In the wee hours of the morning on the next day, Jack was tossing and turning in his bed.
Ever since he had seen his neighbor's house burst into flames, a growing terror had been present inside him.
He was a merchant in the Kingdom of Eldinor, and he had always prided himself on making smart investments.
This was what had allowed him to rise from the ranks of a common trader to his present state, where he had a large estate with 30 servants and a large family that was still growing.
As was normal in his family, he had not hoarded all the success to himself.
He had brought all of his family members, who had always supported him, into the business, and with his direction, all of them had flourished.
On seeing the rapidly fluctuating prices of the different types of coins, Jack had identified right away that a war was going on between the two forces, which meant that it was a ripe opportunity for the people to benefit from it.
He had already made a lot of profits in a situation that had once been similar to this- then, it had been in the case of a singular type of barrier trinkets which could protect entire moving carts, and two different elves had developed it. They had engaged in a war much like this one because of their pride which dictated that it was fine even if they took a loss if they could have their product proliferate into the market, and Jack had bought as many as he could from both of them. After the war ended, the prices went back to normal, and he had sold everything for a hefty profit.
His plan had been to do the same thing in this case, and hence, he had hoarded as many coins from the trading families as he could find.
In fact, at one point, those in the Kingdom who had the trinkets had to buy them from him, because he had already bought out the merchants.
Hence, when he saw the flames rising into the horizon and heard the words of that man, he had rushed back into his house in a blind panic.
His nephew, who was just 2 years old, had greeted him, and to his horror, he saw that the kids in the house were playing with the coins.
He had allowed it as they liked the shiny objects, but seeing what had happened, he frantically snatched them all and threw them out.
In this way, he had lost half of the resources he had accumulated over decades, but more than that, he had been thoroughly traumatized about what could happen.
Damn those trading families!
He had feuded with them multiple times, but because of their deep reserves, they had always come out on top.
But this time…they had gone too far.
Yes. Enough was enough.
For the past ten days, he had been controlling himself, but he could do so no more.
They had to pay!
Rising from his bed, he threw all caution to the wind and marched into a street nearby where there were a mix of elves and humans.
"Proud citizens of the Alliance! Imagine your homes razed to the ground! Imagine your families, dead! Imagine your future, destroyed! I have seen this in my dreams, every day, and I can stand it no more! I need to take out my anger on those wretched assholes who dared to do business with our lives! Who's with me?!"
Calls like these which were much less effective had already succeeded in rousing hundreds to their cause.
But now, because of the glib tongue of someone who had made their way in the world, thousands soon rose, and they all began to follow him while he led the way to a large bunch of warehouses in the outskirts of the Alliance which were so heavily guarded that no one had targeted them yet.
Yet…where those hordes had been comprised of only normal people who could only use rocks as their weapons, this one had many Mages and Fighters who all had furious expressions on their faces.
On their way, they kept collecting people, and by the afternoon, right as they were near their destination, their group had already swelled to hold over 10,000 people.
Their steps made the ground shake, and their shouts seemed to reverberate in the very air, lingering even after they passed due to their singular passion.
The gates of the Alliance had no hope of stopping them, and they were thrown aloft while the guards also cheered. They weren't supposed to, but why wouldn't they want to join? They were the ones who would have died!
For too long had those trading families stepped on everyone they wished. Today, they would pay.
Jack wasn't even the leader of the group anymore. He was in the front, though, and his voice rang the loudest when he shouted the slogans that were repeated by the group.
Presently, they began to approach the warehouses where hundreds of guards could be seen milling around with wary expressions on their faces.
Yet, when they saw the size of the crowd they were supposed to hold off, hopelessness and desperation shone in their eyes.
"Guards! Think no more! Turn on your masters, the day of reckoning is nigh! Today, we will hurt them like they have hurt us for generations!"
As Jack shouted this, it was also taken up by the group, and as tens of thousands of voices urged them, complicated expressions appeared on the guard's faces.
It looked like they would heed these words at any moment, as never before had been such an organized group. Mages were at the back, and Fighters were at the front, ready to run forward and pummel the barriers into dust.
The guards knew that if they didn't choose now, it would be too late to regret later.
In this way, the situation looked like it was going to escalate to become something not seen yet on the continent of Angaria.
The guards would begin a fight on their own on the inside and might even probably deactivate the barriers, letting the horde of people arrive inside and take out their revenge on the hundreds of employees who were just there to ensure the evacuation.
No matter how many mages were deployed, it would have been difficult to prevent disaster, but right before everything reached a tipping point, a single person appeared in the air between the warehouses and the large group of people.
If it were someone they didn't recognize, the mob might even have attacked thinking that it was someone from the trading families who had arrived to attack them.
Yet, she was familiar to everyone present, as they had all witnessed her bravery in the Network trinket.
She was the reporter who had heroically saved the family, and as soon as they recognized, the chants ceased, as she commanded enough respect that she deserved to be heard.
As if she had expected this, the reported nodded with a smile and threw out two objects which began to float in the air.
They enlarged into two large display trinkets, one in the direction of the people and the other in that of the warehouse.
Taking a breath, she spoke in that same melodious voice that had captured the heart of many innocent people all around Angaria, and after ensuring that they had heeded her words, she teleported away.
"Your anger is justified, but on the orders of the King of Lanthanor, I ask that you witness what is going to happen."
Curious, everyone looked at the display trinkets which were blank, but a second later, an image flashed into place.
It showed the incredible landscape of Angaria, as it was showing a scene from several hundred feet up in the air.
The communication eye kept moving upwards, until finally, an iconic object appeared in its vision.
It was the Heavenly City of the Alliance, which had rose into the air with much fanfare.
The eye kept moving up until it reached an edge of the city, and as it swiveled to show the image on top of it, eyes began to redden in the crowd as they could see those who were responsible for all of their sleepless nights.
However…that emotion of anger turned into one of bewilderment when they noticed that all the heads of the trading families were actually kneeling on the ground, with their head held low.
In front of them stood the Grand Court Mage of Angaria and Eloise, the lady with no title, but who wielded unparalleled power in the Alliance.
Along with them were also present the Black Raven King, two commanders of the Alliance- Aran and Robert and one other man whom many recognized as the one who was known as the brother of the King.
Also present were two women who had risen to fame, and who were now the icons of the life that one might wish to lead. They were Helena and Dalia, owners of the conglomerate which seemed to have a hand in many, many businesses all over Angaria.
All of them had proud expressions on their faces, and although no one could guess the reason behind this, it soon became clear as all the heads of the trading families rose to their feet.
One among them- a middle-aged lady who commanded quite a lot of respect and was known for her ruthlessness walked forward and made an announcement in a solemn tone.
"We, the trading families, are extremely apologetic for what has occurred. We entered into the business seeing profit, but we made certain missteps which we are not proud of. No words can justify what we have done, so with the help of the King and his subordinates who have all been…ehem, kind enough to come to our aid, we have reached a decision to show how prepared we are to pay recompense through our actions. For a ten-year period, we are ready to give a major part of our assets over to the Alliance and to H&D, while we act only on your bidding. To be clear, what is of the Alliance…is also yours. That means that any of the warehouses you might wish to destroy will cause losses to you, as they would have been potential areas for you to get employed. I understand that many jobs are going to be created with this consolidation of trade, and I daresay that it will bring a lot of good to Angaria. In ten years…I daresay that it might even be a new continent. We will be lending all of our expertise to the cause, and we will work tirelessly to make right our wrongs. Long live the Alliance!"
"…"
After a brief moment of silence following this shocking announcement, someone in the crowd took up the shout.
"Long live the Alliance!"
"Long live the Alliance!"
"Long live the Alliance!"
As Daneel saw it snowball into a chant that seemed like it was ready to rend the heavens, he smiled.
All of his sovereigns had threatened and forced these heads into this, and each of them had worked very hard to make it happen.
Seeing it be successful felt great. Their thinking had been simple: to stop the rioting, make the objects which the people were showing hatred on belong to them, and they would definitely stop. For this, such an agreement was necessary, and after calculating all of the losses that might continue and hurt them severely, the heads had been 'persuaded' to sign the agreement, especially because it was only for ten years.
Daneel had always wanted to take control of their assets without seeming like a greedy dictator, and he couldn't have expected that such a brilliant opportunity would come. Now, he had many more ways to launder his own money for the development of Angaria, and although it remained to be seen just how effective everything would be, he had high hopes for the future.
Yet, suddenly…the system sent a message in his mind, and hearing it, a ghastly expression appeared on the King of Lanthanor's face.
[Urgent message incoming through oath-link from individual named 'Cassandra'.
Message: "HELP! THEY'RE-".
Message cut off.
Oath-link severed.
From the tone of the message and the subsequent severance of oath-link, there is a high probability that the individual has been killed.
Last known location: A mountain top located in the south of Angaria.]