Road to the Crown

9th march 1574

"Greetings, gentlemen!"

With my intention to rush all the way to the Sandomir as fast as we could already go after rethinking the matters due to the abundant time I had to actually think about my future moves while on the road, there was no reason to ignore such an opportunity to have some proper food.

After approaching the crowd close enough to notice several people carrying the sabres on them, I didn't hesitate to call them out. As expected, while the servants continued to move around with their tasks, several heads of better-dressed folks turned to me.

"And who did God's will brough to us?"

Stepping forward as soon as we reached the distance when moving on the horses would be rude, one of the nobles gathered outside of the forest posed the most obvious question in the world. While a normal person in the future would simply ask - Who are you? - hearing this historical form of speech managed to hit my soft spot.

"Mike of Tarnow, of Leliwa Crest, my fiancee Elia Pekta and my companion, Al Touwar, currently in my service. Sir Brother, mind allowing us to take a rest here? After rushing to Sandomir for two days already, I crave a different company than those two!"

Jumping down on the soft ground, I smiled while jokingly referring to the two people doing the same behind me. Catching up the joke, the man in front extended his hand forward.

"Jan Sien, of the yellow crab crest. I believe it's our first time meeting."

Shaking his head I smiled while nodding. While all nobles were considered brothers in the commonwealth, there was no way for everyone to know personally everyone else. As such, even if the distance between newly settled city of Rakow from which my system pointed this guy to originate and Tarnow wasn't that great, unless some random chance happened, it was hard to get to personally know each other.

"Then let's be thankful for the God almighty to give us the opportunity to meet! Speaking of which, mind telling me what's going on here? It looks like you guys are doing the groundwork for some hunt, but I dare to say, if sir brother does not take part in it, then who would dare?"

Looking at the information tab brought to me by the system inc. I learned that this guy served the country as the Castelan (Middle-rank gov official, Kasztelan, named after Kasztel - Castel - meaning a fortified city/small castle) of one of the many lands of Commonwealth. If such a relatively big figure was holding back on the hunt, then who could be taking part in it?

"Ah, don't joke around, sir brother. I'm not in my years for such form of fun! But as you have said, we are only preparing the camp for the glorious return of sir Jan Bone!"

Hearing the name, or rather the family name, instantly opened the tab in my memory. While Poland didn't have that many saints through the ages, there was one that even such lazy Catholics as me knew off!

Rummaging through the multiple windows of the system at once, it took me just a single breath to realise who did the noble in front of me meant!

"His lordship Governor is here?!"

To be honest, it was quite a surprise. Not only the very person I wanted to meet in Sandomir was way closer than I expected, but honestly speaking, the information about him in the system managed to gain the first place amongst the things that surprised me!

First thing first, he was the father of the saint that became one by abandoning the insanely wealthy and influential family despite being the second son! Secondly, Jan Bone was one of the candidates for the crown of the commonwealth in the very election that decided Henry to rule!

The list of his titles and possessions was longer than those of most of the western kings and princes, with not only large swats of lands controlled by him directly but even more titles and functions putting him just slightly below the rank of my great ancestor!

"Yeah, his third son will celebrate the first year of his marriage in a few days, so the government decided to hunt some game himself! And since such a grand figure can't hunt alone… We are all preparing for a feast tonight. Seeing how you claimed to travel to Sandomir, am I right to assume that you wanted to meet with his lordship?"

As we began moving towards the more central point of the camp, where the rest of the horses was bound, my new friend of sorts asked the perfect question.

"Yeah. I intended to ask for his blessing for my marriage. Even if he became our governor only recently this year, that doesn't change the fact that he is a patron for the entire province now! It would be rude of me to ignore such duty!"

With how Jan Bone only became my senior in the province just two months ago, there shouldn't be any bad blood between him and neither my great ancestor and uncle, who was the last in the mainline of Tarnowian Leliwa family. Considering how we most likely have never met before, it offered me an even greater chance of bringing him to my side in my conflict with Peter!

"So sir brother is going to marry soon? I wish you all God's blessing upon you and your beautiful lady!"

Hearing about my marital plans, the middle-aged noble lowered his head a bit, only to raise it along with his eyes all the way to the skies. If not for the fact that he actually belonged to the Polish Brother protestant movement, I could even consider inviting him to my wedding as well!

"Thank you, my lord. He will most likely need those blessing when I will get my hands fully on him!"

Suddenly latching to my back, Elia wrapped her hands around my waist, while pushing her head above my shoulder. Just in time for the servants who were slowly turning lazy with their preparational work to pick up the pace, as the first horses started to emerge from between the trees of the nearby forest.

"Speaking of the devil, it seems that the hunt has concluded!"