Magnifico

Letter to Azmak

The military budget of Quinax recorded a long time low, they have put in too much to train soldiers in preparation for any war that may occur. King Zulu has increased the tax his countrymen pay and has also stopped the payments of all allocations that his ministers take home from time to time. He only pays basic salaries and nothing more so he can use the other ones to fund their budget. All the merchants coming to Quinax to sell their goods noticed that there was a sudden sharp increase in tax and they had to pay for it if they want to continue selling their goods in Quinax.

King Zulu thought of sending letters back to the Azmakian king, to reassure him of his solidarity with him and his people. King Zulu was writing a letter when Regent Lucas was announced by the Eunuch. When the Regent came in, he saw the king sitting down on a chair with a letter on top of the table opposite him.

“Greetings my King, I trust you are well?” Lucas inquired as he sits down on a chair.

“Yes, I am Lucas. It’s been a while. I guess you have been busy?”

“Yes, very busy my King”

“Nice. How’s your daughter and grandchild?” Zulu asked as he brings a cup of tea for Lucas.

“Thank you for the tea! Well, my grandchild is superfine. And my daughter Amara is okay, she said I should extend her greetings to you”

“wow! That’s good news.” The King exclaimed.

“My king. I have come today to tender my resignation letter to you. I’m retiring as the regent of Quinax. I have taken my time to think it through and I believe this is the best thing Quinax needs now.” Lucas said.

“What did you just say?” King Zulu asked as he was shocked to hear this. “The best thing? No, the worst thing Quinax needs now is your resignation, Lucas. The best people I need now are you and General Sun. Why would you decide to leave the position of the Regency when I am not complaining about it?” Zulu asked as he gets tensed.

“King Zulu, please, I have been around in politics since your father was alive. And I am still in politics now that you are the king, my position as the regent of Quinax is seen by most people as undermining the power of the King. Some of which I wouldn’t want to mention their names have started rumors and when these rumors spread, it may be hard to contain or control them. There may be chaos and this will certainly cost us a lot more because we can’t afford to be fighting two enemies at the same time and also fighting a known enemy …..” Lucas pleaded.

“Nonsense! Whoever that’s going to talk, should talk. I haven’t complained to anyone about anything here. I agree we have a dangerous enemy we are up against but in this case, it is irrelevant. We need all the help we can get now if we want to destroy this enemy or don’t we?” King Zulu cuts in.

“We do my King. That is why I am still around but not active in politics any longer. You can always seek my own advice anytime you want it but no longer as a Regent but as a friend.”

“Does anyone know about this? Ahh?” Zulu inquired

“Yeah. The General knows.”

“And nobody told me. I can’t believe this” Zulu said disappointedly.

“ I told him that I must be the first to say it to you. You needed to hear it from me directly and nobody else.” Lucas said calmly.

“If that’s your decision, then I am afraid that there is nothing I can do about it. But if it is left for me to decide, I would say no.” King Zulu said.

“Thank you so much, my King”

“Don’t thank me. Besides, I was planning to do something before you came in.” Zulu said as he finished his own cup of tea and poured a new one.

“What is that?” Lucas asked inquisitively.

“The Azmakian king sent me a letter a few days ago. He was soliciting for help from my kingdom and also military support. He wants our kingdom and their kingdom to form a truce and be each other’s keeper. He is afraid that they will be attacked very soon by Alaphas because they are the only kingdom still standing in the far east.” Zulu said as he presents the letter to Lucas.

“The Azmakian kingdom is well known for its nobility and its military might. They have a formidable force that is very technical and can be beneficial to us too. What I don’t understand is, why they want to be our ally.” Lucas said intriguingly.

“You know things aren’t as they used to be. King Jonas and the killing machine he brought from God knows where are inextricably unpredictable. You don’t know what’s next or who’s next. Maybe that’s why the king of Azmak, Kylian, wants us to join hands together before it’s too late.” King Zulu said.

“ Well, joining our forces together will be difficult if we are going to fight Alaphas together. You will pass other kingdoms in the middle east before you get to their Kingdom. This will be difficult for our soldiers and theirs, so I don’t think this partnership will work.”

“what are you saying, Lucas? That we shouldn’t accept this offer?” King Zulu asked.

“ I will say yes. I don’t want to brag or something but, joining hands with them isn’t going to help us in any way. It is rather going to make things more difficult especially defending ourselves. From Quinax to Alaphas is closer than from Quinax to Azmak. So you see, it isn’t going to work.” Lucas explained. He also told the king that the distances, the terrain will hinder a lot of things if they are to go into that agreement. And if the agreement is not honoured, it will bring dishonour to the people of Quinax and would make Quinax appear like weaklings.

“Okay Lucas, I will send back letter to their King to tell him about this. I see seasons in what you just said.” King Zulu said.

“Thank you, my King.”

The King brought out a golden envelope, wrapped with a silver-like ribbon. He opened it and brought out the white paper where he wrote down all he wanted to tell Kylian, the Azmakian king. After writing it, he handed it over to his personal Eunuch to give it to the messengers.

“I hope we won’t regret this” king Zulu said worriedly and quietly as though he was talking to himself.

Lucas reassured the King about how important it is to focus more on improving Quinax than joining forces at that critical time, especially joining forces with kingdoms that will be quite difficult to come to their rescue if they needed them; it won’t be a nice idea. He told the king that they need to find a way to the temple in Sytrits, he opined that the temple of Sytrits holds the key to what they seek to know. Lucas also told the King about the General’s plans to visit Sytrits and meet the keepers of the land and seek their advice. The keepers of Sytrits are abbots that guide and protect the temple where Magnifico came from. General Sun, Lucas nor the king has ever seen them, in fact before Magnifico was reincarnated, people thought that it was all rumours. They only hear about the land of the dead and keepers of the gate of Sytrits but it seemed like it was all legendary stories or a made-up story or hoax. No one believed that such power could exist in the world because nobody believed it or when assumed that it could happen, at least not for the people of Quinax who don’t believe in magic let alone black magic.

Lucas tried his best to convince the king that day and told him that it wasn’t totally a bad decision to let go of the truce the two countries want to establish. The King(Zulu) wasn’t too satisfied with their response in the letter to the people of Azmak but he had no choice. This is something he had to do for his own country’s interest. Sending supports to other kingdoms when his own kingdom was already paying through their noses just to see that enough money was made to push their kingdom forward.