9/30/ ADW 118
All was quiet in the night. As usual not much happened at an almost ungodly hour, if one couldn't perceive the mana field. It was almost as though a massive meteor struck it. Unbeknownst to anyone, something awakened deep within the Haflen caves.
9/31/ ADW 118
Soft moans reverberated in a dark but spacious room and only silhouettes could be seen. A knock at the double doors interrupted. With a growl Laftus got up, pulling away from the random servant girl he grabbed.
"This better be urgent! Or someone is losing their position!"
"Well sire you told us to alert you if the prophecy seemed gain even an inkling of accuracy."
"A fluctuation was detected then?"
"Yes sire."
"Give me the details."
...
"Both of you, leave me." Laftus dismissed both the messenger and the girl. He needed to think.
Huh so he came Laftus thought. He originally had no interest in conquering other kingdoms because not only would it had been costly since every fool who claimed kingship had access to their own Machina Regiis, but Laftus just wasn't interested. Besides everything in the history books one of the otherworlders brought emphasized that getting too large caused problems for countries. Maybe he shouldn't have read them, who was that 'american' author? Oh yes 'Mark Twain.' Didn't he assert that with confidence and ignorance success was assured? Probably a misread or loss of meaning in translation though.
However with an otherworlder arriving... Well Laftus couldn't very well tolerate the status quo crumbling. When an otherworlder came the reign of the gods ended after all. Each and every time an otherworlder came chaos of some sort came about. Ugh he would actually have to start conquering places now.
Laftus decided he had pondered enough. First order tomorrow would be to make a complete survey of his resources, well after his dosage of mana of course. Sleep took a while to come.
9/32/ ADW 118
Laftus got up and got dressed by himself and this astonished everyone. Usually he would let the servants do everything. The castle was abuzz with gossip, and Laftus was satisfied to see that no one was aware of the true reason why he changed, looked like he had some loyal servants. They would be rewarded.
Like usual he absorbed the prepared amount of mana for today. People couldn't just simply ingest another person's mana, because the person they took it from would still have control over the mana. In fact there were reports of people trying to use this fact to try to kill him. They were always stopped before they even got close enough to hypothetically use their mana within Laftus to kill him. But the venture would forever be hopeless.
The machina regiis somehow managed to render control over the mana as different while still owned by the people the mana came from. Many discoveries were made from simply observing how it functioned employing imitations of this effect.
This was probably one of the most tightly kept secrets but this was the key to immortality. Mana made all things possible with sufficient enough power, and it seemed that since the body's desire was to continue to exist the mana gained was employed to this end. The fact that this effectively allowed him to take control of all his citizens effectively made him a god if still a mortal one. One of his descendants would achieve true godhood.
For now Laftus got to enjoy the immense power of holding mana from his people in his hand. Every 'king' did this, it was sort of the race that started under the otherworlder's nose once he had toppled the gods and naïvely tried to distribute all the information. Rumor had it that he was still around, simply imprisoned. Laftus hoped not.
Like usual Laftus's general seemed to have a perpetual scowl on his face.
"Well have you decided to finally actually get off your ass? Maybe even actually restart training?"
"Yes actually my good general, but for now I want the details of my army."
"What happened to you, did screwing with servant girls and throwing massive parties no longer satisfy you?"
"You know those were never satisfying. We must have further discussion in the War room."
"Don't want prying eyes do you, sire?"
Laftus and General Nagata stepped into a blue chamber. Apparently a past ancestor decided blue was a good color for planning war, but that wasn't what they were there for. This was one of the four rooms with the upmost anti-divination wards. New ways of magical espionage was discovered everyday and his room and study, the ritual room, and the war room were kept updated against these.
"So sire, what is the big deal?"
"An otherworlder has arrived to our world, and one that came from the god slayer's one at that."
"Seriously?! You and I both thought prophecies are hogwash. The gods are mere remnants of what they once were and everyone knows that they usually word their prophecies to their benefit. So not only do the prophecies probably hide things but they are no longer far reaching as before."
"That is probably why the prophecy concerning us is so vague. It simply speaks of a harbinger of change coming to our world within this month. Kaftaras's balls I thought we were in the clear since today was the last day of the month. Should have known though."
Both Laftus and Nagata fell silent.
"So you intend to ally, conquer, or otherwise create enough unity to oppose this otherworlder correct?"
"Yes. But I am going to have to leave the country eventually if we are unlucky enough to be the starting point of this 'harbinger' because chances are high that they will have some absurd advantage from being summoned through the primordial energies that separate worlds. If I were to have my rivers poisoned then maybe the solution would simple. But kings who do that have a nasty habit of being overthrown or conquered by wiser ones who realize an oppressed people does not make for a powerful kingdom."
"Sire I believe you are very wise to have discontinued that practice."
"Stop flattering me. Lets get on to business; who is most likely to ally with us given this information?"
"Well sire, I believe Queen Lisaya has been sugesting marriage for a while now. You should know she is quite considered quite fetching."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will marry her. I guess my life as an eternal 'bachelor' is over. I am going to be pretty upset if I lose against this otherworlder. Who else?"
"Well King Jerom has been suggesting a joint-expedition into the wilds, so he may be open for cooperation."
"Ugh that fool doesn't realize that unregulated population growth could be the end of our power. Oh well looks like we are in for a war so might as well cooperate with him. Get me my speech coordinator; I plan on lifting the restriction on birth rates. Alert my spymaster to have everything he has to be compiled into one report. Get me my writing coordinator also, I need to alert the Jerom and Lisaya of this matter or they may might take a mustering of troops as preparation to conquer them. Oh and Nagata..."
Laftus's voice took a darker tone, "make sure you don't let slip what was said here, at least not yet. Silence is required at least until a messenger can get the messages across."
He hurried to his study room; there was no time to lose after all. Who knew whether a moment wasted might lead to his defeat? Hmm... maybe he should take things not too frantically; the otherworlder still had to get their bearings after all. Laftus never felt more alive though! A slow jog lead him to double doors colored a rich mahogany. His speech and writing coordinators were already there.
"My apologies Baron Yevin, on second thought I won't need your services with writing quite yet. For now I will just work on a speech."
Baron Yevin bowed before leaving. He must have sensed the barest of edges in Laftus's voice. He was going to have to up the wages of everyone loyal. A mandatum would root out any of the disloyal but actual resources were needed to reward people; luckily he would get a hold of plenty soon.
"Now Baron Galta, I simply need to tell my people that they no longer have the two children restriction anymore but I want to frame it as due to plans to conquer the wilds."
"Very well sire. I suggest to start with a booming voice in congratulatory tone as sire would know, but be careful to..."
Laftus almost sighed. He had so much fun living decadently though.