Mona and Rissa were stuffed silly with meat cubes from restaurant, Mike watched as they reclined into their chairs. It was good to see a different side to the girls, after the romp from earlier in the day Mike was left with a lot of questions that didn"t even need answering for the moment.The rush of wing noises signaled a coming arrival to the city. Mike could could barely hear it in the beginning and it came to become a droning hum. A very large bee swarm was arriving, on closer inspection Mike noticed some of the figures and was a bit alarmed at the sight. The incoming swarm, wasn"t bees. They were Bee-people, or more accurately Wasp looking humanoids. Their wings gave off a distinctive wave of vibrations.
Linnaeus" were the a force of epic devastation if they took root in an area, the swarm didn"t stop in the city. Instead, they flowed overhead like a river of madness. The killing intent radiating from their flight left many of the Poocha running into houses to avoid grabbing attention.
The Poocha were just unequipped to fight an aerial battle of such a large scale. Many flying mounts existed, but against a swarm of enemies even a contingent of well armed Calvary would have a hard time slashing their way out in an effort to escape with their lives.
"Mike, We should get to the castle as quickly as possible when the swarm pa.s.ses." Mona cried out.
The moment the chance arrived, they ran alongside him through the alleys and to the Magistrate Offices located at the Poocha Castle. Guards were hesitant to open the doors at first, but when they noticed who it was trying to gain entry they briefly pulled the locked doors apart to let them inside.
"Commander, Where is the Prince." Mike asked one of the guards who was leading the gated post.
The Commander was a bit overweight, he filled out his uniform and then some. With a bunch of panting he finally came to reveal where Prince Troeg was.
"He"s gone into the Vault for the defense shield." The Commander quickly responded after regaining his composure.
Mike was stunned, a Defense Shield was very expensive. Mike remembered reading about it just before he started building the lab. It was too precious to have in ones possession, since it required several people to power it and only the rich could afford one.
Mike and the Girls were not a combat unit. Mike had been in the military during his early twenties, he wasn"t unaccustomed to Battle, RNG, or even aerial bombardment. What Mike was unsure of was how he would defend himself and the girls if things went south.
Rich sounds of battle were taking place in the distance away from the city. Mike could heard the sounds of crashing and explosions ringing out, there were even some sounds that didn"t make any sense.
When the noise ended and a long time pa.s.sed, people started to come out of their houses. The residents of the City were still very afraid of what could happen. If the Linnaeus" were successful in their goal, what would they be doing now and would the people be in danger.
When Elder Yuri saw Mike"s approach, he quickly rushed out to usher him in his direction.
"Sir, The Prince is waiting in his study. If you wish to see him you"ll have to wait outside."
Looking overhead in fear, Elder Yuri shielded his eyes from the sun and check his surroundings. He had a deep fear of the Linnaeus". They had done terrible things to whatever was in their way, A Poocha village once made the mistake of setting up on top of a Linnaeus" Underground hive. No one survived.
Mike was disappointed in the way things were working for him at the moment. He thought he was high on the totem pole, but apparently he had some way to climb before he was briefed on such things first.
Mike stood outside, and watched the skies along with Elder Yuri.
"So, you"re Po"s replacement?" Mike inquired dispa.s.sionately.
Mike then took the sash out of his storage in front of Elder Yuri and put it on.
"I"m not afraid of you...Po tried to take possession of what was never his to begin with."
"If you try anything, I"ll make sure regret the last thing going through your head besides a spear tip."
Mike had noticed the look on Yuri"s face since he"d arrived, It had gotten worse as time pa.s.sed and even become a scowl of contempt and fury.
"Only the state knows how to properly handle the Herbs in your possession. You should just hand them over and then go die in a corner." The New replacement for Elder Po was found out and snapped back with scorn.
Elder Yuri could see that his diplomatic solutions had been spent, He turned to go inside as if to signify that Mike would be left outside.
"Excuse me." Elder Yuri pulled at the door and closed it behind him.
The door was immediately locked and barred.
Mike heard the click and then the dragging sound of something blocking the door. A bunch of thoughts went through his mind, but he remained calm for the most part.
"That Son of a b.i.t.c.h."
Mike was being blocked, and without reason. He could understand that some other organization other than Prince Troeg wanted control of the Cannabis Industry he was starting from scratch. Knocking it down a peg by feeding a false narrative to the Prince was likely his goal, It had been done before.
"This s.h.i.t can"t happen here..."
Mike was starting to lose his cool. He took his time waiting by the door with strides of patience followed by outburst. Mike was clearly being discriminated against for having something others wanted. Mike himself had just gotten use to the idea of being in this world for a long time. If a prohibition or control of the Herbs was taken away, He would never find it again in this world.
Mike thought about the seed packs in his truck within the ring. He didn"t even have to pull the truck out this time, and a pile of seed packs materialized in front of him.
"I better hide some of these." Mumbling to himself, Mike pa.s.sed several packs to each of his a.s.sistants.
"Take these and put them somewhere safe, No one can find them except you. Keep them dry and don"t bury them." Mike directed the girls on a mission and they all were very happy with receiving an instruction.
Watching them run off, Mike looked for another entrance to knock on. When he found a guard door on the right hand side that led to some barracks, He followed the stairs that led toward the main hallways of the Castle. There were guards posted ever few dozen meters, and a lot of the ruling cla.s.s was attending a meeting with the Prince.
Mike wasn"t disallowed, but was being purposefully delayed.
"ELDER YURI!"
Mike yelled out, then bowed politely to the Prince as to not offend him any more for his interruption. Moving closer to Elder Yuri, Mike pressed his chest against Elder Yuri and walked him back until he fell onto the ground.
"What was the meaning of locking me out of the proceedings. If this meeting is for the Ruling cla.s.s and I"m a State level representative, doesn"t that make me more qualified than a mere Elder?" Mike wasn"t going to allow himself to be trampled on.
"Your dependence on your own creation shows your inability to manage it! You have no room to talk, Wastrel." Elder Yuri spit at Mike"s foot.
Watching the dribble flow down his boot, Mike wiped it across Elder Yuri"s robe and watched Elder Yuri flinch.
"Why do you think I am unqualified to manage my own affairs?"
"Is it because I refused to give out my information solely to your organization? or is it because you don"t know any better?"
"Let me ask you another thing instead. Who"s paying you to target me, and if no one"s paying you.. what sort of sick joke are you playing?" Mike was furious as he stamped his boot-heel into the groin of Elder Yuri in front of everyone.
The more he ground his heel into the crotch of the fallen elder, The more he screamed in pain. Mike wasn"t going to allow anyone to be the only owner of the plant. It belonged to everyone, Mike was just unwilling to let them go originally because after all, they were his to begin with.
Elder Yuri let out another yelp and then started to confess.
"STOP!" "Cough Cough"
"Stop!, I"ll tell you why! You stupid white... thing. We cannot allow this to fall into the hands our enemies, So you cannot have it either. If I had it my way, I"d have drowned you in the town fountain and taken your belongings already. You will be sorry that you bothered us like this." Elder Yuri ripped his robe apart and exposed a tattoo across his chest before biting his thumb and smearing blood across it.
The tattoo began to glow as Yuri started to cackle.
"Mark my words, we"ll be back." A puddle of blood surrounded Yuri, he quickly sank into it.
Mike saw his foot could enter the blood and he quickly pulled it away.
Mike wasn"t interested in joining him, no matter where he went or what he was going to offer.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d." Mike cursed and turned to meet the Prince.
"Your majesty, apologies for my intrusion. I had to stop a traitor to the kingdom. Yuri was intending to kill me for the herbs, he even delayed my entry into this meeting. If I may ask, what was the meeting concerning before I arrived." Mike bowed graciously and tried to curry favor in the situation.
"We were discussing battle plans, and your medicinal herbs." Prince Troeg looked at the audience and his lips twitched with some degree of mysteriousness.
"Get the representative from Ornia over here now." Prince Troeg was p.i.s.sed off.
Although Prince Troeg was almost an emotionless tool, no one dared question his moods. When the Representative came up to the throne, Prince Troeg pulled a small orange stone from his s.p.a.cial device. Tossing the stone in his hand a few times, he looked at the man kneeling in front of him.
"What is the meaning of this. Ornia has no business telling my Alchemist from Texas how to handle his business, nor do they have the right to act as the please in my Kingdom. Trying to a.s.sa.s.sinate an official, or undermine their position is a crime punishable only by death." Prince Troeg stood up and walked up to the man on the floor.
"Hold him."
Prince Troeg placed the stone on the Representatives head.
"You"ll tell me what I want to know, and the faster you tell me the faster this ends."
"Clear the room, Mike you can stay."
Ordering the room to clear out was a wise decision. It was a matter of political a.s.sa.s.sination, they would have to keep the details as private as possible. The guards quickly cleared the room and stood outside in the corridor.
"Who is your backer?"
Prince Troeg started with his questions. Right after he spoke, he directed a flow of his spirit energy toward the Orange Stone.
Screams followed.
"Tell me everything you know about Mike" Feeling like the Representative was holding back, Prince Troeg sent another more intense burst of energy into the stone.
Mike watched as the questions came, and after some time the Ornia State Representative started to cave. He revealed a plot about taking everything that Mike had been working on. Since the appearance of the Herb in their sites they were after control.
It was hard enough to find Miracle level Herbs no matter where you went, but d.a.m.ned near all those Miracle Herbs took thousands of years to mature. Very different from other herbs that Elder Po had seen, The Cannabis plant grew at such a rapid pace that It would be almost impossible to contain if it were released into the wild. The plants already proved to be quite enormous when left unattended, what exactly would happen if they were aided in growth by magic acceleration spells.
The steady supply of medicines coming from the Ornia region was startling to say the least, They had a controlling interest in all sales of pills, powders, balms and distillates. When they heard about the myriad of things that Cannabis was capable of, they were so afraid of ignoring it that they sent a special envoy to intercept Mike"s work and as many samples as possible.
The Ornia Representative kept screaming in pain, the blood vessels in his eyes had long since started to burst. The resulting blood flow had racked his vision and made him vomit. He raised his head and continued to speak.
"You have no idea how foolish it is to defy us.... We will destroy it if we cannot have it!" The Ornia Representative bit his tongue and started to bleed out.
It didn"t take long for the blood to finish draining from the flailing and fainting Official. When his life finally came to an end.
Prince Troeg looked at the puddle of blood in his court and sneered.
"Treason.. Trash... Don"t you know that the people need to live in order to have a Kingdom. If the people suffer, None know rest."
"Hang his corpse on the city walls outside, watch the body and execute anyone that approaches afterward." Prince Troeg watched as Mike rifled the pockets of the Official and pulled out a note.
Mike took the ring from his hand as well then started to read the note to his majesty.
"Your objective is to keep the new state alchemist from coming anywhere near the meeting. We have plans at the ready for his disappearance, just make sure to separate him from those slaves." Mike finished reading the note and pa.s.sed it to Prince Troeg directly.
Mike realized he had made an error and reconciled himself a bit before he took a step back and stood straight.
"I want all the people from Ornia brought to interrogation, sweep the town and place a reward for turning them over. 5g each head, Alive." Prince Troeg wanted more answers than he had and he needed co-conspirators for that.
"We"ll get to the bottom of this. The Medicine you made has worked wonders on the Queen, she thanks you sincerely." Prince Troeg revealed a deeper side of himself to Mike, It was a bit unconvincing but Mike understood that Prince Troeg didn"t really have emotions like the rest of his subjects.
The Prince looked over at Mike and immediately understood what Mike was thinking.
"I care about my mother, I might not express it. Nothing else we"ve found has been helpful, or at least noticeably helpful for her condition. And then you came along. Even if I cannot express their grat.i.tude properly, You have my respect." Tossing his robes to one side, Prince Troeg walked to another chamber and returned with a small chest.
"These are the tools you asked for from the Vault of the Kingdom. Although I don"t know what you"re going to use them for, please don"t make me have to retrieve them if you misuse them."
Turning to leave, again Prince Troeg smiled. It was one of the few times Mike had seen the Prince make any efforts to connect.