Freyra, Principality of Lior

  Opus Castle.

  June 27th, 1427.

  Meredith Hywel paces about within the halls of the prince’s castle, his footsteps echoing on the stone floor as he passes through lavishly decorated interiors of marble pillars, beautiful female servants and other luxuries. As the leader of the Golden Stone, a prestigious merchant guild based out of Lior - one of the Three Great Guilds, he held much influence within the Principality.

  His guild is responsible for the export and imports, as well as controlling prices on the market as well as insurance within the Principality. Despite holding such a powerful position within Lior’s economy, his power is neither absolute nor complete.

  He marched past the inner fountain of the castle, tossing a silver coin into it for good luck, hoping that he won’t have to lay his eyes on something unholy today. The two moons above Sorval reflected themselves on the fountain’s water, giving Meredith some relaxation at the sight of the beautiful objects in the night sky.

  He eventually arrives at the council hall located within the castle, the place where the Council of the Guilds often gather to discuss and sort out issues. Laughter and the sound of women can be heard even before the doors even opened, prompting Meredith to sigh internally.

  The castle guards opened the door for him, revealing a scene of utter decadence, hedonism and perversion the likes of which he so used to seeing recently. As the smell of heavy alcohol and expensive perfume finished subsiding from the council room through the opened doors, Meredith scanned his eyes around. Clearly that coin toss didn’t work out as he had hoped.

  The other two leaders of the Red Dragon Guild and the White Tasset Guild, respectively, drown themselves in opulence and women, barely paying as much as a glance to him standing at the opened door.

  Prince Eirian, despite barely out of adolescence, had already helped himself to the debauchery as well. Surrounding himself with around half a dozen women in dancer outfits and having another sucking him off while sitting on the throne. The sight disgusts Meredith immensely, who can’t help but shift his eyes away to the ceiling momentarily.

  “Whazzup! Golden Boy? Finally back from your business trip from Elysia?” Prince Eirian raises his palm at Meredith standing at the door.

  “I thought you said that you won’t call me that again the last time we met?” Meredith looks to his right, noticing a pair of women approaching him, wrapping their bodies around his arm.

  Eirian chuckled, grabbing the hair of the girl sucking him off as he stopped her from letting go. “Why won’t you join us? Tonight’s party is on me. You must’ve been weary from the long voyage.”

  Meredith grabs the two women’s arms, pushing them away from him slightly. “I thank you for your hospitality, but that request is too much, your highness. You know I am married.”

  He wanted to criticize this hedonistic brat for his behavior as prince of this kingdom, but he can’t. The Red Dragon and the White Tasset guilds have been at odds with each other ever since the Elysian’s diplomat arrival. While the Elysians purchased almost all of the iron and raw minerals from Red Dragon, they bought little amounts of magical gems in comparison from White Tasset, although that still meant a near triple-increase in export for the guild.

  Meredith didn’t even need to look into the export details as a seasoned merchant to know that Red Dragon’s influence had increased significantly due to the rapid wealth they had accumulated from exporting ore, surpassing White Tasset by a significant margin and causing rivalry to appear between the two Guilds.

  But tonight is different. While isn’t exactly a figure to look up to, Meredith understood that the kid sitting on that throne is the only one keeping both guilds from straight up going to war with each other to keep the other one down.

  Eirian froze for a bit, trying to recall from memory. “Ah... What was her name again?… ehhh…”

  “It’s Saraphyn, your highness.” Meredith answers.

  “Oh right! It was Saraphyn!” Eirian finishes his load inside the girl who’s sucking him off, before letting go of her hair to stand up from the throne as she coughs on the floor, trying to catch a breath.

  “Tsk.” Meredith helped stand the girl up, covering her body with a blanket before handing her over to the housekeeper lady to be taken care of. He tried to keep his cool at the prince’s mention of his wife, turning to Eirian with a straight face.

  “I’m here to discuss our situation with the newcomers.” He took off his small, rounded reading glasses as he took his seat on the roundtable.

  For weeks now, the Elysians have been harvesting the burning water around the Black Plain at unprecedented rate, constructing dozens of harvesting constructs at incredibly rapid paces in order to extract what they rhetorically called ‘Black Gold’. The constructs pumped out so much oil that it’s virtually impossible for him to account for them all, before shipping the black liquid through long pipes to the port and shipping it back to their homeland.

  As the leader of the Golden Stone guild - the largest merchant guild in Lior, he laments at the massive amount of potential wealth being extracted without much of it being transferred to Lior and his guild. The Principality only gets ten percent of the profit for its oil, while he had negotiated another fifteen percent of the profit for his guild, who controls the trade regarding oil. Oil was worthless here before the Elysians' arrival, as the White Tasset guild provided the Principality and Azuria with cheap magical gems to be used for daily applications like cooking and lighting.

  He thought the Elysians were stupid in trying to negotiate for oil in the first place, as many here just go scoop the leaking liquid rising up from the earth for free since nobody needs them for anything but lamps. Not until he saw the money came in did he realize how valuable oil was for these outsiders. Their entire civilization relies heavily on the liquid for power.

  “The Elysians are truly a blessing for us all! Haha!” Cotris, leader of the Red Dragon Guild roared with laughter. “They paid triple for iron compared to Azuria! It’s like printing our own money! Not even the Celestials paid that much for some rare irons when they came here a few years back!” Cotris raised his cup of Azurian wine, cheering for the success he had been enjoying thus far.

  As the leader of the largest mining guild in Lior, Cotris currently held the most amount of influence anywhere within the Principality. He had gotten the prince on his good side, securing his position as the prince’s favorite through both offerings of beautiful women and gold, giving him and his guild massive support by the Principality.

  “Your miners and laborers couldn’t keep up with the demands from the United Federation.” Meredith said. “Wouldn’t it be wise to purchase some of the Elysian’s powered tools to boost production?” he suggested, hoping to bring some sanity into this unholy room.

  Cotris chuckled as he pulled a pair of women onto his lap. “A foolish idea. If we increase supply, the price for the ores will drop! Besides, the local toolmakers thrive because of us. If we replace their crafts with loud, dreary Elysian machines, they’ll be in financial ruin!”

  Meredith clenched his hand, not believing what the man just said. But Cotris did have a point. The blacksmiths and toolmakers around here support the two guilds because they upheld the local economy, but their greed had blinded them to what is going on in the faraway land beyond the sea.

  As the men in the council room continued on with their debauchery, Meredith sank into deep thought about his experiences for the past few weeks. This kingdom is going under economically and morally despite the wealth pouring in from Elysia, and he knew it. He has had the privilege to travel to the United Federation in order to establish trading posts for his guild, only to find himself shocked at the development level of their cities and most importantly, their industries.

  Having bought back many books and talked to the local merchants in the United Federation, he figured that Lior’s future was doomed if it continued on this path of selling off minerals to live off of. The United Federation of Elysia, despite their land completely lacking many raw materials, has developed far further than anywhere in the Eastern Continent, hell, much further than anyone in their homeworld, even. He wonders why Lior couldn’t develop to such an extent, despite the vast amounts of resources available to them and the money trickling in.

  The only comparison he could make with the Elysians cities is those from the Holy Celestial Empire, which put the Principality in a precarious position. A position in which the Prince and his two pets could never be bothered to care.

  The Elysians are clearly not happy about the supply of raw resources, or rather, the lack of it. Well… not like anyone would be happy to pay three to five times as much for raw ore. Their efforts of opening Elysian-owned mines in the Principality has been shut down by everyone in this room in order to profit from the poor trade deal.

  The Elysians are definitely not gonna be willing to pay exorbitant prices for ores for long, as they have been willing to demonstrate that they were willing to use military force to get their way just like they did in Azuria two weeks ago. Are the two guilds this stupid? Or have they grown complacent, much like the prince?

  The Elysians are clearly good people who tried to get things their way through diplomacy and dealings, but even then, they would not tolerate extortion forever. Their patience is wearing thinner and thinner by the day.

  Meredith turned his head to the leader of the White Tassel Guild, eyeing the man with long, silvery hair. “Lanto, how is your business going?”

  “Well enough, though not as much as Sir Cotris’s.” Lanto answered calmly, barely looking up from the women draped over him on the couch. “I expect your guild to be doing well as well.”

  Meredith scoffed at Lanto’s choice of wordings. The man’s mask of indifference was as thin as the Elysian’s white printing paper. If not for the prince's mediation, Lanto would’ve had Cotris assassinated by now.

  “So, what brings you here, Meredith?” Prince Eirian stood up from his throne, wrapping himself in a luxurious warm fur coat, clearly imported from Elysia.

  Your highness, as the leader of the Golden Stone Guild, I’m here to inform you of the imbalance in trade volume between us and the Elysians, the newcomers. I have been in contact with their ambassador to Lior, Sir Reiker, and have been informed regularly of the United Federation’s need for more resource imports. They believe that their stockpiles cannot last long, and they need more resources to keep their industries going.”

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Prince Eirian chuckled, uncaring of the Elysian’s request. “We may rely on food imported from Azuria, but the United Federation has nothing to offer us but their coins and trinkets! The fact that the Elysians also rely on food imports from Azuria to feed their peasants, meant that we can charge them whatever we like, and they’ll pay regardless.”

  “But your Highness! They have been approaching us with nothing but politeness and trade deals! This is wrong on our part!” Meredith raised his voice in a desperate attempt to bring some senses into this chamber. “The Elysians already have massive influence in Azuria! If this goes on, the Elysians could pressure Azuria into another embargo on grain on us!”

  “Our export quotas have already been met, Meredith.” Lanto interjected. “Unlike the other guilds, my workers in the White Tassel Guild have already worked double shifts with imported Elysian mechanical tools. If my guild exceeds the quota, the profits will go down greatly. I have spent a great fortune of the guild’s gold to purchase such sophisticated equipment, I’m afraid I can’t do more.”

  “Are you trying to undercut us, Meredith?!” Cotris shouted as he slammed a cup down, drunk on a hard drink the Elysians called ‘vodka’. “You act all worried about this and that, but in reality you want this kingdom to open up for Elysian companies to go in here to destroy us all? The only person here that would benefit from that deal is you!”

  “Hmph.” Eirian scoffs. “Azuria’s position is weak. If they try another embargo, their blacksmiths and farmers would no doubt be out of business. Besides, who do you think you are to speak to me in that tone of voice? Did you let the Elysians’ gold cloud your mind?”

  Faced with their hostilities, Meredith bowed his head slightly. “N-no… I do not mean so, your Highness. I apologized.”

  “Tonight was meant to be a night of revelry,” Eirian sneered. “You ruined our mood with your babble about nonsense.” he said as he signaled for the guards to come in, pointing at Meredith. “You two! Get this chattering fool out of here!”

  The guards bowed, putting their hands on Meredith’s shoulder before being flicked away. “You needn’t manhandle me. I leave willingly.” The guards hesitated for a moment, sharing a look between themselves before deciding to escort him out.

  Meredith stepped up from the chair at the roundtable that he had been sitting by himself and left for the doors. As he stepped through the doors, the revelry resumed behind him. He placed his feathered hat on his head and walked away, feeling the weight of impending doom, perhaps even despair deep within, settle upon his shoulders.

  – –

  Freyra, Principality of Lior

  Meredith entered his personal horse carriage sitting outside the castle, sighing in disappointment. There is no changing their minds. He must do something, or else this kingdom will be doomed. While he has travelled to many places to conduct business deals and setting up trading posts, there is no place like home.

  Lior is the place where he grew up, and where he made his fortune. The previous king’s rule has brought prosperity for many in the kingdom, but ever since he and the queen passed away, his spoiled kid has been running the country down to ruin ever since. Both Cotris and Lanto completely took advantage of the king’s passing in order to get into the Prince’s good side, effectively creating an oligarchy to enrich themselves at the expense of everyone else’s well being.

  “Where do we go, Master?” The carriage driver asked.

  “To my villa, take me there.” Meredith orders.

  “As you wish, Master.”

  The carriage rumbled through the street under the two moons’ light, with only a single oil lamp acting as a source of light in the darker corners of the capital city. There used to be magical street lamps here, but no longer. All of the budget for infrastructure maintenance has been diverted by the prince, probably for more whores to satisfy him and his friends’ desires.

  He took notice of some of the only powered buildings in the city: A tavern, some guard posts, and an old government building refurbished which became an Elysian embassy, which used electric lighting provided by what they called a ‘generator’, shining brighter than any other building around here. He had a meeting earlier in the day with ambassador Reiker at the place, discussing business deals and exchanging more knowledge.

  He eventually exitted the city, making his way to the outskirts where his humble villa stood atop a hill. Even though his wealth would’ve made him what the Elysians called a ‘multi-millionaire’, his villa was relatively humble, reflecting both the little amount of time he spent in his own home and his rejection of obscene luxury like those enjoyed by the prince and his friends.

  The carriage eventually stopped at the front gate, prompting Meredith to open the side door to exit. He reached down into his pocket, producing a bag of silver coins and throwing it to the carriage driver. “Drystan, thanks for your work today. Go take the horses back to the stable. I’ll see you tomorrow, it’s gonna be a long day.”

  “Yes, Master.” The horse driver made his way to the villa’s stable, disappearing from sight as Meredith entered his villa.

  Entering the villa, Meredith took off his feathered hat and boots before putting them on the hanging rack, tired from the long day he had been put through.

  An elderly housekeeper walked up, giving him a greeting. “Welcome home, Master. You must be tired, you have been away for over two weeks.”

  Meredith looked up. “I’m a busy person. Where’s Saraphyn?”

  “The lady is currently in slumber within her room.” The housekeeper answered.

  “Well…” He looks up at the clock. “It is late, afterall.”

  “Your bath is ready, Master.”

  “Thank you again, Elwes. Go back to your room. I can take care of myself from now on.” Meredith headed for the bath.

  “As you wish, Master.”

  – –

  Outskirt of Freyra, Principality of Lior.

  Meredith's Villa.

  The wooden door cranked quietly, opening slightly as Meredith slipped through the gap before slowly closing the door again. The bath was definitely a refresher after all what happened in Opus Castle, moreover, if Seraphyn picked up another woman’s scent on him, she would’ve probably killed him.

  His wife laid quietly on the master’s bed, sleeping soundly before the moons’ light which slipped through the window towards the bed. He crawls into the soft bed, letting out a long sigh as he relaxes his body after a long day.

  “Where have you been all my life?...” He mumbles, turning over to his wife to hug her waist from the back. Her brown hair’s light scent had a soothing effect on him, giving him some well needed mental relaxation after the thick scene of excessive perfume in that accursed place.

  “You’re home late.” His wife suddenly spoke up, which spooked Meredith slightly. “Why?”

  Meredith tightens his hug around her waist. “Work.”

  “Did you miss me?”

  “Yes…”

  Saraphyn turned over, her emerald-colored eyes staring at his bearded face. “That’s how you gonna say it to me after being gone for two weeks?”

  “I’m sorry…” Meredith closes his eyes, quickly falling asleep due to the fatigue. “I do love you…”

  Seraphyn smiles, hugging her husband’s head before giving him a kiss on the forehead. “I know you do.”

  – –

  Somewhere in the Principality of Lior.

  July 5th, 1427.

  101st “Night Stalkers” Special Operation Task Force.

  Several shadowy silhouettes slipped between the canyon ranges under the moons’ light, carefully maneuvering themselves around the rock formations around them as they continued to make their way deep into Lior. Unlike the flat, fertile plains of Azuria, the Principality’s terrain is much less fertile, replaced with dry rock formations and smaller grassy plains.

  Only several small farms could be seen here in comparison to the massive fields of wheat in Azuria. Certainly not a land of agriculture, but one of abundance mineral wealth. Azurian guides have provided much needed knowledge regarding trade routes and features, helping the Elysians to plan their secret incursion into Lior.

  “Warbird-1-1 to Warbird-3-1. We’re approaching Objective Item. ETA, three Mikes.” The leading pilot announced over the UH-24 Narwhal’s radio system.

  A bearded man stepped up from his seating, checking his heavily modified R-25C carbine equipped with a suppressor, and an advanced infrared laser device. His eyes’ indifferent to what he and his team is about to go on, reflecting the long list of dirty jobs that he has done dozens of times before. “Alright. Time to make a living.”

  “Hey Kreuger.” one of his teammates named Sasha spoke up. “How long have you been doing this?”

  The bearded man turns to him, pulling down his shemagh taken from an enemy he has killed long ago. “Too long.”

  A woman spoke up, inserting a magazine into her suppressed RS-46 Personal Defense Weapon and putting a mitznefet on her head. “So what’s our objective, boss?”

  “This place is pretty much run by a nutbustin’ arsehole and his cronies. Our objective is the usual job. Target the leadership, fucked up their power structure, false flag ops, then get the fuck outta here. The brass need an excuse to send mercenaries into Lior, our job currently is to make sure they got that excuse. Got that, Livna?”

  “Yeah boss. But what’s exactly the objective?” She asked.

  Kreuger answered. “Probably the prince, but it’s our job to find out like usual. Lay low, strike fast and let them tear each other up. The embassy has reported that their leadership is divided between the two major guilds, which could lead to civil war, so the prince is definitely at the top of our priority.

  “They don’t have firearms here,” Sasha holds up a rifle round in his hand. “Can’t exactly just shoot the bastard. They’ll know that it’s us. Our deadline is tight as well, only two weeks at most so we gotta hurry with the job.”

  “Alright fellas, we’re about to disembark. Get your shits ready.” The co-pilot turned back to the crew compartment of the helicopter before switching to the radio. “Warbird-1-1, Warbird 1-1, we’re at Objective Item. Landing now.”

  The helicopters landed on an empty field, far away from any known route taken by traders. Grass flew around in all directions as the gust from their ducted rotors pushed more vegetation away, disturbing the usual quiet field.

  The leading helicopter’s door gunner pushed the vehicle’s sliding door aside, allowing the three individuals to disembark. Kreuger moved to the second helicopter landing nearby with his two teammates, picking up supplies and three UM-250XR civilian motorbikes modified for carrying supplies for the operation. Due to the vast operational area, the military decided that procuring a couple motorbikes for the operation was a wise decision.

  Since Lior had also imported large amounts of motor vehicles from the United Federation, the Department of War figured that his small team wouldn’t stand out too much. Even Azurian adventurers have also purchased vehicles for their quests in Lior, after all.

  The three of them will be on their own for the next two weeks. No resupply and limited contact, with the objective of destabilizing an entire kingdom in record speed, definitely Kreuger’s favorite kind of challenge. Just like his old operation in the Socialist Republic of Yunna, since that turned out well enough to warrant Elysian intervention to topple their Socialist leadership.

  “Thanks!” Sasha gave the helicopter crew a thumbs up, grabbing a standard Azurian adventurer cape and a coat to disguise himself.

  Kreuger does the same, putting on some light leather armor and a custom-made Azurian leather holster for his P-16 pistol and tucked his carbine onto his motorbike. “You ready, Livna?”

  “Yeah boss. Let’s head out.” Livna does the same, putting on some leather accessories on top of her chest rig, right before putting a long coat over herself to conceal the loaded PDW slinging on her hip.

  “Good luck, fellas! You owe us at the 177th Aviation ten cases of beer! That's your fares!” The door gunner bid farewell before knocking on the cockpit window, signalling the pilots to take off with a thumbs up.

  "Nah! We're good! Fuck off y'all!" Kreuger yelled through the helicopter's turbine noises.

  The aircrafts took off once more, reentering the canyon ranges to return to Azuria. The buzzing noises eventually disappeared, with only the three remained on the empty field.

  "Freyra is couple of hours away on the dirt road, we better hurry before dawn, boss." Livna said again, turning on her night vision monocular device and putting it on one of her eyes.

  Kreuger flipped the keys, kick starting the bike's as the gasoline engine rumbles to life. "Let's move, Stalkers."