553 Games and Scheme against the Throne

Sitting in a palace high above the city below is a skinny man with short balding black hair surrounded by beautiful dancers. Mensfeld sits in his chair with his chin resting on his fist while admiring the entertainments prepared for him by his benefactor. They had been a lot more generous as of late, despite the small requests they make from him.

He really couldn't understand what was so important about a ruined keep out in the middle of nowhere, and also why his benefactor would be cautious of making enemies with them without good information to justify it. Personally, if it were up to him he would burn the place to the ground along with the monster hunters residing inside it.

Of course, if he did he'd dedicate it to the Eternal Fire... The religion's presence in his city had reduced crime significantly and increased his... Monetary incentives. Tithe they call it, Hah! More like another word for increased taxes he mused. Though he wouldn't complain about it as it was all being pocketed by himself.

He didn't believe in the church's teachings at all, but didn't make a move against them due to how useful they were are controlling the populace, that and continually providing scapegoats whenever something went wrong.

"Oh your house burned down? Must be Witches."

"Oh? Your daughter is pregnant? A lecherous Halfling must have been here."

"Your business is failing and is rapidly losing money? Those greedy Dwarves must have a hand in it!"

"Taxes are too high? It must be those Witchers charging an arm and a leg to slay monsters!"

Truly, the common populace are idiots, believing whatever someone of "Authority" says. However, there were many things he disliked about the church, one of the primary things being Reverend Albwin Febert and his fucking huge bodyguard Card Dorcick... If ever there a half-breed of a troll then 'twould be him, the fat priest was almost untouchable with that pile of muscle constantly looking over him.

Albwin Ferbert was probably even more powerful in this city than he himself was, this bothered Mensfeld greatly but there wasn't really anything he could do about it, that was how prominent the church was in this land.

Recently all of the mages and sorcerers had either been burned to the stake or fled to Novigrad in an attempt to leave the Northern Kingdom via the port. This had many effects, the major one being the Eternal Fires ire being turned towards non-humans, he waves the dancers away and stands up before walking over to his window.

Looking down he can see the black smoke coming from the numerous pyres covering the city, Dwarves, Halflings, Gnomes and Elves all burn alike while crowds of dithering peasants watch in delight, expecting their lives to get better as a result of them extinguishing others.

Mensfeld spits out the window in disgust, the Eternal Fire's actions had led in a 20% decrease in productivity and 40% of businesses hastily leaving. It was undoubtedly their fault as most businesses were run by non-humans! Even if the Eternal Fire stole everything they owned and allowed a human merchant to try and run it, it simply wouldn't be as effective as a Dwarf or a Gnome!

It is the simple truth that some races have the propensity towards certain things, Dwarves and Gnomes to numerically taxing subjects like business, Elves to agricultural ventures, Halflings to culinary and entertainment while humans were only good at fucking all the other races into extinction!

He had spoken to his benefactor about this issue but they'd simply told him to wait for it to finish and allow the humans to fill the vacant roles. Pah! Like those fucking peasants would know the difference between a hammer and an anvil!

Shaking his head he walks over and falls back into his chair, a frown marring his face.

Suddenly, the door to the room opens and a polite man in red and white robes walks in, accompanied by his guards.

Mensfeld rubs his face and groans, "Whaddya want?" he asks with a sigh.

"Sire, that Witcher you requested for us to interrogate hasn't spoken a word as of yet. However, we are sure he will give eventually, our methods are very... Thorough."

Mensfeld nods, while he had been instructed not to antagonise Kaer Morhen that didn't mean a Witcher caught outside of the place was included. Besides, this was likely the best place for information he was going to get in the near or distant future as all the spies he'd hadn't returned... Or more specifically, he only got pieces of them returned. "Keep their location secret, we have no idea how many allies they may have and I will not have the interrogation interrupted before we get the information I require!"

The robed figure nods, "Will you be coming to the banquet prepared by the Reverend to celebrate this city's cleansing?" they ask.

Mensfeld "Banquet? This is the first I'm hearing of this..."

"Are you sure my liege? Every aristocrat and rich merchant in the city has heard of it are dying to attend, it would be unfortunate if you were to miss the event."

Mensfeld waves his hand at the man, "Go inform the Reverend I'll be attending then, I expect the highest quality banquet the church can afford." he states.

The robed figure bows low and leaves after confirming the King's attendance, it wouldn't do to have the highest authority in the land scorn their invitation.

Mensfeld is yet again, left alone in the room. He knew that the fact he hadn't heard of the banquet until the latest date possible was planned, giving him no room to maneuver out of it. He'd need to check which of his advisors was a "follower" of the Eternal Fire before he started making any actions against them, it was a delicate time and he couldn't afford any mishaps that would lead to his position being questioned.