Chapter 32 – You reap what you sow

In the capital city, Hayden, the people were recovering from the recent festivities that had been going on for an extended period. But even if they weren't preoccupied with such mundane matters, none of the residents, whether they be magi or not, would have known about the events transpiring above their heads.

Through the use of Magecraft, a shallow disc, the size of a mansion floated among the clouds directly above the city. Using the currents of the wind, the platform created itself, it was able to float without any pillars needed for support. This inconspicuous yet enormous platform was currently used as the gathering place of the most influential people in the Empire of Ethena. The political structure in Ethena was straightforward, at least on the surface. At the top was the emperor whose might surmounted everyone else as he ruled the Empire. He was advised by the four Noble Houses that were second only to him in their combat prowess. Beneath them in the hierarchy were the rest of the nobles that were responsible for handling the actual regulations of the country.

Representatives of each major Noble House knelt in a large semicircle around the emperor who remained seated on the sole object on this platform. From his throne that rose above them, Kaemir Lorak addressed his 'loyal' subjects as he waited for the last person to fly up through their different uses of Magecraft. Next to him was his trusted Prime Construct as he exuded the air of royalty and looked down at the group that had demanded this audience.

On the outside, he kept up the act of a lofty emperor, but inside he was at an utter loss; he could never reveal to his subjects.

“Your Majesty, we have called for this urgent audience to discuss the events that have transpired in Levestein.”

With his head hung low and kneeling on the ground in subservience, one of the men spoke up. His voice was filled with the utmost respect, waiting for the emperor to adequately address him.

“You may speak, Orvin von Celesta.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. I'm afraid that Zeristin Wezlak's actions can no longer be ignored.”

Orvin spoke as he raised himself up. He was filled with righteousness as he walked around the floor to talk to the surrounding people as if he was putting on a show.

“Not only has he rebelled against our glorious Empire, but he also attacked the Emperor himself! This absolutely can not go unpunished! His whereabouts remain unknown, but...”

The heated speech continued for a while until Kaemir could no longer endure.

“Enough.”

His voice traveled through the air as he raised his hand to silence this tasteless actor in front of him.

“The matter regarding Zeristin Wezlak is for me to decide. I've already told you so. No one else is to interfere, and no one has to worry any more about it. I assure his punishment will be properly dealt with.”

The four representatives obediently bowed their heads without making a fuss as this was within their expectations. They had no delusional hopes that Kaemir would sincerely confront Zeristin about the matter. At most, Zeristin would get a slap on the wrist in front of the public. It was wishful thinking that they could deal with him, and the academy in one fell swoop. On the surface, however, none of these people present would reveal this sentiment.

“I do not doubt the Emperor's judgment and believe that Your Majesty will deliver him the proper punishment. However...”

At this point, Orvin further straightened his tired body that hid the wear of old age despite his youthful appearance. He continued in a solemn tone that carried a trace of pain as he was out for revenge for the injustice they had suffered.

“We can no longer ignore the leaking of Magecraft to the public!”

Everything that followed next was as Kaemir has expected. Their agenda and the main reason for this charade they called an audience was this. Hidden within in his heart, Kaemir sighed heavily after hearing Orvin von Celesta taking this next step. While watching this meaningless act of politics, he glanced over at the small crystal ball that was recording the current events for the public, using the subtle properties of light that were hidden in the element of fire. While only a few would have access to the actual footage, this audience would, without a doubt, reach the ear of every citizen.

“That monster Aien stemmed from a lower class! He was the sole reason for this terrible tragedy that had befallen the city, leaving tens of thousands of people dead in the streets! It pains me to say, but I regret to admit that this our fault!!”

While continuing his heartfelt speech, Orvin took note of not only addressing the Emperor but also the future public.

“We can not continue to allow anyone to access the dangerous secrets of Magecraft! What would this world come to if we allow anyone to study such might! We have to properly regulate who should be allowed to wield the reserved might of humanity! As such, I demand the immediate closure of the academy! We can not succumb to Zeristin's whims that will no doubt lead us to the next tragedy at any moment!”

It was a bunch of nonsense, and everyone present knew that. Under normal circumstances, Kaemir would never agree to this obvious move of power that would strengthen the position of the nobles. But there was a critical problem.

The public was on their side.

The terrifying events in Levestein had changed people's minds about Magecraft. Aien's name became known almost anywhere where humans dwelled, and his devilish deeds were just as infamous. A human of lower birth that abused his newfound power. The public realized that, indeed, anyone with some talent could learn this dangerous art.

Thus, ordinary people began to fear this tremendous weapon called Magecraft that was used in a never-before-seen act of terrorism. The nobles used this excellent opportunity for their propaganda. Therefore, there wasn't much Kaemir could do. This matter was already decided without his opinion. He could enforce his will on the people and go against the nobles, but he wasn't almighty.

Compared to singular individuals, he no doubt stood among the top of humanity. Still, if the nobles continued to fan the flames and gather the support of the citizens, he would fall into some trouble eventually. He wasn't Zeristin or the Emperor of Ryst, whose might was pretty much indisputable. Even if Kaemir could do what he wanted without anyone hindering him, what was the point of such tyranny?

'What's the point indeed...' Kaemir silently thought to himself.

Among the four representatives, Marvis von Erestiv looked at Orvin with disappointment. If he could go through with his own will, he would have gone strictly against this. In fact, it came to a vehement argument between him and the elders in his house, but in the end, he was overruled. Furthermore, there was also the alliance between the four houses until the academy and Zeristin were dealt with. Evidently, his opinion would have been overruled by them as well.

'This is a mistake.'

Marvis thought for the dozenth of time since this decision had been made amongst them. He didn't want to antagonize Aien. He wasn't sure how much Aien would be offended by this, but it would create a rift that wouldn't allow Marvis to pull him to their side.

When he raised his opinion, the influential elders in his house dismissed his nonsense in derision. What could a single boy do? Marvis, too, didn't know, but his instincts that had been honed over the years of his life told him that he was extraordinary. One day this boy would do something unbelievable, and he wanted to witness it. Alas, because of this meaningless world of politics, he wouldn't get a front seat to watch the events. He'd have to make do with the back row for the time being.

“I agree that something has to be done.”

Eventually, Kaemir spoke up, unable to hide the tiredness in his voice that revealed his desire to get this matter over with as fast as possible. This predefined event had merely to be done officially.

“Henceforth, I declare the Royal Court of Magecraft to be closed indefinitely! Any distribution of unauthorized Magecraft is strictly forbidden, and any who do not abide by this rule will be dealt with strict punishment!”

Below him, the representatives agreed in a low voice as they lowered their heads, hiding the glint of victory in their eyes.

“You may take handling the matter of raising future magi into your own hands.” Kaemir put the final nail in the coffin.

“Since Your Majesty deems us worth, we will not disappoint Your Majesty's trust.”

Finally, the meeting was dispersed, and the nobles went their own ways, leaving Kaemir alone on the platform. Supporting his head on one of his hands in an undignified manner, Kaemir cursed into the void once everyone was out of earshot.

All of this was a huge mess.

Why had he ever bothered becoming emperor to begin with? What use was the glory of his title and the superficial respect of his subjects that plotted behind his back at every opportunity they got? He'd once thought that reaching this position was his goal in life. Still, ever since he'd attained it, all that was left was bureaucracies and the pointless talking in a language he was uncomfortable with.

“Zeristin was right... To hell with all of this! He was wise to refuse back then... Did that bastard see all of this coming and remained silent just to watch me suffer!?”

It was time to end this charade of being stuck up all the time.

They wanted power? - Let them have it!

With that spur of the moment decision, Kaemir left the disc without any baggage dragging him down any longer. Before he did so, he left one particular message at the backrest of his throne that announced his retirement.

I quit!

Yours truly, Kaemir von Lorak.

Oh, and...

The Republic of Ashos, the Empire of Ryst, and Tristan declared war.

Have fun with that!

When Kaemir thought about what was bound to happen in the future, he couldn't help himself and burst out in wild gloating laughter that filled the entire sky. Those short-sighted fools hadn't realized anything in their struggles for power among themselves. They were simply too ignorant of the deterrent Zeristin had posed to the other empires. In the end, there would only be one party suffering the immense consequences of their actions. It was indeed a good thing they got rid of their most valuable assets, a close-to-be archmagus who was still missing, as well as the academy that was an immense increase to their military might.

Ignoring all of that, there was mostly Kaemir's personal grudge at play here. Zeristin was one of his dearest friends left, and the nobles pulled out all the stops to deal with him. As an emperor, he had to abide by the superficial rules, but that was no longer the case. Leaving behind a huge mess for them to clean up was just about right.

Responsibilities? - Screw that. He had already had enough of that for the rest of his life.

Kaemir didn't care whether the land he lived in and was born on was called Ethena or something else. In fact, if he wanted to, he could have changed the name as he wished at any given time. He merely never bothered with something so tiresome. The people might be dissatisfied with the invasion, but eventually, all would settle in. In his predictions, the populace would mostly remain unharmed for the time being, and if that weren't the case, he would still stick around somewhere to help out if things got to their worst.

But all of that was no longer something he had to bother about. With his newfound freedom, Kaemir wondered what he should do. As his first order of business, it seemed he had to find his old friend and slap some sense back into him. Unfettered by the political bindings, he headed towards the south to meet Leizy, leaving the ignorant nobles behind in their short-lasting bubbles of dreams.

In the farthest northern reaches of the Empire of Ethena, there existed numerable small, nameless villages. Although they were technically part of the empire, they barely interacted with each other. No royalty or nobles ever bothered with a wasteland this far north. The little manpower or meager resources that were to be found here would never be worth the trouble of collecting taxes.

As it was often the case in these lands, a massive snowstorm was raging that barely allowed one to see the person right in front of them. Amidst this force of nature, a line of people was carefully treading forwards, holding onto a rope to not lose track of each other. Among them was one particular young youth that had barely come of age. Despite his tender age, he carried the same amount of wood on his back as anyone else as he struggled to traverse through the snow that reached up to his knees.

“Hang in there, Rukk! Fifteen Ropes!”

One of the men shouted from the front. His broken voice was distorted and almost drowned out by the blasting gusts of wind, but the young man called Rukk found a new spark of energy in those words. The distance of fifteen ropes meant they would soon reach their home, declaring his survival if he held on a little longer. His hopes weren't betrayed as soon after they reached a small village made of badly-stacked stone huts. After finishing their headcount, the group dispersed into their own homes where they could find some solace from the freezing cold outside.

Although the houses looked brittle from the outside, they provided decent warmth after some adjustment was made to their interior. Numerous hides and pelts of dead animals of all sorts were weaved together and plastered against the walls. Along with stacks of hay, the people were able to create living conditions that allowed them to survive these harsh winters every year.

Rukk looked around to see that no one else was home yet. Taking this time to slack off, he walked over to a stack of hay in the corner. He barely bothered to take his outer layer of clothes off that were made of similar animal hides as the wall. The house was left in darkness as they were no windows that would be pointless at this time of the year anyway. Tired and almost dozing off, Rukk stared at the remaining cinders in their fireplace next to the stack of wood he'd just risked his life for.

This boy had one simple dream. Just like many other youths in this complex of villages, he dreamed of leaving this wasteland of white behind and travel towards the southern part of this country. Not a day would pass where he wouldn't think about the stories of the very rare traveling merchants that came in 'summer.' Occasionally they would tell him stories about the world that was filled with lush greenery and boundless warmth to the extent it would be too hot. That concept alone was unbelievable to him and made him more excited as he fantasized about these distant lands. Alas, very few would ever be able to get the chance to personally visit them.

He'd often asked his parents why they had never moved away from this cold hell he hated so much. Back when his parents first heard of that, they were surprised his dislike for this village wasn't just the mere whim of a boy in pubescence boredom. His parents had repeatedly told him life wasn't bad here. Events like today were a rare occurrence where he had to risk his life for some wood because of a miscalculation earlier this year. Other than that, he should be happy to be here.

Rukk couldn't understand it. None of the youths could, but all of their parents told them about that fortunate blessing to be born here. Their ancestors had apparently overcome severe hardship to leave their homeland in the south. Here they were free from the greed of humans and their desire for power. No one, including the other races, would care about them this far up north, which was evidently shown by the lack of bandits and intruders.

Regardless, Rukk couldn't understand it, and he was sure he never would. But if he wanted to leave by himself, he needed money. An outrageous amount of money in his eyes. Merchants were very fickle and wouldn't take any risks to their payload because of some stranger for free. On the other hand, as long as there was enough money involved, one day, a merchant might take him along. However, this was only a pipe dream. If his sources weren't lying, he'd need the money of every person that lived in this village, maybe even more. That meant selling all of their belongings, including dozens of those rare blue-ice crystals the merchants sought primarily. But even in his wildest dreams, he could never imagine that this 'large' sum of money was only considered a little income for commoners in the central area of Ethena.

Absentmindedly staring into the remaining cinders in the fireplace, Rukk's mind began drifting off. Struggling to keep his eyes open his headed bopped up and down. Not realizing when, or why, he was startled awake by a sudden light blinding his eyes.

Astonished, he looked at his surroundings that had changed entirely. Around him was the landscape of yellow fields filled with grains and fruits he'd always dreamed of. The beautiful weather around him filled him with a warmth that sunk deep into his marrow. Such a pleasant feeling could never be attained by staying around a mere fire. Only a place that had constant exposure to the warm light of life could ever possess such a comfortable feeling.

However, before he could lose himself in this blissful warmth of his surroundings, this land of his dreams turned into the nightmare of his everyday life. In the blink of an eye, the bountiful land turned into a cold world of death as a massive snowstorm snuffed out all of the life that had thrived just moments ago.

Rukk found himself all alone in this world of endless white that could drive any man to insanity. It was a world where the living were not permitted to reside. As his entire body shivered to its core, he wandered about mindlessly, trying to look for the lost warmth in the world before this one. But no matter how much he walked, there were only the sharp gusts of icy winds that slowly robbed him of his life and drained all of his remaining energy. He struggled to keep walking with every ounce of strength left in him as he was so used to do. But eventually, his tired body reached its limits, and he sunk into the cold blanket beneath him that was about to tug him into the endless night.

'Is this it?'

He thought to himself in his last moments. Rukk didn't understand how he'd ended up here or why he was about to die in the middle of nowhere. But then, all of a sudden, he caught a glimpse of light in the distance. At first, it was a faint glimmer of red before it stretched out and covered his entire vision. In an instant, the world of white was swallowed up and replaced by that ghastly, bloody-red. No matter where he looked, all he saw was this world of red without end where he couldn't tell which way was up or down.

Fear gripped his heart, but it was quickly overshadowed by the warmth this world brought him. Even the first world of his dreams couldn't compare to it.

“What do you desire?”

A voice announced its presence in this world, reverberating in his ears, through which it entered into the depths of his soul.

It was a stupid question. Even the voice must have surely known that, but it was an obligation it had to abide by.

There was only one thing Rukk wished for, and there was no need to put it into words for the voice to understand.

“What are you willing to sacrifice?”

When the voice filled the surroundings a second time, Rukk felt his vision changing. On one side, he found the cold reality he was very familiar with. On the other side, he found the world he so desperately desired. Both were within his grasp if he only slightly reached out to it.

Something inside him was telling him to be careful, but the moment he hesitated, he noticed the warmth fading into the distance. If he didn't choose, there could only be one result. Without thinking anything through, he instinctively reached out towards the warmth he'd always sought while uttering the words in his sleep.

“Everything.”

Moments ago, Rukk was still tossing and turning in his sleep, scattering about the hay he was sleeping on. His expression was filled with pain as if he was having the worst nightmare of his life before it slowly turned into a satisfied smile that contained pure happiness. In his peaceful sleep, he was completely unaware of the hooded man standing right next to him.

“The contract has been established.”

Flicking his wrist, the red contract in the man's hand dispersed into the air as if it was burned into ashes. Afterwards, he turned around to leave, leaving Rukk alone to continue enjoying his dreams that might soon become a reality.

This was the eleventh contract.