Road to the Crown

Chapter 264: Coming Clean

31st July 1574

"To think that you would end up in such a state right before going to war" Sitting beside my bed, Jan only shook his head before spitting into a specially designed pot lying nearby. "Those Ostros bastards will surely pay for it!"

Seeing this greatest backer of mine getting so agitated in this situation was both good and bad news. While the fact that he turned so emotional after seeing me getting hurt was actually not bad at all, proving that all the possible doubts about my betrayal that he had before, were now all gone. But on the other hand, if he were to act out of his rightful anger alone, then rather than cornering our enemies and winning by landslide, he would be sure to rush into the action, hoping to take his revenge for my injuries just like that!

"As much as I want to get their heads and use their skulls as my beer cups, we are in no position to openly wage war against them right now. Unless you are capable of convincing all the commanders that this army should aim to clear their rebellion first, all we can do right now is to go to the east, while I will work on getting more troops ready, so that while you will be defending the country from the external invasion, I will do the same from an internal one."

As much as I wanted to shrug my arms here, with how nearly my entire body was covered in bandages and stabilising sticks, I should be happy that I could at least move my head around. With how little time I had to recover from my injuries, I knew that it would still take me at least two weeks before I could do anything outside from how far I could currently reach with my hands, but that wouldn't stop me from properly managing my people and lands!

"Mike, as much as I appreciate everything that you did for the country already, from alerting us about the war, through creating those great weapons and selling them at a low price to the army, I still can be considered to be your superior. And using my authority right here, let me tell you this."

Suddenly raising up from the edge of the bed on which Jan was sitting, he started pacing around the chamber. Despite leaving his last sentence open, indicating that he still had something to say, his mouth didn't move. Rather than that, he actually brough his hand to the chin, taking up the pose of someone who was thinking really hard about something.

"Jan, listen...:"

Unwilling to just let him waste time like that, I attempted to say something, only to be almost instantly silenced by a threatening look from the governor. Getting this obvious message, I could only close my mouth and wait for the true lord of this place to find the proper words required to relay what he had in his mind.

"Let me put it in this way. Right now, out of all the soldiers, nobles and commoners that Commonwealth could muster, you are the most important one. Just by copying the design of the projects you brought to life in this place, we could turn even the most desolate areas of the country into thriving communities, especially if you were to help us in doing so."

Finally stopping his relentless march around my room, Jan stood still and looked at me with a serious look on his face.

"Raising one's hands against you should be considered treason. At this point, it doesn't matter at all to me where all those brilliant ideas are coming to your brain, but in the current situation, only an idiot would deny the fact that those projects of yours are the lifeline for the commonwealth, especially during the times of both interregnum and the war!"

It took Governor a long time to get over with those two sentences, but as soon as he said them, I could understand why it was the case. With the type of personality that he had, praising someone so openly was not easy, and going even further and admitting that I was one of the most important people for the country growth and prosperity, if not the most important was akin to social nuke going on in this very room!

"You know

Initially, I was simply flabbergasted. It wasn't that easy to accept such praise, especially with all the potential responsibilities that would be bound to me if I were to admit that, but in the current situation of mine, doing so was actually my best choice. Especially with how, intentionally or not, Jan just put himself in quite a precarious position!

"When you said that you don't really care where does my genius come from, did you meant it?"

Even before I could start planning my way to get back at Ostros and preferably take over their lands as to use them to further develop different aspects of the country, I still had to deal with the potential repercussion of my usage of the system!

With how quickly the order to lock down the entire mansion was enforced, for now, only a single person that was present within the building while I used this strange power of mine was allowed outside, and only for the sake of passing both the urgent invitation to the governor and requesting huge amount of supplies, paper, drawing utensils and all the other stuff that Elia considered to be important. 

Thanks to that, if any rumours were to start circulating in the area, we would know who would be responsible for sharing them, putting even greater pressure the unlucky butler that somehow managed to survive Ostros onslaught, to keep his mouth perfectly shut.

Yet, it was only a matter of time before all the secrets would somehow leak to the public. We couldn't keep all those soldiers locked down in the mansion without any interaction with the world forever. Even those short interactions when workers were bringing fresh supplies bore the risk of someone accidentally slipping on their tongue, and starting the most dangerous mayhem that I would most likely ever experience.

And this was the main reason, why Governor's claim about his lack of interest in the source of my knowledge, was capable of making me both as happy and as serious.

"Jan I need you to sit down."

Surprised by my sudden change of tone, Governor raised his eyebrows. Yer rather than questioning the intent behind my request, he obediently grabbed one of the chairs that were lying around the room, before putting it in front of my bed and sitting down on it.

"What?"

Seeing how frank Jan turned out to be in this moment, I could breathe with relief. Rather than ridiculing me for this sudden change of mind, he actually turned fully serious, focusing on the matter at hand rather than small interpersonal bickering.

"Do you remember the last time when I told you how observing the naturally occurring processes that surround us were my initial source of inspiration to dig deeper into the possibility of using those natural forces to our own advantage?"

Rather than outrightly telling him about the existence of the system or my knowledge about the future times, I decided that leading him towards the answer as slowly as steadily would be the better way to go about it.

"Yeah, as I'm alive, I remember. That short talk with you back then made a really big impression on me, to the point that I still do remember most of what was said back then."

As much as I should be happy with what he said since it would allow him to understand what I was going to say next, this situation also had another side to itself. The fact that he remembered most of what I said, meant that what I would say right now, might leave a huge scar on the trust that he had towards me.

"Then you can forget most of it. While I can't say it was a lie, I never was the one to come up with any of the designs that you praised me so much for. But right now, rather than explaining myself, I need you to promise to me that you will listen all the way to the end of my story, without daring to interrupt me at any moment, unless you want me to elaborate on something a bit more. If you start making assumptions based only at the fragment of the entire truth, then I will appear as some kind of heretic, or worse, a demon if not a satan himself!"

Announcing the reality even before explaining it was quite risky, as I was already forcing the governor into expecting a lot of bad stuff, potentially shifting his perception of what I would say into something else than what he would understand from my words otherwise, yet I could tell that allowing him to interrupt me halfway, would bear even worse results.

"I You have my word. On my Nobility, I do promise!"

Despite how I was only able to move my head, thanks to the place where Governor was sitting, I could keenly observe the changes occurring on his face as he listened to my words. While this momentary hesitation that appeared in his eyes as he was about to swear this oath made me worried a bit, I wouldn't get an any better chance to finally come clean with anyone else but my wife.

"I I lived a single day, that happened four centuries in the future."