Khenal
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Chapter Three-Hundred Fifty-Six
🕑 Added 2025-05-06 01:57:18 +0000 UTC________
MIller
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The ashen elf can’t keep the small smile fully off his face as he makes his way to the Young Master’s room. The lad has grown so much these last few months. From pale, lanky, and nervous, he’s a much healthier complexion, he’s filled in enough to not look like a stiff breeze would knock him over, and his confidence is enough to fill the aged elf with pride.
He easily enters the lad’s bedroom, warmth filling his heart at seeing the young lord already awake and looking through a ledger. He remembers needing to have to practically push him out of bed to get him awake, not so long ago. The noble looks up and smiles at Miller, setting aside the book as the butler approaches with the tray full of breakfast, as well as the morning missives.
“Good morning, Young Master. You’re looking well rested and eager for the day,” he comments, setting the tray down on the bed and letting his ward dig in.
“I am! The Hold is proceeding smoothly, and apparently Lord Thedeim achieved a new domain just the other day. I didn’t even know that was possible!”
Miller chuckles as he pours some fresh tea, easily adding just the right amount of honey before setting it next to Young Lord Rezlar’s meal. “I understand that most deities spend quite some time slowly expanding their domains as they adjust.”
Rezlar nods, finishing his current bite before responding. “I know, but knowing and seeing are two different things. It’s… motivating, I guess. He’s not resting on His laurels, so neither can I.”
Miller doesn’t bother trying to hide his smile at that. “Indeed. Would you like me to read the mail while you eat?”
Rezlar nods, so Miller gathers the rolled scrolls and sealed envelopes, and starts scanning them. “The miners guild sends their gratitude for the job, and say they’re ready to start work on the next floor when you are ready to give the command. The masons are eager to ply their own trade in the hold as well. The farmers are saying that the late winter hasn’t hindered their growth much, and expect the spring crops will be available on time. Fishing is still bountiful as well, so there’s no worries for food expected.”
He opens a scroll and sets it aside. “A detailed report from the merchants. Their spring trading is going well. If you want the precise numbers, you can read them yourself, Young Master.” Another scroll soon joins it. “And similar from the adventurer’s guild. Delving is up,” he summarizes with a smirk, earning a chuckle for the understatement.
The messages all follow a similar vein, with Miller able to easily summarize their contents and setting aside the ones with details best read and logged by the Young Master. As breakfast draws to a conclusion, a caw comes from the window, drawing their eyes to a raven with a scroll in its beak. Miller smoothly crosses the room and accepts the scroll, giving the raven a small treat before it flies off. “It appears Thedeim has something for you as well,” he says as he returns to Young Rezlar’s side.
With his breakfast dispatched, there’s no reason for him to not open this one himself, and Miller busies himself with clearing the tray as he reads it. “Hmm… it’s partially for you, too, Miller.”
“Oh?” he replies, setting the tray aside for the moment as Rezlar nods.
“Apparently, the thieves guild has infiltrated the construction of the Hold. Rhonda and Freddie helped one of the haulers and took him delving, and Lord Thedeim noticed something off about him. He’s told what he knows, but he’s not calling any shots, so Lord Thedeim wanted to ask if you’d be willing to help sus out the other guild members. He doesn’t want to kick them out just yet, but just know where they are. He thinks they want to take over the Hold.”
The ashen elf considers the idea, taking a relaxed pose with his hands behind his back as he does so. Discovering but not removing the moles is a classic maneuver, and he doesn’t doubt the guild will be using dead drops and other covert means to get their information out and orders in. Still, knowing who to watch is an excellent way to figure out what they’re planning. He disagrees that they would want to take over the Hold, though he can’t think of anything else they’d like to do with it. Perhaps sneak in their own subtle entrances to use as a safe house? Openly owning the Hold would be a stretch even for the Earl, but a potential new hideout for the thieves could be a tempting payment for whatever else he has them doing.
“My duties to you, Young Master, come first as always. That said… I think I could make room in my schedule to investigate, should you wish it,” he decides with a polite bow. Rezlar smiles and nods at him.
“If you would, please. I want the Hold to be safe for the people, even if I hope we’ll never actually need it.”
“Then consider it done, Young Master. I shall investigate immediately, if you don’t need anything else?”
Rezlar checks his ledger before shaking his head. “I should be fine to handle my duties on my own today, Miller. It looks like a few meetings with a few guild leaders and an inspection of the concrete mixing yard. The ordinary guards should be more than enough for that.”
Miller smiles and bows, proud once more at how much the Young Master has grown. “Then I wish you a good luck, Young Master, and I expect I shall see you at the evening meal.”
The young noble smiles. “Have fun, Miller.”
“I intend to, Young Master,” he answers before he scoops up the tray and makes his exit. He’s not lying, either. It’s been some time since he got to stretch his legs with something like this. While he finds his new career much more satisfying than his old, there’s still a certain amount of fun in flexing his more covert skills.
In fact, why should he be the only one to have some fun? He quickly dons a generic adventurer disguise, putting the pieces for a second disguise in his pack, before he heads for the dungeon in the center of town. He’s still uncertain how he feels about the Young Master deciding to follow his priesthood, but the dungeon has been a good influence as a dungeon, and seems to be doing well enough as a god, too, so he’ll put aside his own misgivings about that particular aspect.
Once through the gates, he makes his way to the manor rooftop, and quirks an eyebrow at how much livelier it is since the last time he came. There is clearly some Thedeim trickery going on with the fights, as the delvers are bounding around on the slanted roof like flat ground, but that’s not why he’s here. Instead, he makes his way to Poe’s nest, with the large raven eyeing his approach. He subtly shows the scroll with Thedeim’s seal, and sees the recognition in the raven’s eyes as he gets closer. “I got your message, and the Young Master agreed. I’d like to propose a distraction to make it easier to infiltrate.”
The large raven tilts his head in thought before nodding, prompting Miller to continue.
“Instead of keeping your games with the military to their camp, let it spill out and through the Hold and the entire area. It will teach the military to be nimble enough to deal with harrying attacks, and it’ll allow me to pose as a soldier and go wherever I please.”
Poe considers the request for a long minute before nodding.
“Excellent. May it help both of our masters.” Miller takes his leave and makes for the Hold, easily slipping through the military perimeter and into the tent of one of the soldiers on patrol. He has plenty of time to adjust his skin tone and get into his armor, and even stashes his pack before he hears the scramble starting.
As expected, the response is a mess, but an informative one for the army. They had been getting complacent, so this is just the sort of shakeup to remind them that, in a war, anything can happen at any time. He easily joins a group chasing after a tundra wolf, with the ensuing bedlam making it effortless to break off and join other groups as he needs.
He didn’t ask for the dungeon’s help just for a distraction, though. This sort of chaos makes it much easier to identify thieves, too. The ordinary people from out of town look at the denizens with fear, and look to the soldiers with hope. Anyone who’s been in Fourdock for the last year, and has no malice, would laugh at yet another spot of weirdness from Thedeim. But the thieves, though they mostly ignore the denizens, they carefully watch the army. He wonders if any of Captain Ross’ people will notice the odd behavior. He’ll ask the Captain in a few days, when he has a scheduled meeting with the Young Master.
That can come later. For now, he focuses on his task. By the end of the day, his heavy breathing isn’t even an act. Though he chastises himself for clearly having been slacking in his readiness, he still counts the day as a success. He has a good idea of who all is part of the thieves guild, and he can pass along that information tomorrow. He’ll need to work out a subtle hint to let the crows and ravens know who is whom, but that should be simple enough to do.
He slips back into his adventurer disguise and whistles as he heads for the mayor’s manor. He should have just enough time to clean himself up properly before serving young Rezlar his meal. A very fulfilling day, all things told.
Comments
Laetitia
We never got to see miller's response to the fact that the earl thinks he manipulate the dungeon. I wonder what he thought...
Skoll789
Miller has done disguises with makeup before, clearly being proficient with it. I'd assume its just makeup.
Ben Bass
TYFTC! Very nice seeing things from Miller’s perspective, it has been a while. It looks like he isn’t that rusty, just not quite in the shape he was expecting himself to be in. I wonder if he will take this as an excuse/reason to get out more.
Cha0sniper
Wait, was Miller just revealed as another changeling? I suppose he could have adjusted his skin tone using makeup or the like, but I'm watching you :fryeyes:
