Kingdom of Power, of Courage, and of Wisdom

Kanyou's War - Sins of the Father

-Ryo-

Even as the Queen Mother, Bi Ki, had gone to Zelda to make her demands, Chancellor Ryo was by no means lazy. He made his own moves to resolve the issues within his faction. While he had gained a large boon in the support of the three houses to support him alongside the royal harem, including that of the Ki family, he had lost even more support from his own foundation. Ministers and governors withdrew support of him to support Zelda. His secondary holdings were sold and the officials fled from him. His primary holding, with his own personal city of Kanan, dwindled from a large city of one-hundred thousand households to eighty-thousand.

All of this occurred within a matter of days.

If this was not handled quickly and immediately, he would lose everything. Ryo, as chancellor of economics, knew the instability fear brought on a land, and saw its signs. He needed to assure them all was well. The collapse would hurt Qin, but what he feared more was how it would destroy him.

It was a scheme, but it was quick and costly. He hired all of the royal harem girls in secret, took all of the exotic and foreign animals from his herds and zoos, and bought more he did not possess, painted the inner walls of a mansion in liquid gold, planted exotic trees and bushes in a fine garden arrangement, placed couches and comfortable, colorful furniture about, filled the mansion with wine and hallucinogenic herbs, and finally drugged all of his ministers and officials. When his attendants awoke they found themselves in a spectacle, both alien and beautiful, filled with delights for every sense.

Seeing the amazement in their eyes, Ryo stood before them with a priest by his side and declared, "Look to me! I hold the three keys to the heavenly realms and so have brought you here to taste what comes in the afterlife. Look about you, gentlemen, and explore. Taste every fruit! See every animal! Find your choicest angel and see how they want you! Do not withhold yourself a single delight, for today is yours! Consider it a gesture of what I can do."

So the men did. At first they were tame, merely resting and eating, but as the alcohol and herbs took effect they were soon exploring every debauchery and perversion available.

Ryo stood on a balcony watching the events play out when a voice came to him, "You know you cannot return the girls in this condition. It will damage the Queen Mother greatly if her girls are found used." He turned to see Shou Hei Kun, his minister of strategy and war, step out after him.

Ryo Fui grunted, dismissing the notion. He turned an aggravated eye out onto the party. "Then she shouldn't have overstepped herself. She gave her power to me to use against Zelda, but if she is going to ruin everything before it begins, then I will use that power to salvage myself from her mistakes."

"Even so, how much did this cost?"

Ryo's knuckles turned white on the railing to which he leaned. Rather than answer, Ryo asked, "Did you find the man, that I might be rid of this woman?"

"Yes, I found a man of the quality you requested named Lao Ai. Even now he is in the party. He is a nobody, a lower official of no prestigious family." Shou pointed towards the man in question. Lao Ai was among the men below who, while drunk, stoned, and naked, confused a woman for a cart wheel. The wheel was largely made of wood but the center joint that locked in with the rest of the cart was of metals, and so made it very heavy. The diameter was about five feet.

Ryo's eyebrows rose, in amazement. "I am impressed. I did not think it possible to lift such a thing without hands... yes, he will do nicely."

When all of the men had worn themselves out, Ryo drugged them again, returned them to their original abodes, returned the condition of the mansion to its prior self, sold the girls as slaves across Qin, and bought new girls to stockpile the harem. It would take some time before this could all be done, but thankfully Zelda and her faction seemed quiet and content to sit in themselves gobbling up his power and likely wouldn't notice the exchange. Not that the princess took note of any of the harem girls beyond her favorite anyway, he thought. When the men awoke they swore themselves to him more than ever.