Enlightened Empire

*Just one more batch left to go.*

In the end, Brym had gotten through his meeting with the bankers of Saniya in a smooth fashion. Although Sawo and his complaints got him off to a rough start, everything had been smooth sailing as soon as the former city lord had been convinced. From that point on, the commoner part of their plan had unfolded without further incidents. He had set the financial industry of Saniya on a good path to support their economy with solid growth, all under the unified umbrella of a central bank. However, the big finale was still to come. Now that the commoners were taken care of, the nobles were the final hurdle to making their plans a reality.

When Brym entered the room, it was already packed. Unlike the small, unadorned room the commoners had been crammed into, this meeting was held in the castle’s small salon, large enough to house twenty guests around a single table. Not only was it large, it was also ornate, with beautiful tapestry along the walls and new clear glass windows to let in the bright sunlight.

Though of course such luxury was to be expected, since the meeting was attended by representatives from the southern kingdom’s estates. There were already clear fronts as well, though the two sides could not be more unequal in strength. On the left side of the room sat a large group of nobles, decked out in fancy red and blue robes to stress their exalted status. While none of them were lords, all of them were high-ranking warriors or priests from their respective estates.

In fact, every single estate within the southern kingdom was represented, and they made quite a bit of noise. As usual, Corco had been very generous with the offered food and drink. All day, the cooks and helps in the kitchen had worked hard to create a feast that threatened to buckle the table’s sturdy legs. Faintly, the group to the left seemed to center around Guachimine Villca, former young master of House Villca and now advisor servant of Uchu Villca, former pirate and now Cashan’s nominal lord. With a calm smile, the young Villca accepted his natural role as leader of the group, since he was the only former high noble among them. Though even he wasn’t the highest status person in the room.

With great composure, Lady Guanca Ogulno, former governess of the South and lady of House Saqartu, sat on one end of the table, a bit apart from the left group and unfazed by the boisterous men. While she appeared neutral at first glance, her position making no distinction between the two sides, one look over to the right made her allegiance to Brym. That was, if he hadn’t been told by the ghost warriors already.

If the left side of the table was day, then the right side of the room was night. There was no loose atmosphere, and only a few long faces sat there and stared across the table in resentment. Chief among them was a warrior servant who looked visibly uncomfortable by the way he had been ignored by the other lords. He shuffled atop his seat, trying to keep his red robe in order and attempting to look imposing all at the same time. None of these attempts yielded great results. Although he carried the sigil of the powerful House Ogulno, the other warriors seemed unimpressed and treated him like air. Tamaya had informed Brym of the new arrival’s identity. His name was Qirao, close advisor to Lord Ogulno in Kapra, and chief culprit in today’s meeting.

After countless slights, Ogulno had finally sent someone of high status to meet the king’s officials in Saniya. However, his insight had come far too late. Not even Lady Saqartu would dare openly sit with her brother’s servant. While House Ogulno had close relations to House Saqartu, even she would find it difficult to side with the stubborn lord this time.

*This should be a good one.*

While he hid his real grin behind a fake smile, Brym stepped into the room. As the new arrival registered with everyone, the atmosphere quietened down bit by bit, and the various representatives on the left stood to greet Brym in great spirit. Even Lady Saqartu – with her exalted status – half hinted at standing up, before she sat back down. Only the people to the right of the table seemed glued to their seats. With a nod, Brym acknowledged everyone’s greeting as he walked past the left side, towards the chair at its head. As soon as he had arrived, he turned with a flourish and spread his arms.

\"Young masters, and great servants, proud warriors, pious priests and of course great ladies. In the name of King Corcopaca, this servant welcomes every estate’s esteemed representative to Rapra Castle.\"

\"Hear, hear!\" one of the warriors shouted and raised his glass cup of wine. In response, Brym and the left side of the room replied in kind. As if on command, all eyes wandered across the table, to the holdovers. First, Lady Guanca put a hand on her glass as well, to at least hint at politeness. In the end, a nervous Qirao looked around in search for a way out of his social constraints. With no options left, he also raised his glass, though he glared daggers at Brym, who had waited for the official’s reaction all this time. Unconcerned with the non-verbal threats, the young official continued.

\"Thank you, we shall drink to unity and prosperity within the southern kingdom.\"

Again, everyone got to enjoy the best wine Medala had to offer. Even Lady Guanca took a small sip and nodded in contentment. Once the pleasantries were over with, Brym sat down on his chair and observed the crowd in more detail. While the left was leaned forward in anticipation, Ogulno’s man seemed most eager to disappear behind a mound of grapes on the table.

\"Again, thank you all for coming,\" Brym opened after his dramatic pause. \"First, I need to introduce myself: My name is Brym di Pluritac, and I advise and represent the King of the South in matters of finance.\"

\"Official Brym, can you explain why we have been called here? Everyone present hopes that the crown has found a way to deal with the current copper crisis,\" Guachimine said, with a sly look over to Ogulno’s side.

\"House Ogulno protests!\" the servant exploded. \"What is this supposed to mean, ’copper crisis’? Why look in this direction at the mention of it? Does Official Guachimine wish to imply that this entire debacle was the fault of House Ogulno? Rather than look towards Kapra, which has changed nothing about its practices, problems only began to appear once House Villca got involved in the copper trade as well. Copper has been the staple business of Kapra for generations. Every Yaku knows this, from the lords all the way down to lowly merchants! If Cashan had not butted its way into the business of House Ogulno, none of this would have happened in the first place!\"

\"Nonsense.\" Guachimine replied with a sneer. \"House Villca has done no wrong. We have only done as agreed in our contracts with King Corco. In fact, House Villca has not traded copper with anyone outside of Saniya at all. Since Cashan did not supply the commoners, how did prices drop this harshly? House Villca cannot have been responsible for the flood of copper on the market. Thus, only House Ogulno is left, the largest copper supplier of Medala and the only possible culprit.\"

As the chaos began to unfold, Brym watched both sides with glee. Corco may have interrupted them to avoid a headache and get back to work, but Brym knew about the importance of divided southern estates for Corco’s future endeavors. Thus, he simply leaned back and let them tear each other apart.

\"No, not the only one!\" Qirao shouted back. \"What about the crown? What about Saniya? Since Official Villca claims that their house sold to no one else, all that copper should have gone here, should it not? Then what happened to the copper once it arrived in Saniya? It could not have disappeared in a puff of smoke, could it?\"

\"Hah, you would actually dare blame the king himself for your failures! How bold of a lowly house like Ogulno. Do you wish to rebel, like the traitors from Port Ulta?\"

Faced with both insults and serious accusations, Qirao’s face turned pale, before the red of anger took over.

\"Who slanders whom here? All you have done so far is try and blame House Ogulno for fighting off your greed! No wonder they call you a rat! A weakling who could not even rise above his commoner brother! Ruled by a bastard and a thief!\"

\"How dare you, little servant boy! House Cashan has proven valor and strength when all your Lord Ogulno would do was sit at home and count his copper coins!\"

Enraged as well, Guachimine stood up and slammed his fist on the table. Whether the clever warrior was truly angry or whether he wanted Qirao to create even more chaos was impossible to tell, but it made no difference. The official had no time to reply.

\"Enough!\" Although her voice was softer than anyone else’s, Lady Guanca’s call silenced the entire room, much to Brym’s dismay. \"That is quite enough, out of both sides. Remember your status, your duty to your houses, and to the entire south. It has been too recent since we have fought a brutal war with the north. We still face enemies all around us. Now of all times, do we need to squabble like mortal housewives at a market? Where is your decorum?\"

As she looked around like a strict teacher, everyone lowered his head. Only Brym continued to meet her look.

\"What does the King of the South think of this mess?\" Guanca asked. \"After all, House Pluritac has been heavily involved in the copper trade as well. This old woman believes that Official Qirao’s question at least deserves a reply.\"

\"Of course it does, Lady Guanca,\" Brym answered with a small nod. \"And House Pluritac is glad to provide an answer, now that lady has properly taught us all some manners.\"

Though he only elicited a few chuckles hidden behind hands, the mood still lightened before Brym answered the question.

\"As far as we understand, the abundance of copper has come from two separate sources,\" he explained and raised two fingers. While everyone else looked serious, only the servant of House Ogulno showed off a smug grin. Since Brym mentioned two sources, he would think that Brym was about to admit equal blame for the chaos, but the official would be in for a rude awakening. \"Source number one is, of course, House Ogulno’s endless supply of copper. At this point, one gets the impression as if their entire estate was built on nothing but pure copper. While Kapra’s actions should be well-known by most here, I will summarize their response to the chaos, to make sure we all see the full picture.\"

A light harrumph came from his right, but Brym decided to ignore it for now and continue his explanation.

\"Kapra has responded to Cashan’s mining operations in the strangest of ways. Rather than try to communicate with Lord Villca to clear possible misunderstandings or even work together, Lord Ogulno has decided to simply increase his own output of copper, to outrageous degrees. Even worse, as soon as the copper leaves the ground, it is sold off right in Kapra. From there, traders have spread it all over the south. Since so much copper has flooded the markets, the prices for even simple products have become ludicrous.\"

\"Yet House Pluritac also had its part to play in the debacle,\" Qirao insisted. Again, Brym chose to ignore the interruption.

\"In addition to House Ogulno’s reckless mining operations, our intelligence division managed to identify a second reason for the falling copper prices. As a result of the tumultuous takeover of Saniya, the class structure has been temporarily muddled, in part due to the new warriors of Saniya’s army. In addition, many new, desirable products have become available for purchase in the city. Ever since those events, we have experienced a large increase in coins on the market. Our assumption is that a lot of commoners had money before, but were unable to spend it on anything meaningful, since the class system limits them on what they can buy. However, Saniya’s new products have expanded their options. Thus, they have begun to spend their savings and further increased the amount of copper in the market. While their actions have no doubt troubled everyone in the kingdom, they should not be held responsible, since-\"

\"One moment!\" Qirao jumped up to interrupt Brym’s speech yet again. \"How come none of this is the king’s fault!? Where did all the copper from Cashan go?\"

\"How dare you speak up on this, lowly servant boy!\" Guachimine shouted. Soon, the entire left side of the table followed.

\"Sit down and show the crown some respect for once!\"

\"Petulant brats, everyone from Kapra’s the same.\"

\"Just like his master.\"

As soon as Qirao dared complain again, all the refined officials lost their composure. Not only were these warriors and priests already drunk after all the wine they had been offered, they had only waited for a chance to jump on House Ogulno once Qirao dared to speak out of turn. Now that he had been goaded into a mistake, they were eager to show off their own loyalty, and stood to drag down an unpopular rival.

Once the insults began to bombard her father’s representative, Lady Guanca slowly stood up for the first time since the start of the meeting to mediate the situation. However, this time Brym himself would break up the fight. After all, he was eager to answer Qirao’s question himself. The noose around Ogulno’s neck had begun to tighten. The meeting was about to heat up.