“All too often people wished to take back what they decided in moments of high emotion. Too bad life doesn’t work that way.” - Old philosophical saying.

“That is certainly… one way to make an impression, Captain Edelstein,” braved councilor Bernd Adenauer after they left the assembly a while later. The former nobleman had expected Reinhardt to hit back at the words said by his fellow former noble at the dais, but had not expected him to escalate the matter to this sort of proportion. “Is it wise, though? Your people had just been on a long trip.”

“That’s why I specified tomorrow instead of now, councilor,” replied Reinhardt with the same toothy smirk on his face. “We’re a hardy bunch, a night of rest is more than we could usually ask for before we have to go and fight for our lives, so it’s beyond plenty,” he explained. “Also, that was one of the names on your list, was it not? I am nine out of ten certain that he was, but never did get to confirm with you.”

“Former Viscount Leonid de Kars is one of the people we would like to take down a peg or eliminate should the situation allow for such, yes,” replied Bernd with a harder look on his face. Oddly enough, despite being a former noble, he was one of the loudest exponents to getting the other former nobles in line or else getting rid of them. “I just had not expected you to pounce on the situation so… immediately. It caught me off guard, I admit.”

“It’s what we specialize in, councilor,” said Reinhardt with a guffaw. “Either way, that de Kars already sealed his fate anyway by choosing live blades. My people aren’t the best at holding back to begin with,” he continued. “And that specification to have the participants limited to those below twenty was a brilliant choice from… what was the lady councilor’s name?”

“That would be councilor Estelle, Captain,” answered the former nobleman. “She is also the unofficial leader of the city council.”

“Huh. Didn’t expect that, especially since she’s… you know, like the youngest of the people up there,” admitted Reinhardt with some surprise. “Anything special we should keep note about her? Or anything we need to know?”

“She’s very well-respected amongst the people and especially the militia, as she was one of the first to suggest, and then lead the resistance movement to take Levain for themselves rather than let various nobles fight for it over their heads,” replied Bernd somewhat wistfully. “She was still a young lass at that time too, couldn’t be more than twelve at most. Many of the other councilors look at her almost like a daughter, in a lot of ways.”

“That’s… something of a history to have, all right,” noted Reinhardt after some thought. He was not one to dismiss what a child of twelve could do under the right circumstances. If anything, seeing such a child willingly take up arms and fight would have been a great motivator for the adults, to say the least.

“There’s also some rumors she prefers to keep private most of the time, but I believe you could be trusted with it, but Lady Estelle did what she did back then because she felt responsible for having probably started this whole mess by accident,” added the former nobleman in a quiet whisper. “By which, I mean the imperial civil war.”

“How- Oh wait. The Bounty Hunter slew your last Emperor in a very public manner, but everyone knows that the Bounty Hunter only takes up work if someone puts them up to it instead of acting independently… but she must’ve been what? Four? Five at that time?”

“Lady Estelle claims that when she was four, a hooded and cloaked figure had asked her why she was crying in the streets. She said she had laid out her grievances to that figure, and they had asked if she thought things would have been better without the Emperor, and if so, what she would pay for it,” recited the former noble, the tale coming easily to his tongue. “Lady Estelle said that she had offered the figure some stale bread pieces and a few copper coins, all she had at the time, and the figure had taken only a single copper coin and claimed that the deal was done before they left.”

“Huh. Normally I would call that an implausible story…” commented Reinhardt with some doubt. “But I assume there’s more to the story?”

“The Bounty Hunter slew Maglos the Tyrant later that same year, and left a single rusty copper coin on the tongue of his decapitated head. This is something only the nobles and higher up knew about,” said Bernd quietly. “Even if the tale was made up, Lady Estelle has grown into a leader in body and soul for these people by now, so I see no point in going against the narrative anyway.”

“Fair point. Not like it’s something anyone could prove or disprove easily either way, and the narrative only helps your side in this case,” noted Reinhardt with a nod. “Anyway, I think you surmised the reason I asked for the councilors and the militia to be the audience for tomorrow’s duel, no?”

“It would greatly discredit de Kars if his chosen competitors were to be defeated in an ugly manner, yes, that part I already surmised,” replied the former nobleman. “You are certain of defeating them, then, Captain?”

“The moment the fight was restricted to those under twenty, that was the final nail in that man’s coffin,” boasted Reinhardt. “Ery, I want you to pick eleven of yours for tomorrow. There’s no holding back needed, so pick whoever you think will do best at taking care of a bunch of wannabe knights in as dominating a manner as you can make it happen, that clear?”

“Crystal clear, dad. I already have the folks in mind. We’ll take good care of them tomorrow.”