As Sophia stood there deep inside the supreme leader’s private quarter, silently watching as the sweated lord Rubos reported on the loss of the picking day, it was clear that Gorbach’s mood was something that she had never seen him expressed before. It was not a frown or a sigh, not a disappointment or even disgust, his face shown was pure...wrath.
“How many did we lose?” Gorbach asked bluntly, and Sophia noticed him tapping his foot upon the floor, displaying his impatient.
“Ahhh…according to the head of the guard report...” Lord Rubos started to say to his supreme leader, who had placed himself on the cushioned and carved sofa of his solar, standing beside his usual sweating self was lord Penis, lord Corlius, lord Howland, and of course, Sophia herself. “…about three hundred young recruits had been taken by this rebel group, along with half that number as their family.”
“Pray, and how did we manage to let near five hundred people slipped by unnoticed?” Gorbach said with half a growl, which nearly startled her.
“They use a secret tunnel, if it is to be believed.” Howland filled in, he seemed to be near as nervous as Rubos, though noticeably of different reason “Built deep into the city so long ago that we have barely any records of them. Afterward, they destroy all of the tunnels they had used, killing twenty-three guards in their attempt to stay uncaptured.”
“We must have them properly bury.” Lord Corlius declared “They had done their duty to their last breath.”
‘I doubt that they are expecting that to be the last moment of their life, my good lord.’ Sophia thought though she was quite surprised to see lord Corlius caring for someone who was not a noble.
“When we manage to dig them all up without collapsing half the city in the process, perhaps.” Gorbach said with an unusual amount of toxicity “What else did they take?”
“Provision and weapons,” The penis lord told, he seemed to be strangely unconcerned about the whole thing, though to be fair, Sophia was not much different “Along with certain amount of clothing and tools.”
“Insignificant things” lord Corlius declared.
Gorbach gave out something that was half a growl and half a sigh“The meeting is dismissed, you all can leave.” Though his voice sounded more of simply ‘leave’.
The three lords gave a stiff bow before disappearing through the gilded and carved doors. Sophia was about to follow them out too, but Gorbach said “No, Sophia, you stay. You too, Howland.”
‘Oh dear’ Sophia thought, she did not like the tone of Gorbach voice; even when it was directed to Sophia, it still had a sense of anger to them.
“Have a seat, if you will,” Gorbach commanded them and poured himself a glass of wine by the nearby jug. Sophia took a nearby seat to the sofa, while Howland took the one opposite to her. All was tense in this hall of a chamber.
Normally when Gorbach would hold a meeting with his advisors, he would call for the council room, but this time, that was not the case. To call the Supreme leader’s quarter a bedroom is like to call the entire trading square a small stall. The room spanned two floors, with every inch of it all decorated with gold and ornate furniture and needless finery. The centerpiece was an audience area, with seats and sofas and a low carved table, laid with beautifully patterned carpet. Off to one side was a grand piano of golden oak, draped with a wolf pelt and on the other was a crystal tank of sort, filled with shining water and a pair of giant fish with sharp teeth, in a fit of biting each other. Different doors on this floor led to different rooms, one led to a bathroom with a large golden tub able to fit ten people and all along with the wall sets after sets of suffocatingly sweet bathing chemicals. The other door, of course, led to an entertainment area, with various game tables, unnecessarily loud set of speakers and the needlessly largest Stalus she had ever seen. There were a few more rooms as well, but Sophia had not gone to investigate them just as yet. The second floor, though smaller, was even more stupidly elegant somehow, with carved and gilded railings, decorated with tiny gold statues at every other bar. Its largest ornate door led to the actual bedroom, covered in marble and exotic carpet, its size could easily fit her old home two times over. The centerpiece was, of course, the bed made of carved oak and soft feather futon, and judging from the last time she saw it, about fifteen people could sleep on it no problem.
‘It is no wonder most leaders became so corrupted.’ Sophia thought as she was glancing around ‘They literally sleep in the living embodiment of needless finery.’ Gorbach had called her here from time to time, for a chat, for a meal or for some other reasons, and she could always saw on his face how much he wished to be back in his old modest room. There was also a spot where a stuffed full-size elephant had used to be placed by the corner the last time she came here, but it had seemed to be replaced by a set of plain bookcases and a working desk of the same material.
Gorbach was draining the rest of his cup when Sophia shifted her focus back to him. He smashed it back onto the table, a little bit harder than necessary; a drop of wine stain tainted his shirt’s collar. Howland grabbed for the jug and refilled the cup to its edge. Gorbach gave a nodded and took another large sip.
‘This must be proper serious.’ Sophia thought when she realized that Howland was actively getting the supreme leader more and more drunk as a means to calm his wrath. He also filled her a glass as well, in which Sophia left it untouched on the table.
“I got...plan,” Gorbach said between sips, twirling around the wine in his glass more violently than usual “I have been...working on adjusting the appropriate amount of recruits each orders should have, even giving more to agriculturer and distributor so my new policy and others that will be following flow smoothly. And now, I got about twenty of them right on my doorstep, humbly but frankly complain that they did not have enough god damn recruits!”
“To be true” Howland said with a calming voice “Food, supply, weapon, working force, this is quite a setback to the city.”
Gorbach shook his head in frustration “God, these self-proclaimed freedom fighters ruined everything.”
“I will see what I can do about them.” Howland told him and lifted himself off his seat “Maybe sending out scouts and find where their base is or something.”
“See that you do,” Gorbach told his friend, his emotion seemed to be a little bit more in check now “Thank for being a shoulder to complain on.”
Howland gave a fade smile “That is what friends are for.”
“One more slight headache,” Howland said before taking his leave “My father had received a report from the guards who later perish in the tunnel collapse, saying that one of the escaped recruits is using, if I remember correctly, a tool of sort as a weapon and managed to knock down one of the guards chasing them.”
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Gorbach groaned with a sound resembled anguish “And how does that fucker came by with it, pray?”
“The old tool shop” Sophia tried to add, being silence for this long destroyed her nerve “It sells a simple tool that isn’t in use so the population can fix their own home without the help of mechanic. It was created during the reign of Mugabos the Mighty, I think.”
Gorbach sighed “Have that place shut down till further notice; I don’t want any potential violent boiling until I figure out what to do.”
Lord Howland nodded “It shall be done.” And with that, he exited by the door and left Sophia alone with the currently unstable supreme leader. Gorbach was tapping his finger impatiently when Sophia turned back to him, repeatedly pressing on the Stalus atop the table as it shaping around to display a hologram.
When it was finally formed, the display shown the image of the symbol the rebel had left behind. A bird of some kind, in an act that looked like flying but strangely twisted. It hovered over a circle and a crossing solar gun, ready to fire and kill, under it was what seemed like their motto.
“’Freedom and Liberty’” Gorbach read, a great hint of annoyance in his voice, downing on his third cup “Those two mean the same fucking thing.”
“So, Gorbach” Sophia tried to call him “How…fucked are you?”
He gave a depressed snickering, liked he was slowly going mad “Not a minor setback, but also not something we can’t recover from with a few hundred compromises, I probably have to work as hard as hell if I want to get the policy out as plan.”
Gorbach suddenly shifted his gaze upon her, Sophia did not like his eyes, still, rage filled “Tell me true, Sophia, do you have any…intel, of this, self-proclaimed resistance, back when you’re in the city? Any rumors? Any ideas at all?”
Sophia shook her head; she did not know of an existence of any rebel group when she was still living down in the gutter that was the street of slum. But that did not mean she had never hope for one though…
Since she could remember, Sophia had always dreamed of joining a resistance. She had read the document of the yellow dawn rebellion over and over, despite how much it was written to make the old supreme leader looked better than he ever actually was. Sophia remembered every single events of every uprising, even forming a game of sort to play with a few friends based on it, which got her in a lot of trouble with the teachers and sometimes even the guards; it was a miracle she had not been executed for treasonous activities yet. Regardless, Sophia often daydreamed of living free of the supreme leader’s tyrannical rule, always one step ahead of the authority and overthrew the entire Last Stronghold; it was the life she once always wished to have.
But now, with Sophia actually working for that said supreme leader, aiding him on the improvement of the city, she did not know what to feel about these rebels anymore. To be supportive of them felt like a betrayal to Gorbach, which had become her good friend despite how short their knowing was, but to despise them for opposing the supreme leader also felt like going against her school of thought she held not so long ago. So at that moment, her feeling was, to put it quite frankly, indifferent.
‘It’s not like I have no weight on the situation.’ Sophia thought as she watched Gorbach downing his fourth glass of wine ‘I help him drew up his plan, but I do not deserve to feel guilt for not feeling bad about something. Damn it, this is Lana all over again.’
But as she gazed upon the half-drunk and irritated Gorbach, she knew she had to do something to help her friend.
‘I need to get him to talk.’ Sophia decided ‘He will get better if he did.’
And Sophia knew exactly what she had to get him to talk about.
“Gorbach” Sophia called him, which drew his attention off his fifth glass of wine “I still don’t get it. Why do you work so hard…”
“What do you mean?” Gorbach asked, twirling around the wine, in his glass as he did, noticeably less violently this time.
“Well…” Sophia started to say, choosing her words carefully “I’m not saying that what you are doing is wrong…but I want to know why do you want to help the commons so much? I live here for but a month, and I can see so much opportunity for you to become corrupted and tyrannical, but you still hold on to your ideal. Why? Why do you want to improve the city when so much when most of the supreme leaders before you left it worse off with every reign?”
Gorbach gave a faint smile, he set his wine glass away “If I told you that I am doing it from the goodness of my heart, will you believe me?”
Sophia shook her head “If you ask me when I first meet you, I might say yes. But I came to know you as a person, and you seemed to enjoy being a supreme leader a bit too much for me to believe that.”
He gave a a soft chuckle, it was the laugh that he only gave out when he was with her, telling that what she had just said amused him “You are not incorrect. Though I find being supreme leader a tiresome work, I do sometimes enjoy the respect and privilege I receive just from having this position. Yes, I may have abused my power from time to time, if I had to admit, but I want to believe that it was nothing serious.”
“Ah huh” Sophia muttered “Then pray tell me, Gorbach. Why, do you stay a good person?”
“Very well” Gorbach said with a longing smile “It is passed time I told you my motivation, anyway.”
“Helping a fellow human being is a part of it, to tell true.” He started to say, lying down on the sofa he sat on like trying to imply that they would be here for a while “It is my dream to rule a city without conflict and violence, where every wrong will be right with better justice than we have now, and I just want everyone's life to be a little bit less depressing in general.”
Sophia nodded “Go on”
“If I leave it at that, I will not be answering the question.” Gorbach continued “I don’t just want to become a benevolent supreme leader just for the sake of it, admittedly. Sophia, list me five supreme leaders on the top of your head right this moment.”
She decided to go along with his little game “Let’s see, you, your father, Adollos, Donalius, and then Willemmus, the first supreme leader.”
Gorbach shook his head in mild annoyance “God, I forget that you are a history-obsessed child for a moment. There are sixty-three Godlead who hold the same position before me to choose from, and of course, you nearly say it at random.”
“I ask this question to a lot of people, both in and outside the wall of Last Stronghold. My father’s name came up most of the time, since he was the current supreme leader, along with some others who insisted on putting their name on things they were built in their reign, but you know who came up most frequently of all? The good one.”
“Jeficus the just and Geor the generous?” Sophia asked.
“And Wigdis the wonderful too, though she was not actually as great as people made her to be.” Gorbach went on “Only the very bad and the very good are remembered, Sophia. A hundred years from now, I will be already dead and buried, so are you, and everyone we all know, unless of course, the order of medic manages to discover a means to live forever, but I doubt that will be the case any time soon. What left of us will only be our bones, and that will be all gone too at some point, but the one thing that will remain, for a thousand of years, is our deeds.”
“I don’t want to admit it, but all these good things I am doing, I did it so that I will be remembers. My father will likely go down as just another dictator who did absolutely nothing and just use his position to satisfy his endless desire, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly want to be remembered that way.”
Gorbach paused to let Sophia gave out a small chuckle “Your laugh is simply strange, you realize that? Regardless, I want to be remembered as not just one of the good, but the very best that this city ever had. I want this reforming plan to be my legacy; my deed shall be to make this very city a better place for everyone from the bleak dystopian world we inhabited.”
“And all I ask for return…” Gorbach started to finish “…is for them to still know by name for hundreds of years to come.”
Sophia let the information washed over her head “So, the reason you selflessly seek to help others around you is because of your very much selfish desire to be remembered?”
Gorbach shrugged “Basically. Now that you know why I do the thing I do, you can cease from being my advisor and confidant if you wish. I can find a better home for your parents and settle you there with a few hundred points as a reward for your good service…”
“No” Sophia told him, now she knew why Gorbach had never told her this before. He feared that she might think of him differently, but it didn’t “Whatever your reason for doing good is, all that matter is that you are doing good. And I will always stand by that.”
Gorbach smiled at that, a widest smile she seen him had since before the mishap at the picking day “Good, then perhaps it is time we get back on our work, a lot of things require some attentions, if we wish to have our first policy out on schedule.”