Chapter 41: The Die is Cast

After that first incident the King didn't call her back for a few days. But one day she was requested to clean one of the guest rooms in the palace. Curiously she was asked to do this at night when the cleaning was usually done in the morning when the nobles were out doing their business.

Sarana has been spiking the king with an increasingly stronger aphrodisiac, the time was almost upon them. Her dearest princess had completed her preparations and soon the great conflagration would be sparked. That great fire will burn through the royal family and Cecilia will rule the ashes…

So when Lily entered the room she saw the King with his body facing the window. The King turned and he calmly told her to undress and lie down on the bed. She did all the necessary acting, saying she doesn’t want to do it, saying she has other duties later, all that nonsense. For her efforts she was grabbed and thrown onto the bed. The king hungrily tore at her dress, soon her clothes were just shredded fragments of fabric around her.

The king then forced her to drink a potion, the moment she swallowed it she felt her body heat up. So he bothered to bring the potion this time…

When the king revealed his swollen member, Lily felt a pang of pity at the poor man. His member was so engorged it looked almost purple and it was twitching. Sarana must have been giving him something very strong.

The king himself drank a potion himself and he shuddered. He spread her legs and with shaking hands he brought his swollen rod to her entrance. By now her nethers were beginning to moisten with her nectar thanks to the potion he gave her.

With one fluid motion the King shoved it in and the pair of them let out a moan. Immediately Lily felt his member twitch as he coated her walls with his seed. The king groaned with his release but his member was still stiff and he began to thrust with an almost desperate fury.

After tonight, the final piece will be in place and a crown… will fall…

Lily groaned as she felt the king slam his member into her…

They were at it for hours, Three potions in and her body was utterly exhausted. By now she was just a limp body lying on a bed soaked with sweat and other fluids. With each thrust a shock of pleasure and pain traveled up her body. Then at last if it was over after one final shudder from the King. He finally stilled as he extracted his member and she felt his hot seed trickle out in a steady stream.

Lily had heard stories of women overdosing on these types of potions. It wasn't lethal but it did have some unfortunate and temporary side effects. As she felt how light headed she was she started to wonder if she had drank too much. Her mind was a wreck, the pleasure was all she could think about…

As she gasped for breath she felt the king remove himself from the bed. Lily raised her head shakily and she saw him just wipe his fluid-covered nethers with the sheets and almost shamefully began to redress himself.

Lily shuddered as each wave of pain in her throbbing nethers caused her walls to constrict sending waves of pleasure coursing up her spine. She had definitely drunk too much…

When she heard the door close, in what remained of her lucid mind she remembered all she had to do was wait…

For hours she lay there feeling the potions burn through her veins. The heat of her body felt like a fever and her nethers ached for attention. So she laid there until dawn, her mewls and cracked moans echoing off the walls with each passing moment. The potions made every sensation feel a thousand times more visceral. At some point she mustered enough strength to start touching herself, each stroke of her fingers along her swollen and slick petals sent shocks of pain and pleasure through her body.

Finally she heard the door open and she heard a pair of gasps. Lily wearily lifted her head to see Sarana and the Prince staring at her. Lily could see the shock in horror in the Prince’s eyes but all she saw in Sarana's eyes was discomfort. This whole thing was her dear Princess’s plan anyway, Sarana just executed it.

“My prince… please… help me…” Lily moaned out in mixture or mock and real desperation. This was torture, she half wanted him to continue where his father left off and the other half of her wanted a cleansing potion to flush all the enchanted chemicals from her veins.

“WHAT HAPPENED HERE?” the Prince roared as he clambered onto the bed and cradled Lily.

“Your Majesty, I think she drank too much…” Sarana said softly but faltered as she pointed at the potion bottles that were casually discarded around the room.

The Prince snatched up one of the potion bottles and took a whiff as his eyes widened.

Lily reached up and weakly pulled on the Prince’s collar. The Prince shifted his gaze to Lily who was gazing at him in desperation.

“I can’t… take it anymore…” Lily gasped.

“Who did this to you?” the Prince asked,

“The king...” Lily panted as she continued to touch herself, then her fondling intensified as if she was driven mad with lust at the very thought of last night's events.

“My father…” the Prince muttered in shock as his face went from shock to horror and finally to rage.

“I know how you feel about her, your majesty. One of my little birds sang a song that she did not report to her final assignment. I also discovered that this room was her previous assignment and his majesty the king was last seen entering this room by a pair of maids. When she did not report to her morning assignment I feared the worst.” Sarana explained calmly.

“My father…” the Prince said softly.

“What do you wish to do, your majesty?” Sarana asked.

Sarana watched calmly as she watched him struggle, no doubt many treasonous ideas were running through his head. Over the past weeks, Sarana has been confiding with the prince on the King’s increasing instability, or should she say the instability created by herself.

Sarana has over these few weeks been suggesting that perhaps Averlon needed a new ruler… It was a clever ruse in all honesty, because the best lies are half truths. Half truths are always more convincing and have a lower chance of a slip up on her part. The King is indeed becoming unstable, she just omitted the fact that she was the one that was causing it. As for Averlon? Well Averlon does need a new ruler, but she never said anything about the Prince sitting on the throne...

“Sarana, you have always been a loyal servant. From your lips you said my father is becoming more unstable, reckless, even cruel. Do you feel he is still fit to rule?” the Prince asked.

“It is not my place to speak on such matters, your majesty…” Sarana said as she bowed.

“Then I give you leave to speak.” the Prince said, trying his best to ignore the panting and squirming Lily in his arms.

“I would not dare speak of the blackest of treasons.” Sarana said as she bowed again.

At the moment Lily croaked out a groan as she shuddered and found her release. But this time it looks like it was one step too far and her eyes rolled back into her head as she passed out.

The Prince looked down at Lily and saw her limp body, her mouth half open and her eyes half lidded with only the whites showing. Sarana watched as he gritted his teeth in anger and he turned to Sarana, fury in his eyes.

“If I commit the blackest of treasons, will you support me? I know your information network spreads from Istland to Varakrima. The Royal Guards will serve me but what of the knight core and the adventurer’s guild?” the Prince asked.

“The knights are disgruntled with the King and the adventurers grow more disenchanted with his majesty the king with each passing day. The knights grow resentful of the lack of support and funding they have been receiving ever since your sister’s… death. As for the adventurer’s guild they view the king as throwing their lives away in the hunt for that great beast.” Sarana replied.

Honestly, in the back of her mind she wondered if the Prince was really that stupid. She would say he wasn’t the sharpest sword on the sword rack but at this point she felt he was closer to a club…

You don’t ask someone if they can trust you when you are in the middle of the great game. What are they gonna say? No? Obviously they are going to say yes. If Sarana was loyal to his father then he would be dead by the end of the week. Maybe all his blood floods to his loins so much that not all of it can make it back to his head...

Well regardless, it made her life easier. He won’t be on the throne for long anyway, a day at most before Cecilia kicks the door down.

“So it seems I must act… can I count on your support?” the Prince asked.

Even if he died… nothing of value would be lost…

Of course, your grace…

◦◦,`°.✽✦✽.♚.✽✦✽.°`,◦◦

I peered down at the cocoon in infront of me as I weaved the essence within. This was starting to become one of my favourite hobbies. There isn’t much to do when I wait for that prince or the king to fuck up. So I’m just here filling in my time by playing god. This was really fun honestly, I can see why the Eternal Mother decided to focus on this skill almost exclusively. If I was god I wouldn’t stop on the seventh day that’s for sure. I’ll probably boot one new creature down every week or so just to see what happens.

I have so many ideas on how to use these new creatures. I heard from Cecilia that the city of Tralis has famously strong walls. What was that local saying again?

You can throw a million men at Tralis and million men will be repelled, or something like that.

Well men might struggle but what about a walking battering ram?

From what I heard the problem with Tralis was that it had unusually high walls, towering 15 meters tall. They were also enchanted by the old Volerian empire, to be fair most of the more powerful enchantments have faded. The people now only knew how to sustain the simpler ones. This applies to their gates as well, so their city was extremely resistant to magical bombardment. Magical bombardment was also the preferred method of siege warfare. Siege towers aren’t useful as they would just be blasted into splinters by mages, the city states now do not have the means or resources to enchant a disposable siege tower. It made sense to use those in the past, considering when you win, you get a massive swathe of territory but now all the nations were so small.

Physical attacks were ineffective since the only people who could make powerful enough siege weapons were the dwarfs. Those guys never leave their mountain so that option is off the table…

But what if… I made a mansion sized creature that is designed to be a battering ram. A 80 ton armored monster should be able to knock the gates right down. Of course I could just tunnel under the walls but where’s the fun in that?

The other option of using flyers was also nice but I’ll work on that later. From what I hear Tralis was digging in for the winter and they plan to finish the campaign in spring so I’ve got plenty of time to work on my army.

Unfortunately I’m facing a more immediate problem… if I give it more armor I need more power to keep it combat effective… but if I add more power I can add more armor…

Add power… add armor… add power again…

I'm noticing a theme here...

I just can’t seem to get the ratio right…

Goddamnit...

“Friend?” I heard Cecilia say from behind me.

“Huh?” I asked as I turned around.

“I have great news, my father finally cracked. Lily is a little worse for wear but nothing too serious.” Cecilia said nonchalantly as she stared at the parchment in her hands.

“Now we just wait for your brother to do something really stupid.” I reply as I turn back to my work.

“He already did something stupid, he’s planning to kill my father during his speech in a week’s time. Of course he told Sarana everything...” Cecilia said in bemusement.

“Haa? Aren’t assassinations supposed to be subtle. He’s just going to stab him?” I asked incredulously as I turned my head back around.

“Well it isn’t the ideal path forward, but there are worse options…” Cecilia said as her hand glowed and the parchment ignited.

“Like?” I asked.

“Well he could have made it even worse by stabbing my father in his sleep. That would look like sly and cunning usurpation of power. By just killing him in plain sight it shows that he is doing this because he knows he is in the right. It can be spun as a desperate prince trying to save his nation.

My father is already dead in the water in terms of his rule. Many would not weep if he died, the economy is in ruins thanks to the lockdown and the knights have been chafing under his rule for years. Furthermore with the slaughter of Hearthstead now known to the knights and the adventurers there is little that can be done to save his rule.” Cecilia replied calmly as she dusted her hands of the ashes that used to be the parchment.

“How would you do it?” I asked curiously.

“Well if I had to do it… assuming I don’t know that the knights and adventurers know about the Hearthstead situation... I would first feel out the opinion of the other houses and the knights. I would feed my father bad advice and drive him to ruin. I would then suggest to the other nobles and the knights that my father may not be fit to rule. This naturally would take awhile but I can accelerate the process with the threat of Trails on the horizon.

Then I would have the knights and nobles scheme while keeping tabs on them of course. Then when the time was right I would enact a coup d'etat. The reason for this is simple: it is not enough to seize power locally, one must also have the respect of the surrounding nations. The city states do not possess enough territory to be self-sufficient, we must rely on each other. For that reason acceptance is important. Tralis is an exception in that they are self sufficient to a degree, that is why they are such a military force because a trade embargo cannot cripple Tralis as it can the other nations.” Cecilia explained.

“Then how will you get the acceptance of the other nations? A nation allied with a monster isn’t exactly a good look.” I replied.

“Well I never said it has to be willing acceptance. If they deny us crucial resources we’ll just go and take it. The average military strength of a city state is about 2000 knights, 300 mages and about 8000 enlisted men. The lords could push for another 10,000 peasant conscripts, but these conscripts are rarely used. They don’t do much on the battlefield and you are just wasting men.

So with your army, yourself and the forces of Averlon we could probably wage war against the whole region and win. Hive creatures are notoriously dangerous, the Lizardkin armies are well trained and equipped for fighting the burrowing Armazaftund. The soldiers here have no training nor equipment. Almost all our defences and fortifications are useless against a burrowing hive. What use are walls when you can just burrow under them?” Cecilia said.

“But are you actually going to attempt to trade? I think…” I said as I leaned down slightly and I saw a smirk appear on Cecilia’s face as she realised what I was about to say.

“You could always unite the region against Tralis, afterall why ask when you can take it?” I said.

Cecilia smiled as she looked down and closed her eyes as if picturing the scene before her.

“Well we will need every ounce of strength if we want to survive the wrath of heaven. With a large territory that just means a larger hunting ground for you, no?” Cecilia said as she looked up and raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, it is only a matter of time before they catch wind of what is going on down here. Still you did mention that the angels rarely enter Terra for fear of the Syndicate picking them off. How do they know if something is going on down here?” I asked.

“Honestly, I don’t know, no one does. My best guess is they have some kind of surveillance system here, if everyone knows how that system works it kind of defeats the purpose of having it in the first place.” Cecilia replied with a shrug.

“Well we do know one group who knows how to dodge their surveillance.” I said as Cecilia cracked a small smile in response.

“Yes, the syndicate. The old seer said the Syndicate will find us when the time is right. I can only assume what we are doing now is going along with what they have been planning.” Cecilia said.

“That or they’ve cut and run, not like we will know which is which considering no one knows anything about them.” I replied as Cecilia nodded.

“Perhaps, but the only thing we can do is hope. Then again… I doubt the syndicate will be able to give up someone like you, they know what you are as the seer implied. If they truly want to end the tyranny of heaven you are their best bet. The angels need only one slip up and the door to heaven will be open. God forbid an archangel falls into your hands…” Cecilia said with a smirk.

“Now that would be a fine meal…” I replied with a small laugh.

“Indeed, but until that day comes we should do what we can, no? The die is cast, now... judgement is upon my house.” Cecilia said as she stood up from her seat.

Yeah, lets go get your kingdom back

First a queen then an empress...