Ball of Nothing

It was still early in the morning and the sun hadn\'t risen but King Brice wasn\'t up early. He just hasn\'t gone to bed yet. The plan was set in motion ever since Misana returned. He couldn\'t express his gratitude to Zero and his village for lending him their assistance. It was finally time to take matters back into his hands for sake of the people in Smargdas and refugees. Although he was still very much a coward and afraid of his older half-brother, King Brice couldn\'t let this go on any longer. Duke Connie must be stopped.

Honestly, King Brice didn\'t have anything against his older brother. Duke Connie was definitely more capable than him when it came to managing the country\'s affairs. They were both sons of their father\'s concubines and neither was birthed for the throne. However, after the death of their father caused by Duke Zurich made the Holy Magician\'s Alliance choose him as the next King.

Simply put, Brice was the chosen puppet to act as Smargdas\' ruler. It was clear to anyone. Why else would they choose a boy who had only started puberty to be entrusted with a country\'s affairs?

Smargdas was a small and powerless country. They didn\'t have magicians and the adventurers they had couldn\'t be called heroes. In name, Smagdas was a country. In reality, Smagdas was simply a vassal state and a buffer land between Altear and Endow Hill. In addition, the elves were depending on the human civilisation to supply them with dwarven goods that they weren\'t able to get, especially weapons. Smargdas was also the hub for all dirty dealings. U.N.U. and Lycantopia often came to Smargdas for information and in more recent years, slave trafficking. It was also why many lawless zones exist around the country, allowing crooks to make the southern part of the capital their base of operations.

Now that King Brice had a whole night to think about things more seriously, he realised that the Holy Magician\'s Alliance benefited everyone else but Smargdas. It was the only thing Duke Zurich and Duke Connie agreed on. King Brice simply handed the royal seal over for them to approve the alliance. He didn\'t understand it before but now he knew better. The treaty only impacted U.N.U that was backing Duke Zurich at that time, and Altear, who was backing Duke Connie. None of those terms was good for Smargdas.

Now that the U.N.U. has broken that alliance treaty first by pulling out their magician support, Duke Zurich was at a great disadvantage. Nobody knew the exact reason why Grey Legion made such a drastic change overnight but King Brice had a feeling this was related to Zero\'s business. The village leader kept his promise to rescue Misana but he also made U.N.U. stop their slave trafficking business. It was generally good for King Brice as he now had a reason to annul the alliance treaty officially.

Duke Zurich and his faction were subtly brought down after it was crippled by Zero\'s actions. Without the Grey Legion supporting his royal uncle, King Brice knew that the old man wouldn\'t be difficult to take down. Unlike his half-brother, Duke Zurich was overly confident about his influence in the country and did not bother to hide his illegal activities. King Brice didn\'t have to spend a lot of effort digging for incriminating evidence for treason. His faction was also dealt with swiftly and removed from their positions.

It was currently a race against time. The moment King Brice started removing Duke Zurich and his faction, Duke Connie started gearing up for a coup d\'etat. It was not subtle at all and for the first time, King Brice saw his brother\'s true colours. He knew that Duke Connie never liked him but he never thought that his half-brother eyed the throne he was forced upon. Now that his private army had taken up arms to prepare for a siege, King Brice knew that Duke Connie wouldn\'t hesitate to stain his hands with blood in order to get what he wanted.

Compared to the paltry royal guards under his command who were loyal to him, King Brice really did not have anyone he could rely on to thwart his brother\'s private army. The adventurer guild under Duke Connie\'s name was also a huge threat. Lower ranked adventurers and mercenaries would not hesitate to involve themself in the coup d\'etat if Duke Connie threw in attractive rewards such as nobility titles and citizenships. Yet, Zero told him not to worry and commence with the royal rally organised.

"Would you like some breakfast before your speech to the citizens?" Misana asked and King Brice sighed.

Seeing as this could very well be the day he died, King Brice nodded. Might as well enjoy a lovely last meal before the snipers got him. He was going to give the speech in person and it would be easy for assassins to make their move.

The imperial edict was written and stamped with the royal seal. All that was left was announcing it. It would take immediate effect if King Brice was able to successfully get through the announcement without issues.

Zero\'s terms and conditions were met and he hoped this arrangement would be satisfactory. King Brice might be inexperienced but he knew what kind of ruler he wanted to be. As awful as it sounded, he knew that he was a pathetically weak King. However, he didn\'t want to be at the mercy of the bigger boys around him. Smargdas was used as a buffer state between Altear and Endow Hill for years. At the same time, they were exploiting Smargdas to get dwarven goods that they normally wouldn\'t be able to get. This wasn\'t doing any good for the economy and something had to change.

Now, King Brice was going to choose who he wanted as his allies. Altear might be a big threat but as the King, he had a very powerful envoy who would be able to do something about that threat. Just like how Zero tackled the sticky situation with Grey Legion in U.N.U., he had faith that Zero would be able to talk to Elf King Sharo on behalf of Smargdas to create a non-aggression pact. They do not need to be on best buddy terms but at the very least, he needed an assurance that war wouldn\'t break out.

At the same time, King Brice needed some powerful supporters. Half Moon Village was small but powerful as they represented Endow Hill on a whole. Normally, a King wouldn\'t bow down or lower his head to a village leader. However, Zero wasn\'t just a village leader. He was friends with some really important royalty. He didn\'t know much but Zero was acquainted with the royalties from Magnus Hilda, Mystic Meadows, Rocket Mountains and even U.N.U. from what he last heard. He happened to be Princess Dorothy\'s tutor according to Mitchnew but King Brice didn\'t get the chance to ask for details. By befriending Zero and his village, King Brice had more to gain than lose.

Naturally, Zero was a good businessman. He didn\'t offer an alliance for free. Instead, there were things that King Brice had to do for him using his newly found authority. Zero wanted to borrow Smargdas for a base of operation for his trading business. New Moon Trading already had trade contracts with Magnus Hilda and Rocket Mountain. They were also in the negotiation process with U.N.U.\'s new leader. King Brice had a feeling that wouldn\'t take long to finalise. Hence, it only made sense that they used Smargdas as their base of operations. In terms of geographical locations, Smargdas was the most strategic location for trading routes apart from Endow Hill. It was in between Altear, Derby and near Endow Hill with Rocket Mountain ranges conveniently in the same direction. U.N.U. was slightly further away but in order for goods to reach Endow Hill, they had to come by Smargdas. Zero didn\'t want to spend too much on logistics going up the mountain full of magical beasts and King Brice quickly offered his country as Zero\'s logistic support.

Not to mention, the Dragon Heroes knighted by him were also adventurers hailing from Endow Hill. Half Moon Village was small but it was a village full of talent. Although King Brice hasn\'t been there in person, Misana told him that they had demons, gnomes and all sorts of talents there. It would explain why Zero was chosen to be their leader, he was the most talented of all.

One last change he was about to introduce - the acceptance of refugees and revamping of the slavery system. This was something King Brice wanted for himself that was aligned with what Zero wished to do. They talked briefly about it and Zero left the arrangements to King Brice. He only mentioned that there was a Humanitarian Guild that could help King Brice with his refugee training system and slave redemptions.

For now, King Brice ate slowly. There was still an hour or so before he had to prepare for his history-changing speech. Misana\'s cooking had improved again and King Brice couldn\'t help but smile. After not having her around for so long, he had grown to miss the taste of comfort.