The Human Kingdom bordering the Ancient Forrest was only one of many Human Kingdoms, and also a part of the Holy Empire. This one was once ruled by King Aurelius, a known warmonger. While the Human King had his flaws he wasn’t an incompetent king. Some wars were not only unavoidable – they were a necessity.
However, King Aurelius met an untimely demise fighting an evil sorcerer and so his plans came to an end. The reclaimed forest land was meant for new farms, which didn’t happen. And most importantly the invasion of the neighbouring Fertile Kingdom didn’t happen either. If they struck at that time they would have won, but now the Fertile Kingdom wizened up and mustered enough forces to fend off any upcoming incursions. Even worse, they were unwilling to trade their grain at a fair price. Well, that was just a consequence of a failed conquest, a conquest which never happened.
Of course, the Human Kingdom crowned a new king – King Aurelius II. The King was young but wise beyond his years, he had surrounded himself with knowledgeable advisors, a group of magi known as a Covenant of the Black Hand. Of course that stopped the Fertile Kingdom from a pre-emptive attack; no one really wanted to fight a full covenant of magi. And all seemed well for a time they even reigned in the threat of the Evil Sorcerer.
But the unresolved old problems, like a monstrous hydra, poked their ugly heads. The first head was the looming war with the Fertile Kingdom. The second head was the threat of the Evil Sorcerer. The third head was the worst, in came in the shape of a drought and then a flood, failing all harvest. There were the beginnings of famine and the rebellion was at the doorstep.
In a palace garden and under a fancy gazebo, an obese man and an elderly magus were sitting and having a small feast. The two were King Aurelius II and his advisor GrandMagus Vumbeldor. Both of them were decorated in exotic blue robes, made out of a material of unknown origin; it was rumoured to be more expensive than royal imperial silk.
“The peasants threw rotten tomatoes at the palace wall.” Aurelius II complained.
“What do you want me to do? Throw Firebolts at them? Get your militia to sort matters like this.” The Magus replied full of snark.
“No, I’m not suggesting that,” Aurelius II took a greedy sip out of a fancy bottle, “That’s some good stuff… Can’t you just magic some food?”
“That’s not how magic works, you fool.” The magus didn’t need to hold his tongue with this puppet. “We can always release some of the palace supplies,” he bit a yellow fruit, it leaked juices on his beard. “That would ease the tension in the Capital. At least for a while.”
“No, the royal faction would have my head. You know that I’m not exactly popular, so they would rebel before the peasants would.” Aurelius II took another sip.
“Go easy on that stuff.” The magus cautioned. “But, you are the King, and your word is final. If your uncles and cousins what to rebel let them.” The magus stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Actually, that would be a good cause to get rid of them entirely and install a council.” A council of magi.
“Vumbeldor, please, you’re too ambitious for your own good. The Emperor would not allow that.”
“And that’s why you’re on the throne, our false King.”
“Yes, yes. Thank you for all the support.” He said it, but didn’t mean it. “And isn’t your covenant doing just swimmingly well?”
“Are you implying something?” The magus frowned.
“This illicit trade you have with that sorcerer made you extremely wealthy, no?”
So the fool was somehow aware of the backroom dealings. The fat buffoon went a notch up in the Vumbeldor’s eyes.
“So, can’t you just buy some grain?”
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The magus finished eating the fruit. “Spend our wealth to save your kingdom? A genius idea!” The magus mocked. “The grain asking price is exorbitant, and we are at the point where it’s impossible to turn a profit. The peasantry can’t afford it anymore.” He educated the fool. “But we can spend the royal treasury to subsidise if you give us access.”
“No, that’s not necessary. I was just throwing some ideas out.” The fancy bottle was empty so Aurelius II eyed the juicy fruit. “How can a simple fruit be so tasty?” He asked to distract the magus from the royal treasury, that money was his to spend.
The magus looked at it. His eyes were locked on the bowl of yellow fruits for a while.
“I don’t think I asked something profound, please, I don’t want another lecture from you old man.”
The magus ignored the fat man and the disgusting sounds he made while devouring the fruits; Vumbeldor was thinking. The fat man was on the throne only because the Covenant backed his claim by bribing the nobles and strongarming the lesser factions. Yes, the King was just a puppet but a necessary one; no King no Kingdom and all that. But, that also meant that the Covenant needed to solve the famine if they want to keep this stolen Kingdom under the Black Hand’s influence.
“The fruit, you’re eating.” He pointed at the last remaining TomGrape. “I think, that’s the solution.”
“Eh, how so?”
“Well, the Sorcerer, The King of Spiders, grows them. And…” He stressed it. “As far as I know we are his only clients.”
“Yes, I heard of him… but that’s our enemy!” The fat man slammed his hands on the table making the chubby cheeks and the rest of the fat body shake.
“The one responsible for your beloved blue ambrosia. By the way, we had it Identified, it comes out from some sort of a slug; it’s a slug jelly.” He just threw that one out. “And so does this cloth, and many other items the royals, oh so much joy.”
“So you were in the bed with the Evil Sorcerer all along. I should’ve known…” The fat man sat down deflated.
“He wasn’t planted by us if that’s what you thinking. But he is an unlikely ally. The one who could solve the famine.”
“I’m listening...” He snatched back the last fruit from the magus’s hand and devoured it in one bite.
The magus continued. “We would need to grant him certain privileges. A royal pardon even. Then we could begin an open trade.”
“A what?! We all know the rumours of the evil forest, twisted spiders and a man behind it all. He'd slew King Aurelius! Would people ever agree to make peace with someone like that?”
“You overestimate the morality of a common man.” The magus said matter of factly. “If that feeds them, then they will.”
“Morality, ha!” The fat man laughed at the irony. “The only thing that separates us from them is wealth and power.”
It seems that Aurelius II had no illusions of what he really was. Good.
“And to remain in that position, we must make amends with the Sorcerer. No, not just sorcerer, The King Of Spiders.” The magus raised a finger to hammer that title into that fat-addled brain of the fool. “We shall invite him into the palace. Form an official trade treaty.”
“…” Aurelius II seemed hesitant. “The Emperor won’t like this.”
“The Emperor won’t feed our starving. And I don’t think his holiness cares about the politics of some backwater kingdom.”
“Awesome… Another magus to deal with. The palace is crawling with your kind already, one more will make no difference.” Aurelius II sighed. “Fine.”
“It’s not like I need your permission. I’m just telling you so that you don’t make a fool of all of us.” Vumbeldor reached into his robe and retrieved another bottle of ‘blue ambrosia’. “For your efforts, understanding, and,” He looked right into Aurelius’s eyes, “discretion.”
“I knew it! You are hoarding it all!” Aurelius II uncorked the bottle and chugged the contents. “Ah, sweet mana from the heavens sent to bless my taste buds. So that Sorcerer, The King of Spiders makes this stuff. He can’t be that bad.”
“I think we’re done here. I’ll go and contact our future benefactor.” Vumbeldor left for the comm orb room.
King Aurelius finished his blue ambrosia bottle, it was his third today; he was beginning to feel funny in a good way. When full on ‘ambrosia’, he would feel brimming with power and infused with wisdom. The many palace stairs weren’t as scary, the boredom was gone and he would notice the things he normally wouldn’t… There was a squirrel on a nearby tree’s branch, he’d noticed that squirrel before; he recognised it. Actually, there was an unusually large number of them in the palace gardens. And they were oddly interested in his activities, he felt their gazes all too often.
“What are you looking at?” He stared back at the squirrel accusingly. “Are you spying on me?” He could swear there was intelligence in those eyes.
The squirrel stopped staring and instead scratched both of the nuts below with tiny squirrel hands and then just ran off to do other squirrel things like that.
“Must be my imagination.” He stared at the empty bottle. “Or a side effect, Paranoia.” He checked his status, there was no debuff of any sort. “I need more blue ambrosia, that old fart must be hiding it in his office.” He went to raid the office while the magus was busy in the orb room.