The Automated King

Essential Information

 The public library, in every part of the world, has poised prolific knowledge, vast array of facts, and carried an immense attribute of the folklore of the country's cultural heritage. It goes along in specific to the Malia, as they possessed the far-and-wide comprehension of the country and its cohesion to the world. Out of the capabilities and stack of reliable goods from their business center, their taste of architectural building was standing strong upon the peak of its history as one of their finest product to promote.

“Wow, this is sophisticated and beautiful. Their favor to art is sensational.”

An unknown figure is approaching the curious Reginald, holding his left arm to stop him from probing the statue in front of them.

“Good day, Mr. Human. Do you see the sign below the statue? It’s forbidden to touch the sculpture with your hand.”

Reginald turned his back in dismay.

“I’m sorry, ummm... I can’t read the sign, it’s unfamiliar to me.”

“Oh, the usual humanities and their ignorance. The exit is this way.”

“Please forgive me, Mr. Librarian. I wanted to explore the collection of this library so much.”

The sloth librarian, responsible party of the venue, shook his head steadily.

“Inconceivable, Mr. Human. You have to register your fault presence and paid the damages in front, then we talk of business to attend.”

“Fine.... thank you for the notification, Mr. Librarian.”

“Your welcome, darling.”

The pretentious librarian dismissed in his finesse, swinging across the ceiling to look upon the library’s visitors from above.

“Wow, that sloth is so agile.... I’ll have to be cautious from now on.”

He’s probing into his pocket, fourteen gold coins were inside this whole time, granted by the successful mission of trade within the market of Malia.

“I don’t have ideas of how much it would affect my expenses, I hope it’s not too costly.”

Reginald, as notified by the librarian, followed his order to drag himself upon the registration counter. It’s a transparent box, topped up with gold and silvers to the brim down under.

“Five gold? Ugh, so greedy.... For the knowledge, sacrifice is inevitable to commence.”

He dropped the five coins of gold in hesitant, unwilling to set them free.

“Farewell, my dear.”

The chiming sound of the coins reverberating from the box, leaving Reginald in buffeted despair.

“To ease off the pain, I need to read lots of books for today. The expense might be worthwhile to set forth.”

Reginald is venturing to the books collection. In his field of vision towards the entire section of the library, it was divided into categories and cluster of topics. The science segment is on the second floor, collided with the fictional and political book sections under the same stage. The principal publicity of the library, lore and history, was resided down the first floor, standing firm with the philosophy books compartment and its components.

“Their favor to art fairly noticeable from their book set-up, huh.”

Reginald set his movement to the first floor.

“I wanted to attest the liable data of their politics, but I am obliged to load their historical relic firsthand.”

His eyes on feast of the various title of the books, looking at every one of each in scrupulous fashion.

“History of Malia.... The battle of dawn.... Clash with the Ape? How interesting.”

Reginald took the third book immediately, got himself intrigued by the daunting subject of it. He is flipping the pages incessantly to give a brief review of the content itself.

‘... Long-lorn resentment of the rebellious ape has punctured our progress to be the most civilized kingdom of the continent. They were audacious, went rampant over the settlement of our motherland. We are one, in unite under the grace of Mammalia, yet their berserker attitude superseded the pleasure of peace and harmonious coalition. They were devoted to conquer, lavishly devoured every other gregarious entity, including their own friends and allies of the species. The tigers tribe had been trampled by their saga of triumphant victory, diminished to the brink of extinction. Our prompted ceasefire ended in tragic by their unfaithful sentience to defy, put our assimilation into halt for a few decades..’

“Hmm, they had a lifetime quarrel with the Apes, based on this prologue... What’s with the Ape guardsman of yesterday, then? Is he a spy or something?”

‘...The war of Reshina in year 25 was the final compromise of our newly-established empire to the treacherous Apes. In memoriam of our Queen, Reshina, that was murdered by the notorious assassination to the nation’s palace, this battlefield was titled and honored. As the form of retaliation, Our knight and cavalry marching in rage towards the neighboring ape colony, stabbed and slashed any living creature of their community. Sadly, we couldn’t eradicate them all, as they happened to seek refuge with the Fishman kingdom and re-emerged under their patronage subsequently.’

“Year 25? I can’t fathom with the date.”

“For those knowledge, you shall move to the second floor, young human.”

The unforeseen creature lurking behind Reginald. As he shifted his observation to the voice, it perished without trace.

“Hmm? Who is it? Please, guide me to the wisdom of your city.”

“...”

“It’s gone... better drag myself to the date system, for now. I’m afraid it’s a must to learn before meddling with the other historical events in their collection.”

Reginald is ascending to the second floor. Distinctive to the nearly-void attendants of the historical section, this place was scurried with lots of young and old Malian. The shallow murmur was emanated from the crowd, tailoring a non-conducive situation for a book-reading to commence.

“Quiet, you insolent youngsters!! Pay the sanction, and dismiss!!”

The sloth librarian rebuked the colossal spread of commotion, made them dispersed out of the alleyway.

“Those impudent townsfolk. They don’t have sufficient morality to earn their rights of this oasis.”

The sloth librarian caught the glimpse of illuminating awareness of the scenic affair, then proceed to apprehend the interest of unsolicited party afterwards.

“Hello, young Human. Have you paid the sanctions? If you are not, please move out downstairs. This is the sanctum of science. You have to show manners within this vicinity.”

“I am, Mr. Librarian. May I ask you of something important?”

The sloth librarian furls his overcoat to tidy up and looking at the hour-glass watch on his left wrist, then looking back to the young human for its question.

“I am not in a hurry, but here on duty. What is your qualms, young human? Make haste, for I am not in my leisure hours at this time.”

“Could you give me some clue of the Malia’s calendar schematic? I’m interested with the irregularities of the date, to count.”

The sloth librarian pointed towards the second row of the shelf.

“Those books is the answer for your thirst. I could gave you a crash course, if you wish for it. This is but a conventional information for the residents of Malia.”

“Are you in a rush? If it’s not, your offer would be the most convenient to me.”

The sloth librarian nodding in humble gesture. Reginald, on his oblivious knowledge of the city’s culture, responded in similar manners of him.

“It’s pretty simple in actuality, young Human. The date of Malia was meant to produce our own interpretation of time and its functions, to detach ourselves off our own differences of the time. The genesis of our cardinal year was began at year 1 of the country’s treaty of unification.”

Reginald bowing to the sloth librarian in respectful behavior, even if he felt dubious to his own maneuver.

“I am grateful for the honorable information, Mr. Librarian.”

“Don’t mention it. It’s my occupation and duty to coil the base interest of other species.”

The sloth librarian nodded back to his courteous gesture, then pouncing to the vine up on the ceiling to settle with his duty as the guardian of knowledge.

“Hum-de-dum, return to the history, are we? Per the notification of Mr. Librarian of the treaty, I presume it is the next material in scrutiny.”

Reginald probing each shelves in full concentration. After several time of searching, he finds the book that he was looking forward to see. Treaty of Unification was written upon the cover. The book was dusty and shredded by various speck of dilapidation, awaiting somebody to snatch and read it in time. He is flipping on the papers of the decayed book carefully. He didn’t wish for another set of sanction to his tabs by destroying such important book on the site.

‘Pursuant to the affirmation of the conjoined tribes of Malian and Apes, this book hereby declared the proclamation of the associated confederation of Malia. The Elephant, wolf, rhinoceros, bear, lion, tiger, and the Primates community would be the pioneer and prime foundation of the newborn country. We, as the child of Malia, would be devoted and proud of our identity. We, as the child of Malia, would be the vanguard of our fragile motherland. We, as the child of Malia, would be faithful and pledge our allegiance to the best interest of our confederation.

Of the day onward, the country would be led by the council of representative. The king or queen of the country would be appointed to each region’s representation by 10 years of tenure in rotation. ‘

“So the double-cross of the Apes began shortly after this announcement, huh. Hey, is that...?”

In a stretch distance of Reginald, a striking emergence of a creature enticed his reaction. He then closing in to the target, swallowed up his guts to convey a flurry of question to him.

“Good afternoon, Sir. May I intrude you for interview? There’s several traits of yourself..”

“what kind of traits, human? Are you gonna mocking me up or anything? Better quit it, you would regret it.”

As Reginald had suspected, the unidentified persona is an ape. The rough, but flat surface of its palm, the lips width and the position of its mouth, the burly and fur-coated skin, all resembling an image of a regular ape in the book.

“I am apologize, Mr...”

“Go away, or I’ll ask Mr. Rowan to kick you out.”

“Who? Did you mean....”

“Yep, the sloth librarian. He would be pissed with your way of slandering my race.”

“Hm? No, this is not regarding to your species or anything.... I am in kind of interested by the historical matters of this country.”

The look of the man-ape turned bright by Reginald’s answer. He smirked a bit, then chuckled a little.

“Hoo, My ancestor is in particular notice of yours, I suppose, and you wished to elaborate with my own existence under the roof of Malia.”

“Perfectly estimated. So...”

“Is this natural? I am the adverse side of the rampaging Apes. My family and its heredity were align with the governance and politics of our kingdom. We might not have ourselves fiddled with the scoop of leadership, but we are in compliance to the current hegemony nonetheless.”

“In other words, the Apes is relevant in the country as well? Being the residents and all.”

“Yup. We paid expenses, tax, utilize our income, all in entirety by the circulation of the council of Malia.”

“I see. Do you know the fate of the actual Ape kingdom?”

The ape-stranger tilted his head up, then shook his head in retrospect to the question implied.

“Sorry. The information of Ape kingdoms were hard to discover. They permanently shuttered down their connection to Malia prior to the incident.”

“Huh? Incident? Is that a murder, or a built-in conspiracy of the government?”

“Nah, By the definition of ‘incident,’ I referred to the unfortunate destiny of our first Queen. She is an ape, if you are aware.”

“Really? It sucks.”

“Oh, no... You better go, man. The sloth...”

“You’ve been warned, young human.”

The abrupt emergence of The sloth librarian swung over the top of the two oblivious attendee.

“Yeah, five gold... say farewell to the path of riches.”

“No, brother. For bad words or witty jokes it’s on six.”