Duke returned to the Restful Roost in his disguise. When he stepped in, he saw that there were other guests in the inn. As he scanned the room, he noticed that there were about a dozen guests taking up three tables. He also realized that he recognized one set of guests as part of the Tannish delegation.

Guess they are heading back to report in, but didn’t Jack already mention that they came through? Long-range communication is really something that this world needs, or maybe it’s something that I can monopolize with my powers? Can I make a communications portal’s anchor point on an object so it could be mobile? That would be awesome, especially if I could make the object able to turn on and off, or maybe open or close. I really need a crafter other than Baslin. He has been so self-absorbed lately – I have no real idea what he is working on and part of me feels that I really don’t want to know.

Jack greeted Duke as he headed for an empty table. “Good day…sir.” Jack had paused in mid-greeting due to Duke’s pointed glare and subtle shake of his head. Thankfully, the man was quick enough on the uptake that he got the message. Duke wondered if that was an aspect of his XENOGLOSSIA manifesting but decided not to worry about it since it worked. Jack continued. “Glad to have you back again. Will you be taking a room this time?”

“Yes, I think I will. Do you have any free or is there only space left in the common room?”

“I have one private room left and it’s all yours.”

“Thank you. It seems that business has picked up for you.”

“Very much so.” Jack leaned down and conspirationally whispered, “They are all tipping rather well, I might add. Is this your doing?”

“Not directly.” Duke whispered back. ”It’s a side effect of me being here.”

“How does that work? No, never mind. I shouldn’t be bothering you about such things. Can I get you anything?”

“A drink would be great and something snacky to munch on for a bit. Oh, and there is one more piece of news for you.” Duke gestured for Jack to lean down so he could whisper in his ear. When the innkeeper did so, Duke continued. “The bandits will not bother you anymore. I left one alive to spread the tale of what happened to the rest. He might have stopped pissing himself by now.”

Jack looked back at Duke in wonder and a bit of fear. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Bring me that drink. It is my responsibility to take care of such things. You should not have to do anything more than bring it to my attention.”

Duke enjoyed his time at the inn, away from the real concerns of state and all the other things pressing on him. He checked his notifications to see what the bandits brought him. He didn’t expect much, but every little bit helped.

*** You have slain 27 bandits of varying levels including one at a Tier two. You gain 700 experience and have cleared the area of the bandit threat. You gain 5,000 additional experience for executing your duties as a ruler. Well done. ***

I’m now getting puns in my messages? At least it’s more positive than the petty shit I got from the other two bitching and arguing all the damned time. But I kind of fucked up here. I was going to plant a dungeon here to replace the inn but there are too many witnesses. I can’t let it be known that the Inn dungeons are connected to me just yet. That and Jack and Emma have their own thing going on here. Best I can do is leave them something to make sure they continue on well.

Duke scanned the inn with his DUNGEON SIGHT for a full three minutes before he located what he was looking for under the floorboards of the kitchen. He had found the strongbox where they kept their savings. With a bit of effort, he was able to TELEPORT a full five hundred gold from his INVENTORY right into the strongbox. That will be a nice surprise for them.

Duke enjoyed his evening at the inn and went up to his assigned room before leaving a pair of gold coins and a note thanking Emma and Jack for their hospitality. With a thought, he TELEPORTED back to the castle to check in with everyone.

Madrigal was in his office and was extremely eager to speak with Duke. “Your Majesty, it is so good to see you. As I’m sure you are aware, today was scheduled to be a petitioner’s day in the court but your absence was the perfect strategic move. No one was able to put forth a petition with the expectation that you would act on it immediately. This caused almost all the petty petitions to be abandoned and we only received the two important ones.”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Duke, intrigued, smiled. “Please continue. What were the important requests?”

“Firstly, this one is very political and you not being here to provide an immediate answer prevented you from having to choose to support one nation over the other. The Kingdom of Tannish extended their personal and specific invitation to join their king in a deep jungle hunt in one week’s time. I, of course, could not answer for you so the Ansky Empire’s representatives were able to interpret it as you not granting favor over them.”

“Seriously? THAT is the big deal?”

“It was a political trap. A most exciting one, and one you avoided expertly. You have grown so much in political acumen. I am beyond amazed. How did you know this was going to happen today?”

Duke seriously considered lying and saying he knew about it in advance but decided against it. “I hate to shatter your illusion, Madrigal, but It was purely by chance that I wasn’t in court today. I left Cloudspire to attend to some other matters, but I would have otherwise been in court and would have likely accepted the invitation on the spot. I take it that would have cause some issue with Ansky?”

“Oh.” Madrigal responded, crestfallen. “Yes, it would have caused issues. We would have been able to get past them, but yes, it would have caused issues.”

“And what was the second matter of importance?”

“There is a credible report of banditry in the south of the kingdom.”

“Oh? Where in the south?”

“There is a small village called Ulmstead. It is in the area beyond that village in the hills further to the south that the bandits have set themselves up. They are preying on everyone who passes through the area. The only safe spot is a single roadside inn that they seem to leave alone. The report said that there was a leader amongst the bandits that was setting himself up to be some sort of ruler in the area. I fear that the advance delegation that Tannish sent back to their kingdom will be waylaid by these same bandits. That would look terrible for us.”

“Yes, that would be a black eye for us for sure. The bandit leader’s name was Saparov and he is quite dead. The people of the area were terrified of the man. Is the person who requested aid still around?”

“Yes, I had her put up in the Golden Circle Inn in the hopes you could speak with her tomorrow and get enough details to find the bandits with the Legion or something like that before the Tannish contingent arrived in the area.”

“Good. I would like to speak with her in the morning. Please arrange it. And let the Tannish Emissary know that I will be joining their king on the jungle hunt. They provided the invitation when they first arrived and have repeated it. It has to mean that they really want me to come, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, it does. But I advise caution as things could happen here while you are away on such an extended journey let alone what could happen to you.”

“I appreciate the words of caution, but I am sure we will be fine. I only have one other particular matter to take care of before then so we should be fine.”

“What matter would that be, Your Majesty?”

“I have to execute Queen Pahst and send her head back to her court.”

“You WHAT!”

“Did I stutter? I’m fairly certain I was rather precise in my language there.” Duke pretended to review his words in his head for a moment before continuing. “Yep, sure I was clear.”

“That’s a wildly inadvisable course of action. First you would have to apprehend her, and she is phenomenally well-protected and paranoid. She surrounds herself with very powerful warriors, mages, and other high-tier classes.”

“Already done. I have her in a cell awaiting judgement. I haven’t checked up on her in a while. I imagine she’s quite hungry, thirsty, pissed off, and rather stinky.”

“You can’t just execute another monarch. It will cause war. You have no idea what secret alliances she may have secured.”

“Archduke Ferdinand all over again?”

“Who?”

“Sorry, reference you wouldn’t get, but his assassination set off a series of hidden alliances exploding into war. A war that left somewhere around sixteen million people dead in my world.”

“Sixteen million people died? That’s the population estimate for the entire continent! How populous was your world?”

“Last estimate was somewhere around eight or nine billion people.”

Madrigal stared at Duke, stunned. Did he say billion?

“It is a completely different world. One where there is essentially no magic but there is technology that allows for greater population density. Our typical farm was less than two square kilometers and could feed about seven thousand people a year. And we had a lot of them and also a number of farms that were mind-bogglingly large. With all the magic here, I am still trying to get a grasp on why there is not a much larger population. Maybe we can change that here. Maybe we can expand the kingdom’s population much more than anywhere else with all the advantages we have here. But that is a conversation for another time.”

“Um, yes. Let’s get back to the whole ‘execute your enemy’ thing. It could plunge us into war.”

“It could, but I think it’s more likely to plunge them into a civil war and that is what Lord Greengold also believes. They are not unified behind Pahst so her death will leave a power vacuum. And nature abhors a vacuum.”

“Nature what? Vacuum? What are you talking about?”

“Fucking idioms.” Duke muttered before continuing. “What I am saying is this. If Pahst dies, the remaining nobles, merchants, military leaders, and other powerful people will see the opportunity to seize power for themselves. That will inevitably lead to them squabbling and then openly fighting amongst themselves. Instant civil war as they fight for the top spot.”

“I suppose that is possible but why risk it?”

“Because I am not going to let an attempt on my life go unanswered.”

“They will kill whatever messenger you send.”

“We’re working on that. I was sure I mentioned that somewhere in all this. I was going to send Greengold since he requested it but…” Duke trailed off and grinned broadly as an idea struck him. “I’m going to send the assassin with the message. That will make everything perfectly clear. Thanks for getting me to think of it that way!”

Duke rushed off to grab Baslin and tell him the new plan and that he didn’t need the communication device just yet.