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ลำดับตอนที่ #8 : Chapter 7: The Heart of Kingship (2) (หัวใจกษัตริย์ 2)
CHAPTER SEVEN: THE HEART OF KINGSHIP (2)
4th Week (July 28 - August 1)
God truly does not exist.
Kanoval declared war on Baramos late last week, and it’s hard to say whether it’s good or bad news. Good thing is, war breaking out between two superpowers sent all the other countries halting their puny wars to watch the tide. Even guerrillas and rebels in various towns (according to Ro) temporarily ceased operations.
Having been nothing but a nomadic thief all my life, it greatly perplexes me how the war declaration between those two countries seems to carry so much significance. This time, my answer came from Senior Lucas:
“Baramos has the High King as its core, whereas Kanoval is a warrior nation. With these two superpowers fighting each other, d’you think the smaller countries can stay out of it?”
As such, the war declaration ends up being simply a race to recruit allies; it all depends on which country allied itself with whom.
The High King’s policy is for each country to keep itself afloat, solve internal crises, and peacefully offer help to troubled neighbours if they have surplus resources. Whereas King Baro of Kanoval champions coming together to establish a central supplies base, end all divisions and, if necessary, he is willing to use all means to centralize authority.
To a simple thief like me, both policies seem just as headache-inducing as the other; we haven’t even started learning the basics of governing yet. But personally, I prefer the High King’s idea; at least there’s no war.
We discussed the two policies at length and still were divided over them. But to conclude, the first policy is practically possible; stand by and watch as others die, but you’re still alive, at the very least. Sounds selfish, but then again, we all are selfish beings.
The second policy from King Baro has a nice, simple ring to it; all that coming together to solve problems, no divide between nations, but will it work out as easily as well? Say we really did go through with it, we’d probably end up dying together as one in a hellhole, as one third of arable land could not possibly feed all of Eden.
Both policies must inevitably result in death. Coldly leave some to die off, or die together in a slow, torturous fashion.
Presented with these choices, a king would probably be tempted to kill himself.
Perhaps the heart of kingship is death; the king’s heart is one that decides which form of death would befall his people.
As Senior Laurenz is held back with meetings, only Senior Lucas is there to lead us in this week’s missions. We were brought to the central hospital. Senior Lucas’s job is just as usual; talking with healers, flirting with nurses, and having a blast with the patients.
Our jobs are the same as ever, too; tailing after male nurses (had they been female, the world would have been a better place) and tending to patients (mostly men, as well). Some of the sick are crippled. Some are old. And most...are deserters.
We assisted the nurses in dressing simple wounds for the ones not seriously injured. Changing bandages and applying potions to someone else does feel weird when I’m usually the one being patched up. We were not allowed to use magic, as usual, and even if we were, we’re still not skilled enough to do all this with magic, anyway.
Thanks to Medicine and Healing Magic class, I realized quite recently that there's more to magical healing than it looks. The healer loses a good deal of soulforce after the healing. More complicated healing calls for more power, and if the healer does not have enough, he might collapse or even end up being the patient himself. Perhaps it could be said that using magic to heal other people is simply docking years off your life; that magical healing is nothing but the art of finding trouble.
There is a good number of sorcerers healing patients in this hospital as well. Brother Nurse told us these sorcerers are dubbed “Shamans”. They will only heal when necessary, such as when the injured is a high-ranking general, a messenger carrying urgent letters or an important ambassador.
Tending to patients is equal parts fun as boring. The fun part is getting to hear the seemingly never-ending life tales from the sick. Some are exciting, while some are tragic. And you can guess the boring part: cleaning them, feeding them, dressing their wounds, mopping up their piss and shit, all extremely boring. Some patients are as old as rocks but whine like babies, and they drove me to the verge of losing my head. Sometimes I was sorely tempted to yell at them: I’m not your mom and dad. Take a good freaking look.
Hmmm...or is this maybe the heart of kingship? If what I’m doing here is the answer, then the heart of kingship is the heart of a parent.
But if a king has the heart of a parent, what parent would want his own children to go to war and die in a battlefield? What parent would want to start wars so his own children could kill each other?
I brought this up with Senior Lucas on the way back, and he replied that perhaps, in order to save the majority of your children, it is necessary to kill off some others. Angie was strongly against this idea, however; she said it’s about kings going crazy over power, not about children. How many a king, if any at all, would think of his people as his own children?
Come to think of it, her words do sound quite rational.
In an unexpectedly generous gesture, Senior Lucas treated the three of us to a luxurious dinner in one of Edinburgh’s high-end restaurants. Strangely somehow, even with the marvelous food, and the atmosphere brimming with luxury, with rich men and beautiful ladies draped in silk and satin all around, music playing and dancers to entertain, I just can’t savor all this happiness before me; I kept thinking about all those patients in the hospital, those poor soldiers who had run from war, and the worsening famine outside Edinburgh.
What a ridiculous thought. Who’d believe there’d be a day that I, Felin Debereaux, would learn to think of others before snatching the happiness that is mine to take. This newfound conscience really is a threat to my profession as a thief. I wonder if there’ll be a class on the Heart of Thieving for me to brush myself up on once I’m through this.
—A thief who still has to learn
Saturday, August 2 (Special Entry)
Actually, this entry isn’t required by the Heart of Kingship course, which demands I write one report every week. I just can’t help writing this piece, purely out of my personal inspiration. Or have I really gotten addicted to writing diaries?
I would like to name this entry “Unity is Power”.
It’s the weekend and we have no field trips, and we all should rest up nicely, considering what we’ve been through all week: three days going out to toil like slaves, and the remaining two studying seven subjects each. But strangely, everyone in the class seems to agree on going out for another field trip without even talking it over.
News of the central hospital building two more facilities to house the war injured was the trigger, and we all flocked over to help out even when they hadn't asked.
It was good news for the central building team, or perhaps it was their plan from the start, we would never know, as three-fourths of the workers today were the Second-Year and Sixth-Year students of Edinburgh King Academy. And it wasn’t just us Knight Fortress guys either; our classmates from Noble Castle, Citizen Terre and Philosopher Citadel all turned up as well.
We also saw a little bit of fairness today in that the sixth-years didn’t just slack it off chatting with the head architect as usual; they joined in carrying pillars, toting wooden planks and hammering nails. Though it seems funny as all this would've been done without much fuss if we had just used magic, but we all chose to sweat it out as if to get a taste of hardship.
Even more fascinating is seeing three people you’d never imagined would be here to toil with everyone. First up is the Head Boy of Citizen Terre: Prince Rome Odyssey of Roman. I have for so long heard rumors of his inhuman strength, and got to witness it for the first time with my own eyes today, when he single-handedly hefted up a large wooden pillar that normally uses ten men to carry.
Next is the Head Girl of Philosopher Citadel, Princess Veesha Noel of Snowland. I’ve never seen her in any other role apart from that regal princess leading the ceremonies for our school. Today, she had ditched all that for the paintbrush, and I could not explain why she looks more beautiful now than when she was toting piles of papers on a podium.
And, lastly and most unbelievably, was that Prince Arthur Leonard Briston of Zares, the lionhearted prince himself. As expected of my usual habit I still can’t get out of, I sauntered in for a little poke.
“You’d do better in your comfy castle than toiling down here.”
“One who does not learn to toil will never know comfort.”
As pompous as ever. But when I shot back asking why he chose to punish himself by not using magic, the dark lion prince simply looked at me and laughed, then retorted with words that left me thinking until my head hurts:
“Watch out or you’ll flunk the Heart of Kingship class.”
Prince Arthur is every bit as unpleasant as ever, but I can’t help feeling admiration for him, deep down.
From what I’ve seen today, I learned for the first time how surprisingly wonderful people the Heads of Citizen Terre, Philosopher Citadel and Noble Castle are. And I can’t help hoping the new Head of Knight Fortress would be just as great.
But, say...what has learning not to use magic got to do with the heart of kingship? Why must we seek to learn of hardship? Shouldn’t we be learning to find luxury and comfort?
Or is hardship the true heart of kingship?
The tension between Baramos and Kanoval remains forbidding. Looks like Kanoval has got Gemini, Zares and Aries on its side, whereas Amazon, Roman, Nile, Scorpio and Venol turned to Baramos for aid, and Gildireg and Tristor declared themselves neutral.
Ro analyzed simply that large countries with large populations facing famine have all looked to Kanoval’s lead, while smaller countries that could get through the famine by themselves but are afraid of war have to lean on Baramos. Tristor likes to mind its own business, whereas Gildireg probably wants to side with Baramos, but unfortunately the country sits right next to Kanoval; with the prospect of Kanoval storming in and crushing it to bits the minute it declares allegiance to Baramos, it has no choice but to stay neutral.
The war outside showed no signs of ending soon or ever. Ro said that if the war keeps on worsening, it wouldn’t be long before all these famous princes studying in Edinburgh are called back home to fight as well.
Or is this a means to cull the population to match the amount of land left to feed it? Is there really no other way out?
Cybil said that in order for mankind to grow, God handed down tests so we would be able to learn from them. I shot back that if so, God is the biggest fool for coming up with such a foolish way to make man grow.
Cybil, however, laughed and replied:
“Perhaps...Or God is wise, but mankind is foolish.” He met my eyes before elaborating, “Being the wise man he is, God hands the most difficult test to mankind along with the answer, but foolish men see only the test and not the answer, and so they feel there is no way out.”
When I asked him where the way out is, he simply smiled and admitted that he himself is also nothing but a fool.
—A foolish thief
5th week (August 4-8)
This week, we left the hospital behind and headed far away to a logging village on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It’s a small village made up of only a few families.
Without doubt, once there Senior Lucas and Laurenz are responsible for talking with the village headman, while we second-years accompanied the adults out to cut wood.
Though we say we’re helping cut wood, we actually can’t really help out much; what we actually did is simply carrying things, digging holes, and maybe try getting a couple of goes at a tree with a saw or some swings with an axe.
I once thought logging was easy, but it was more than it looks, from selecting the wood to the means by which to cut it. With the right to use magic taken away from us, we were left looking like losers. But come on, what more would you expect when the title at the back of my name is “Thief” and not “Lumberjack”?
The uncles here seem kinder than the other places we’ve been to, though I don’t know if I should still call them “uncles” as they’re all much older than that. They told us that ever since the famine started, the young men of the village were all enlisted to help out with the experimental cropland, which is why there is nobody left here. More talking and we learned that all schools have been closed; the teachers became farmers, and the kids must also go to work. The only school privileged enough to remain open is the King Academy.
The work here isn’t as hard as before, as the uncles are too old to be able to do much, and thus they don’t expect us to do much as well. Most of the time we just listened to them grumbling. As they say, the older they get, the more things they have to complain about. Some are interesting stuff, and some are boring.
If this is the heart of kingship, then it means the king is his people’s chamberpot. Maybe Angie is right. She insisted every time we brought up the heart of kingship for discussion that the heart of the king is his people; without the people there would be no king.
But for me, even now I still could not find an answer for myself. All I know now is that a king is probably not just someone filthy, filthy rich with the world bowing at his feet, catering to his every demand. Being a king is probably not seeking comfort for yourself, and the more I learned and experienced, the more it seems to me that there is much, much more to it I still could not grasp.
Would I ultimately be able to define the heart of kingship? I am not so sure. Maybe I would fail like Prince Arthur had predicted. But no matter what the outcome, this class has taught me many things I never thought I would have to learn in my life as a thief.
Patience, even when there’s no need to endure.
Sacrifice, even when there’s no reason to give.
Or even thinking of others before yourself.
All these weird lessons go right up against the thieves’ rite of life, and Dad would probably order me to forget about them quick if he’d got wind of them, or else he’d have to kick me out of being the greatest thieves of Baramos.
But, come to think of it, my father graduated from Edinburgh as well. He must’ve gone through this heart of kingship class before he started on the heart of thieving. I wonder what Dad has learned back then. Would it be the same things I am experiencing right now?
—A thief who still could not find an answer
P.S. Breaking news from Ro (It’s a mystery how he could get news so fast when he’s in the school same as me and stuck with me almost all the time): The war between Baramos and Kanoval is getting worse; Venol has become the battlefield. Because of her iron mines, she was targeted by Kanoval, Aries and Gemini. I am so worried about my good friend, Princess Viviennaniya. I hope she stays strong.
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