Michael pulled his sword from the king’s chest, and wiped it clean on the dead man’s shimmering cloak. He looked at the king’s titled shield and peeled it off of his arm, slipping it onto his own. It was a tower shield, larger and more unwieldy than he was used to, but he saw what it had done for the king, and he’d needed for the fights to come.“That shield once belonged to General Venture. He held a fort for two years with dwindling supplies and no reinforcements. Of course, his reward was to have Matthias’s father strip the shield from him for his own use and send him right back to the front.” Bayle was writing in one of his paired journals even as he spoke. He had a number of tears in his armor, and blood coated the sword that hung loosely at his side, but thanks to Michael’s healing he was unharmed. “You can take it, but I must insist the sword and armor remain here. Those artifacts are older than Stent and they’ll help boost the Crown Prince’s claim.”Michael nodded, still testing the weight of the shield. He looked at the others to see Marcus looking into a small mirror with a wide grin on his face.“Checking your makeup?” asked Ollie.“Yea, had to make sure my eyeliner wasn’t running,” he said, slipping the mirror into his cloak. “I was also looking at my Titles and Deeds. Looks like you were right Michael, the four of us killing him at once gave me the title, and my own title gave me some excellent bonuses.”“Good. We’ll need all the advantages we can get,” he wanted to check his own, but his mirror was back in his pack. He turned to Bayle who was still scribbling furiously in his journal even as he surveyed the dead. “Bayle, where else do you need us?”He shook his head, not looking up from his journal. “Your part is done and in spite of the interruptions to our original plans things are moving well overall. Luckily, the king lost more support than gained from the reveal of his new ally.” He quickly (...)