“Dad’s really dead?” Val Belmoria asked, tears streaming from her green eyes and down her freckled face. It was an unusual look for her—as the general of Averia’s armies for almost two years, and a veteran of two wars, she had a hard edge to her that her youth couldn’t fully hide.
Her brother, the dungeon lord Ty Belmoria, his skin a light brown since a magical transformation a year ago, took in more stoically—he hadn’t been as close to his father, although they had reconciled last year, and was more phlegmatic as well.
Although he took the time to nod to Zir, who was leaning against the wall unobtrusively. Zir had once saved Ty’s life, in the same encounter that had given Ty his dungeon core, starting the half-elf’s rise to prominence.
They were in the omnieye room at the mansion—the most common meeting area for the few ministers of the realm. Lily still thought it quite plain and wished they had something that would impress other nations more, but at least for these small meetings it served well.
“I don’t mean to interrupt this moment,” Ty said, fingering his rich green robes, “but, with respect, why have I been brought here? I resigned my position as a minister-at-large last year.”
Lily stared him dead in the eye, trying to muster the dignity and poise she could. “It was both your father’s and King Leo’s wish that if George passed you be given the position of Prime Minister. It was a much discussed and well-known plan, given your father’s health. I cannot, or at least will not, bestow the position permanently without Leo here to approve it, but I would ask that you act in the position till Leo can formally put his seal to it.”
Ty picked at his green robes for a moment. He was currently Baron of Newroot—a small realm touching upon the northern end of the city that included the first reborn orchard village since the fall of the first kingdom of Averia. And he was over Level Ten, although Lily didn’t know exactly how much over, and was also a dungeon lord. Plus, he had defeated a plot against the kingdom by disgruntled ex-nobles and an ancient god.
But somehow, he still came across as more fussy than inspiring.
After a moment, he met her eyes with his own green-eyed gaze, and his face firmed ever-so-slightly, likely with resolve. “I accept. I can’t deny how much I owe this realm and King Leo in particular, who could have taken everything from me for his own benefit once upon a time. What is it you need?”
“Well… the first order of business is to find the assassin,” Lily said.
She let her fingers brush across the omnieye table as she did, bringing up the city’s stats and finding the one for ministers.
Tywyndyll il Belmoria – Expert administrator, agricultural expansion focus, medium level
+3% agricultural production, +1% trade income, -10% cost to start new farms and agribusiness.
Benefits currently at 0, will manifest in increasing amount over thirty days in the role of administrator.
Lily was slightly saddened—George had been a “genius administrator” and added to trade level, and a small bonus to all income across the board as well. While Ty was almost certainly more valuable to the kingdom through his dungeons and the numerous dryads he was bringing to their realm, he wasn’t quite the administrator his father had been, even if he was close.
Also, his administration would probably focus them a bit more domestically. Once, Lily would have been extraordinarily pleased by that, but Leo had always been very trade focused. She trusted him enough to doubt her own proclivity in these matters.
Perhaps with a few more levels Ty will become even better than his father, however. George never made any levels, and Ty is leveling as fast as anyone not in my lover’s core group.
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A sudden thought made Lily nervously twist her finger in her hair. Thank Eturia we still have Ty, and he’s hard to kill—I honestly have no idea who I will fall back to if he dies or leaves. No one else in our kingdom has shown a flair for large-scale organization…
Ty had waited through the moment, but her action hadn’t gone unnoticed. He nodded at the table. “How do I measure up?”
Lily was pretty sure that he wanted the truth. “Close, but not quite at your father’s level, at least as an administrator.”
Ty frowned. “Fair. Hopefully everything else will compensate. I would like to take a slight exception to the order of priority you gave, however. The first job is not to find the assassin. It’s to protect your remaining ministers. Leo has done an excellent job of building this kingdom, but he relies very heavily on a few individuals—we have almost no structures in place to raise easy replacements. If Val dies, who will take her place?”
They turned their attention to Val, who had dried her eyes. “Well, Vyrneal Ironbranch is solid with the infantry, and Hythel Greenberry is a solid ghost wolf second…”
Ty slashed a hand downward. “How does the system rate your military competence, sister?”
“Expert as well for tactics,” Val said, but then rubbed her hand through her close-cropped red hair. “I’m, uh… Merely qualified for strategy and logistics.”
“And your followers?” Ty asked.
She slumped. “A full rank lower on all three categories.”
Ty fiddled with his robe again, but stared straight into Lily’s eyes. “The problem is we don’t have any formal academies or ways to train up replacements. A problem you’re trying to rectify with your university, Lily, I’ll admit. But it’s a mere dream at the moment.”
Lily felt slightly miffed while internally acknowledging the truth of his statement.
Ty continued. “A university won’t necessarily create genius level ministers, but it will create a deep and meaningful pool of experts with varying specializations. Leo has been relying on a few people with unusual natural talent and a couple old warhorses. There’s no pool. Whomever this enemy is, they’ve found a new, and effective, way to try and harm us. So you have to protect the few talented ministers left, or we’ll lack the skills to move the realm forward at the rate to protect our growing magical advantages and wealth.”
That’s a long speech for Ty.
“How would you recommend we do that, Prime minister?” Lily asked.
“Have you tried the diamond throne?” Ty asked.
“We don’t have a name or visage or anything. Its powers require we know what we’re looking for.”
Ty was silent for a moment, except for a very faint sound as he tapped the omnieye table.
Then he slumped slightly. “I have no true idea on how to proceed at the moment. As a temporary measure I’ll need you to keep everyone covered in illusions, and we’ll need to shut the government down till we can solve the problem. We’ll each need to assume roles as members of the government if we intend to do any work at all.”
“What about me?” Zir asked.
Ty tapped his leg, a very slightly wooden sound. “You… quietly patrol, a stalker in the shadows. I need you to keep everyone alive if they do come under attack.”
Zir flipped a knife into the air and caught it. “I’ll do so.”
***
Lily nervously walked the halls of the ‘royal mansion’ for the third day in a row. She carried a new type of lantern—one filled with the purified extract of ‘Lightbao’ fruit. Leo had insisted on bringing it back from the Sun Eagle progenitors realm last year, and Lily had been experimenting with it. The purified extract would produce light at the same brightness as a least lightstone ritual—the same as a normal lantern. Lily’s calculations indicated it would only last about a year and a half, but it also cost about two silver, whereas least lightstone rituals cost about two-and-half-gold—five years of a peasants income.
Lily knew she was thinking about magic because she was nervous—completely on edge with the thought she might be stabbed at any moment. Every minister was engaged in some activity or other to advance the kingdom, but under the cover of a new persona within the palace. Except Zir, to the extend he was a minister.
Zir, instead, had been living on the roof for days, waiting for a sign of their enemy, in case Lily or any other minister needed to be saved. Lily appeared to be the new hire to replace Cuwylla—the secretary for the Prime Minister. It gave her the chance to prep her university work and goals for Ty while simply appearing to be a secretary.
Lily organized information for Ty for once he got back, as if she was his new assistant. She had done her best to assemble a list of costs, both one time and ongoing. She had assembled a list of things to acquire: specific people, skillsets, magical items, and tomes. All of it for Ty to use as the basis for getting her university built.
She turned into a room, prepared to sit at the sole table in order to create even more reports for Ty. As she moved toward the table, however, the door slammed behind her.
Lily whirled and was slammed from her feet in turn by an arm across the throat that carried her painfully into the wall. The lantern hit the floor and smashed to pieces, glowing liquid seeping across the floor. A dagger radiating black energy was held half an inch from her eye.
She stared up into the face of the woman that had attacked her. She was obviously part orc, with small tusk teeth and green skin, but the rest of her appearance borrowed heavily from some guys fantasies—gorgeous in a lithe and athletic way.
Lily could feel the power radiating from her—magic that wanted to deceive, and magic that wanted to kill.
“I have a few questions,” the woman said.