"We only just met," he said, echoing her earlier words. "You're making quite the assumption about me."
"Cute," she said, shooting him a smirk. "But you understand the situation better than most.
Better than some of my own advisers, even. I don't need a Bastion to quell some bandits.
I need a Bastion to keep the Federation from invading, to make the region desirable, to make the Empire remember that my county even exists."
She nearly slammed her teacup onto the table, but stopped just short.
"Somebody could have told me all of that," August responded.
"There's exactly one man in Aleich who understands what's happening here, and he never tells anybody anything that they don't already know," Anna said.
"I requested a Bastion over a year ago. Vera's been complaining ever since I took over the county from my father that the Empire doesn't do enough.
She's right, but her frustrations have made her less reliable in her agreement to protect the region.
She used to clean up the bandits twice a year. Now she only deals with them when they attack, and I can't contact her using sorcery anymore."
That was news to August.
He finished his tea and placed his cup back on the table. Fei poured him another cup.
"Is she distracted? Or is something else going on?" August asked.
"Both? Neither?" Anna huffed. "I wish I knew. Vera and I are old friends.
I never planned to ask for a Bastion, but when my brother got called away to fight Trafaumh last year, I needed more support than Vera was willing to offer me."
"Your brother went up north?"
"He's still there. We're a noble family, and we ostensibly rule a county.
My archduke would strip me of my lands and title if I didn't support him militarily." She shrugged.
"The bandits were a problem before, but they've gotten worse over the past year."
August leaned back and let her words wash over him.
A grandfather clock ticked away in the corner of the room. Seconds passed, and Anna finished off the last of the two pots of tea initially laid out.
"Kuda, more tea, please," Anna asked the beastkin servant in the room.
"Yes, mistress," Kuda said with a bow. He removed the tray containing the tea set and passed it to a servant outside of the room, before immediately returning.
"A question," August said. "Let's say I deal with the bandits—"
"A brave proposition," Anna remarked.
"I know. I'm amazing, aren't I?" August said blandly. "I deal with the bandits. What do you do next as a countess to make it worthwhile?"
"Well, I could give you a curtsy, a cute smile, and serve you some nice cakes, but you seem to want me to do something of substance," Anna said.
As if to punctuate her point, her servant placed a tray of cakes and tea on the table.
"And it seems you get the cakes as an advance payment, so I'll need to offer something more attractive, won't I?"
"I'd imagine so," August said, trying to hide a smile.
"I'll lower taxes," she said simply. "I've always wanted to do it, in order to attract the peasantry from neighboring counties and develop Gharrick County.
But Kuda thinks that so long as the bandits are here, nobody will come. So I need the right opportunity."
"Can't say I know much about that, but if you're confident it will work." August shrugged.
Anna gave him an odd look. "You ran your father's county longer than I've run this place. Don't you have an opinion on it?"
"Aren't you the one relying on Kuda's advice?" August replied, nodding at the male beastkin standing by the door.
"The plan is my own. Kuda is merely an adviser, and I disagree with him."
"Then why not go through with the plan, if you're so convinced that you're right?"
"Because that's what it means to have a trusted adviser. If I ignored him, he'd be pointless."
Anna sighed and bit into her cake.
She spoke again after a few seconds, "I think I'm right, but I trust Kuda.
And if I'm wrong, I risk bankrupting the county. Now that you're here, I don't need to wait."
"What if I don't get rid of the bandits? You lowering taxes isn't much of an incentive for me," August said, keeping his face expressionless.
Unfortunately, Fei looked at him in shock.
Anna smirked, and pointed at Fei. "Your poker face is good, but hers needs work.
Besides, you drove away the army outside the gates without any offer of reward. I imagine you became a Bastion for a good reason.
Trying to retake your lost county, hmm?"
Anna's eyes bore into August's, her smirk widening.
Perhaps that had been the drive for the original August of this world.
Revenge. Without the power of a Bastion, it was impossible for August to take back his inheritance. His father was too powerful.
But for August sitting in this room right now?
"I'm a Bastion. I use a binding stone to rewrite reality. I have an adorable Champion by my side.
Why would I care about some old territory?" August said, before stuffing a hunk of cake into his mouth.
Anna burst into a fit of laughter, genuine mirth spilling out into the room. "I never thought of it that way."
She wiped tears from her eyes and met August's gaze. "It sounds like something my father would say. You remind me of him."
"I remind you of your father?" August asked incredulously.
"It's in your manner. Arrogant, overconfident, certain that you're making the right decisions.
You're the type to ask me a question when you already know the answer you expect to hear, and you'll educate me on why I'm wrong if I don't give you that answer." Anna's smile turned wolfish.
"Am I wrong?"
She wasn't. The description was everything August worried he was becoming.
"I'm not sure I like being compared to your father," August said.
"We must be close to the same age."
"True." Anna gave him a critical look.
"You should lay off the condescension a little until you have the gray hair to pull it off without pissing people off.
You're a little too cute to pass as a wise but embittered mentor."
"Cute?" Fei repeated, her voice low and eyes narrowed. The tip of her tail circled in the air.
"Do you describe your father that way as well?" August drawled.
Anna paused and tilted her head. Her cheeks turned red, and she looked over August's shoulder for several moments in silence.
"That's not what I meant when I compared you to my father," she said.
"I was talking about how you behaved."
"Uh-huh."
"Can we pretend this didn't happen?"
"Can you never call me cute again?"
"Deal."
August raised his empty cup.
Seconds passed. Eventually, Anna realized the purpose of his gesture and raised her cup in return.
He clinked his cup against hers and nodded. "To a long and beneficial relationship," August said.