The von Clair manor towered over the town but was less impressive up close.
Its stonework showed its age and was built with the same limestone as the keep at Gharrick Pass.
The fence was wrought iron and held a pearlescent luster from its finish, and the windows were a beautiful green stained glass, with images of the Watcher Omria imprinted in the larger panes.
But the newer elements of the manor only drew more attention to how old and rundown the rest of the building was. The roof needed retiling.
A previous owner had added gargoyles, and they clashed horribly with the current theme of the manor.
The garden seemed unimpressive and overgrown, even to August's amateur eyes.
The interior wasn't much better.
The servants wore what August assumed to be the latest fashion in the Empire: vests, collared shirts, and pleated pants in black and white for both men and women.
Given the years between his original timeline and now, August couldn't quite recall what was in fashion or outdated.
But while the servants dressed up, the furnishings were antiques.
Valuable antiques, but antiques nonetheless. Overwrought mahogany furniture cluttered up each room, and any upholstery had lost its original color.
August felt like he was walking through a museum.
"Our keep is so much nicer than this," Fei muttered.
"Maybe keep that to yourself," August said. "We should be polite."
A male beastkin with a wolf tail bowed and ushered August into a sitting room.
Unlike the rest of the rooms, this room had been redecorated.
The coffee table was glass, unlike the back-breaking hunks of wood he had spied in the other rooms. Most of the furniture was made from steel, with natural ebony wood included for decorative purposes.
The room was painted in neutral tones, instead of the warmer colors present elsewhere.
On the far side of the coffee table sat a young woman in a flowing black and blue dress that fell just short of her knees.
She stood and curtsied to August and Fei, a polite smile on her face.
A glimpse of flesh drew August's eyes when she raised her dress above her thigh-high black stockings.
She had dirty blonde hair, almost rust-colored, that fell just below her shoulders, and a figure that drew the eye to her broad hips rather than her less impressive chest.
"Good afternoon, Bastion," she said. "I am Lady Anna von Clair. It's a pleasure to meet you. I do hope we'll have a long and beneficial relationship."
A tea set sat on the table, laid out for three, so August made his way to the table. Fei followed.
"I hope so, too. I assume you have a lot of bandits that need dealing with?" he asked before plopping into a seat opposite Anna.
Her smile turned brittle. She glanced at Fei, who pointedly looked away.
"It's not about the bandits," Anna said.
She sat down and poured the tea. It gave off the delightful smell of chamomile.
Given where he was, August suspected this would be sweeter than the blend he had usually been served in his timeline.
"What is it about then?" he asked.
"As I said, forming a beneficial relationship." She stressed the last word of the sentence.
"It goes both ways. You keep the peace of the region as Bastion, and I ensure the economic health of the region as its ruler.
That's what the Emperor expects of us, no?"
"You got to the point fast. Quid pro quo." August sipped at his tea.
Anna stared at August, her smile slipping for a second. "You have familiarized yourself rather quickly, it seems.
I had been informed that I would need to help you settle in, build your keep, and provide military support until another Bastion arrived to give you a hand.
At the very least, I can still help with your fortress at Gharrick Pass."
"August's already rebuilt the keep," Fei chirped.
All eyes in the room turned to Fei, who preened under the attention.
August noticed the beastkin from earlier lurking at the entrance.
"How long have you been here?" Anna asked August quietly.
"I arrived yesterday," August said.
Anna slowly placed her teacup back on the tray. She topped it up.
Her face was expressionless. As slowly as she had lowered her cup, she raised it again and drank her cup in almost a single go.
"I had been told that you may be a little odd," she said. "This isn't the odd I expected."
August wracked his brain for the reason for her reaction. Was it the keep being rebuilt so quickly?
That was pretty normal for a Bastion to be capable of. The power of a binding stone was enormous and constructing a castle was rather straightforward.
Although perhaps doing it in a single day was going overboard.
August hadn't built a keep from scratch until he'd been a Bastion for years, and he couldn't remember building it so quickly even then. 'Oops.'
"Given the situation, I'd suggest you want something odd. Or at least, out of the ordinary," he suggested.
"And what do you think the situation is? You've barely let me attempt to explain anything."
Anna glared at him over her cup, slouching back in her chair. "You're a noble. There's something to be said for politeness, even if you prefer to be more straightforward. We've only just met!"
"Your facade melted fast," August commented.
She smirked at him, showing some teeth. "I'm happy to smile emptily, simper, and pander to you all day long if that's what you like. But I'm absolutely certain that's not what you want."
"What do you think I want?" August asked.
"Answer my question first."
August paused.
She had asked him what he felt the current situation was.
A fair question to ask of a new Bastion, especially when he hadn't let the meeting play out the way Anna wanted it to.
"I think you're the countess of an old, failing noble family in a region plagued with issues.
You lack recognition and are under-resourced," he explained, leaning forward and cupping his hands together.
"The land is undeveloped. You rule from a township as if you're a mere baroness, but you have your own military, so you must be a countess at least.
The nearby bandits are brave enough to openly lay siege to towns, which suggests you've lost control of the region."
August took Anna's widening eyes as a sign that he was on the mark, and continued, "To make matters worse, tensions are rising in the Empire.
Last year's campaign against Trafaumh failed, and there are worries that another will start any day now.
Some are even worried about the Amica Federation and what they'll do, but they won't say it aloud.
You should be receiving recognition and military support equal to the countess of a border region, but you're only now being sent a brand-new Bastion with no additional support."
Leaning back, August spread his hands as if to ask if anything he said was wrong.
Anna frowned at him. "There's one thing I'm confused about."
"Name it."
"I heard that your father passed over you in your line of inheritance. That's why you became a Bastion."
'Really?' August hid his surprise at the revelation and checked his implanted memories from this timeline.
They had grown less fuzzy over the last day.
She was right.
He had been raised to take over his family's county in the north of the Empire.
For years he had effectively run the land in his father's stead, commanded its military, and learned sorcery on the side, while his father was busy being a Bastion.
Then war broke out with Trafaumh last year and his father abruptly returned, named his younger brother the new family heir, and left again.
August had effectively been disinherited. Any possibility of rebellion was quashed by the fact that his father was a Bastion.
A single Champion could crush any uprising without even trying. "And?" August said after he finished processing his false past.
Or perhaps his real past. He wasn't sure which was which. Or whether this timeline's past even mattered.
"I can't understand why," Anna said.
She sipped her tea. "Unless your brother is one of the brightest people to walk Doumahr, I cannot see him being more worthy of the county than you."
"We only just met," he said, echoing her earlier words. "You're making quite the assumption about me."