After a leisurely ride with Ria I came back to my tasks. First is of course Lacquer's men who he left to me and the villagers and veterans might be easy to release but the traitors are the trickier ones but thankfully I have leverage now both because of Rexcarius's favor and now with my new rank which everyone thinks I'm undeserving of but in fear of the crown they would know better than to disrespect the King's advisor.
Shame about the three though but I need a higher status if I am to make real changes here. I walk back to the castle confidently and for the most part the parties are over now, only the highest of status remained to talk about politics and all that crap. I can already notice that the eyes on me are much more numerous than before and people start treating me with respect now which I do not my in any way but this also means that I will not be able to move as freely too.
With my new status to flaunt, I get access to almost everywhere in the castle including the dungeons where Sabre and his men are locked in. I enter the dungeons and the guard being old and experienced did not speak a word knowing that this is one of the places where asking questions could lead you trouble and the old guard merely opened the gate, the last lime of defense in a tightly secured prison.
I am still amazed to this day how Zyderine got me out so easily, even when using some sort of teleportation magic it had to be really difficult pinpointing my location through all this darkness, phasing through the thick walls and doing it again to take me out. I really underestimate her abilities, I have to work on that or else she might surprise me again but in a bad way.
I walk the stone steps down and seeing the light from my lamp, an inmate startled me from the very first cage. He was a thinly old crone seemingly insane from the isolation and he screamed weird things, by now a guard would have shut him up but as I looked around they had all left upon my entrance, perhaps a sign of respect but I know for sure they hope I get attacked by one of the inmates in the most high security prison in the country where only the worst and the most valuable prisoners are held.
At the very end of the cells I came to find who I was looking for. As if a sad twist of fate now it was I who stood outside and Sabre inside the jail cell that I was once imprisoned in. In just a day Sabre already looked broken down, both physically and mentally with his treatment being as bad as mine but with the fact that unlike me, he had no escape, no one from the outside fighting for him, and the man he worshipped gone.
"Have your old comrades treated you well Mr. Corpial?"
"Came to gloat Escroc?"
"Now, now I'm only doing to you what you did for me"
"And what is that?"
"Giving you news and hope, all that crap"
"I have no need for your lies"
"I wouldn't be talking like that to the new King's advisor if I were you"
Sabre was visibly surprised but recovered his poker face quite quickly.
"This kingdom really has fallen apart"
"It had been for a long time, the foundations of this kingdom is two people after all"
"You have little understanding of what they are capable of boy"
"Oh I understand very well, but you see no matter how powerful, they are still only human and as you have witnessed, people have tendencies to fail"
"Where are you getting at?"
"Change Corpial, a real one this time. I need good men by my side if I want this to be a change for the better. You are one of these people Sabre, now either you stand with me or you stay here on your knees"
"You think will ever be free here? You are either a fool or a clown to think that"
"I assure you I am very serious. Now do you want to be free and see your family once again? Or would you rather grow old and senile in this dark dungeon?"
"Alright Escroc, you free me from this hellhole and I will help you but I warn you, I have been betrayed once before and I won't be so easily tricked the second time"
"Ha ha ha, gather your most trusted men here and I shall be coming back again later in the early morning"
I leave Sabre for now and go to my next agenda. I go to the king's chambers which again because of my status I get to enter now and I see Rexcarius alone, not in his throne but a large desk looking at contracts and letters.
"Pardon the intrusion Milord"
Rexcarius took a moment to notice me and continued on his paperwork for almost a minute or two, then he stopped and entertained me.
"Complaints about sharing your status?"
"No not at all, I do however have a request"
"I seldom take requests in personal Spade, ask the treasurer if you want money"
"Oh I doubt even the treasurer would be able to grant my request"
Rexcarius smirked knowing it is going to be one of my insane requests once more.
"I want Sabre and his men"
Knowing there was no one else but us, Rexcarius dropped his 'benevolent king' shtick and approached my request like the calculating shrewd he is. He knew that it doesn't matter what I asked, as long as I could repay him equally, all I had to do was convince him I could.
"How exactly do you plan to free a man hated by everyone in the palace?"
"Enact a false execution, claim that Sabre and his men shall be killed for betraying the country then I shall hide them, no one but you would know"
"Are you forgetting that doing that would reveal that a rebellion did occur and now we have lost two of our country's strongest men?"
"It is a small price to pay for uniting Cebunilla"
"What are you talking about?"
"Stop denying it your Majesty, everyone knows that the only thing keeping this nation alive is you and even now it is hanging by a thread"
"Alright, peradventure I do as you say and you get Sabre, what then? How will that unite Cebunilla?"
"It wouldn't, telling the truth would"
"You speak of such absurd garbage"
"No, what's absurd is you punishing men for their loyalty and justifying lying to your people"
"Why don't you tell me then, what good would revealing that we are weak do? It would just further invite more rebellions"
"You are seeing rebellion as the main problem when it is in fact just the biproduct of it, this country's divided people is the problem, you can keep on capturing rebels and killing your enemies but as long as you don't deal with the biggest problem at hand then they will keep coming"
Rexcarius laughed confused like any dictator would being explained the value of democracy.
"Very well Spade Escroc, tell me how you plan to solve this problem and I will help you"
Surprisingly he agreed with me, someone as clever as Rexcarius tends to have equal stubbornness but still he humored me even when it is obvious he disagrees, either there is something he is not telling me or that he just so blindly trusts me. Either way I am fine with it for now because I can now go on with my plans.
Naturally Sabre will lose his rights to be in this country and he will lose a number of his wealth and concubines but I have talked to his wife and she was still loyal to Sabre and would follow him even when it meant having to leave the country.
I packed my things and by midnight with help from Rexcarius, I left along with Sabre and his men unnoticed and tomorrow they will be pronounced dead while we go on our way to Bronsleyt kingdom.
I know very well how odd it may sound but if you understood this continent's politics you'd understand that Bronsleyt is Cebunilla's closest ally and also the weakest which is why they were so eager to expand but now they are much more vulnerable than Cebunilla and I shall be using that to colonize them and who better to use than the experienced Sabre Corpial but of course I shall be assisting under the prestense of diplomat using my status as the King's advisor to put some weight on my actions. I also have to give back this black necklace to Wyatt's family which may be a bit tricky to find but I have to stand by my word, I burned his letter and killed him after all and if this will ease my burdens even just a little bit then I shall scour all of Bronsleyt to find them and give this valuable looking pendant.
I have no interest in the politics by any means which seems counter intuitive to my main agendas but for now I shall be ensuring the rise of power of Cebunilla for my pawns Crystal and Zyderine to be of great use to me one day. What exactly drives me to such extents? Power and glory comes to mind because when one is in the state I am in right now you just cannot help but to use that power. I shall try to keep my new found morals and make this crap life a meaningful one of course but along the way there is nothing wrong with having a bit of fun. I do fear I wake up and this whole simulation is over however, sometimes I become attached to this world and forget that I did not belong here in the first place.
I shall be a good person later because now I shall be having fun playing the very interesting game of kings.
I take my belongings which were mostly clothes and some books from the secret library and along with Sabre and his men in a wagon and Blade who shall be going back to Cilgras for my little syndication we left. Before we did however Sabre took me by the arm and whispered in my ear.
"I am only telling you this for what you did for me. That man you call Blade is named Gergory Pyreance one of the three noble generals of the neighboring country Harayla. I don't know how you met him or what your relationship is but he is very likely to be a spy so don't trust him"
Well so Blade had an interesting past life too but if what Claudia told was right then I have nothing to worry about because now he is only Blade, my loyal soldier. He had my back in the worst of times and he was with me when I thought no one was and he suffered for it, I can trust Blade with everything, in fact I released him from his knight's oath right after the capture of Sabre and yet he had stayed by my side and like always follows me to my insane plans. It is hard o be betrayed by someone you trust but those with nobody to trust have it worse.
I assume this trip would take me a week or so and when I get home I have my little lottery to expand, Crystal to mentor, Lucas and Jacob to employ, and a whole lot of paper work being an advisor. Right when you think it's all over comes another whole mountain of tasks to finish, life is hard sometimes. Well I should get to it I suppose.