The King steps in the Conseil chambers.

Mes Seigneurs,

I wish to congratulate all of you for your valiant conduct on the fields of battle. France will have nothing to fear in the coming years if we can keep maintain such a high standard of valour. For having witnessed it with my own eyes, the bravery of the Order knights is to be commanded. I'd be grateful if they were to join me in Frankfurt to help defend it against the Imperials or to rout any remnants of the Imperial army lingering on what is now French soil.

Anyway, I hope our war with the Germans to be at an end soon.

Heinrich the Heathen, who had wished to defy his Holiness, the Representative of God on Earth, now faces his Creator's judgment. I feel my mission is accomplished, which also seems the way Sa Sainteté sees it, putting us under threat of excommunication if we failed to refrain from further assault on the Reich. So I encourage all of you to refrain from laucnching further assault on German hodlings, though that doesn't mean defendng our own against their assaults.

I do not doubt that once the army attacking Metz has been defeated we will not see further German incursions in our lands, though with Mandorf taking the throne of the Kaiser, we cannot be sure... We can trust him to bear us a grudge, Louis, non ?

However, I am angry... Because all my efforts to make our Royaume whole again, or as close to it as can be, have been spoilt through the lack of efficiency of our Senechal.

I had managed to secure a deal with Guillaume concerning the return of Caen and Angers to our fold for provinces that hold no intrinsic value to us, Caernavon (overseas and surrounded by the English) and Valencia (too far from our homeland to be easily defended). This was sweetened with an offer of alliance and us paying tribute to England for the next ten seasons. A price I was more than willing to pay for such a gain.

Now, I can't decide if it was a fumbling attempt by our Senechal to carry out this deal or a deliberate attempt to sabotage it but the diplomat chosen for the task is less than skilled, some even call it awkward... I feel this was not the most adquate man to chose for this important mission... I feel he may have gravely insulted my cousin Guillaume, provoking his refusal...

Though I hardly understand the motivations behind such an act, as his would have made Bretagne once again a full part of the Royaume rather than a French island cut off from the main land by a sea of English swords, I cannot but see the ill will displayed by our current Senechal in carrying out my wishes or those of the country.

I had asked Duc Alain to make everything in his power to grab Dublin under the nose of the Scots and English smoething which could have been easily accomplished had he managed to seal that alliance with England. We could then have offered to return Dublin for Bordeaux, maybe sweetening the deal once more with florins or military access, as can only be done among allies.

I cannot but see also the neglect of our Capital where only a market has been built during the whole term of our Senechal, while several of our settlements have seen more than their fair share of building... Does our Senechal expect us to impress the world if our Capital is nothing but a pigsty ?

You even failed the Duc of Lorraine by "forgetting" to recruit the men he so direly needed, forcing to fight heroically to defeat the German hordes unleashed on our lands... Something for which I wish to thank him with all my heart.

Thanks to his efforts and my own drive through German lands, our Royaume could have achieved this very season to be the equal of Charlemagne's Empire extending from the Pyrenees to Flanders, from the Atlantic to Swabia. It seems this dream of mine will have to wait.

Duc Alain, I'm sorely disappointed in you... I had thought you had what it took to be a great Senechal, a man that had all it needed to rise to the top and bring his House up with him... It seems I've been duped in thinking so...

It seems our Royaume will need a man with a stronger will to lead it in the next seasons. One that will see the sense of following his King's directions, if not to the letter, at least in his intent...

The King's demesne has been greatly enlarged by our campaigns this term... These lands do not belong to me solely... They belong to all of us who fought for our Royaume. So I'll ask the Ducs, knights and all who feel entrusted to hold some of these lands in my name to make themselves known, either here publically or in a private audience, to lay their claims before so that I can assess their validity and the claimant merits in determining how these lands will be allotted.

This will be done before the start of the next Conseil session, to allow some of our still landless nobles to have a chance to gain some and run for the position of Senechal.