Arthur exited the bathroom, towel draped over his wet hair, and he was shirtless with nothing but his underwear on his lower body.
He leisurely went up the stairs, and as he did, he couldn't help but think back to his battle against the Mercenary.
'Maybe it would have been more enjoyable if they jumped me'
The Explorer in him mused, wondering how that little skirmish could have been something much better.
Battle was one of the few things he enjoyed, now he was no fiend for a fight, not all and he would deny that with every fiber of his being, however the thrill of combat was enjoyable and thus a good fight was appreciated.
'Or I could have given him some prep–"
He quickly tossed that thought aside, realising that such thoughts were stupid, he came here to have some peace and relax, to do that he need to quell his any desire that made him want to return.
Besides any of that, he liked his wife quite a bit. Living that lifestyle while still having a wife was possibly unfeasible.
Although considering he'll have to return to work eventually, it was imperative that he find a way to make it work.
It also did not help that Explorers did not typically get married or form long-lasting relationships, so he has no precedent to draw from.
He reached the bedroom, choosing to discard his earlier thoughts as he entered.
The moment he stepped foot beyond the door, he was confronted by Esme, who sat upright, using the pillows to support her back. She had an intense and serious expression that marred her face.
She wasn't staring daggers at him, but her brows were creased, and her eyes seemed to be intensely focused on the blanket draped over her legs.
"I thought you'd be asleep"
He got her attention, forcing her to look up. it seems she didn't even hear him come in.
"I was, I came to thirty minutes ago, where were you?"
When they returned home, Esme took a short bath and went to bed right after. She felt mentally exhausted by the whole ordeal and needed to reset.
It was understandable, after all she was kidnapped, and her life was put at risk, Arthur understood that needed some rest and have her process what happened, although unlike her, he was used to such things ,and didn't really feel that same exhaustion.
"Was doing some exercise, for the past couple of hours."
She let out an audible hum, her eyes tracing his body and softening just a bit before she spoke again.
"We need to talk about what happened and how to deal with Bulat for good"
Her gaze had lingered on his torso for moments before she managed to look him in the eyes.
"Sure but first, can I say something?"
She gave a nod and waited for him to speak. She felt curious about what he was going to say but also felt like she could guess.
A brief silence settled between them for a moment, Arthur felt a bit awkward and slightly uncomfortable. He wasn't used to having to be sincere, so it took him a moment to find the words.
"I'm sorry about what happened today…."
He paused for a moment, the words feeling strange as they left his lips, still unfamiliar with being sincere.
"As your husband, I'm supposed to protect you, but I failed in that, and you almost got hurt because of my failure"
If he had taken the threat of Bulat seriously from the beginning, he would have been able to protect Esme without issues, but because of his own short-sightedness and overconfidence, he allowed for his wife to be in danger.
Bulat was not a monster, but just a human with a bit of authority, he didn't compare to monsters like the Manticore from the [Expanding forest] in the north or the Ocean beasts that roam the depths of the [Black Sea]. He wasn't a Behemoth with a near unstoppable charge.
Bulat was not a monster, but a fleshy and fragile human, Arthur could kill with a back handed slap. Thus, he didn't register as a proper threat. That was a mistake, a lapse in judgment that would have had severe consequences.
"It's alright, my dear husband. You managed to save me before anything happened, so you protected me well. It would be ungrateful of me to complain or blame you for everything, plus I had full faith you would rescue me, and you did"
She flashed him a reassuring and thankful smile that told him there was nothing to be sorry for and that he did his duty as a husband.
Esme placed no blame on Arthur at all, the only other person who would have cared enough to rescue her, except the woman that gave birth to her, but she was dead, only Arthur was present and to shout and blame him for this incident would be nothing short of selfish.
Arthur returned the smile, feeling a bit of relief settle on his shoulders. He could only offer her words of gratitude. However, despite her words, he was still determined to shoulder the blame for everything and planned to ensure something like that did not happen again.
She may be forgiving but that in no way meant he wasn't to blame, at least that's what he believed but regardless her words brought him relief and a sense of resolution to do better in protecting her.
This meant giving her higher tier items and giving her a crash course on how to use items properly to make sure in the event something like this happens again, she can not only fight back but she can fight back and win, or at the very least be formidable enough not to die.
"In any case, now that we're officially at conflict with Bulat, we need to ensure that he's gets arrested."
"Ok, how do we do that?"
Arthur forgot his need for clothing and sat at the edge of the bed. He also realized he would have to tell her about getting help from Duke Lionmane.
"For starters, he could spin the narrative and make it seem like we attacked him, this means he might try bribing any witnesses to that carriage attack, although its possible he might not need to as the witnesses probably won't connect it to him"
Unless the attackers were explicitly known to be Bulat's men, she doubted that any witnesses could connect the dots and say with definitive confidence that it was Bulat who staged the attack.
"The people who attacked us were Mercenaries, unless they come forward and say who paid them, I don't think we can link the attack to Bulat."
Arthur agreed, Despite Bulat being known as someone who deals with and works with criminals, that in no way mean he's the only person capable of that, plus the attack on the carriage could be easily seen as an attempted robbery that had nothing to do with Bulat.
"Before we continue, how did you find me? maybe the person who helped you can help us against Bulat as well"
Bulat had told her that screaming for help was useless and that they were far away from where she had been taken.
When that mercenary took her he traveled south, meaning wherever she was taken was further in the slums, this meant the person who helped Arthur was probably someone like Darren, a person who lived in the slums but hated Bulat or at least want to see him go down.
"Oh right, a servant of Duke Lionmane helped me. Apparently, they've been watching us for almost a week now"
"WHAT!!"
She practically screamed at him as her body lurched forward as if she was suddenly yanked forward by a rope. Duke Lionmane was one of only two Dukes in the Kingdom.
He controlled a majority of the southern region which contributes greatly to the fishing industry as it closer to the ocean and because it has some of the most beautiful beaches in the kingdom its typically seen a prime vacation spot.
Duke Lionmane has great influence in the noble court, and his natural skepticism has made him someone the king keeps at his side a majority of the time, the Duke also happened to have some elf blood in him so the royal family kept him close.
Although he is not necessarily the one who is closest to the King. That privilege belongs to Marquis Bearheart.
"If Duke Lionmane has been watching us, then that means my guess about the nobles waiting for the right opportunity to use you was right. If the servant helped on his behalf, then that means right now we owe a debt to Duke Lionmane"
She leaned back, returning to a more comfortable position. She was against owing any debts to the nobles as that would eventually lead to owing the Crown, and the less she deals with her family, the better.
The reason she told Arthur that Marquis Bearheart was the better option was because she was hoping they could get him to agree not to inform the king of the favor.
The Marquis was famously known for being unable to say no to his wife, so Esme had hoped to use that somehow to keep their debt to him a secret.
However the fact that Marquis Bearheart not only had the [Black Collar] but also sold it to Bulat means his loyalty to the king isn't as absolute as she thought but it also meant him and his family were corrupt so working with him was out of the question.
Or rather, it wasn't out of the question. Instead, Esme did not wish to work with such individuals.
She still largely believes her decision against paying the fee is the reason this all happened, thus her fault, but she also knows working with the corrupt or aligning yourself with criminals was not advisable.
In all honesty, she was very much happy that they were now officially going against Bulat, as it meant they were going to help all the people that he was threatening, giving them a chance to finally breathe freely once all this is over.
"I don't think it matters who I owe a favor to, plus now since I'm debted to Duke Lionmane, I might as well use his name to our benefit, right?"
Arthur shrugged as he suggested, and Esme could only let out a sigh. She couldn't deny his words, or rather his the husband here. Thus, the decision was his to begin with.
If she was to be a bit more honest, this whole thing was tiring, if not a little burdensome to her, but Arthur seems intent on letting her be involved despite being a woman.
"Alright, plus, it's possible the noble backing m Bulat is Marquis–"
She relented however as soon as she uttered those words she paused, realising that if Bulat truly had the support of a Marquis then he wouldn't have needed to look for Mercenaries himself as Marquis Bearheart is fairly famous amongst Mercenaries since he usually sells some of his collected items.
'No doubt he would have gotten more than two Mercenaries, especially considering he was going against an Explorer.'
"What is it?"
"Nothing, I thought Marquis Bearheart would be his backer, but if he truly had the backing of someone like that, he wouldn't have hired just two Mercenaries to fight an Explorer"
Even in the event that Bulat used his contacts in the slums to get Mercenaries, having a Marquis as his sponsor should have afforded him more man power than just two Mercenaries.
Arthur let out a hum and gave her a nod.
"In any case, now that we're in direct conflict with Bulat, we need Darren more than ever, he might have information we can use, not only that but we should get to know our neighbors better, they might be helpful in taking down Bulat for good"
Despite the plan on using Duke Lionmane's name as the noble that's backing them, Esme didn't believe that would be enough to take down Bulat . so they needed as much information as possible on Bulat and only use Duke Lionmane's name as the trump card.
"So that's the plan?"
"Yes, it is highly likely Bulat will want to intimidate us first. If that doesn't work, he'll use the guards on his payroll to have you arrested to remove you from the board."
Esme believed that this issue wouldn't go to court as that would require intense scrutiny as such Bulat, will probably use his noble connection to pressure them into submission.
As long there is a noble backing him and the knights on his payroll, he could arbitrarily throw an accusation, and it wouldn't even need to go to court, Arthur would be toss into a jail.
"So we wait for him to move? Why not move first?"
"We can do that, but to make a case against him, we'll have to go to the city guards, but they're compromised. The only way to bypass that is to have Duke Lionmane file the case against Bulat and then have us and the rest of the neighborhood as witnesses…."
When it came to matters of the law, Nobles had a lot of influence, and having a noble on your side when dealing with the law is a great boon.
The law is tied to the noble court, they make the laws and rules, with the Royal family being the highest authority and the one with the final say, however as a result of this it's very difficult to get a noble arrested.
To do that, you need to have several nobles go against one other noble, but should it fail, that basically means having a target on your back, and unfortunately, no one wants that.
So essentially, as long as no one is willing to go against them, any noble can do whatever they want as long as its not too overt and obvious.
Having the backing of a noble essentially means "hey don't mess with us or Duke Lionmane will come after you" and nobody wanted the ire of such powerful people.
This was why it was important to have a powerful noble behind you.
"....However to get in contact with a Duke may take days, as someone who has a whole territory to govern, he rarely gets the free time. It's also important to get to speak to him directly if we're going that route"
Arthur figured even with his reputation as an Explorer, getting direct contact with a Duke would still take a day or two in that time Bulat could make his move against them.
"Let's do that anyway, even if it will take days, at least when Bulat makes his move against us, the Duke will know that we contacted him and won't be surprised by us using his name"
He also figured they'd start speaking to their neighbours about the issue while they're waiting and get everyone on the same page.
"Okay, we'll do it that way."
She saw no issues with that and readily agreed and besides any of that, to Esme he was the man of the house, whatever he decides goes, just because he allowed her to have an opinion in matters that don't concern a woman, didn't change that.
....
A/N: OK, this was a lot of yap. Hopefully, it was interesting and engaging.
Unfortunately, I'm not much of a smart guy, so I tried my best to make all this planning seem plausible, logical, and not contradict previously stated things and actions. Please inform me if there's any discrepancy.