Magus Reborn

It took some time for the princes to accept that Kai truly was a Sixth-Circle Mage.

None of them seemed eager to ask too many questions while he stood in front of them. Elias had confirmed it, and that made it difficult to deny. The old Magus was bound by an oath that prevented him from lying to the royal family, so if he said Kai was beyond his current strength, the princes had no choice but to believe it.

Because of that, the peace talks began sooner than Kai expected.

Two of the princes had come here willingly, at least in name. The middle prince, Alistair, had been dragged here by Kai himself, and the man was clearly neither prepared nor pleased about it. Still, even he seemed to understand that backing away now was no longer an option.

Elias raised a hand, and the earth shifted beneath them.

A table rose from the ground first, followed by several chairs shaped from packed soil and stone. The surface smoothed itself out within seconds, firm enough to hold weight and flat enough to serve its purpose. Once it was done, the princes sat down.

Elias stood behind Prince Cassian.

Prince Marcell had his own men behind him, his Knights and Mages watching the meeting with tense expressions. Prince Alistair was the only one without support at his back, and he seemed painfully aware of it. His eyes kept moving between his brothers, as if he expected one of them to give the order to kill him before the talks truly began.

Kai didn’t pay much attention to his fear. The moment he sat down, he started.

“I do not have the time or patience for this to become a long discussion that stretches across several days,” he said. “In the end, that would not solve much either. So in the next hour, we are going to decide what happens to Vanderfall.”

All three princes looked displeased at once. Kai had expected that.

He knew what he was saying was not practical by normal standards. A kingdom’s future was not usually decided in an hour, especially not by three princes who hated and distrusted one another. But Kai was not going to give them days to scheme, stall, send secret messages, or wait for the Maleficia to make their move.

Prince Cassian was the first to speak. “If this is how the talks are going to be held, then I do not want to be part of them.”

Kai looked at him calmly. “You are already here,” he said. “You cannot go back now.”

“I am only here because Magus Elias said you would make sure the succession to the throne happened smoothly,” Prince Cassian said. “Without a fight.”

Prince Marcell’s eyes shifted toward the old Magus before returning to his brother.

“So this was rigged from the start,” he said. “You called us here when Lancephil had already chosen which prince to support.”

Kai shook his head. “Lancephil does not support anyone right now.”

All three princes looked at him.

Kai turned his gaze toward Cassian. “But I did tell Elias that I would support the smartest prince. I never specified a name. It seems Elias assumed you were the one.”

Cassian immediately turned in his seat. “Is that true, Magus Elias?”

The old Magus lowered his head slightly. “From the way he spoke, I honestly believed he was referring to you, Your Highness.”

“How do you misunderstand something like that?”

As Cassian and Elias began arguing, Kai did his best to keep the smile off his face.

This was exactly why he had built the plan this way.

Before Elias left for Vanderfall, Kai had asked him about the exact points of the oath binding him to the royal family. What it allowed, what it prevented, and where the gaps were. Once Kai understood that Elias could not directly deceive the princes, he had shaped the plan around that weakness.

He had told Elias just enough.

Not enough for the old Magus to lie, and not enough for him to reveal the entire strategy if questioned by the royal family. Elias had acted according to what he believed, which meant his words remained true even if they had been guided in the direction Kai wanted.

Before the argument could grow too heated, Kai interrupted.

“You can still leave these peace talks with whatever you had in mind, Prince Cassian,” he said. “I am neutral right now, and that is not a bad thing for you.”

Cassian looked irritated, but he kept it for himself.

Alistair, who had been dragged here against his will, finally spoke. “So this is about selecting a ruler.” Kai turned to him, and the man’s eyes narrowed. “How are you going to do that exactly?”

Prince Marcell answered before Kai could. “Yes. If you choose one of us, what stops the other two from refusing to accept it and starting a civil war anyway?” he asked. “That would bring us back to where we began.”

“That will not happen,” Kai said.

Marcell raised an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“Because whoever is chosen here today will have Lancephil’s support,” Kai replied. “And if the other two try anything, I will personally go to war for him.”

The field grew quieter after that. Kai let the words settle for a moment before continuing.

“Even if you do not understand my personal strength, you should have heard enough rumours about my forces.”

Cassian’s expression tightened. “The Enforcers?”

“And Mages,” Kai said. “I have a lot of them too.”

All three princes grew more cautious at that.

Kai could see them thinking about the words, measuring, maybe trying to guess the size of his army or the strength of his Mages and Enforcers, and what it would mean if Lancephil truly marched into Vanderfall behind one prince.

Cassian and Alistair looked genuinely unsettled. Marcell looked unsettled too, but Kai didn’t believe it.

The youngest prince was only acting the part. He already thought he had secured something stronger than Lancephil’s support. Maleficia stood behind him, and that confidence was hidden beneath every expression he made.

Cassian leaned forward slightly. “And how do you decide who to support?”

Kai smiled. “There are some conditions. If you accept them, I will support you wholeheartedly. Of course, we will make an oath for it.”

Alistair frowned. “An oath? That is too much. You need to give us at least a little trust.”

“Trust is earned, not given,” he said. “And I have no reason to trust men who turned against their own brothers within days.”

The three princes looked at one another. None of them seemed eager to deny it.

And from the way their eyes shifted between one another, Kai doubted any trust would be forming between them anytime soon.

In his experience, princes were rarely cordial with one another.

If they acted that way, it was usually because of mutual benefit, not family affection. Blood meant very little once a throne sat between people, and the three men in front of him were proving that well enough.

Without wasting any more time, he took a parchment from his robes and slid it into the centre of the table.

All three princes leaned in.

Prince Marcell was the first to speak. “These are your demands for helping one of us?”

Kai nodded. “Yes. Considering the state Vanderfall is in, I believe the terms are very generous.”

The princes didn’t answer immediately. For the next few minutes, they read through the parchment in silence, their expressions growing worse with every line. Kai watched them carefully. He could already tell that none of them saw the terms the way he did.

To him, they were generous. To them, they were chains.

Prince Cassian was the first to look up. “What do you mean, generous? This is just handing the kingdom over to you and pretending we still rule it.”

“It is not,” he said as a matter-of-fact. “You should look at the section stating that Vanderfall can pay off the debt at any time.”

Alistair’s face twisted. “That would take decades. If not centuries.”

“Then focus on development,” Kai replied. “Lancephil’s economy is improving, and Vanderfall can benefit from that if it stops trying to tear itself apart.”

Alistair stared at him as if he had said something absurd. “By agreeing to this, it would be no different from giving you the kingdom. How can you even propose something like this and expect our goodwill?”

Kai felt disappointment settle in his chest.

He didn’t know what exactly was wrong with the education of nobles and princes, but something certainly was. They always seemed to believe they were important simply because they had been born close to a throne. Even when their country was half-broken, their people exhausted, and their own rule hanging by a thread, they still spoke as if the world owed them respect.

As if their goodwill was worth more than survival.

Kai looked at the three princes and wondered, not for the first time, how kingdoms lasted as long as they did.

He frowned openly. He looked around the ruined land surrounding them before turning back to the princes. “Do you not see where we are?”

The princes followed his gaze, though none of them looked as if they understood why he was asking.

“What about it?” Alistair said.

“This-” he gestured around. “-is the state of most of your kingdom. In case none of you have bothered to look properly.”

Their expressions tightened at once.

Kai turned toward Alistair. “You flew here with me. Did you not see how terrible everything is? Entire cities have been reduced to ruins. Beasts that survived the plague are already moving into them and building new nests. You may still have a few places worth living in, but most of the kingdom is broken.”

The words landed heavily.

Kai could see it on their faces. He had hurt them where it pained the most, because deep down, they knew he was right. They simply did not want to accept it. Admitting that Vanderfall was barely standing meant admitting that the throne they were fighting over was not the prize they wanted it to be.

It was a burden, and none of them looked ready to carry it.

“Your army is ruined too,” Kai continued.

Cassian’s eyes sharpened. “You cannot know that.”

“Everyone knows that,” Kai said. “The plague killed many of your soldiers, Knights, and Mages. It would be stranger if your forces were still intact. If I am right, even if the three of you combined your armies, you would not have a quarter of my forces.”

The silence that followed was colder than before.

“I am not saying this to insult you,” Kai said. “I am saying it so you understand where you stand.”

Alistair met his eyes, his face flushed with anger and humiliation. “It sounds like an insult to me.”

“Then so be it,” Kai said. “It is better to sound rude than to lie.”

None of the princes answered.

Kai tapped the parchment lightly. “My terms may look harsh to you, but they are the path for Vanderfall to keep standing and eventually prosper. Without outside support, you will spend years trying to rebuild while your people suffer and your enemies wait for a chance to carve away what remains.”

Marcell leaned back. “You say that, but you are clearly trying to take control of the kingdom. Otherwise, you would not demand records of taxes and financials every quarter. That is not support. That is control.”

“It is accountability,” Kai replied at once.

Marcell’s mouth tightened.

“If Lancephil is going to pour resources, manpower, protection, and coin into Vanderfall, then I will know where all of it goes. I will not fund a broken court so you can lose half the money to corruption, vanity projects, and noble pockets before a single road is repaired.”

The princes looked displeased again, but he didn’t soften his voice.

“You want my help,” he said. “That means you accept my oversight.”

Marcell didn’t mention any more clauses, but there were several similar ones written into the parchment.

Truthfully, when he first learned the true state of Vanderfall, his first instinct had been to take the kingdom for himself. It would not have been difficult. Vanderfall was broken, its army weakened, its nobles divided, and its princes more concerned with one another than the people they claimed to rule.

But taking the kingdom would have meant fighting Elias.

The old Magus was still bound by his oath, and if Kai tried to seize Vanderfall outright, Elias would have no choice but to protect the royal family. Kai didn’t want that fight. More than that, he was not a tyrant. He had no interest in conquering a kingdom simply because it was easy.

Therefore, he chose the next best option.

Whoever climbed the throne would owe Lancephil heavily enough that they could not cause problems for him later.

The king of Vanderfall would still have some autonomy. He would still sit on the throne, issue orders, and command the army. But the important parts of rebuilding the kingdom would be overseen by Francis and his people. Financial records, tax collection, development projects, supply distribution, and even a new department created specifically to root out corruption would all fall under Lancephil’s supervision.

To the princes, it was surveillance of the highest level. To him, it was common sense.

He was not willing to change those clauses. If he gave in once, they would only assume he could be pushed further. One concession would become another. A softened term would become a demand to remove the clause entirely.

And the princes certainly tried.

As it turned out, all three of them understood one thing very clearly, at least on the surface. Gaining Lancephil’s support was almost the same as winning the throne. Because of that, they briefly stopped looking like enemies and started arguing like men facing a common threat.

They pushed back on the financial oversight. They pushed back on Kai’s authority. They pushed back on the anti-corruption department, the debt records, the military conditions, and nearly every clause that would limit their ability to rule freely.

Kai stayed firm on each point.

Every time they argued, he reminded them of the state of their kingdom. He reminded them of the ruined cities, the broken roads, the dead soldiers, the empty treasuries, and the plague-scarred land he had flown over to reach them. He reminded them that Lancephil would be investing money, people, protection, and time into Vanderfall, and that he had no intention of doing so blindly.

The only reason they kept listening was because of one clause.

They could pay the debt.

If Vanderfall became strong enough, wealthy enough, and stable enough to repay Lancephil fully, then the oversight would end. The kingdom would be released from Lancephil’s grip, and the ruler would stand on his own again.

That clause was the only thing that made the rest tolerable. It gave them a way out. A distant one, perhaps, but still a way out.

All three princes seemed confident that they could eventually pay off the debt.

Still, as expected, that confidence didn’t stop them from wanting better terms. They even tried to add conditions of their own, but there was little they could actually do.

Every argument they made was met by one from Kai, and every attempt to soften the clauses only led him back to the same point. Vanderfall needed help. Lancephil would provide it. If they wanted his support, they would accept oversight.

In the end, Kai pushed back harder.

He reminded them that he was already being generous by not demanding reparations for the plague. Lancephil had been the one to shoulder most of the burden in purging it. His people had fought, bled, and died to save Vanderfall’s lands, and the kingdom had not even thought it appropriate to send proper thanks.

The princes tried to argue that Magus Elias had done most of the work.

Elias himself put an end to that.

“It is not true,” the old Magus said calmly. “I assisted, Your Highnesses, but I cannot take credit for what King Arzan and Lancephil accomplished.”

The princes gave him hard looks for that, but there was nothing they could say.

Elias had spoken the truth.

With Kai refusing to budge on any of the clauses, and the princes having nothing meaningful to offer in return, the discussion slowly narrowed into a single decision. None of them had the coin, or enough soldiers. None of them could even guarantee that their own people would remain fed through the coming months without outside support.

Kai was already tired of the discussion by the time he leaned back and looked at them.

“Just tell me if any of you are willing to accept my offer,” he said. “We will make an oath, and you will become king.”

The princes went still.

“If the other two surrender, I will even offer to spare their lives,” Kai continued. “They will be given enough money to live comfortably and sent into exile. That is more mercy than most succession wars allow.”

The three brothers looked at one another. The question in their eyes was easy to read.

Were they willing to become a slave for the throne?

For a few seconds, none of them spoke.

Unsurprisingly, the first one to open his mouth was Prince Marcell. He could tell that something was brewing behind those eyes.

He was the only one who already believed he had a reliable backer. His fingers rested lightly on the table, and his expression grew calmer than it had been a moment before. When he looked at Kai, there was something almost satisfying in his eyes.

“And what happens,” Marcell said slowly, “if you do not make it out of here alive, King Arzan?”

The air changed at once and Marcell’s smile sharpened.

“In that case, Vanderfall can simply take over Lancephil.”

The very next second, the mana around them shimmered.

***

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