Enlightened Empire

Chapter 470: Business Proposal (Counter Example)

A thousand miles away from the site of Medala's most bizarre proposal, a strangely similar type of play was being staged by Inti's very own brother.

"Hey, let's get married," Fadelio said towards the woman sitting to his opposite.

At first, Llamka — one of Queen Sumaci's personal maids — had returned nothing but a vicious stare to the unwelcome visitor, but it didn't seem to be helping. When this man — who had attacked his queen with vicious words in the past — had first come here to the queen's quarters, Llamka had hoped that he had come to make amends. However, the unsociable prime minister of the kingdom had informed them that he had only arrived to find his master, King Corco, who had come to visit his wife last night.

After sending for the queen to ask of the king's whereabouts, the man had simply sat there, his knees almost hitting his chin as he sat in a normal chair for a normal human, which looked laughably small underneath his frame. At the time, Llamka had thought that their silence would last until the man disappeared with King Corco, yet he had asked such an outrageous question out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?" Llamka asked back. Maybe she had misunderstood. Though if this uncouth giant had really said such nonsense, she would give him a chance to rescind his words. Yet the excited prime minister doubled down instead as he adjusted his position in his creaky chair.

"Think about it," Fadelio began, his usually indifferent voice raised as if he had just experience a great epiphany. "I've had some undue conflict with your master, haven't I? But I want to make up for my mistakes."

Queen Sumaci is your master as well, by right and through marriage, Llamka corrected in her head, though this was no time to start another conflict. At least the prime minister was finally willing to correct his past rudeness. It was her duty as the queen's personal maid to guide him towards the right path one step at a time.

"So, in order to atone, Prime Minister's plan is to marry this old maiden?" she tried to confirm the bizarre plan. By saying it out loud, surely Prime Minister Fadelio would understand how nonsensical his ideas were. Yet the man only nodded harder in response, seemingly happy to have found a kindred soul.

"That's right," he said. "So far, Queen Sumaci has refused to punish me for my previous actions. But in medalan etiquette, there is no code of conduct for a servant to apologize for mistakes of their own volition, apart from suicide. However, my presence is still very necessary to serve the country, so suicide just isn't an option. But marrying Queen Sumaci's personal maid is within the realm of a servant warrior's abilities, and would certainly ease the conflict between us. So our marriage would perfectly serve to resolve this needless conflict. And you would be getting something out of the deal as well, Lady Llamka."

Although his words seemed to be making perfect sense, none of them sat right with Llamka. He had spent all this time explaining how the marriage would benefit him, yet had barely wasted one vague sentence on the woman he was supposed to be courting right now. Still, at least his intentions were good.

"And what is it this maid would be 'getting out of the deal'?" Llamka asked, and tried to force a polite smile, though her voice involuntarily turned sharp towards the end. If this wasn't the most roundabout attempt at humiliation from the prime minister, he was at least genuine in his attempt at rectifying his mistakes. However, his next words completely dashed all of Llamka's hopes.

"Not to brag, but clearly, there could be no better husband for you than I," the monstrously tall warrior bragged. "As the prime minister of the country, I can provide for you, better than any other warrior in the kingdom. Not to mention, I am tall and strong enough to gift you many strong sons."

While, objectively, his points all rang true, the way he presented them so arrogantly — as if he was offering a gift to a poor beggar — made Llamka feel only disgust. Though what bothered her even more was the complete disregard of her own situation. Again, this man was only focused on himself.

"In the past, Queen Sumaci has provided for this poor maid quite well, and will continue to do so," she thus said to correct this ignorant man's thinking, before she added: "Further, bearing the sons would be the woman's responsibility, I would believe."

At first, Llamka had simply intended to remind Fadelio of the proper etiquette which he supposedly valued so much. After all, she herself was a warrior just like him, and just like him, she was the personal attendant of a member of the imperial family. Their status was almost identical, yet how come this man treated her as if she was inferior? Thus, the further she spoke, the icier her voice became. In the end, Fadelio's stupid grin finally disappeared, replaced by a gloomy frown as he realized that his 'brilliant' marriage plan had hit an obstacle.

"No need to act so haughty," he scoffed, as if it had been Llamka who had embarrassed him, rather he himself. Yet even if he was in a bad mood, his next words went too far. "Why would you ever think you could do any better at your age, and with your looks?"

What did this overgrown troll say to me!?

Before she had realized, Llamka had jumped off her seat. Even if this man technically was her mistress' guest, even if he was the king's friend, she wouldn't hesitate to fight him to the death if he continued to insult her honor like this. To her, her maiden status was a touchy subject. Wasn't her situation the same as his, valuing her duties to her master above her own personal fulfillment? Yet here he stood, and judged her for choices he himself had made. Worse, he scorned her for them. Though even now, she did her best to stay in control and not embarrass her mistress. In order to prevent an incident, Llamka took a deep breath before she spoke.

"Prime Minister Fadelio, surely there is a good reason why both of us are without marriage at our age," she pointed out, again with more bite than she had intended. By now, she herself had lost control and had begun to launch into a tirade before she had realized. "In your case, the cause of your loneliness has become plainly apparent in this conversation. If this is how you usually aim to woo a lady, then-"

"Hello, I have returned!" Just in time to interrupt an emerging explosion, Puklla — the second of Sumaci's personal maids — stormed back into the room with her usual, exuberant energy and lack of decorum. Yet when she saw the situation in the room — the angered Llamka standing and ready to start a fight, and a gloomy looking Fadelio sitting in his tiny chair in an awkward posture — she froze in place.

"Uhm... have I come at a bad time?" she finally asked. "I can come back later if it is inconvenient."

"No, you have come at the perfect time." Llamka shook her head and relaxed. This time, she didn't even mind her fellow maid's poor manners. After all, she had managed to resolve a dangerous situation which could have further strained the relationship between the queen and the prime minister. Although inadvertently, Puklla had done a great deed.

I should reward her and be a bit more lenient with her for... let's say a day, Llamka thought as she once again took a seat, slowly and with proper posture.

"Puklla, did you manage to locate King Corcopaca for Prime Minister Fadelio?" Llamka finally asked.

"Ah, yes." Puklla, who seemed to have been confused for a moment, finally sprang back to life. From the door, she walked in front of the still stunned Fadelio with dainty, springy steps. "Queen Sumaci informs Prime Minister Fadelio that King Corco left the palace hours ago. He is not here," she concluded with a bow.

Usually, such blunt speech would be met with Llamka's stern rebuke. This time however, she had to stifle a grin, just how the big oaf had to stifle a frown. Clearly, he was thinking hard, no longer concerned with his previous embarrassment. After all, he still had his duties to fulfill, which was all he cared about, as Llamka had just painfully learned.

"Well, do you have any idea where he could have gone?" he finally asked. By now his face was once more calm, as if his interaction with Llamka hadn't fazed him at all.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot." Puklla hit her head and smiled as if her actions were normal. "Mistress said that, after the young maniac showed up, King Corco immediately rushed out after him. Apparently, they were completing some big invention? Though I could not tell what invention could be more important than Queen Sumaci."

Although Pukkla's explanation was vague, and her commentary rude and unnecessary, it seemed to have been good enough for the prime minister.

"Young maniac..." he muttered, before his eyes widened.

"Nabo," Fadelio concluded, jumped off his seat and bowed towards Llamka. "Thank you very much. You have been a great help!"

"In that case, there surely is no more need for Prime Minister to endure our presence any longer," a biting commentary came back from Llamka. Not only was she bothered by how quickly he had recovered after their conversation, she also didn't like just how differently he treated the queen's two maids. However, the oaf seemed to barely hear her.

"No time to talk!" he just shouted and rushed towards the door. "I have to find the king! Thanks again, I owe you something!"

Thus, with a casual excuse and an insincere promise, the kingdom's prime minister charged out of the room.

What a nuisance, Llamka thought.

"What a fun person. He's a lot more lively than he looks," Puklla commented, with that silly grin on her face, as always. In response to her innocence, Llamka had to sigh. Her fellow maid wasn't a little kid anymore, after all.

"I believe we were not looking at the same man," she commented, as she looked at the door through which their guest had suddenly disappeared. "Though, he certainly looks almost as flighty as his unreliable master."

Llamka couldn't believe that she had almost been fooled by the prime minister's serious exterior. After all, King Corco was famous for being jumpy and moody. Surely, his personal attendant wouldn't be any better.

Though when she thought about the way the king treated his wife, her worries for the kingdom's future dissipated before they could form. If she found a man as sincere as King Corco, she would at least consider marriage, even if he lacked propriety.

What do you mean, 'how I woo a woman'? That was just a very reasonable proposition, and it was ridiculous and stupid of you to refuse, just because of your pride. I'm a good guy, clearly it's your loss to refuse me.

Although he truly hadn't cared in the moment, too concerned with finding Corco to mind the insults, the way from the castle to the young Nabo's workshop was long. All along the path, the maid's harsh words played in Fadelio's head, round and round.

Although he tried his best to remain level-headed and see things from her perspective, he really couldn't accept that this woman hadn't simply accepted his proposal. Sure, he had asked while he had waited for Queen Sumaci's reply, and thus his question had come suddenly and in an inappropriate social situation, but that couldn't be the reason, surely? After all, if she thought about it for just a second, she should have realized the value of his offer.

Logically, the maid's rejection just didn't make any sense. All the way, he tried to figure out where he had gone wrong, but he just couldn't find an answer. Now he was still stuck with this pointless conflict he had started with Sumaci for no good reason, and he once again had no idea how to resolve it. Worse yet, he even had a solution to this problem by now, yet the one person who could deny his gesture of peace was the queen's very own maid.

That must be some form of disloyalty, right? Maybe she's a spy, and that's why she rejected me.

Had he known that his very sister had just gotten engaged with the exact same strategy, he would have felt even worse, and been even more confused.

While the kingdom's prime minister was still puzzling over the female psyche, he had made his way to Chukru Island, to the workshop of one Master Nabo. The first — and most talented — disciple of Master Egidius had recently finished work on his own masterpiece, which had been acknowledged by the clock makers in the city. Thus, he had become a fully fledged master of clock making in his own right, the first to be trained in Saniya.

Months back, Corco had run over to Egidius to have him invent something again. In response, the old maser — already overwhelmed with earlier demands as well as his position as the head of the newly opened university — had declined the king's request. Instead, he had referred to his talented apprentice to help the king with his newest plans.

Apparently, it had been the right choice, at least for Egidius, since Corco had kept asking for corrections based on vague descriptions, which had forced Nabo to make more and more iterations of the king's new invention. It had taken Corco months to get everything right, months until he had been satisfied. By now, they were apparently in the early production phase, trying to figure out how to mass-produce the strange contraption the king had come up with this time.

'Epoch-making', Laqhis called it. Let's see if it looks any more impressive this time.

Supposedly, the new invention was meant to solve all their problems with transportation, communication, and control in the distant territories of the southern kingdom. Based on what he had seen, Fadelio remained skeptical.

As he was still in thought, he came to the yard in question and entered past several rows of guards. Ever since the mess with the lightning miracle, Corco had been a lot less free. Since he insisted on still traveling around his capital, a large presence of guards — as well as heightened security measures —had become inevitable. Still, they wouldn't stop the king's attendant, so they just waved him through without a word.

For a moment, Fadelio thought about the lax reaction from the guards. Wouldn't there be a way for foreign spies to dress up an assassin to look like him? Clearly, this needed to be addressed later.

Yet as soon as Fadelio entered the yard, he temporarily forgot about the king's security concerns. After all, he had rarely seen his master so happy. The entire yard was filled with strange, gangly contraptions of metal, wood and leather. Meanwhile, King Corco himself excitedly drove circles around the yard, sat upon his newest invention: the bicycle.