Chapter 35 #2
“I know they aren’t,” I answered immediately.
“I don’t believe wearing the colors of the Goddess and calling yourself a priest makes you a good person either.
Too often, those supposed symbols of goodness are used to hurt people.
Am I a good person? No, but I don’t pretend to be.
While everyone is fearful of what the wolf on the distant ridge might do, the wolves in sheep’s clothing are inside the town eating the innocent. ”
We walked several paces without speaking, the chirping of birds the only voices to break the silence. Eventually, King Jillias said, “Do you find that this level of candor puts people at ease in negotiations, or is it intended to instill respect and, perhaps, fear?”
“Wolves have teeth. Cacti have thorns. Hives have bees with stingers. I’m not like this as a ploy or a negotiation tactic. I simply see no reason to hide what I am. I’m not ashamed of it, so if someone does get pricked by my thorns, everyone else knows it was their own damn fault.”
The King laughed. “Strange how honesty can make so many enemies, hmm?”
“I find that those enemies fear their own dishonesty being discovered.”
“If I were to ask for your honest thoughts in this moment, would you reveal what is really on your mind?”
“I’m thinking the gardens are nice, but I’d enjoy them more if a woman was sucking my dick and two beautiful women pleasured each other while I watched.”
“Ha! Some kings would be offended by such speech.”
“They pretend that my words offend them, but the real offense comes from within themselves. They have the same kind of thoughts I do. They want to think they’re better than me, and they don’t want to acknowledge, even in their own minds, that I have the bravery to admit what they will keep secret for the rest of their lives. ”
King Jillias thought. “What kind of king do you think I am?”
“I watched your face as I spoke. I didn’t see shame or fear in your reaction. I saw you look around your garden, picturing it full of beautiful women. You agreed that such a thing would be much better than flowers.”
“It certainly would.”
Podni’s day out with Queen Ophonia sealed the King and Queen’s interest in connecting their kingdom to Sanctuary South.
Invia ended up joining them, which I think helped further assuage any fears of what other royals thought of Sanctuary South.
The trio shared a lighthearted girls’ day out, and within hours of their return, King Jillias and Queen Ophonia agreed to join my trade network.
The route wouldn’t open instantly, however. Taking my suggestion, Jillias decided to locate the gate in a place that was highly defensible, should I turn rabidly warthirsty one day and attempt to invade his city via that same gate.
No, that concern didn’t offend me. King Jillias was being entirely reasonable in wanting to protect his people against such a possibility, and seeing business partners taking simple precautions was reassuring.
That meant they were capable of thinking through the potential consequences of their decisions and took practical steps to stop problems from becoming major crises, should they arise.
That kind of partner was more likely to consider all of the facts before jumping to any extreme conclusions. That was ideal for a long, productive relationship, I believed, one I hoped that would continue through his heirs and all the other heirs to follow.
King Jillias’ placement for the gate was outside of the original city walls in a newly constructed bastion, a brand new walled area that attached to the main fortifications in a manner akin to a vestibule in a home.
If invaders attacked from outside, the gate was protected from external threats.
If an army suddenly poured through the gate, they would find themselves trapped in the bastion, surrounded by soldiers who could fire down on them.
The Sanctuary side of that gate was on the island in the middle of our reservoir, next to the gate that linked my city to the Capital of my home kingdom. What King Jillias did with walls, we did with water.
Most importantly, King Jillias didn’t blink when I explained that the gates needed to be regularly “recharged” to function properly and that we needed to start early on loading the initial charge if we wanted the gate to be usable right when the walls were finished.
But don’t worry. Sanctuary South will take care of the costs and labor for maintaining the gate’s power levels. Once a week, the gate had to “vent” waste mana to keep the flow of energy even and steady, but waste mana was harmless, so it was just shot into the air.
Lies. Lies. Lies.
My gates didn’t need to be charged or powered, and the smoke-stack-style attachment didn’t actually connect to the gate in any meaningful way.
All of the fuel going in was Intoxicate+100 bombs.
Regularly dosing the city with them should help to drive sales in my toy line and make the nobles of that country far more pliable in the future.
Once the other kingdoms saw how King Jillias profited from linking his country to the trade nexus, they would want gates of their own.
Those gates would also release Intoxicate+100 bombs at regular intervals.
Soon, I wouldn’t have to worry about anyone on the material plane wanting to harm me because they would all want to fuck me instead.
Feeling exceptionally proud of myself, I gathered my party and took us back into the tower. We had work to do yet, and the next piece of my plan couldn’t come to pass until we had a direct route to the heavens.