Dawning Skye C.565Feb 26, 2023

565 No Need For Hostility(Part Two)

It took some time for the stagecoach to catch back up to them, so the atmosphere was tense by the time it had arrived. Genie had insisted that Richard Yaris ride with them, to make sure he didn’t try to ride off again. When Genie had said as much, Yaris scoffed at him..

“Like it would matter if I tried, anyway. Between you and the Price here, I doubt that anyone could escape. At least not unscathed, which is a big no-no for me,” Yaris paused a moment as he started to tenderly stroke his own cheek, and say; “Women from across the continent would faint from disappointment if I allowed myself to be harmed.”

Looking at all of their cringed faces, Richard smirked and added; “I will comply for the sake of all the kingdoms.”

“I thought you were complying so you could sell Fae goods? But if you’re doing this for selfless reasons, then I feel no need to hold up my end-”

“That’s not how this works,” Yaris interjected flatly, cutting Tidas off; “I’m saying that I’m not letting you brutes disfigure me by agreeing to cooperate. Not that I’m cooperating for free. Even charity has a price.”

“I don’t think that’s how charities work,” Genie commented flatly.

Yaris chuckled; “Oh really? Have you ever donated, Lord Laos?”

After a curt look from Genie, Yaris smirked and continued; “I assume that you also claimed that donation on your taxes, correct? Well, then you didn’t give away shit. You just got to decide where your tax money went.. And which of your rich friends got a cut of it.”

As Genie sighed, Hang glared at Richard; “You’re being absurd.”

.....

“Am I now? You know all of those fancy benefit parties, raffles, and such? Where do you think the money for all of that comes from? Donations.. They spend donor money to ‘raise more money’. But the amount they raise is usually minimal compared to the cost of the party, donation write-offs, and so on. Then all of Those costs are written off as ‘charitable expenses’. It’s all a just way to throw a party, and hand out money to their friends without spending their own money, in the end.”

Hang stared at Richard with wide eyes, bringing a deep scoff to his lips as he added; “You’re the Inspector General of the Saianese Internal Revenue Service, but you didn’t Know about a tax loophole employed by the elites for centuries? No wonder Tokuga has such a large following..”

Anger immediately covered Hang’s face, who was sitting next to Yaris in the stagecoach. It was spacious, which was the reason they’d taken it instead of a carriage in the first place. But it was not big enough to keep the two from nearly coming to blows with each other inside.

Tidas and Hang switched places, and the rest of the ride was done in silence. Only when they’d arrived at Richard’s warehouse, was the uneasy silence broken. As the four men climbed out, Genie glanced around as Tidas felt his magic spike.

They didn’t have any guards with them, and Genie had ordered his ninja to stay behind to guard Bai Lei. He was the Head of the Senate Faction, which meant that without him: the human rights movement in Sai would come to a screeching halt. There had been multiple attempts on his life, and the daily amount was steadily increasing..

His clothes, food, silverware; even his bath water had to be thoroughly checked before Bai Lei was allowed to touch it. Poison seemed to be the main way his enemies attempted to kill him, but that didn’t mean that the assassination attempts were limited to just that. Timed traps and ambushes were beginning to happen more often as well.

Hang Zhao was most likely to be the next person to head the faction, if something were to ever happen to Bai Lei. Genie assumed that the top ten senators supporting his brother were all on Tokuga’s hit list, so he had spread out the Shinobi under his control to cover them all.

It had turned out to be a good judgement call on his part, considering they had all reported attempts on their assigned Senators. But that also left Genie and Tidas solely responsible for theirs’ and Hang’s safety. Which Genie didn’t like at all.. f𝘳𝚎𝑒𝚠𝑒𝚋𝘯o𝘃eƖ.co𝓂

‘I hope that the purpose wasn’t to spread out our resources.. I don’t think Chen is smart enough to come up with that on his own, but he does have some individuals around him capable of at least realizing it as a result of their attacks.. I just hope that they don’t mobilize a group of their followers with those weapons they’ve handed out..’

As Genie inwardly mulled over the possibilities, he let his magic spread out into the wind. Air magic as similar to Water in the way that it could’ve controlled and manipulated, but with much more versatility. Since air had no physical form, is was easier to manipulate large amounts of it.

With minimal effort, Genie could sense everything the air touched for a solid kilometer around them. If he used more magic, he could spread out his sensory range to half of the kingdom, but then he wouldn’t be able to do much else. As long as Genie kept his area of range small, he could still use the air for attacks.

Due to the magnitude of his magic, Genie was heavily restricted in his use of it. If he wanted to; Genie could create instabilities in the atmosphere, and cause severe weather such as floods, droughts, tornadoes, and lightning storms. Jin Laos could destroy a quarter of a kingdom by himself in just a day, if he felt inclined to.

In truth, he was their main deterrent against other kingdoms attacking their little neutral republic. Which was probably the main reason that Tokuga never attacked Genie directly. And why he seemed more interested in capturing Mei and Rukia instead of just killing them.

Tokuga had no issues ending them if that was the only option, but he also understood that they were more useful alive. If Chen could get his hands on Bai Lei’s family, then he could control not only him, but Hang as well. With them in his hands, Tokuga could make the Senate Faction crumble with a simple threat to their lives.

As Genie worried over his family’s wellbeing and future, Tidas cut through his boggy mind by asking Yaris; “Why are we here? I thought that you were going to cooperate?”

“I am! This is where I keep my personal records. I don’t know what shipments went where off of the top of my head. That’s why we business men have these things called ‘business records’. To keep track of our business,” Richard had done air quotations as he’d spoken, which annoyed Tidas.

“This looks like a good place for a trap,” Hang muttered as he looked around.

Folding his hands behind his back, Genie turned towards the small group, and stated; “No need to worry. The area is clear, so he’s not trying anything Obviously shady. Let’s peek at these files of yours, then we’ll decide if you’re worth killing here or not.”

“Uh, not. Keeping alive and unharmed, yes-Not worth killing,” Yaris sputtered as he led them towards the building.

The warehouse was expansive, even for what it was, and filled with stacks of crates everywhere one looked. A small office was off to the side as soon as you walked in, which was where Yaris was leading them. As the four filed inside, Richard entered last, and shut the door.

He sat behind his desk, reached inside of a drawer, and pulled out a piece of paper and a writing utensil. After spending a few minutes jotting something down on the paper, he handed it to Tidas with a grin. After looking it over for a moment, Tidas looked up at him with a disgruntled expression..

“This is what you were doing? Writing out an agreement?!”

Yaris smirked as he leaned back in his chair; “Hey, I have to protect my interests before anything else, right? You fellas aren’t getting a single scrap of information from me until you sign that, Princy.”

Tidas shook his head; “I’m not signing that. It says that I swear that my Father will grant you selling rights on Fae goods. I said that I would try to Convince my Father to let you, not that I have authority to grant that. Those rights lay with the King, and the King alone.”

“But King Magnus adores you. I’m sure that he would agree if it’s you making the promi-”

“Not happening,” Tidas cut Yaris off; “Even my Father would consider this stepping on his toes, and my brother would throw a fit about how this is worded. Marco could sign this, but I do not have the authority.”

Yaris grimaced; “So the Commander of the RMC can’t-”

“No I can’t. I am a soldier, not a king, nor next in line to be one. Fix this, or I’m not signing anything,” Tidas replied, cutting him off.

“Then I don’t hand over my books,” Yaris retorted, but all that did was make Tidas smile menacingly.

“That’s fine with me. That means that we get to beat it out of you..”

“That’s not how that works, Tidas,” Genie commented.

As Richard grinned, thinking that he was saved, Genie added; “I’ll do it. My Wind magic won’t leave any obvious marks.. Or, it’ll make him unrecognizable..”

“STOP! Okay! I’ll cooperate!” Richard bellowed as he put his hands up in a defensive manner, then looked at Tidas again; “But I still want your promise to do all within your power to get me those rights. Moonstone is already far ahead of me because of them, so I need to catch up.”

Tidas quirked an eyebrow at him; “Why are you so obsessed with Lucas Moonstone?”

Yaris straightened himself out as he replied; “He’s not a king, but is as influential as one. And he’s wealthier than most kings. Your brother King Lawrence, is one of the few that are wealthy in his own right, but it still doesn’t compare to Moonstone.. Did you know that your father borrows from him?”

“What?! The crown Borrowed from Skye’s father?” Genie nearly yelled in surprise.

Tidas shrugged; “Lucas is my Father’s best friend, and one of his subjects. My Father was the one that insisted on the money being considered a loan, whereas Lucas just wanted to give it to him. He didn’t want to feel like he owed Lucas anything more than the money, so they made it publicly known that it was a loan.”

“I bet that your nobles would’ve thrown a fit otherwise as well,” Hang commented.

Tidas nodded; “Exactly. If my Father would’ve simply accepted the money, then the nobles would’ve claimed favoritism, one way or the other. Any time Lucas would’ve been granted something, they would’ve thrown a fit. Or gone the other way, and claimed that the King was going to take their wealth as well. It was a power keg, so my Father took the fuse out.”

The conversation went on as Yaris wrote out their agreement. He still wrote it in a way that held Tidas responsible if King Magnus refused him, which Tidas argued over. But he eventually signed it.

As Richard Yaris began to go over his books with Tidas and Hang, Genie stared to a darkened corner of the room. There wasn’t anyone there that he could see, but he felt a touch of Dark magic emanating from it. As he started to walk towards it, a shadow shifted out of the darkness, slid up the wall, and slipped out of a high window.

Clenching his teeth, Genie bolted out of the warehouse, but saw nothing outside where the magic had disappeared. As he turned back around to head inside, Genie muttered under his breath; “The next time we meet: one of us Will die, Ahriman..”