Enlightened Empire

After tea and some refreshments, Brym had recovered from his long journey to Medala's capital. However, he didn't get much time to rest. Before he could even stretch his legs, he was brought on a tour of the city by Lady Inti.

This time, rather than walking around incognito like he had done before, they traveled in a far more decadent manner. The two took seat in a single, large palanquin, surrounded by four carriers, as they traveled through the streets of Arguna. When Brym peeked beyond the curtains to the outside, he saw that they had already left the squalor of the back alleys. By now, they had reached the main streets, the hubs of the city's economic and cultural development.

Despite his pride as a Saniya resident, Brym had to admit that the view here was still impressive. Countless commoners were mingling with each other, going in and out of endless entertainment facilities and shops to waste their hard-earned money on frivolous luxuries. At least here, the capital was still looking as vibrant as ever.

Normally, the young merchant would be thinking about ways to reroute the available income of these shoppers into his own businesses. Today however, he was more interested in the story tellers who sat on the side of the road and would only earn a few measly copper pieces a day for their efforts.

"And then the miracle king raised his hands, and lightning struck once more upon the greedy..."

"Far in the south, in the distant city of Kapra, a great evil was plotting against the imperial family..."

"Today, I will tell you the tale of the miracle king's younger years, how he traveled to the occident, and fought off the brewing invasion of the eastern foreigners all on his own..."

"And thus the Divines have given oracle of the great Earth, which has imbued all its children with these eternal right..."

As he listened to snippets of the various stories told on the streets one after another, he suppressed the desire to get off his ride and correct their nonsense. Instead, he followed his second instinct: He put on a smug face and turned towards Inti.

"You're telling me no one here would buy my bonds?" he asked. "That seems somehow hard to believe. Maybe if I rename them to 'miracle bonds', they'll be more interested."

"It's not like no one would be interested. I never said that," Inti corrected him. "Just that selling those bonds would not be easy here. Yes, our King Corco is very popular with the commoners, even here in Arguna. Some of the people out there are paid by us, in an effort to drum up support with the general public, but most of them are doing it spontaneously, of their own volition. That alone shows you how much draw the miracle king has with the general public."

"In that case, surely, many of them would be willing to buy the bonds as well," Brym argued. He simply couldn't see what the problem was.

"Especially from the great Lord Brymstock," Inti even added, and smiled at the moniker. "After you established your shops, you traveled around a lot, and became a well-known figure in the north. Just look how well your business is going."

As she spoke, Inti pointed out of the palanquin, at one of Brym's stores. Of course, riding past one at this exact moment wasn't much of a coincidence. Due to ever-increased demand, there were now seven such shops in Arguna alone, all of them along the major streets.

"Lots of commoner merchants would love nothing more to make your acquaintance," the young woman continued. "They would buy your bonds just for the vague hope of a business relationship with the great master Brym at some point in the future. Even some wealthy craftsmen might want to buy your bonds if they're planning to move to Saniya one of these days."

"Then what's the problem?" a confused Brym asked. All of this sounded great to him. If they had the goods and the customers, where would the problem lie? At once, he realized, but Inti said it before he could.

"Once you start selling these bonds, there will be fierce backlash from the authorities."

"Do the local authorities hate us this much? I highly doubt that."

Brym tried to joke away Inti's concerns, but her serious look, and a prolonged silence, confirmed his previous guess. The realization was a great shock to Brym.

After all, Corco was still the eldest son of the previous emperor, and thus the most legitimate heir out of the three kings. Back when they had first come to Arguna, Corco had also been the most popular with the priests, and they had gained many allies both in the Ancestral Hall and in the Noble Assembly over the years. Not to mention the amount of copper and silver Brym had paid out to lower-level officials to grease the wheels of justice.

How could it be that they were so unpopular all of a sudden, eve to the point of impacting their business? In any case, Brym had a hard time believing it. However, rather than reply, Inti first pulled out a pocket watch from within her male-style robes, a marvel of Saniya's engineering. The watch, that was, not the robes. After she had confirmed something, Inti banged against the wall of the palanquin to let the servants stop.

"It looks like we're just on time," she finally said. "They should be starting any second now."

"Starting what?" Brym asked, more and more confused by this new journey across the now unfamiliar city.

"Just watch. It usually goes down around noon, so there are more people around to watch." Together with her non-explanation, Inti offered a cryptic smile and once again pointed through the curtain and into the streets.

On Arguna's main roads, the palanquins of warriors and lords would travel in between the herd of commoners. Every time one of these palanquins came along, the commoners would be split apart like sheep with a sudden wolf among them.

This time, the same thing happened as well, and the commoners stepped back and to the side to make room. However, the palanquins were too many. Several showed up all at once, from multiple directions. Before anyone on the street had noticed, the road was completely blocked. All at once, all the palanquins were dropped, and the carriers pulled out axes and herded the crowd even closer together.

"What is happening?" a shocked Brym asked. Luckily, they had stopped in time, so they were still outside the encirclement. However, the merchant was still worried, since his own shop was in its very center.

"Looks like they've come up with a new method. Just watch," Inti said, and motioned him to stay quiet.

Meanwhile, the former palanquin carriers — now transformed into warriors — were pushing through the crowd, towards the story tellers. One by one, they tried to escape into the crowd or the side alleys, but only a few made it out of the sudden trap. Most were caught by the warriors, and then stuffed into the palanquins, which were revealed to have cages installed inside.

At the same time, one of the warriors walked up to Brym's store, and arrogantly began talking to Alyn, the local shopkeeper, all while several priests showed up to occupy the spots of the story tellers. As if nothing had happened before, they began to rail against the heretical lies of the southern king.

Once Alyn handed a heavy-looking wooden box to the warrior, he gave signals to his surroundings, and the palanquins disappeared as quickly into the crowd as they had come. All they left behind were the priests spreading their propaganda, as well as a thinned out crowd, which soon scattered to leave the store lonely and deserted. Only then did Inti's and Brym's palanquin continue on its way.

"Looks like we're not that popular anymore." Brym sighed.

"You can say that again. Though their methods are new. Usually, more of our people make it out." Inti showed a miserable smile. Clearly, this wasn't the first time she had to deal with this mess. "After they failed to take over the south, the conservative priests who control Arguna have been railing against us almost every day. They constantly try to discredit the 'heretical king in the south', as they call him."

"Aren't they just sore losers?" an annoyed Brym asked.

"But it's been effective. Although we've done our best to spread the writings of the reformer priests from the south, we're fighting an uphill battle. As you've seen, they have organized groups who suppress all dissenting voices. At first, they only went after religious texts, but now they're even arresting the story tellers on the streets, even those who simply praise the imperial family."

Again, Brym found the truth hard to believe.

"The priests don't have that much power in Arguna, do they?" he asked. "I mean, they are attacking Medala's ruling family. Aren't the nobles doing anything to stop them?"

"Who do you think sent out those warriors to help them?" Inti pointed outside, just in time to see the bribed warrior was sharing his spoils from Brym's shop with one of the priests. "Most nobles wouldn't dare support you publicly these days. It's not only the priests, there's also Lord Ogulno's remaining family. The old lord's wife and children have spent all spring in the family's Arguna manor. In that time, they've spent a lot of energy and money running around in upper class entertainments to drag Corco's good name through the mud."

"Uncle killer and such?" Brym guessed immediately. It was a ridiculous claim, of course. Although Corco had personally killed Ogulno, his uncle had already been at death's door at the time, so it had been more mercy than anything else. Though apparently, the rest of the Ogulno clan was no better than their old patriarch, and took full advantage of his death.

"Yes, they especially like to call him uncle killer," Inti confirmed, "that, and a destroyer of tradition, which is even worse in the eyes of the nobles. They claim that Corco attempts to dismantle the entirety of the lord class, and their claims have found the ears of many. After all, it's a fact that three lords have died in the south last winter."

They're not even lying, but it's bad that they're saying it out loud like this.

While Brym still thought of possible countermeasures for the new problem, Inti continued her explanation.

"The Ogulnos obviously don't have that much money to hold banquets and give out gifts, even less so since they've lost their territory. I've already collected evidence that they're being paid by the priesthood. Anyways, as long as those two are working this hard to ruin Corco's reputation, no noble would openly support you. That includes protecting your shops, as well as buying your bonds. After all, it's a bad look to work with the man who aims to destroy traditional medalan society, and all noble families with it. By the way, other forces might be working against us in the background as well, though there's no evidence yet."

No doubt that includes the two northern kingdoms, and maybe the arcavians again, Brym thought. However, he had little doubt about either group's involvement, so he asked about another.

"What about the Ancestral Hall? They wouldn't act against us?" he asked, and stared at the looming Moonlight Ziggurat in the distance.

Ever since the Succession War, the Ancestral Hall had been in the hands of Elder Acquilinus Ichilia, and — more importantly — Grand Elder Viribus Pluritac, Corco's great-grandfather. Somehow, Brym doubted that the selfish old monster would miss out on the chance to smear the man who had ruined his plans. However, to his surprise, Inti's long hair flowed around her ears as she shook her head with vigor.

"That seems unlikely, from what I've heard. As I've said earlier, the Ancestral Hall has been strangely quiet these days. According to Elder Saqartu, they haven't been meeting very frequently these days."

"The elder is still on our side, even after what happened to his family?" Brym asked in shock. After all, Elder Saqartu was Mayu's grandfather.

"Yes, the elder was always on Corco's side, just like his son, the late Governor Sonco. In fact, we've had increased contact with Elder Saqartu ever since the civil war started, so I can guarantee the elder's loyalty. Rather, most of House Saqartu has been House Pluritac's ally for decades. If anything, Mayu was the outlier. So coming to an agreement wasn't too difficult. In return for sparing Mayu's life despite his transgressions, the elder will continue to support us at the council, though he also demanded guarantees that Atau retain his position."

"That much, I can guarantee."

Of course, none of Corco's friends were in any danger of losing their posts, at least so long as they were competent. Brym wondered if he should tell Inti about Atau's relationship with Tama, and his increased weight in the government as a result. As an intelligence expert, maybe Inti already knew about it already, but seeing her reaction might still be fun. However, before Brym could say anything, the intelligence expert had already moved on.

"Anyway, the elder said that even during the rare council meetings, Grand Elder Viribus is almost always absent. Whenever he is present, he sits in the shadows and barely talks. Sometimes, one of his attendants speaks for him. His people claim that the grand elder is just ill, but I suspect that the old man Viribus is finally being affected by our little present. Took him long enough, that old monster."

"Big Bro — King Corco that is — once told me that the imperial family's cultivation technique makes people more resistant to poisons," Brym offered as explanation.

"In that case, chances are high that our methods are finally having an effect. I might need to get our agent out of the Ziggurat before anything happens to him."

While Inti was mumbling to herself, Brym was still more preoccupied with his own mission. By now, he had come up with an imperfect solution for his bond sale problem.

"If the elders are too busy with each other to care, then they at least won't stop us from selling our bonds, right? Maybe we won't be able to sell them to the local nobles, but the commoners shouldn't be a problem," Brym mused.

Although their income would be reduced if they couldn't sell to the nobles, the commoners in Arguna also had a lot of money saved up, so the income from bond sales would still be substantial. However, Inti's dreaded head shake was back once more to reject his plan.

"Not exactly. Without any reigning emperor in Arguna, without the Ancestral Hall, and with the power of the Pachayawna shrinking by the day and focused on the wrong things, the city has lost its three central forces of control. By now, it's a free-for-all out here."

For a second, Brym tried to connect the dots from Inti's statement, before he realized what she meant.

"So we'd be robbed if we handle that much money?" he concluded.

"How else do you think an operation like the one before could happen out in the open, on one of Arguna's main streets? Those were supposed to be safe, you know? Crime rates have gone up, and a lot of it is coming from the local officials." Inti sighed again. Even though Brym was good with numbers, he couldn't even tell how many times he had heard her sound frustrated or tired today.

"If you try to sell these bonds, you will have to sell a lot of them to many different people." Inti continued. "We can't sell to the nobles and the commoners simply don't have as much money per person, so all you can do is increase the number of customers. But selling to that many at once can't be hidden. With this much money changing hand, someone will get greedy, be it local guards or minor officials. And with the current state of Arguna, there's no central authority to protect us, so they have practically free reign."

Faced with reality, Brym fell into silence, as he tried to come up with other solutions. However, none were forthcoming.

"So I came here for nothing?" a frustrated Brym finally asked. When he had come here, he had been optimistic about this plan. Now that he was here, he realized that he had underestimated the political turmoil in the capital. Too much had changed since his last visit in Arguna.

"Not exactly," Inti said. "In the first place, there's few nobles who are in the capital right now. The chaos in the city is one factor, but Arguna has also lost a lot of influence over medala politics. These days, most important decisions are being made in the capitals of the three kingdoms. As a result, banquet season in Arguna is getting shorter every year, and most lords spend all their time at home. Maybe it would be easier to just visit the lords in their territories directly. They might be unwilling to openly support Corco in Arguna, where their reputation would suffer. But no one will know about a private agreement made in their own homes, right? Surely, many would wish for a secret trump card, especially those lords in the north who are suffering a lot under Amautu's increasingly repressive rule. Your bonds would provide exactly that, a lifeline for the lords and an escape route for the commoners."

In the end, Brym's plan would still work out! Although he would have to travel around a lot more, the end results would be almost the same. He almost jumped from his seat in excitement. Only when the ground under his feet began to shake did he remember that he was sitting in an unstable palanquin and fell back into his seat. However, despite his eventual restraint, he was still excited.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea," he said with pretended calmness, though he couldn't help but smile as he planned out a route to visit every rich estate in Medala. "In fact, I've already sold some bonds to Lord Eborius Nasica on my way up north. You know, the lord has always been a great supporter Corco, even more so since he agrees with the southern kingdom's religious reforms."

"In that case, it appears as if your visit to the capital will be short this time around." Inti smiled to match Brym's.

"That's true, how unfortunate." Brym looked out the open palanquin, and suddenly felt melancholic. In the past, he had spent many days here, yet now he could barely recognize this strange city, unchanging and in constant flux. Maybe the next time he came here, even the last few vibrant spots would be gone. Suddenly, he noticed that Inti had been observing him, and he realized that while he was still stuck here, his old business partner was still stuck in this city, still dealing with its slow collapse.

"I would have loved to stay for a while, and help out some more," he said, with real, red shame on his face. "It seems like you're having your hands full here."

In response, Inti smiled like a fox.

"In that case, before you go, there's a favor I have to ask of you," she said. "I hope you'll indulge me, as compensation for my time today."

Faced with such a cheeky smile, and a chance to relieve his own guilt, how could Brym say no?