Enlightened Empire

"What do you mean, 'you do not want to leave'!?" Out of her mind, Tamaya shouted, her finger pointed at her elder brother.

"What can I say, this place is quite comfortable, so I decided to stay for a while." Fadelio decided to tease his little sister a bit.

Out of the window, he overlooked the low houses huddled in the shadows of high mountains.

"But... you have to get back to Saniya! You need to leave this place! What happens if that idiot king loses his patience and just attacks?"

"He won't." Fadelio poured himself a cup of tea, and one for his sister as well. "Not any time soon. For now, he still believes in his victory. Still thinks he can starve us out. But that's not the case, is it?"

As Tama shook her head, she seemed to calm a bit. At last she sat down and took hold of her tea, while she explained the south's preparations.

"Official Brym has amassed a significant stockpile of food on the east coast, ready for the time when Captain Atau returns. Meanwhile, King Corco should be able to establish his own routes in the west. Without any accidents, we will soon be able to circumvent the blockade and support the entire south."

"So there's no hurry for us to do something hasty and ruin everything, is there?" Fadelio tasted his tea leaned back. A bit bitter, just the way he liked it. Since his little sister had begun to pout, Fadelio decided to explain his thoughts better. She had risked her life coming here, so he should treat her like the adult he was. "Can you tell me, what was your plan for our escape?"

As soon as she could show off her cleverness, Tama's face lit up. Maybe she wasn't that much of an adult after all.

"Listen, brother! Our plan is really great, you will change your mind as soon as you hear it! First off, we brought a lot of people along, all pilgrims"

"Fake pilgrims," Fadelio corrected with a frown. Although he wasn't the most religious man, their current position aligned with the traditional forces of Medala. Any abuse of the religious customs would be harmful to their cause.

"Well, we do intend to visit the caverns either way, so you cannot consider us fake, can you?" A sly grin proved how proud she was of her trick. "Only the easterners are fake."

"You've brought Arcavians?" At last, Fadelio's curiosity was piqued. What exactly had this girl planned?

"See, I said the plan was good! To get them through that border guard of bandits, we only had to darken their skin a little and hide them under the robes. Easy enough." She looked all proud, her hands on her hips. When Fadelio thought about it, it made sense too. Since the nobles only ever whitened their skin, no one in Medala would even consider the opposite. After all, who would be willing to lower his status?

"And then what?" the brother asked.

"Well, guess what kind of easterner we brought?"

"I'm sureyou will tell me, my good sister."

"No way, you gotta guess." As Tama shook her head, her hair whipped around her ears. After a bit of thought, Fadelio began to form an idea.

"...the shipwrights?" he guessed.

Suddenly, Tama's giddy mood disappeared and her pout returned.

"That's no fun! How did you even guess that?"

"Well, in the end there are not that many types of Arcavians in Saniya. So I thought: what use would clock makers, soap makers, glass blowers or merchants be in this situation? That didn't leave me with many other choices. I guess you wanted to build something?"

"That's right, bro!" Tama almost jumped over the table, her vigor returned. "See, one of them had this really smart idea: We could build a really low-lying boat and cover it with reeds and such. Then we just need to reach an unobserved part of the river and let you drift downstream until you leave Lord Nasica's territory. Closer to the Narrow Sea, we have already placed ghosts who can fish you out and help you cross the Narrows unnoticed. If you're still worried about security, don't. I am convinced we can-"

"How many?" Fadelio asked with a frown. This was the kind of plan he had expected, which was why he had decided to stay put.

"What do you mean, how many?" Tama asked as her eyes grew and grew.

"How many people can you save with that kind of boat?"

"..." As she understood the problem, Tama bit her lip to close her mouth.

"Me and how many? Ten, maybe?" the brother asked in a sharp voice.

"We can just build the boat bigger," the sister replied in a quiet voice, unconvinced.

"Are you aware that I recruited well over a thousand craftsmen in Arguna? We need to transport thousands of people. How long would it take those handful of shipwrights to build something that big, with no proper materials to boot? A year maybe?"

"That's..."

"What will happen with those commoners? They're the entire reason I risked the move south in the first place."

"But they're just commoners," Tama crossed her arms. "Are they that important?"

"They're important to Sayniya. You don't have to believe that, and you don't have to believe me, but I hope you can believe Laqhis. He'd say the same thing. If I leave here by myself, the commoners will think that we treat them as dispensable, just like every other noble has done before. But if I stay, we can prove to them and everyone willing to join Saniya in the future that we stand up and defend ours when we swim against the stream."

This time, Tama didn't answer right away, but she still scowled, still seemed unconvinced. After a while she seemed to have organized her thoughts.

"You can just keep them here for now, right? With or without you around them, their position wouldn't get any worse, right? First we have to get you safe. I mean, evenif the commoners are important to King Corco, Pacha does not know that, correct? In that case, the chance of a storm on Lord Nasica's lands is reduced if you leave. Which means the commoners would be free as soon as the war is over, without any threat to themselves."

Maybe she just tried to find an excuse to save her big brother, but this was bigger than her, or Fadelio. Even more, Tama still hadn't understood his strategy.

"Sure, but who's to say that we want to prevent an invasion?" Fadelio hid his grin behind his tea cup. "Consider this: If Pacha actually attacks one of his own lords based on something minor like sheltering free commoners who might as well be pilgrims, how will the peacock look in front of his subordinates? Pacha is a traditional king. His legitimacy comes from his reputation and from the power of his backers. Take away his reputation and he loses half his strength. We'd be lucky if Pacha actually dares to attack Nasica. It would be akin to self-destruction."

"But that's too dangerous! You don't need to risk your life, right? We can just get you to safety in secret and tell no one, pretend you're still here."

"...well, that's where my last consideration comes in. You've been with Laqhis for a good while now, haven't you? What do you think of him?"

The tiniest bit of red stole itself onto Tama's loosened cheeks, but she soon firmed up her expression.

"He is a great man, kind,smart and strong... though sometimes, I wished he was a bit more... decisive."

"Yes, Laqhis can be somewhat soft." Fadelio smiled. "In his core, he's a good person, better than most. As a result, sometimes, he doesn't act when he should, doesn't punish when he should. That's why it's good if he feels some pressure. Since I'm trapped here, he can't just stay behind his walls and defend."

"'All we need is time'," Tama whispered the words Fadelio himself had heard from his master more than once.

"Which is nonsense, and we both know it," the warrior said. "Laqhis knows too, he's smart after all. If we don't become proactive, the northerners will never give us the time Laqhis wants. They will squeeze us to death. After only a year, they're already encroaching on our core strength. They will become only more brazen, unless we hit them back, hard. I can't do that and you can't either, but Laqhis can. All he needs is a little push in the right direction, against his moral compass."

At last, Tama drank her tea, her nose scrunched up from the bitter liquid. Still, she no longer protested. It seemed like she was convinced. North, east, west and center, every place was set for their counter attack. Now they just need to remain stable at home until Laqhis came back.

__________________________

With a frown on his face, Quato glanced at the strange machinery around the hall. His step sped up to reach the hunched over figure on one of the tables. Without much success, the cloth on the ghost warriors nose was meant to drive away all the stinging odors of the 'chemistry lab'. Even when King Corco had brought him along, he had disliked this place right away. Now that he was forced to cooperate with its owner, his opinion had only gotten worse.

"Offical Bombasticus, there are a few documents that require attention."

Even though the warrior had traveled all the way here, the common craftsman was still hunched over his bizarre witchcraft.

"Ah, Quato, you're here already. Just give me a few minutes please."

"This warrior cannot comply, Official," Quato said in a stern voice. "This is urgent work."

For just a moment, Ronnie looked up from his work and stared at the servant with a frown, before he sighed and looked back down to play with his toys.

"Fine, please continue."

Quato suppressed a frown of his own and decided to only discuss core problems with Official Bombasticus for now. If he spent too much time here it would be a problem for both of them.

"First is the issue of grain distribution. Ever since the start of the blockade, we have begun to sell off our surplus storage to the surrounding lords at a fair price, but it will not last for long. In addition, more and more southern lords have asked to buy, which further drains our supplies."

"Hey, please tell me what you are smelling." Without a look up, the chemist held a small cup with a white powder under Quato's nose. Rather than comply, the warrior retreated half a step, so Bombasticus lowered his hand under a grumble.

"How is an increased interest in our grain a problem?" At last, Bombasticus remembered his duties and answered Quato's concerns. "We only need to do like Master Corco asked us to. Just give priority to the lords around Saniya, and those in the south. We can ignore most of the northeast, so long as we can support one lord with a port on the east coast. Weren't all these plans prepared long ago? Why turn this into a problem again?"

"Yes, but if we continue with King Corco's plans, we will run out of food much faster than we expected. Soon, we will not have enough to feed the people and the army over the entire winter."

To Quato's surprise, the irresponsible chemist waved off his concerns.

"Well, the boss will bring more food soon anyways, so it's fine if we go a bit below the limit. Just don't stop selling. If we can't establish a strong position in the south early, every subsequent move will become more laborious."

"Understood." Although he complied on the surface, Quato secretly decided to put a cap on the amount of sold grain. This ridiculous foreigner clearly wasn't to be trusted, so he himself had to reduce the damage until his king returned. However, there was one problem he could not stave off like this.

"Further, there is the issue of the foreign mercenaries. This servant believes they are ready to make trouble."

At last, the chemist turned around on his chair and offered Quato his full attention.

"What kind of trouble?" he asked in a stern voice.

"They have continued to send new soldiers to the front lines. In the process, they have preferred those who would show disobedience to the authority of the foreigners during training. At the same time, they have started to promote more and more of their own men into officer ranks. This servant believes that the mercenaries named Mason and Nahlen have conspired to take over the king's armies in his absence. They might aim to establish their own rule."

For a while, Bombasticus sank into thought on his chair, before he shook his head with vigor, as if to convince himself.

"Ridiculous. They have come here all the way from Arcavia, they have no source of power and no legitimacy. Even if their coup succeeded, how do they intend to hold their power?"

"They do not need to hold power at all," Quato said in a dark voice. Even though the chemist was a dreadful politician, he held power at the moment. He needed to understand. "So long as they only want to plunder the lands and return to their homeland, they only need to suppress the locals for a few weeks."

"Their homeland is thousands of kilometers away, that is after they cross the hostile, cold and hilly lands of southern Medala. How would they ever get home to spend all their new wealth?" a sarcastic Bombasticus said.

"They are not the only Arcavians on the continent," Quato replied in a dry voice "Maybe they intend to strike a deal with King Pacha's allies."

"I thought it was your duty to prevent those kinds of contacts?"

All of a sudden, Quato felt like he had lost control of the conversation.

"It is, but-"

"And have they contacted anyone from the north so far?" Ronnie interrupted the warrior in a loud voice.

"Again, they have not, however-"

"Then there is no problem, is there?" the chemist narrowed his eyes.

"But, official-"

"No 'but'! I have been put in charge of this nonsense city, even though I have better things to do. Rather than waste my time with all this administration nonsense, this great chemist could advance human knowledge more than any man before him. So you, warrior, should cease to bother me with your paranoia. It is your duty to prevent a rebellion from the mercenaries. Until you have any concrete evidence, this is the last I want to hear about this mercenary business. If you can't keep to that, I'll use my authority as administrator and have you replaced with someone less troublesome. Do you understand that?"

"Of course, master." His teeth clenched, the warrior scowled at the administrator, to no avail. With a calm look, Bombasticus turned back around to focus on his toys.

"Good. Close the door behind you."

A raging fire in his gut, Quato stomped out of the room. Although he had little authority to act, he would still do his best to prevent the plans of the mercenaries. If no one else would support him, he would defend the king's lands by himself, even if he had to give his life in the process.