In Cairnreach under the noble court of Termin, nobles and royal auxiliaries sit at a long banquet table as their conversations echo across the chamber.
"Are we going to allow this moonless rat to prepare for the invasion? Is the king that stupid?" A noble remarks.
"Watch yourself", an auxiliary with leprosy-like skin, without the condition, is sitting opposite the noble. The nobles' chairs are made of mahogany with red cushions, while the Auxiliaries' chairs are covered in velvet and trimmed with silver lace. "And to answer your question, of course, the King is aware of the opportunity to catch Khael with his guard down; this is why he has informed Xut to send Sura his 4th-ranking pure-blooded apprentice along with a platoon to have Khael's head. "For free?" the noble mused.
"Surprisingly, the old bat asked for 240,000 Marks, equating to 6 million Veil, even Verez's economy is shameful".
"Right, haha, that's only 2400 zest, I hope he doesn't plan on using that to fund the expedition." The nobles bickered amongst themselves, "Soon the Zodian Zest will be worthless like the peasants' crowns, and the Cairnreach Mark will be the realm's reserve currency".
The realm's economy had not changed since Khael came to power. Veil had once been the realm's reserve currency, but after their misfortune many moons ago, they had descended to the bottom of the currencies. Smaller kingdoms used the currency of their governing kingdom as their trading token, though recently, some have been trying to create their own to become independent. If we were to use Veil as the base currency, 2,500 Veil would convert to 1 Zest, 5 Realia, 500 Serol, 100 Marks, or 50 Lind.
More nobles entered.
The nobles all had what was taken from them on display. A finger, a toe, teeth or their skin barrier. It was considered to be a sign of ingratitude to hide it. A strange etiquette. They spoke about mundane topics like the economy some more.
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Sura and his platoon had arrived in the kingdom of Zod, it was lively and vibrant. The air was warm but not humid the sun was out most hours and the people rushed about attending to their business. It was custom to leave their items at their stall if they went off as the people of Zod feared the law, they feared their ruler. Crimes were mostly in the form of drug trafficking as opposed to crimes of passion or acquisition though the fact that the ruler could "invade bodies" and the requirements for this process were unknown they were a rare occurrence.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
In the plaza of the capital Tamura, people wore loose silk garments with a hue of purple akin to the ancient Greeks, they dyed it a similar way using many millions of specific critters harvested for this purpose. perhaps they wore it to symbolise their lands seemingly never ending success. Starkly contrasted by a giant cloth hung across a building remembering the anniversary of the national tragedy. It read in the language of Zenith, "The weapons of glory are forged with the iron in our blood". This was clearly an anti-Khael campaign yet he allowed this to go on since he knew that nothing would come to fruition. It marked the date of the tragedy. 21/2/1198. They used a Verezian calendar which was implemented in the golden age of Verez, the year 0 represented the supposed child's descent. Verez had fallen so low from their golden age people confused the myth of Verez as the golden age as a whole as opposed to the visitor from above, though the golden age was certainly true.
Zod did not possess a Faustian weapon like the crown other than Khael's grimoire. At least that was what Khael claimed to the public, though it was still considered the realm's current superpower. 3 Anomalous weapon existed in the realm, one was the Crown though it had not been used in warfare as far as most could recall. The sceptre also existed, it was a long scaly stick with a giant black orb on top of it, it was in the hands of Verez supposedly along with the other weapon. Though that again cannot be verified. No one knows where the sceptre is it seemed to leave this world along with the soul of the child. As for the final weapon, the only evidence for its existence comes from scholars’ inductive logical inferences, which appear to align with the syntax in which the crown is mentioned, though that is shaky ground
A child bumps into the foreigners, he looks up at them. He pulls out a little canteen filled with "appleade", "1 Zest, 1 Zest," He spits out in Verezian, while using his fingers to signal pointing and saying "1!". 1 Zest was 2500 veil they could not afford that even if they wanted to buy the drink. Sura pats the child's head hard enough to disorient him. They continue on without saying a word.
Sura's platoon walk out of bounds of the capital.
"Can't this guy read our minds? What's the point of a sneak attack?" Virgil say's to his leader. Sura replies, "By catching him off guard we meant without his troops assembled, he is wary of our intentions there is nothing to be done".
They make way for his home. Its surrounded with flora and sits in the middle of a giant courtyard. One of Sura's men steps foot first on the ground. He feels his heart begin to spasm and contract. It feels like a hand is inside of his heart and its trying to rip its way out of a thick putty that refuses to tear. He stops and begins to wheeze. His bones, begin to lose all calcium, they become weak and frail, he falls over as his femur breaks and his muscles are paralyzed. He starts to jitter and shake. He coughs and gags as a vial pushes its way out of his throat.
it has a label on the amber glass vial which read. "Verezian #310001".
Khael is leaning back in a bath with a black towel over his face, "1" enters leaving a glass atomiser next to him along with a bath robe before exiting.
