Chapter 23 August 406 Flattop Mountain-Hall of Mysteries

            The parade grounds surrounding Flattop Mountain were in chaos. Between the deaths of the traitors that had controlled the King, the King’s order to separate soldiers based on their parentage, and the various military officials who had to take responsibility for the needs of the soldiers, the people surrounding the mountain were confused and worried about their future.

Many of the military officials had family members on the payroll of the seventy families, or Jinka’s industries. They feared the wealth and comfort that came with those positions would soon disappear. That said, they really didn’t know what was going on. Although nearly two thousand people knew of the young King being groomed as a puppet, the military officials at the Man Camp of Flattop Mountain did not have enough authority to need to know about that. They were fearful that blame would somehow fall on them, and their families would lose everything, being reduced to farmers working in the dirt like animals.

As for Shimbir and Busara, they were being escorted up the mountain by three dozen newly graduated soldiers. Flattop Mountain had many gates, and at each gate, they were asked if they had the authority to enter. At each gate, Uamin boldly announced, with the vigor of a soldier finishing training, “KING SHIMBIR WISHES TO ENTER!”

When the guards heard that, they scrambled to look at the young king, and when they saw that his face and clothes matched the pictures they had seen of the King, they immediately let him through. Most of the guards around the mountains were young soldiers who were completely loyal to the King, as their training dictated. As they neared the top of the mountain, where there were stricter limits on who could enter, and thus more senior guards, they let the men through because of Busara.

As King Shimbir made his way up the mountain, he had one singular thought, “I have to make these soldiers loyal to me, or I will go back to being a prisoner.”

 Shimbir and Busara were nervous when they reached the gates of the Illuminati headquarters, a building often referred to as the hall of mystery since very few were allowed to enter. It was a multi-story stone building, whose windows were designed to let light in, surrounded by a peculiar wall that required anyone who entered to walk around the building before entering it.

Although Shimbir felt nervous when he reached the building, he dared not let any of it show as he told the gate guard, “ I am King Shimbir, and I am here to claim my right to see the secrets held within.”

The guard, a member of the Illuminati, was astonished to see King Shimbir, and the astonishment grew when he realized what the king was asking. He looked over to Busara, who nodded, and the guard said, “You and Busara may enter.”

King Shimbir firmly stated, “My guards are new members of the Illuminati, and so as the head of the Illuminati shows me the secrets left by Patriarch Paul, he will also show them to my guards.”

The gate guard was surprised and didn’t know what to do, so he turned to Busara, who nodded his head. The guard then turned back to Shimbir and said, “Of course.” And opened up the gate.

The large group made their way around the building to the entrance, where a simulare conversation happened before the large group entered the building.

As soon as they entered the building, Shimbir asked Busara, “I assume the steam weapons and steam engine were inheritances left behind by King Paul.”

“Yes.”

“Take me to those inheritances.”

Busara wanted to argue, but then he looked at the young, eager to obey their King, soldiers, and said, “Follow me.”

With that, Busara led the King and his soldiers down a cleverly lit hallway with curtains covering the walls. Shimbir had no idea what to expect. As they made their way down the halls with curtains he felt disappointment, but he didn’t dare show it. Instead, he tried to show calm and indifference. When Busara reached a certain spot, he drew back the curtains and revealed, etched in stone, King Paul’s sketches and notes on locomotives.

Shimbir was surprised by the detailed designs and notes. Although his maid had given him the best education she could, and for some time the servants of the castle had given him the best education they could, none of them were engineers, and so the sketchings before Shimbir were well beyond his education. Despite that, he desperately scanned the notes, but didn’t find anything that would be particularly helpful with his situation. Instead, he asked, “If King Paul gave us this three hundred years ago, why are the locomotive and steam weapons being built now and not back then?”

“Two reasons. First of all, it took centuries for us to make iron and steel consistently strong enough, in the shapes needed to make a locomotive. Secondly, once we had finished the locomotive, the seventy families feared the steam engine would wreck their companies, so they petitioned the last several Kings to wait on revealing it.”

“Why would my father and grandfathers wait just because the seventy families asked them to?”

“In part because the ivory throne, and thus anyone who sits on it, owns a portion of most corporations owned by the seventy families, and so their prosperity is the King’s prosperity.”

That was news to Shimbir. “What do you mean the throne owns a portion of many corporations?”

“As King, you own a portion of thousands of corporations. Many of them have gifted the throne ten percent of their company, the maximum an individual can own. Furthermore, since you have become King, several corporations have seen fit to gift you two portions, one as King, which will be inherited by the next King, and one as Shimbir, to be inherited by your children that do not inherit the throne.”

Shimbir was floored, and he asked the most reasonable question ever, “Where does the money from my companies go?”

“Not your companies, when you own a portion of a company, it's referred to as your stock. As for what each corporation does with your dividends, I can’t tell you. That said, as King, you have a massive amount of money available to you through the Illuminati borrowing and lending company.”

“Borrowing and lending company?”

Busara nodded and said, “King Paul put the Illuminati in charge of allowing loans to those with promising ideas to see those ideas come to fruition. That said, the previous few Kings have not allowed us to give loans to anyone who would compete with the corporations they owned stock in, so we have mostly been lending money to the rich and powerful. It has been profitable,” Then bitterness crept in Busara’s voice, “But it has also kept the best and brightest from rising up into leadership in Paulsland.”

“The best and brightest like you and the other Illuminati?”

“Yes.”

“I can help you rise.”

Busara paused for a moment before saying, “We will talk about it when we can have a private conversation.”

“That’s fine. For my next question, what did King Paul tell us to make after the steam weapons and the steam-powered horse?”

Busara pulled on the next curtain and said, “Let me show you.”

Over the next three hours, Busara showed Shimbir the tractor for plowing, propellers for moving boats without wind, steam-powered steel mills, and dozens of other wonders. As they went from one wonder to the next, Shimbir saw a path to permanent freedom.

Eventually, when Busara had shown Shimbir everything King Paul said could be done with steam, he asked, “Do you want to see what comes after steam?”

“Perhaps in years to come, but you have shown me what I needed to see. Now I need to inspect my soldiers.”

And so the King and his soldiers left the hall of mysteries and began making their way back down the mountain.

Authors note- So my dungeon story is completely done. The epilogue of the dungeon and immortal were both short enough that I ust made it one instead of two, so later this week I should release the next story in "The iron horse and dragon"

In two weeks my schedule should become more stable, although until then I will continue to be very busy, so have patience as chapters get released a bit slowly. Sorry about that.