Knock. Knock.
A polite knock interrupted the conversation between Earl Malric and Chronos.
"Enter"
Head maid Beth opened the door, "Milord, the luncheon is ready and the guests are waiting for you."
"I understand Beth. We'll be out in just a moment."
Bowing she left the room as Chronos, and the Earl looked at each other.
"Looks like it's time for a show," Chronos said.
"Agreed, let's go out together. We don't need them thinking there's tension between us at this trying time."
Standing up Earl Malric led Chronos and his friends to the back garden. As soon as they stepped outside various gazes watched them for any sign of conflict.
While the Malric family and the Ulv family had never been on great terms with each other it was well known that they weren't exactly hostile either. The more private matters of their family interactions, such as Beth training Chronos's mother, were not known to the public.
And sure enough, several people in the crowd showed a disappointed gaze as they walked out without any tension before they swiftly hid their disappointment.
Unlike what Chronos thought, the first surprise the afternoon held for him was the elaborate shrubbery framing the garden.
At the center of the back garden was a shrub shaped like a crown backed elk, a powerful beast that roamed the plains, with wolves stalking it from the surrounding hedges.
The tall hedges were topped with hawks and other birds while foxes hid at their base. And the wall hedge off to one side was cut to resemble a herd of bison ambling along on the plains.
Other than these most striking hedges there were rabbits, drakes, small birds, and other plains animals cut into the shrubbery at various points to make it feel like you were having a meal out on the plains.
Despite all of the shrubbery the garden was large enough to avoid feeling cramped while still giving you a good view of any of the topiary beasts in the yard.
"Looks like the plains nobles traded war for garden warfare," Lyla whispered with a small smirk referring to their past.
Chronos had to stop himself from laughing as they started to mingle with the nobles.
"Greetings Young Master Ulv. You can't imagine how surprised I was when the Earl informed me that you were here for a visit."
A broad-shouldered woman in her later years walked up to him.
Chronos smiled, recognizing her immediately, "Viscountess Ingrid Haldgaard, it's a pleasure to see you again. How are your horses doing?"
Viscountess Ingrid's smile widened.
She was a viscountess famous for breeding some of the best horses in the nation and had large horse breeding farms in the eastern plains. The only thing she loved more than her horses were her children.
"Very well, despite how poor the weather has been this year none of them have gotten sick and I even managed to acquire some of the desert stallions from the far south recently. I expect to see a few foals with the bloodline of the sunstrider horses and the bloodline of the sandrunner horses by next year."
"Hoh, the sandrunners drink very little due to living in the desert, right? If you can really combine that trait with the sunstriders endurance you could breed a whole new line of super horses."
Even Chronos who rarely rode horses would admire such a fine steed.
"Indeed, so why is it that your clan doesn't want my horses? I know your father buys them for his cavalry, but the Beklaedning clan never buys my horses. Do you werewolves not like horses or something?"
"Ahaha," Chronos chuckled in embarrassment. "Horses usually panic when we transform making them mostly useless to werewolves, except to transport gear and that can also mostly be handled when we transform into wolves."
She huffed in annoyance.
"Honestly how can your clan operate without horses; they're practically our lifeblood. Well, I can't take all of your time, or the other nobles will annoy me. Have a nice day."
She bid goodbye as she went to talk with Lyla about having the Tri-Goddess temple purchase horses in preparation for the coming battles.
"Goodbye," Chronos responded.
When she left the next noble to approach him was the grain baron of the eastern plains or it should have been. Instead of the old baron he was familiar with, a younger man in his early thirties that looked strikingly similar to the old baron came forward wearing the ring of the grain baron.
"Greetings sir Chronos, I'm Mikkel Torvaldsen the newly appointed baron of the eastern grain fields."
"A pleasure to meet you Baron Mikkel, what can I do for you?"
"I hear you just came from the east and was wondering if you could let me in on the situation there."
So that was why a noble who mainly dealt with agriculture was so eager to greet him. He wanted to know if he could make a profit by sending his excess grain to Dracon Fen or the wasteland castles.
"Of course, Dracon Fen is doing well but the wasteland castles will be suffering if they don't receive help. You see the land around the wasteland castles is very unstable making it difficult to grow anything there. I imagine they'll need help for the next decade or so."
"Unstable? What do you mean?" Mikkel suddenly asked with far more enthusiasm than Chronos had expected.
"The land has extreme storms and changes to the environment that happen at random. Even if they can grow crops, they will need to have a very short growing season and will only provide a limited amount of food."
"I see, how do you think a drainage system built in that land would work? Would it need to drain to another land, or can it be drained into an underground reservoir? Will there be standing water or a constant stream?"
"Yes, to all. That's just how severe the weather changes are there. Finding a way to stably grow crops might actually be impossible."
"Oh, I see, I see.... "
He was about to continue when an old man in knight's clothes tapped his shoulder.
"Excuse me Baron Mikkel but I don't think Sir Chronos knows the answers to the questions you want to ask. I'm sure you can find someone who knows amongst the army heading east instead."
Baron Mikkel sighed in disappointment, "You're right. You're right, I need to think about this."
He wandered off with a deep contemplative look on his face.
"Oh, so he's an obsessive fool. That must help with his work though," Chronos thought.
Turning to the knight he recognized the man as Henrik Vesterlund. He had served in his father's cavalry during the last beast tide.
He had spent his entire life as a true knight and didn't want to die of old age, so for the last 15 years he had been running from one major battle to another.
But for some strange reason he never met his death. Rather every battle he participated in was a resounding success, so much so that he was being called the angel of war.