A Soldier, a Ghostwriter, and a Playwright  Part 2   

Two days have passed since Karl started staying in the mansion of the Sir. The hospitality was sincere. The maids and servants of the Sir were quite efficient in their duties. Facing the forest and the sea. The mansion was calm and peaceful. There was no noise other than the trees rustling against the sea or the occasional strong gust coming from the sea.

In the garden was the Sir and his Ghostwriter. The Sir’s speech was clear and flowing. The Sir wore casual wear while Ms. Alicia matched his speech with her quick fingers. How she worked on the typewriter solemnly was picturesque to Karl. It felt like watching a painting with the two of them as the main figures in the painting.

While the two were writing the play. The ode to the soldiers. Karl has been busy. The butler was a talkative person. And with a few chats he was able to learn that the threat on the Sir’s life was true. From the look of it there were people who were rather fanatical about his involvement with the Duke in the East of the Continent.

It wasn’t that the Sir was making plays and stories about the soldiers. But it was more of the people that he pissed off taking this chance to get rid of him. Other than being a storyteller and a playwright. He was also active regarding the alliances of the Allied Forces. To put it simply the Sir didn’t have any trust regarding the alliances made. It was also understandable since there were rumors that if the allied forces became one, at least in the east, it would become a federation composed of many states. Each state flying their flag and the flag of the allied nation. It was brought up so many times. Printed on many papers and there was even a month-long talk about whether they should unite or not.

Sir Delaware’s choices regarding the allied forces were controversial. To describe it bluntly, it was an opinion that didn’t match with the opinions of a few. And with Sir Delaware’s influence. It was best for others to drag his name on the dirt so that there would be less people who would disagree with a united allied forces. He would make a “mockery of the soldiers who died” was their popular excuse against Sir Delaware. It was nothing more than politics. But from the looks of the Sir, it seems like he had stopped caring about such trivial matters. A man who was looking at death’s door. He only wanted to finish his play before his time is up. Karl had learned from the butler how the Sir refused treatment since he’d rather not spend the remaining days of his life being experimented on. Considering that he also had a lot of enemies as well. The Sir who had no family and only had affairs was facing his end with quite a brave face. His last act was to dictate his last play.

Miss Alicia stopped typing. Sir Delaware held his head. The personal maid that was sitting under the shade on a stool came and checked on the Sir. They exchanged a few words and the Sir left the garden. A wind blew Alicia’s hair. Karl stared at her before sauntering to the table they worked on. He leaned on the pages that they worked on. She was fast and there were almost no mistakes on the pages.

She placed a paperweight on the stack of papers. Alicia lifted her eyes and met Karl’s. Her eyes looked away for a moment before she met Karl’s eyes once more. She stood straight and rested her arms on the armrest rather than the edge of the table.

“How many more pages left?”

“Eighty-more pages. Mr. Delaware plans to write a forty-minutes long play.”

“May I take a look?”

She examined the papers as if hesitating. Miss Alicia then took the papers. She handed them to Karl as if they were delicate infants. Karl scanned through the typed pages while making sure that he didn't crumple the pages. After scanning the pages he handed them back to Alicia and he sat down on the table.

“Looks like it really is an ode to the soldiers.”

“Were you doubtful?” she said.

“Sir Delaware’s antics are well-recorded. Maybe most of them are rumors and nothing more than defamation of his name. Still, I would like to judge for myself.”

“Sir took inspiration from what you told him.”

 Her voice was calm and low. Alicia has a pleasant speaking voice that you’d want to listen to. The way she spoke her words were fascinating to Karl.

“I hope I did some help.”

“The play wouldn’t be written in two weeks. Are you sure that you want to stay?”

“Too late for that. And like I told you. I need to get away from Avaios at the moment. Alicia, have you been doing this profession for a while now?”

“Yes. It pays well. And I like writing for others,” she said with quite an affectionate tone.

“From the looks of it you are well-traveled. Have you been to Ghan?”

“No. I have not crossed the ocean to the west yet, but there might come a day since the President is intending to expand or cooperate through local postal companies. The travel restrictions would be less severe as well.”

“Sir Viole’s well-connected, isn’t he?”

“He is one of the first batch of men who flew in the sky. And the business that the President runs is very profitable.”

Delivering parcels and packages through land and air. Karl heard rumors that the service that postal company Viole Hopkins own was quite large. He personally invested in the steel birds and was using them to deliver packages. Not to mention that he had seen how the packages helped in some parts of the war. Viole Hopkins was infamous, but when his wings were clipped around the fourth year of the war. He started to turn his focus into doing business instead of flying.

Karl leaned back on the chair, “It’s quite expensive but considering the speed. It’s worth the price. That reminds me. Are you worried about letters? Telephones are quite handy compared to letters now.”

“Not much. There are others who prefer letters. The work of a copyist is unending. I don’t think the day where I would run out of a job as a copyist would come. My services are quite high as well.”

She shifted in her seat. She arranged the typed papers and placed them neatly into this folder she set aside for the papers.

“Sir Delaware’s seriously ill.”

“I don’t think anyone can convince him now,” said Karl. “He has that same grim look. I’ve seen a lot of people who have the same eyes.”

Her face became stiff. Her fingers stopped moving. She looked at the swaying flowers on the side of the garden. A calm gentle wind fluttered her braided hair. She placed her palms flat on the table and then interlocked her fingers. Her face became rather melancholic.

“Do you think they know? That the Sir is a man out of time?”

“Even if they do, there would be no use in saying it out loud.”

Karl was somewhat sure that Sir Delaware was going to release the player after his death. No one would criticize the  work of a dead man. Not when his last work was to those who have fought and died in the war.

She studied Karl with her gaze. Karl raised a brow at her stare. “What is it?” he asked, putting weight on his right arm.

“On what the Sir wanted. He isn’t pulling stops. It’s far different from his usual work. Sir Delaware would usually weave words to make the words flow better. But what he wants is much more direct and blunt. You read it right? How some of these words have no coating on it.”

“It is indeed a direct one. No flowery words. No rhythms. Just an ode of a soldier to those who fell on the battlefield.”

“What do you think of it?”

“It’s fine. I think that my brothers would appreciate it. There might be others who will try to go against this, but it's probably because they want their heroes to be heroes. Why would anyone want to hear about how a soldier was so scared that he’d pissed himself? No one. But Sir Delaware is trying to join all the stories of all soldiers into one singular character. And the rest of the characters are the representation of what the soldiers all fought in the war. It’s blunt, but the Sir tries to remain the connection of such fate-dying heroes and make the embodiment of all the bad that the war had to offer.  It’s easy to make a monster of something that does not exist. How the ‘hero’ then would stop this monstrous being and win. A very blunt and heroic tale for a man who'd write dramas and romances, no?”

Making the personification of all soldiers and then making a monster out of all that was bad and evil out of this war. Karl only had a glimpse of what Sir Delaware wanted to write. And he knew that the man was pouring all of his soul into this play. He knew that during their talks.

“So are you done for today?”

“I think we are. Sir Delaware’s condition isn’t exactly good.”

“Then we should roam around. Don’t you want to look around? Or are you going to handle editing of the pages as well?”

She shook her head. Tucked the papers inside the folder, and placed it in her case. “No, they’re going to let a trusted editor do it for him.”

With that she went and secured the papers in her room. After securing the papers safely, they spoke to the butler about leaving the mansion. Once they were permitted, Karl and Alicia left the mansion and walked down this tree-lined boulevard before heading near the local white beach that they traveled through this woodland path. Reaching the white beaches. Karl took time watching the ocean. There were pleasure sailing boats on the horizon. Karl also saw locals who were either fishing or passing through. From the looks of it there was probably a village close by.

Karl found a place to sit. Alicia followed. Tucking her long skirt and dipping her bare feet in the seawater. She breathed in the salty air and rested her hands on her lap. “It has been a long time since I went near the sea.”

“White beaches… are always nice,” Karl scooped the sand with his hands. There were clams and small critter-like creatures crawling on the sand. He sat on the rock poking out of the sand as well and folded his arms.

“You look unsettled.”

“I’m still adjusting to this peace. I was recently a soldier, you know? Eight-years of war and suddenly I found myself in this kind of place. Anyway, it looks like we are going to be working from now on, so I hope we get along well.”

Karl smiled. Alicia nodded her head and replied sweetly as well. The woman could smile well, Karl thought. He found himself looking away for a second. For Karl it was somewhat hard to accept that he was no longer at war. Although there are dangers lurking in his current task. He usually wouldn’t be able to relax on a white beach and bask under the rays of the sun.

But at the same time he felt bothered by this peace. And perhaps because he was worried that he might be dragged to some conflicts that he suddenly became employed and was now here.

“Well there goes my quiet plan of waiting for my  doctor’s license,” Karl almost broke a silly laugh. Indeed, it looks like there was truly nothing in this world that would go as perfectly planned.