Altura

I took a deep breath to stop myself from panicking before the King, that would not go well. But it did bear thought. I had no idea what would happen when my ‘Mother’ found out about it. Especially when she cured my spirit dysphoria. I had to believe that she would discover it. And then I would die. A literal Xianxia elder would not be remotely kind to someone that took over her daughter’s body.

I needed to think of a solution. I had no idea what, but there had to be something I could do to get out of this mess.

“Altura. Are you still there?” The King suddenly spoke from the other side. Right, I was still talking to him.

“Yes, your majesty. I was just contemplating the consequences of this.” I said. “Is there anything else you would like to add?” I wanted to get this over with so I could go back to thinking stuff.

“Oh yes. The family is not without enemies. The Grand Elder Artica was hunted down before, by a force called the Xombei. The force is headed by an Elder under the rule of one of the other Grand Elders.”

After Grand Elder Artica reached the Spirit Tree stage, she once attempted to kill them, only to be rebuffed by three different Grand Elders. Apparently the man had collected quite a few favours selling the Seeds he had collected from her family.”

“A few decades later, when the Grand Elder reached the Grand Elder level of power she declared that any person from the three Grand Elders' forces was to be killed on sight. The three Grand Elders were angry and attempted to kill her, only to be defeated.”

“Though Grand Elder Artica was unable to kill them, she did defeat them. According to common analysis, once the Elder of Frost breaks through to the Grand Elder level of power, the three Grand Elders will die.”

“I doubt they will try anything though, their fields of influence have waned massively, barely any Elders serve under them, and their continents are about the same strength as The Land of the Six Jewels. I do not know why they continue to protect the Xombei, when handing them over could be so much easier.” The King said.

A kill on sight order. Cruel much? I suppose they did kill her entire family…but I had a feeling that there was more to the story. And wow that was a power difference. How was it that one Grand Elder took on three and won? I was missing something. The power levels made no sense.

And how was it that my ‘Mother’ was wandering around the world with no worries if she was such a threat? I would have thought that these three Grand Elders would try their best to kill her. The story made no sense. But it was best to not question the King about it, my ‘Mother’ likely knew much more.

“And I hear that you gained a lot of carcasses from the invasion, if you are agreeable, perhaps we can discuss the Kingdom buying them?” The King asked. Ah, the mooching was on again. The King was just desperate to increase relations now. But no, I was going to let people who actually knew a little something about the value of these carcasses handle this.

“I am sure something can be discussed, your majesty, but it shall have to wait. I fear that the duchy has some recovering to do.” I said.

“Alright. I have to go take court now, the duchies are in an uproar over what has happened. And we do have to discuss the reprisal for certain actions…” The King said, reminding me that I had people to kill.

“Yes, we do. I hope we can come to an agreement on that. I remember my Mother mentioning something about killing the Shadow Prince. Perhaps I should take her up on the offer.” I said, bluffing a bit. I had no intention of becoming dependant on my ‘Mother’. But using her name was just too easy to do.

The King’s smile turned awkward as he switched off the pebble. The poor guy was probably questioning his life’s decisions now.

“Um, your grace.” Aswelth said from behind me. “I think we need to discuss your mother a bit.”

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I turned around to find him standing under the door frame, likely having been there for a while.

“What did she do now, Aswelth?” I asked, fearing the worst.

Aswelth opened his mouth and closed it a few times, as if not believing his own words, “Um, she, um, teleported a building full of what she calls herbs just outside the fortress.”

Well that wasn’t as bad as I though.

“Are they useful? What kind of herbs are they?” I asked.

“Oh, they're useful, they're healing herbs. The Medical Association just used them to heal the wounds of everyone that was injured. But um, they belong to the Confederacy, your grace. I am pretty sure that your mother just stole one of their most precious possessions. Though she does claim to have paid for them.” Aswelth replied.

Ok fine, that was bad. But not as bad as it could be! Payment had been given! And since she didn’t seem like the kind of person who had any concept of budgeting, likely a lot!

“What else?” I asked, hoping that it was all that happened.

“The forest has also been magically cleared and she provided us with far too many seeds of numerous varieties, but nothing more than that. Yet.” Aswelth said. Well at least it didn’t take long for people to start adding that yet.

I sighed as I accepted my new reality. I had just traded one obvious and solvable threat for another less obvious and far less solvable one. And why did it seem that every person I talked to had something to tell me?

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Kerrin

Kerrin was irritated. Irritated at the other courtier's foolish arrogance. Irritated at the King for letting them keep at it. All in all, he was just irritated.

“Are we boring you, courtier?” one of the Grand Dukes commented, sneering towards the end.

“Not at all, your grace. I wholly enjoy this debate over the purpleness of purple grapes.” Kerrin replied, trying and failing to not sound contemptuous.

“Well you should! The purple grapes are one of the Kingdom’s most prized exports! But they are not purple! Can you truly tell me that these are purple?” another said. Kerrin called this one ‘the oblivious’. So obsessed with whatever caught his attention that he would miss all the cues and end up a laughing stock.

Though he had to concede that the grapes were, in fact, not purple. A purplish red perhaps. But not purple.

“No. I would call this a reddish-purple. Perhaps we could just rename them the reddish-purple grapes?” Kerrin suggested.

“Not at all! The purple grapes are famous across the Land of the Six Jewels! Renaming them would cause a severe loss to the Kingdom’s economy!” the Merchant Lord’s courtier exclaimed. Kerrin had been here for three hours, but the only courtier he could assign to a force was this one. The rest had yet to even introduce themselves, instead debating the colour of grapes. Kerrin doubted it wasn’t a purposeful slight. Too bad he didn’t care.

“But what about the loss this misnaming is causing us! Just imagine how popular the grapes would become once they are properly named!” the oblivious one commented. Kerrin wanted to slam his head on the table at the man’s hilarity. An emotion that seemed to be echoed by the other courtiers.

“Ahem!” a cough rang out from the direction of the door. “I apologize for interrupting this extremely important discussion regarding…the purpleness of the purple grapes, but the King has called an emergency session of the Court. I would request your excellencies to kindly attend the session.” the palace’s head butler said.

Finally, that painfull conversation had ended.

“Why that is excellent timing! I can appeal to his majesty to rename the grapes there! Lead the way, butler!” the oblivious one said.

The butler took a deep breath in, and forced a smile as he said, “Of course, your excellency.” Kerrin had to admire the man’s discipline to remain polite in the face of such circumstances. Hopefully, it wasn’t by experience. Kerrin was not sure he could handle that.

The trip to the throne room was short, the courtier’s chamber was very close to the throne room, likely by popular demand. The throne room itself was little more than a long corridor, perhaps a bit wider than normal with twelve, now thirteen chairs on either side. Seven on the right and six on the left.

Kerrin took his seat on the chair closest to the door on the right side, having been informed by the butler of the seating arrangement.

“I am sure you are all wondering why I have called an emergency session of the court today. The reason is simple: one of the Kingdom’s duchies has gained Jewels status, forming the seventh Jewel of this continent. A hearty congratulations to Archduchess Altura for becoming the youngest ruler in the history of this continent!” The King said as he raised a glass in toast.

What had he missed now? Why was it that all the important things seemed to happen when he wasn’t around?