Enlightened Empire-Chapter 458: Evening Sky

For a full trium after the arrival of the scholars, Rhondanos had turned from a vibrant city into a stale pond. After most enjoyable things in life had become illegal over night, the citizens had retreated into their homes and waited in trepidation, hoping that their lord would soon restore order in the city.

Yet when even the lord's city guards showed subservience towards the scholars, they were stuck, unable to fight back. Anyone who fought back by that point would become a target for the scholars to show off their authority. Thus, nothing had happened for half a month as the situation slowly deterioarted and the scholars tightened their grasp on power. Yet the sudden arrival of two visitors from the south had now thrown a massive stone into this stale pond, and the waves threatened to swallow the entire city.

Much of the outer city's east side was made up of the largest, most important port in Rhodanos, as well as the warehouses and sleeping quarters for the dock workers around it. This place had always been the core territory of the Portsiders, who got their name from their control over the local ports. As the formerly largest, most powerful gang in the city, they used to control all illegal smuggling business going through the port as well.

Only after the South-city Gang had donned the white robes of the scholars had their fortunes begun to reverse. Over the previous trium, they had worked hard to take control of the ports, yet now the Portsiders had found a powerful backer of their own. Emboldened by the prospect of great profits, the Portsiders fought back to preserve what remained of their territory. Of course, the scholars who were so close to controlling the entire city wouldn't allow a counter attack at the last moment, so things quickly turned violent.

A previously inconspicuous warehouse at the eastern port stood bright ablaze. Its flames reached up towards the stars and illuminated the low-hanging clouds. Their reflections turned the dark of night it into the red of dusk. Burning figures screamed in terror as they rushed out of the crumbling building, to accompany the roar of the flames behind them.

Since five days ago, the unassuming warehouse had served the Portsiders as a hub for their newest smuggling operation. Up until last night, it had been filled with precious luxury goods imported from Saniya. Through secret channels, the scholars had learned the news. Thus, they had attempted a raid on the building before their rivals could react and move away the expensive merchandise. Yet in their arrogance, the scholars had forgotten that they hadn't ruled over the city for more than a few days. This was still the old hunting ground of the Portsider Gang. Out here, nothing escaped their notice.

The Portsiders had long been ready for the raid, and had in fact leaked the news about the warehouse on purpose. When the fake scholars burst down the doors, they only found a building filled with empty boxes, as well as an ambush from their rivals.

During the violent fighting, a fire broke out, and the dry boxes filled with straw for packing were the perfect material to grow the humble flame. Soon, the fire spread from the warehouse to the surrounding buildings, as all gangsters in the area fled in horror. They feared for their lives, as they feared accountability for their actions. That night, almost a fourth of the city's biggest port burned to the ground, together with dozens of gang members from both sides, thousands of Sila in smuggled merchandise, and countless innocent. Even so, the fighting wouldn't stop, and only grew more and more ferocious as the days went on.

While the fire was still raging across the city, several scholars lay in ambush in a dark alley in some unassuming corner of the western city. They had positioned themselves to cut off all escape routes from a private courtyard on a busy street corner. Beyond the courtyard's walls, they had learned, the Portsiders were distributing some of their new smuggled goods to willing buyers.

Enraged by the bold resistance from their long-term rivals and greedy for the copper from their newest operation, the pious scholars stormed the building. Thus began another desperate struggle between the two parties.

This time however, the scholars truly caught their rivals by surprise. And this time, they had the advantage in numbers. They killed the sellers and guests, robbed all the merchandise and disappeared into the night before any reinforcements could arrive. Their victory left behind eight bodies, two of them fake scholars and another two civilians. While it felt like a significant victory to the victors, it ultimately changed very little about the gang war which was still raging in Rhodanos.

All across the outer city, a dozen more distribution points just like this one existed. Now that one had been compromised, the Portsiders could just open a new one within a day. Thus the fighting continued, on and on in a never-ending cycle of violence. In all meanings of the phrase, the outer city of Rhodanos was on fire, as the two gangs fought tooth and nail for dominance.

Yet the city guards, who should have guaranteed the safety of the citizens, remained suspiciously absent throughout the chaos. Rather than venture into the outer city to restore order, they strictly stuck to the inner city walls, to protect the nobles of Rhodanos alone, while the commoners outside were forced to fend for themselves.

Thus, from the absolute safety of an inner city courtyard, Brym could watch the red skies in peace, even though they were caused by the flames of the outer city's destruction. Although a banquet of great delicacies had been laid out before him by their host, he really didn't feel like eating, which was a first for him. Yet this certainly wasn't the fault of the cook. Rather, no matter how well prepared the dishes were, all of them just smelled burnt to him right now.

"This doesn't look like an economic solution to the problem," Inti commented, her frown mirroring Brym's own. Unlike the merchant, she was still eating, but she clearly wasn't enjoying the meal House Gratidia had prepared for them either.

"No, it does not." Uncharacteristically, Brym admitted defeat immediately. In ordinary times, he would have prepared to argue it out with Inti over dinner. Normally, he quite enjoyed such debates. Today however, he really wasn't feeling up to it. Clearly, the girl was picking up on his low mood as well.

"Well, I mean, no one could have foreseen that things would turn out so violent," she tried to comfort him, rather than prod further. Yet her words provided little comfort to Brym

"I could have foreseen it. In fact, I was counting on it," he said frankly, even though the admission spread a bitterness in his mouth. "Money is the solution, and source of all our problems. When I presented them with such a big prize, both sides were guaranteed to fight tooth and nail for all that copper. The only thing I didn't consider were my own feelings."

The moment he had come up with his plan, Brym had already foreseen the chaos in the city. This result wasn't anything surprising to him. In fact, he had banked on it. Based on his own understanding of the situation in Rhodanos and their available means, this would be the most effective method to fight back against Amautu's power in the north.

Since the scholars were interfering with business operations around the country, Brym wouldn't be able to sell any bonds up north to solve their financial issues any more. Worse yet, the shops weren't generating any more profits either, which would reduce the southern kingdom's fiscal revenue further. However, by selling his leftover stock to the gangsters, he could retain most of their income, with only a slight reduction in their expected profits.

In the same move, Brym had also launched a massive gang war in Rhodanos. In the short-term, this conflict would reveal the so-called scholars for what they really were: weak thugs who were hiding behind a strong facade, backed in their thuggery by the northern king's court. Long-term, this war would have a significant impact on the economic strength of the northern kingdom as public order began to break down along Medala's busiest trade route.

Even the loss of civilian life which was happening throughout the city right now had been part of the plan right from the start. With increasing chaos in the north, ever more commoners would travel south to Saniya for security. Those who stayed would harbor resentment against the scholars who had caused such a conflict in the first place. Of course, they wouldn't resent a fellow merchant who was just trying to sell desirable goods to willing buyers, so the southern kingdom's reputation would be safe, despite everything he had done to provoke the conflict.

All in all, it had been a perfect plan. Yet now that he sat here and watched the carnage, even just from a distance, he realized that he wasn't quite as strong as he thought he had been. Initially, he had wanted to solve the crisis in the north all on his own, without burdening his big brother Corco. Yet now, he felt like he could smell the copper and iron — not of money, but of blood — in the air all around him. His usual, calm business smile was long gone, together with his appetite. At this point, he was doubting whether his clever plan had been the right thing to do in the first place.

Maybe I should just stop traveling around and go home. We've already sold enough bonds in the central kingdom to balance the budget for the year.

As a gloomy Brym brooded over his future plans, Inti began to look increasingly distressed as well.

"How about we just call back home?" she suggested. "We should have sent back a report a while ago already. Maybe we can ask someone to take over here, so that we can just move on to some place that's less... on fire."

For a moment, Brym was tempted to agree to the idea. However, when he thought back on the past year in Saniya, he nevertheless shook his head.

"No, if you can, would you please not report what has been happening here, at least for a while? Big brother has enough to deal with already."

Reminded by Inti's words, Brym had finally remembered the resolve he had almost forgotten in his dismay. He really wasn't surprised by the outcome of his plan, so he didn't need to report home for support. Rather, because he had anticipated such a result, he deliberately hadn't reported back home until now. He knew that his big brother abhorred methods such as these, methods which brought harm to the common people of Medala. However, he also knew that this was the best way to resolve the issues in the north.

If he reported back home, then Corco would once again be forced to give up an optimal solution, only to stick to his principles. Once again, he would have to waste his time and energy, and agonize over imperfect alternatives, just to fulfill everyone else's demands, to his own detriment. Compared to such an outcome, Brym would rather hide the truth for a while, and take on all responsibilities himself.

By now, he had steeled his heart once more. Although the sky was red from flames and the streets were red from blood, all of this was necessary. At some point, the north was bound to explode, and it was better that it was mostly gangsters killing each other, rather than innocent civilians being suppressed and slaughtered by the scholars.

Maybe all of that was just Brym's conjecture, just an excuse to make himself feel better, but he had already started down this road, and he would continue to go down the same path, without hesitation. This was the right thing to do, he was convinced of it. And if he had to lay the weight of some innocent souls onto his conscience, he would do so without hesitation. At least for once, it wouldn't be Corco who would have to make the difficult decisions.

"So what happens now?" Inti asked him after a prolonged silence. Maybe she herself had felt Brym's resolve. At the very least, she didn't look quite as careful as before.

"Now we wait, at least for a few more days to make sure the right side has the upper hand in this city," a stone-faced Brym replied. By now, a grim indifference had swept over him. Now that the ball was in motion, he no longer had the power to stop it anyways.

"You think our guys will win?" Inti asked.

"They should be able to. They have all the advantages they need," Brym began to explain. "With the considerable profits from their smuggling business, the Portsiders will be able to buy as many weapons and recruit as many new members as they want. With enough silver, they can even afford to hire warriors for a while. Meanwhile, the scholars only have an empty title to fall back on. All this time, they used the threat of the northern court to stop any resistance, but in the face of thugs without status or anything to lose, those tactics will no longer work. And now that the guards have retreated into the inner city, the scholars are all on their own. Without funds or reinforcements, they'll run out of steam pretty quickly."

"You're sure the guards won't move in again? What if an order comes down from Amautu directly?" Inti added with a worried look. However, Brym was far more assured in his plan than her.

"Lord Gratidia will just continue to hide and pretend he didn't get the order until it's too late. He wants the scholars out of his city more than anyone. I mean, you heard how desperate he was when we met him," he reminded Inti, before he stood up and walked up to the room's window. Outside, the red skies had begun to flicker and dim, a sign that the distant fires were about to go out. Maybe the fighting had finally stopped for the night.

"After this, the scholars will have their reputation ruined in the city," he explained further, more for himself than for Inti at that point. The more he went through his plan, the more his resolve grew. "Once we start conflicts al over the country, they'll suffer significant losses. Even if only one in a hundred of these people is a true scholar loyal to Amautu, it'll be devastating. They can't afford to lose that many officials. Afterwards, they probably will no longer dare to overreach their power so much. Not only will we gain favor with the northern lords, it'll also allow our core businesses to operate again. Not to mention that I'll finally be able to sell my bonds."

Although the look at the red skies still stung in Brym's heart, although the burnt smell still lingered in his nose, all of this was bigger than himself. All this time, Corco had stood in front of him and carried all the burdens, but Brym was no longer the little orphan boy who had to be protected. It was high time that he began to carry part of the burden as well. All this time, Brym had never forgotten the main goal of their operation. While he was up here in the north, he'd make all the money Corco needed for his grand plans, even if he had to burn his soul to do it.

At some point, Inti had quietly come next to him and watched the red of the sky turn black once more.

"It seems like there will be a lot more red skies up ahead for us," she commented.

"Let's try to enjoy them," Brym replied, his pain buried deep within. "They are beautiful, after all."