….
"Wantes von Lears, you stand before the council, your request for a meeting has been accepted and we shall hear what you have to say. You may begin your presentation" a bearded gnome said out loud.
"Thank you, please allow me to distribute the pamphlets" a cleanly shaven gnome, dressed in colorful clothes and short black hair said with a rather husky voice. The man seemed scrawny but had almost no jaw-line, which made his face rather comical, that and his large ears.
"Have you not brought your servant for this?"
"No, this matter is of high importance and can not be allowed to leave this room"
The gnome nodded; it was not the first time he had seen such a thing happen "Very well"
The meeting was taking place inside a spacious room that was brightly lit with glowing crystals. Numbers and information could be seen on window-like crystals that decorated the room's walls and in the middle of the room, a great crescent-shaped table stood with nine gnomes sitting behind it. The table was coursing so much mana that if Ango was there, he would have been blinded by the sight.
They were the great council, the mind behind the floating towers, the leaders of the Arcana, The nine.
The man called Wantes distributed the pamphlets, and took his place in front of the crescent-shaped table; He swallowed hard and then opened his dry lips while spreading his hands wide open.
"Civilizations have always endeavored to move forward, to advance whether that be the culture, technology or warfare, there is no difference. Throughout our history there have been many inventions that helped us achieve all of them. They helped us become better, smarter and more powerful than our enemies but"
the council seemed mildly intrigued, they had many people come here and propose research plans or ideas that could solve their problems but none of them were Wantes. He was the descendant of Ulmar von Lear, one of their fellow council leaders. If he was here, it meant that the boy's father had given him the green light, so they were curious
Wantes then raised one of his hands, holding out three fingers, and said
"But for progress to ensue, there are three requirements. Geniuses to push us forward, resources to invest in progress and the grunt, the workforce, the slaves" he made a fist with his hands and continued.
"We have always had geniuses, and resources can be easy to procure but workforce? Since two years ago we have lost that. Many great ideas can not come to fruition because of the lack of slaves, the structure of our civilization depends on slaves. These two years there has been no progress in none of our research and we are facing a shortage of food and supplies. Servants can not replace the slaves and this is what my research is about"
He then walked to the wall behind him and attached a smooth spherical crystal to a socket that was on it. A few seconds later a picture of a collar appeared, it had a small crystal embedded in it and then another picture was shown.
"As you can see, this is collar; the leather is the typical leather found everywhere, nothing special about it, what matters is the crystal and runes running through the collar" another picture showed that the body of the collar was made out of two layers of leathers pressed together and on their hidden part, there were runes, small but a many of them chained together, channeling the power of the crystal.
The nine began to murmur and talk amongst themselves, throwing our ideas
"Aren't those the set of runes for communication?"
"Why is there a set of magic concentration runes on it?"
…
…
"Please let me continue with my explanation and your questions will be answered, now-"
"If this is another mind control device, we don't need it, they only work on tier one and at most tier two" some of the council leaders nodded.
"This is not a mind control collar, now please let me continue" He waited a few moments for them to stop but they did not. His face seemed annoyed but there was nothing he could do until a voice called out.
"Quite all of you, you're old not senile, let him finish his damned speech, you can run your damned mouths after he is done" a rather scruffy-looking gnome said. His build and face looked so rough that he seemed to have more in common with the dwarves and thugs than with the gnomes and researchers but he was a council leader, one of the most respected ones, Umar von Lear, Wantes's father.
The room chuckled, they all knew he had a hot temperament so they did not take offense, that and the fact he was one of the most powerful gnomes alive. Powerful not as influential but as powerful in combat; no one wanted to be on his bad side.
"Go on son"
Wantes nodded with a look of gratitude
"Thank you father"
"Now, continuing from where I left off, what matters is the crystal. This is something I found in one of our warehouses, and oddly, it did not have a name, because it had been deemed useless according to the files"
"My previous mentor's research led me to the testing of the crystal but what I did find gave me new insight, insight to solve one of our biggest problems"
"Ladies and gentlemen of the council, I present to you R6-74 also known as the slavery collar, it can be used even on people of tier 4 and 5"
All breathing stopped, hearts stopped beating, and silence filled the room.
Savoring their shocked gazes for a moment, Wantes then continued
"It can drain the mana of the subject completely, concentrating it to the utmost degree and then transferring it to our energy wells whenever we wish" the open eyes of the leaders grew wider, they had processed the information immediately and understood the terrifying implication, this could also be used to power the whole city without the need to do anything, there would be no need to mine for crystals all the time. Then Wantes spoke again
"And, mental commands could be sent to the slave which they will not able to disobey. The master can also think of the pain they want the subject to experience and it will happen"
"The perfect collar"
…
There was no clapping, no cheering and no laughter, total silence reigned over the room and it continued for minutes.
Thoughts were running through the minds of everyone present with such velocity that Wantes could swear that he could hear them.
*clap
*clap
*clap
*clap clap clap
*clap clap clap clap clap clap….
....
...
In the south, the capital, the royal palace, the garden
*knock knock
Silence
*knock knock
Silence
"Master Solomon, his royal majesty the king has arrived"
*sigh
"Your majesty, please leave, I do not wish to provide council any longer as I have told you repeatedly" a voice filled with exhaustion, youthful but accompanied by a tone of old age replied.
"Open the door Solomon, I am not here for council, I have come to sit with an old friend"
The man inside the room pondered over the matter for a bit but he nevertheless stood up and opened the door personally, he did not have servants.
The door opened and a man appeared in a green and golden robe, his face was wrinkled, his hair long and white and his whole person was adorned with jewelry of all kinds. Behind him stood a row of guards, the king's guard, the most powerful personal army in Elfenheim in terms of quality, each and every one of its members was of tier 4, with decades of experience behind them; long life was a trait of the elves after all.
The guards bowed to Solomon and only watched as the king entered the small cottage of Fate Scribe Solomon, not stepping in as they should always protect their king but no one would enter either way, neither of them wanted to anger the king or worse, master Solomon.
…
Solomon's appearance could be described in one word, youthful. The spotless skin, the lustrous dark brown hair and the face that could only belong to a young man in his early twenties but his eyes looked as if he had seen everything, not lifeless but neither energetic, not piercing but not unfocused, they appeared … exhausted.