Malios died old. Compared to a generation of Kings and Queens left to perish at the hands of the Black Death, she was ancient. It was the only pride she took well into consideration that she lead her kingdom without being struck down before her time. For a ruler to abide by the Black Death’s rules would be political suicide. An initial wave of unrest swept over the kingdom as the associated traders left the door open for the Queen to see to reason. Yet as the dukes and lesser rulers begged and the neighboring nations fell to the associated fiends of Morias and the Black Death, she stood firm.
Leonis Paul’s fist slammed onto the table “The Syracanths”, he yelled. “Those bastards are up to this?”
“It was bound to happen. They allowed their economy to rely too much on cheap labor, and now the consequences are finally coming for them. Instead of pivoting, they’re trying to outsource in a sense.”
The spittle in Paul’s words was enough to fill an ocean. His beard acted as an unwilling filter to spare the rest of his peers. “We gave too much leeway with their end of the treaty and now they’ve started intruding on our land! Interfering with our business! Action must be taken immediately! Every nation has had to make sacrifices and now the Mercantile Federation of Idiocy has gone too far.”
Queen Calia’s eyes drifted over the scene in front of her. Old men, merchants and the other powers arguing over something settled long ago. A diversion was in order. “Does it affect us so much to call for direct action? We already have preparations for the Morias Operation, we cannot have petty struggles distract us. Let us just tax their materials and imports and let that sit for the next few months. With their dependency on exports and their falling food amounts, they’ll settle down eventually.
“And is that all you have us do?! They came into our realm, enticed our workers, and tried to start unrest within our cities! Our people see us as weak while they invade our land. All due to their inability to bite on the leather that we all did!”
Calia felt the half-truth slither out of his mouth. “My people, with all due respect, could give less of a damn of the political implications of some lumber company going rogue. The wood will be of lesser quality, but it will be worth it.”
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“...But if we went back to how it was…”
Every head at the table snapped towards the man. His beard was peppered with white, and his bifocals were immaculately cleaned. Yet as he kept his head down, it seemed he was more talking to the glass than to anyone present. The mouths were shut tight and the focus was on him as the steel of royalty came from Calia’s lips.
“Repeat what you said, Trader Jean Reeves.”
“I said nothing.”
“Then my ears must be failing me. Because I believe what I heard was to go back to where we were before. With the Death at our doors and him adding to the Morias issue.”
“And why shouldn’t we!” Reeves stood up to face his Queen at eye level. A woman whose eyes could break the will of men half his age and twice his size, but he felt it had to be said.
“Everyone and their mother knows that we are the only ones who seem to be enforcing the treaty in good faith! Why should we needlessly restrict ourselves to a treaty that is little more than a broken promise on paper? Besides, the Death hasn’t been seen in years since the treaty was established. Just a bunch of Kandas aspirants and the rogue monster acting in their name. If anything, they should be the ones we should go after.”
“Our relationship with the Sapients has never been better, and years of hostilities have decreased since we’ve entered good faith relations with them. New trade and information for our scholars in the acts of magic. Any more talk of this, Reeves and I’ll-”
Another woman, one from one of the older accountant administrations spoke up. “I agree with the good sir. Since Queen Malios instituted that damned law and signed that forsaken treaty. Since then, our economy has retracted, and our output has decreased across our industries overall. Our only saving grace was that we suffered first before anyone. “
“And we have been better for it! More people working and less strain having to deal with the reconstruction that came from having to deal with both Morias and the Black Death. ”
“She killed an entire industry and left us to pick up the pieces, threatened our lives if we didn’t comply! At least the Lazimovs had the decency to recoup their people’s losses.”
No one stood to fight against what had been said. The Queen simply stood up from her chair. “The lot of you seem to think that I should be like the Lazimovs, even in the way I deal with our business, our relationships with foreign countries.” Her grip on the staff tightened. “I called you here to advise me and I have heard all I need to make my decisions. You will be shown out by Alwyn.
The Syracanths will be dealt with.
The operation against Morias will go on.
And I expect that my confidence in your future decisions will be rewarded.
Good night to all of you.”