Chapter 4
(Two months later)
In the bright sunny morning of Balbadd, the streets are lively with noise and activities, people moving around quickly to do their business, the markets are full of life people buying, selling, bartering, and trading all around, Craftsmen plying their works for all to see, down at the docks fishermen were selling their catch of the day to anyone interested, dock workers unloading and loading cargo on ships, the entire country seems joyous and full of life.
Now, this should be a welcome sight to anyone residing in Balbadd, but the Banker of the Kou Empire was infuriated with the state of the country, the Banker's job was to drown the country in debt thus creating animosity and hate between the rich and the poor, which would weaken the country further in a rebellion against the monarchy creating large amounts of black rukh for his master's purposes, then Kou would just waltz in playing the hero saving their Princess from rebels, effectively seizing the country legally and without contest.
All the carefully laid plans are all but ruined, the new player in Balbadd had effectively rendered the crown's authority moot at this point, the ASLAW Trading Company has a monopoly on all trade that isn't directly tied to Kou Empire or a few nobles, the king and nobles tried to use force to make the company surrender, that ended badly for them, cause not only do they have a better trained and equipped military force, but their monopoly is also perfectly legal all the ships and caravans that come in already have exclusive contracts with ASLAW Trading Company for at least the next five years.
The true source of their danger to the current monarchy is currency, they don't deal with Fan at all, nor do any of their business partners trade with the Kou Empire's currency, this made it all but useless in Balbadd leaving everyone except a few revert to traditional currency for trade and purchasing goods at the local markets.
Things haven't been completely peaceful which might explain why his superiors haven't directly interfered yet, the way the ruling class is losing power, wealth, and influence is hinting at the very real possibility of a rebellion or if they manipulate it right a civil war, which would put everything back on track for their plans.
"Hello," a voice says interrupting Banker's train of thought.
When he turns around he sees thirteen cloaked individuals standing in his secret home, he has no idea how they entered without him sensing them or their rukh, even now as he looks at them he can't see or sense their rukh if they had not announced themselves he would have never noticed them.
One of the cloaked intruders raised a staff announcing himself as a magician, eleven others follow his lead power starts to permeate the home, the Banker has no idea what they are planning but he fully intends to stop it, as he prepares his magic for battle the last figure moved, it was over in an instant one second the intruder was on the other side of the room, and instantly later he was behind the banker with a flaming greatsword held in his outstretched hand, the banker's body is swiftly dissolved into black rukh, the broken puppet lays discarded on the floor, as the black rukh tries to escape its encased in a magical barrier created from the twelve magicians, once the barrier was fully secured the leader pulls back the hood of his cloak revealing sparkling blonde hair.
"I have to say I'm impressed with your creation Magnus, this cloaking ability they have is ingenious, removing the Banker would have been much more annoying without it." Alibaba praised his head magician.
"Thank you for your kind words, my King, I will make sure that the research team knows you're given them the weekend off with a bonus," Magnus says this with a sly smile on his face, he projected his voice so everyone in the room heard, thus making Alibaba unwilling to refuse, and given the twitching eyebrows, he knows it as well.
"Fine you old fox they all deserve it anyway, so let's gather all his papers and get them and his rukh back to base, we both have a long few days ahead of us." Alibaba gestures to the stacked shelves of papers he and his accountants are going to be reviewing to find the contracts concerning Balbadd.
Everyone got to work gathering everything of importance then silently left the home as if they were never there.
(Three days later)
-ASLAW Trading Company HQ-
"Moron."
"How could you be so dumb?"
"OH MY GOD!!! YOUR A RETARD"
"Fucking idiot!!"
"How has none of his supporters killed him yet?"
"I feel for dad, I couldn't imagine the utter disappointment he felt looking at his son every day."
"I got it they are adopted, they don't even look like dad."
These were some of the statements that have become common over the last few days as Alibaba went through the papers taken from the Banker with his team, the contracts and accounting records they found has many members of Alibaba's legal and accounting team wondering how a King of a merchant country could be this incompetent, the Banker was basically a loan shark doing funny accounting, the interest rates kept ballooning and instead of doing what any smart merchant would do, he just borrowed more going as far as giving up several rights as collateral, including the Marine rites something that should never be in the hands of anyone but the King of Balbadd, several nobles had accounts with the Banker as well, now we have concrete proof of the nobles directly involved with Kou's silent takeover.
Today was going the same way until Alibaba opened a contract and then went completely silent, a few of them were waiting to hear him insult his brother today but after twenty minutes of silence they got concerned, abruptly he stands up wearing a dark murderous expression, he released a harsh breath, then told them to tell Scarlett, Harahb, and Magnus to come to his office immediately then quickly left the room.
Thirty minutes later the summoned individuals were in Alibaba's office, looking at the scroll that has had Alibaba silently drinking for the last half hour.
"This can't be true," Scarlett muttered in disbelief.
"Even to get out of debt, no one should do this, especially to their own people," Harahb says looking at the scroll as if it's personally insulted him.
"I know you've said that he's your half-brother but I can't even imagine how one can be this morally bankrupt," Magnus says, his has gone pale as he read the contract.
Everyone in the room was deep in their own thoughts after receiving this new information, on the scroll, there is a contract between the Crown King of Balbadd and the Emperor of the Kou Empire, stating that Balbadd will turn itself into a slave production country starting with its own citizens, several names of nobles who have signed up for the deal was also written down, the contract was to be finalized with the marriage of a Princess of Kou to the King of Balbadd in a few months.
"Harahb what's the status of the main fighting force?" Alibaba's question shattered the silence of the room.
Though initially startled by the abrupt question Harahb answers. "We have two thousand men and women on standby throughout the country, one thousand are guarding the various shipments, and caravans working for use, two thousand are busy in the central part of the continent ensuring that our control of the Oasis cities and their trade routes remain free of the slave trade, the last one thousand are training the one thousand new recruits who should be combat-ready in four to six months." He finished listing all their current assets.
"Magnus?" Alibaba prompts.
"Thirty battle-ready magicians, the others are either not built for fighting or are not trained for this, but we should not need any of more if we are just taking Balbadd," Magnus reports with confidence for his magicians.
"Good, we move tonight while they are still distracted by the disappearance of the Banker, we will capture all the names on the contract, Ahbmad will be deposed then put on trial for his crimes against his people along with his supporters, this will focus the ire of the people on those who deserve it, allowing them to truly unite as one people, their execution will cement the change in power while simultaneously restoring the honor of the Crown in the eyes of the people, get everything ready, the operation starts at midnight," Harahb looked as if he was going to argue the directive, so Alibaba cut him off. "This is not up for discussion, I know it may seem rash but this was not the first plan I made but it's the most practical one we can execute today, so trust me."
They could all see the resolve in his eyes and decided to trust their king and friend with the situation, Magnus, and Harahb leave to prepare their people leaving just Scarlett and Alibaba alone in the room.
Silence descended over the room for a few minutes until Scarlett threw a pair of metal gauntlets to Alibaba, he catches them while raising an inquisitive brow in the question of her actions.
"We're going to spar, you need to work off the bloodlust and aggression your feeling before the operation tonight, and no it's not a request so let's go." She finished speaking while holding the office door open for him to walk through.
Alibaba obediently walks through the door and proceeds to follow her to the training ground, as they walk he can't help but be grateful that she knows him so well for if he says his brother in his current state of mind he would kill him no question, thus breaking his own code, so he is thankful for the chance to work it off, as he watches her wide hips sway as she walks ahead of him he can't help but think of another way to work off his negative energy which is much more pleasurable.
After a few hours of intense sparing, they moved on to another more intensely pleasurable activity for the last few hours till midnight.
(Midnight, Balbadd)
The night air was chilling as it blew through the streets of Balbadd, the normally busy nightlife was nonexistent, dead silence shrouded the city as if they could sense something was wrong, not even the criminals were active that night, the word on the street was that the head of ASLAW Trading Company wanted no one on the streets tonight and everyone listened.
The only night activity was in the upper-class part of the city, where the nobles reside oblivious to the looming threat bearing down on them.
A few moments later one of the noble estates went dark then ten minutes later the lights were back on, this process repeated continuously through the night leaving none aware of what is going on.
Every time one of the estates went dark Alibaba's teams would infiltrate in a set pattern; eliminate perimeter guards, remove interior resistance, secure the target, seize all financial assets especially the Fan, then leave the area.
This process was repeated over and over again until all secondary objectives were acquired, now they were ready to move on to the main objective the Royal Palace.
As Alibaba observed the guards moving around the perimeter, there was more than usual almost twice the usual amount, huh it seems the old man is still sharp he thought.
He signals his magicians to use wide-area sleep spell, with no magicians of their own they could not stop it, when all the perimeter guards were down, the teams moved into the interior. The interior was also bustling with activity from the royal guards but a quick use of the sleep spell rendered them unconscious, the teams he brought went to secure the Royal Treasury, the Palace Archives, and all the exits, Alibaba lead his men to the private wing of the palace where the royals sleep, as they come upon the entrance to the wing Barkak stands in their way.
"I know not how you made it this far, but you will not advance a step further!" Barkak declared firmly, several hidden royal guards surrounded Alibaba and his team.
"I'd expect nothing less from you Barkak, it's good to see you still sharp." Alibaba comments lightly, then removes his facemask and hood, revealing his face to Barkak. "The years have been good to you my friend." A smile graced his face as he spoke.
"Prince Alibaba! Your alive!" Barkak exclaimed in shock, earning surprised looks from the royal guards present, whispered muttering broke out among the guards present after his identity was confirmed.
"Why are you here in the middle of the night my prince?" Barkak asked.
"Did you know that Abhmad was planning to turn Balbadd into slave production country using our own citizens?" Alibaba asked with a deadly voice sending chills down Barkak's spine.
Barkak and the royal guard's faces went pale at the question, shock, and disbelief clearly visible in their eyes, proving they had no prior knowledge of Ahbmad's plans.
Alibaba could decide to trust them but he was not willing to risk it, using their shock to his advantage he djinn equipped for a moment, then disabled them all in an instant, and continued onward without looking back once.
Alibaba found his two half brothers being escorted by a dozen royal guards, he whistled loudly prompting them to halt in their tracks.
"Now that is no way to greet family brothers," Alibaba declares.
"A-A-Alibaba!" Sahbmad stutters out in surprise.
"You lowborn scum! You should be dead!" Ahbmad bellows furiously.
"Great to see the loves still strong between us brother," Alibaba comments sarcastically. "Now who among these fine men did you tell your plan to sell their families as slaves?" Alibaba questions wearing an innocent smile.
The guards immediately stiffened, their faces hardened, the rage was burning in their eyes as they turned to Ahbmad, silently demanding an answer, Ahbmad was unable to meet their piercing gaze opting to look away from them entirely ignoring them.
"Well, that's the way the cookie crumbles, move aside men of Balbadd while I bring Justice down upon this criminal," as he says this the royal guards walk away from Ahbmad taking Sahbmad with them.
"Get back here! Defend your King yo,u worthless peasants!" Ahbmad rages as he is left defenseless and alone.
"Why?" Alibaba asked.
"Why what? Speak clearly street rat," Ahbmad states trying to appear unaffected by his current predicament.
"Why would you turn our people into slaves to be sold to the highest bidder?!" Alibaba roared temporarily losing his temper, causing Ahbmad to cower.
"I am. I am the king I can do whatever I want with my subjects, it's of no concern of yours! Urchin," Ahbmad tries to defend himself.
A dark laugh from Alibaba cuts through the room sending shivers down the spine of everyone present. "Thank you Ahbmad, now I know you are beyond salvation, my conscience is clear for what happens next. Take him." Alibaba's men moved forward and captured Ahbmad, dragging him kicking and screaming to the dungeons.
(Three months later)
The events that followed Alibaba's raid on the palace happened exactly as he had expected it to; Alibaba became the new King of Balbadd, Ahbmad and his supporters were put on trial, where all their crimes against the people were revealed including the plan to turn the country into a slave production country using Balbadd citizens, unsurprisingly everyone demand that they die for their crimes, people working for Alibaba went around collecting signatures from all the citizens for he gave them responsibility for deciding Ahbmad, and his supporters punishment, this had the ulterior motive of the people unknowingly giving consent to use their negative emotions to fuel the fire that will be burning the criminals to death, allowing them to get rid off their hate, pain, and grief so they can move on with their lives, Ahbmad and two dozen other nobles were put to the fire, they burnt for three long hours due to magical nature of the fire, other nobles that while were not apart of the slave contract still supported Ahbmad half their wealth were seized as punishment, the few nobles who didn't support him but also didn't oppose him lost twenty percent of their financial assets as well, the wealth taken was funneled back into the country in the form of aid for the middle and lower class citizens, construction projects were implemented to provide proper housing for those who needed or requested it. Expansions were made to the city growing the city by at least a third of the original size, these tasks were made easier due to the assistance of Alibaba's magicians, the magicians have been slowly but steadily growing in number, ever since the country has changed kings, half the new magician recruited were fleeing from Reim Empire territories due to their prejudice on magic, Aladdin, and Morgiana made it to Balbadd two weeks after the public execution, they spent a few days spending time together catching up on what they both went through, this is how Alibaba learned that Aladdin met one of the Kou Empire's metal vessel users Princess Hakuei Ren, after they caught up Aladdin went to continue his magician studies with Magnus, Alibaba went back to ruling his country, all the Fan in the country was collected along with Fan from other sources, now he had the money necessary to pay back the debt to Kou in full, he has been in negotiations with the Empire from he took the throne yet they seem to be drawing out the process, possibly to think of a new ways to acquire the country, if only they knew we can pay them back immediately they would probably switch to more forceful methods, the only thing Alibaba could not undo was the marriage to a Kou Princess, It seems the contract stipulated the King of Balbadd not a specific person so legally the contract is binding, but the slave agreement was a separate matter that was quickly dismissed to ensure the marriage happens so Alibaba is now preparing to be married to avoid a military confrontation with Kou.
Needless to say things at home for Alibaba has become very dangerous, he has found himself on the receiving end of several threats that if he married a weak woman she might mysteriously disappear, so now he is praying that the Empire sends someone his lovers approve of or he will be going to war with Kou for the murder of their Princess.