Uncles were not always the most knowledgeable source of information. "If he is to be trusted on his description, that is a feasible idea. I think that he has only gone to court thrice in his life. Only one of them was during the reign of this king." I smirked and said "Research is the most important part of a score. Casing the place is my role in the crew. Research is the responsibility of anyone interested in doing the score. I've done my fair share." "Would you like to begin this task?" he offered. I shook my head. "I'm new to this word and have hard assets with nothing liquid. Unless you want me to chuck gold bars at librarians and scholars, you need to give me some coin. I doubt they have public libraries open to commoners that have information regarding development, charters and lineages." I told him. He balked at that. "Of course. I have some scholars in mind that can seek that information. What would you want to do?" he asked. "I am great at casing. You give us those knighthoods and maybe Anthony or Fabien to teach us all etiquette and we'll go to the capitol to see what is going on."
I continued speaking. "After infiltrating the capitol, hopefully we can get a look at court and see if we can make a contact to get us closer to the king. Whether through a family member, close confident or a member of his inner council." "I think Anthony is old enough for a trip to the capitol. It will be a good experience for him. The price is a question. How will we ensure that you will have a place to stay?" he pressed. "Money may be a terrible master, but an excellent servant. We can research what places are there to rent or purchase. Having a house in the capitol would be great. Fabien and Anthony could live there with us as his retainers. It would also give us a firm base to find and woo those we want to bribe to get us into high society." I responded. I've played enough strategy games to know this much. "Those are some very lofty goals to consider. What will I tell my uncle? He is the House head." was his next question. "If you are granted a title or equal or greater value, you can declare yourself a new cadet branch and give yourself more autonomy." I answered. He then left me alone.
Visiting me every so often, I gave him some new ideas. I was still an outsider, so I had no say in his council. I did not need to make any enemies. He also had to pray on it and talk it over with his family. It was a giant decision to make, and I gave him many different avenues to go down. Marriage, developed lands and property in the capitol were very dense topics. Researching through very musty books was not something I wanted to do. I did not envy the ones that had to do it. It took a couple weeks before he gathered Petras, Jeran and I to tell us the news. We had been hanging out and training with the men to keep ourselves entertained. I needed to know how to use a sword. They needed to get used to fighting against humans. We were indeed going to be rewarded for saving his life by being knighted. He bid us to kneel in front of him and dubbed us on the field. Several men at arms in the field watched as they other guards that day were honored as well. The family certainly had the funds to support them all. We were assigned to Anthony. A pair of guards were given to Fabien.
