Chapter 53: The Three Oligarchs (Part 1!)
What should one do if you are exiled out of paradise? Panic? Weep because your failures led you to your denial?
No silly! Make friends with some devils!
“Oligarch Glatrix… at our door?” Vega shook herself laughing. Things were finally looking up.
Then she suddenly realized she didn’t have any fucking clue who he was and she stopped laughing.
“Right… it’s not only me, but a few of our colleagues. And body guards so don’t you fools try anything.” Glatrix pushed her aside as a line of soldiers dressed in large bronze helmets, making them resemble golden beetles.
The party stepped aside as they noted the none soldiers there, that being a couple scholars, a few tacticians, along with two Tripolian translators which Amir nodded approvingly at. He was still careful not to reveal Valiato’s scar but he seemed at ease at the event.
The scarecrow wasn’t.
Glatrix lied as it was a fuck ton of people going inside.
Skaldi backed away the furthest, sadly reminded of his few battles with Iozians and how troubling they were. But as he saw Bolato’s face look reassured, the elf stopped and observed their breaking in.
“Do people break into houses normally?” Sorbet asked Valiato, who giggled lightly.
“I hope not!”
“Come on-on! More people here? Ya could have at least asked.” Vega waved her arms up at Glatrix. The light shined on his combed hair and beard, making him look like an octopus that recently came out of water. He chewed on his mustache a bit and whistled to his back.
Two more men arrived, and instead of being subordinates, they seemed to be on equal standing with the Oligarch.
His outfit was a great white dress, affixed with blue and yellow bands forming a pattern. His eyes buried underneath a layer of wrinkles and scars made him ancient. And his skin was a black gray, the type of color you see on clouds at night.
“Oligarch Kani Faitos Ruto. If you’d prefer it, Ruto is fine.” His voice was soft and slow, like a grandfather enjoying the company of his grandchildren. And yet he moved quite fast and his teeth were a gleaming white.
The third was… not so pleasant.
His eight legs pranced forward, as his six eyes flared blue to green. Those same six kept eyes on the party but he kept an extra one on Vega. About the size of a dog, he climbed on top of the side of Glatrix. His chittering fangs and motions looked like he was whispering.
“Ol-igarch Ro-ka. On-ly th-at.” Sounding like his words were separated by pause, Roka’s eyes and speech made him out to be quite intelligent. But the party’s thoughts were not on his size or intellect, but of… how he’d rule anything?
“Great… I don’t suppose ya have stuff to ask-ask us right-right?” Vega didn’t enjoy the people. Not that she hated them, but this was Kaliber’s space. And she wished it could remain like that.
“Indeed. Would you mind?”
“...I would-would.”
Laying out the battle plans clearly, the party mostly sat beside the wagon, exchanging light conversation. The tacticians took Amir’s timing of the Operation very seriously, since he was the only Tripolian that could be consulted on the matter. At the center of the room, the Oligarchs and their teams brought in furniture, the one kind thing that had been done for the party.
Blinding light fixtures and the sound of people moving gear and shuffling was ever present, annoying Vega very much but making the rest of the team at ease.
Glatrix led the discussion of the papers, chuckling when he saw good news and grinding his teeth when he saw bad news. There wasn’t much good news.
Skaldi and Florato whispered closely to one another, wondering when they should ask Vega on how she used the Soul Gem. But wishing not for the information to fall in the hands of the Oligarchs, they kept quiet along with the rest of the team. Skaldi was a little annoyed, not only because he had to deal with Tibato not a couple hours earlier, but by the fact that Vega's magical abilities could not be properly questioned.
The eeriness of Kaliber’s tower did not lessen for Vega, she only felt more irritated. She couldn’t wait for this to be over. Hated that this was happening. This wasn’t how it's supposed to be, Vega thought.
What? Did you expect them to bring cake and cookies?
“Are ya guys done yet-yet?” She started to kick the wagon, like an upset kid. Briefly, she had thought of showing her Oligarch badge, perhaps that would make them reconsider how they conducted themselves around her.
Maybe then, they start to treat her and her friends with respect. But then again, just because people respect you doesn’t mean they’ll listen to you. Feeling the badge in her chest, Vega touched it with her thumb before slamming her fist into the wagon. Ruto turned to her in a diplomatic fashion.
“Sorry, Glatrix is about to finish. It’s quite a lot of plans you have here? Where did you get them?”
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“We stole them… you can thank us anyway you’d like. Gold, weaponry, real estate.” Skaldi laid his back on the ground and kicked up his feet on one of the chairs.
“Re-wards wi-ll be gi-ven if we su-rvive.”
“Yeah… great…” Florato rolled her eyes. Even if they were helping them, they certainly didn’t acknowledge all of their hard work. Ruto tried but only mildly.
“Good. Very good… Alright! We can begin.” Glatrix stroked his beard, holding his head up high as he circled around the room. Multiple writers took out their pens and prepared. Kuto took out a sheet himself and decided to sit next to Amir, which caused the Tripolian to scoot over a bit.
“First question, to what degree were you able to enter into the palace? What were you allowed to see?”
“Not much. We saw the part with all the statues and Nemesis artwork but nothing else.” Florato told. Skaldi and Vega nodded their heads to it, which made Glatrix shake his head.
“I checked out and saw some ruin-ruins, but not unless beside that.”
“Me and Florato here checked Jantok Sky out. It sucked, because of a lack of alcohol. And also she said something about the people looking alike or something. I don’t know.” As Skaldi finished, Glatrix shook his head further still, grabbing his chin in frustration.
“Damn! Still nothing.”
“It st-ill te-lls us th-at pe-ople ca-n ge-t in-side.”
“You don’t think they can… hmmm… later.” Glatrix took a glance at Vega’s guitar but swiftly moved onto the next question.
“I could probably give you guys a layout…” Sorbet raised her hand.
“You… you know the layout of the palace?” Glatrix said in a way that could be interpreted as either relieved or ready to kill some one.
“W-why does everyone stare at me when I say? But yeah, I could probably do that right now.”
“Please do!” Glatrix flourished with his hands as Sorbet walked over, along with the party wanting to see how much there truly was.
Illustrating quite well, Sorbet revealed to them that the palace had a series of underground complexes, noted down as levels. Level zero was the main palace where the Vega had been previously. Level one showed a series of service tunnels and rooms meant for heating.
Level two was where it started to get creepy, as multiple chambers were labeled as ‘worship rooms’ and ‘libraries’. Sorbet mentioned that many of the spirits that the previous Oligarchs… ‘enjoyed’ were often in these rooms. Up to interpretation, once again. Skaldi and Florato suspected that they weren’t as they were labeled.
And the final level, which featured no mapping, was labeled ‘The Lai Bank’.
“The Lai family are the only ones allowed in and out of Jantok Sky, aside from the watchmen.” Glatrix explained. “We’ve been trying to contact them about working out a deal, but they won’t hear it.”
“Yeah, because you guys obviously run this place-place.” Vega muttered angrily to herself.
“Why not? Don’t they have to listen to you?” Bolato asked, surprised that even a family as powerful as the Lais didn’t take orders from Oligarchs.
“Tibato has locked us out of where they live, the Cloud district.”
“I see.” Skaldi squinted at Glatrix, knowing where this conversation was going. “I love work, I can sit and watch it all day.”
“Ha! Calm yourself elf. There’s plenty of work left for all of us. As for the second question, do any of you have any experience with stealth based operations?”
“Goddamn, yeah! We all do.” Skaldi jumped up and shrugged at them all. “Just when I think someone else can do the job!”
“Excuse me?” Glatrix marched up to Skaldi before Ruto and Florato put themselves between them. Amir and Sorbet laughed, seemingly agreeing on the absurdity of the situation. They should be allies in this dire situation, and yet the wish to have petty fights and complaints. Not that they aren’t warranted, but that they should be dealt with after the threat to their lives is over.
“Apologies friends, perhaps we should… explain some things?” Ruto held out his hands in a friendly manner, while Roka whispered again in Glatrix’s ear.
“Sure-sure. I’d like to know what ya guys have in store.”
“Understood. We three Oligarchs have been exiled from Jantok Rock.”
“Really? Tibato did that to you?” Bolato questioned, seeing as their number should over power the lone boy Oligarch.
“Seeing that the raids and the Tripolians were entering through the border, we all fled it best that we organize plans here, seeing that Uvi Jantok is the city with the strongest navy asides than Core Civitus.”
“Aren’t you Oligarchs? I thought you had thousands of men at your command at all times?” Skaldi pointed right at Glatrix, making him scowl and turn away.
“Well, we are plebeian Oligarchs. Our responsibilities are low… but also our resources.” Ruto bowed his head in a faint shame.
“Ru-to an-d I ru-n ci-ties wh-ile Gl-atrix ru-ns a sm-all pr-ovince in th-e we-st.”
“Yes, we only have a hundred troops here with us while Glatrix has two hundred alone. It’s nothing minuscule, but compared to the estimated invasion force of the battle plans that you have shown us, it's like comparing a rock to a mountain.” As Ruto finished, Skaldi stepped towards while Vega joined closely behind.
“Ah, that means you don’t have enough guys or resources, and Tibato is the only one who has all of that… great…”
“Not all is lost.” Glatrix kept his distance, keeping eyes closed but projecting his voice far. “Your work… has been illuminating. However, we need help of a special variety.”
“What? Can’t order some thugs off the street?” Skaldi brushed his hair with his thumb, in the sasiest fashion he could.
“He-he’s got a point.”
“Watchmen don’t let us near the Cloud district. And those thugs are too dull or skilled to do the jobs we need to be done.”
“I think that’s the closest thing we’ve gotten to a compliment.” Florato said to Valiato, who snickered in response.
“How? We’d stick out a lot, aren’t on good terms with Tibato, and you guys barging in has made us pretty known.” Skaldi threw his hair back, covering Vega’s face.
“Oh, how should I rephrase this… You would be breaking in? Is that the right term?” Glatrix put the tips of his fingers together, making a triangle shape with his hands.
“If ya-ya mean risking our lives for rich folk who don’t give a crap about us, then yes-yes.”
“You know it’s more about the people of Uvi Jantok.” Bolato kicked her foot, causing her to reflect and be slightly less bitter.
Why now, why now did her desire to help others be accosted, Vega pleaded. What operation of hatred and exhaustion had grown too strong for her to bear.
“I know… I know…”
Do you? Or do you have more at stake than anyone here?