Marquess Brahms

**Marquess Brahms** was an important figure with close connections to the Church of Glory, giving him such status that even many duked wouldn’t dare offend him. Richard was pissed at him for taking away his divine gold under the guise that it was stolen from a group called the Crismon Hawks. Stole Richards divine gold to gain favor from a grand runemaster named Yowen.

He is the nephew of Archbishop Ruford. He’s second only to Hendrick, and the difference in their power isn’t particularly great.

## Plot

“Your Grace, that delivery was being made by the paladins of the Church of Glory. They were to send it directly to Azan, but they were ambushed near the border and completely annihilated. All their goods were taken away as well.”

“You’re saying someone in the Sacred Tree Empire decided that they could kill a full group of paladins? Who did it?”

“It’s supposedly a group of mercenaries that call themselves the Crimson Hawks. They were merciless; not one of the paladins managed to flee.”

Richard’s rage simmered down into an elegant yet chilling smile, “So what did you do? No need to talk about how these Crimson Hawks managed to discover the divine gold, we’ll talk about that later.”

“I reported it to Earl Alice immediately, Your Grace. I also sent my men to the lord of that territory to have him investigate. The man is called Marquess Brahms. I also sent men to the Church of Glory; technically, the men were still lost on their side, so the goods haven’t been handed over yet. They should either give us a new batch or some compensation.”

No matter how many times he told himself this, Brahms couldn’t help but shudder at the thought of a blood feud with a saint runemaster. One of the reasons for the theft of the divine gold was as a favour to a grand runemaster named Yowen. The man was planning to exhibit a few borderline saint runes this year, but Richard’s conventions had wiped away all interest. On top of that, Yowen also had a feud with Sharon.

### **Devastating Loss**

Within Dragonwing Castle, Marquess Brahms was feeling uneasy once more. His intelligence network had already revealed that Richard had left Sunset City to confront the combined army of the Church and the Sacred Tree Empire, and the difference in forces was significant as well. Saint Thomas was an experienced legendary paladin; even though he was still level 21, his three centuries of life made him a formidable opponent  The 10,000 paladins he led were reinforced by hundreds of thousands of knights, bringing their force to a staggering tenfold the number of Richard’s troops.

Even with these diminished numbers, Richard had more than enough soldiers to take Dragonwing Castle easily. The battle was almost symbolic; a three-minute chant to a legendary Core-Melting Explosion destroyed the castle gates and killed hundreds of guards, which was followed by an immediate announcement of surrender.

When Richard arrived at Brahms’s meeting hall, his rune knights surged in like a tide and occupied their positions next to the walls. In the meanwhile, he walked up the red carpet and sat down on the throne, watching as Brahms’s family were brought into the hall one by one. Every noble that entered had a look of terror in their eyes as they saw the sheer number of rune knights around them, the aura alone making it difficult for the weaker ones to breathe.

Richard stared at the Marquess with interest. Even now, the man was unwilling to admit defeat, “Sigh. Admirable courage, but without the intellect to match. Yes, this *is* a challenge to the Sacred Tree Empire. Yes, the Empire *does* want to punish me. Unfortunately, I already beat them back once.”

“You… what? How?!” Brahms was truly shocked.

“Mm, don’t expect any help. Thomas is dead, as is Ruford.”

“Thomas… Ruford…”

“The news should come here soon, but it’s a pity you won’t be around.”

Brahms didn’t even hear Richard’s last words, already having turned deathly pale with his eyes glazed over as he muttered the two names to himself repeatedly. These two had been his final hope, the last anchor he had held onto with all his might.

## Territories

Dragonwing City was the capital of the marquessate, but that was mostly because of the scenery and defensibility of the location. The city allowed Brahms to guard himself from the independent nobles in the north of the Sacred Tree Empire. On the other hand, Sunset City was the most prosperous city in the territory, containing portals to four of the seven private planes the Brahms Family owned.

## References

1. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 64
2. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 60
3. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 63
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Book 8, Chapter 76
5. ↑ Book 8, Chapter 61