"Surely he doesn't control all the caravans and merchants?"Adam asked.
"You misunderstand." The Duke said with a tiny sigh. "Midway remains the most powerful economic force in Chicago. In that wretched place that man has total control. Those he does not have direct control over, he has tendrils into. For a merchant, Midway is a key trading hub that cannot be missed. That grants him power. If a merchant were to trade with us against his wishes they could be penalized in Midway, or, at worst, not let in ever again. No merchant would risk that."
"Thats downright despicable." Percy said with a sigh of his own.
"It's merely politics." The Duke reiterated before letting out a quiet sigh of his own. "And it is not only food, many of the basic necessities are being carefully controlled and brought to us in order to maintain our dependence." He looked fierce for a moment as he gently slammed his fist against the arm of the throne. "If this was before our collapse he would have never even dared challenge us." He then looked weak again as he slumped a bit. "But those days are over."
"How did you even get in bed with him? And how did the cult take down the Dukedom in the first place?"
"Those are two very different questions. But I shall answer your second question first. My royal guard had seen the scouts of the cult coming and going for weeks, we knew to be prepared for something. However, we could not have ever prepared for what arrived. A tide. For everyone we killed, another took their place. That fanatical cult truly had the manpower to throw at us without worry. By the time my men were fighting hand to hand Archibald, my royal visar, realized the situation was hopeless and helped to ferry myself and a handful of others out of my fief before we were completely encircled. The massacre that followed was… all encompassing." He said with a somber tone. "At first I had planned to raise an army to retake my Dukedom, but it soon became clear to me that would be impossible. No one was interested in helping."
"So that is when you went to War." Adam inferred.
"What better place to hide than in the camp of the greatest enemy of the cult?" He asked with a small smirk. "It seemed a good idea, at the time." He sighed again. "Days turned to weeks, weeks to months. I was without a future. Simply living on handouts one day to the next. Then you came." He paused.
"Truthfully when you first arrived I thought nothing of it. But I find myself to be a good judge of character. Even now, in this withered state you find me, I think I can read people better than anyone else in all of Chicago. When you walked out of the meeting with War I knew something had changed, I could smell it on the wind. I knew it was time to act if I was ever going to see my home again." He paused once more. "So I made my way to Midway, my few loyal retainers at my side, and made a deal. My fief for supplication to the Devil of Midway. I knew the kind of arrangement I was getting into. Even now I do not regret it, however the price has been even higher than I feared. I am naught but a shell of the man I used to be, holding a hollow throne built on thatch and lies. Nary a crown or sword in sight as the only ones who stand at my side are the demons who work for the devil." He said with a colorful and poetic tone.
"You did what you had to do, in order to rebuild your home. No one will fault you for that. Adam said, trying to assuage the Duke's depression.
"I have wrought my own undoing, I know this." He said in response. "There is little that can be done now. I have visions of the future. Some bleak, some bright. And every waking moment is spent working towards the day when I no longer am shackled to a bad deal in Midway. But until then the true power of my fief lies not in the throne, but in a fine leather chair in the back office of The Guild." Adam nodded slowly.
"Is there… Anything I can do?" Adam asked, slowly.
"No." The Duke said back quickly. "There is nothing to be done. All I can do is hope that we will once more be able to stand on our own two feet, growing food, conducting trade on a fair basis, offering no tribute to that man. There is nothing any single man can do. I must simply bide my time. I may have lost my vigor during that day I fled my fief. But I have not lost my mind. There will come a day. Not today, not tomorrow. But there will be a day. And when that day comes, my Dukedom will be free once more." He said with the sharpest and most serious tone he has had this entire conversation.
Adam was now questioning how much of his tired and depressed exterior was an act. Of course, no doubt, he was tired and depressed. But if he could look as he did now, strong and ready to do what it took to set his home free, perhaps this was all part of a longer plan? Of course this was pure speculation. But if this man was really that long term of a planner… it may be possible.
"Is it okay to be telling us all this?" Adam asked, now uncertain. "What if we told Mr. Cantelli about this plan of yours? Or what if the black suits are listening in?" The Duke just lets off a single soft laugh to that.
"I told you, I am a good judge of people." He smiled sadly. "You are a man of principle, you do not back injustice, you stand against it." He then gestures to Mira. "She is skeptical of all and everything, but would never give information away to that snake of a man unless it offered a direct and obvious boon. Though even more than that she would not go against your wishes." He then gestured to Percy. "He is nothing more than a lost soul without a home, he owes no loyalty to Mr. Cantelli or even Chicago. He is still judging. But he will do what he thinks is morally right." Finally he gestures to Deccanus. "And that man has no ambitions of his own. He follows like a loyal dog." He ended succinctly.
It was actually an incredible display of skill. He accurately read every one of them after only having met them briefly and only hearing some of them talk a few times. He had only a few words and mannerisms to go off of, but he was reading them like a book. Mira looked uncomfortable and Percy found it hilarious, Deccanus was stoic as ever.
"I uh… must say, you are very good at that." Adam chuckled nervously as he scratched his head, not sure what to make of that display.
"It is a useful skill to have when you lead a people such as mine. Knowing who you can trust and who you can't is vital." He then paused before jumping back to the other topic. "However, even if you were not the people I just spoke of and had every intention of telling that man what you have heard it would change nothing. He is very much like me in many ways. He knows I have no intention to be his lapdog forever. And while I plan ways to break free of his control he is no doubt planning ways to keep me under his control. This is merely politics." He said again. "It is a game I know well. And I have no intention of losing. Even if I have to start on the backfoot."
"I… honestly am quite impressed, Duke. You are a much stronger man than I had thought." Adam said, unashamed to praise him. Wowed by this man's determination and insight.
"If you had only seen me at my height. But alas, time is a cruel mistress." He then leaned back in his chair, finally slumping back down again a bit. "We have little to trade, and less to offer, but you are free to stay as long as you wish. In better times I would have awarded you a medal for your efforts in retaking the Dukedom. However I must simply offer you my highest formal gratitude I can give." He gently, while still sitting, bowed his head a bit to Adam. "I shall never forget this favor, Adam Baxter."