09/31/ AWAD 200

Laftus was discontented.

Countless men might envy him, a king, young and powerful, and currently surrounded by beautiful women making spectacles with their bodies while he enjoyed a massage. As a prospective god king, he even had the stamina to enjoy all twenty of them. His private chambers were filled with soft cloth, a shipment specially bought from Saverus. The terrible sense of boredom never left, though.

He could rush expanding his territory... but at what cost? At the moment, fighting the other god kings would be costly and still pointless. The literature the godkiller tried to spread spoke of plenty of powerful men who would have remained powerful if they had not overreached. Laftus would remain powerful, no, become the most powerful.

Overreaching was only what his opponents would do. Research with the second machina regiis was already providing benefits. The research team made much more progress after getting a hold of one they could take apart. His only chagrin was that a decade of waiting was in order. His cabinet members all stressed at least a decade was necessary to slowly muster troops without alarming the other god kings, no matter how irresponsible Laftus displayed himself as.

He had to thank his ‘father’ for pushing his schedule forward with an idiotic death. The man tried to hook himself to the second machina regiis while already hooked up to the one belonging to their royal line. Simply a claim that the resulting explosion destroyed the second one had to be made, and the others stopped making talk of uniting to crush him.

Why had he taken the news of his father’s demise so nonchalantly? Ah, yes. King Salvatus busied himself in the wars, so Laftus’s tutor predominantly took the father role. Kafsan, a scholar of all literature including that of the godkiller, taught him everything he knew. As far as Laftus was concerned, his father died four years ago not a couple months ago.

A knock at the double doors interrupted. With a growl, Laftus held up a hand, motioning for his masseuses to stop.

"This better be urgent! Or someone is losing their position!" Laftus almost snarled incoherently.

"Well sire you told us to alert you if durin seemed to gain even an inkling of accuracy." A man with a smaller stature tentatively replied.

Durin was the code by which the prophecy of the harbinger was referred to.

"A fluctuation was detected then?" Laftus asked, immediately cooled down.

"Yes sire," the courier said with a tone ill at ease.

"Give me the details," Laftus gestured gruffly for the papers the courier held in his hand.

He ran his eyes through the compilation of reports on the fluctuation in mana. As he feared, three fluctuations most violent in record occurred in the mana scape. The harbinger was heralded. No, the situation provided an opportunity.

Laftus dismissed both the messenger and motioned for the massage to continue.

Laftus laughed. An otherworlder actually came. If handled right, a major mustering of troops might not even be taken as a threat anymore with the otherworlder as the target. The others probably would think the same but he would be faster.

Honestly, he had only used the records of overreaching leaders as an excuse. Maybe he shouldn't have read them. Who was that 'american' author? Right, 'Mark Twain.' Didn't he assert that with confidence and ignorance success was assured? Probably a misread or loss of meaning in translation though. Nothing was ‘assured.’

Laftus smiled. The world definitely would get more interesting.

09/32/ AWAD 200

Laftus woke up and dressed by himself, astonishing everyone. From easing off his night clothes to bathing him while massaging him to eventually clothing him once again, usually he would let the servants do everything.

The castle was abuzz with gossip, and Laftus was satisfied to see that the true reason why he changed didn’t reach the rumor mill. What would be leaked remained under his control.

As usual, he absorbed the prepared amount of mana by the machina regiis, a monstrosity of gears of runes and a single giant tank in front of which his throne stood.

The machina regiis somehow managed to render the mana of others as his upon consumption of a sample of their mana. Ten minutes after absorbing the mana samples, Laftus consulted his enchanted scepter. About a hundred thousand more provide mana taxes. That indicated families were getting much larger if there were so many ten year olds. Was that a side effect of prosperity?

Many discoveries were made from simply observing how the machina regiis functioned. More were made destructively investigating the second one they had.

One of the most tightly kept secrets, the machina regiis was a key to godhood. Mana made all things possible with sufficient enough power. If Laftus didn't succeed, then one of his descendants would achieve godhood.

For now Laftus got to enjoy the immense power of holding mana from his serfs in his hand. Every king did so, a race started under the otherworlder's nose once he had toppled the gods. The godkiller naïvely tried to distribute all the resulting knowledge but was promptly stopped. Legends said the godkiller was still around, simply imprisoned, but Laftus hoped not.

He summoned his general.

"Has screwing with servant girls and throwing massive parties stopped satisfying you? I know bafrin was a no go but there should be better uses for your time. Maybe take your training more seriously?" As per usual General Nagatas seemed to have a perpetual scowl on his face.

"You know those… activities were never satisfying,” Laftus sighed. “As for bafrin being a no go, that may no longer be the case. Durin happened and we must have further discussion in the War room.”

The general nodded as his face somehow even scowled even more, “yes sire.”

Laftus and General Nagatas stepped into a blue chamber after a short walk away from the training fields.. Apparently a past ancestor decided blue was a good color for planning war, but that wasn't what they were there for. This was one of the four rooms with the utmost anti-divination wards. New ways of magical espionage were discovered everyday and his room and study, the ritual room, and the war room were kept updated against these..

"An otherworlder has arrived in our world. One that came from the godkiller one at that," Laftus declared more relaxed than he felt.

Nagatas hung his head and muttered, "I thought the gods are mere remnants of what they once were. On top of that they usually word their prophecies so as to actually steer events in their favor.” He hit the table in frustration and growled, “prophecies should stay as hogwash!"

"The prophecy was oddly vague other than saying the ‘harbinger’ foretold would arrive this month. Maybe the gods aren’t sure that the “harbinger of change” would actually move in favor of them,” Laftus tried to point out a silver lining.

The attempt didn’t work even for himself.

“Kaftaras's tiny balls I thought we were in the clear since today was the last day of the month. I should have known better. Curse the prophecy,” Laftus agreed with Nagatas.

Both Laftus and Nagatas fell silent.

"I don't see you cooperating indefinitely with all of the other god kings in order to put down the otherworlder. I suppose we shall use the resulting turmoil as a distraction?" Nagatas was sharp on point as usual.

"Yes, but I might have to leave the country eventually if we are unlucky enough to be the starting point of the ‘harbinger', because chances are high that the otherworlder will have some absurd advantage from being summoned through the primordial energies. I need you to build up the military and the innovation department to finish up their research on ‘that’," Laftus grumbled. "Who is most likely to ally with us given the circumstances?"

"Well sire, I believe Queen Lisaya has been suggesting marriage for a while now. You should know she is considered quite fetching," Nagatas said.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will marry her. I guess my life as an eternal 'bachelor' is over. I will be pretty upset if I lose against this ‘harbinger of change.’ Who else?" Laftus tried to reply nonchalantly as he lamented the loss.

"Well King Jerom has been suggesting a joint-expedition into the wilds, so he may be open for cooperation," Nagatas reminded him.

"Ugh that fool doesn't realize that a lot of the ideas he juggles with could be the end of our power. He should be easy to handle, though. Get me my speech coordinator. I will be calling for a massive expansion into the wild," Laftus paused. "Alert my spymaster to have everything he has to be compiled into one report. Get me my writing coordinator also, I need to send letters to Queen Lisaya and King Jerom. I also need to get the ball rolling for a meeting with all the rulers as soon as possible. The sort of mustering my country is capable of would threaten them too much otherwise."

Laftus hurried to his study room. There was no time to lose, because who knew whether a moment wasted might lead to his defeat? He stopped to take a deep breath. Moving frantically would not help. The otherworlder still had to get their bearings most likely.

On that note, Laftus never felt more alive! A new challenge stood before him. His slow jog led him to double doors of rich mahogany through which he pushed through. His speech and writing coordinators were already there.

“My apologies Baron Yevin, on second thought I won’t need your services with writing quite yet. For now I will just work on a speech,” Laftus dismissed one of the men.

Baron Yevin bowed before leaving quickly, probably because he sensed the edge in Laftus’s voice. The other was Baron Galta. The punctuality was going to be rewarded. In fact, loyalty was going to be thoroughly reinforced with rewards. War was on the horizon.

“Baron Galta, help me form a speech to galvanize the people of my country to conquer the wilds,” Laftus dictated.

Baron Galta started, “very well sire. I suggest starting with a booming voice in a congratulatory tone as sire would know, but be careful to keep things simple. You don’t want people to misunderstand, especially when trying to appeal to their emotions.”

Laftus spoke, “I believe I can make a go at appealing to my people's love for the country. Emphasize how we are superior to the other countries.”

He almost let out a sigh. Living decadently had so much less stress.

10/01/ AWAD 200

Laftus looked down at the people gathered under him. The spatiaths transported the elites of his country without much trouble. Numerous more people saw him through the imcaps that hovered around. His scepter showed that the totality of all the serfs watching reached about a million.

He prompted his scepter to amplify his voice and began, “my countrymen are you not tired of the humdrum of your daily lives? Have you stared at the horizon and wondered what was beyond? Thanks to my innovators, living beyond the frontier has become possible. Our country shall rise to the top as the perfect combination of order and progress!”

“What of the Kingdom of Jerom where everyone ‘moves up’ in the name of ‘progress’? Almost no order exists in that confusing mass of people. Most of them don’t have a clue what true progress even is. Kingdoms like the kingdom of Saverus with their clockwork-like orderliness offers an almost absolute safety to citizens, but, unfortunately, rarely does the word for progress leave their mouths. Not our country though. We shall steadily move towards the future as every other country chokes on their flaws,” Laftus paused to amplify his voice even more.

Raising his fist into the air, he boomed, “the future shall be ours! All hail Jaclistan!”

The crowds followed suit and chanted back, “all hail Jaclistan!”

10/02/ AWAD 200

War was in the near future and Laftus’s habits of frivolity had a price and cashed in.

Laftus panted as sweat poured down his face. A soldier looked at him with uncertainty, but charged again when Laftus directed him. The soldier sustained a series of blows forcing Laftus to block and dodge a variety of attacks.

Not much physicality was required when fighting people from his aristocracy, so Laftus’s stamina dropped from only training for elegance of technique if ever. His trainer usually stopped short of striking but didn’t make the venture any less tiring. Laftus’s training armor could only hold against so many direct strikes.

The training armor gave out for the fifth time and Laftus was exhausted. As soon as the high pitched alarm rang, the soldier stopped his series of attacks and backed off. The soldier swiftly left the training room after saluting.

Laftus fell onto his back with his dignity and stamina physically and mentally in tatters.

“You will lose on the battlefield against the otherworlder at that rate,” Nagatas commented from the door. “You know the training menu.”

Laftus growled as he fell into a press-up position on the floor. Four unenhanced press-ups then a single acceled press-up was a routine he repeated twenty times. After those were curl-ups then squats.

By the end, he ached so bad, the masseuses had their work cut out for them. The hot bath at the end of the day never felt so good.

10/09/ AWAD 200

A week passed before Laftus received any response letters.

The condition the other rulers gave Laftus for a meeting was ridiculous. Build a whole new city? Their networks should have also told them of the harbinger prophecy’s fulfilment. A lot of them must have taken their wars more seriously than expected.

He would give them a city to meet at--under his banner. They should have an idea of what was coming for them even if the haze of the wilds made studying his new city difficult. The blatant nature of complying might even come off as desiring peace.

The resources at his disposal weren’t enough for such a venture though. Fortunately, he had already called for the necessary meeting with his aristocrats.

Not a moment after Laftus sat on his throne, Kevisa called out “Sir Hemetrat Saldan has arrived.”

A bulbous frog like man burst through the doorway.

“What makes you think…?!” Sir Saldan started off in a berating tone but trailed off.

Laftus filled the room with his mana field, no his mana dominion.

He remained motionless otherwise, propped on his fist, “you were saying?”

Sir Saldan blustered, “I believe consulting your nobility would have been most advisable before setting up various works like… spatiaths as you call them.”

Laftus asked cooly, “and why must I consult my nobility about what I do with what is exclusively my land? Those roads weren’t called the kings highways for no reason.”

He knew exactly why Hemetrat was protesting. With such a higher level of connectivity with the various provinces of the aristocracy, they wouldn’t be able to get away with so much as before. He even had a running bet with how much higher tax revenue would rise with his secretary. The purpose of the meeting wasn’t to settle ruffled feathers, though.

“I called you for another matter. Not to talk about what I was fully in my right to do. I assume you are indeed aware of my call for conquest of the wilds. If I am going to ensure the serfs don’t become uppity, then even more of my innovations will be necessary in the subsequent cities in the wild. You tested my patience, though, so tell me why I should even give you the chance for more landholdings?”

Sir Saldan’s mouth gaped open for a second like a fish out of water before he launched into a plea.

By the third minute, Laftus lost his patience, “your duration for an audience with me has expired.”

Following custom, Sir Saldan bowed twice before leaving, but Laftus sneered at the correction. Sir Saldan would get nothing. Although, he would be noted for his insolence.

Following aristocrats requested audiences with much better attitudes. They read the situation far more cleverly than Sir Saldan. Kevisa diligently recorded every word from which his aids would produce the details of negotiations proposed. Five hundred forty three submitted requests for audiences, so Laftus’s schedule until the end of the year was packed.

Four hundred four aristocrats refused to show up, though. Their contracts hadn’t dissolved, so they hadn’t committed true treason. Laftus’s thirst for conquest flared, nevertheless. They probably truly believed he would accept such actions.