Only a few weeks have passed and Renove, the newly crowned King, already had a headache. The commercial district of Lasirion kept on complaining about the quality of their lives. The flow of orichalcum and mithril stopped, and the high-quality products that were recently introduced in the market also stopped. Without the ChangHao firm, they couldn't acquire those at all. After knowing that the produce from ChangHao was highly effective for their health and its known property of having bountiful mana, they couldn't live without it at all. When the citizens knew of another firm that sold these products in another country, merchants tried to acquire these, but when they were immediately identified as a citizen of Lasirion, their expression turned grim and banned them from buying at all. Even the Black Market wouldn't cooperate with them.
"Your Majesty… our weapons are falling behind the other countries that have the Lachlan Company's support."
Renove pushed all the paperwork aside in a bout of anger.
"It's that stupid Gaius' fault…. He's always there to ruin my life!"
"..." his aide only stayed silent. He knew that if he said anything more about it, things would only worsen for him and those that served the King.
"Put a bounty on Gaius, Alec. I want him dead. Now!"
"... yes, Your Majesty," Alec bowed and left the office quietly.
Alec has been the aide of Gaius ever since Augustus, the father of Gaius, crowned his son as the Crown Prince. Now that Gaius escaped through the prison along with those that they arrested in the ChangHao firm, he could no longer serve him. However, the order of the king just earlier contradicted their story of the former King being taken as a hostage then killed in the explosion of the prison. He had to tell the King, but he wouldn't be able to reason with him now. Their economy was falling behind the other countries, and Renove was worried sick that those countries would take revenge for the former employees of the ChangHao firm once they caught wind of the incident between them. He had no choice but to put a kill-on-site order on Gaius. He would have to focus on the Heath Duchy. He was the only one in the nobles who was a very close friend to the former king; even indirect invitations were declined.
"Sir Alec," one man suddenly approached him and walked just as fast beside him.
"Issue a kill-on-site on Gaius Cabrera. The reason would be treason against the current King. The reward would be 10,000 gold."
***
When the issue of Gaius' death sentence was everywhere, no one paid any attention to it and it made Renove furious and borderline crazy. He didn't know what the problem was, and he was too stressed out to think about it. Then, he issued another order to capture Duke Alaric Heath as an accomplice. Still, no one paid attention.
"Are they insane?!" Renove screamed.
"Your... Your Majesty, it seemed like the adventurers who were captured back then came to spread the news…!!!"
Without a second thought, Renove threw a huge fireball on the papers. He heaved, then he straightened his back.
"You know what. We'll just capture them all. Every one of them… they are useless anyway! Who wants a citizen that complains every time anyway? If the stupid Lachlan Company won't cooperate with us, then we'll just have to search where they are cultivating their produce and kill the rest of them. We'll have their riches in no time," Renove said calmly with a strange mirth in his eyes.
"... Your Majesty…."
"Send elite spies to them!"
"I understand," Alec bowed.
He wouldn't be able to do anything anyway… the citizens already knew that the previous king was alive and well. Though they didn't know where he was right now. They had an inkling that he would be in the Heath Duchy, but there weren't any records of travels or even a small clue that Gaius went to the Duchy. The citizens realized their blunders when Renove was crowned King. When he just became King, he shoveled up the treasury of the palace and threw it everywhere to acquire more luxury goods and services. Their taxes increased by a whopping 40% and the King said that he was being merciful for letting them live here in his domain. Their lives turned to the worst when they were barely scraping when Gaius was the king. If they weighed their options, they would very much likely pick the immature king, Gaius, than the greedy king, Renove. However, they were too late now. Even the previously ChangHao firm won't extend their help to their dying country no matter what. No country would accept them, and they were trapped here to suffer all their lives. They also didn't have any choice but to live up to what the King said or they would die against his sword.
Once he asked the people that would be a spy, a lot volunteered and Alec breathed a sigh. He could see their intentions. In their mission, they would throw their citizenship in Lasirion and would enter the other countries as a fugitive. They would work their way up until they could reach the staff of the Lachlan Company. Then, they would throw their mission away and seek protection from the company. Without any choices and since he also pitied them, he agreed that they would be despatched towards all the countries where the influence of the Lachlan Company was.
All the people that volunteered cheered in their hearts and immediately went out to prepare.
A few days later, Alec was once again in the King's office for a reason that he didn't know. He was called and his palms were sweating as he hid them behind his back to avoid any suspicions.
He bowed his head and said, "I am here, Your Majesty."
"Alec Oulran."
"Yes."
The king was unbelievably calm today.
"You… are sentenced to death."
"... pardon?" Alec couldn't believe what he heard.
Renove took out a bundle of papers and threw them towards Alec.
"Exporting citizens to other countries, I believe. I thought at first that you were just following my orders, but there was a spike of people renouncing their citizenship in Lasirion. A few of them are caught while they are still in the middle of their journey, but those that escaped behind the hands of the other countries were impossible to capture now. Also, the administration that helped through this is captured. All of them. Alec Oulran, I never knew that you would betray me like this. This will be the first and last time this will happen. Guards, capture him."
Alec was dumbfounded the whole time the king spoke his edict. When he was grabbed by his arms and was dragged out and into the newly built prison behind the palace, he regained his focus and grabbed the cold metal bars.
"My King! Please release me! I would never betray you!" He screamed.
The person that was guarding him gave him a sympathetic look and shook his head.
"Mr. Guard, please release me! I didn't do anything wrong!"
The guard remained mum.
"..."
Alec slumped on the dirty floor and wept. Those citizens that needed care more than him and had helplessness clearly shown in their eyes, he had no choice but to allow them to leave their country. He had no political powers and was simply an aide of the previous king, and someone who had no position but was serving the current king. Those people… were suffering. He couldn't just let them die here. He wouldn't just let it be. After a few days of musing, he accepted that he indeed betrayed the heart of the king. He let himself be dragged towards the guillotine with citizens that were forced to attend. Their expressions were grim and they were already mourning. He weakly smiled at them. His fellow citizens of Lasirion that he loved. He prayed that they could wait until a wise and benevolent king would be born into the world. They had to persevere for the future of their predecessors. He turned to look at the highest place of the building and there, he saw the king sitting pompously on his golden throne. He bowed to him as an apology, but the king only disregarded him and gestured at the guards and the executioner to proceed.
"Death to the traitor!"
The executioner announced and pulled the blade up as the guards laid Alec's neck under it. No one said anything and they remained quiet. The blade plunged down and he was beheaded.
No, not Alec, but the executioner whose sneer was frozen.
The blade was cut into two and they barely grazed Alec's neck. He was heaving as his heart loudly beat in his chest. His relief was short-lived when the King screamed to kill him. The guards all frantically ran towards Alec and a lone woman jumped from the roof. She unsheathed her sword and swung it horizontally as her posture changed. In a blink of an eye, all the guards were incapable of fighting.