"The Pope?" Alfred put down the letter in his hand, looking at Raven with a confused expression. "Why would he co here?"
Raven shook his head, "He is passing through, but plans to rest here for a couple of days, maybe weeks if he sees fit. His Holiness is getting old and is currently on his final pilgrimage. Our Kingdom is one of his many stops."
"How long until he arrives?"
"It will be at most two months. With the war in the Sultanate over, His Holiness will officially have smooth travel through his lands. Whether those heathens give him the respect he deserves is up for debate." Raven finished with a rare venom in his voice.
"This is good." Alfred interlocked his fingers and smiled, his tone filled with joy and relief. "Snowid, despite being a beast, still respects the church. He won’t make a move if the Pope is planning to travel. The Sultan will focus on rebuilding." Stopping, Alfred pulled out a couple of pieces of paper and began to write ssages, the smile on his face growing. "Send these out and round up those who will help enact phase one. In the anti, spread the word of the Pope’s imminent arrival to all the nobles. We need them focused on this matter."
Raven gave a nod in response. With the arrival of the Pope, the Crown would be able to wield more authority without angering the nobles too heavily. "It will be around a week for everyone to arrive. In the anti, you should prepare everything on your end." Raven gave a deep bow, leaving Alfred. With a quick ring of a bell, Alfred summoned his servants to call Abu over for him.
The towering man walked into the room, with the servants quickly running off scared by him. Alfred just smiled at him, pointing towards the seat opposite. "I told you that my goal was to win your loyalty, which ans I need to prove myself different from other lords. Within a week, my innermost circle will be holding a eting that will shape the future of the Kingdom. This is a future that I want you to be a part of. One where the history books will write about your contributions."
Abu eyed up Alfred, his angry eyes from the auction house now replaced by a deep calmness. "I don’t understand you. Our eting justified you executing . Yet it made you more excited. This wasn’t the excitent of so kid who had found a new toy, but soone who had found a gem that didn’t exist. Why? What is it that is so appealing about that you wished to have at the near cost of your life?"
It was a question he was expecting to arise at so point. His actions were strange for anyone, let alone a child his age. Standing up, Alfred walked towards one of the paintings in the room, a bulky man wearing a crown, his father. "You know I have died before." Alfred turned to look at Abu. "On my coronation, my uncle poisoned . And in death, I didn’t see my father or mother." Alfred clenched his fists, wondering how he wished to phrase what he wanted to say. It would be the second person who would have so insight into his past, but this ti, he couldn’t outright talk about it.
"I saw knowledge. Or maybe Sol’s knowledge. It confuses still, but he showed an entire civilisation that shouldn’t exist, that does. And in this world, n like yourself exist, changing humanity or becoming immortalised, trying to. Filled with hatred, passion, and feelings of injustice, they rallied those behind them and strived for change."
"They moved even with death looming in front of them, believing in those causes, so dying for it. I feel you are the sa. A revolutionary. Soone who has the qualities for leadership and the drive to push for what they want. I heard how you protected the other slaves from the auction house employees. You protected them even though you knew what it ant. Why?"
He threw a question back, surprising Abu. The man didn’t answer straight away, falling into thought. He opened and closed his mouth nurous tis before finally being able to give an answer. "I was a man much like those slavers when I was younger. After years of that life, karma finally caught up. My family and house were destroyed, and I was branded as a criminal for a cri I never committed." The man slouched, a rare weakness coming off of him that betrayed him. His words didn’t carry the anger expected from soone with those experiences, only sadness.
"Years living like a rat, running and hiding only to end up captured as a slave. I finally learnt how it felt to be at the bottom, the pain and misery it fills a person with. I was only lucky that I was stronger than others living like that. That way of life. It is a humiliation no one should suffer."
Alfred nodded in understanding. As soone from the modern era, he had a similar ntality, but he still wanted to see the depth of the man in front of him. How far would he go for his ideals? "I understand your thinking, but let’s just say you had committed the cri and beca a slave, would you say it’s unfair?" Abu fell silent once again and lowered his head, unable to respond. Before he could even think of an answer to the first question, Alfred shot another. "Following on. What do you do with murderers, rapists and the worst of our world? Execute them, blind them, castrate them, imprison them? What would you do differently? They took the freedom of others, why not enact the sa punishnt?"
Abu remained looking down, unable to give a proper argunt. He had his ideals from his experience, but even he felt deep in his heart that it wasn’t entirely wrong if he was guilty. He just felt it was unfair for the innocent to suffer the sa as he did. Alfred stood up and walked around his desk. He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and spoke in a sympathetic voice. "The world has wronged you, as many others have. Not given a fair trial and forced to live like an animal. Whilst I can’t say not everybody deserves a fate like that, I agree that it’s a disgusting system when done wrong. But a blind sense of justice doesn’t solve anything." Removing his hand from the man, Alfred left the office, not before turning around. "Think about what I have said, and prepare yourself for next week. There is work to be done."
Alone in the office, Abu slowly looked up at the portraits of the kings on the wall. Guilt, sadness and self-loathing were all he could feel. He hadn’t been born an heir to a kingdom, but he had the chance to help those with the wealth he would receive. His eyes glanced at the door where the small figure had left. He had been born into wealth and prestige, yet he was starkly different from the child. The thought of it being an act still persisted in his mind but he knew that even if it was, he was still doing sothing, unlike him.
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