Enlightened Empire

After Corco had finished his dinner with Wachatay, he had spent the rest of the afternoon busied with his various classes. Finally, when the sun was about to set, he had somehow found the time to start on his regular job. As the administrator of Saniya, he would have many things to do throughout the day, but his teaching role was just as important, and not something anyone else could take over. All of the usual responsibilities – from budgets to meetings – had been pushed back all the way to the evening. Even though his newest guest had been waiting in the city all day, the king managed to meet with Lord Macuy’s representative only now.

"King Corcopaca, thank you greatly for your invitation." Unlike most high-ranking servants Corco had met, this one didn’t seem haughty or fake in the least. Although he lacked proper etiquette, his head was lowered throughout and his tone was quiet and cautious. Not that this surprised Corco, since Lord Macuy’s territory was just a small, rural estate. Even among the poorer estates of Sachay, Utusku was one of the poorest, only known for its livestock. Though of course, this was just the reason the representative was here.

"Thank you for waiting," Corco said. "I know things have been a bit delayed, but I wanted to get the minor work out of the way first and make sure we can talk without interruptions. How is Lord Macuy doing?"

"Master fares quite well, thank you for asking. And the wait has not been a bother, King. In fact, Master has decided to buy a mansion inside Saniya should these talks be successful. So this servant spent his day on the streets to find a suitable second home for Master."

"That’s great," Corco beamed, always glad to see the lords gravitate towards his center of power. "On that note, I wonder how Utusku’s livestock has been doing?"

"Progress has been very good, thank you for asking," the servant smiled as well, evidently happy that he could talk about a topic he was comfortable with. "The mild winter helped, but of course King Corcopaca’s cheap fodder all throughout the winter was the greatest boon... as were the enclosures. With the new fences, we need a lot less men and dogs to herd the animals."

*Fewer,* Corco thought, but decided to ignore the mistake for once. He wasn’t a teacher, not right now.

"So you’ll be able to scale up production soon?"

"According to Master, within two years we will have three sheep, pigs and cows for every two we have now, at least so long as fodder stays cheap."

"Good. Don’t worry about the fodder, we’ll be scaling up fertilizer production in Saniya soon, so all the fodder will be getting even cheaper than it is right now. All you need to do is keep producing. If you’re worried about overproduction, I can buy however many cows and pigs you can bring me. With all of these minor issues cleared up, we only need to bother with the big one: Transportation."

This time, the servant looked awkward again.

"It seems like Kapra has raised the tariffs for travel across the Mayura once more," he said, his head lowered so he wouldn’t have to look into the king’s eyes.

"Of course he has," Corco sighed in response. Ever since he had opposed Corco during the war and refused to support the defensive effort of the southern lords, Lord Ogulno had become politically isolated. However, the isolation had only made Corco’s uncle more stubborn. Rather than apologize and mend their relationship, the lord had become ever more bitter, using his territory of Kapra to put obstacles in the king’s way whenever he could.

"It looks like we’ll need to work around my uncle’s plans. Again." Corco tried his hardest to not facepalm. "How about this: I’ll have my workers install a proper road from Saniya all the way to your master’s territory, similar to the ones you have seen built around Saniya already. This way, you won’t have to transport your livestock through Kapra anymore. Instead, they will be going straight north into Harkay, a small town in the swamps to the south-east of here. There, the animals will be butchered and processed, and the proceeds will be transported over to Saniya via river boat."

"Truly a grand offer, as expected of a king!" the servant beamed again, but soon he looked awkward once more. Unlike most noble advisors, this one was pretty bad at hiding his real feelings, though Corco relished in the rare honesty. "However, the cost..."

"Cost should never be a problem for grand plans." The king smiled while hiding his fear of the finance department. "We can work out a deal for the roads that works for both of us. How about this: I pay for all the work done on the road in my own territory. For the roads built inside other estates, the local lord pays half, while Saniya will contribute the rest. The same will go for towers and other defensive structures along the way. I think that’s an offer good enough for you to bring back to your master."

"Yes, King Corco. Thank you King Corco. Now that everything is cleared up, I will no longer bother King with my presence."

After entirely too much gratitude and too many bows, the servant warrior left the room at last. Exhausted but satisfied with his progress for the day, Corco sank back in his seat and added another territory to his mental list of acquisitions.

Through the route they had established through Puscanacra and along the western coast, they would receive amber, timber, whales and fish from the southern and western estates of the southern kingdom. Starting with Lord Macuy, they would soon receive livestock from the central lords as well. Like this, most of the southern kingdom was already connected to Saniya through trade. Soon, no lords inside the southern kingdom could stand against Saniya, not if they wanted to keep hold of their yearly profits.

Even better: As time went on, the territories would be connected not only through trade, but also through his ever-growing network of roads, not to mention through communications across his system of towers. As time went on, the estates would silently integrate into one unified kingdom.

With all of these new deals, Corco had also taken care of the city’s most basic daily needs. Together with their imports from Chutwa and the Verdant Isles, almost all the agricultural resources they needed would be funneled into his capital. Whatever they were missing in this regard wasn’t present near Saniya at the moment. Instead, he would have to trust Atau’s journey around the world to fill in the blanks for him.

At this point, it was finally time to focus more on the inorganic resources. There were still many obvious gaps in his portfolio of minerals and fossil fuels, which had hampered the progress of their local industry just as much as a lack of education did.

*I guess it’s about time I talk to those so-called geomancers Ronnie has mentioned before.*

Just like that, the geomancers had been put onto the king’s agenda, after they had stewed inside the capital for several weeks. He hoped they would pleasantly surprise him.

__________________________

For the very next day, right after Corco had finished his daily portion of classes, he had scheduled a meeting with the geomancers in his study. To represent them, an old man with a long, braided beard appeared. As soon as the geomancer showed up, he seemed suspicious to the king. His clothes were kept in bright colors, with mismatched green pants and yellow shirt. If that wasn’t enough of an insult to fashion sense, strange symbols had been stitched over every bit of cloth he could see. This might have been an ignorant person’s idea of what a hidden master should look like. The strange hairdo and symbols inspired an air of mystery, and the man’s upright posture and tall stature inspired authority.

In short, this master looked exactly the way Corco would have dressed up if he had tried to scam some backwards locals.

"King Corcopaca, this mortal greets you and offers his deepest thanks for all the amenities over the past days."

Although the king had let the old man and his fellow masters wait for a long time, he didn’t seem unhappy. He also didn’t seem all too concerned that he had been forced to wait for several weeks while Corco had been busy with more pressing matters. Rather, he seemed glad to have received free lodging for so long.

*Curioser and curioser,* Corco thought. Somehow, the strange master only seemed more suspicious the more the king saw of him. Still, he wouldn’t judge a book by its cover. That was one lesson he had learned more than once over the years.

"Glad you guys were having some fun," the king answered. "I’m sorry you had to wait so long, but I’m really swamped with work here. Can’t handle everything at once."

"Oh no, King Corcopaca, the wait really was no issue at all. We are glad to be heard in the first place. Most lords do not bother."

"Good. Still, you’ll be glad to hear that I want to hire you and your people... but only if I’m convinced by the usefulness of your services. Sound fair?"

"Of course, King." Even now, the old man looked completely confident. Even if he was convinced of the strength of his methods, wouldn’t he be bothered at least a little? There was at least a chance that it would fail, or that the powerful king in his front wouldn’t believe him and decide to punish him for no good reason. Still, at least Corco could hear the old man out before jumping to conclusions.

"Fine, here’s the deal: You guys claim that you know where precious metals are hidden inside my kingdom, is that right?" Corco repeated what he had heard from Ronnie before.

"Well, no. Not exactly." To the king’s surprise, the old man corrected him, his stance just as bold as before. "It would be more accurate to say that we speak to the earth, and feel the presence of its treasures. It is a delicate art, but one our clan has perfected over countless generations."

"That so?" The king narrowed his eyes. "And how is that supposed to work? Tell me in detail. You can leave out whatever you consider a family secret."

He left the old man an out, but if the geomancer refused to talk about his plans at all, Corco would simply not hire him. However, the master surprised the king yet again.

"Secrecy will not be necessary. Although I cannot talk about the details of the art, its principles are quite simple in nature." The old man took a deep breath. This would be a long one.

"In the olden times, long before the new lords arrived from the east to conquer the lands of Yakuallpa, our forefathers were already present on this land, one of the mighty clans of the Yaku. They were still here when the foreigners arrived to fight the locals for control of the Twin Isles. However, rather than involve themselves in the petty squabbles of men, they walked the lands and spoke to the earth, to honor Pacha. In the process, they found their own methods of cultivation, independent of those the easterners had brought with them. These techniques have helped our clan uncover the real truths of Pacha, Pacha’s will. Through these methods, we can communicate with the earth, and uncover its secrets."

The sales pitch was recited with a great deal of confidence, and some details matched what Corco knew of old Medalan history – like how his ancestors had brought cultivation techniques over from Arcavia several centuries ago. As an explanation of their methods however, the story sounded more and more like nonsense. Wasn’t this sort of ability far too convenient for Corco’s current needs? Why had these masters never shown up before, in the hundreds of years of their existence? Weren’t these guys just a bunch of grifters, intent on scamming him out of a quick buck? That was what the entire story felt like; a tall tale, produced by a smooth talker, to earn his daily bread.

The king was about to throw the old man out, but then he thought about his own cultivation methods. Whenever he trained in his family’s technique, The World’s Embrace, Corco would also feel a strange connection with his surroundings, together with an unusual calm, as if he was connected to his surroundings. In the end, how much did he really know about other cultivation techniques? Just how much did he know about his own? This was the one area in this world where he didn’t have an advantage in knowledge over others, so outright dismissal seemed hasty. Just because he didn’t know something didn’t mean it couldn’t be true. During the succession war he had been haughty and it had come back to bite him, so he wouldn’t repeat his mistakes this time.

Still – even though Corco would provisionally buy the old man’s story – he had to do his due diligence nonetheless.

"Okay, so you can find, let’s say, hidden deposits of gold under the ground?"

"Of course we can," the old man replied in a full voice and stretched his spine.

"In that case, why haven’t you done so a long time ago?" the king asked. "Why not just get rich of all that gold? You don’t seem all too wealthy to me."

In response, the old man showed a perfect look of helplessness.

"Unfortunately, these lands might be the lands of our ancestors, but we no longer rule them. How would we mine the gold deep within the earth, right under the noses of powerful local lords? If we do not wish to face extinction, offering our talents to Medala’s lords is the best our clan can do these days. Although most lords are unappreciative of our services."

Again, the king thought for a bit, until he finally took a heart. Even if he was getting scammed this once, how much money could a few scammers possibly demand for their services? In the off-chance that they were right, the gains would far outweigh the potential losses. He just had to structure the deal in a way that would limit the damage they could do if they had come with ill intentions.

"Okay, fine. I’ve decided to trust you for now, so I don’t mind hiring you. I won’t have you looking for gold though, I’d much rather you find me some more useful materials. You’ll be looking for tin, niter or coal... zinc would be nice, and we’re running low on the manganese we stocked back in Arcavia. I’ll write down the details in case you know them by different names, or don’t know them at all. You’ll get a small monthly salary, enough to keep you and your people fed, while you search my lands for rare minerals. Every time you find a deposit that’s undiscovered, I’ll reward you appropriately. Though you best not let me down... if you do, you will be hit by the full force of Saniya’s law. And that force is growing. I’ll have you know that we’re already training our first batch of police officers."

Although Corco was smiling and never raised his voice, the old master finally broke into a sweat for the first time in their meeting. Even though he would trust these geomancers for now, there was no reason to go easy on them. After all, he had been a bit of a truth bender himself in the past. Whether or not they would prove better people than Corco himself remained to be seen.