Enlightened Empire

Like grains of sand in an hourgla.s.s, Corco"s students piled up in a chaotic mess around his cla.s.sroom door as they trickled out one by one. After another long day of cla.s.ses, everyone was exhausted and eager to return home for rest and revision. However, the king couldn"t share in the luxury of free time. Once more, he would have to handle the kingly duties he had neglected throughout the day. At least today, he could handle a big portion of them right here.

"Prince Wacoca, Princess Sumaci, I"d prefer it if you could stay behind," he called out towards the ma.s.s of bodies at the door. As soon as the two figures at the end of the formation turned around, he continued. "There are a few things we should discuss before I forget about them again."

"Of course, King Corco," Wacoca answered right away, though Sumaci looked unhappy. Even so, both he and his silent sister returned to their seats in the front row, close to Corco"s desk, while Fadelio cleaned up the blackboard in the background. No matter how casual the king was with the distribution of his knowledge, his rare insights into the world would be considered highly confidential information anywhere but in Saniya. The very least they could do was to erase any easy-to-copy traces the king"s teachings left around campus.

Once the two were seated, the king put aside his papers to focus on his students.

"First off, I"m sorry I haven"t had more time to take better care of my guests in recent weeks. Things have been a bit hectic."

Although Sumaci looked like she wanted to complain at first, Wacoca preempted her.

"We understand, King Corco. From what we have heard, you have worked harder than anyone. Even so, you much of your time in the cla.s.sroom to teach us, so we are very grateful for your devotion and have nothing to complain about."

"Yes, King Corco," the girl somehow squeezed out, though she didn"t look too happy about it. However, then she seemed ti remember something, as her hand ran over the sleeve of her fancy fur coat. "Oh, and thank you for the coat! It"s so warm!" she called, her true interests revealed.

"You said you were cold, right?" Corco joked. "It"s the least I could do to make you more comfortable. It"s bad enough you have to stay in my city without much to do, so you shouldn"t be freezing as well. At least when it comes to entertainment, Saniya isn"t quite on Arguna"s level yet."

"Although there are not many ways to while away the time here, the city is never boring," Sumaci replied. "Every time I walk through the streets, there is something new to see or do. Every day, something new gets built or developed. It is also good fun to watch all kinds of people arrive from the southern entrance. Eager lords, hopeful peasants and loaded merchants, they all go down the same path."

"Sister, I told you to be careful around the southern city. You should not run around by yourself like that," Wacoca complained. As the southern part of the city was farthest away from the castle, it was also the most dangerous part of Saniya, so Corco felt very much the same as the verdant prince. Still, he couldn"t get involved in an internal family matter for no reason, so he just watched the fight unfold for now.

"What can a handful of peasants do to me anyways?" a sulky Sumaci said. "Isn"t the city supposed to be safe? The safety is even guaranteed by their king. At least that"s what the government people shout about all day."

Corco could only force a smile. It seemed some of his people were too eager to spread the good word. At the very least, he had never ordered that kind of counter-productive propaganda.

"No matter what they say, you can"t just run around," Wacoca said. "If something happens to you, father will hold me accountable for it. Even worse, we would sour our relationships with an important ally, only because you were bored!"

"So you"re now more convinced of our alliance than you were before?" Corco used the chance to jump in and switch topics. In the end, he wasn"t interested in their family squabbles, as funny as they were. Though he was sure to have some ghosts follow Sumaci and guarantee her safety from now on. Just like Wacoca, he wasn"t interested in an accident that would ruin his plans.

"Indeed we are," Wacoca seemed eager to follow Corco"s lead. "Even more so after the last war."

"Oh, even though you weren"t there?" Corco smiled. "What have you heard that convinced you?"

"Well, for one, Sumaci was active in the north and could provide some details. However, the most important source of rumors were the soldiers themselves. After they returned, a good few have spent their days in the new taverns around the central roads. They are eager to tell heroic tales of their victories against the northern warriors, so it was easy to get into conversations. If only half of their stories are true, it seems like you are a far more competent warrior than you led others to believe, King Corco. Some of your soldiers consider you a legendary general already, equal to the heroes of the past."

"That"s an exaggeration, and a bad one." Corco was nonplussed. Since he had spent his youth at Medala"s court, he was immune to flattery, sincere or otherwise. "In the grand scheme of things, I"m not an especially good commander. We ultimately won the war because we had superior equipment and better scouts. Though please don"t mistake my lack of secret lightning powers for the southern kingdom"s weakness. I guarantee that our advantage in those areas will stay the same for the foreseeable future. If anything, it"s better we"re not dependent on a single guy."

"Even more reason to stick with House Pluritac," Wacoca agreed, but Sumaci hit her elbow into his side. Wacoca hissed a complaint at her, but soon realized what he had said.

"Oh, the southern kingdom of course," he corrected his faux-pas. After all, every one of the three kings of Medala was surnamed Pluritac.

"It"s fine. I know what you mean," Corco waved off the anxious siblings" concerns. "And even if you were to weigh your options and talk with the other kingdoms about alliances, it wouldn"t make a lick of difference. In the end, the other two kingdoms don"t have any of the valuable products we do, nor do they have our connections into Chutwa. Not even Amautu is openly trading with the west yet, despite his scholar master. Plus, my two compet.i.tive relatives are much too busy with each other to consider something as complicated as an alliance with a foreign nation."

"Is there any news about the war in the north?" Wacoca asked. "How has the conflict developed?"

"Hazily," Corco answered. "It might be a while until we see a winner, though getting exact information has been though. It looks like the two armies were of roughly equal strength when the war started. Though Amautu"s sneaky move-in annoyed a lot of lords in the central kingdom, so they sent reinforcements out of anger."

"Hitting someone when they are already embroiled in conflict could hardly be considered honorable," Wacoca justified their actions, before Corco continued.

"The extra men gave the central kingdom an advantage in terms of numbers. It looks like Amautu doesn"t have a lot of control over the northern lords yet, so they didn"t send any more men in return. Plus, they"re essentially fighting on enemy territory, so the war would be even harder on them. Still, it seems like the northern kingdom is holding its own despite the disadvantages. In the year he has been in charge, Amautu has somehow managed to train a large number of warriors. If the rumors are true, they"re warriors of exceptional strength, beyond even the greatest cultivation techniques of Medala."

"Foreign troops then?" Wacoca guessed. "King Amautu was always close to Chutwa, so their involvement would not be a surprise."

"No, they"re locals, that much we know. But we still have no idea where they came from. Maybe Amautu has been hiding his true strength all this time, even all throughout the succession war."

For a while, silence fell over the group after Corco"s revelation. A strong north wasn"t good for anyone here, including the Verdant Folk. Even if they considered an alliance with the north, it seemed unlikely to happen after Amautu"s engagement with Sumaci had been broken off.

"Either way, I didn"t keep you from your dinner to give you intel you can send back home, or give you options for other alliances," Corco laughed to lighten the mood. "Rather, I think we should be talking about my future plans for our own alliance."

"Please speak your mind, we are eager to listen."

"Right, I love speaking, so that"s a nice coincidence," Corco grinned and adjusted his position. "As you"ve probably realized through your own spying efforts by now, Saniya"s various forces have spent a lot of effort to get all kinds of trade goods from other parts of the country into Saniya, especially agrarian products."

"What "spying efforts"?" Sumaci complained. "Of course we would know. Even if our great teacher wasn"t constantly bragging about his trade routes during cla.s.s, some of those goods are from the Verdant Isles, like the spices."

"We"ve been very successful on many counts, but we"ve had trouble with a few products," Corco continued, ignoring Sumaci"s quip in the process. "For now, most of our needs are met, but our kingdom will continue to grow, and so we"ll eventually run low on some of the more important resources from the north. After all, there are many things we can"t grow in the southern cold, so we can"t just scale up production as we want. And the trade routes to northern Medala are unstable at best anyways. I"d rather not have my economy be dependent on goods from the northern kingdom, not with Amautu"s opportunistic tendencies."

"So Saniya wants to increase trade with the Verdant Isles instead," Wacoca guessed, well enough to force a nod from Corco.

"Something like that. I want you to grow all the goods we lack here, and I"ll buy as much as you produce. Various spices, cotton, tea... there"s plenty of stuff for you guys to grow and for me to buy at a price that will leave you richer than anyone else within the Verduic Sea."

"Although it seems like a great offer, the Verdant Isles are not as large as Medala. There is a limit to what our lands can produce in a year."

"That"s not a problem." Corco smiled his business smile. "You already have the s.p.a.ce, it"s just all covered in jungle. You want to go further inland and make use of the s.p.a.ce? I can help you with that. Saniya will sell you cheap iron tools to deal with the trees, beasts and earth, and we"ll even sell you our highly sought-after fertilizer so you can kick-start your first proper forays into farming. Doesn"t that sound like a nice deal?"

"Yes, having our people be eaten by the insects to meet the southern kingdom"s needs sounds like a fantastic offer. All just so your people have enough cotton to wear the ten layers of clothing required for survival in their freezing home." Sumaci"s sarcastic voice broke through Corco"s sales pitch. "Not to be rude, King Corco, but this seems like a one-sided affair."

"Is that so? You"ve probably already heard a thing or two about the new discoveries in medicine we"ve been making." Corco smiled, despite the girl"s rudeness. He was convinced they were well aware of the things his doctors had been doing, and that they would have a vague idea about their discovery of penicillin. After all, Corco had been the one to release the information to them on purpose, in preparation for today"s conversation. Indeed, the two nodded, curiosity written all over their faces.

"In that case, I"ll make a bet with you: If my people find a cure to tropical fever, you"ll work with us. How does that sound?" Convinced of his offer"s strength, Corco leaned back and waited. Tropical fever was the local name for malaria, an illness that had run rampant among the Verdant Isles ever since humans started to settled the islands.

"That"s... tempting." Wacoca tried to remain calm, but he swallowed heavily and revealed his true thoughts in the process. "If such a cure could really be found, it would be invaluable to the Verdant Folk. Thus, I can agree with the cooperation in principle. However, I still need to talk to my father. In the end, I am not the Green King, nor am I any colored king of the isles. I cannot make such an important decision by myself."

"Sure, talk to your dad first... though just to make your talks a bit smoother, I"ve prepared a couple extra presents. I"m sure your father will like them."

"Yes, father loves presents," Sumaci chimed in to give some advice. "At least so long they"re useful. You"re not just packing some silver you"ve plundered from the north, are you? We can get that stuff ourselves, from the same place."

"No worries... let"s just say I"ve put together a package fit for a real captain."

As soon as the king hinted at the contents, the siblings" faces brightened. Both of them had already come into contact with the telescopes, and they could only guess what other treasures the king might reveal to the Verdant Isles this time.

"In that case, we have to thank King Corco even more," an overjoyed Wacoca said. However, Corco only smiled in response. Of course, all these advantages wouldn"t come without a price.

"Right. Though while you"re already on your way to the west, and since I"m helping you so much, you might as well also help me out a little. Just a little though, it"s not a big deal."

"What sort of help would you require from me, King Corco? I will help so long as it is within my power."
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"Good, good. It"s not a big deal, honest," Corco said. "Just... Saniya still doesn"t have a lot of ships in the Verduic Sea for now. Our shipyard is trying hard, but construction of the larger vessels is slow... so I"d like you to use your ships the same way you did in the last war. You"ll need to help me transport some troops and weapons over to Chutwa."

"King Corco, do you plan to raid the Chutwa empire? That seems overly hasty." Wacoca tried to advise, but he was back-stabbed from a strange direction.

"What do you mean, "hasty"? The Chutwa are rich, and they"re easy to raid too. They never do anything more than talk big whenever we take from them. Now that we"ve got some manpower, why not take advantage of it?" Despite Sumaci"s enthusiasm, the king was forced to reign her back in.

"No, I"m not invading anyone. Wacoca, don"t you remember the time we went to Chutwa and struck a deal with them? Huemac, my good brother-in-law, still has trouble with the sects around him, and I promised him to send an army or three to help out. It"s time to make good on my promise. I don"t want to lose my smuggler"s port after all, and losing my brother-in-law might be an inconvenience too."

"Hueatlan is in trouble? I thought Saniya had already sent weapons in support."

"They"re not doing great though, even with the new equipment," Corco replied. "So far their city hasn"t been attacked, but we just received a letter and things aren"t looking too good. Anyways, you don"t have to get involved in the fighting itself, you just need to send my people over and bring them back to me, that"s all."

"King Corco, you won"t be coming along this time?" Wacoca asked.

"Another vacation would be nice, yeah. I"m busy though. Don"t worry, I"ll send my very best men with you, and... well... whatever else I can spare." As he looked at Corco"s grin, Wacoca began to have a bad feeling about his future company.