The Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 1)

The Northern Noble is a Grinder (Chapter 1)

…

The mockery of my peers resounded in my mind throughout the entirety of my voyage.

It was not enough that I lost everything, even my place in my family.

They mocked me with tales regarding my new fiancé.

A barbarian who was deemed unsuitable for higher learning.

A fourth son who only inherited his earldom thanks to the deaths of his family.

A scarred and brutal man befitting a shamed woman outdone by a commoner.

I steeled myself during the voyage.

I readied myself for a cruel husband who would shame me. A land of frost and monsters at the very edges of civilization with tribes of beasts rather than people. There, I would live out my days in exile as an earl’s wife. A far cry from being the queen, as I was raised and trained to be, until a singular moment of my own making ruined it all.

Consigned to the frigid wastes with a barbarian as a husband, I steeled my heart and readied myself as my ship reached the final, imperial dock before the frontier.

The dock where I would disembark my family’s vessel and join my new fiancé on his ship.

I expected to find a ship awaiting me, instead there was an elderly butler in a suit, bowing deeply, while Alice helped me with my luggage.

“My apologies, my lady, but the young master heard tell of monsters nearby the city and went to destroy it when we arrived yesterday. He bid me to stay here and greet you, while he fulfilled his duties.” The older gentleman had the makings of a house steward. A position of trust for nobility. I searched him for ulterior motives and lies, searching for the leer of greed that would denote him making use of a young master for his own gains, and found only a nervous soul with many wrinkles of worry. I gave him a nod and he raised his head, before dabbling at sweat that gathered on his brow. “Please, if you would follow me. The young master rented the dockyard inn for you to stay.”

Alice started at his words, almost coming to my defense, but I raised my hand.

I was shaken at the thought of being given room and lodging fit only for merchants and sailors. However, my fiancé was fulfilling his duties as a noble.

This was a test.

The first of many that my new fiancé would heap upon me.

Ones that I could not fail, because any further wrongs by my hand would shame my family even further.

I swallowed my indignity and concerns, and gave a nod of understanding.

“Very well, servant. Lead me to this inn.”

“Of course, my lady. Ah, let me take your luggage.” He reached into his jacket pocket and produced a wand. Before I could blink at the sight of it, he whispered a spell, and both my luggage proceeded to float. A mage of high standing as a servant? I was able to keep my surprise, but Alice’s small gasp drew his attention. “My apologies, allow me to introduce myself. I am Lord Trelawny’s steward and courtly mage, Matthew.”

“…Well met, steward Matthew, but may I ask why you’re working in both capacities, especially at your age?”

“I’m afraid that victory came at a heavy cost at the last incursion of the frost clans. The head steward went along with the young master’s father to ensure that those supplies flowed properly. Even the slightest lapse in supplies can lead to death in our lands, given the constant frost. My predecessor and friend perished near the front.” Matthew bowed his head and offered a small prayer at his mention of his deceased, former lord and presumably friend. I bowed my own head out of understanding, and even Alice took note and bowed, too. They perished in the defense of the realm. Prior to the establishment of House Trelawny, the whole realm suffered constant raids from the north. “I hope, Lady Argelia, that you would take on the role as Lady of the House? You are a graduate of the Imperial School, after all.”

Alice did not hesitate to nudge me in the waist with her elbow, and I gave her a fast look, before clearing my throat.

It appeared that I was to be given responsibility, and therefore power, which bode well for me in my current state.

If I was fortunate, I would need to bear only an heir and a spare, before the attentions of my new fiancé could be shifted elsewhere.

“I see no issue with the matter. I will need to be brought up to speed, but thereafter I shall fulfill my duties.” Steward Matthew gave a smile of relief at my words. I could only wonder how he was able to handle the role of steward and court mage. The former required the oversight of the whole household and many of its logistical needs. The latter was specialized towards researching magic and training aspiring mages for their lord’s territory, along with creating potions and the like via alchemical processes. “May I ask what you do primarily as Steward?”

A harrowed look fell upon the old gentleman’s face and his shoulders slumped.

“Endless… endless categorizing and weighing and sale of the young Lord’s hunted monsters. It never ceases. I recruited a dozen clerks and they can barely keep up.” I blinked at the statement. I though that Matthew was attending to the needs of a castle, and that he received no aid. By his words, though, it appeared he was having difficulty handling the hunted beasts of his master… even after he was given the right to hire a dozen others to help him. “It never ends. Whenever the young master returns, the ship is full to the brim of… ah! No! He’s done it again!”

Matthew suddenly wailed and almost fell back in a faint only for Alice to catch him.

I looked upward at where the older gentleman pointed.

It was a four-winged ship, which I thought strange for my fiancé to have. When called to war, barring latitudes permitted by the crown, barons were expected to at least have a single two-winged ship with cannon, crew, and six months of provisions to answer the call. Viscounts were expected to have at least four two-winged ships and the necessary crew and provisions. Earls, such as my new fiancé, were expected to have at least one four-winged ship with four decks of cannon, or ten two-winged ships, when called to war.

Many earls chose to have ten ships, rather than one. It was better to train multiple crews with, patrol more of the territory with, and finally easier to replace if lost. Spare ships could be stored away, so if one is lost, it can be furnished and sent forth with no difficulty. The larger ship needed four times more crew, a detachment of soldiers to keep it from being boarded, and was more expensive to maintain. A four-winged ship took the better part of a year to create, and replacing it was no easy task, especially as they were usually purchased and assembled to war by the Marquises or Ducal houses.

Not to mention that replacing one was not easy, either.

In a land so vast and far from imperial support, I would’ve thought that my fiancé would not have a four-winged ship, but a fleet of ten lesser ships.

Then, it landed on the waterfront to sail towards the docks, and I realized why such a massive, expensive ship was chosen.

Its deck was covered with the corpses of monsters in neat piles that permitted travel of the crew between them.

“Ooh, I knew I shouldn’t have let him loose! I should have had him stay here with the rented inn, but the lord of this town just had to entreat him for aid!” Matthew’s eyes were teary as he looked at the ship’s hull and the sea’s water line. I followed his gaze and realized that the water was nearly cresting the first row of cannons. That could only mean that the ship was almost at its maximum capacity. No wonder it had flown so low. “That hold will take the whole evening to process!”

Alice was quick to speak for me.

“Steward, my lady can’t possibly be forced to venture on that vessel!” I forgave her instantly for her earlier nudging of my side. Indeed, the thought of boarding a ship utterly filled with the carcasses monsters made my stomach turn. I looked at the steward only to find his shoulder’s slumped in defeat and no agreement leaving his lips. Alice came to my defense once more. “It’s filthy and unbefitting for transport it!”

“It will be clean by dawn. The charms upon its hull will clean it overnight. A night I shall be spending helping the town’s guildfolk counting the corpses.” Matthew laughed without humor and shook his head. He turned my way and gestured to the inn. “Please, allow me to see you both settled in. The whole inn is yours for the evening. The crew is situated elsewhere. My lord should arrive to meet with us all soon.”

Suddenly, Matthew turned to look at the ship as a horn bellowed twice.

He groaned for a moment, and before I could ask, and then there was a burst of power from the ship.

A barrier came up between us and the street, and a moment later a figure landed before us.

A figure covered from head to toe in armor including a mask with a scowling visage with a great, furred coat covering it. Ruby-like lenses filled the eye sockets, and I could see no inch of skin on the armored individual. From a mere glance alone, I could tell that the armor was a masterwork in quality. Layers of protections and enchantments enrobed the figure. This was no knight, but the lord of a powerful household, and when Steward Matthew bowed his head… I realized this was my betrothed.

The barbarian lord of the northern wastes, the fourth son of the keepers of frigid lands of brutes, and Lord of House Trelawney.

“Matthew, tend to the ship. I have a message from Duke Argelia to relay to his daughter.” His voice was gruff and I could feel his pointed glare through his helm. He was more than a foot taller than I and nearly twice wider thanks to both armor and… muscle? I was unsure if what I saw beneath the plates was flesh, or some other form of armor. He did not wait for his steward to respond and instead walked forward towards the inn. Surprisingly, he opened the door for myself and Alice, while looking at his steward. “Have everything processed by tomorrow. We’re leaving.”

He shut the door before the steward could reply, then turned his gaze towards Alice.

“Do you trust her with your life?”

The question was brusque and simple, but I did not hesitate.

“I do.”

Alice has always been my guard and confidant my entire life.

“Good, I’ll train her as well. But onto more important matters. You and I are not engaged. Your father sent you here for another reason.” I watched as he shifted in place. In the shadows of the cloak, I heard a sound like armor opening, and then the rifling of fabric. A moment later, the armored hand of the giant came forward gingerly holding a letter. The Argelia seal of a red eagle holding an axe in the right claw and a staff in the other was impressed upon golden wax. It’s size and the lettering on the edges told me it was my father’s personal seal. I took it in my hands and opened it with a whisper of the phrase I chose as a girl. It opened and I blinked away tears as I read the words in the letter. I haven’t been abandoned. “You’ve been sent here to train.”

“No, I have been sent here to grow strong under your tutelage, Lord Trelawney.” I shook away and swallowed the emotion budding within my chest. It was almost all too much for me to process. “That requires more than mere training. I have trained all my life to become a worthy empress. That was not enough.”

Years and years wasted the love of my life lost… because I did not have power comparable to a demigod.

But here and now, I was sure that I could reach that level of strength.

I felt it the moment Lord Trelawney showcased his strength, the brief instant when he used his power to slow his descent from the ship was ingrained into my memory.

He was superior to that power that took everything from me.

Through brilliant red lenses, I met the invisible gaze of this northern earl told to hold the northern frontier of the Empire.

An eternity seemed to pass, before he spoke again.

“I will draft a curriculum. You will read all of it and then decide whether to accept. I will not tolerate any foolishness. And, you are fool if you accept what I offer because of a lust for power alone.” He crossed his arms over his chest. There was no more respect in his voice or even hesitation. Only candor. His gaze was heavy, and the implication of what was to come was like a looming mountain in its promise of hardship. “Another thing: I owe your father a favor for granting me a boon. After my family fell in battle, he provided staunch support with a mere letter. It’s enough for me to be willing to train you, to empower you, but if you use that power outside the boundaries of the law… I will kill you.”

The words were a simple statement of his intentions and his stipulations, but he ceased holding, condensing, and hiding his strength for a moment at those words.

Idly, I had wondered how the northern frontier held when tales of House Trelawney’s army being destroyed along with its head and heirs. Against a tide of monsters, against barbarians supplied by the empire’s enemies, and raiders wielding potent magics, the house had been defeated in battle. Yet, somehow, they won the war after the battles that ended their army and heirs and kept the border secure.

I understood how such a thing was possible now.

My breath seized when he ceased to hold back. Suddenly, my eyes refused to blink. My whole body froze and my senses sharpened to an acute point. All else besides the giant of a figure before me was meaningless blurs. His mere presence was like lances of frozen needles inserted into my skin and depositing frost into my marrow. Tears welled in my eyes, the time between the beats of my heart seemed to stretch painfully long, and my stomach threatened to release its contents.

Alice, stronger than I, managed to push herself before me and bare a knife in my defense, but sweat covered her brow, she could barely hold a fighting stance, and she could barely breathe.

The new Lord of House Trelawney strove to reach divinity.

Though I felt hate and disgust for the power that who everything from me, thus reminded of it, I bowed my head and spoke.

“On my family’s name, I swear that the power that I will be granted shall not be used in an illicit manner.”

The sensation faded instantly at those words.

“Good enough. I’ll hold you to that oath, princess. If you go against its spirit, I’ll consider it broken. Now, then, let’s eat.”

I was no princess, but I accepted the sudden gaiety of in Lord Trelawney’s voice after I swore my oath to him.

Soon, I learned that was a mistake.

…

Lord Trelawney may have had power and strength befitting, or even outstripping his role, but the other stories regarding him were true.

He was indeed an uncouth barbarian obviously never meant to become a lord.

 “But those are the doctrines written in the memoirs of the first—

“Probably meant to fool idiots and morons into getting themselves killed.” He did not show his face during our meal together. He offered no pleasantries. Spoke brusquely and did not mind his words. Finally, he seemed to relish speaking ill of the empire’s legacy and nobility. “You don’t need to jumpstart your growth with a powerful monster’s core. Quantity is what matters. A few thousand slime cores can do the same, and they’re easier to get. Nobles just like to feel special by getting it from a giant monster.”

Thankfully, he did not hold others to a higher standard than he held himself.

“Or, maybe, people don’t want to eat the cores of thousands of creatures that scavenge from corpses and thrive in sewage, Lord Trelawney.” Alice usually kept her sharp tongue to herself, unless we were in private. However, after being given permission to speak and not being reprimanded, she moved to protect me by matching the scathing arrogance that seemingly endlessly poured forth from my new teacher. “Given your potty mouth, maybe you should look into adverse effects from eating so much garbage?”

“Hey, I’d rather be useful, powerful garbage than weak, ineffectual treasure that just gets paraded around.” Trelawney snorted, and Alice grunted after a moment of thought. He pressed his advantage without any hesitation. “You’d take a plain, shitty knife with a good edge over some bejeweled dagger covered in jewels, right? Right?”

Childish and obstinate.

It took everything I had to remain composed and not sigh in disbelief.

“Fine, you’re right! I’d rather have something useful!” Alice’s ears twitched in irritation and her eyes were set in a glare. I haven’t seen her so outwardly incensed since we were children, when she first defended me in our earliest school days. In those days, she never responded when teased for her heritage from the forest folk, but she came to my defense the moment I was first needled for being ‘undeserving’ of my engagement to the crown prince. Her vitriol and venom when speaking earned her a short suspension from the school… and a quiet raise in pay from my father. “But let’s see how fortunate you are at convincing others to gather a thousand of those pests, so that they can have the chance of gaining power!”

“It’s not difficult at all. Kill one every minute for an hour a day, and you’re at sixty. Thirty-five days and you’re done. Two hours a day, and you’re done in half that time. Four hours a day, and you can go from a regular person to someone with magic in less than ten days. Eight, and it’s less than five.” I couldn’t fault his arithmetic. Not in the slightest. He had a worrying mastery over the science. I had a feeling that he had much more knowledge of the matter than most who graduated from the Imperial school. Our focus was on magic, not numbers. “Gathering them is easy too. Set up a pit with some food at the edge of a forest, then set it on fire. Within the hour, you have all the cores that you need.”

“That’s called poaching. We peasants get killed for doing that.” Alice groused and glared at the lord. “What do you say about that?”

“Give a tithe. A tenth of the cores you get go to the lord to empower their soldiers. By the end of the day, everyone wins. Or, at least, we’re all losing less by not taking advantage of the opportunity.” He chuckled and now his words reminded me of merchants. Potential increases in wealth lost may as well be a true loss in their eyes. “What else are you going to do with your free time? Laze about? Find love? Make money? I guarantee all of that is easier when you’re not sickeningly weak.”

Alice made a sound between groaning and growling in consternation when the door to the tavern opened.

I expected to see Steward Matthew.

Instead, there a whistling sound and with speed that should not have been possible with his size and shape, Lord Trelawney caught a head-sized projectile that had spun towards his helmet.

“There’s your payment, Lord Trelawney.” I turned to the speaker. It was a spindly, scarred older man with a bare head and half his face covered in burns. Clad in a rough tunic and matching pants, I almost recoiled at the sight of him, until Alice made a motion with her hand in the corner of my eye. She denoted that the person who entered was a skilled warrior. An elite that she would have difficulty protecting me against. Therefore, I stood and made to curtsy immediately. “Oh. Your fiancé has some manners it looks like. You could learn a thing or two.”

“Guild leader Aiden.  Thanks for dropping it off so quickly. Must’ve been a lot of work.”

“Mostly on Matthew’s end. You’re running him ragged. Keeping his mind off the fact most of his friends are dead?” The apparent Guild leader of the city grunted and took a seat beside Lord Trelawney. They treated one another like old friends. “Or, are you just being a lazy, cheap bastard as always? Seriously, we have a hotel suitable for nobility.”

“Why not both? I’m working him hard to keep him busy and to make money faster. We need it, after all.” Lord Trelawney glanced my way, then proceeded to shrug. “She’s not my fiancé. She’s here to get strong enough to get back into the running for empress. Tell anyone and you’re finished.”

Aiden blinked owlishly at the information that Lord Trelawney shared, then he covered his face with a hand covered in scars before growling out a curse.

“Fucking bastard. You could’ve just kept your mouth shut and spared me the trouble!”

“You were obviously gathering information. It’s your fault. I just sprung the trap before you realized it’d be a mistake to look. Idiot.” Lord Trelawney earned himself a horrid glare from the older man, who promptly went over to the unmanned bar, and hopped its counter. Within moment, he was taking the bottles on the highest shelf for himself as vengeance, only for Lord Trelawney to start jingling his newfound wealth. “Everything here is already paid for. I’m profiting no matter what you do~.”

Without a semblance of a doubt, I was grateful that my father hadn’t sent me off to marry this man.

I’ve never met a man so happy to be disrespectful.

“You’re in for a rough time, Lady Argelia. You’re going to be training under a real crazy bastard.” He gave me a bow before seating himself. He helped himself to food on the table without even so much as a questioning glance. Lord Trelawney made no move to stop him, or speak against his words. “You read up on his training program yet?”

“Princess has a special one in the works. Not the standard one. What? Did you think I’ll seriously put the future empress through the usual?” Lord Trelawney scoffed, and for a moment I received a look of pity from the bareheaded man. Why was I being pitied for being treated better—ah. “No, she’s going through the best that I can make. She’s got the moxie for it, and she’s already got decent training. Hammer out all the kinks, and within a season, I’ll have her killing wyverns with her bare hands.”

Aiden looked at me, while I struggled to make sense of the words that came out of my teacher’s mouth.

Wyverns were building-sized, magical creatures with massive wings, the ability to cast primal magics, and fly faster than most knights.

Their scales can turn aside steel weapons, and potent magic is needed to harm them.

How am I supposed to kill one with my bare hands in less than four months!?

“Lady Argelia, I’m in contact with the Guild over in his land. Slip a letter through to Petyr, and I’ll get you smuggled out and trained up. It’ll take a bit longer, but you should be able to match a god’s child without any problems.”

I was tempted to accept, but—

“Moron, the woman’s on a time crunch. A hard one. The longer she’s away, the more rumors will spread, and the bigger a shitshow she’ll return to. It’ll take you a year to train her up. That’s an eternity in courtly politics. Four months is already cutting it close.” Lord Trelawney scoffed and leaned into his chair with arms crossed. Aiden glowered at him, but when I nodded at his words, the older gentleman grunted and nodded. I found myself beneath the scarlet gaze of my new teacher. “Your father told me that I’m free to do as I wish so long as you don’t die. I don’t care enough about you to push you that hard. You quit, you cry, and you bitch and moan? You’re free to fuck off and take Aiden’s offer. I won’t stop you. Everything that happens now, and everything you’re going to get from training with me, is all up to you.”

Control.

That’s what he was giving me at this very moment.

Control over my life.

Closing my eyes, I recalled that moment.

The moment where none of my supporters came to my aid, despite their houses being tied to mine. The moment when my fiancé declared his intentions to wed the best choice for the empire while looking directly at her. The moment when all those who opposed me rallied behind a single young, confused woman. A young woman who was discovered to be a child of a goddess, a demigod, and placed in our school while her mortal family was elevated into nobility in an instant.

I remember her face, while everything else was a blur, while everything else had flowed over me, and as I stood alone.

Her face was that of a scared, little girl becoming the focal point of everything and barely able to hold back tears. A woman thoroughly unfit to become an empress. A young lady who was never taught etiquette or experienced the true nature of nobility behind the curtain presented to the masses. All her innate talent and power will be molded by their will, the will of those vile snakes and betrayers, and they will have their way with her and the nation thereafter.

And they will burn it all to the ground for their ideals.

I cannot let that happen.

I cannot let my family, my home, burn because they want to rule through power and might alone.

I need power more than anything else, so that I could stop what is happening now.

At the very least, even if I fail, I want to be able to be a bulwark of the people of my family in the coming crises.

Against them.

Against the demigod that even now they are manipulating to their own ends.

So, I gave him my answer with his words earlier in my mind.

“I will wait for you to provide me the curriculum in full before I agree, but if you can make it so I have that much power, then I will do nearly anything to succeed. In fact, I’m tempted to order Alice to force me to continue no matter what.” I looked to my stalwart friend and confidant. She nodded at my words. She knew the truth of my concerns. Of how horrible the future was, if what I feared came to pass. If the man I was supposed to marry, got his way. There would be no counterbalance to him without me, especially with divine blood beside him and his allies. The empire will be ripped asunder. Our families will die. We must both work against such an ill fate. “Lord Trelawney, I assure you that I desire the power you offer with all of my heart.”

At my proclamation, as I should’ve expected, the powerful man snorted.

“The spirit is always willing, but the body is weak.” The words that left him were unexpectedly philosophical. I had to wonder how much of his brusqueness and harshness was a mask. How brutal and uncivilized could this man be, if he could share such wise words one moment before being disparaging and uncouth the next?  “Don’t worry, princess. The only expectations you can fail now are your own.”

Alice opened her mouth to defend me, but I raised my hand to silence her, before I stood up and bowed to Lord Trelawney from the waist.

Everything that happened from now on will be through my efforts, and if I work hard enough, then I will achieve what I desire.

Thus, I could truly ask for nothing more.

“I will be in your care, Lord Trelawney.” I told him simply, and he gave a growl of discontent.

“You were doing well until you said that. Almost respected you for not agreeing right away.” He shook his helmeted head, but he stood up to reciprocate my earnest gesture. There was a strange hissing sound, the sound of metal sliding across metal, and then light footsteps. Alice gave a noise of surprise, then a far lighter voice reached me. Still gruff and filled with distaste, but far lighter than the booming roar that I became accustomed to. “Alright, princess, I’ve got your back. Let’s see if you walk the walk, just like you can talk the talk.”

He offered his hand out to me, and I raised my head from my bow, and I was surprised to look upon a boy with pale features, black messy hair that nearly shadowed his eyes, which were sullen and sharp. He was a head shorter than me, and was clad in a suit and long coat, but instead of pants he wore modest shorts and his socks reached his knees.

The proper clothes for a boy.

Blearily, I recalled that he was the youngest of his family and that the primary heir had just graduated the previous year. Additionally, he lost three brothers and two sisters. Graduates of the Imperial school were typically twenty.

Meaning that… the person training me to overcome a demigod and the machinations of my fiancé was a boy barely fourteen years of age!?