《A Curious World》Chapter 35: Other Kingdoms
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There’s somewhere that I always wanted to go in the Kingdom though.
It’s always troubled me how the Kingdom was able to fend off neighbouring Kingdoms.
Don’t get me wrong, we have an excellent Army with 400,000 strong men enlisted.
We even boast of an elite attack force of 10, 000 Knights.
There’s also the existence of the reigning King, the Class 4 Mage, King Lei. Such a deterrence would most certainly be enough to deter any single Kingdom.
The keyword here being ‘single’.
We have 3 neighbouring Kingdoms, the Huo Kingdom, the Shui Kingdom and the Di Kingdom.
It would be understandable if we were in a state of stalemate, being on equal footing. However, that is not the case, we boast of a higher military strength than the other 3.
We may hold the perceived advantage, but this in contrast brings forth more bad than good. The other 3 countries, knowing of our superior military strength and ambitions in growing our military force, have banded together in an open coalition.
As such, in times of war we would be fighting against 3 countries instead of just 1.
That war has not happened since the coalition was declared, and you might think that that means that all parties are fine with maintaining the status quo.
Our Kingdom is the open aggressor here, inciting them to war, provoking them. The Lei Kingdom openly advocates dominion through conquering, and if not for the coalition, would most certainly have trampled down the 3 Kingdoms.
We openly conscript for talents, even poaching talents from smaller countries to serve in our Army. These are done with no discretion whatsoever, so even an idiot could tell that we are merely biding our time before engaging in war, but they do nothing.
They simply sit still and watch as we get stronger, and one day strong enough to overcome all of them. That just doesn’t seem realistic, so that has always been a question lingering on my mind.
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It would all fall into place if, we held something that could threaten them if we were forced into a corner, something that deters them so badly that they would risk a ticking time bomb represented by our Kingdom.
That something must be something that can’t be easily utilised, otherwise the present King would have used it to dominate wars.
It could very well be a unique piece of equipment that could affect a battle between high class mages.
There’s not that many places for the item to be hidden in.
The prime locations that I suspect are: The King’s study, the King’s library and The Palace main hall. I would love to be able to ascertain the location of such an item before I leave. More importantly, it’s important information that could fetch me a good sum of money even if I didn’t seek it.
Any of the 3 Kingdoms would welcome me with open arms if I went over with this information. It wouldn’t be easy to get it, but If I want to maintain autonomy yet have power within their Kingdom, this information is the best way to get it, gaining the favour of them as well.
I’m aiming for the famously abundant Shui Kingdom, since there are huge deposits of water within. It’s King is similarly a Class 4 mage, however, he seems younger that the ours. Our King is rumoured to be nearing Class 5 soon, unlike the sick and old ancestors of their clans.
The item only has a few places it could exist in, since it cannot leak any aura which could make it detected. The King's personal space is the most suspicious, but I can't get access to it. I have no choice but to visit the rest of the locations to know for sure.
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