need," Zeke said, "I have somebody in mind. But first, let me brief you properly on your mission. You are free to pick out four other veterans to form your division. Your primary goal is to find out whatever the Goldfinger company is planning. This will be your task until they are no longer a danger to us. You will also have a budget of 1000 gold to spend as you see fit. Bribe, hire, pay… I don't care what you do to get the job done, just don't get caught. Any questions?"
"None," Margret replied. "Consider it done."
"Excellent," Zeke said with a smile. His former guard didn't immediately leave, however. Clearly, she was interested in finding out what else Zeke had planned and who would ultimately replace her. She didn't have to wait long to get the answer.
"David, you are going to be my only guard from now on," Zeke declared.
"That's… Are you sure, young lord?" David asked. "You might not know this, but I actually have a lot of duties. I am currently overseeing all personnel."
"Ohh, I am aware of how much you do around here, believe me," Zeke reassured the man. "You will still be in charge of a lot of those duties until your successor has been fully instructed."
"My… successor?" David asked dubiously. "And who would you entrust with this responsibility? I am sure that you are aware of how crucial this position is."
"Indeed I am," Zeke said confidently. "I would need somebody who has it all: My full trust and a high enough status to be taken seriously; somebody who is adept at dealing with people, but still has enough empathy to be liked. "
"That is correct," David agreed with a nod. "But I don't think you have such a person in your employ at the moment. Besides me, that is."
Different from Margret, David wasn't shy when proclaiming his own virtues. Zeke had to remind himself that the butler was almost a century old. Even though the man looked to be no older than 40, he had already lived for a long time.
Zeke didn't respond with words. Instead, he let his gaze wander until it landed on a specific person. In the corner of the room, far removed from the discussion that had taken place so far, sat his parents. Zeke's gaze had settled on Mia, his mother.
All eyes gathered on her. Mia was slightly startled by the sudden attention. She pointed at herself and asked in a confused tone, "Me?"
"Yes, Mom, you," Zeke said with a loving smile.
"I don't have any experience though?" she asked with a raised brow.
"This is not the time to be humble, Mom," Zeke said. "In Feldstadt, you were a leading figure in the town council. Back then, the council didn't even have the authority to make any decisions. You had nothing but your words to convince the stubborn farmers. Compared to that, this is going to be a piece of cake."
"I'm not so sure, Zeke," Mia said. "Those were just farmers, and most of them only listened to me because they were going to need your dad's help with their fields. There is no way I could do as good a job as David."
"You know that's not the reason they respected you," Geralt interjected in a gruff tone. "I think you should do it. You have been bored for a while now, and you would be great at it."
Mia tried to shoot her husband a glare, but there was no real heat in it. She was never good at being stern with him. Geralt only spoke when he had something important to say, and usually, that meant he had considered his words carefully.
While the two bickered playfully, David looked contemplatively at Mia.
"What do you think?" Zeke asked after a while.
"It's not the worst idea," David allowed. "Mia has a position of authority because she is your mother. Also, because of this very fact, trust should not be an issue. I haven't seen her work yet though, so I can't say how qualified she is."
Here the man hesitated. He seemed to go through some kind of inner struggle. But even after several moments had passed, neither side seemed to have won out.
"Can I ask you something, young lord?" he eventually asked.
"Always," Zeke responded in a somber tone. He had a feeling that this was something important.
"Why replace me at all?" David questioned. "You should be aware that many people are frightened and uncertain. The fact that I am still the person in charge is one of the few remaining pillars of normalcy. Compared to other families in the empire, none of the people here were adopted. Maximilian wanted them to have the freedom to leave, should they so desire. But this might very well be your downfall if you don't tread carefully now. Frankly, I don't see the wisdom in this decision."
Zeke remained silent. After a long moment, he let out a sigh. "Naturally, I have considered all of that. But the picture of familiarity, of normalcy that we conjure that way is nothing but a mirage. The old status quo has changed, and it is not coming back. The more we cling to the past, the harder it will be to create a future. I will not sacrifice our long-term prosperity for short-term comfort."
David raised a brow. "It is not like you to speak in riddles, young lord. When you say 'long-term prosperity', what are you talking about exactly?"
It was Zeke's time to raise a questioning brow. "Are you asking because you genuinely don't know, or do you want me to confirm your suspicions?"
"Humor me, young lord," David said with a glint in his eyes.
"Ha… fine," he relented. "You know as well as I do what it is that the family truly needs. It is neither money nor status. It isn't technology or airships either. What the family truly needs is someone powerful in our corner."
David acknowledged the point with a fractional nod but didn't speak. He clearly wanted to hear more about the boy's thoughts first.
"Frankly, I really would like for that person to be me," Zeke confessed. "This feeling of powerlessness grates on me more and more with every passing second. And I promise you this: one day, that person WILL be me…" He paused and looked meaningfully at David.
David stared back intently.
"…But not just yet," Zeke added. "No matter how talented I am, how hard I work, or anything else I do. I won't be able to reach the level of Arch Mage anytime soon. It will be decades still for me, most likely."
"I applaud your ambitions, young lord," David said. "But you still haven't answered my question. How is any of that related to the decision to appoint me as a guard?"
"Not just 'a guard', but my personal bodyguard," Zeke corrected. But when he went on, he didn't answer the question directly. "Do you know what the old man said when I asked him if he would reach the Exarch level at some point?"
"I have no idea," David said. But the glint in his eyes made it clear that he was interested in the answer.
"He said no," Zeke stated flatly. David was clearly disappointed by the conclusion. There was a hint of discontent in his eyes from the perceived betrayal. Zeke had made it sound like this would be some kind of inspirational tale, only to dash his hopes right after. The expression on the usually stoic man's face made Zeke smile.
"…BUT," he went on to say, "Maximilian was absolutely certain that I would be able to reach that realm someday. What he was missing was knowledge and understanding. He said that those two factors would never be a bottleneck for me, however."
"How is that possible?" David asked with his mouth agape.
"…You might find out soon," Zeke said mysteriously. "But this should answer your question. The reason I want you as my guard is that I want to help you advance, as soon as possible. For that, I need you close by."
David didn't say anything for a long moment. When he finally spoke, his voice slightly trembled. "I-I understand," David said.
The revelation had hit him harder than Zeke had anticipated. But on second thought, it made sense. Almost every Grand Mage got stuck at the peak of their level. Most would never advance at all. It was to the point that the empire had over 10,000 Grand Mages and only slightly over 100 Arch Mages. Even in the most powerful empire, it was a prestigious position.
Zeke gave him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, David," Zeke said, "you will only need to guard me when we are outside the mansion. While at home, you can still do whatever you want."
Having regained his composure, David nodded. "Very good, young lord," David said evenly. "I will need to work closely with your mother if she truly is to take over my position."
It was at this point that Zeke noticed that his parent's discussion had also just come to an end. With a bright smile on his face, he addressed the woman.
"What do you say, Mom? Are you ready for this challenge?"