A Problematic Note

Rebecca and Sirene were deep in one of the archival sections of the library reading old notes, when Rebecca voiced something that had been on her mind.

"Sirene. What exactly did you collect?" Rebecca gestured.

"The little things." Sirene said without looking up. "When history burns, the first thing that's lost is everyday life. Shopping lists. Written notes. Boring stuff. Books are a dime a dozen. A two thousand year old note? That's priceless."

"So what are we looking for in this section then, Sirene?" Rebecca asked as Sirene put down the papers, and they pushed through ever narrower shelves.

"I'm not sure. Isn't that fun?" Sirene asked, looking up and cracking a smile. 

Rebecca smiled back. For such an annoyance, Sirene was right on the money at times. Her train of thought was cut off when she noticed a piece of paper sticking out slightly. Idly grabbing it, once her eyes saw the title, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Sirene. Stop." Rebecca said, her mouth slightly agape.

"What is it Rebecca?" Sirene said, turning around and seeing Rebecca's shocked expression.

"This is, no it can't be. Look at this. Am I reading this right? Articles of Dissolution of the Red Republic?" Rebecca asked, handing the papers to Sirene.

Sirene took the papers and glanced over them. Rebecca's translation was close enough. This was it, the original copy. The papers that ended the Rozen Republica. She turned through the few papers quickly, but when she got to the last page, her eyes practically bulged out of her head. There was no signature from the Consul!

"Duchess, we have a problem. A big problem." Sirene said, her hands shaking. "He... he never signed them!"

"He what?" Rebecca demanded.

"There's a note on the back. See?" Sirene pointed at a scribble on the bottom of the otherwise blank back of the paper.

"What's it say?"

The colour drained from Sirene's face when she read the note. "Your ancestor left us a goddamn bomb is what it says. And I quote, this is probably better left unsigned. It might come in handy later. Signed Consul Marcellus Ashe."

"Oh no." The gears were already turning in Rebecca's head, and Sirene could see it.

"The Republic never ended!" Sirene all but shouted. "This is a disaster!"

"Get Hamlin. Now." Rebecca ordered, and for once in her life Sirene didn't argue and just nodded, running off.

---

Sirene found Hamlin less than a minute later, reading a book titled The Care and Feeding of Vampiric Mushrooms on the lower level.

"Hamlin what are you even reading?" Sirene said, pausing when she saw the title.

"Oh this? Just some light reading. Now, what do you need? You practically teleported here."

"Oh right. We got a huge problem." Sirene said, snapping her fingers. "Turns out the Republic never ended."

"It what?" Hamlin raised an eyebrow, and put down his book.

"We found it here, in the archives. Consul Ashe never dissolved the Republic. He didn't sign the damned papers!"

Hamlin groaned.

"Oh don't worry it gets worse. He wrote on the back that he did it on purpose! Rebecca's probably hoping you have an idea of what to do."

"Hmmm. Why don't we-" Hamlin stopped short. He could hear Rebecca laughing. Not a regular laugh. A maniacal laugh, like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. "It seems Rebecca's figured out what to do without us, Sirene." 

"Hamlin! Sirene!" Rebecca shouted, appearing on the balcony above them. "My ancestor's left me a loaded cannon and asked if I'm responsible enough to not fire it. Let's go over the basics, shall we?"

"Oh she's doing the thing." Sirene whispered, to which Hamlin nodded.

"Legally, the Republic was never dissolved. Marcellus purposely didn't sign what's presumed to be the original copy. County Lichfield has records going back to the 83rd century showing the Ashe family in charge. We have records older than that showing this to be the Republican Province of Letocetum. Therefore with unbroken Governance with no reorganisation, County Lichfield would be seen as being Letocetum. If where we are right now isn't County Lichfield but is in fact the Province of Letocetum, then not only is the Republic not gone, we're standing in it right now."

Rebecca paced as she talked. Sirene and Hamlin could both see where this was heading, but they also wanted to know how she planned to handle it.

"If I'm actually the ruler of the Republic, and not of County Lichfield, then I could legally claim all former Republic lands. However!" Rebecca paused, and smiled for a brief moment. "The nobles would revolt. It'd make the unification wars look like a tavern brawl. Not to mention, there's no legal basis for me to be the Consul. I inherited my title, I was not elected, and therefore I'm breaking every Republican law regarding the position of Consul just by existing as the Duchess of Lichfield. So I propose we simply do nothing, and continue on as planned."

"And the document?" Sirene asked.

"We pass it off as a period copy." Rebecca said, giving a very polite smile. "Lots of those were made, right Sirene?"

Sirene winked, causing Rebecca to nod.

"Marvellous. As for Marcellus's note, as long as nobody ever sees the back of the final page, it doesn't exist. So we mount the papers in a display case, ostensibly to protect the 'fragile' papers."

"It seems you've thought of everything."

"Oh heavens no!" Rebecca said, laughing. "But this might help confirm an old family legend. We were never sure if Consul Marcellus Ashe and the first Duke of Lichfield Markus Ashe were the same person. The blasted automatons in here confirmed I'm related to Marcellus Ashe, but it didn't answer the question. However, now that we have Marcellus's handwriting, care to join me in the family vault?"

---

Standing in front of a small vault door in a deeper basement of the Ashe Manor, Sirene was admittedly curious. The Ashe Family had been the one constant in her long life. From the Last Consul, to ruling the wilds of the South, where only the foolish dared to tread, and now to a prosperous rural heartland that feeds half the human nations on Karand.

"I'll say this, Rebecca. Your family's never been hated." Sirene mused out loud.

"Hmmm?" Rebecca asked, turning to look at Sirene as she fiddled with the key.

"Letocetum was the middle of nowhere. Marcellus was a shrewd man to retreat here. Even today, what reason is there to hate Lichfield? For pricing its grain too fairly?"

"Advice first hand from my grandfather, Sirene." Rebecca said with a smile. "Don't give the merchants a reason to hate you. Ah, here we go. Stubborn old lock."

Pulling the door open with the help of Hamlin, Rebecca proceeded to enter the vault's antechamber without delay. However, something caught Sirene's eye immediately.

"Rebecca, what are these coins?" Sirene asked, picking up a handful resting on a counter. She inspected the inscriptions. "Is this... Republican coinage?"

"Oh probably. The vault's full of it." Rebecca said, waving her hand dismissively.

Sirene's eye twitched. "Full of it? This... is this the Republic's looted treasury?"

"Oh it's a distinct possibility, now that you mention it. Not like Marcellus would have written it down even if it was, right?" Rebecca said with a smile and a shrug.

Sirene nearly protested, but then she remembered the kind of men who sacked the Republic's institutions as it all fell to pieces. They wouldn't have done what the Ashes did.

"Your family can't keep getting away with this." Sirene grumbled. "You keep doing the wrong things for the right reasons."

"Well I plan to keep up that legacy, in any case." Rebecca said with a broad smile as they entered the records room. "Now then, the charter in the display case in the centre is in Markus's handwriting... allegedly, at least. Let's compare to the scribble Marcellus left."

The three of them studied the charter and the note for some time.