Power corrupts — Maribelle

Amidst the cheers, there is a voice that protests. A girl about my age, with long white hair and red eyes, stands in a special booth high in the stadium. It’s the princess who hit me with a sleeping curse right after I killed the king, Theonius’s little sister.

“You will never be empress!” She screams, increasing the volume of her voice with magic.

The crowd becomes quiet as many heads turn turn to look up at her.

“I’m sorry, what’s your name?” I ask.

I do not need to speak loudly. Everyone can hear me through their spirits. Apparently it is surprising that I do not know her name, because my question elicits a furious scowl from her.

“I am Symphonia Arvali, the true empress of Salsvale, by right of blood!”

A brown haired woman draped in jewelry places her hands on Symphonia’s shoulders. The woman has tears running down her face, ruining her makeup. I recognize her from the party as Theonius and Symphonia’s mother. She looks terrified.

She whispers something in Symphonia’s ear, which causes Symphonia to push her away.

The princess continues shouting at me.

“Even if you kill us, you won’t get our treasury! The vault is rigged to destroy everything inside it if you try to force it open! We’ll never give you the password!”

Just what kind of person does she think I am?

“It’s not like I’m going to steal your stuff,” I say.

There is a long pause as the princess processes my words. She seems to calm down slightly.

“You’re not instating yourself as empress?” She asks.

“I’m already empress. I have been ever since I said so,” I explain.

The princess frowns.

“How can you be empress if you don’t, as you say, take our stuff? We own the royal palace!”

“The royal palace is wherever I decide to live. That will be the Dawnsmith mansion, probably.”

The princess tilts her head, letting out an incredulous snort.

“Are you going to rule the city from that ruined old dump by yourself? With no money?”

“No, I’m not interested in politics. I’ll delegate that sort of stuff. Speaking of which…”

I turn around, raising my arms as I address the crowd.

“People of Salsvale, I am recruiting servants and allies! Anyone who wants to work for me, anyone who wants a say in how Salsvale is to be run from now on, please come down here into the arena with me!”

I immediately see a familiar face flying towards me.

It’s Ferris. Golden flames blast out of his feet, propelling him through the air.

He lands beside me. For some reason, he is wearing clothes made of leather that’s been sewn together haphazardly. Something is really different about his aura.

Hold on… those flames… this aura… could it be? No way. That would be ridiculous.

Whatever. I give him a big hug.

“I leave for a week and you conquer the city.”

“Is that really so surprising?”

I giggle, presenting him to the crowd.

“This is my bother Ferris! I’m putting him in charge of everything boring,” I announce.

“What?!” He shouts.

Ferris isn’t the only one coming down into the arena with me. Dozens of people have jumped into the pit. Many others went the long way, and they are now pouring out of the gates in the stone walls of the arena.

Rather than swarming me, the people seem to be keeping a respectful distance.

Hold on, is that who I think it is?

“Hey you, come over here!” I shout.

He laughs nervously, but quickly composes himself. He approaches with confidence.

It’s the jerk I paid to draw me. He wants to be my servant? Oh, this is going to be great.

“Whatever your name is, I’m changing it to Butler. You’ll be my personal attendant,” I say, making sure to magically project my voice so that everyone can hear me.

“I was kind of hoping you would sponsor me to do art,” he says.

“You can still do art, but you’ll have other duties too. We’ll figure it out.”

He almost looks heartbroken, but there is a strange predatory glint in his eyes. It’s adorable.

I address my crowd of new subordinates.

“Those who want military or political positions, go over there to where Theonius is smeared. Those who want to be my personal servants of some kind, go to the other side of the arena.”

The crowd splits, though several people hesitate, not knowing which side to choose.

Butler tries to use this chance to walk away, but I hold him back by his collar.

“Ferry, you’re in charge of everyone over there,” I say, pointing towards the smear.

“Butler, sort through all the people applying to be my servants, and choose the best ones. There are too many of them to fit in the Dawnsmith mansion.”

“That is a lot of work,” he says.

I pat him on his shoulder.

“Then work hard,” I say.

“Maribelle, are you sure he’s the best choice for this?” Ferry asks me.

“He’s the most amusing choice.”

Ferry shakes his head.

“Salsvale is doomed.”

“Didn’t she just put you in charge of making sure that isn’t the case?”

The speaker is a woman with silver hair and blue eyes, also wearing the same weird leather clothes as Ferry. I recognize her from that time we had lunch together. She’s Ferry’s girlfriend.

She looks at me thoughtfully, then turns back to Ferris.

“Come on, I’ll help. To get those people to listen, you might want to lean on my reputation. You’re kind of dressed like a caveman,” she says.

“So are you. Also, I’m skeptical how much your reputation is worth,” he says.

“Nonsense. I’m a famous enchantress, loved by all,” she replies confidently.

“Why are you wearing caveman clothes anyway?” I ask.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later,” Ferris says.

His face is not jovial. He seems to shiver a bit at the recollection of whatever happened.

“Okay, get to work, then. You have a city to manage,” I say.

Ferry runs his fingers through his hair, as if he cannot believe what is happening, but his girlfriend drags him away and they start introducing themselves to their group.

I flop down onto the sands, smiling at the sky.

“I wish you could have seen this, Cynthia.”

I close my eyes, enjoying the warmth of the summer sun.

“Uh, your majesty?” Butler says, pulling my attention.

“What is it?” I ask, feeling a surge of satisfaction towards the way he decided to address me.

“I just want to confirm, I can select your servants based on whatever criteria I please?”

“Yeah, sure. Choose them however you want.”

“As you wish,” he says, unable to completely hide the mischievous smirk forming on his face.

Whatever. What’s the worst he can do?

“When you’re done, bring the servants to the Dawnsmith mansion and get them settled in.”

“Yes, your majesty.”

He walks over to the group of prospective servants, shouting something to get their attention.

Great, he’s actually doing what I told him.

On the other side of the arena, Ferry and his girlfriend are talking animatedly with their group.

It seems like I’m no longer needed here.

I teleport down underground, appearing in a cave beneath the arena. Teleport after teleport, I head deeper down, making my way to Wilson’s cave.

I should tell him about Cynthia.

The cave is already starting to thaw out. A section of the snow has melted into a small puddle, just big enough for a couple of suncarp to slowly swim around.

“Wilson?”

“I hope you did not come back to do more training,” the salamander says.

“Actually I came to tell you something.”

“Ah, good. I do appreciate company.”

His words sting a bit. I take a deep breath before letting out the bad news.

“It’s Cynthia. I’m sorry. She’s dead.”

The salamander slowly curls up, lying down on his island.

I sit down beside him, watching the thawed carp swim in circles, their dim light illuminating the perfectly-sized cave.

“I’ll keep you company from now on,” I promise.

“I do not like you as much as her,” Wilson says.

“I don’t like you as much as her either,” I say.

“Then at least we have one thing in common.”

“Yeah, I guess we do.”

I lie down on the island, closing my eyes. The air is cold, but I am comfortable.

It is so quiet. Maybe that’s why Cynthia liked it here.

I slowly drift asleep.

Chains of brilliant divine light wrap around me, pulling me through an intricately decorated hallway, the walls lined by huge statues.

There is an enormous being made of pure gold, four eyes shining with blinding white light. He sits upon a throne made of a million human bodies, fused together and turned to stone.

“Zenath? There is no point in us talking.”

“This is a declaration of war. On behalf of the white pantheon, I shall give you one and only one chance to surrender.”

“I will never surrender. Go ahead and do your worst. No matter how many more bugs you send my way, I will squash them all.”

“Then you were correct. There is no point in us talking.”

Piercing white light begins to tear my spirit apart. It is much more powerful than anything that Bez or Hella could do, but I was expecting it. I surge my aura through my brain, forcing myself to awaken. I sit up, gasping for breath, with a splitting headache and a nosebleed.

“Did something happen? I sensed a strange and powerful magic,” Wilson says.

“It’s nothing. Zenath just tried to smite me is all.”

“I see. Then perhaps you shall learn why it is good to dream small.”

I laugh.

“Never.”

I crawl down to the edge of the island to clean my face off with the slushy snow.

“I should go check up on the city,” I say.

“You did sleep for quite some time,” he says.

“Did I? Huh, I guess I was tired.”

I teleport back up through the cave system. When I reach the surface, it is late afternoon.

When I appear in front of the Dawnsmith mansion, I search through it with my spatial sense. There are already dozens of people inside. Chefs are cooking, seamstresses are in the basement making clothes, and a large group of maids are sitting patiently in the living room.

Wow. Shockingly, it appears that Butler actually did his job competently.

I knock on the door. Butler immediately opens it from the other side. He was waiting for me.

“Welcome home, your majesty.”

Stepping inside, I get a better look at the servants he selected.

I raise my eyebrows and snort with laughter.

Gods, he really is a scoundrel. What was I even thinking?

“Butler, what were your criteria for narrowing down the maid candidates?”

“A range of things, such as past experience, enthusiasm, and some other ineffable qualities.”

Such bullshit.

"Hmm. You see, I can't help but notice a certain peculiarity about your selection."

"What would that be, your majesty?"

"They're all young women, and they're all extremely pretty."

"Yes. It's quite the coincidence. It just so happened that, out of the volunteers, the thirty most qualified maids were also the thirty prettiest women."

I'm honestly impressed that he managed to say that with a straight face. One of the girls nervously plays with the hem of her very short maid skirt, averting her eyes from me.

"Where did you get the uniforms?" I ask.

"Several of the volunteers were seamstresses. I had them make the uniforms to my specifications. They're in the basement right now, working on preparing your wardrobe."

Sadly, I can't help but suspect that my so-called wardrobe will also be tailored to his tastes.

"Butler, are you aware that if I think too hard about killing you, it will happen?"

“Surely you wouldn’t do something so terrible to your precious butler.”

“We’ll see.”

He coughs nervously.

I walk up to one of the girls.

“What work did you do before?”

“I worked in a restaurant, your majesty.”

“As a cook or a waitress?”

“A waitress, your majesty.”

I nod, and I turn to a different girl.

“You look familiar. Have we met before?”

“Yes, your majesty. I worked at, well…”

“Oh, I remember you now. You greeted Ferris and I when we came to meet Adriana.”

“I'm deeply sorry, your majesty. I said something inappropriate back then.”

I wave her off.

“That's fine. Don't worry about it. It's water under the bridge.”

“Thank you, your majesty.”

“Anyway, Butler, are you seriously telling me that these women were the most qualified volunteers to be my maids?”

“They can be trained. I focused more on potential than present skills.”

“Potential, huh?”

“Potential.”

“Alright, whatever. I accept your selection, Butler.”

He lets out a breath. Hilarious.

Seriously though, how did he think he could get away with this?

“Girls, please teach this ass that he should be careful what he wishes for. You're all free to torment him in whatever ways you find entertaining. If he tries to do anything uncouth with any of you, just let me know and I'll make sure he dies a horrible death.”

Butler turns pale. I smile sweetly at him.

“Anyway, I want a feast tonight.”

“Of course, your majesty,” Butler says.

I point to two of my maids.

“You two will be my official left and right foot massagers. This is a very prestigious position. Please try to do your best.”

“Um, of course, your majesty,” says my left foot massager.

My right foot massager nods in agreement.

“Wonderful. Make me a bubble bath.”

As I relax in the warm soapy water, my left and right foot massagers doing their jobs, I can’t help but smile victoriously.

Yes. This is how things were meant to be.

A knock comes on the bathroom door.

“What is it?”

“Your majesty, the feast is ready. Also, your brother and some other people are here asking if they can see you.”

“Invite them to dinner. I’ll be there soon.”

I get dressed in Bezvillia’s robes. The maids cleaned them for me while I was taking a bath. They understandably seemed apprehensive about the prospect of dressing me in whatever it was that Butler had the seamstresses make for me.

When I go to the dining room, I see Ferris, his girlfriend, and several other people. I recognize two of them as Joseph Valbeck and Samuel Silverleaf. I join them at the table.

“Hi Maribelle, I love the maid uniforms,” Ferry’s girlfriend says with a smirk.

“They are… unconventional,” Samuel Silverleaf says.

“Yeah, Butler is really walking a fine line,” I say.

“You’re going to change them, right?” Ferry asks.

“No. Why would I?”

Joseph coughs, blushing as he looks at one of my maids. She looks away from him.

“Anyway, we have some really important things to discuss with you,” Ferry says.

“Like what?”

“Well, I’d like to instate a type of government called a parliamentary democracy. Do you know what that means, Maribelle?”

“No. Sounds boring. Are you sure this is actually important?”

“Yes, it’s extremely important. The idea is that the people will vote to decide on their political officials, and those officials will vote to determine laws and policies.”

What on earth?

“You want to decide stuff based on the votes of regular people? Ferry, I’m sorry, but that’s like one of the stupidest things that I have ever heard.”

He looks at me like a puppy that just had a bucket of ice water poured on its head.

“You do realize that most of the city is religious, right? They rightfully see me as a living breathing apocalypse on legs. They may have cheered for me at the arena, but I bet that most of them did it because they were scared of what I might do to them if they didn’t.”

Ferris frowns.

“Ferry, I just killed a divine hero. Zenath visited me in my dreams earlier today specifically to declare war on me. Letting the people vote on stuff is almost equivalent to turning all my resources over to my enemies!”

Ferris clenches his teeth and looks down. There is a long silence.

“Do you see all gods as your enemies?” Ferry’s girlfriend asks.

I narrow my eyes at her. Ferris shifts uncomfortably in his seat. Something is off.

I sense a strange spark of power within her, shining like sunlight. It wasn’t there before.

“Are you a divine hero? Answer me.”

She cringes as the full pressure of my voice comes crashing down on her. The table cracks.

“Yes,” she says quietly.

She stares at me, terrified.

I take a deep breath.

“To answer your question, I intend to overthrow the white pantheon. There may come a time when you and I must come to blows. Who is your god?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you,” she says.

Ferris frowns.

“Solus,” he says.

I inhale sharply. A heavenly godking?

I cannot treat her as lightly as Kevin. She is unfathomably dangerous.

“Ellie, was it?”

She nods.

“You were friends with Cynthia right?”

“I still am. Why?”

“She’s dead. I’m sorry.”

Ellie gasps.

“I failed to save her because I underestimated the gods. I promised myself that I would never make the same mistake again.”

The table continues to splinter, the floorboards crack and chunks of the ceiling start falling down into the food.

“Maribelle, calm down,” Ferry says.

I take a deep breath.

“Ellie, I ask that you make a spirit declaration renouncing Solus’s gift. If you refuse to do this, then I might have to kill you.”

“Maribelle! Hold on for a moment. Solus spoke to me in my dreams too. There are important things that you don’t know,” Ferry says.

“Did he threaten you?” I ask, rage bubbling up within me.

“No, not really. He considered me an old friend.”

My eyes go wide as I think back to Bezvillia’s history lessons. No… there’s no way.

“Ferry, why are your flames different now?” I ask slowly.

He holds his breath, looking around at the other people at the table with an uncomfortable expression on his face. Eventually, he decides what to say.

“I never told you this, but Radius is made from a phoenix talon.”

Holy shit.