A/N: Hello! Look, another story with a weird sounding name. Gotta love Latin. Anyway, this is for the Too Many Cooks Challenge with my buddy Flaming Platinum! For the other side of the story, please look at Adhibere Maldicere. Please enjoy and let us know what you think, aside from the fact that we're insane. We know that already.
Adhibere Desperatio
1. Wealth
From the beginning, all was his.
From the beginning, he was blessed with the will of the lord. From the beginning, he was able to see the world in its splendor and squalor.
But it was not enough. It was not all it could be.
All was flawed.
"Bagramon-sama."
Bagramon shut the book in his lap with care, leaning to look at his subordinate with both disinterest and amused curiosity. It was a look you had to master in a world like this. A king could not afford to be emotionally invested for too long. "Tactimon. Report?"
"The knight is beginning to prowl."
Bagramon rubbed at his skeletal eye and nodded. He would be already making his move, he supposed. Investigation would bear merit... later. "Scouting?"
"Fine soldiers ready to take up the cause, sir. However, the order..." Tactimon didn't show concern, perhaps that would ruin what he considered perfection. But his voice inevitably betrayed him.
Bagramon acknowledged his lack of composure with little more than a blink of his eyes. "Do a thorough examination into both of them. It's fairly obvious what they're going to do, but if we must deal with them-"
"Then let us do so without error," Tactimon finished with a smile behind his mask. "I shall begin at once."
Bagramon prepared to open his book again. "Keep an eye on Lillithmon, will you?"
His commander's brisk nod was enough to convince him the conversation was at an end, and he turned back to his page.
He had plenty of protection and intelligence and certainty, but who was to say he couldn't need a little more?
