1304 Sebastian Barn

"William Barn, your ruling days are numbered!"

....

The words resounded in everyone's ears as though it were the devil's call itself.

Rudolf looked at their struck appearance, carefully picked up a fresh juicy apple, rubbed it against his sleeve and bit into it playfully.

The real reason why they chose to tell William, rather than having him secretly assassinated, was because he was going to be prey for the big wolf.

That's right. His distant cousin, Sebastian Barn, had been born in the organization.

Yes. Some people were born, initiated and trained by the order. And the boy was one of them. And as he grew up, he still became a well-known young noble in Lingingburg.

But, he was 1/3rd Arcadinian and 2/3rds Linggion. So his grandfather had him never forget it!

Back in the days, his grandfather had planned to assassinate William's Grandfather, Oden, for the throne. Unfortunately, he failed woefully since Oden had so many faithful followers.

But because of Oden's kind nature, he couldn't bear to kill his own blood. Thus, he exiled him out of Arcadina, never to return.

Heh. If Oden knew that his decision would come to bite his grandson in the butt, Rudolf didn't know if the old geezer would regret it or not. But as it stood now, Sabastian was very determined to get the throne!

Anyway, the story went like this... Sebastian's grandfather struggled to flee Pyno with his men because apart from his brother, he had created other enemies in Pyno who couldn't wait to chew him raw now that he was down.

Staying in Pyno would only lead to his downfall.

And that's why he and his men had no choice but to disguise themselves, as well as their families, getting on a few of their ships and fleeing to wherever they deemed fit.

.

They landed in Lingingburg, Veinitta and struggled to survive and work their way up in an environment that looked down on them, from Pyno.

First, they bought a grand estate with half of the money they all gathered. Each of their vassals lived in that same lavish estate, saving cost.

Additionally, they all knew that they were in a pinch, so no guard expected monthly pays, at least not until they picked themselves up again.

Now, the ladies formed and grew foods in the estates while the men still trained, but also went out to gather information.

After a while, they opened a small merchant guild. And soon, that guild grew into a larger and great guild that was now stationed in over 20 major cities in Lingingburg, pulling as much money as possible.

Everyone was curious about these new strangers, and only a few years later did they choose to disclose their identities, irrespective of the rumors flying around about them.

Some had long guessed their identities, while others were clueless.

But the confirmation from them only came after they established a certain reputation within some parts of Lingingburg.

Well, it's not like the entire empire knew their name off the bat.

No. They started with an average city, gaining trust and advantage there.

And soon enough, those in the neighboring towns and ages knew their guild. And after a while, they decided to go forth and open a branch in another faraway city, with the help of some of their new contacts, while they promised great discounts or free goods for their assistance.

.

Like so, their population had spread for decades now, following Sabastian's Grandfather, his father, and now, himself.

Those were a lot of years for growth. Additionally, they also opened a few stores and owned a large cave with iron ores. Thus, their wealth had long grown.

But the key factor to making them gain a title in Lingingburg was because Sebastian's grandfather took in a Linggion woman as his 2nd wife.

It could be said that at that point, the woman was his only wife, seeing that he left his first wife behind in Arcadina.

The woman had refused to aid or have anything to do with him.

He married his first wife 6 months before he planned to usurp the throne.

At that time, he was 16, and Oden was 18. They did have 2 half-other siblings, who had long does from his hands.

It would interest many to know that Oden took the throne at 15 after his coming of age because their father had long been poisoned and slowly dying. So the man wanted to see Oden on the throne before he passed away.

Thus, Judd Barns had long schemed to kill his brother Oden but failed and was discovered by everyone.

Back then, he was hot-blooded and very short-tempered, wanting to get results quickly, hence calculating his enemy.

You know, after his rushed wedding, he didn't even spend the night with his bride, only because he wanted to hasten up and head for his secret base.

There, he finalized his plans and rushed to the Capital to take Oden down.

So after he got exiled, his newly married wife, who used to look at him in awe and lick his feet, now turned her face in disgust and refused to abandon her noble position to follow him.

That was that.

.

He got into Lingingburg, married a noble's daughter after a few years of gaining some foothold in the empire.

Don't get him wrong. He did have a few fun nights with tons of ladies daily. But those were pleasure slaves who had their wombs destroyed.

He would never take a low life as a wife. And even at that, he waited and waited to catch a big fish, which he did.

And that lady birthed Sebastian's father, who was now birthed as a Lingingburg noble. Following that, Sebastian's father married only a single wife too.

There was a reason why they did this. Firstly, they were partly Arcadinian, so if they angered their powerful wives because of cheaper or lesser noblewomen, they would only be shooting themselves in the foot.

At the same time, their attitude had won the admiration of many women in Lingingburg who longed to be the only wife to their husbands. Fighting and putting every day in the harams was indeed tiring.

Like so, Sebastian Barn and his 2 other siblings were born as Linggion nobles!