Tales around Mirateia 28

It had been a few months since the 8th Legion, Casa Nicia had arrived at Nicia and for a short time created quite the confusion while the paperwork was being sorted out by the leading authorities from both the city and legion but in the end, it all came down to a delayed letter and since then, the city had been busy creating new housing for the many new people.
The legion had created a camp, complete with fortifications after the confusion had been sorted out, but that one only lasted for around two months before it was decided that more permanent garrison facilities were needed, so Azran called in all stonemasons, carpenters and workers both from the city itself but also from the surrounding villages to help build the facilities. While most of the soldiers stayed in the new garrison, there were a few, mainly the officers who had bought a house in the city. The creation of the new garrison also brought a lot of new people to the city, as a lot of the support personnel that normally follow a legion on a campaign, had not yet fully been assembled when the 8th departed for Nicia and they slowly trickled in over time and in the end, it created a whole new neighbourhood of the city and almost connected the city and garrison. With the rapid expansion of the city and likeliness of the continued growth, there had been talks about building a city wall but so far no further progress had been made on that project, mainly down to cost, the construction of new housing and garrison had already almost emptied the treasury.
While the integration of the legion into the daily life of the city, like with all things, nothing ever goes as smoothly as one wants it to, and some people of the city had expressed concerns about what the meaning of the legion could mean, While Azran had managed to satisfy the concerns of most of the people but they still made a significant portion and Azran and Ira were on their way to another audience between them and representants from said group.
"Who is it we are going to meet today?" Ira asked, while shortly looking up from the scroll she was reading.
"Clarus Asina, a small merchant that is well respected in the community, I have met him before, a lovely person if he didn't think he was a bigger deal than what he is," Azran said, redirecting Ira so she turned around the right corner.
The audience room, Well lit by the large windows bringing in the warm sunlight of the early day in the corners of the room were standing large bowls with firewood, two of them had been lit to bring some heating to the room but also because Azran found them to be calming, they didn't bring any notable light to the room they were only there for the heating, entering the room, Azran saw that Altheia was already in the room, standing in her armour.
"Greetings, Altheia. Do you ever remove that armour, almost every time we see each other, you are wearing armour?" Azran asked.
"I guess you just answered the question yourself self my lord," Altheia said with a small smile and nod.
Azran stopped up for a moment, with a thoughtful expression "Heh, I guess you are right"
Sitting down in his chair at the end of the table, he signalled for the guards to show Clarus Asina in, in the meantime, Ira stood behind Azran to his right with Altheia sitting to the left, Azran asking why Ira didn't also sit down, to which she just replied that it would send a better signal with her standing, which Altheia nodded and stood up again and just managed to put the chair back when Clarus walked in.
"Greetings my lord, Princess and Commander, thank you for granting me this audience and in this prestigious company," Clarus said before bowing.
"Right, From what I understand from your request, you think there are some problems with Altheia and her legion being here? I thought as a merchant you would relish the change for some new customers?" Azran said, looking up from the scroll with Clarus's request.
"I can't just sit there and conduct a business when my fellow inhabitants of this fine city are afraid of what it would mean to their daily life when a legion makes camp in their city, we all know that settlements that host any form for military asset, they become a target in a conflict," Claus said in a tone that maybe the untrained ear would find to be caring but unluckily for Clarus, the three people across him were all highly trained in filtering the bullshit from the rest.
Azran said and after what he judged as a suitable pause he spoke up
"While parts of what you said are true, a potential enemy will target a settlement if it contains military assets, but what I think you forget is that it also works in reverse, if a settlement has a military presence, it's just as likely that the enemy will leave said settlement alone" Azran paused again "I can tell you that the citizens you speak of, have nothing to fear, we are far from any borders and any trouble with our neighbours are less likely to happen now that we have the 8th legion alongside the fact that its now well known that the Crown princess is staying here, any of our neighbours are less likely to try anything," Azran said.
"but if would make both you and the people more comfortable, maybe we could arrange some events that could showcase how the legion works and maybe help make the civilians more comfortable with the soldiers, how does that sound to you? Ira said, looking more at Altheia than the merchant, Altheia thought about it for a second before nodding.
"We could arrange something like that, we do have some training scheduled between elements of the 8th and the Imperials, it could be interesting for the civilians to watch and maybe we can find a way for them to partake in the event as well," Altheia answered.
Clarus thought about it for a minute before clapping his hands with a big smile.
"Oh that sounds perfect, I'm sure the citizens would be happy to see the training" Clarus said before standing up. "Now would it be possible for us to talk business?" he continued.
Azran stood up from his chair and looked straight at the merchant across the small table. "Dont get ahead of yourself, one topic at a time, if you want to talk about business, I will let some of my people contact yours," Azran said before walking out of the room.
The trio walked through the mansion before Altheia excused herself and returned to her headquarters in the garrison. Ira and Azran continued towards the office where Azran sat down at the table Meanwhile, Princess Ira reclined on the plush couch, nestled in its comfort, the weight of the tome she had picked up resting on her lap. With a delicate hand, she traced the ancient runes on the book's weathered pages, her eyes dancing across the text. Each passage revealed tales of the empire's history, weaving a tapestry of legends and forgotten wisdom. Occasionally, she'd furrow her brow.
"Dont you think you were a bit harsh on him at the end?" Ira said, opening the book at the bookmark.
"Maybe a bit, but some of my informants have informed me that he needs to strike a big deal sometime soon because his business is struggling and what a better deal than getting involved in trade with the Royal family and a good way to rise up through the merchant world would be to trade with us," Azran said leaning back in his chair. "And if I might add to that, I simply dont trust him, I dont know what it is but there is something about his person that dont sit right with me" he continued before reaching out for another scroll of paper.
As the afternoon light waned, shadows lengthened, painting intricate patterns across the room. Azran occasionally glanced towards Ira and often caught himself focusing more on her than on the papers in front of him. After having caught himself for the third time, Azran stretched before putting the papers away, it was no wonder that Ira seemed to hate doing it back when they first met he thought for a moment.
Ira seemed to have noticed that Azran had packed his work away and placed her bookmark back in the tome at the place she had reached, before getting up and looking out of the window for a moment before Azran reached her and they began walking towards the kitchen to see what they could find to eat.
"I noticed you looking at me," Ira said teasingly.
"I did not," Azran said faking offence.
"Right, sure," Ira said smiling, giving Azran a small push with her shoulder.