Chapter 27 September 406 AD Flattop Mountain

            Three weeks after gaining his freedom, and things were calming down. Two days after the traitors were killed, detectives showed up and took the bodies, and asked questions for days. They attempted to take Shimbir back to the capital, but Shimbir refused. The detectives tried to insist, but Shimbir had several hundred guards around him at all times, and with just sheer weight in numbers, they could insist much harder than just two detectives.

            Since then Shimbir had taken to exercising with his Guards, and currently, Shimbir was running with them. He was pathetic at it, as he had been a prisoner in the castle. Shimbir felt the need to be exceptional in every way so he took up running with his guards. In due time, he would be their equal. That said, even after his maid was taken away, he kept up his martial arts and strength training so he wasn’t far behind the guards in those areas. The thought of Hani brought a pang of grief to Shimbir. He didn’t know if she was alive or dead, imprisoned or free. Either way, he couldn’t help her, so instead he focused on the strange reality that he had authority over people who didn’t work for him, and how he had almost no authority over people who technically worked for him.

            When he asked his new guards, the young soldiers who had just finished man camp, to write to their families and ask them to come to Flattop Mountain, most of their parents agreed. King Shimbir did not have the authority to force them to come; they could have turned him down, but they didn’t.

            In contrast, when he wanted to know about his personal finances, by secretaries, whom he technically employed, they refused to comply. Albeit it wasn’t an outright refusal. Instead, they gave him the run around, claiming he had to come in person, or he needed Jinka to sign off on his request, or some other excuse. In other words, the people who controlled his vast wealth did not think their jobs depended on his opinion.

            For the last three weeks, he had a lot of meetings with Busara and other Illuminati members, as they planned out how to uplift the farmers, miners, and fishermen of Paulsland. Over that period, they made it clear that the only reason his guards obeyed him was because they didn’t know any better. Apparently, in governmental, financial, and corporate circles, they viewed Shimbir and the previous few kings as figureheads whom they placated instead of obeying. Busara made it clear that the seventy families were in control, but the person who controlled any particular family changed over time, and sometimes changed several times a year. Busara was aware of some of the stronger players, but he had to admit that those players seemed to change based on internal politics in each family. This meant that in Paulsland, there was often a shadow government unseen by most. One was with the seventy families who usually held control over the various elected officials, but the other were the unelected workers in government who often had authority without oversight.

            With the exception of Jinka, most of the bad actors attempted to control Paulsland from the shadows. They put puppet officials in office, and if something went wrong, they would cut the strings, leaving the puppet to bear the consequences while they put a different puppet in power. Jinka was an exception because he was a puppet trying to become a player.

            Either way, Paulsland was facing a lot of internal instability due to the shadow government. If there hadn’t been a shadow government that longed for control, then Shimbir would never have become King. Only an unstable government would put a four-year-old on the throne. Despite his title, Shimbir did not view himself as exceptional. If he were exceptional, he would have been able to stop Hani’s beating. That said, he did not desire to give up the throne. He felt the only path to freedom for himself was by keeping the throne. His plan for freedom was to follow King Paul’s advice. King Paul wrote in his book that a leader is either someone who hires a bunch of people or someone who is hired by a bunch of people. Shimbir already realized he couldn’t be the first type of leader; his employees didn’t listen to him, so Shimbir had no choice but to be the type of leader who worked for as many people as possible.

            Part one of his plan had already started when he had his guards send out letters to their families, and now that a couple of weeks had passed, their parents and older siblings had started showing up at Flattop Mountain. Every day, he met with a few dozen of them, a dozen at a time. Shimbir needed a broad base of support that viewed Shimbir as their path to gaining wealth and security. These meetings with the farmers were the first step in that process.

            As Shimbir ran with his guards, he had to watch the time as he had many meetings, and he wanted to do some more shooting practice with his guards. Shimbir had insisted that he and his guards, all six thousand two hundred and sixty-four of them, learn how to shoot well and find ways to incorporate the steam weapons into his security detail. Due to that, he had to cut his run by two laps, and even then, he only got ten minutes of shooting time before he showered and went to his second meeting of the day, which was near the steam engine factory. In fact, his meeting started half an hour after they saw the wonders of the factory.

            As he entered, Busara was waiting with nine men, none younger than forty, and two who were clearly into their seventies, and three women between thirty and fifty. Each was dressed in their best clothes, clearly because they were meeting their King. It still shook Shimbir when he saw normal peoples’ esteem and regard for him just because he was King. It was so different from how he was treated by the nameless manager and the people the nameless manager hired. He was just twelve, and the most important thing he had ever done was be elected by people who wanted to control him. It was sobering to him.

            Shimbir was the first to speak, “Thank you for coming. I have asked you hear today because I wish for your help.”

            One of the men, who looked about sixty, asked, “What can we do? We are just farmers.”

            “First of all, you have already done great things by raising loyal sons who are now acting as my guards. That said, I have more to ask of you. I want your help in making steam engines for farm work.”

            The dozen farmers looked at Shimbir in complete shock. Shimbir wasn’t surprised by it, as every farmer, miner, fisherman, or other supposedly low-class individual had given him the same look. One of the ladies said, “We are not mechancists. We can't help you.”

            Shimbir shook his head and said, “My Illuminati are not farmers. You have seen the wonders of the steam locomotive, steam shovel, steam weapons, and all the steam equipment in the factory, but none of those pieces of equipment will help farmers. I want to send an illuminati member home with you, so that you can work together to find uses for steam engines on your farm.”

            Another farmer said, “Even so I don’t see how we can help you, we just don’t have the education.”

            Shimbir shook his head again and said, “King Paul said that every person he meets is a master of something he is not. Each of you are masters of farming. Each of you are a master of the land that you live and work on. Yes, the Illuminati have experience working with mechanical parts, and powering it with steam vessels, but that doesn’t mean they know how to help farmers. My goal is to help my people, the people of Paulsland, as a whole, and I need your help. I cant do this on my own, neither can the illuminati. We have the greatest technology the world has ever seen, but we need your help so we know how to give it to the farmers.”

            The farmers paused for a minute and began to consider. As they considered, Busara began his pitch, “You saw how the steam engines worked in the factory. Thanks to King Shimbir’s direction, we will be able to send this group home with one, and we will send a member of the Illuminati with you. A steam engine works by pushing a piston back and forth, for hours or days on end. We need your help finding a repetitive motion task that the steam engine can do better than you or your animals. Once we find that task we will work together to build a device to use the steam engine to do that job. Once we have a design we will make a steam factory to build that device to help farmers all across Paulsland.”

            One of the older farmers looked at Busara and said, “I don’t know if I can afford to do that.”

            King Shimbir said, “Don’t worry, I will pay you. Each one of you will be given grant money to help the Illuminati. If we find a useful design, and believe me, the Illuminati members are very motivated to find a useful design, then each of you will form a corporation with Busara, and the Illuminati member who helped you create the new piece of equipment. The Illuminati Borrowing and Loan company will give the corporation a loan to build a steam factory and produce your new product.”

            One of the ladies said, “That is a lot of responsibility to put on us.”

            Shimbir shook his head, “Not really. Financially, you lose nothing because I am giving you a grant, and if a factory is built, the factory will owe the Illuminati Borrowing and Loan Company not you.”

            As understanding dawned on the group they relaxed a lot but not completely. One of the men asked, “What if you give us money and we cant figure anything out with it.”

            “Then I helped the parents of the faithful men who are guarding me. I don’t see that as a loss. My goal though, is to give you a grant that you can turn into wealth for your family for generations to come. I am doing this because I appreciate your sons rescuing me from the traitors. Some of my guards' families were in very good positions to take advantage of the grant, as they are miners and their newly formed corporations were sold the new steam shovels. Others are going to be on the bleeding edge of technology, for instance, nearly a hundred of my soldiers have parents who work transporting goods on the rails of Paulsland by horse or oxen. With the new steam-powered iron horses, we need rail exclusively for iron horses, as the iron horse goes much faster than normal horses. They are working with the Illuminati to build new rails very quickly so that iron horses and normal horses don’t have to share the public rails. When the fishermen get here, we are going to talk with them about making boats powered by steam instead of wind. Steam isn’t just for the rich, it's for everyone, and I want everyone’s help in making sure every household has something powered by this new technology.”

            After a long moment of consideration, one of the seventy-year-olds said, “I think I can help. It’s the responsibility of the old to leave a legacy for the young. Thank you for this opportunity.”

            It didn’t take long for the others to agree.

            Shimbir said, “Thank you. Paulsland will be better off because of your service and wisdom. I would stay to chat, but I have other duties I have to attend to. Busara will give you the details, and introduce you to your Illuminati details.”

            After leaving Shimbir headed toward his office near the gate of Flattop Mountain. He had lots of documents to go over before he he met with the next group of his guards' parents. As he walked, he was surrounded by guards. When he was nearly to his office he heard a shout, “SHIMBIR!”

            Shimbir turned his head, and when he saw the woman who called to him he yelled out, “HANI!” and ran to her. His guards moved out of his way, and when he reached her he embraced her and said, “I am so glad you are alive! I am sorry I didn’t come for you I didn’t know how to.”

            Hani hugged him back and said, “It's okay. Its okay.”

            After a moment, Shimbir realized where he was at, so he let go of Hani, turned to his guards, and said, “Hani is my maid, but I love her like a mother since she raised me. Give her a protection detail.”

            One of the guards said, “Yes, sir.”

            Then he said, “Go get a camera.”

            As one of the guards left to obey Hani asked, “Why do you need a camera?”

            Shimbir said, “The people of Paulsland need to know about the beating you took for me.”