“Ah, where do I even begin?” Ji-Ko pulled the hood from his face, and I saw that he was a middle-aged man with a chubby, friendly-looking face and a shaved head. “I’m still awestruck by the fact that you have arrived, fulfilling the prophecy! Never did I imagine that I’d be the monk who would welcome you to the shores of Yeng.”
“With the ass-kicking you guys tried to deal out, it was some welcome!”
We all laughed at this.
“You are a mighty opponent, God of Death,” Ji-Ko said, “just as the prophecy foretold. In fact, everything has come to pass exactly as the prophecy said it would. It was said that a false monk and a rogue would come to us, and that there would be a great fight. The undefeatable one would reveal himself to be the God of Death, carrying a lost treasure. He would come when our land and the whole world was in its greatest moment of peril, under the threat of an ancient deity of evil.”
“Sounds about right,” I said.
“Indeed. We have been awaiting your arrival, although we did not know it would be so soon. Truth be told, it has felt like the Final Days have come to Yeng, with the evil Warlock and his Spirit of Prosperity Sect sowing chaos and anarchy through the land. These apocalyptic feeling has only increased with the rise of the Blood God and his most powerful earthly servant, the Hooded Man.”
“I’m glad that someone else knows that the Hooded Motherfucker is working for the Blood God,” I said. “It’s felt like I’ve been fighting this battle on my own. Back in Prand, the Church of Light launched a Crusade against me, and blamed me for the atrocities the Blood God’s followers committed.”
“From what I’ve heard of them, the Church is a corrupt and greedy organization,” Ji-Ko said scornfully, “more concerned about hoarding gold than finding enlightenment. Their deity is a powerful but aloof figure who cares little about the world of mortals, and knows even less about the happenings in his church. Thankfully, the Church never gained any footing here in Yeng.”
“And there’s no chance of them coming here to cause trouble either, because I wiped out their entire navy a week ago.”
“This is good news. We already have too many threats to deal with here in Yeng.”
“And these threats, do they have armies? Because I do have an army. A big army, waiting in my ships, for my command.”
“You will need one, although how you will get it across Yeng without being attacked by the Glorious Emperor’s Imperial Army, I do not know. No army is permitted to set foot on Yengish soil but the Imperial Army, and no soldiers or mercenaries are permitted to move around in Yeng, outside of port towns, without the Emperor’s written consent. Any movement by any foreign army, regardless of the cause, is treated as an immediate and irrevocable declaration of war. Should even a single one of your troops set foot on Yengish soil without the Glorious Emperor’s permission, you will have a fresh war on your hands to deal with.”
“That makes things a little more difficult, but I kind of figured I couldn’t just send my army marching through Yeng without starting a war.”
“All the more difficult since we Blind Monks have discovered that the Warlock is putting together an army of his own,” Ji-Ko said.
“Shouldn’t the Emperor be sending his Imperial Army against the Warlock, then?” I asked.
“Ha! He would do no such thing. The Emperor fears the Warlock too much to do that. He could have stopped him long ago, before things grew this bad. Except he laughed off the threat posed by the Warlock’s growing power until, suddenly, it was no laughing matter. The Warlock has an army to rival the Emperor’s now. And now the Warlock is even starting to control the weather. He is far too powerful an opponent for the cowardly Emperor to deal with. So instead, the Emperor continues throwing lavish parties and living his opulent lifestyle in his Forbidden Palace, while Yeng burns all around him. And the fool searches for any excuse to persecute sects like ours, likely to soothe his aching conscience. What he does not realize is that those like us are trying to save what’s left of Yeng.”
“He sounds like a bit of an asshole, this Glorious Emperor. But even if he allowed the Warlock to build his army, where’s he recruiting troops from, if mercenaries and soldiers who aren’t affiliated with the Imperial Army are banned in Yeng?”
“Half of the Imperial Army has deserted the Emperor and flocked to the banner of the Warlock.” Ji-Ko shook his head. “Soldiers and civilians alike have all been fooled by that charlatan’s empty promises of boundless wealth. He’s brainwashed half of Yeng, and his lies and evil have gained him an army, a warlock’s tower, man-eating monsters, and great wealth. His next target is the throne of Yeng. Our network of intelligence has discovered that the Warlock aims to assault and take over the Forbidden Palace, dethrone the Glorious Emperor, and crown himself Lord and Ruler of Yeng.”
“And still the Emperor fiddles while Yeng burns?” I asked.
“He will continue with his frivolous pursuits, his head buried firmly in the sand, until the Warlock is literally breaking down the doors of the Forbidden Palace,” Ji-Ko said sadly. “The Emperor and his Imperial Army will not act until it’s far too late. This is why we have to stop the Warlock, before he gets to such a position.”
“Agreed. It’s a serious ball-ache that we have to deal with the Blood God and the Hooded Asshole at the same time, fighting two wars at once. Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to do that, though. Let’s not waste any more time
