Chapter 211: 203 – The Makers of Kings

Chapter 203 – The Makers of Kings

Ross visibly tenses on the side. A serious frown adorns his forehead as he squints at the bound woman.

“What do you mean?” he asks with a certain edge to his tone.

Madeline looks directly at him for the very first time, possibly finally acknowledging his presence in the small prison. She’s been focusing on me since we stepped inside, for obvious reasons. A ghost of recognition passes through her expression.

“Ah. The kid. Roch? Roz? Looks like you’ve fully grown up in the time I was absent. Though, it seems that you didn’t really grow into what they wanted you to.” She snorts while shaking her head. “No surprise there, honestly. It was bound to fail. But, not like I cared. It would have been convenient if they had been found out and wiped clean after sharing their knowledge with me. I could have returned as a prisoner of war and continued browsing the libraries.”

I can see the King’s brow twitch the more she talks, but it would be better for him not to get riled up at the very beginning of the interrogation. There’s not much to be done about this so the best approach is to try and delay the main question for as long as possible. Hopefully, he will play along.

“You speak as if the mentioned goal of creating a strong barrier wasn’t the final one but a step instead,” I note loud enough to get their attention. “What was or is the whole plan if you are aware of it? Start from the beginning, preferably.”

Sadly, I receive a glare from my royal friend, but I’ll live through it. He will understand after calming down a bit. We don’t want any accidents to happen.

The woman considers my order briefly, clearly rummaging through her memories to find the best place to start at. She then smiles to herself and nods.

“From the beginning it is, then. The King sent me and one elite squad on a mission to investigate a series of disappearances and murders. The victims, or what was left of them, had been grossly mutilated, so we assumed it might have been the work of some aggressive new monster in the area.” Madeline smirks. “Unfortunately for the squad, and fortunately for me, there was no monster.”

“The organisation.” I stroke my chin ponderingly.

“Correct, My Lord.” The egoistic lady grins. “We walked straight into an ambush that would render all of us dead in seconds if we chose to fight back. Thankfully, the representatives stepped forward and went right to business, bringing their offer to me right away. Later I learned that the duo in charge that had approached me came from the Lafayette and Corinsel family, a man and a woman respectively.”

A quiet curse escapes Ross’ lips and makes it obvious that he recognises at least one of the names. Recalling her earlier words, it’s safe to assume that those are two quite influential noble or merchant families living in the main areas of the kingdom. We’ll get all the names in a moment. Some tidying up might be upon us.

“Skipping all the pointless discussion, you already know that I agreed to their offer, aware of secrecy spells and the binding curse,” she continues. “I tried to get them to bind the rest of the squad too since those men were quite skilled, but I was their only objective. They actually turned my request against me, setting up a requirement that if I wanted to join, I had to slay all of them myself, with the excuse that they wanted to witness my proficiency firsthand.”

“And did you?” Ross’ intense gaze practically drills into her skull.

The woman shrugs nonchalantly. “I’m sitting here, am I not?”

He notices my eyes on him and takes a deep breath, squeezing his fists. To further help himself keep control over his emotions, the King begins to pace around.

“Go on,” I urge her to continue without wasting time on pointless teasing.

“Right. They took me to their main mage, who works all the magic into their slaves, and I mean everyone by that term. Then, I got access to the two ancient grimoires to study them. It wasn’t easy to decipher most of the language, but I have a knack for this so it took me only about twenty days to achieve decent progress. I picked up only bits of their conversations here and there as they talked about Operation Kingslayer and Kingmaker. Many of the main members were unhappy with the King’s assertiveness in certain subjects. Seriously, pompous noble assholes gossip more than prepubescent girls from rich households.” She rolls her eyes.

“I knew it. You killed him.” Ross practically growls at her as he stops.

“No,” Madeline replies calmly, throwing him off a little.

“Then who?” he questions her in simmering anger.

“The Abyssals did,” she points out. “I only locked him up with about a hundred of them.”

“You bitch!”

At this point, he charges straight at her from the side and I quickly bring up more restraints, this time making them coil around his ankles, wrists, and mouth, careful not to be too forceful. It’s what I expected, simply hoping we could have delayed the event a little longer. Both of us knew she had to be involved and Ross’ logical mind was waiting for confirmation clear enough to drop everything and let the emotions run free.

His eyes snap to me with unbridled fury flashing through them but I only softly shake my head. “I understand you perfectly well but we need more information. Nothing changes if you kill her here. She was just a tool. The real masters are still out there, aren’t they?”

I direct the last bit at Madeline and she quickly confirms. “Of course. My hobbies don’t include randomly kidnapping vassal rulers for sport. It was another of their sneaky ploys and I had no word on the matter. They point, I go. It doesn’t matter as long as they don’t put me in an unwinnable fight, but I was too valuable for that. Well, it still all went to shit when your group showed up. I had no chance of coming out of that alive.”

“Then, if we assume that the first stage of their plan succeeded,” I suggest while observing Ross struggle in my purplish belts, “what was supposed to be next?”

She points at the current King with her eyes. “Nurturing him into a puppet monarch, more or less. They have friends in quite high places. They expected the Queen to abdicate the throne early. What they didn’t expect was everyone allowing her to still retain a lot of decisive power in the castle and over the nation even after passing the crown to her son. From what I heard, they weren’t able to fully fill his mentors and advisors with their agents due to her choice in the matter, and somehow, the boy wasn’t interested in the indoctrinated girls they threw at him. Most of the reforms they wanted didn’t make it in, but the situation was still better than under the rule of his father.”

Noticing Ross looking at me with a bit less fury, I release his lips, trusting that he won’t use some kind of vocal-activated spell or artefact to explode our prisoner.

Thankfully, he sneers at her instead. “I was not a simple boy, you bitch. I could smell the hidden desires of those tramps from the edge of this nation. There was no chance I would fall for any of those fakes. Not that Mother would have ever allowed them to step anywhere close to me.”

Well, there’s certainly some truth to that. I don’t think he was too active before my business venture rose from particularly nowhere. He knows he can trust my girls so he can relax around them without worry. They don’t want anything else besides making him feel happy and welcomed, like any other guest seeking such things at our place.

“So, that was it. An attempt to control the nation from the shadows. It wasn’t working completely as intended, but it wasn’t an utter failure. Until they changed their minds that it was,” I muse to myself.

“Until the Hero Summoning,” Madeline adds. “Or more specifically, about a year after. Everything started going to shit. Bit by bit, they noticed the King switching things up. It was small, barely noticeable steps, but soon evolved in proper changes and reformations. And so, we get to the point where the castle starts preaching about the equality of monsters and other lesser races. Everything they built was crumbling. No matter how much they discussed their plans or tried to influence the royal court, things were heading in the opposite direction. Finally, they lost it just about when the new laws rolled in.”

Ah, shit. It’s all me, isn’t it?

I chuckle to myself silently. The timing does check out. A year after our summoning, I came forth with the brothel idea and presented it to Rossberg. It looks like I poked a stick into the proverbial anthill without even being aware that it existed. Some opposition was predictable, especially from nobles or people of higher standing, but I would have never guessed there was a secret cult orchestrating everything from the shadows.

“No world escapes the mafia.” I snort quietly, though the King does note it. “Then, there’s the kidnapping. A change in approach?”

“Yes.” The crazy woman nods. “It was as much revenge as a desperate move to try and dissuade the King from going any further with this. The goal was to show people what happens when they side with the new regulations. A revolt would be ideal, but that takes a lot of time. This was one of the first kidnappings on the list. We weren’t going to kill the victims, just properly convince them that helping out slaves was a bad idea. Yesterday's hit was a lucky coincidence as one of the supporting families practically presented themselves on a silver platter. Maybe that’s why the upper echelon skipped some of their due diligence and went forward with the plan while not researching the escort deeply enough.”

Being underestimated is the best feeling in the world. Lack of information certainly does help with it. But, they are going to be wary now. It won’t work twice. And that’s why we need as much data on their moves as we can.

Maybe I will be able to turn this bitch into a double agent? It might be hard since the organisation is obviously aware that she’s been captured since they have their people in the castle. But, as she said, they value her magic and need her power. Perhaps we could fake an escape or something.

Nevertheless, I first need to figure out how to permanently remove all her restrictions and put her under mine.

I honestly thought I would be able to go by without having to enslave women with my abilities, but it’s been more of a wish and a dream. Everyone knew it wouldn’t last. Not with women like her, or worse. This will be hard to swallow for certain. But, someone has to do it. Otherwise, plenty of innocents might get hurt or die from these terrorists. With my desire to protect the other races, I had to be more careful and measured, but this here I might need to solve with raw might and power.

As a demigod, I might as well step in, no?

That cult in my name might actually come to be somewhat useful. Seems like I will have to step forward and reveal myself fully, as soon as my influence spreads far enough. People currently see me as that guy who gives them sex blessings. A nice show of strength and authority might be necessary to make them realise that a demigod is a demigod, no matter what field they specialise in.

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“Lord Alastair! Are you finally done with your... duties? I’m afraid everyone has already dispersed. I don’t think there’s a reason to go back there anymore as it’s only our dear Queen who remains in her personal guest chambers.” Vanessa’s father smiles at me kindly.

He flinches when his wife smacks him on the shoulder and shoots him a glare. He seems to come to some realisation as he clears his throat and switches to a bit more awkward grin.

“Oh, of course, I’m not telling you when you may or may not visit. It’s not my place to. I humbly apologise.” He makes an exaggerated bow and his daughter rolls her eyes at it.

I decide not to correct their assumptions this time. “It’s alright. It would simply be rude to leave without giving my farewells to Her Majesty. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Philippa looks at me with a knowing smile that suggests she’s supposedly figured out what kind of farewells I’ll be giving the Queen but I continue to ignore them, even as Vanessa sports a faint blush when noticing her mother’s delicate smirk.

“You? Us? Not in the slightest, My Lord. Quite the opposite. We’ve talked a bit while you two were gone and my amazing wife came up with a good idea on how we can repay you for your miracles,” the man continues. “When you are ready, we would like to suggest opening up a temple at our place too. We’ll cover all the expenses and ensure that it’s in the most beneficial location in the whole city. You may fill it completely with your people, or request for us to find suitable individuals to employ, whatever you wish for. After we share our tale of plight and rescue, I’m sure many will be inclined to consider following your teachings. Our family is certainly going to. What do you say?”

“We’ll start our most devoted prayers tonight,” his wife adds with a twinkle in her mature eyes.

Vanessa gives her a scandalised look, clearly shocked at the other woman’s boldness, knowing well what kind of prayers serve me the best. It truly takes most of my steel will not to react.

“I see,” is what I finally manage to reply. “I shall discuss it with my Head Priestess. It’s definitely a valuable gift, but also requires lots of proper planning to receive. Thank you for your generosity.”

“It’s nothing compared to what you did,” Vanessa joins in, desperately trying to stop her parents from further embarrassing her. “Thank you again. For everything. I’ll see you later with Shino and the others, Lord Alastair. Have a good day.”

With a respectful bow, she drags the other two away, blushing even stronger. With them out of earshot, I finally let myself chuckle in amusement. Taking a deep breath, I ready myself for the inevitable, with my mood slightly improved by the entertaining encounter.

When I arrive in front of Lianne’s location, I can feel her lying belly-down on a big bed in a connected room. She must be feeling anxious about being left out of everything. I can’t blame her, really.

Alright. Here goes nothing.

Giving the door a light knock, I observe her further. She twitches on the bed, noticing the quiet noise coming from another chamber, and then launches herself right off after realising that it’s me, spotting my presence through our connection. She pats herself out and fixes her appearance as she slowly trots to answer the door, stopping for half a minute to ensure that she’s fully presentable for me.

Finally pulling the entrance open, she greets me with a warm, happy smile that doesn’t really reach her eyes. Otherwise, there’s no hint of distress in all of her light dress and mesmerising hair. Surprising the petite lady a little, I tenderly bring my palm to her cheek and lean down to join our lips in an affectionate kiss, without deepening it.

“You don’t need to hide anything from me, love,” I say gently after we part.

She searches my eyes briefly and lets out a tiny sigh, releasing the forced smile from her noble face. I peck Lianne’s forehead and scoop her into a princess carry, bringing us both to the comfy mattress she’s been resting on, sitting the tiny Queen on my lap.

“So... Did you learn anything?” she asks hesitantly, her expression betraying the topic of her inquiry even without her specifying it.

“Yeah, we did.” I nod while running my fingers through her dazzlingly white strands. “Before we get to that, though, I would like to let you know what we are planning to do. You are a key element to it working out properly and I hope the sexy mind of the best Queen in this realm can help.”

Lianne can’t help the smile sneaking onto her pouty lips even as she tries to actually pout at my deflection. I steal a kiss from them, making her giggle sweetly.

She then takes a delicate breath. “Okay. I’m listening.”

“In short, these guys, who we are going to call the Slave Mafia, are up to a lot of no good. The kidnappings are just the beginning. I’m sure you figured out the part about them being against the recent reforms. But, it looks like it delves much deeper. They have been trying to control your regime for quite a long time now and simply noticed that they are losing more than they can withstand since I began pressuring you to make living better for other races,” I start with something easy.

“We’ll have to shuffle the staff then. They had to have spies amongst our people.” The Queen nods resolutely.

“Here’s my sharp wife, already cracking at it.” I grin at her as she swats me playfully with a tiny flush. “Nevertheless, they are going to start hurting people if we don’t do anything soon so we decided to use Madeline against them as a double agent. After I break her, of course. We’ll make them believe she made it out unscathed while she is going to be completely under my control. She already shared a lot of information with us, especially about all the nobles involved in this conspiracy.”

“I’ll work with Ross on it as soon as possible. I assume you are going to figure out how to enslave her without the usual signs or something like that so I’ll search through our archives too. There might be something of help in there. We can’t interrogate her without you present, right?” She strokes her adorable chin.

“Unfortunately not. We need her alive, and any attempts at talking with her without my restraints might trigger the safety.” I shake my head. “The lives of countless people depend on her head staying on her shoulders. We don’t want those bastards to blow up half of the capital.”

Lianne’s eyes widen a tiny bit and she too shakes her head. This should be enough to make my point without putting too much pressure on her. I stay silent for a moment while considering my words and she turns to gaze into my eyes with a calm but tense expression. There’s no morbid curiosity in them, only a flicker of pending anticipation and understanding.

“Just say it,” she requests, keeping our gazes locked.

I let out a quiet sigh. “She locked him inside a barrier with an army of Abyssals.”

Her lip trembles as her jaw clenches intensely. Soon, tears follow from her stubbornly open eyes. It’s a whole flood soon, and the moment I embrace her closer, the dam breaks further and Lianne lets out a wailing sob, burying her face in my chest.

It’s clear that she already knew, simply wanting confirmation. As Ross said, she is sharp, smart, and bright, not lacking intuition either. Even so, she wasn’t able to prepare herself for it. No one really would.

I keep Lianne in my arms while gently caressing her hair, letting my beloved Queen pour her heart out into my clothes. Her slender fingers grip the fabrics with enough strength to almost rip them to shreds. If it was Ross in my place, he might have suffered some injuries through it as he suspected, all thanks to my influence on this lithe lady.

Not sure when exactly, but we end up on our sides as I let Lianne snuggle to me and continue sniffling and sobbing quietly. I don’t say anything. No words would help anyway. She knows I’m sorry for her. She knows I wish to support her. She knows I care for her. All she needs is my presence and warmth.

It takes about half an hour for the final cries to fade away. I never stop placing soft kisses on top of her head and brushing my fingers through her hair. When she begins to shift slightly in my embrace, I gently loosen it and let Lianne crawl a bit higher to face me. She looks at me with a tear-stained expression in silence and I caress her cheek without moving. It’s her who places a chaste peck on the bridge of my nose and leans her forehead against mine with a deep sigh.

“Thank you...” she whispers with some struggle. “I—”

“Shhhh.” I shush her down kindly. “It’s alright.”

She doesn’t try to speak any further and slowly relaxes under my care.

At least for a while.

“I was the one to endorse her, Al... I picked her up from a local militia... Because of me—”

“No, it did not,” I interrupt her quickly. “This is in no part your fault, Lianne. I will be really angry if you are going to blame yourself for something another person did with full premeditation and no remorse. He would be angry with you too. You did the right thing. She is the one who abused your kindness. Her mind has always been warped. Do you understand?”

She nods against me weakly as I peer deep into her enchanting eyes, making sure that she truly does. A ghost of a smile flashes over her tensed lips and I pull her back into the crook of my neck. She doesn’t bring up any self-loathing comments anymore until the very moment I notice her breathing evening out and her fingers uncurling from my suit.

Not willing to risk it, I decide against moving either of us. I’ll stay with Lianne until the very morning. Longer if that’s what she needs.

Then, we make them pay.

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