The trip home was long and tiresome. The only thing fun about it was listening to Benjamin try and cram as much information as he could into Emily's head about being a noble. It was fun until he heard me chuckle and said there were particular points that it would be good for me to review.

  It started to rain halfway through the second day. Fortunately, by that time, we had reached the road being built by the road crew, so it didn't really impede travel time. The problem was the temperature had also started to drop, so not only was it wet but very cold. We got to Melnon and hunkered down until halfway through the next day. By the time we left, the rain had turned into a drizzle. The dirt roads turned muddy, but fortunately, it was only a two-hour trip.

  When we got back to the manor, I was ready to sit by the fire and thaw out for a week. I now felt bad for the soldiers who were leaving to go south to clear out the bandits in our lands right as the rainy season was starting.

  I received a report on the preparations from Edward. Apparently, the main body of troops left this morning. They had gathered two hundred men and split them into platoons of fifty. Each group had a minimum of five scouts to help with the sweep. As soon as they crossed the Nore, they would split up. Fifty would go to the West and fifty to the East. The remaining group would travel south through the woods to try to avoid detection by Plimgus. The platoons would then work towards each other, trying to flush out the bandits.

  The reason I wanted to avoid Plimgus is in case he had put the bandits up to this like that steward had done on the road down to Kimton; I didn't want Plimgus to let them know how many men we had brought to squash his bandits If this was his doing.

  I felt bad for sending my men out during the rainy season, but at least they would have adequate clothing. Even though many of the projects would start to slow down as it became colder, we had managed to make enough clothes to clothe our people and provide things for the winter. It didn't snow a lot here, maybe twice a year, but I heard tales of years that were especially cold, and they got a foot or more of snow. Could we make a horse-drawn snow plow? Maybe we could modify the plow they had made with a seat. We could even put skis on it. Then again, would it be worth it for how often it would be used?

  Since there wasn't much to do, I grabbed a stack of papers and started a new book. "Experiments on Electricity." The first thing I wrote was the story of Benjamin Franklin flying a kite in a storm. Of course, I wrote it as if I had done it. Yeah, it was probably a jerk move on my part for stealing the credit, but really, I didn't even know if Benjamin Franklin actually did it or if it just made for a good story. I had heard one version of the story that it was actually done by his son since Benjamin was afraid of lightning. What a great father figure. I was writing everything in cursive English, so it would all have to be translated later. I also needed to invent a kite so the story held water when I finally released it.

  Experiment one was creating a magnetic field between two magnets. All I knew was the basic concept. I didn't even know if I was supposed to do North and North or North and South. I really should have paid more attention in science class or when I was getting my electricity merit badge.

  I grabbed the two magnets I had purchased and went to the wood shop to see if they could create something that would hold the two rocks an equal distance apart on a platform. Actually, I sent a servant to do it while I prepared lessons on decimal points for the next school classes.

  The next few days fell into a routine as the temperature began to drop. I played with magnets and copper, prepared lessons, and created playing cards out of some of the thicker paper we had left. I also carved out dice, and soon, I would turn the great hall into a gambling den to generate more revenue for the county. Ok, not really. I was creating games for people to play during the boring, slow months of the year.

  Not that there wasn't plenty of work to do. I was still a ruler and made time to judge cases, help Edward learn what he needed to know about running the publishing house and make the final decisions on how we were going to manage our human resources. My people were busy with repairs and new construction.

  Benjamin and I were going over expense reports daily, as well as supply figures. I have to admit I was a little paranoid about screwing up our finances. It was a lot more complex than the 4X games on a computer. The fact that I had so much education and understood the principles of economics did help. It just didn't help as much as I was hoping.

  I was in the process of going over numbers when there was a knock at my study door. I called out to whoever it was to come in, and when the door finally opened, Emily came in looking depressed.

  "Hey, Em. What's up? You look like I feel."

  She sighed as she sat down. "I hate these lessons. Everything I do is not good enough for Benjamin."

  I shouldn't have, but I gave a slight chuckle. "I know how you feel. He is harsh on me, too. But let me clue you in on a secret. The reality is that it isn't as bad as you think. When I finally sat down with other nobles, most of them did things that would have made Benjamin cringe. Benjamin is training us to be the best so that when we mess up, it will not be anything dramatic. So do your best and realize that you will make mistakes, but nobody is going to remember your mistakes long-term unless it's so bad that it cannot be forgiven."

  "And what if I do something that can't."

  I raised one eyebrow. "Next time we go to Vaspar, are you planning on getting drunk and throwing up all over the table."

  She gave me a disgusted look.

  "Are you planning on running off with some noble's servant to have a good time?"

  This made her turn red. "No!"

  "See, you have got the basics down. You will have no problem."

  "Amos! Those are not the basics. And you know it."

  "Eh, close enough," I said with a shrug. "Seriously, Em, I was thinking the same thing as you when I first went to Vaspar, and I got nervous again when I went down to Kimton, but once you start hanging around these people enough, you realize they really are just people like you and me. They will gossip and make fun of you for being a country noble, but that is all. Besides, you will be with a count, so it isn't like the lower nobility will be able to say anything without risk of them offending me."

  "So, does that mean I can stop attending lessons with Benjamin?"

  "Heck, no. If I have to do it, then you have to do it."

  She gave a pout, and I sighed.

  "Look, Em. Do you even want to be a noble? You don't have to be."

  I had been thinking about this ever since my talk with Suzy. I thought this would be awesome for her, but really, had I done her a favor, or had I made her life more difficult? With her paper business, she was bringing in a ton of money. What did she need a title for out here in the middle of nowhere? I knew she liked me, but it wasn't like her status would allow us to marry.

  And I still wasn't quite sure I was ready to think of a fifteen-year-old girl as a marriage prospect. So where did that leave her? I needed more nobles in my county because hell would freeze over before I let her marry a Plimgus or Malcomp.

  "I do. Amos, I am sorry if I sound ungrateful. It's just…everybody treats me differently, and I have nothing to do."

  "Well, I will be bringing in more nobles with your same status. Benjamin and I have been working on a plan. Soon, we will have children of nobles begging me to let them stay here. We also need to find a way to make Jackie a noble, and she can take lessons with you."

  "Is the wife of a steward a noble," she said with a sly grin.

  "Are you serious?" I asked in surprise.

  "I saw her and Benjamin together last night. They were sitting really close."

  "I need to make up some excuse to make her a noble. I am pretty sure, as a count, I can do it. Maybe as the first scholar of Bicman. That might help Benjamin to move forward. She still also gets 5% of the money from the Paper Business, so a dowry shouldn't be a problem. He would be walking away with 5% ownership in one of the most profitable businesses in Bicman. No one could look down on him for choosing such a bride."

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  This cheered Emily up immensely, and we chatted for a little while before my meeting with Edward and Benjamin.

  The two men entered the room together, and Emily excused herself.

  "Edward, are you almost ready to go?" I asked.

  "Yes, my lord. I have five more scholars, and Benjamin and I have worked out the next few months of book releases for the North Cove Publishing House."

  I was sad that we had to change the publishing house's name so soon, but branding it with the county name instead of barony would lend weight to not just that business but all the other North Cove businesses we were going to brand. I had designed the new symbol of North Cove and made it so it could be turned into a logo.

  This feudal system had not developed to the point where there were full-on coats of arms with crests and mottos and all that. Just a symbol that was also the family seal. I made a complex seal that could be simplified to a logo that I would use for branding. That meant that the sign outside the publishing house would have our logo with an open book superimposed on it. I made it specifically so that it would be easy to do just that.

  "Ok, so now it is time to discuss your secondary objective. Has Benjamin briefed you on the NCEIA?"

  "Yes, although I don't feel I am the best person for this." He said nervously.

  "You don't have a lot to do. All you have to do is read through messages, encode the important messages, and pass them on. We need an external intelligence agency, and this would be the best way to do it."

  "Benjamin and I spent a lot of time figuring this out. It's perfect." I said excitedly.

  "I will not take credit for it. This idea was yours," Benjamin said flatly.

  "Yes, but you agreed," I said defensively.

  "I agree that it may work out just fine."

  "May? You're totally backpedaling on me here, Benjamin. But hey, that just means more credit to me when it works out. So, here is the deal, Edward. We are going to gather book readers."

  "Book readers?" he said in confusion.

  "Yes, one of the popular trends in In Vaspar was book readings. One of the nobles would hire someone to come to a social get-together where one of our books would be read to them. This way, none of the nobles that can't read would feel awkward. We will train some of our people to read to crowds. A lot of it is inflection and volume. Once they can read a book well enough to capture audiences' attention, we will send them out to do book readings around the duchy. Some will perform in noble societies, while others will perform in taverns and town squares. Just like a bard or other entertainers, they will gather money from the crowd. Or, in the case of a noble, they will be paid for the event. We will subsidize them if necessary."

  "So these are going to be the information gatherers."

  "Yes, every couple of months, they will circle back to Vaspar to pick up new books and drop off the information they have gathered. The North Cove Readers' job will appear to people to promote my books, but their real objective is to gather information."

  I still didn't like North Cove Readers as much as the Book Readers of Bicman., but branding was everything.

  "What type of information will I be passing on?" Edward asked.

  "Everything until I can figure out what is important but specifically things that have to do with the war, the upcoming rebellion, and the general mood of the people. Of course, we will make sure the readers don't ask specifically about the rebellion and that they are cautious about other things. Oh, yeah, I need information on how the people feel about their specific rulers' children. I need more knights if we have an influx of people. Having a stack of references will help. If they find a child of a noble that the peasants like, I would like to invite them to my county for an interview."

  "How many?"

  "It all depends. We are going to have the survey teams go out and mark locations that have potential. At first I am going to zone each fiefdom to have five square kilometers of land with access to water. In the future, we will build canals to branch out to other land. I want to select my own knights so that they are loyal to me rather than have my barons or the duchy give out my land."

  "Will a knight be satisfied with only five kilometers of land," Edward asked.

  "I plan to increase crop yield to at least twelve bushels per acre. That means that one fiefdom would produce almost as much as we did as a barony last year. But remember, since they don't need to produce as much grain, we can move a lot of land to cash crops, like putba and cotton, to manufacture tradeable products."

  "What about the other baronies you own? Will they also be producing these?"

  "In time, they will. The key is to get our infrastructure to the point where it costs less to purchase from us than anywhere else. That means both manufacturing and transportation infrastructure.

  "Let's talk about the other baronies, though. Both Plimgus and Malcomp have children that could take portions of their barony, so I expect to have those baronies split within five years. I want to divide Bicman into at least three. Everything north of the Nore and ten kilometers south of Kerisi will become a barony. Then we have Bicman Barony. Then, north of Bicman, and the land near North Cove, will be the third. That will, of course, happen after we drain the swamp. Then, we divide it up again into more baronies. Heck, with how much produce we will be producing, we could support a massive population and divide it again."

  "I had not thought you were thinking that far ahead."

  "We need this to happen as soon as possible. The strength of our military is going to be the only thing that frees us from the oppression of the other nobles. We need teeth to bite back with. I hope you now see how crucial your role is, Edward. You need to make your way down to Vaspar as soon as possible."

  "I need five days to gather my things and decide on who to bring. I would like to bring Nancy, but…"

  "But she has siblings to take care of." I sighed, "Edward, this has a simple solution. Marry her and bring her family down with you. Bam, problem solved."

  There was a long pause while he looked at me with a serious expression before nodding. "You are right, my lord. If you will allow me to bring her family with me, I will ask her to marry me."

  Wow, that was easy. I wish everything was that easy.

  "Excellent, glad we got that settled. Now we just need to find you a wife, Benjamin," I said with a grin. "Any prospects?"

  The guy didn't even flinch. With a straight face, he said, "Of the three of us, your own marriage is most critical to the survival of the county."

  "I am sorry, Benjamin, I tried so hard with Dianne but was rejected by her father," I said dramatically. "I may just not be marriageable material. Besides, I'm only seventeen. I've got time."

  Edward's jaw dropped. "What do you mean you are only seventeen? You…How? You look at least twenty. "

  "Yeah, Bicman's are born big. I totally forgot you didn't know. You may want to keep that to yourself, though. I think I am supposed to have a regent. In a few months, it won't matter, though. Anyways, let's put a pin in this one, and we can get back to it later. I need to go see Jorb about some copper wire and Mikel about making a ball bearing."

  "What is a ball barring?"

  I so wanted to say, "It's the piece inside your sister's fidget spinner that you broke and blamed it on your brother." Natalie was pissed until mom made me buy her a new one.

  But instead said, "It is something that I came up with that should help me spin two wires fast enough to create a spark."

  "Part of your shock experiment."

  "Yep, so let's talk later."

  It was dinner time before I got back to the manor, so I ended up sitting down with Emily to dine.

  "So, how is everything going?"

  "It's ok, I guess. I miss my paper shop," she said longingly

  "You want to help me with electricity?"

  "What is it?"

  I grinned. "The future, Emily. It is the future." I said in a dramatic voice.

  She rolled her eyes. "Are you trying to be mysterious again?"

  "Yep, is it working?" I said while giving an eyebrow waggle.

  Emily snorted and then laughed. "Seriously, Amos, how did you convince anyone you were a noble in Kimton."

  "Endless One only knows. So you want to help with the experiment."

  She gave a dramatic sigh. "Yes, I will help you."

  Then her face suddenly turned sad, and she said, "Um, Amos. You know the boy that Marcus…"

  She couldn't say that Marcus killed him, so I decided to skip it. "Yeah, Alfa. One of your paper makers."

  She nodded. "Well, I don't know if you knew this, but he was Paul and Suzy's grandson."

  My jaw dropped, "I…Crap, I didn't even give them my condolences."

  "Well, he, um, you know how Suzy was making the sugar from putba? Well, he was messing around with the leftover mashed-up stuff after she was done with it. And laid it out on a rock. When he came back, it was dried out and stuck together. He asked: if we were making paper from trees and you had made it from rags before, could we try making colored paper from putba? I told him we would try sometime, but we were always busy, and I…"

  "And you feel bad that you never even tried. And now that he is gone, you want to try."

  "I think that is a nice idea. In fact, I think where I came from, they made paper from rice, so why not try a bunch of stuff? See what else we can come up with. You will have three paper grinders, so use one for other stuff. We might come up with something interesting."

  "Thank you, Amos. That… it's been bothering me."

  I smiled at her reassuringly. "You know Em, you are the hardest person in the world to say no to, so you might as well assume I am going to say yes."

  She blushed, which made me think about what I had just said.

  Crap! She is going to totally take that the wrong way.

  Tanya, Hazelight City, West Cove Barony

  My eyes snapped open. My heart thundered in my chest as if I had been running from a wild beast. I sat up and put my hand over my heart, trying to take deep breaths to calm it. The taste of blood was still present in my mouth. I whipped my hand across my forehead, making sure the sticky sensation was sweat and not the blood I had been drowning in a moment ago.

  Why me? No one else seemed to have this happen to them. There were no visions or nightmares. They just assisted in maintaining the Endless Ones laws, and that was all.

  Looking out the window, I saw that the first hints of dawn were creeping over the hills. I got up and went to bother the head priest, who was always up at this time. After getting appropriately dressed, I walked down the hall to his room. Knocking on his door, I waited for a response.

  When the door opened, a wiry, tall man with tufts of white hair answered the door. "Priestess Tanya, what brings you to my door so early in the morning?"

  "Forgive me for interrupting your morning meditation, High Priest, but I must beg you for ink and parchment."

  High Priest Taylor was a kind but mischievous old man, and I am sure that a quip about a secret lover was on his tongue. My tone and look, however, must have stopped him.

  I went to the dining area ,where there was a table I could write on. As I was about to start writing down the contents of the dream my hand cramped up. What was going on? I set the quill down and shook out my hand and then tried again. The same thing happened. I started to get frustrated.

  What do you want me to do? Why give me this dream if you don't want me to write it down?

  Then, the words of the dream came back to me. I quickly wrote them down before the Endless One could try to interfere. Looking down at the few lines I had written, I grimaced. This wasn't enough, but I knew it was all the Endless One would allow.

  Amos, I hope you can figure this out.