V3: Chapter 12:

…

Well, shit.

They took the offer.

All except the Scholars of the Skies, but they weren't going to accept anyway, and their food outputs were garbage. Not a loss at all.

After making sure that I reached the spot where I could talk to Ayah alone, I did.

"Tell me that we can handle the offer, if we invest what we have."

"We will need to stop the formation of the third army and lose expeditionary capabilities, and lose access to many opportunities, but it can be done." Ayah spoke, and I let loose a sigh of relief. Not the best sigh of relief. I was still losing out on all the money I'd saved and the money planned for a whole army. Now, I was left with only defensive armies. What I would give to have two oceans to my west and east and deserts and frostlands to my south and north. A massive river system would be fantastic, too. Hm? That sounds unfair? Who said anything about fair!? I want an overwhelming win full of cheating and underhanded strategies and ingrained advantages and so should you. Welcome to the real world, kid. "With all that in place, I project that population growth will stagnate, but it will not degrade. Enough children will come of age that the losses will be acceptable."

"Sounds like the best that we can do with what we have, then." Thankfully, I didn't have to choose between starving everyone or staying good in the eyes of everyone else. The Academy and the Merchants deciding not to come guaranteed that the perfect ending where the famine is just ignored couldn't happen. They got to be the bad guys, and I didn't have to worry about too many people being unhappy to the point of rebellion in the middle of a conflict. "We need the preparations to begin immediately. Send envoys to have the warehouses and landing strips built. Everything is standardized, correct?"

"Correct. There should be no issues, as long as we share our current methods of having managers that can read and write and laborers who are learning. " I'm not much of an industrialist, but even I understood that you had to make everything as clear as possible so that anyone could do it, while accounting for idiots as much as possible. The world will create an even bigger idiot who can't follow instructions eventually, but a plan that can capture and employ most of the population is still fantastic. Still, there was the issue that reading and writing weren't common in this world. Instructions are hard to give out when the populace can't freaking read. "I recommend giving the other nations a gift in the form of the classrooms you've developed."

"Done." Giving away tech for 'free' was a fantastic way to get increased relations with other factions, just like giving them access to the benefits of your Wonder. In-game, you needed to be allies in order to do it, since it was an easy way to get loads of friends fast and have a free early and mid-game before you stabbed people in the back. That patch wasn't in place here, so I was going to abuse it. Have this tech that I've researched thanks to my advantage that I don't need to hold over you. I know, I know. You love me now. "Also, tell our contact back home to keep an eye on the Merchants and the Academy and the Scholars. They're up to something."

The Scholars were probably spying for the other two and came here exclusively to do so, since the Wardens security details were maximized. Once again, I was glad that they hated my guts and wanted me dead. I was really looking forward to crashing their city into a mountain range and exploiting the tiles. If I get the right Champion to manage the city that's exploiting the tile, I can get fifty science per turn from one tile! I didn't know how those numbers translated into real life, but it's going to be fantastic!

"I will send that information back, as well. Is there anything else?" Ayah stared at me, and I wasn't dumb enough to not take the hint.

"I think that's it. Tell me if I forgot anything." It couldn't hurt to try and live up to my title, even if it was over exaggerated. Why wouldn't I listen to an AI meant to administer over a whole nation and return the Ancients to their full glory? I'm not all-knowing. I can forget. Ayah couldn't and had a supercomputer for a brain. I'd be an idiot not to ask. "Something on your mind?"

"I would like to suggest maximizing the output of our aerial transportation. As you said, you will ferry food for free, but we can offer any space on return trips to the highest bidder."

Ooh, I'm liking the sound of this.

In fact, this sounded a lot like a special event once you got a Wonder, and those were always positive.

"Do it. I'll leave it to you completely. Get all that you can within reason… and tell me what you can't, so we can get some unreasonable things done, too."

I had every intention of being the economic superpower on this continent and making sure the Academy, Scholars, and the Merchants weren't.

How did the saying go?

Armies win battles, but economies win wars?

I think that's how it went.

…

Interlude: Alistair, The Headmaster

…

"Keeper Justina reports that it is likely known that she has allied with us." Belford whispered to me. My study was dimly lit by lamplight. "None approached her after she abstained from joining and she has heard reports of probes sent her city's way."

"It was a gambit to send them in, and it seems that we overplayed our hand with the Scholars." I allowed myself to sigh and to ruminate on the matter while ruminating over my drink. Mulled wine was no longer in season as summer was near, but I favored it, and I needed it. "What of our deal with the Merchants?"

"They hold us at arm's length. Our gold has bought their allegiance, but they are rapidly expanding their operations to never again need it. However, the King of Wisdom's creation is stifling their attempts to dominate the markets." Belford's heirloom cloak shifted as he moved and sat across my desk. A mass of shadow when using the artifact, he overcame many foes in the past with it, but not this time. "We underestimated the King of Wisdom and we should've struck the Scholars low, instead of trying to use them as intermediaries."

"The Citadels are a plague on the natural order of things. The power and influence they offer should belong to and remain with the ancients." I spoke and Belford bowed his head, but I sighed. This was not the first time he tried to advise me to take one of the blasted edifices for the Academy. It was true that it offered power and might in great measure, but they were destabilizing forces. Even now, they accelerated the continent towards all-out war with weapons and stratagems that could very well end life as we all knew it. "We will make do without them."

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Belford bowed at my words, before I returned to my notes.

The latest report on the possible outcomes of the coalition that arose was damning.

The combined prosperity of five budding nations and six Citadels was damning, but what was more important was the means with which goods were transported between them all. Once, guarded roads and a carefully-watched coast were the only methods of transporting vast quantities across the land. Such was no longer the case. The bounties of the new nations and their exploited Ancient ruins were flying through the air, beyond the reach of the bandits… and mercenaries.

A market of immense potential and wealth, built off the output of six Citadels and the lands they loomed over, shouldn't be possible. The lands beyond the mountains were barbaric and filled with warlords and grudges. To allow such a market to flourish would give them money and power that would threaten war to spill over the entire continent, and so my predecessors worked to prevent it from happening. Now, though, our worst dreams were realized due to the machinations of the King of Wisdom.

He did not confront the bandits that plagued the lands, nor did he root out those who we used to ensure that no such market would exist, and ignored them entirely with his creation.

A system of freight that was seemingly merely successful because of flight, but it was far more intricate and robust than that.

"Every parcel accounted for. Every package sealed. Uniform addresses and coordinates. Outposts that shine beacons through the night. Rest stops. Warehouses. Uniform containers." The list went on and on. Main warehouses next to landing strips. Smaller centers where wagons can do the work. All built from parts standardized in his lands, which can be shipped through the same flying system that he created. The delivery system could deliver all the infrastructure that allowed it to be delivered as long as a length of dirt was provided next to a city. But that was not all. "And, he has even sent out entire classrooms to undercut us even further!"

"I believe that those exist simply to ensure that he can find workers, Headmaster." Belford spoke up in a calming tone and I forced myself to take a deep breath. Yes. I could not allow all these perceived slights to bring me to ruin. I had to acknowledge that the King of Wisdom, Jack, was truly a genius never before seen. All of this was planned years in advance, before he even came to the Academy, and it was all now simply bearing fruit whilst we were at our lowest. "We can work to undercut those, if you wish. The defenses of other lands are not as strong as the King of Wisdom's."

"That would be foolish. It would also be foolish to start stealing and targeting their new trade routes. We and our erstwhile allies are the only culprits. It would invite war. A war that we will not lose, but one that cannot afford to win… especially with what is to come." I looked at the corner of my desk. The hand composed of metal that twitched even now and the thick layer of glass which housed it. The metal emulated strands of muscle and through it ran red veins that sometimes dripped a fluid similar to blood onto the base of the stand, which siphoned it off into a vial for study. The bound limb was evidence of the Ancient's foes, that which the King of Wisdom declared would return, and felling the singular creature ended half of the expedition's lives. More of them existed and they were out there gathering power and would strike knowing that the Citadels have returned. "I want you to look for weaknesses to exploit. Leaders to defeat. Leaders to bring to our side. The greedy ones who wish for power, those who feel ostracized, and cultivate them and their followers to usurp those who would stand beside the King of Wisdom."

Belford rose, but when he didn't agree immediately, I knew what he meant to say.

Why not take all our power and might and seize a Citadel instead, especially with what is to come?

My hand clenched into a fist, but I forced myself to speak calmly.

"Go now, Belford."

"Yes, Headmaster."

I sighed as he vanished away, and I was left to contemplate within my study.

It remained the same as always, just as it had been with all the headmasters before me. The walls were lined with dark and tall bookshelves upon which treasured tomes sat. Curiosities from all over the world sat in glass containers, a globe of the estimated size of the globe was in one corner, and all the furnishings were the finest make. Dark woods, velvet, and brushed with gold leaf. Opulence and power radiated from every inch of the room, and I was sure that many previous headmasters luxuriated in it, but I could only feel small.

What have I done that other Headmasters have not? True, I furthered the studies of multiple fields and enjoyed the acknowledgement of my peers, but all those who came before me did as well. They faced crises of their own, lesser than Citadels and budding aggressors, but still they succeeded, and the Academy flourished. But what of me? What of my legacy and my triumphs and my successes? Was I to be the last Headmaster of the Academy, written out of history, as the Academy became divided like spoils by warlords-in-all-but-name? Or, perhaps, I would be the last to perish as the entire continent was expunged of life as the Ancients' foes returned?

Was I to be the one who let the fire of civilization, elegance, and hope die?

No thought ever brought me close to sickness before, but that singular question nearly made me heave and I set aside my most favored drink.

"No, that cannot stand." I looked to my books, to my plans, and to my understanding of the world all upon my desk… and reached for them to take what was of import and what was not. Plans filled my mind and I decided to hire more assistants, to take recruit professors, and to use the treasury that we've built for centuries. The famine will be surmounted, but the Citadels will persist thereafter, and the enemies of the Ancients will come forth. "The Academy will not fall. Not here. Not now. Not ever."

As I spoke those words, I took a steadying breath and considered the suggestion of Belford once again.

The Citadels were the cause of this chaos and destruction, but the power and might they offered were without compare.

One with the Academy's backing could very well be the difference between destruction and salvation.

Despite my personal misgivings, of the first plans I would draft this eve, was regarding the seizure of a Citadel with the armies and strength of the Academy.

Before our strength waned, before we were overcome, we would make use of our remaining strength.

Or, all will be lost.