The assembly hall was huge. Klaus was amazed at how much work the earth mages had put into building not just a palace, but practically an entire underground town. Everything needed for life was there. Warehouses for supplies, weapons, furs and leather. Iceboxes where fresh meat was stored, workshops, laundries.
If it were possible to build fields and raise livestock underground (the latter was quite feasible, since there was a chicken coop, rabbits and even pigs were bred here), then people would no longer need to go outside at all.
So the general assembly hall looked more like a central city square in some town than a room in a dungeon. Hundreds of glowing balls were flying under the ceiling. If you didn't look up, where the sky was covered by a stone dome, you could think that this was really a square on the street.
As soon as the prince and the captain approached the huge arched doors, the crowd fell silent and people began to part, giving them way and bowing to the approaching nobleman. The young people walked to the other end of the room and climbed the stone steps to a raised platform that resembled a stage. There, an old man was waiting for them, so decrepit that his stick, on which he leaned, was shaking along with his hands. He tried to bow, his only support leaned dangerously, and Klaus hurried to catch him by the elbow.
"It is not necessary, respected old man."
"Your Majesty. It is a great honor for me to stand here next to you," the old man said quietly, with trembling lips and held out a stone. "Here, take it. This device will help to increase the sound of your voice several times."
"Is this your invention?" asked the prince.
"For many years I have secretly experimented with my air magic and directed all my knowledge and skills to sound inventions. Change, increase, muffled voices. These are my three successful projects."
"Commendable, you have done truly significant work, despite the danger of being discovered." And the prince himself bowed slightly to the old man, which made the latter speechless, and whispers were heard in the dead silence of the hall.
Klaus hung the device around his neck, sighed and completely distanced himself from extraneous thoughts.
"I, Klaus Deffendre, Crown Prince of Isorobia, stand before you now not to command, but to join."
He fell silent, giving the assembled time for whispers and surprised exclamations. The people of this country absorbed fear of the royal family with their mother's milk, and they physically needed to bow before any representative of the ruling family. What the crown prince said now radically changed this circumstance. Naturally, the people could not overcome their fear so easily, and Klaus understood this.
"The fact that you have gathered here today, in this safe and hidden from the outside world place, is not my merit. How can I demand to follow me? How can I accept your bowing? You all came here for different reasons, but we are united by one goal, a change in power and laws that oppress anyone except the king himself. "I want you to perceive me as an ally."
The voices in the hall grew louder.
"Your Majesty, how can we not bow before you? You are akin to God among scum like us," the voice of the first daredevil was heard.
"I have red blood too. I breathe, I need sleep and food. I have bad moods and failures. I can be pierced with a sword, hurt. So how am I different from you? By origin?"
The crowd fell silent. Never before had they heard even the lowest of the highborn compare themselves to simple middle-born, peasants and especially slaves, but the prince did not share the social hierarchy now, how could they react to such a statement?
"You are from the royal family, how dare we put you on the same level with us?" a weak female voice was heard.
"Aren't you here to erase the line between statuses? To achieve fair treatment for everyone? Why then do you continue to exalt my origin?"
"But how could we do otherwise?", "The Crown Prince, like a god", "we deserve to die just for the thought of standing next to you" - voices were heard and Klaus sighed deeply.
"I came here to share your aspirations, but you stubbornly continue to cling to the old. So answer me, what do you want?"
"Freedom!", "Security", "Living with a family", "Inventing", "Studying science", "Traveling".
Many voices were heard in the hall. Klaus was silent, giving the opportunity to speak out and only when the hubbub died down a little, he spoke again. Silence fell in the room again.
"I do not want to command you and lead you to the new world that will certainly come to our country. I am not the one you followed and entrusted your lives to. It was a man who renounced his family for a great purpose, the one who cut the family crest from his face and dedicated his life to a dream." Puzzled voices were heard in the hall, gradually gaining strength.
"But you are our king", "We are ready to follow you."
"Are you ready to follow me only because I am the crown prince?"
Silence.
"Why are you so persistently trying to elevate me if you know absolutely nothing about me and my motives?"
Silence.
"August Deffendre is the one you followed, not me. What have I given you, except that I just showed up and joined? Nothing. So why are you stubbornly trying to make me your leader?"
Silence. August tugged Klaus by the arm and leaned down to his ear.
"Be gentle with them. Don't forget that most of them are uneducated, a good portion of them are former slaves, accustomed only to worship, and the other half are soldiers, ready to follow orders."
Klaus knew this. Now, having visited another world, he could no longer accept that in his own country people were like cattle. Without rights, without desires, without aspirations, without opportunities. He agreed with Augustus that he had gone too far and decided to change his approach a little.
"People, if you are ready to follow me of your own free will, then I will be honored to consider you my allies. I do not want you to bow before me. I want you to be my support and support, and I, in turn, will become your support. Only together can we change the country. I cannot do it alone. So are you ready to follow me? Are you ready for the difficulties that will have to be endured on the path to freedom for yourself and our future generations?"
As soon as the people heard the call, they immediately burst into joyful cries. They wanted freedom, but did not know how to handle it. They needed a leader, and now they had one.
- Then I will have one condition. From this day on, I do not want to see people falling to their knees before me. I do not want to hear Your Majesty until I ascend the throne. I do not want to see fear in front of me, but only respect, which I will try with all my might to win from you.
A new wave of jubilation. Klaus descended from the tribune, August followed him. Some especially brave ones extended their hands to the prince, and he shook them, regardless of whether they had a slave brand, how they were dressed or looked. With each step, more and more brave people gathered, this led to the fact that the path that took him five minutes at most, in the other direction took more than an hour.
Klaus didn't smile or look friendly like his older brother, but his words gave people hope. He didn't push anyone away, answered their questions, and waited patiently for everyone who wanted to touch him or shake his hand to gather up the courage to come over.
***
Harots paced the long dining table. He had been waiting for over an hour, but Minami had not deigned to come down. His patience was wearing thin.
"Hey, slave!" he called out to a boy of about thirteen, who was carefully sweeping up the remains of the construction debris.
The restoration of the estate was in full swing. The columns in the main hall had already been restored, and if it weren't for the huge hole in the ceiling and the still-cut tapestries on the walls, it would be impossible to tell that only a few days ago a life-and-death battle had taken place here. It was the Crown Prince, eluding an entire army of soldiers and trained military mages, who had left behind a memorable reminder.
The boy tore himself away from his work and ran up to Vitos, kneeling down.
"Yes, sir."
"Go and hurry your mistress. Was she even informed that I had arrived?"
"I beg your pardon, but the lady is not in the best mood. She does not want to come down."
Vitos has heard the same answer from different slaves for the third time, but he still does not lose hope that Minami will honor him with her presence.
"You said who wants to see her?"
"Of course, sir. She... she... asked me to tell you to go far away. Forgive me, forgive this slave, he only conveyed the words of the mistress."
The boy began to beat his head on the floor, begging for forgiveness, to which the man only waved his hand and returned to his previous occupation. Pacing the length of the dining table. Having made almost ten more circles, he stopped abruptly and turned to the stairs.
"So she doesn't want to see me? Then I'll go up to her myself!"
The boy ran up to the stairs in fear, several more slaves came to his aid, and now, three slaves shaking with fear lined up in front of Harits, blocking the way.
"Please, sir. The mistress made it clear…"
"You dare to stand in my way?" the man asked, raising his voice, and one of the defenders' knees buckled in fear.
The man didn't waste any more time. He simply pushed the rabbits out of the way and confidently walked towards his old friend's room.
"Minami!" he shouted, stopping near the door. "I'll still talk to you, whether you want it or not!" with these words, he pushed the door with such force that it crashed into the wall.
In the usual semi-darkness of the room sat a beautiful woman with straight black hair. She was wearing only a snow-white nightgown, despite the fact that it was already past noon outside. The woman directed her gaze at the window, at this time of day covered with a thick curtain, and sipped wine straight from the bottle.
Minami didn't react to the rude guest at all, continuing to stare into space, and like a wound-up doll, lift the bottle of wine to her lips, take a big sip and lower the container back.
"Minami," the man whispered, looking at this unsightly picture in shock. "What's wrong with you? Why are you like this?"
The woman turned to him and smiled. Her eyes were shining, her speech incoherent. She was drunk.
"Oh, it's you! I asked you to be sent away. I can't look at your wrinkled face. You remind me that I, too, am already old, despite this beautiful face," she ran her free hand over her cheek. "Do you like it?"
"You're drunk! What the hell is happening to you?"
'What's happening to me? And you don't know what kind of guest visited me?"
"Of course I know. I sent him here! Did your meeting really throw you off balance that much?"
"Ah, our meeting. Did you know that he is beautiful? Strong, attractive in the prime of life!" the woman said dreamily, putting the bottle aside and getting up from her seat. She walked unsteadily towards Vitos. "And you know what? He refused me!" she added with annoyance. "Look at me," she ran her hands over her body, neck, face. "Don't I arouse desire in you?"
The woman approached the stunned Harits and took his hands. Of course he desired her! From a young age he desired her! But he said something completely different.
"I don't understand... In what sense did he refuse you?"
"Ah, he doesn't understand!" she laughed. "He didn't want this body! Can you imagine? This youth didn't want to share my bed!"
Vitos realized what the woman was talking about and he went cold.
"Minami," he called her carefully. "You do understand that he is your own son?"
"Son. This young man... Look at me, can I really have such an adult son? You know, he really does look like him. Just as strong and powerful. These marks on his shaved temples and unusually tender lips."
"Lips? What are you... Minami! - the man exclaimed. - Are you crazy? He is your own blood! He came from your womb, how could you desire him in such a sense?" Harets shook his head helplessly. "Wake up, please! Or have you forgotten why I sent him to you?"
"Ah, Vitas, how old you are," the woman ran her hand over the man's cheek and he involuntarily felt goosebumps run down his skin and the blood seemed to direct its streams to one place. The one on which a second later the woman's hand ended up.
"That's what should have happened to him," the woman smiled, running her hand over his noticeably protruding groin a couple of times, and took her hand away. "But he just pushed me away, took the boy, the little bastard, and took him away with him."
"Stop it," Vitos hissed through his teeth. "I can't hear this anymore."
"You can't?" she laughed again. "Then bring him back. Let him see once again what he gave up and die before my eyes!"
"You couldn't hold one man, with so many soldiers and mages at your disposal. How can I lure him back?"
"Oh, yes. He also took my elixir of youth with him. Bastard! I want to get back what is mine. I want him to see that boy torn apart, and then I want to personally plunge a blade into his heart when he begs me to share his bed."
"Minami…"
Vitos could not say anything else. The woman was clearly not herself. Was it all the fault of her many years of imprisonment? Or had the meeting with her son knocked the last of the ground out of her? Or maybe these elixirs of hers were not so harmless after all?
The man turned around and decided to visit another important inhabitant of the estate.
"Will you do this for me?" a voice was heard behind him.
"I will do for you whatever you wish," the man answered doomedly.
He went down to the cellars on the opposite side from the dungeons. He went to the very depths and stopped at the door, which seemed to radiate an unkind aura. He did not knock, but simply pushed the door and it opened without hindrance.
"Sir," the old woman was not at all surprised.
"Hello, witch. We need to talk."
***
"We finally got out," the captain groaned as the young men walked down the corridor to the dining room, "I'm starving."
"Yes, it was harder than I expected," Klaus sighed. "I need to go to my place first. I'll join you later."
"Then I'll wait in our place."
"In our place?" Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Do we already have that?"
"Well, of course. Comfortable pillows, lovely companions, delicious food. Have you forgotten?" August grinned.
'What's wrong with a regular dining room?"
"It's not as fun there," August laughed, squeezing Klaus's shoulder, and the young men parted.
Klaus wanted to talk to Egor as soon as possible. To explain to him, but what to explain? That his half-brother, in a fit of emotion, had confused him with one of his girlfriends? Nonsense. Klaus understood that August had done everything on purpose, therefore, he knew about Egor's feelings. Incidentally, the prince had not yet spoken to his friend about this either.
He thought that everything, as always, would resolve itself. He did not know how to conduct conversations about feelings. He had never had to worry about it. Previously, he calmly pushed away people who showed excessive sympathy, without thinking whether he would hurt them or not, but he did not want to do that with Egor. He needed Egor, only Klaus himself did not yet fully understand why.
From early childhood, he was instilled with the ability to assess the situation sensibly, and if you rely on this knowledge, then there was not a single good reason to keep Egor with you. He is an anti-mage and can be a shield, but regular weapons are dangerous for him, and the guy is not able to protect himself on his own. It turns out that he is of little use on the battlefield. Politics? He is an outsider in this world and does not think like the people here.
All his thoughts went to waste and he even relaxed a little in the first minute when he did not find Egor in the room. There was no one here at all. Where is Lilith? Most likely, she left with Egor. She was still afraid to be alone, but she no longer followed Klaus at every step.
After the relief, Klaus felt annoyed. How much longer would he torment himself with various thoughts? He wanted to talk to his friend partly to calm himself down, but it didn't work. He turned around and went to have dinner with Augustus; he could talk to his brother now.
Indeed, no one called the prince Your Majesty anymore. Now he was "My Lord" and if from the lips of young girls it even sounded pleasant, then from the lips of broad-shouldered soldiers, old men and children... Well, he himself wanted changes. It was necessary to clarify what kind of address he expected to receive.
August was already entertaining three girls who, because of their laughter, could not get into the mood to play musical instruments. Today the room was not hung with light curtains like a canopy, and Klaus saw that it was something like a passageway to several other rooms with arched doors. People were going about their business, sometimes stopping to exchange a few words or respond to August's flirting.
"Oh, you're quick! Come, come here," the captain patted the pillow next to him.
Klaus sat down opposite. He was immediately served a large piece of fried meat with fresh vegetables.
"Now you won't even sit next to me?" August grinned.
'It's easier to talk this way."
"You're so serious again!" August began to wail, "Hey, girls, cheer up this gloomy prince," he called.
"And how does my lord want to have fun?" asked one.
"Or maybe my lord will allow us to choose the method ourselves?" responded the second.
'No need. I want to talk to your captain," Klaus waved them off.
'Oh, girls. Today I have captured all the attention of the prince," laughed August, "well, I will have to amuse him."
"Stop clowning around. Why are you always so frivolous?"
"Klaus," really removing the smile from his face, his brother addressed him "Our life can hardly be called safe when we go outside these walls. Who knows how many sunrises we will be able to meet, so why deprive yourself of all pleasures? It wouldn't hurt you to relax sometimes too."
August was right. What they planned to do will definitely not add peace to their lives, and the chances of everything working out are negligible. In case of failure, Klaus would definitely face a cruel execution, if he lived to make a direct attack on the current king.
"Okay, let's drop the topic of your passion for entertainment and talk about what happened this morning."
'You mean the kiss?" asked the captain, motioning to the surprised girl who was sitting next to him to leave them alone.
"Yes," the prince answered with an inscrutable face.
"Did you like it? We can repeat it."
"Why did you do it?" Klaus continued, ignoring August.
"And why do people kiss?" he asked, feigning surprise. "Because they wanted to."
"Stop dodging. We've spent more than one night in the same bed in a drunken stupor, gone to pleasure houses and God knows where else, but you've never shown such inclinations."
"Or maybe I was afraid of being rejected."
"And what's changed now?"
'You've grown up," August shrugged. "Now it doesn't look like harassment of an innocent child."
"But seriously? You invited Egor."
"Again, it all comes down to your new "best friend,"" August sighed.
"For what? What did you want to prove to him by doing this?"
August put down the knife he'd just been carefully cutting meat with and, sighing, looked at Klaus.
- I told you partly the truth. You yourself do not see that people flock to you like flies to honey. You attract, they want to follow you, they desire you, but you ignore them. Yes, I have always preferred women and other men have never caused such desires in me either, but with you everything is different. Even in those days it took me great effort not to touch you, so I often disappeared into pleasure houses. I even took you there. I thought that if you were no longer an innocent child, then my hidden desires could be realized.
August took a sip of wine, looked closely at the prince, who patiently waited for him to continue. Klaus really did not notice any hidden desires in August at that time.
"But even in the pleasure house you were just waiting for me and used this place for its intended purpose only once. Today I gave in to my desire. A little. You didn't push me away, but you didn't answer either, which really confirms your words about not caring about carnal pleasures. I wanted to show this to your friend so that he would quickly get rid of illusions about you. I did it only for his and your good. Klaus, you need to send him back. He has no place in this war."
"You didn't have to act like that... Abruptly. You could have just told him and given him a choice."
"I told him, but he ignored me. I told you, but you also decided to brush it off. I only tried to speed up the inevitable. It's better for him to understand and let go now than to suffer for years," at the last phrase, August winced a little, as if he remembered something unpleasant.
"August...," Klaus didn't know what to say and just shook his head. He decided to change the subject. "When will we start acting?"
"We'll rest today. You need to collect your thoughts and tomorrow we'll start making a plan. We need to lure the highborn to our side as quickly as possible."
The rest of the dinner passed in an uncomfortable silence. Even August refrained from his jokes. When Klaus was about to leave, having dryly thanked them for the food, Lilith appeared in the entrance hall, heatedly discussing something with the girl who had shared her plans for the future with Klaus yesterday.
"Lilith?" Klaus asked in surprise. "What are you doing here? And where is Egor?" the prince looked behind the girls' backs, as if expecting his friend to come out to meet him now.
"My lord!" the girl bowed slightly. "He brought me here and went off on some business. How good that you are here! Lissa, you don't have to see me off now," Lilith exclaimed joyfully and ran up to the prince.
"So what were you doing there?" Klaus asked warily as they walked towards their room.
"Lissa agreed to enlighten me about something I didn't know. She told me so many amazing things and taught me a couple of useful tricks."
"What things?" Klaus asked even more warily.
"Well, for example, that birthdays are celebrated! She said that I should definitely celebrate it, although I don't know the exact date, so we chose it together. She also said...," the girl's voice became quiet and uncertain.
"What did she say?"
"She said that masters also reward their best slaves and give them gifts on this day. And master... master will do..."
"Do you want a birthday present?"
"Is that possible?" She exclaimed joyfully.
"What do you want?"
"I'll tell you a little later."
"Agreed!"