Chapter 44 April 404 AD When the Cat’s Away (Patreon)

                Who is the King of Paulsland? In the year 404 AD, it was Shimbir, a ten-year-old, who was the son of a King in a long line of Kings going all the way back to King Paul, a King so loved that his people named their nation after him.

                If you asked the people of Paulsland who the King was, they would tell you it was King Shimbir, a youth who gives rousing speeches and will one day lead Paulsland to an era of prosperity never seen before because Kingminister Jinka is guiding the education of the young King.

                If you asked the King's mother about her son, she would tear up and then take some more drugs to forget about the boy she couldn’t be around so that her family did not unduly influence the King more than the other sixty-nine families.

                If you asked Hani, Shimbir’s maid, who the King was, she would say a bright young man who is quick to please and learns very quickly. One who loves animals, but also one who really doesn’t have any friends due to his position. She would finish by saying that she fears for Shimbir’s future since it's impossible to please everyone, and so sooner or later, he will have to harden his tender heart. In fact, this thought frequently causes her to cry at night.

                If Kingminister Jinka honestly answered the question, he would say Shimbir was a spoiled, ignorant brat who didn’t even know how to read. A youth who was intentionally being made a waste so that he can never learn how to use the authority his title gives him. A youth that is spoiled so that Jinka could weld the king’s authority as his own.

                If the seventy families were asked who the king was, they would say, who cares? The Kingsminister will weld his power until he is fifteen. Once the king turns fifteen, he will become a pawn that rubberstamps their decisions, but that is five years away, an eternity to them. Their current focus is on replacing the current Kingsminister, who is legally allowed to weld the power of the king for the next five years.

                The views of Hani, Jinka, and the Kingsminister have allowed an accident to take place. An accident that some would consider wonderful and others a disaster. When Jinka betrayed the seventy families and called up the militia, the seventy families could no longer trust the people left behind in the king's castle, and so they replaced anyone they thought had loyalties to Jinka, which was over ninety percent of the castle’s workforce. This included everyone who watched over King Shimbir, with the exception of Hani.

                Hani became the King’s maid under special circumstances. She was considered neutral, naive, and dumb. It was thought that she would both be under the authority of the seventy families without influencing King Shimbir’s opinion for or against any of them. Although some of the families wanted to separate her from Shimbir, the families could not come to a consensus on who would replace her so as the majority of the castle staff changed, King Shimbir managed to keep his maid for a little while longer.

                As the staff was changed out, Hani did not find it odd at all, as she assumed they were leaving for the war effort. As old staff replaced new staff, the new staff wasn’t on board with the order to keep books, paper, and pens from their young King. In fact, they were confused by the order and assumed it was a mistake. It wasn’t long before King Shimbir had access to all the knowledge that was previously beyond his grasp, and nobody in the seventy families nor Kingsminister Jinka noticed.

                Not only did these servants bring books to King Shimbir, but they also began tutoring him to the best of their abilities. The cooks taught him math, the maids taught him protocol, the various guards taught him the way men fought. In fact the new castle guards fell in love with their young King in a way the previous guards couldn’t. Due to the war, all the able-bodied men were with the militia marching off to fight against Rome and Kush, and thus, when the seventy families replaced the castle guards, they were unable to replace them with unquestionably loyal men. Instead, they could only replace them with wounded men. Wounded men who told the curious Shimbir their old war stories and how they were wounded in battle. It did not take long for sweet little Shimbir to worm his way into the new guards’ hearts, especially when they thought that the orders to keep Shimbir ignorant must have been a typo.

                As the adults came to know Shimbir, they couldn’t help but notice that the boy struggled with his people skills. He had been in isolation with his maid and animals for years, after all. It was a topic of discussion for several weeks before the various servants decided to break the rules and start bringing their children to work with them, and so Shimbir became friends with the children of cooks, maids, guards, and those of other lowly professions.

                The seventy families could have easily allowed their children to befriend the young king, but they believed ignorance would make him easier to control. If their elite children had befriended the young king, then they would have had no choice but to allow the young king to attend school with their children. Instead, they thought that it was more prudent to keep the young king isolated, and once the king was old enough, to control the young king through their daughters, who were not bright but were compliant to their parents' wishes. They assumed that after years of isolation that the king would do whatever his new wives told him to do, and of course, the wives would tell him to do whatever the seventy families wanted.  

                When Shimbir first started playing with the servants’ children, he was awkward at first, but he had spent three years with King Paul’s book on leadership being his only book. He practically had the book memorized. The book’s suggestions of smiling, showing kindness, when you disagree find some point of agreement, never asking anyone to do something you do not do first, and showing interest in what they like before sharing what you like, helped Shimbir make quick friendships. Simply put, people skills are often skills that either attract people to you or make people feel important.

                It wasn’t long before the children were playing games, sparring, climbing walls and trees with their new friend the King. As Shimbir learned their favorite games he introduced his new friends to his monkey, dogs, and horses, and his new friends instantly fell in love with the animals, especially the horses. One point that may have been a point of contention between the children was the cleaning of the animals' manure, but even though Shimbir was the King, he had no choice but to clean up after them, feed them and train them. Hani had taught him that he would be required to do so until he had so many responsibilities that he had to turn over his animal responsibilities to others.

                What amazed Shimbir’s new friends was that the King had to clean manure out of the stables, and if the King did it, then they had no qualms with helping him. Because his friends helped him clean up after his horses, Shimbir began teaching his new friends how to ride them. With that Shimbir began learning leadership, particularly how to lead by doing.

                And so Shimbir began getting an amazing, unconventional education because the seventy families could not be bothered to watch the young king closely. Much of their reason was that their focus was on undermining Jinka, but a lot of it was because they were too proud to pay close attention to a child, and so gave the work to underlings who did not understand the politics of the situation because the men that could understand the politics of the situation were away fighting with as militiamen. The women who understood the politics of the situation were assisting the militia. The King was forgotten, and so he was educated.

                Meanwhile, the Kush drew closer and closer to the capital, but a million militiamen led by Jinka beat them there. One way or another, the war with Kush would soon be over, and Shimbir would get to watch the end from one of the towers of his castle.


Authors note- We will have at least one more Shimbir chapter next week, hopefully no more than two.

For those asking where the Trade Alliance is, they are stuck in their corner of the wrodl because nearther the Cuban archipegolo nor the Merchant Guild will let them through their territory. I do have plans for them later down the line in part two. That said they are going to play a bigger role in part thre, albeit some of that is because I am going to make the Totonac Empire play a major role in part three particularly with their euginics program. And yes in part three I plan on mixing the worst aspects of hitlers euginics with aztecs lust for blood.