The Demon King's Hero Of Light

Holding her hand over his mangled mouth, she used her ring of heal. As everyone watched, his face slowly reknit itself, however his teeth did not regrow. Stopping the healing effect before his joints fixed themselves, she gave him a wide smile.

"What was your plan? That crossbow bolt wasn"t going to be a kill shot, with where you hit me, so spill it."

He licked his lips, unable to stop quivering. "I was to verify your reaction time."

With a frown, Aella remembered the two servants she had pa.s.sed after disabling this guy. He was a sacrifice, to gain information about her.

"Who sent you?" she growled, not happy with being outsmarted.

"I don"t know," he whimpered, giving away his age. He couldn"t have been much younger than her. "I was given a note that told me what to do. I never know who sends me anything."
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"Do you still have the note?" she asked, an idea popping up in her head.

"Pocket," he whispered, the terror in his eyes told her he was supposed to destroy it.

Plucking the paper from his pocket, it had only a few words written on it. Clutching the paper in her hand, she turned back to him.

"Where are the rest of the a.s.sa.s.sins housed?"

"We begin our training in the upper floors of the palace, being moved to a different section when we accomplish what we are supposed to learn."

Aella didn"t like how eager he was to give information away. It was too convenient. Though the paper did say to be honest on it. Which meant someone expected her to question him, instead of just killing him. They were still one step ahead of her!

Standing up, she glanced over at the tutors, who were obviously very nervous.

"All right. Seifer, have this man healed and give him a room near Firion"s. Firion, I want you to oversee his training. He is to be your first apprentice. Don"t break his mind too much, I want him to be as good at killing as you are. I want an a.s.sa.s.sin syndicate."

Firion frowned but nodded as Seifer left the room. The boy on the floor turned his head away from them all after seeing the look in Firion"s eyes. He would lose that fear, she was sure, but she wouldn"t have any pity for him. The moment he shot a crossbow bolt at her chest, he forfeited his life, and she got to decide the rest of it for him.

"Vazzug, I don"t believe I will need your form of teaching any longer. You may retain the t.i.tle of tutor, for the purpose of being paid, or whatever you gain while living in the castle, in case I require your knowledge at a later date. I seriously doubt etiquette is going to convince the monsters pestering my kingdom, to stop. You may leave."

He bowed deeply and wasted no time leaving.

"Annoth, you were supposed to teach me court protocol. Is there anything in there that would aid me in dealing with murderous humans and marauding beasts?"

Startled that the king knew her name, the female demon bowed, her tight blue outfit bringing out the darker streaks of blue in her skin. "Your Majesty, my teachings fall more in line with Vazzug"s, though I focus more on the day to day dealings with the court."

"So, more c.r.a.p, dealing with the n.o.bles and such?" Aella asked with a sigh.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Then you may leave. My two acting regents will need to learn how to deal with such things while I am gone, but I have no need for you today. Once I am done galivanting all over the kingdom, dealing with rogue monsters and violent humans, I will surely need to learn what you will teach them, but for the foreseeable future, I do not see that being soon. You may go."

She bowed again and left. The other two were starting to look hopeful, as if she would also give them a reprieve, and send them on their way.

"Destov, you are new to being a tutor, how are you finding the position?"

"It is an honor to be able to serve the king," he responded with a deep bow, perfectly hiding his real feelings. Aella was impressed.

"Very nice answer, but it doesn"t really matter. You are going to explain to me in the next fifteen minutes, everything you know about money, starting with the very beginning as to what kinds there are."

He swallowed, but his face didn"t betray his fear as he pulled a coin purse from his belt.

"Gagranok, get some servants to bring in water. My people need baths, as do I. I also need a table for my tutor to properly be able to teach me."

The old demon bowed, not showing his surprise that she knew his name, and hurried from the room. Aella hoped he came back, as she intended to learn from him before breakfast. Learning some history, as it was to be taught to her, would be nice to compare to what she had already been taught.

The table was brought almost immediately, allowing Destov to spread the coins he held in his pouch out for Aella to see.

"Most people in our kingdom deal with copper coins. They are traded for most things the common people would need. If you have ten of them, you can trade them for one silver coin. Very few common people have silver coins, as they are often a.s.sociated with the n.o.ble families. Only yesterday has anyone seen a gold coin, as you handed them out. It takes ten silver coins to equal a gold coin, and they are often a.s.sociated with the crown. However, no one has used them in almost a thousand years."

Aella sighed. She had known things were bad, but she never a.s.sumed they would be that bad.

"So, most things are traded?"

"Yes, the common people have a very healthy trade system set up, to deal with the lack of coins in the economy."

"Tell me how the tax system ended up going away," she demanded thoughtfully.

Noting him glancing towards the door that the old demon had disappeared through, who had not returned yet, he said, "We have not had a tax system in place since before my grandfather. I"m not sure exactly how long before, but I remember my schooling as a young demon described the system as profiting the crown, that did not exist."

Aella realized what he meant, as he shut up quickly when the old demon Gagranok returned with several servants hauling tubs and buckets of water. What the n.o.bles were taught, may not be what the tutors were told to teach her as the king. She imagined, the tax system was done away with when the Advisory Council decided the n.o.bles could rule the city, and since they were pampered by the palace, they didn"t need to steal all of the money from the kingdom, when the kings would not know how to deal with the money. With the constant war going on, they could force the people to do what they wanted, without having to pay them, so taxes went away, which also had the side effect of making the people happy with them. It was just one more way to implement more control over a bad situation.

Words of wisdom whispering in her ear didn"t hurt either.

"Gagranok, I want you to tell me about the tax system, while I watch these demons bathe. Destov and I are curious to know what happened to it, because I believe it may need to be reinstated to get order back in the kingdom."

All of her generals chuckled and laughed as she hopped onto the chair that was brought for her to sit in, to get a better view as they undressed to start bathing in the tubs that were being filled with hot water. Gagranok cleared his throat and nodded, scrunching his brow in thought.

"When the kings stopped ruling the kingdom, after the first king disappeared, there was a lot of unrest among the people. They were getting out of hand with all of the fighting, and no central leader to command the armies. It was decided to meet with a representative of the people to negotiate terms of peace, to prevent the human armies from rolling over us during the unrest, and a compromise was made. The Advisory Council, that now ran the kingdom, would stop all taxation of the people, and the people would stop rioting and would follow the orders of the council until such time as a king survived the heroes. Despite several kings surviving the heroes in the past, due to the lack of proper tutorage in how to run a kingdom, no king has ever taken back control from the Council."