“Enough, Lentz, I understand. And this Vensiro, as it happens, decided to offer me three different options?”
“I’m sure he won’t be the only one. What is the purpose of your inviting him to you in an hour?”
The emperor emitted a sinister chuckle.
“He needs my attention. And he’ll get it. Just not in the way he’s trying to. Incidentally... How will affect you?”
“There are whispers, my lord. Words of my suddenly increased influence. The courtiers agonize over how to behave with me. They can’t figure out whether this is a temporary phase or whether you’ve really begun to listen to me.”
“Are you certain of your people? Do you have a guard?”
“I haven’t had time to think about that, sire. Events have developed very quickly.”
“We’re both going to have to think, Lentz. By the end of the day, I want to know who I can rely on.”
They reached the doors leading to the imperial chambers. Two armed guards clanked out salutes in their armor, greeting their emperor.
“How are things?” Ma Ju Ro asked. “Nobody has come out?”
“Nobody, your imperial majesty!”
The emperor walked into the pompous lounge first. Lentz followed him in, and saw a woman he’d mentally buried, a woman in perfect health and full of energy. His gaze moved to the emperor in understanding and he silently mouthed the word: Unbelievable!
After a short explanation and upon hearing that Kora was in the palace, the woman decided to go to her at once and stay by her side. Ma Ju Ro nodded, and Lentz shouted for Koerlig to escort Prisca.
Once alone, the two men went out onto the terrace. Both were starving, and a few minutes later they cleared a table full of fruit and snacks.
“Alright. What about Yadugara?” Ma Ju Ro asked after draining a pitcher of sparkling spring water, the pride of the southern barons. “Was he upset?”
“I’ll say! At first he protested, believing that I was trying to steal the donor for myself. I had to call in the guards. That worked, but angered him even more. He shouted, spluttered and threatened to complain to the guild. He screamed at me that at tomorrow’s award ceremony, he would declare his departure from the guild and tell everyone of the emperor’s tyranny.”
“Award ceremony?”
“Yes, sire. You will be there.”
“Excellent,” Ma Ju Ro said. “A good occasion to declare my new order...”
Lentz listened to the emperor talk of free medicine for all his subjects, and, to put it mildly, was shocked.
“That’s utopian thinking!” he said outright. “It’s completely impossible. Absolutely. Nobody from the guild will agree to this! You would discredit the profession by making healing available to every beggar!”
The guild can continue to earn through paid healing,” the emperor tried to calm down his subject. “Your department will be providing free healing for all the Empire’s subjects, Lentz.”
“How?”
“How many graduates of the medical faculty do you have?”
“In total? Or every year?” Lentz snorted. “I get the idea. Fifty each year. Three quarters of them aren’t in the guild and scratch along with whatever pay they can earn. Another part of them are forced to give up ten years of their life in ‘apprenticeship’ with the healers, for bread and board, before they can get a license to practice if they’re lucky.”
“We’ll set aside one of the buildings confiscated from the conspirators as a clinic. Gather your best graduates that haven’t yet become practicing healers. Ensure that the state provides for them all and gives them worthy recompense. Put aside an extra reward for those that are particularly successful. Find a good manager to delegate the day-to-day operations to...”
“Koerlig,” Lentz interrupted him and blushed. “Forgive me, your majesty!”
“For work issues and alone it is acceptable,” the emperor said. “Let’s dispense with the formalities. Alright, Koerlig then. As for the expenses, consult with Naut. He’s doing nothing useful in his cage, he might as well calculate the budget.
“The budget? That’s our key concern, my lord! The idea of community clinics is not new, although never for free. My teacher suggested creating something like them, so that all healers of different specialities could be in one place, instead of trying to achieve the impossible by healing everyone in the world. But nobody was interested! Especially the healers’ guild!”
“We’ll avoid the guild entirely,” Ma Ju Ro shook his head. “They’ll chase the rich, the aristocrats. We’ll handle the health of the common people. We’ll start with the capital, cut our teeth, then we’ll open imperial clinics in the other cities.”
“It all sounds very attractive, my lord...” Lentz chewed his lips. “But where will we get the money? The treasury is empty and has no chance to fill...”
It didn’t escape the emperor that Lentz had said “we.” The man was involved, inspired, and that was good. Before the day ended, he’d need to address the issue of his security. He’d already put the challenge to his metamorphosis, and he had a ready solution. He just had to save up some Wheel energy.
“All the money of the Empire is a constant value,” Ma Ju Ro said, smiling in childish wonderment. Lentz couldn’t help but smile in response. “It just swaps pockets. And we only have to direct it into the right ones.”
Chapter 28. Stick and Carrot
THE CASTLE LIVENED UP even more from the spreading rumors, and the fact that Lentz had had such a suspiciously long meeting with the emperor in the imperial chambers. A curious crowd of courtiers gathered outside the emperor’s chambers, and the guards could barely hold them back until reinforcements arrived.
The captain of the palace guard, urgently called away from his incredibly entertaining questioning of the emperor’s courtesans, had to personally visit the emperor and ask what to do. Ma Ju Ro was carried away with talking to Lentz about his health reforms, as he called them, and reacted with extreme efficiency.
“Send gawpers away, anyone with business can wait in line. When you’re done, come back with Koerlig, Hector.”
“It will be done, my ruler!” Hector hit his chest in salute, grinning. “Chase away those lazy bums? With pleasure!”
Luca had just turned back to continue his exciting conversation of imperial medicine and to recommend new methods of treating incurable diseases that he’d managed to dig out of Esk’s legacy, but he heard the clank of metal again.
“Forgive me, your imperial highness,” Hector said, embarrassed. “But who is Koerlig?”
“Lentz?” Ma Ju Ro glanced at the healer.
He laconically explained to the captain that they were talking about the new chief of the first imperial community clinic, but for now his secretary.
“That rogue with the weaselly face?” the captain asked in surprise. He scratched the back of his head and walked to the door, muttering. “Strange are your ways, Sacred Mother! May you always bless us...”
As soon as the captain left, the doors of the imperial bedchamber opened and Keirinia appeared, and in such a salacious outfit that Lentz blushed and averted his eyes. Luca ordered himself not to stare, although he wanted to stare so badly that it was intolerable. Fortunately, the girl quickly realized this wasn’t the time and didn’t act up. She just threw a glance at the empty tray of fruit and asked whether the men wanted to eat something heartier. The men did, and the first courtesan got to work. A fed man was a generous man. She knew that firsthand.
Then a guard by the name of Urtso appeared. He got straight to the point and reported that Reyk Lee Vensiro was insisting to see the emperor (with a group of young women and some ‘vagrants’ in tow), and said he had an ‘appointment.’
“They can wait,” Ma Ju Ro waved him away, and those three words, uttered by Urtso outside, caused a fresh wave of excited whispering.
Soon Luca had enough Wheel energy to do what he intended to ensure Lentz’s safety. It didn’t give the healer complete protecti
on, but it allowed him to relatively easily withstand any deadly wound or poison. All that remained was to see how it would work in action.
“Accepted,” the emperor said in response to another of Lentz’s suggestions. He stretched out a hand to him. Lentz responded with a handshake. “We’ll stop there for now, we’ve already planned for years ahead. I expect a detailed step-by-step plan of action from you.”
He grasped the healer by the forearm, as was customary in the Empire when making deals, and at that very moment, it seemed, his metamorphosis skill leveled up. Although the emperor couldn’t say whether it had happened some time before. He was able to inject toxin-neutralizing agents into Kora, after all. In any case, he only paid attention to the Wheel’s new message in that moment.
Metamorphosis: +1.
Ability level three reached!
Ability to control body at initial level: molecular generation with properties given by request.
Gained ability to use programmed nano-agents with set replication cycles and functionality, and transfer them to other biological objects. Unlocked ranged control over objects infiltrated with nano-agents as long as they remain in view.
The number of objects connected at a time depends on the carrier’s influence level and available Wheel energy.
“Is everything alright, ruler?” Lentz asked in concern, seeing Ma Ju Ro frozen and staring into space.
“Yes,” Ma Ju Ro sighed.
It took time to comprehend his new skills and to get a grasp on basic nano and biomedical technologies, the foundations of molecular physics and the systems of units for naming and designating decimal fractions.
The emperor sat back in a chair, holding his head. This singular gold mine of knowledge from Esk’Onegut’s legacy made him feel like he’d jumped into a well of icy water. His breath caught, his working memory of his current place and time and even recent events and thoughts was temporarily wiped, and all to explain to the young traveler the meaning of the word ‘nano.’
Finally, all his knowledge had been restructured and organized in the shelves of his mind and was ready for use. There were truly incredible implications behind that short description of his new skills from metamorphosis level three.
The metamorphic agents injected into the healer through his skin, programmed to replicate and intervene against any potential injury to the healer, could save him even from strangulation, bypassing the lungs to oxygenate the blood. Only a beheading or a dissection would send the medic to the Sacred Mother. Or to Two-horns, depending on his luck at the Threshold.
Thinking for a moment, Ma Ju Ro stood up, leaned against the terrace railing and froze, enchanted by what he saw. Lentz kept sitting quietly, observing his ruler sidelong and fearing to remind him of his presence even with the sound of his breath.
Luca looked at the sun for a while as it made its way down to the horizon, studied the glittering ocean and appreciated the fact that he was observing a truly beautiful sight for the first time in his life — the sunset. It took his breath away. The giant ball of fire slowly dropped down into the sea, and the emperor would have stood and watched until the sun melted completely into the waves, giving off a barely visible light from the depths... But he had too much to do. And it was all important!
He had to provide for his mother and Kora, and in a way that didn’t cause them any problems whether he remained the emperor or not. And how was he to behave with them? What would he say about Luca’s fate? How would he explain? And if he told his family the truth, would they believe him?
The financial and taxation reforms required to fill up the treasury quickly would require deeper thought than a flash of an idea from Esk’s legacy. In the experience of Esk’s previous life, the pinnacle of robbing the people was a tax on air. That was exactly what led to the untimely demise of that emperor.
The webs of conspiracy all around were a subject for the creation of a separate strategy, but they were merely a consequence of dissatisfaction with his rule, and that was something that couldn’t be fixed in a day.
Reinforcing the army, improving the state’s communication policies, dispensing with unnecessary courtiers and surrounding himself with people whose loyalty was worth earning, winning over the northern barons in the looming battle against Rezsinius’s troops...
Intelligence was extremely important, but, as he’d managed to learn from Lentz, Commander Hustig of the imperial army was far from loyal. His intelligence couldn’t be trusted.
On top of it all, tomorrow was Yadugara’s award ceremony at the healers’ guild. He had to think of what to do with that cretin.
And most importantly of all, Fourth Advisor Cross. The only link connecting him with those whom his black-skinned khhar cell-mate Terant had called racants. He had only scraps of knowledge about the wider, inaccessible world, partly from Terant and partly from the memory of his body’s former owner.
But before getting started with all that, he had to make sure of something. The emperor decided to test one of his new abilities as soon as he could.
Ma Ju Ro turned sharply toward the healer, put a hand on his shoulder and barely grazed his bare neck with a finger. Lentz flinched.
“This very morning, you were planning to kill me. Now you’re on my side,” the emperor said softly. “Tell me, Lentz, what are your true motives? Do you fear me?”
“No, my lord,” the healer shook his head.
Looking into the man’s eyes, Luca chuckled in satisfaction. They were filling with blood. Lentz, feeling himself unwell, tried to blink, then took off his glasses, grabbed at his eyes and moaned. The emperor canceled his last command, deciding to stick to more merciful methods in future.
Lentz cowered, his face streaming with tears. He shook slightly and didn’t know what to expect next from his ruler. He put his glasses back on nervously.
“It seems you’ve forgotten that I’m more than just a man now, Lentz. Lie to me again and you’ll go blind. You can lie to others as much as you want, if it helps our cause, but never dare lie to me! Do I make myself clear?”
Lentz nodded so hard that his glasses fell off again. Luca grabbed them as they fell and offered them back to the only man he could trust. A little demonstration not only of his strength, but also his abilities.
“As for the rest, be calm, my friend and ally. Together, we will achieve our plans and bring back to the Empire not only its former glory, but the well-being of its citizens. And while ever you are loyal to me, you are under my protection. I have placed divine protection on you. You will survive a blade in the neck, or a dagger to the heart. Poisons will have no effect on you...”
“Thank you, my lord!” Lentz fell to his knees and bowed his head. “Forgive me for lying to you! I couldn’t say that I fear you, I saw your mercy for me and did not want to offend you! But truly, should a loyal subject not fear the ire of his ruler?”
“Stand up. Fear is nothing to be ashamed of, for you are a living person,” Luca said, surprised at his language and wondering how such lofty thoughts came to him. It happened so naturally that he just took it as a given. “But there is no reason to fear. I am not building the new Empire on fear, but on trust. I have one request for you, Lentz. Stay just as loyal as ever to science and medicine. I value you for that, not for the fake loyalty that Hector shows, or for servility. Would my great ancestor Ma Ju Ro the First have promoted his allies for that?”
“I understand, my lord. Would you allow me to test something?”
Luca nodded. Lentz grabbed a fruit knife from the table and stabbed himself in the palm. He screamed, pulled out the knife and then watched in awe as the blood congealed and the wound knitted itself closed. His eyes widened in amazement as he wiped away the bloodstain.
“Stunning! You truly do possess the power of the Sacred Mother, your imperial majesty!”
Just as Lentz was exclaiming his surprise, a whole delegation uncertainly drifted into the imperial chambers. Keirinia with the old man Nem, heading up a chain of servants with di
shes full of treats, and Captain Kolot Hector, who for some reason was dragging Koerlig behind him by the ear.
“What happened, Hector?” Lentz spread his hands. “Why are you holding him like that?”
“He tried to run away, the scoundrel.”
“Why, Koerlig?” the healer said in even greater befuddlement.
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