Traveling through The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

"For this marriage, it is only appropriate for both fathers to be present. Your father hasn't come yet. If I announce it hastily, I'm afraid it will hurt the young lady's reputation."

Danger led us into the house while explaining. Rigel didn't care. Now that she had obtained the official recognition of Falkreath and control of Helgen, she wished that the marriage could be annulled. After seeing the tragedy caused by the werewolves, Sidger's emotions were out of control. Sometimes he cried and sometimes he panicked. I was afraid that he was completely crazy. Tagel tried to comfort him, but to little avail. The lord's situation was so bad, so Danger naturally proposed that the five of us form a council.

The first topic discussed in the parliament was Falkreath's diplomacy. After the werewolf incident, our relationship with the Empire was definitely unsustainable. Danger's suggestion was to join the Stormcloaks to seek Ulfric's protection. To our surprise, Tagel opposed Danger's opinion.

"Ulfric is a very ambitious man. He started the civil war purely because he coveted the throne of the High King. He didn't even give Torygg a chance to negotiate for the sake of faith! Falkreath cannot be tied to this guy."

According to Tagel's opinion, Skyrim is still a province of the Empire, and the Aldmeri Continent is the real enemy. They should unite against the enemy like they did in the World War to have a chance of victory. So we should ease the relationship with Tullius and remain in the Empire's camp, but this opinion was also opposed by us.

"The Empire gathered the forces of various provinces and barely withstood the attack of the Thalmor. Then what? The Emperor ceded the southern part of Hammerfell and banned the worship of Talos. Cyrodiil used the interests of Hammerfell and Skyrim in exchange for its own survival. How could such an Empire be the ruler of the world? Moreover, Hammerfell blocked the attack of the Aldmeri on its own, so why can't Skyrim? The Thalmor are not strong, but the Empire is too corrupt. Only by driving the Empire and the Thalmor out of Skyrim can the civil war truly end. Otherwise, there will always be people who rebel for their beliefs."

"Young man, even without the werewolf incident, Falkreath cannot be an enemy of both the Empire and the Stormcloaks at the same time."

"Lord Balgruuf has remained neutral, so we can form an alliance with Whiterun."

"What if Lord Balgruuf refuses the alliance?"

The discussion came to a stalemate. Tagel, Danger and I each insisted on our own opinions and none of us could convince the other. Finally, Rigel lost her patience and made the final decision. It was really a "final decision" in the physical sense - she smashed a hole in the floor, and the three of us shut up, even Sidgel stopped crying.

"Let's go negotiate with Balgruuf first. If he agrees to an alliance, we'll inform Tullius and tell him to get out. If Balgruuf refuses, then we'll discuss what to do next. It's no use just sitting in the house and arguing like you two!"

It seems to make sense.

Then they began to discuss the internal affairs of Falkreath. The wonderful steward Nanya, who was quiet as a chicken before, was now eloquent. She first introduced the deficit of the public treasury, and then reported in detail the heavy taxes and levies that had been added during the six months since Sidger took office. Finally, she proposed a solution to reduce the tax burden and promote business in order to increase the overall tax revenue. She also said that in order to maintain the dignity of the lord, he could be given an annual pension of 12,000 Septim and one-fifth of the profit of the lumberyard. She was familiar with all kinds of data, and even remembered the situation when Danger was in office clearly. She was really good at governing. It seems that the old fox pulled her into the parliament not just for that vote. I was too narrow-minded before.

The next defense issue was almost a discussion between the Danger brothers. Nanya was an outsider in this area, and Rigel and I didn't want to get involved too much. We just suggested that they should not just focus on defending in the city, but also expand the scope of reconnaissance. After all, Falkreath City is in a bad location and there is almost no possibility of defending it. In the end, they decided to use Rod and Solaf first, after all, these two finally have some military experience.

The last topic was the lord's marriage. According to the tradition of the nobility, the marriage should be arranged by the fathers of both parties, and the couple should avoid contact before the wedding to avoid giving people the impression of "illegal marriage". So Danger suggested that Rigel go to Helgen first, after all, the ruins also need someone to lead the reconstruction. I volunteered to take the task of going to Whiterun and picking up my father in Morningstar City, but I had to deal with Helgen's affairs with Rigel first, so I set off from Falkreath in three days.

According to my proposal, the lumberyard plans to sell the wood to the Empire to Rigel at the original price. Whether in the real world or in the other world, all business is actually driven by "demand". Restaurants will decide the purchase quantity based on the amount of business, and lumberyards will not cut down all the trees and then look for buyers. If no one buys the product, the cost of preservation alone is an astronomical figure. Once the product is scrapped due to unsalable, the loss will be even greater. Everyone is indignant and unwilling to do business with the Empire, but they still have to live their lives. If we cannot provide "demand", they will sooner or later be forced to trade with the Empire again for their livelihood. At this critical moment, those who hold power must not be cowardly and have a "hidden" heart, nor should they take advantage of people's simple emotions and play with public opinion. They should take the initiative to stand up and take responsibility and show the people a way forward. Like Ulfric, who is under the banner of faith but does not care about the people's livelihood at all, and even takes away people's livelihood to enrich himself, although it may be glorious for a while, it will inevitably backfire in the long run. Lumber mills are the pillar industry of Falkreath. More than one-fifth of the residents depend on them for their livelihoods, and they should not be taken lightly.

The four topics were discussed for a whole day, and Rigel slept on the table the whole afternoon, as if we were not talking about her marriage. I had a headache when I thought that all the big and small matters of the territory would be decided by such meetings in the future, but I did not regret my decision. Falkreath is the starting point of our career, and we must manage it well. When the meeting was about to end, Nanya handed Rigel and me the commission. Rigel's identity was the commander-in-chief, and his monthly salary was 700 Septim and 30 kilograms of wheat. The lord also prepared 30 sets of standard armor, 15 shields, 15 one-handed weapons, 10 two-handed weapons, 5 bows, and a monthly salary of 1,200 Septim. In other words, Rigel's troops were composed of 30 people, and the extra people had to be supported by themselves. And I took a look at my commission...

"I hereby appoint Locker of Loristed as horsekeeper to the Lord of Falkreath, with a monthly salary of 250 Septim. This."

I can tolerate a monthly salary of 250 yuan, but what does "horse breeder" mean? They are really making fun of me. The last person who was promoted to Horse Keeper after being recruited by the government caused a lot of trouble for the leaders!