Chapter 353: Emergency Meeting
Despite Mayu’s warning, Corco didn’t feel the need to lift his siege on Kapra. He wasn’t intimidated by empty, vague threats, and wouldn’t do anything without some more intelligence.
Said intelligence arrived a day later, together with a reason to retreat. One of Corco’s runners reached him with a message from Saniya that day. Although the message wasn’t all too clear on the details, the contents were alarming enough for the king to rush back home straight away.
Still, although he had to give up on punishing Ogulno for now, he wouldn’t just give in like that. For now, he retreated with his army, but left most of his men behind in the Utusku territory of Lord Macuy, just north of Kapra.
Together with the thousand that were already stationed there, there were now five thousand soldiers total on the eastern border. Facing such a threat, the Arcavians would not dare to continue their raids across the border. At the same time, the stationed troops would also prevent Mayu and his warriors from pursuing the king as he rushed back home.
Five thousand men were more than enough to hold off whatever small force Mayu and Ogulno could muster in the short-term, especially as the defending army. One of his officers was left in charge, so their leadership would also be stable enough to hold on until Corco had cleaned up whatever mess had been caused back home.
With his back secured for now and all of his commoner soldiers left behind, the king could speed ahead much faster than before. It only took him a day until he and a small contingent of elite cultivator guards from among the ghost warriors returned to Saniya.
As soon as he entered the city, he could feel the change in atmosphere. There were even more people on the street than usual, attracted by priests who were shouting strange slogans into the evening air.
Unlike before, when a full street in Saniya would have been accompanied by a rich, lively atmosphere, now the people seemed nervous and confused. With shrunken necks, they glanced at each other, the castle in the distance, or the cloudy sky up above. Luckily, Corco had changed out of his impractical purple robe before he had begun his sprint back home, so no one took particular notice of him until he reached Rapra Castle. He never stopped once.
While it would have been useful to scope out the mood of his citizens in the streets, he had to get a general idea of their situation first. For that, he had to come to his center of power, to get a more detailed report from his people.
“So, what the hell happened this time?” Corco asked into the room.
For this briefing, everyone with any kind of power in the castle had been assembled in Corco’s study. In fact, they had to change rooms to the large study he rarely used, since there were so many people present.
Sumaci sat next to him and looked guilty. Meanwhile, everyone else, from Fadelio, over Tama, Atau and Brym to Ronnie, looked deeply concerned by what was going on. Even the police chief Quato, who never seemed too emotional, sported a deep frown.
“I’m sorry,” Sumaci said first. “This is my fault. I should have seen the signs sooner.”
When she spoke up, Corco realized that she must have felt horrible about the state of the city. After all, she had been put in charge by him, and was thus responsible for anything that happened during his absence. Before Corco could reassure his wife and ease her worries, someone else did so first, someone the king had never expected to help out.
“There was nothing to see.” Tama said in an annoyed tone. “If anything, this is something the ghosts should have spotted early. But those people practically came out of nowhere.”
“Okay, but blame won’t get us anywhere for now,” Corco said.
Although he was happy that they were all blaming themselves, rather than each other, it wasn’t exactly constructive. At least their conversation had helped him calm down somewhat, so he could analyze the situation with a sharp mind.
“First, I’d like to know what exactly is happening in our city,” he said.
“I’ll officially start the briefing then.” Fadelio stood up to speak. “One day after you left, Governor Mayu took most of his guards and left the city, though we felt that there was no particular reason to react to his departure.”
The statement felt outrageous to Corco who had seen Mayu’s army, but he stayed calm. Fadelio wasn’t someone known to be careless, so he was bound to have his reasons.
“Why not?” the king asked thus. “Mayu leaving right after me would have been highly suspicious, right?”
“According to our intelligence, there was no mass mobilization of warriors in Puscanacra or any of the other estate capitals,” Tama explained. “With the limited number of troops they could raise without our notice, Governor Mayu was not considered a major threat.”
“I still sent a message along the beacon towers as soon as he left, but it seems like you were no longer in range of the towers and could not be reached in a short time,” Fadelio added.
“At that point, we had already received your message about the Yaku warriors who tried to flood the road,” Atau said. “Their whole timing was really tight. They must have planned this thing for a long time. Lots of moving parts to it, and it all must have worked out just the way they thought it would.”
“So when do the priests come into play?” Corco asked. “They didn’t grow out of the ground, did they? Mitosis maybe?”
“The priests showed up not long after we sent you the message,” Fadelio said, while ignoring his king’s fantastic sense of humor. “Two days after you left, a large number of priests started migrating into the city here all at once. Their actions seemed very targeted, and were clearly planned out ahead of time.”
“Interestingly, none of the local priests are actively participating in this action, even though we have a lot of extra Pacha priests in the city who serve as judges. These new ones came from all over the empire,” Tama added. “Some were probably laying in wait in the villages and towns around Saniya, but most of them arrived all at once, by ship. Entire ships filled with holy men, coming here either through the rivers, or from the ports in the north.”
“Northerners? So once again, everyone’s playing along to fuck us.”
Although the involvement of northerners in this operation was news to him, he wasn’t shocked. Mayu and Ogulno seemed eager to conspire with the Arcavians, so why wouldn’t they work with the northern kingdoms as well?
“That’s what it looks like,” Fadelio said. “Once they landed, we realized that something was up. But by then there was nothing we could do.”
“We could always just imprison them. Then they cannot spout their lies any longer. There, problem solved.”
As if she wasn’t insinuating anything dangerous, Tama just threw her outrageous suggestion into the room. From her annoyed tone, Corco could tell that this wasn’t the first time he had offered that plan. Right after, Fadelio’s response also told him that this wasn’t the first time they had fought over it either.
“On what grounds?” he asked. “They didn’t do anything but talk big, and they are priests. Do you want to start arresting priests in the middle of the city, just because you don’t like what they have to say?”
“With all due respect, Lady Tamaya, arrests are not an avenue we can pursue, not if we wish to adhere to King Corco’s laws,” Quato the police chief added. Since he was one of Tama’s former confidantes, Corco was surprised to actually see him refute her.
“Fine, but we could always close down the ports at least, right?” Tama still insisted. “We need to guarantee that these priests don’t increase their numbers even more.”
“Again, I believe that this plan seems a bit rash and ill-advised.” This time, Brym replied in a calm tone. “We’re a port town now. Any day of closed ports is poison for our reputation and will cost us more money and influence in the long run than anyone here can afford.”
“Not to mention, the priests are already here,” Ronnie added. “Closing the ports now will achieve nothing.”
“We’ve all had this discussion before,” Sumaci concluded the debate. “In the end, by the time they landed here, there was nothing we could do to prevent their actions. Just like Advisor Fadelio said.”
As soon as Sumaci spoke up, the debate among Corco’s staff was over. More than anything, he was glad to see that they were respecting his wife in this way. No matter what she said, it seemed like she had proven herself capable when he had been away. After a short while, Corco nodded towards Fadelio to continue the briefing.
“Once the priests had landed here, they started to walk the streets and preach about the sins of the city,” the advisor said. “Their overall accusations are vague, but most of them hint that we’ve lost our way with all the progress in the city, and how our arrogance made our ancestors and the heavens angry. They’ve also been handing out these papers to the masses on the street.”
Fadelio handed Corco a piece of paper small enough to easily hold in one hand. It was printed all over with font in various sizes, eye-catching and easy to read.
City of Sin. Haunting spirits of our ancestors. Wrath of the heavens. Who comes up with this shit?
“Where did these things come from?” Corco asked. The flyer looked too well-made to come from anywhere outside of Saniya. Only here did the people have the kind of high-quality printing presses to do a fine job like that. Not to mention, the flyers weren’t written in classic Yaku writing. Rather, they were printed in the new Yaku script that Corco had specifically designed years back to make learning and printing the written word easier.
“We’ve traced the papers back to a small, private print shop of one ‘Master Rimaq’,” Quato explained. “But again, there is nothing we can do. He’s not breaking any laws, so if he’s willing to value money over the city’s stability, we really can’t do anything to stop him.”
“He could always have an accident,” Tama suggested, but her words made Corco frown. Once again, Tama’s solutions were too aggressive and short-sighted.
“There will be no accidents in my city,” he insisted. “We don’t want to give our enemies any more ammunition to attack us with. There’s always a better solution than murder. Let’s try and find it.”
“See, that’s what I said, Laqhis,” Atau chimed in with a big grin on his face.
“You did not say a thing, dear husband.” Tama turned towards the admiral.
“Well, maybe you just didn’t hear me.”
While the couple was bickering, Corco returned to the topic at hand.
“My people aren’t that dumb, right?” he asked Fadelio as he pointed at the flyer. “Will anyone actually believe this crap?”
That was Corco’s biggest gripe with the story so far. In his understanding, so long as the people’s lives were getting better, they would ignore any naysayers, especially if they didn’t have any evidence for their claims. Nowhere did the people’s lives improve faster than in Saniya, so what was the problem? Was the influence of the priests really so large that they could override people’s happiness with a single word?
“Responses have been mixed,” Fadelio said. “Many in the city didn’t care at first, but there are always some who believe in the stories, and it seems like the numbers are growing. It doesn’t take too many of those to make the rest of the citizens nervous. Once a few people are riled up, they spread the atmosphere and everything after that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“The police can’t do anything?” the king asked Quato. “I know they can’t arrest the priests because of their words, but they’re still creating a public disturbance, right? When I came through the city earlier, half the roads were blocked by them. If we catch them on public disturbance, we can’t hold them longer than a few days, but at least we should be able to limit their actions, right?”
“Unfortunately, King Corco, they are priests, as mentioned before. Even if the police force has grounds to arrest them, the citizens around them would not allow it. We might even cause violence with our actions. Not to mention, many of our officers wouldn’t dare hold the priests even if they committed more serious crimes. Our men are all Pacha adherents, after all.”
“Plus, most of our judges are still priests too,” Sumaci added with a sigh. “Even if the priests in the streets do break the law, and even if we do get to arrest them without our police or the citizens starting a rebellion, do we really want to trust our judges to give them a proper trial? They will just let their fellow priests go anyways. Legal means will not do us any good here. We’ll have to look for a different solution, something outside the box. You’re best at that stuff, so we were really hoping that you had an idea.”
Exhausted by the bombardment of information, Corco slumped back in his chair. How had his enemies managed to cause this big of a mess with such a small move? It was baffling.
“Every time I come back, it’s like the sky is about to fall on our heads,” he moaned.
“This time, it really may,” Ronnie said in a quiet tone, but in the silent room, it was impossible to miss.
“And what does that mean, oh cryptic master? Don’t tell me it gets worse.”
An annoyed Corco asked Ronnie, but the chemist just looked over to Fadelio to explain.
“Well, on the first day they arrived, the words of the priests didn’t actually have a great effect. Most people just ignored them,” Corco’s attendant explained. “After all, many people live very well in the city and don’t want to see a disturbance, not to mention that there are plenty of young people who have studied in our schools. They’re more realistic about things, so they wouldn’t believe the mysticism from the priests that easily.”
“But?”
“But on the night the priests arrived, there was a thunderstorm… and two lightning strikes hit the castle, in plain view of everyone.”
Everyone in the room looked dignified, even though they should have already known about this news before. In fact, Quato looked pale, and downright terrified.
“Is this truly the wrath of the heavens?” he mumbled as he stared at the pamphlet on the table, which only stoked Corco’s anger.
“Wrath of heaven my ass!” he shouted as he swept the paper off the table. “It’s the fucking lightning rod we installed on top of the castle. It’s the highest place in the city by far, with the best conductivity. Of course all the lightning is gonna hit there!”
“Well, no matter how we explain that to the people, most won’t believe us. Not in the current mood.” Sumaci sighed again. No doubt, she had already tried to explain the real cause of the lightning and had failed to reach anyone.
For the first time, Corco’s technological advantage had become a problem. How would he ever explain how electricity worked to a religious, uneducated citizen while a priest was constantly shouting propaganda in his ear?
Once again, he felt exhausted and slumped back into his chair. Although he really wanted to end the meeting and brainstorm ideas for solutions instead, they were still not done. They hadn’t even begun to talk about Mayu’s incoming army yet. This would be another long night for the King of the South.