Somewhere in a room without a light, and under a big banner depicting a hand, there numerous hooded figures had gathered.
A hooded woman snickered, “They took the bait all, line and sinker.” She unfurled a piece of worn parchment and began to read:
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To all and every, subjects of the Fertile Kingdom, there is an edict for you all.
The Aurelian Kingdom had grown corrupt. So corrupt in fact that they opened their gates to monsters, wicked and twisted spiders, no doubt warriors of the Demon Lord. All must know that King Aurelius II has sold his people and is conspiring with the Demon Lord to strike at us all. How can we, noble and just people of the Fertile Kingdom allow such evil? – We cannot!
The Aurelian Kingdom needs to be liberated from the dark influence and the monsters purged back to the Evil Forest. We must do so before the corruption spreads ever further.
In the name of that which is good, and in the name of the Holy Emperor, we declare WAR. …
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She stopped reading. “And so it is. They made the first move.”
Another woman had a conflicted face behind the hood. “They did invoke the name of the Holy Emperor, should we worry?”
“Why? Haven't we been sending gifts to the Holy Emperor? The cloth which is light and fine, extravagant and vivid blue, the one which is the most expensive. And jars of the succulent gelatinous dessert, the kind with unrivalled sweetness, a thing that is so hard to obtain, and more and else. I reckon we’re fine!” A fat man barely fitting into his cloak replied.
Another cloaked figure spoke. “And I’ve been the one delivering all that, without taste testing might I add.” He glared at the fat magus. “I know that Emperor is busy and since we’ve paid all of our imperial tithes and taxes the Holiness isn’t too bothered by what happens at the frontier kingdoms, and who fights with who. So long as there is a King under the Holy Empire – all is fine. I can assure you.” He mollified the concerned magus further.
The woman holding the parchment spoke again. “There is nothing to worry about at all. We’ve been preparing, we’ll win this.” She crumpled the parchment and set it ablaze with a spell illuminating the otherwise dark room.
A man stepped forward. “Indeed, all thanks to that armour they received from a ‘mysterious merchant’. Ha-ha-ha, isn’t that right, V? Ha-ha-ha.” He looked to another hooded man.
The man by the moniker of V turned to reply to the laughter with a laugh of his own. “Ha-ha-ha! Yes, they think that the FireWalker Armour will protect them from our fire magi. Ha! Those fools.”
A man butted in to talk again. “The Fertile Kingdom’s knights will be walking into their own graves.” He nodded. “Just as you advised V, I’ve distributed the Frost Grenades. But how about the protections against their magi and their spells?”
“Did you forget we have this?” V parted his dark cloak to reveal a blue robe beneath. “Magical Resistance, Reinforced +2, and for important magi I’ll make sure they get Spell Deflection.”
The man stepped back. “I spoke too hastily. It seems we’ll be protected.”
V continued speaking. “Only the ones loyal to us. Do not forget the goal of all of this. To weaken both kingdoms so that we can grow in power.”
Hence so, this was the plan, and not as easy to achieve as it might sound. V couldn’t make the Aurelian Kingdom too weak or else it would be defeated and absorbed by a neighbour, but it still had to appear weak.
“Emboldened by Fire protections they’ll strike thinking us feeble. And we’ll allow them for a time. This will weaken the Royal Faction and the remaining stubborn nobles. Those who need to die will die. Ha-ha-ha.” V laughed again. “Then and only then will we swoop in with the grenades and deal a decisive blow, one after the other thus claiming full credit.”
The woman kicked scattering the ashes beneath her. “We won’t stop there. Counterattack is in order. If we succeed we’ll fully control two kingdoms.”
“Yes, the counter-attack might still pose some challenges. But regardless, we’ll certainly weaken both of the kingdoms.” Another cloaked figure spoke.
“And thus the Black Hand Covenant will grow ever so stronger. Well done everyone.” V congratulated.
…
King Aurelius II was sitting alone on his throne. It was midnight and at this time the throne room was empty; not even a single guard was there.
“Huh…” He sighed heavily. “A puppet king on a meaningless throne.” Not important to even have personal guards.
It showed just how much the Royal Faction fell out of grace. At a time, It seemed like a great idea to become a king even if puppeted. The Black Hand Covenant used their growing influence to put him here. But even then, he was of royal blood, he had a legitimate claim to be on this throne.
“I’m still a King!” He slammed his fist on the armrest. “I still have power!” He consoled himself.
Indeed, the Black Hand Covenant still needed him, at least if only to keep the Holy Empire's suspicions away.
The shadows grew thicker and darker, and the already faint light of the candles grew even fainter. It was spooky but Aurelius II wasn’t spooked at all, because he was waiting for this.
“Spider?” He stood up from the throne expectantly.
The spooky shadows condensed into a form equally black and menacing. “Lord G Bling, to you.” It corrected in a creaking voice.
The spider didn’t pay due respect the king deserved, it neither kneeled nor bowed. but then again Aurelius II knew that the spiders knew of his puppet status. Regardless, he considered this spider a great ally.
“Yes, Lord G Bling, I apologise.” He bowed ever so slightly. “Do you have what I have requested?”
“Yes.” It chirped simply and then produced a large stack of Magical Scrolls.
Aurelius jumped right at the stack. “Oh yes, FirE SpeaR, WinD RazoR and even my favourite MightY ExplosioN!” He cheered excitedly like a kid on his birthday.
“Be careful, you don’t want to invoke the spell.” The spider cautioned sternly.
“Yeah, yeah…” The spell would activate with its name pronounced loudly but, “Don’t worry, It won’t.” He’d figured out a trick. He just had to butcher the words ever so slightly and say them as if he didn’t mean it, then the scrolls wouldn’t activate.
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“And our request?” It creaked again.
“Consider it fulfilled. I’ll send the documents to the Spider Embassy as soon as tomorrow.”
“Good.” Spider turned back into a shadow and disappeared.
Aurelius II gathered the scrolls, the vellum sheets were thin but there so many he struggled to carry them all. Despite the strain, he persevered and hauled them outside the throne room and towards his chambers. Once again there wasn’t even a single guard in his path. Not just that, the magic lights which should be there were missing, and so was the carpet and the statues and the vases, and everything that was of value. He opened the doors to his chamber, and again there was no other furniture besides his bed. While it pained him dearly to sell his royal possessions he had done that without a shred of hesitation.
The room wasn’t quite empty, it had stacks and stacks of books. No, not of the academic kind, the books here had grimy covers and suspicious names like ‘The Sultry Maid’ or ‘I’ll visit you at Midnight’ and so and such. He took an empty cover with a title just like that and stacked the Magic Scrolls inside. He repeated the process until he had no scrolls left.
He patted the otherwise dirty cover dearly. “Ah, my precious tomes completed. I reckon I have enough.” He looked upon stacks and stacks of risque books, no decent man would dare to open.
Then he crouched and reached under the bed retrieving a very heavy sack. “The last of my fortune.” He sighed deeply again. “That Crimson Alchemist better deliver on her promise.”
Indeed, she had promised him crates of innovative potions, potions the like no one had seen before. He dragged the heavy sack out of his chambers while sweating profusely. He wanted to make only one trip to the garden, so he persevered, moreover, he didn’t want to be late.
Aurelius emerged into what used to be a Royal Garden, now it was just a Royal Mess with craters, burned trees, holes in nearby walls and numerous blackened corpses of squirrels and other unlucky pests. He wasn’t sorry about what he did, actually, he even levelled a few times, so all was good.
In the middle of the mess, a lone woman was sitting on a broken boulder. She wore a beautiful dress which complemented her feminine charms perfectly, however, the otherwise immaculate image was spoiled by a nasty scar on her face.
“Lady…” he panted, “Crimson.”
“Greetings, King Aurelius II.” She bowed curtly paying proper respects.
He finished panting. “Do you have my potions?”
“I do. As promised I finished brewing ten crates of FleshMender and a crate of each Regenerate Mana and Reinforce Mana. Plus the usual mundane HP and MP Potions.”
“Then you can have your gold.” He kicked at the bag not caring about how the sleek woman will be able to haul something so heavy with her.
She opened a satchel hanging on her shoulder and drank out of the small flask. “Thank you, King. Then I shall go.” She lifted the heavy bag as if it was nothing.
“Hey, that potion you just drank. I want that too.”
“The Strength Potion? Sure, but that will cost you extra. And just a warning, it isn’t perfected yet so the Toxicity is high.”
Toxicity? – Whatever! He’ll need to sell his bed but he really wanted that potion. With this, his Super King image will finally be complete.
“I’ll take a crate of that and I’ll have the gold tomorrow.”
“Same place, same time?”
He nodded.
“Then have a sample. Make sure it’s not too much for you. Remember, watch your Toxicity.” She handed another small bottle out of her pouch.
She was worrying too much, or maybe she was just trying to sell more of her Resist Toxicity potions and swindle him further. He waved her not to worry and the two finally parted.
“I have everything, I think. I’m ready for the WAR. The kingdom will get their rescuer, the Super King.” He clutched his fists tightly. “I’ll show them that I am more than a puppet.”
Yes, this was why he plundered the royal treasury, fired all of the servants, and sold everything that could be sold. He did all that, to accumulate power in the form of Magic Scrolls which even a fool could use. To buy potions to make him physically strong and nearly indestructible. To become Super King and bring victory; to gain the glory and recognition he deserved.
And, despite popular opinion, he was no fool, he knew that even Super King couldn’t win a war alone. He needed men for that. While the Black Hand Covenant had consolidated all of the magi under their wing the Aurum Order remained loyal to the Royal Faction, and by extension him. So he will rally these men to fight under him, yes, he will gift them wondrous potions making the order unstoppable in battle!
“I’m not a puppet! I’m Super King. [Fire Bolt].” He burned a scroll firing a spell into the sky just to display his sorcerous powers. “I’m much stronger than a manky magus. [Fire Blast].” He basked the already charred ground in flames. “Unlike a magus, I can’t run out of mana. My wrath is endless! [Mighty Explosion].” He exploded outwards making another crater.
Unlike with spell casting, he didn’t need to use any mana. According to the Spider King, these improved scrolls had the mana needed already stored inside. So he could fling one spell after the other without the need to care. And even if someone managed to hit him, he had the miraculous potions to heal himself.
“I’ll be unstoppable, he-he-he.” He cackled jiggling his fat body. “Fertile Kingdom, you’re done!”
…
Lady Crimson couldn’t be happier. Everything was going so well, almost too well. No longer she’ll be running yet another alchemy shop, or be just a daughter of a once famous master alchemist. The name and fame of the Crimson Alchemist soon shall be restored; she’ll be known far and wide just like her father was.
“Daddy, I did it!” She deposited the coins in the closet and right under the skeletal remains.
She had so much already, her financial worries were over.
“Yes, Daddy, I know, but I had to make those sacrifices.”
Some integrity was lost because she was working under the spiders and by extension for the Spider King; a man she still hasn’t met yet. Some kingdoms would consider this treason, working under another king, but well, this kingdom was different; a lot of weird changes have been happening here…
“Anyway, who cares, one king or the other? As long as I can discover new potions…” She looked at crates of PurpleM, FireAgave, ShadowAgave, DustyBlue and other unfamiliar and foreign ingredients. “I’m brewing the potions not for one king, but two. It couldn’t be better!”
The renown will soon catch up and her shop will prosper. But, of course, it came at a price. She had quotas to meet and brew the King of Spiders his share of potions. Moreover, she partnered with a certain noble, who took it upon himself to sell the Spider Kingdom’s potions. The reason being the Fertility Potion, that potion was gaining traction among the people, and since she too could brew them they decided to join their businesses to maintain the monopoly.
“I know what you think Daddy. But the union is beneficial for both of us. We have the same benefactor and with the gold from the nobles, I can further expand my shop. I’ll start hiring soon.”
It was wise of the young noble to entrust the alchemy aspect of the business to her. The nobles will handle promotion, financing and the rest.
“Now, where are those bottles.” She rummaged through crates. “There it is.” She took a crystal glass bottle, similar but different from the one she knew. “Glass Bottle: Protected.” She voiced yet another mystery coming from the Spider Kingdom.
Lord G Bling instructed her to use these bottles instead. Somehow, the bottle she held was enchanted and still cheaper than the ones imported from Sand Kingdom. Furthermore, the spider suggested an interesting thing. She was to offer a discount to customers who brought the bottles back; they were meant to be reused.
“It makes sense, with an enchantment like that.” She started pouring a newly made batch of Strength Potion into the crystal bottles.
“I better finish quickly.” She urged herself.
It was already past midnight but even so, she had a date in these late hours. No, not a romantic one, just a book-reading date with the exalted Lord G Bling.
“What book should I bring?” She still hadn’t decided. “Should I pick one from my collection, or something neither of us has read yet.” A real conundrum.
Either way, they’ll spend the night reading it and then discussing the sacred texts in depth.
“If only I had met a friend like that sooner… And what an unlikely friend I’ve made.” It was refreshing to have someone so open-minded, and someone who didn’t care about her disfigured face.
“No Daddy! I’m not in love!” She slammed the closet door shut.