Magnifico

Back from Azmak

Magnifico has just landed in Alaphas after the journey he made with his soldiers to Azmak had succeeded. People have gathered outside to welcome him and most people did out of fear of being punished not to and not because they actually wanted to.

Alaphas people have always wanted a conqueror, a person that will lead them and make them be feared, they have always wanted the whole kingdoms and their neighbors to be afraid of them and their king, they have always wanted to be worshipped especially the males in Alaphas. But with Magnifico, it seemed like it was the opposite of what they ever wanted. They win wars, yes! but not in this style they wanted it... At least they wanted a human king, someone with a human heart and not a king forged out of some magical powers or a king who has no regard for them. Magnifico was just too much for any of them to handle, not like he seeks for opinions like Jonas have always done, but in this case, your opinion just doesn’t matter.

He does whatever he likes anyhow and anytime he wants it. He kills whoever that wrongs him and rarely spared people, he wasn’t someone you could poison to death easily like the people of Alaphas once thought of doing because they have never seen him eating in their kingdom so, the plan was going to be a dead of on arrival plan.

They can only see him drinking drops of blood of victims or l*****g the blood in his sword away and that was the closest thing he had done to eating since he arrived in Alaphas.

Magnifico was in an iron wagon driven by two horses on his way back to Alaphas and people of Alaphas could see his face through the window of the horse wagon and different thoughts were crossing their minds. Most onlookers in Alaphas who had not been able to see Magnifico before wanted to see him and they had a lot to say when they saw him but they can’t just discuss it with each other in public because everyone was afraid. After all, nobody is sure of who to tell to keep it a secret in other words the best thing they could do at the moment was to clap their hands and wave them while Magnifico was in the wagon passing... Magnifico was ruling unchallenged though some ministers in Alaphas weren’t happy with his grand style of ruling them, they wouldn’t say it but they knew it wasn't right, it isn’t even right in the first place to be ruled by a beast or humans being told what to do by a beast they thought. This sounds crazy to the ear and sounds crazier to people in other kingdoms.

Immediately the wagon stopped, a soldier quickly rushed to the door, opened it, and laid down in a doggy position for Magnifico to come down. Magnifico matched on the soldiers back with his large feet and came down.

“Did you just see that? Jonas wasn’t this bad and wicked,” an Alaphas prime minister made a quiet remark.

“Yes, he is back from his journey and I can’t find Jonas anywhere close to him. I hope he hasn’t been killed” another official said quietly to the prime minister who was also standing close to him.

Everyone started clapping for Magnifico as he comes down from his wagon and they all put on a fake smiling face. The Minister and his friends were also clapping with a stout smile on their faces, they wondered why the clap was started in the first place or for what reason the person that started the clapping did it.

Magnifico looked into the crowd and said with a large voice “People of Alaphas, you should always be thankful that you now have a capable king, a king who knows what rulership entails. Your stupid and ingrate King, Jonas has frisked away from Alaphas, I don’t know how but he succeeded in running away to Azmak. I had to match onto Azmak and of course with few soldiers and tell them that nobody takes something that belongs to me and goes scot-free.”

The prime minister knew where Magnifico was heading to and he also realized that Magnifico couldn’t catch Jonas. Magnifico continued “I'm placing a bounty on his head, anybody that catches and brings him either dead or alive will surely be rewarded with a whole lot of gifts, if you happen to bring back his head, that would be okay too”

“I knew it,” the Minister said. “I knew he didn’t catch Jonas alive, it seems Jonas wasn’t in Azmak in the first place,” the prime minister said to his two friends standing close to him, the same two friends that helped him wrote a letter to Jonas through Finder. They became happy at the moment and they reassured themselves judging from what Magnifico said that Jonas was still alive somewhere and probably planning an attack against Magnifico and also to take back his kingdom.

When Magnifico was done making his speech, he entered the wagon again and he drove close to his quarters before he finally came down and went inside his supposed home.

“I think you are correct prime minister. It seems like he didn’t see or couldn’t even find Jonas. It is very obvious from what he said so far” one of the officials said.

“Exactly. He couldn’t find him. I am so happy right now,” the Prime minister said as he smiled. He continued “I think we should get inside and probably visit his quarters to congratulate him so we don’t get suspected of anything”

“Nice idea,” the second official said and they all left.

They went inside Magnifico’s quarters to congratulate him on his new victory. But When they came inside the palace, Magnifico was there already on the throne with his large sword by the left side hanging on a stool. Other officials have come and gone and they were the last to come to congratulate him and they had no idea. The Prime minister and his two friends bowed down their heads from the door till they walked up close to Magnifico’s throne and greeted him.

“We have come to congratulate you and offer you our sincere and incalculable thanks regarding the winnings you have made Alaphas achieve in a short while of your reign. Our happiness knows no bound and our satisfaction is quite unfathomable. Your Majesty, you are the best,” the prime minister said to Magnifico...

“What’s your name again?” Magnifico asked the prime minister. The prime minister was shocked at the question, his face looked confused and he wondered why he was asked this question instead of replying to the comment he had made.

“My name is..eh” he paused for a while and said “My name is Alen Azuche”

“And what’s the name of your two friends?” Magnifico asked. The prime minister looked at his friends and saw that they were shaking but didn’t want to answer the question on their behalf. Both officials kept their heads looking at the floor and Alen was looking at them expecting them to say something.

“I asked a question, what is the name of your two friends,” Magnifico asked again and this time around, Alen wasn’t trying to avoid the question any longer because he saw that Magnifico asked the question more profoundly.

“The one at my left is the finance minister, Mr. Tom Azamia, and the one at my right is his junior minister, Mr. Bonni Uswan,” Alen said. Mr. Bonni almost froze to death when he heard his name mentioned while Tom Azamia almost peed on himself.

“Good, now Mr. Alen, You know you kind of chose your words too carefully. The way you select words when you say them makes it too pleasing to my liking, it looks fake to me. Now, it makes me wonder why and nothing else comes to my mind except a green snake in a green grass comment” Magnifico said while the Minister was looking at Magnifico with an innocent face, he really wished it wasn’t what he had in mind was what Magnifico was trying to but he was correct nevertheless. He continued “You see minister Alen, people that chose their words too carefully are not worthy to be trusted and it makes me suspicious of them. You and your friends were the last people to come here to congratulate me, but I found out from what you said, that your congratulation message seems to be the sweetest of them all. I hope you don’t have a skeleton in your cupboard, Mr. Alen?”

“No. No. I don’t have at all.” Mr. Alen answered immediately. Mr. Alen’s breath ceased for a moment, he thought he had been busted or probably, Magnifico has spotted what they did and how they sent a secret message to Jonas. He maintained his cool and controlled his facial look to appear expressionless.

“Hmm,” Magnifico said as though he roared. “Get out,” Magnifico said with this thickening voice that contains fear, it looks as though if you don’t get out immediately, he may probably change his mind. So Mr. Alen and his two friends quickly squirreled out immediately. When they were sure that they were out of the palace, Mr. Alen called out his two friends to a corner where nobody could hear them or their voices.

“What is wrong with both of you? You couldn’t even say a thing when you were asked your names? Is that how fearful both of you are?” minister Alen asked with a yelling voice. Tom Azamia looked at him and said “what were you expecting Alen? Were you expecting us to answer him just like that? Besides he wasn’t really asking us, he was referring to you in that context.”

“Hmm hmmm,” Bonni said sharply as he agreed with a nod.

“Alright, well let’s not ponder on the issue again. The main thing I wanted to tell us is, there is hope. Jonas wasn’t caught and we should do anything within our powers to make sure it stays that way. We don’t know the real reason why he left Alaphas but believe me, he knows things,” The prime minister said with a low voice as he looks around to know if there are any passerby.

“That’s true. But, a bounty has been placed on his head, it will be difficult now to achieve this because there will be too many people chasing him by the time we will even have…” Mr. Bonni Uswan paused, he ended what he was trying to say and he changed the topic because he saw a passerby.

“Our new king is awesome. Sooner than later, we will destroy and..” he paused after he had confirmed that the passerby has passed, they all looked and it was just a soldier on a patrol.

“Like I was saying, it will be very difficult now to warn Jonas. We should be very careful so that we don’t get ourselves entangled in any problem with Magnifico”

“Yes. That’s true” Tom concurred.

“Why are you both always afraid of Magnifico?” The prime minister asked and his face changed as though he was just confused. “I still can’t understand this.”

“What are you saying, prime minister? Aren’t you afraid of him too?” Now Bonni became unsettled and mad.

“You like tackling us when it comes to Magnifico while you are so afraid of him too. I can’t just take this insult any longer Alen.”

“Mr. Alen, I think this meeting is over. You know I can’t stand watching you insulting grown-up men like us, it’s not rational,” Tom said with anger tucked in his voice as he raised it.

“Bring your voice down Tom.” The prime minister pleaded with a low tempo and he looked around to see if people are passing. A big tree was covering them and anybody that will catch sight of them won’t be able to tell who they are unless the person comes very close.

“Bring my voice down?” Tom said as he pointed his left hand on his chest. He twisted his and pointed at himself. He continued “calm down? When you said we are afraid of Magnifico, what should I then calm down for? We should raise our voices so that people will know what we are discussing about.” he said with a more aggressive tone, his face frowned and looked as though it was swollen..

“Please, calm down. Your voices may be heard and we will be in trouble” the second minister implored too as he tries to caution him. He continued “we are not safe here when we start shouting, it will look as if we are planning a rebellion against Magnifico and you all know the consequences”

“No, he said that we are scared of him, of Magnifico. I want to know who really is scared of him now. If you Alen is asking me to calm down, that means you are scared too. Why are you treating us as if we are tots? Listen, I am out of this so, do as you wish. Good day!” Tom said angrily and left both ministers who were still standing together. They were watching helplessly and couldn’t stop him because he wasn’t in the right mood to have a stable conversation.

“You see what you have caused? Now he has left, are you happy now?” Tom said.

“you keep making yourself look brave while you make us look like ignoramuses,” Tom said as he lifts his two hands and jammed them together to produce a clapping sound only once. “I think I should go, prime minister.” Now the prime minister became aware that he wasn’t talking to kids and he wished he had kept his mouth shut. His feet weren’t too comfortable any longer, he was now standing unsteadily and his brown eyes rolled unsteadily looking for answers to give to Tom.

“I am sorry.” The prime minister said as he leans forward towards Tom. Looking him straight in the eyes, he said again “I am so so sorry Tom. I know I shouldn’t have said what I said earlier, it was uncalled for. But, this is no time for enemies, we are friends remember so this shouldn’t make us separate and move our different ways. We can come out stronger, we should be focused on how to get our kingdom out from this beast please” the prime minister begged, now his eyes stopped rolling. He was looking steadily and maintaining his gaze at Tom. His face was in a sorry state but he still maintained his long stare.

“Okay, no problem. I will try and talk to Bonni to see what he is up to. But for now, we will have to keep our heads low. We can’t afford to make Magnifico realized we played on his back” Tom said earnestly. Looking around him and also peeping carefully around the corner where they were, his eyes caught another official heading their way, he was far from the distance so Tom couldn’t tell who was coming but he was sure as hell that it was a minister, probably a junior minister he guessed in his mind. Mr. Alen was standing close to him but wasn’t facing in the direction of the minister coming towards where they were. Tom thought that since a tree was covering the prime minister almost totally from being seen from that position of the incoming official, and he on the other hand could be seen, he quickly ended the conversation. “I think we should go. Someone is coming here, follow straight up, and find your way home, let me go down this way.” Tom said. The prime minister looked back and saw the person approaching steadily, he was in his red official attire that is worn mostly by officials of the court, he appeared to be a junior minister as it was becoming more obvious and apparent as he was closing in. “Alright, see you around,” Mr. Alen said, then he smuggled his way out from the place without being spotted. Tom had to start moving too. When he approached the man that was coming, he was it was the minister of tax. “Hi, minister!” Tom greeted.

“Hi, Tom. What we’re you doing there alone?” The tax minister asked. Tom wasn’t expecting the question from the minister though he guessed he may ask questions like: “how he is doing.” So, Tom hesitated for a while, fixing his eyes at the nearby flower, thinking with the speed of light what to say that would be suitable and acceptable. “Oh minister, sometimes when you are bored, you come out and take a look at the atmosphere, It helps me relax my mind. What at about you, where are you headed?” Tom asked with his teeth showing, and his lips stretched. Smiling while at the same time worried but kept it hidden with his spaced chin and lips.

“Oh!” the tax minister exclaimed, he brought a long note he stashed in his long pocket inside his long red robe.

“This is a tax record, I am about to duplicate it and store it in the book store. I keep these records every month and also duplicate it so I don’t lose them”

“Oh, good job minister,” Tom said quickly, he wanted the conversation to end as soon as possible and didn’t want to discuss anything else further. “I have to go, see you around,” Tom said and he quickly left.

He walked for a while and looked back and saw that the minister has headed straight away to the book store where he would keep the records permanently.