Enlightened Empire

Chapter 344: Reigning in the Opposition

When Atau’s fleet docked in Rasacopa’s harbor with Corco on board, preparations had already been made for the king’s arrival. With the new radio, announcing and planning these things early had become much easier. There was no longer any need to send a ship with envoys ahead of the fleet.

As soon as Corco stepped onto land, he was picked up by a palanquin that would carry him to the Green Palace. Inside, he once again met with Maci’s unfun maid-and-bodyguard-combo called Llamka.

“King Corco, welcome back,” the maid said as soon as he sat down inside.

“Thanks. So you’re here for some sort of briefing?” Her purpose for meeting him ahead of time wasn’t hard to guess, but Corco still needed some way to get the conversation going.

“The negotiations have already begun, so Queen Sumaci thought it best if King was informed on the newest developments before he entered the palace, as well as on Queen’s exact strategy,” Llamka explained.

“So, where do we stand then?”

“Ten days ago, the captains finally relented and offered to negotiate. In this case, they could not be kept waiting, since the chance to pressure them during the early meetings was rare. Thus, they already entered into talks with the palace three days ago.”

The maid looked at Corco with a guilty expression. Since she was originally a citizen of Saniya, maybe she thought that acting without him was somehow a betrayal. Of course, Corco didn’t care one bit. In fact, he would much rather have seen the whole thing resolved before his arrival, so he didn’t have to deal with it. When Llamka saw that the king didn’t care that they had started without him, she continued.

“Although Queen Sumaci wanted to wait until King’s arrival, the captains were very insistent.”

“They probably couldn’t handle the pressure of their own people any more.”

“That is our guess as well. These days, everyone on the island is talking about the crewmen aboard the raidships, and how their fates are bound to the captains. How they are no better than slaves under those who should have equal status, and how they want liberation. Even the commoners openly talk about it, without fear of those with higher status. Recently, a captain wanted to depart the island on a raid, against the orders of Queen Sumaci. After the captain ignored some dissenting voices from the crew, there was a mutiny among his men. With the help of a few loyalists, the captain managed to escape with minor injuries, but it seems to have really scared the other captains awake.”

“Good. You can’t play little dictator for years and not expect a revolution.”

You have to show restraint when you play dictator, like me. Of course, he wouldn’t say that out loud.

“I guess they’ve finally seen the light then, huh?” he asked instead. “They should be about ready to bow their heads, right?”

“To our surprise, that is not the case. Negotiations have been going for three days, yes, but so far, there has been almost no progress. To retain their reputation and status, the captains bitterly demand ludicrous concessions from Queen Sumaci for their loyalty, but she is not willing to give them any.”

“And why would she? Maci holds all the cards. At this point, these captains should fall over themselves to save their own skins. They should be happy if they get to keep the money they’ve stolen and then hidden away from their house over all these years. Expecting any more is insane.”

“That would be reasonable, but that is not how the captains see it. From their actions so far, it seems like they have only entered into negotiations to appease their crews.”

Corco watched the maid for a second as he thought about her words. Though it didn’t take long until he understood the strategy of the captains. There really wasn’t much to it beyond basic crisis management.

“So they wanna wait it out until their people have calmed down from the initial anger over the rumors. And then they want to go back to business as usual, I guess?” Corco tried to confirm his guess, which Llamka promptly did.

“It appears so. Most likely, they will delay the negotiations for a few days more, while they also try to talk to their crews in private. And then, once they have everything in position, they will storm out of the talks, and spread the word that they wanted to cooperate, but the queen is ‘tyrannical’ and does not show sufficient ‘honor’ to lead the captains. So she needs to be resisted, or at least that will be their argument, we assume.”

“The usual.” Corco moaned, remembering all the troubles he had endured with his subordinates in Saniya so far. “Why do these people always have to be so difficult? At least once, I want things to go smoothly.”

“In that case, King may have come at the right time.”

A rare smile bloomed on Llamka’s face. It really didn’t suit her, but Corco didn’t feel like critiquing her expressions. Instead, he muttered a succinct “Huh?” to drive along the conversation.

“The stalling tactics of the captains have only been useful over the past few days,” the maid explained. “For today, Queen has devised a strategy to counter their plans. Surely, King will be able to watch an exciting breakthrough in the talks today, and possibly even provide the final blow himself. With King here, everything will be even easier than initially planned.”

With a sly smile that still felt strange on the stoic maid, she explained Sumaci’s plan and Corco’s role in it, while they moved closer to the palace. When they arrived there, the king was led to the grand salon where negotiations were taking place, though he didn’t enter for now.

Instead, Llamka led him to a side chamber next to the salon. The room was small and dark, but it wasn’t meant for sitting anyways. From here, he could listen in on the talks next door, which was the room’s sole purpose.

Through a small hole in the wall, Corco watched the happenings inside. Immediately, he realized what Llamka had been talking about when she had explained Sumaci’s counter strategy. Although he was informed on what would happen today, seeing it with his own eyes felt very different.

The room was taken up completely by one giant table, which had a map of the Verdant Isles etched into its wood. All the captains sat on one side, while Sumaci and her allies sat on the other, with a wide space between them.

This wasn’t the first time Sumaci had met with the captains, but the mood felt different. In the earlier meetings before Corco had left, the captains had looked haughty, as if they were the ones in charge. At best, they had looked indifferent to Sumaci’s honest attempts at reconciliation. Either way, they had always been uncooperative and demanding. Now however, they looked cramped, or enraged. Without a single spoken word, it was obvious that they were the ones on the defensive now.

Although Corco had thought that their anger would be directed at his wife who was working against them, they were actually staring at the men who sat below Sumaci’s seat, on her side of the table.

“As you can see, brave captains, I have brought a few guests to bear witness to our conversation today,” Sumaci said with the kind of smile she always got when she was about to ask him an especially tricky question during a lecture.

“What is this nonsense!? Why would ordinary warriors be present during these important talks!?” one of the captains shouted back. From the way the others were sitting all around him, Corco could guess that he was the leader of the bunch, though he didn’t exactly show the calmness expected of a leader.

“Captain, does that mean you are not an ordinary warrior?” Sumaci sounded surprised and opened her eyes in faked shock. Still, the smug smile couldn’t or wouldn’t be hidden.

“Of course! We are-” Maybe the captain was an idiot, but he wasn’t that much of an idiot. At least he caught himself mid-sentence, before he made the worst of mistakes. With a face still heavy from anger, he stared over at the warriors again, who looked back without fear.

Internally, the captains must have hated them for their courage, or for their treachery. Now that they had found a new backer, the warriors immediately betrayed the captains who had paid and fed them all these years. The fact that, maybe, the captains hadn’t taken good care of their crews, and that the reason for their ‘betrayal’ was justified, wouldn’t even come to their minds.

Still, they couldn’t openly admit that they considered themselves above the average warrior. By right, warriors and captains were part of the same class, and admitting anything else would put the captains in the same tough spot that Captain Tayali had enjoyed not long ago. So beyond a mean look, the leading captain could offer nothing in defense.

Once he had calmed down, he said in a calmer tone, “Of course we are all warriors,” thus keeping the great illusion of the Verdant Isles alive.

“Then there is no problem, is there?” Sumaci pressed on. “This negotiation is between House Hulpatec, and the warriors of the house. All warriors below this Queen are of equal class and equal status. So if the captains are allowed to negotiate with this Queen, then surely the other warriors would at least be allowed to listen in.”

“Of course. There are no complaints.” He looked like he would like to complain a lot, but Sumaci ignored his sour face.

“In that case, we should continue where we left off yesterday,” she said instead. She waited for a while, if any more of the captains would walk into her obvious trap. When she saw that they weren’t quite dumb enough for that, she simply started with her prepared show.

“As we discussed yesterday, I demand loyalty from my warriors, the same loyalty the warriors of House Hulpatec have shown to the masters of the house since the founding of the Colored Islands. But, like any master of the house before me, I will not demand this loyalty for nothing in return. This has always been a mutual relationship, and nothing will change that. So, my offer from two days ago still stands. You return to the role you are meant to hold. You fight for the island, on the orders of the house, which will not only serve me, but will also protect your own home, and your own families. In return, I will go one step further than any Green Kings and Queens before me. I will break with old traditions, and remove one of the great restrictions of the warrior class. In the future, all warriors will have the right to own private property. I believe this offer is more than fair, and should quell your concerns. After all, you wanted me to make concessions, right? Well, here it is.”

Although Corco was hidden behind a wall and could not see everything from this distance, he could still tell how uncomfortable all the captains were based on their postures. It wasn’t hard to guess why. All these days, they must have rejected the exact same offer, since they wouldn’t personally benefit from it. They already had all the money they could ever want, and many of them had agents among the commoners who already ran businesses on their behalves.

Now however, Sumaci had called representatives of ordinary warriors to listen in on their talks. If they were to reject the deal again today, they would openly speak up against the rights of their own crews, who would benefit from this deal. Soon, the word would spread, and they would have to deal with more than just onemutiny. The very basis of their power was under threat here.

As a result, it took them a while to gather their thoughts, before their leader spoke up again.

“Of course, this is fantastic news.” He didn’t sound like he thought it was fantastic news. “However, while we would love to accept Queen’s offer, there are many more issues that concern us, which have not been addressed. To the captains of the Green Island, this was never an issue of loyalty. No one wanted to lay down their arms during a time of crisis. Going against the wishes of the house hurt the heart of all brave captains. However, we could not, in good conscience, watch as the house is taken over by foreigners.”

“Looks like it’s my time to enter,” Corco whispered to the maid, and made his way to the front entrance of the room. While he was walking, he could still hear the captain make his made-up case inside.

“After all, most guards in the palace hail from foreign lands these days. Many members of the court are foreigners, most with undue power. Even our wars are being fought by foreign warriors at this very moment. And in the city, the house is training an army of commoners to replace us. All of this, all these plans, suggested by a foreign king who hides in the shadows, whose real goals cannot be known. Where is our place in the future of this kingdom? Would we not simply be used, and then thrown aside once we are no longer needed? These are the worries that drive our thoughts. What will happen to all the warriors of the island, to us and our crews? Even if they are allowed to own property, they cannot live if they have no sense of living.”

As the captain talked, a murmur rose in the room. It looked like in his absence, Corco had become the main villain of this play. Although he didn’t doubt that his girl had an answer to this question as well, there was no reason to let the charade continue on like this. Instead, he simply shoved open the entrance, and put an end to the whole thing, just like Sumaci wanted.

As soon as he entered, the entire room turned quiet, but he didn’t care at all about the jokers staring at him with a mixture of surprise, guilt, and anger. He walked right past all the captains and warriors, without even acknowledging them. As he sped towards Sumaci, she stood up to meet him, which meant that all the warriors had to follow suit and stand as well, whether they wanted to or not.

“Welcome back, husband,” Sumaci said. Although her words were formal, she didn’t hide her smile.

“Little student!” Corco shouted, and embraced his wife, far less concerned with etiquette. The two stared at each other, their faces close together, until Corco said, “I’m back.”

Unfortunately, the touching moment didn’t last. Not even here could the captains show any kind of class.

“Uhumm…” One of them coughed to get their attention. When Corco looked over, he realized that it was the same man who had led the discussion this entire time.

“What?” the king asked in an annoyed tone. Before the captain could even answer, Corco continued. “Your only problem is that my soldiers are taking over your work, right? So we’ll just stop training the commoners and I’ll retreat my men from active battlefields. I’ll just keep a minimal contingent here in Rasacopa, to protect my wife’s safety. Surely, that won’t be a problem, right?”

“No, it would-”

“In that case, it sounds like we’re done here. Nothing more to argue. You can fuck off now, while I spend some quality time with my wife.”

After he was done with his little speech, Corco went right back to ignoring the captains. While talking to Sumaci about the new calculator he had built, the two left the room through the back door arm in arm. Meanwhile, the perplexed captains just watched in stunned silence. Whatever the captains thought would happen here, they surely hadn’t expected this.

In the end, they had gotten exactly what they had asked for, without any negotiations, and all of it had happened in front of a group of warrior witnesses. Whatever plans they may have had to delay the talks further were out the window now. From tomorrow on, their defiance could no longer be justified.

Though soon, they would realize that Corco’s concessions hadn’t just happened on a whim, and that he hadn’t conceded because he didn’t want to be bothered by them today. Rather, this had been part of Sumaci’s strategy – as the maid had explained on their way here – and Corco was more than happy to follow along.

He really had enough of protecting two kingdoms with his one army. Too many of his people had pointlessly died in wars on tiny islands. And from the reports, the most recent battle on Iskay Island sounded like a nightmare. From now on, the local captains could bleed and die in that place.

For the King of the South, it was time to get out of the endless war zones and bring his men home. After all, there had been several reports of brewing unrest in Saniya already. Once his men were back from overseas, and his entire army was back together, it was time to clean up the dissent at home, and finally become a proper monarch, rather than ‘the first among equals’.