Chapter 83 - A Meeting with the King

---Mael POV---

Announcing the King's arrival, the short man walked in with Darton and Arcadios behind him. Sitting opposite of us, I could clearly see dark circles under his eyes showing he hadn't slept all night.

"Good Morning King Toma Fiore.", I stated with a polite nod.

"Good...good morning.", he meekly replied, "I understand that...you wanted a meeting...with me."

"Correct, I am here to discuss the improvement of life for Mages. This country has been complacent in protecting it's people, it's gone from nearly fifty percent mages to a measly eighteen percent. Do you know why that is?", I questioned.

Shrinking back into his seat, I knew he was well aware. Looking away from me as well, Darton seemed to have played a part in it directly as well.

"I will take your silence as confirmation...", I stated as I stared him down, "Give a reason why I should finish the last threat to the people of Fiore...the Royal Family."

Turning ghost white, Toma felt my killing intent hit him like a hurricane. Even Arcadios and Darton were frozen as memories of yesterday came flooding back.

"You could have simply sent them away to mage friendly nations if you wanted too. Why did your people need to suffer all this time, tell me!", I demand slamming my fist down on the table shattering it into a million pieces.

Reaching her hand out, Irene pulled me back with a smile.

"Mael, I am sure the King has his reasons. I mean sending mages away would have cost quite a lot of money. Not only that, I am sure he never honestly believed that all mages were bad.", Irene stated, "If memory serves he married a mage so it's not like he has always hated us."

"YES!", the King shouted before toning himself down, "She is correct, sending so many people away would have been detrimental to the country financially and personnel wise. We have the Alvarez Empire to the west, and then Zash's betrayal...there were a lot of reason we couldn't send them away."

"With the treatment they have had though, did you think they would fight if an invasion happened? The Alvarez Empire is mage friendly...wouldn't the mages actually help them?", I questioned looking at Lucy.

"Of course, there are several groups that have asked for their support. My grandparents were among them in their later years.", Lucy said as she started to tear up, "My family lost everything we had built up for several generations. Mother and I never wanted to hurt anyone, we were just merchants. Why didn't the Kingdom help us when they came to take us away? Our family company did a lot of work for the Kingdom, and no one came to help us."

Seeing Lucy start to cry, I watched the King glance around looking for an exit. I could see him calculating if he could flee before I'd kill him, but things were going just as planned.

'Good job ladies.', I told them telepathically, 'Irene I would kiss you right now if it didn't ruin the mood.'

'You can do it later.', Irene playfully replied, "King Toma, what will become of the Heartfilia Estate? Surely the Kingdom could return her family property and funds to her, the Church no longer has a hold them."

"Absolutely! Arcadios, see that it gets done immediately!", Toma ordered.

"Lady Lucy, we can finally go home.", Brandish said hugging Lucy, "We can begin looking for our families as well."

Irene had this entire encounter planned out before we came here. The two of us were playing Good Cop Bad Cop, and they were too fearful to see it. Having them dance around in the palm of her hand must have made her feel amazing. Getting several more concessions from him, Irene handed the reins over to me to bring this home.

"Alright, so lets talk about the S-Rank exam you put in place.", I stated, "I understand where you are coming from, but I think it was poorly implemented. As it stands, the price of S-Rank request nearly quadrupled and people just can't afford that. I propose an alternative solution that benefits both parties."

"I am open to ideas on this...I...I have heard many complaints about the program.", he admitted.

By this point he looked like a complete wreck, in all honesty he looked like he just ran a triathlon chased by a dragon.

"I believe the individual Guilds should be responsible for damages they cause. If they have an S-Rank take a quest, they should be responsible for any unnecessary damages. The fact they would be on the hook would make the Guild think twice before promoting someone because it's their money on the line.", I stated knowing the former method was idiotic, "Any Guild that causes too many incidents should be referred to the Magic Council for investigation. If the Guild is found to be careless or purposefully causing damages, they can impose fines and fees on the Guild or disband them."

Nodding his head, the King liked this idea as it would no long fall on the Kingdom to repair damages. Previously it had been the Kingdom handling the cost so this alternative pleased him. It had been brought up before, but had been canned due to the lack of support it would get from the Guilds. Since I had brought it up though, he felt confident no one would argue with me on it.

"Guilds are a lot like sports teams though...we are going to need to think about a safe way to vent their energy. I was thinking we could do a yearly event in Domus Flau where Guilds could square off in various challenges both physical and magical. Using the capital would bring a lot of business here, and would be a good way to mend the relations between mages and non-mages.", I suggested.

"What would be the reward though?", the King asked.

"The title of Fiore's Strongest Guild and a cash prize that would be comprised of money each competing Guild put in. Any Legal Guild can participate, however the first event will narrow the competitors down to 10 Guilds. We'd want to make it a race through a Labyrinth, and the first ten Guilds through win. Anyone else will have to try again the next year.", I replied with a smile, "We can use Broadcast Magic to transmit it across the country, and bring us together as a people."

Seeing the benefits of something like this, the King was willing to use the abandoned arena for such a competition. Saying he would need a year or so to ensure housing accommodations were in order, he said they could start holding in in three years time. Glancing at the women, all of them looked ecstatic to have a new way to show off their skills.

"Last thing we need to discuss...the third branch of the Balam Alliance is still out there. They only come together when a meeting happens, otherwise they are spread out all over Ishgar. I'd like to work with your intelligence team to locate and eliminate them as they are found. Neither of us want more people hurt by them, and I think it would benefit both of us if we did it together.", I stated.

"Agreed.", the King said as relief washed over him, "I would also like to formally apologize for Observer Yennefer's actions. We have been made aware of her unreasonable demands and behavior...she has been reassigned to be your assistant with her colleague Triss Merigold."

"Assistant?", I asked.

"The Magic Council and the Kingdom will be handling matters related to mages together moving forward. As the Rank 1 Wizard Saint, there will be many things coming your way so you will need assistants to organize your schedules and paperwork. Since we are doing away with the S-Rank exams, they need to be re-assigned or be let go."

Assuring him that I didn't need any assistants, the King said that Yajima was the one who recommended it. Knowing that old man was up to something, I decided to figure out what he was trying to do. Ending our meeting here, Arcadios brought Yennefer and Triss in. Triss was pretty relaxed about the situation, but Yennefer looked furious.

"I have to be your secretary?!", she hissed.

"Yeah because the bitch position has already been filled by my dog.", I chuckled.

"You!!", she seethed.

"Calm it down, your going to get wrinkles.", I pointed out.

With the teasing done for now, I had two lingering questions. Why did he sent Hisui away and why was their a House Elf here. Bringing those two questions up with him, he gave me a confused look.

"We don't have any House Elves here...my great grandfather sent them away during his reign. Are you saying you have seen one here in the castle?", the King asked.

"Yeah, he slipped into a room several doors down.", I stated.

Glancing at Darton and Arcadios for confirmation, both of them said no one in the castle had one employed. Knowing that I had no reason to lie, he called the Garou Knights in. Asking them if there had been any strange ongoing incidents, none of them knew anything.

"I will say someone tipped Tartaros off to my attack because only they mobilized, everyone else was completely unaware.", I told them, "Could there be any issues outside the castle that didn't add up?"

"Well...", Darton said remembering something, "The Alvarez Empire has been rather quiet as of late, a few of our nobles have made some head way in making trade agreements with them. This is out of the ordinary because that has never happened before."

"Why wasn't this reported sooner?", Toma inquired.

"Well...Zash was the Secretary of State, the new Minister is having issues sorting through everything.", Darton replied scratching his head, "I only know about it because we haven't lost any ships this year or had any reported skirmishes."

My initial knowledge of the Fairy Tail timeline was of little help here. Zeref was definitely dead which meant someone else was in charge there, and I didn't know if they could be reasoned with. The Kingdom could handle the details, I'd only assist if it came to conflict here on the mainland. Deciding to let them sort this out, we left them to their own devices.

"Aren't you concerned about the House Elf?", Yennefer asked as we walked out.

"I am leaving something behind to investigate it, and report back information to me.", I replied with a wink.

Giving me a confused look, she sensed something shoot out of my shadow and back into the castle. Asking me what that was, I said it was insurance and that she was better off not knowing. In truth, I had used my Demon King powers to create a Shadow Demon. I didn't realize I had this ability till I took the Demon King's form yesterday. There were limits to what I could do at the moment, but basic commands like track and relay information seemed to work well enough.

'Once I get better with my Demon Creation, I can send out Demons to be my intelligence network.', I thought as I opened a portal home, 'Maybe I can make a group similar to Ainz' people.'

Walking into our home, I looked at Irene with a smile.

"I have decided to take you on a date in three days time. You can come with with on a special trip to check up on some things.", I said with a wink.

"I look forward to the adventure.", she laughed.

"God...would you please not flirt in front of us.", Yennefer groaned.

"Keep that up and I will have a doghouse made just for you.", I replied, "Till you can find permanent residence, you can stay in one of the guest rooms."

Thanking me for the kind gesture, Triss dragged Yennefer away so they could settle in for now.