After taking control of the Guild, Lumumba wasted no time. His first act was to immediately halt the child labor in the mines, and he announced an ambitious new project: the creation of an academy for the lower classes, providing education and combat training for the poor. He called it the Prolo' Academy—a fitting name, in his eyes.
"Listen, it's simple," Lumumba had said during a meeting with the Guild's former leaders, a sarcastic grin plastered across his face. "I'm tired of seeing kids swinging pickaxes when they could be swinging swords. Makes a lot more sense, don't you think?"
The Prolo' Academy would be a place where the underprivileged could learn skills traditionally reserved for the nobility. Of course, this didn't sit well with the upper class, who saw Lumumba's plan as an attack on their social order. But, as always, Lumumba was not one to back down from opposition.
"Proletarians of all kingdoms, unite! Oh wait, I think that's been done before,"
The academy was designed to give opportunities to those the nobles had long kept beneath them, both figuratively and literally.
However, establishing the academy was no easy task. The moment Lumumba made his plans public, resistance began to stir within the Guild. Some of the old guard—the members who had thrived under the corrupt regime—weren't about to let their power slip away without a fight.
Walking through the dark, opulent halls of the Guild headquarters, Lumumba could feel the growing tension. Whispers of rebellion echoed through the corridors. Private meetings were being held in secret, and plots were being hatched. He knew that some members were already trying to sabotage his control.
As he entered the Guild's grand meeting hall, he found several high-ranking members huddled together, clearly conspiring. Lumumba's instincts told him this wasn't going to end peacefully. This would be a symbolic battle, not just of physical strength, but of ideologies.
One of the former leaders, a man with a weathered face hardened by years of manipulation and deceit, stood to face Lumumba.
"You're a fool, Lumumba," the man spat, his voice dripping with venom. "Training the poor to become soldiers? Giving them education? You'll destroy the natural order of our society!"
Lumumba's hand casually hovered over his dual swords, his smile sharp. "Natural order, huh? Funny how the people who talk about 'order' are always the ones at the top of the pyramid. You know who else liked 'natural order'? Dictators. Oh wait, too political?"
The Guild leader's face twisted in anger. "You don't understand anything, boy. Society is a machine. You break one cog, and the whole thing falls apart."
Lumumba chuckled, adjusting one of his portable crossbows. "Maybe. But sometimes, the only way forward is to break everything."
That was the signal. The Guild leader pulled a dagger from his sleeve and lunged at Lumumba, but with his usual agility, Lumumba sidestepped the attack and fired a quick shot from his crossbow, disarming his opponent.
"Ah, the classic sneak attack. Always a crowd favorite… except when it fails."
The symbolic battle began in earnest. The Guild's former leaders, upset at Lumumba's revolution, attacked him one by one, desperate to reclaim their lost power. But Lumumba wasn't the same man he had been before. Synchronizing his moves between his swords and crossbows, he fought with lethal precision, each attack fluid and effortless.
As he fought, it became clear that this wasn't just a physical battle—it was a struggle against corruption itself. Lumumba fought against not only the men before him but the very idea of becoming like them. Power, after all, could corrupt anyone, and he had to remain vigilant against that.
"What's your plan, huh? Overthrow me and go back to enslaving children and betraying your people?" he taunted mid-fight, his voice laced with sarcasm.
One of the conspirators fell to the ground after a well-placed strike from Lumumba. "You're the one destabilizing everything!" the man shouted in frustration.
"Destabilizing, revolutionizing, causing a little chaos… yeah, that's kind of my thing."
With a final, powerful move, Lumumba pinned the last remaining conspirator to the ground, his swords at the man's throat. The others surrendered, realizing they stood no chance against Lumumba's controlled chaos.
Later, while overseeing the construction of the Prolo' Academy, Lumumba received a disturbing message. His victory over the Guild was only a small piece of a much larger game. The Sovereign himself had deep interests in the Guild's operations, and the Guild was only a pawn in a broader conspiracy involving several neighboring kingdoms.
The Guild's corruption was not an isolated issue. The Sovereign, along with other royal factions, had secret alliances with these kingdoms, all seeking to control the fissures and the economic markets they connected. These fissures, Lumumba realized, were more than just strange anomalies—they were being used as tools for domination.
Lumumba felt the weight of the revelation settle in. If the Guild was a tough enemy, the forces behind these new revelations would be far more dangerous.
"Great. More conspiracies, more corrupt kingdoms," Lumumba muttered as he stashed the documents in his coat. "This never ends, does it?"
He turned to Amara and Jon, who had been waiting for his orders.
"We're going to have to visit another kingdom. Looks like we've got new 'friends' to meet."
Amara frowned, clearly concerned. "Which kingdom?"
Lumumba smirked, eyes fixed on the map of the world. "The one controlling the northern trade routes. They call themselves..."
He revealed the name of the kingdom that would be their next destination, a kingdom known for its military might and economic dominance, far more powerful than any they had faced before.