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Ginsu Mage

S1E9: Before and After

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His eyebrow twitched ever so slightly, a sign that my words had hit home.

“Your plans are for the greater good, right?” I prompted. “So tell me what the grand vizier needs from the champion of Nigos. What do YOU want?”

“I want to be king.”

HA! I knew it!

Arching an eyebrow, I cleared my throat. “Remember what I’ve been saying about the whole ‘Evil Grand Vizier’ bit”?

Demandrope clenched his jaw. “Aladas is a fine king, worthy of holding the office, but he’s not the man we need for these times. We need more progressive policies — Better education, healthcare, improved roads and municipal works… He’s done a great job these last twenty years, the country is stable and secure, but the people want more. I believe, with your help, I can increase the prosperity of Nigos if elected.”

Settling back in my chair, I listened to him speak.

* * *

I pondered my conversation with Demandrope long after he left, until the point I where I had sobered up and started asking existential questions like “Why haven’t I been panicking over dealing with strangers? Where are all my masks? Did I lose a little weight?” and “Holy shit, did I regrow a tooth?”

Putting aside such minutiae about myself, I had forgotten that kings were elected in Nigos and it seems that King Aladas is not much of a progressive. The nearby territories are expanding, exploring beyond the areas covered by the Modus and establishing new strongholds and mana spires. Nomadic Orc tribes that push up from the south and threaten travellers along Sevenus road have grown bold, and someone appears to be supplying them with enchanted weapons.

Demandrope had plans for peacefully expanding Nigos, installing new mana spires, deepening relations with the Dwarven enclaves to the west and the Elven communes to the north. It was a short, but productive talk. Aladas was a conservative king, which wasn’t a bad thing, but he had been in power for over three decades and was reactionary. Demandrope promised to be more progressive with his policies.

Demandrope had support in the Lower and Upper Houses, but he was reluctant to push for a vote of confidence until he was assured of a victory. King Aladas knew that Demandrope was something of a threat to his reign, so he would occasionally allow some policy changes to keep him mollified. Demandrope assured me that with some public relations work, my reputation would grow and I could influence the vote with no more commitment than a few fundraising dinners.

Because the king is elected from the Upper House by representatives of the Lower House (who are elected by the people), that meant Aladas was already a noble when elected. King Aladas would resume his previous title of Earl and his family would retire back to manage their estates. Demandrope was actually Duke Demandrope, a vassal of Earl James Martin Arness, although his title was dropped while he was performing duties as the Grand Vizier, the Speaker for the Upper House.

Complicated.

Politics isn’t my thing, but thanks to our talk I got a general overview of the situation and could see the attraction of his proposed policies. I assured him that I would give the idea serious consideration.

A knock at the door interrupted my musings. Moments later a maid brought in lunch, a simple affair of cold cuts, cheeses and a crunchy, crusty bread. Mustard was available, which surprised me because I know it requires a rather specific climate to grow. A brief inquiry revealed that it was imported via Modus Auction from a northern kingdom. The Modus seems quite useful. The auction seems like a combination of eBay and Teleportation, which makes logistics incredibly easy. Or does it?

Something to look into later.

Once I had finished my lunch I returned to my mortmain. Bolting the heavy door behind me, a pop-up appeared in my vision.

*// ATTENTION: Time is frozen while isolated in this domain. You may activate Stasis Mode and remain frozen while a preset amount of time passes outside this domain. Activate Stasis Mode [Y/N]? //*

Could I just freeze time in here until that occulting thing happens in 30 years?

I mentally clicked through the options.

*// STASIS MODE: Locus has sufficient mana for 23,952 hours for stasis. Enter Stasis Hours: 00000 //*

Focusing on the number quickly produced a figure curtesy of the Modus — 2.72 years. Just a half-ass guess, but the locus powers the mortmain and I’d have to replace those crystals 11 times before the astronomical event happens.

Yeah… No. I’d just be trading present problems for future ones.

Brushing away the pop-up, I moved to the rear of my butler’s pantry and shoved aside a 25lb sack of rice. Sticking my finger into a small hole in the wall, I pulled open a panel and revealed my safe, complete with brand-new magic runes instead of numbers. A few finger punches from memory and the steel door clunked opened. A manila envelope that once held $10,000 in emergency cash was now filled with 10 large gold coins glowing with a faint blue light. I grabbed the important papers from the bottom shelf and pulled out the only two pictures of my family in the entire universe.

Before and After. The first picture full of bright colours and smiling, happy faces. The boys were teenagers, still gangly but filling out. Clint standing nearly as tall as me with a loose arm thrown around his brother’s shoulder. Derek a few inches shorter and much thinner, with a wide smile on his face. Lisa with her hair shining like spun gold, hand on mine, wedding ring glittering in the sun. Just months before I came home unexpectedly early.

I searched her face again, an old habit, looking for signs of betrayal, unhappiness.

Shuffling the picture to the bottom of the useless stack of mortgage and insurance papers, I looked at the second photo. The After. Just the boys and me on a chilly, overcast day. The boys had grown taller, bigger than me. Years had passed and where the first photo was full of colour, this one was grey and drab. The smiles were there, but closed and tight. The happiness guarded, as if it would escape and fly away.

It was a messy divorce.

I shoved everything back into the safe and pulled out my gun.

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[CAST]

Harold (Harry) William Johnson

(Grand Vizier) Honta Evalius Demandrope

[PLACES]

Aerth

Kingdom of Nigos

Harry’s suite

Harry’s mainmort

[PEOPLE]

King Aladas Gerard Fenton Fleming

Clint Johnson, son

Derek Johnson, son

Lisa (Johnson), ex-wife

[OTHERS]

Nameless maid

[PERSONAL]

Next chappie Friday 04dec20

PLEASE NOTE: Releases will now be on Friday of each week. I have another fiction that will be releasing every Wednesday (10 chapters in queue). Changes in formatting will be made to bring all of my projects into a unified appearance.

Currently reading: Nothing. I’ve been so busy trying to prevent a level IV event it’s not even funny.

Currently watching: Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear. Don’t judge me.

Currently drinking: Four Roses (Seriously, this is good stuff for less than €30 give it a try)

Personal revelations: Whiskey makes first drafts look 208% better.