mijobooks Chapter 156: The Bag on the Table
Chapter 156: The Bag on the Table
Because if Darion simply walked into Thandor and dropped three thousand gold coins onto the table without explanation, the first question any sensible ruler would ask was obvious.
How?
How did Percvale suddenly acquire that kind of wealth?
A Barony that had spent years being described as dying, starving and collapsing was not supposed to casually appear with thousands of gold coins ready for negotiation. Most rulers would expect Percvale to arrive begging for extensions, reduced deadlines or mercy. Not repayment.
Certainly not even partial repayment involving an amount this large.
So before the coins ever touched the table, Darion needed King Michul to understand something important first.
Percvale had changed. Not magically and completely. But enough that rebuilding had started.
Enough that people were working again instead of merely surviving from day to day. Enough that coin had finally started flowing into the Barony instead of endlessly vanishing into old problems and desperation.
"We’ve begun restoring farmland operations," Darion explained calmly. "Recruited workers from inside the Barony itself."
A faint smile touched his face afterward.
"Turns out Percvale still had skilled people left. They just needed work worth doing."
King Michul looked thoughtful at that.
"Interesting," he murmured.
Darion noticed the shift immediately.
The king was no longer simply entertaining conversation out of politeness. He was actually listening now. Properly listening.
And strangely enough, Darion felt himself growing more confident because of it.
The nervousness from earlier still existed, but it had weakened considerably.
This meeting was not going badly.
Actually...
It was going surprisingly well.
Before arriving in Thandor, Darion had expected something colder. More political and more uncomfortable.
Instead, King Michul had turned out to be approachable in a way Darion genuinely had not anticipated. The man did not speak down to him despite Percvale’s reputation. He wasn’t treating him like some desperate lesser noble stumbling into a wealthy kingdom asking for scraps.
If anything, Michul sounded curious.
Interested and amused sometimes even.
And that alone made the entire situation easier to navigate.
Still...
Darion had not traveled all this way merely to discuss farmland and rebuilding efforts like they had been long-time friends catching up over tea. This wasn’t a social call.
The real reason for the visit still remained sitting quietly beside him in saddlebags and cloth wrappings.
And the conversation had gone on long enough.
Time for it!
Darion turned his head slightly toward Garren.
Garren immediately understood the look.
The older man returned Darion’s gaze briefly before giving a small nod.
King Michul noticed the entire exchange from across the table, but he said nothing. His eyes merely followed the movement calmly.
Garren reached down beside his chair and brought out the heavy cloth bag they had carried into the castle.
The sound it made carried weight. Coins shifting against each other. Real gold.
King Michul could clearly see that this was real, even without seeing the face of the gold.
Darion took the bag from him and placed it onto the table between himself and King Michul with a solid thud.
The sound echoed slightly through the hall.
The two guards behind the king remained disciplined, but Darion noticed they glanced downward instinctively toward the bag before quickly straightening their focus again.
King Michul himself still said nothing.
He simply watched. Waiting.... Anticipating.
Darion rested one hand lightly against the table before beginning.
"I’m currently in the process of repaying the massive debts I inherited from previous Barons," he said carefully. "Men who were not very wise and squandered the thousands of coins they borrowed."
Michul listened quietly without interrupting.
Darion continued.
"We were attacked not long ago by a neighboring kingdom because of one of those debts."
That part immediately caught the king’s attention more sharply.
Darion noticed it and he made me slightly scared in a way.
Would the king ask what kingdom that was? Darion certainly did not want him to know the name. Not because he was ashamed of what happened, Valdenmoor had attacked first, had burned Percvale’s farmland and slaughtered its livestock. The retaliation had been justified. But the details of that retaliation...those were not things he wanted to discuss.
A Necromancer Baron who had burned a kingdom’s barracks and captured its king was the kind of story that made other rulers nervous.
"But we managed to reach a settlement," he went on. "Still... I realized afterward that if Percvale continues leaving these debts unresolved, attacks like that will continue happening."
His expression hardened slightly.
"And every attack sets us back again."
That was the truth of it.
Every destroyed wall. Every burned field. Every dead knight. Every interrupted project.
Rebuilding became impossible if the Barony constantly got dragged backward by old obligations.
"I’m trying to rebuild Percvale properly," Darion said. "And if outside territories keep seeing us as vulnerable because of unpaid debts, then everything we’re doing becomes unstable."
The hall had grown very quiet now.
Even the guards who had no uttered a word all along seemed quieter somehow.
Darion exhaled slowly before continuing.
"I should be using these coins directly for rebuilding efforts," he admitted. "Roads. Livestock. Construction. Farmland expansion."
His hand rested lightly against the bag.
"But the safety of our people matters more."
For a moment he paused. It was not for dramatic effect. He really needed a second to gather his thoughts carefully.
This next part mattered too much to say badly.
He had rehearsed versions of this conversation in his head during the journey to Thandor, but now that he was actually sitting here before the king himself, the words suddenly felt heavier.
"With me is three thousand gold coins," Darion said finally. "And from what I was told, Percvale owes Thandor seven thousand."
King Michul nodded once.
"That is correct."
Darion swallowed subtly before continuing.
"I don’t know..." he began slowly. "This might be too much to ask but I’m begging you accept this three thousand coins and..."
He paused again briefly, trying to arrange the words properly.
"And... and forgive the remaining four thousand."