Dima woke up in the evening, his whole body was aching, but less, at least now he was not without pain, but he could get up on his own. 'Now I feel like a paralysed person, I can only move' Dima said to himself and got up from the bed. He blinked and noticed a tray of food standing alone on the table.
"Lia came by, but it was a holy thing to eat after the training." The guy piled on the food with the greed of a hungry bear, this time the food seemed incredibly tasty, although nothing in it had changed, only the rice was much bigger. After licking all the plates, Dima leaned back in his chair with a full stomach.
"I wonder what Lia thought when she saw me sleeping in the middle of the day, if I was a girl, I wouldn't have to think about it I'm drunk and asleep." The sound of footsteps brought Dima out of his reverie, and soon the door started to move.
"Get up, the rector wants to see you." There was no need to guess who it was, reluctantly Dima stood up and adjusted his clothes, which were crumpled after sleep and now looked more like a sack of potatoes. They walked in silence, the hike was hard for Dima, not only his muscles were aching, but also his stomach was pulling his body down.
But despite all the inconveniences, the messenger tried to memorise the route. Bringing him to the exit Min, left and left Dima with two ambassadors guards, not wanting to get on their nerves Dima went inside.
"Dima come in," Hin, to the envoy's surprise, was not digging through the papers, but smoking a pipe, leaning back in his chair.
"Where were we?" Hin, of course, remembered, but he did not hesitate to check his ward once more.
"On you and the northern abbot, and the kingdom as a whole." Dima answered confidently.
"So let's continue," Hin took out a map of the kingdom and put it on the table. "Our kingdom is divided into 12 provinces, and there are also two autonomous regions, ruled by me and my colleague, the dumb monkey." The abbot said the last two words in his fist, and Dima didn't hear them.
"There are three provinces on the eastern shore, each headed by a different clan: Kali (White Cranes) Kimo (Fire Fish) and Umi (Black Jackals)." Hin supplemented his words by pointing to the map.
The Kali clan are master builders, they build quickly and for centuries, their builders are always in demand not only within our kingdom, and they are also masters of sieges and artillery, which they also produce... Of course, the artillery is so bad, but a lot and cheap, so no one complains.
Kimo is a clan of seafarers, they catch fish and other sea creatures, but the main money they get is for pearls, in the extraction of which they have no equal, and trade with neighbouring countries. They're also shipbuilders.
"Umi." The abbot's eye twitched at that word, and his face darkened and contorted with sadness. - A clan of murderers, looters, and psychopaths. They live by smuggling, pillaging, and stealing. Rumour has it that many gangs are either instructed by them or led directly by members of the clan." 'Here comes the thrashing.' Dima thought and asked.
"Why don't they kill them if there are twelve clans? Eleven to one, they have no chance."
"It's not so simple, they can't be caught, and no one wants to be framed for assassination. And nobody wants to lose their only source of goods from other continents. We'll crush them, but the ranks of the clan leaders will be thinned, and the only question is who will kill them first, Umi's assassins or the frustrated bigwigs. And considering that it was only three years ago that the entire clan leadership changed, he remains a mystery." Hin rubbed his temples, the mere memory of those scum was giving him a terrible migraine. But seeing the questioning look of his interlocutor he continued.
"Three years ago the youngsters of the clan revolted and slaughtered all the old men, the rebellion was led by the clan leader's bastard. And at first glance things only got worse. On the second one, too, by the way." Hin hastened to add to his story.
"I see, and who is that?" Dima asked, pointing to a big yellow dot on the map.
"This is our capital" Kara, of course, it belongs to the ruling clan, and since we are talking about it.
"The Yemo clan" (white tigers), the ruling clan, and given their coalition with the clans - Chon and Cini, the actual rulers of the kingdom.
"A ruling coalition, I wonder, do you have something like that?" Dima asked, in his world coalitions of political forces were commonplace and to be surprised that the same thing was happening here would be strange. 'Politics is still politics even if it's the Middle Ages'. Dima thought to himself, waiting for an answer from the abbot.
"Let's talk about the political situation next time, if we jump from topic to topic we'll never finish." Dima nodded affirmatively and Hin continued his lecture.
"Mena (silver wolves) is a warrior clan, nothing less and nothing more, after the reforms it managed to keep its ranks and now it is the largest force, if we compare it with other clans, of course." Hin looked out the window, the sun was already slipping towards sunset, with his other eye he looked at his ward, he was staring at the map with a lost gaze. 'Gotta wrap this up, he's probably got a headache right now, either way I'll have another week ahead of me.'
"He was in a coalition with the Kali and Kimo clans." Hin didn't want to bring politics into his story today, but after thinking about it he decided to answer the boy's question, Hin couldn't let his mentee believe that they had no allies, not even for a day. It might have shaken his faith in their success. Seeing the interest in Dima's eyes, Hin hurriedly continued.
"The Puro clan (Jade Turtles) is an ancient clan, or rather its remnants, archaic to the core, completely obsessed with tradition and antiquity, so much so that even firearms were accepted with great creaking and grumbling."
'Hmmm... It used to be better, - familiar song.' - Dima thought to himself, rejoicing in his heart at the fact that these savages had firearms.
"And just in case, don't be surprised by their peculiar appearance when you meet them, there are reasons for that." Dima was already too tired, and did not ask about their peculiar appearance.
-
"The Yamano clan is more complicated, in fact it is completely destroyed," Hin pointed at the top point of the map, a narrow strip of land on the paper did not look very nice.
"Quite some time ago these mountainous lands were taken over by our kingdom, mountains are often rich in minerals and these were no exception. Each of the clans had sought to secure these lands for themselves, no one was willing to give in, with each passing day the likelihood of a new war, just between the clans was increasing."
"In the end, the clans came to an agreement, as a result of which a new clan was founded on these lands. But nobody asked the local defeated savages for their opinion. Their leaders were killed, and the people were oppressed, eventually their discontent accumulated and 15 years ago there was an uprising. The whole clan was slaughtered and the settlers killed or enslaved."
"And you didn't try to get them back, after all, they are valuable resources, so money is not lying on the ground?" Dima asked, the situation in the kingdom was starting to scare him a bit, the guy didn't know much about politics, and the influx of information had given him a headache half an hour ago, but he kept his head up.
"No, in all these years, the clan leaders had never agreed among themselves. The one issue that had become a sticking point was who would control the land. And since no one had agreed on anything, that question hung in the air." Hin said this, and inwardly burned with shame for his compatriots, from his bell tower in this situation they acted like complete morons.
"On the lower border were two clans: Kuli and Shiko and now they are out of the game, from the kingdom of snakeludov there came a strange disease, and to contain its further spread was introduced quarantine." Dima almost fell off his chair, in his eyes the kingdom of Haro had risen several storeys. To hear the word quarantine here in the middle ages was a real shock for him.
"There is not much left, on the western shore is the Godo clan (golden dragons). An ancient clan that stood at the origins of our kingdom, legends say it was a member of the Godo clan that founded our state. For centuries this clan has been the spearhead of Haro, crushing its enemies."
"But as time went on, the years passed, and the clan changed, the great wars and their exploits faded into the background, giving way to wealth. Now the clan is but a faint shadow of itself. These bastards will fight for anyone who pays a heavy price." Hin said the last part with poorly concealed anger, the man was clearly angry with the clan, or rather what had become of it.
"People say that in the dense forests, swamps and high mountain peaks hide strange clans whose names have long been lost in the sands of history, but we have found no proof of these rumours." Hin exhaled with a satisfied look and said.
"That's all for today you can go to your place."
Dima nodded silently and walked out of the abbot's office, the latter massaging his temples gingerly looking at the mountain of papers nestling cosily on the edge of his desk. 'I really don't want to, but I have to.' Hin said to himself and took out a quill and inkwell and began another paper battle.
"Dima closed the door behind him and feeling the familiar disgruntled looks of the guards headed for his chambers."
"Once again we met fucking corridors." said Dima and his words echoed forward, this time he was ready, the guy had memorised every turn every staircase and now nothing would stop him so....
"Hi Dima!" A gentle female voice was heard, and Lia came out of the dark corridor to meet Dima. The girl gave the guy a radiant smile and bowed and asked.
"Well, let's go?"
"Where to?" the boy mumbled, confused by the girl's sudden appearance.
"To your chambers, of course." Without a shadow of embarrassment said Lia.
"Yes, let's go."