The sunlight emerged and struck hard upon the lands of Artia.
A sound that made the birds ashamed to chirp fell silent before it had finished its meaning.
Lauk finished playing his lyre and stopped whistling his sweet melodies.
Then the blind man opened his eyes, and heard the flock of birds above him chirping and singing.
That did not mean he truly saw everything. He simply expressed it in his artistic way.
He felt the dawn breeze touch his skin and inhaled it calmly.
Then he heard a sound from behind — it was the sound of applause.
Diogen: "Well composed, Mr. Lauk."
Lauk: "Thank you for your careful listening, Mr. Diogen."
The two heard a cart approaching rapidly toward them.
Then the driver, panting with exhaustion, said: "We've arrived, sir Lauk. These are the instructions and letters from the sage Hyonkil."
Lauk: "Thank you for your efforts, humble sir."
Lauk felt the letters and words with his fingers, then smiled, a smile that never left his face.
Lauk: "Diogen, read the message."
Diogen took the letter from the blind man's smiling hands, then he smiled in turn.
Diogen: "Now the time for the beginning has come. We will change Artia as Hyonkil truly wished."
Lauk: "Today, Diogen. Gather the Bourbon members in the council. I will teach them how to do their work."
Diogen set off on his mission, excited as if he were finally living again for a real purpose.
Elsewhere.
In Arsia.
The scratch of pens filled one of Arsia's offices.
There had been intense activity in this library for the past two days. Envoys came and went without fatigue, handing messages as if they were machines working methodically.
Hyonkil was there signing papers and checking governmental and accounting transactions.
Beatrice received the incoming letters while Hyonkil examined them tirelessly. He uncovered many forged documents benefiting the Bourbons, exposed the fraud, examined it, and asked Beatrice to hand the corrected papers to the envoys to send to the Bourbons for correction of their transactions, errors, and forgeries.
While Hyonkil was writing, Monrach entered.
Monrach was bored and angry at Hyonkil's progress.
Monrach: "Hyonkil the sage — are you truly virtuous, or are you merely a mask for seeing what others ignore?"
Beatrice stood before him, angry.
Beatrice: "Sir, do you have an appointment with Mr. Hyonkil? He is busy now and has no time for pointless argument."
Monrach looked at her with contempt from the corner of his eye.
Monrach: "Do you have followers working under your command too, Hyonkil?"
Hyonkil: "The last remnants of old Artia — formerly collaborators under the shah's command from the East in Arsia. Following the greatest sophistry, Monrach."
Monrach was stunned by what Hyonkil knew about him.
The bald old man collapsed to his cane-like legs, his face's wrinkles deepening with shock.
Hyonkil: "In truth, I am not the sage. I prefer humility more, but that is what people call me, honored Bourbon gentleman. I seek virtue for this nation because they value me, sir."
Hyonkil looked at the hourglass.
Hyonkil: "Sir, you are already late for the Bourbon meeting today. Meetings of this council have not been held for a long time — I wonder what its topic will be this time."
Monrach rose and left the place, frightened and shaken; his stunned expression was clear on his features, yet he refused to admit it. He refused to say that Hyonkil truly knew better than him. Deep down, he was certain Hyonkil was superior.
Beatrice: "What's his matter, I wonder? I have never seen him so afraid before."
While the girl laughed, the old man stared at the place Monrach had moved from and remembered.
Beatrice was shocked and fell silent for a moment.
Beatrice: "Sir, the papers will get wet. Pull yourself together, please."
Hyonkil remained silent for a moment, then wiped his tears with a handkerchief.
Hyonkil: "Thank you for reminding me, Lady Beatrice."
The young man looked long at the papers.
Hyonkil: "In fact, we finished auditing the transactions today in record time."
Beatrice threw the ledgers and books aside and lay asleep on the table.
Hyonkil smiled quietly, then sat alone for a moment and looked at the hourglass whose sand had run out.
Hyonkil: "Now it remains for you to do your duty, Mr. Lauk."
It is said that when Monrach returned to Artia that day he could think only of what Hyonkil had written, repeating to himself, "He is the devil."
The Bourbon members met that day in Artia. Security was so tight that the whole building was cordoned off.
People stood outside, puzzled about why the council members were meeting officially after the state's fall. Would they really issue statements as before? Had Eriteria returned again? Some even thought the Atlas was dead or something like that.
But a blind man appeared among the people. Behind him was a group of poor men, wounded and bleeding; some were still drawing their last breaths as they entered the hall where the Bourbons had gathered.
The Bourbon members sat in the high seats of the building as if looking down from a grand balcony at those beneath them. The old place was decorated in white and gold from above, with red roses to signify that virtue and paradise truly lay in the hands of these men.
But Marwinah proved otherwise.
There was a chair in the middle of the hall, the one Monrach usually occupied, but today he was late.
Below, a brown-colored speaking platform for speeches and addresses rose — it belonged to the speaker for the people and the minister of the old Empire of Eriteria.
Lauk stood there in his white shroud, behind the podium, the platform piled with signed papers and manuscripts.
Behind him the witness seats were filled with men dressed in shrouds as well.
The Bourbons looked down from above, shocked — finally they understood why Monrach was late.
These were detained men who witnessed their crimes and had conclusive evidence of their collusion with the rule of Angelo I.
Under the Atlases' current rule, these men were the real threat to the Bourbons' hold, because of Hyonkil's and the Atlas's connections.
Then Monrach entered.
His steps were slow and hesitant.
He wore a black cloak and a helmet studded with jewels and diamonds.
Monrach moved without his guards today, and climbed to the highest seat in front of the high platform in the center.
Directly beneath him he saw Lauk.
Then, in a swift moment after the candles in the hall were lit,
Lauk stamped his foot on the floor of the hall with a resounding sound, announcing the start of the meeting.
Lauk: "I greet the honorable members of the Popular Bourbon Council, and I offer my salutations to Mr. President of the High Council, Monrach. Today we meet to discuss the formal enactment of the constitution after its approval — and for you to implement it."
Monrach: "Give me the copy."
A guard handed the copy to Monrach; he sat and read its articles and seals.
Monrach: "The Bourbons accept this constitution, Mr. Lauk, with open arms. We promise to begin enforcing it immediately after this meeting. We will reactivate factories and working farms and renew neighborhoods and academies after taking the Atlas's formal approval."
Lauk: "Also impose the overall tax on the Bourbons as a punishment, and make the constitution of crimes of the ruling Olympia family during Angelo I's time the charter for adjudication on the Bourbon Council."
Everyone in the council was stunned; spears were raised at Lauk's neck, but he did not hide it. He placed the constitution written by Hyonkil and documented Olympia's crimes.
Before everyone's eyes, Lauk began to speak boldly and fearlessly: "The first crime is the murder of Yuselif — it was a premeditated crime. I found Yuselif's teacher myself, dead and bathed in his blood on his bed."
Lauk held up a small blood-stained needle with old poison hidden in it.
Lauk: "On that same day Mr. Monrach visited Yuselif and embraced him. That visit and meeting were recorded on the same day and no one denied my testimony because I was watching in complete secrecy and was present in Yuselif's house. Then I wanted to go to his room asking about something, and I saw the needle stained with blood lying on the floor.
It was small enough to stab Yuselif from behind without his knowledge so he would quickly lose consciousness and die, choking on his own blood.
I confirmed the matter myself after I searched for the poisons extracted from some snakes that Mr. Monrach had bought a few days before Yuselif's murder."
He produced the purchase contract from the criminal records.
The blind man pointed his finger at Monrach.
Fear appeared on the latter's face before everyone.
Monrach: "And how do you see, you blind man?"
Lauk: "I was not blind for a long time in my life. But when Eriteria fell and Artia's library burned, I cried until I developed scurf in my eyes."
Monrach was silent and sat in his seat, scratching his head.
Then an old man in the back pointed to one of the council members: "I have lived long enough in Eriteria to see the Labor Party slaughtered one by one by a decision you made."
Monrach: "How dare you babble without proof, old man?"
Lauk: "The incident of repression and killing of Labor Party members and the People's Council earlier happened by Angelo's decision and with the Bourbon's official approval. A witness to the event on the same day and in the same hall was the former council member and official advisor Bargas. This old man was more competent than most of you."
Lauk raised the historically recorded evidence, and with the man's testimony the truth was on his side.
Diogen raised one of the elders' fingers toward all the members.
Diogen:
, "I testify that you staged the crime against Eriteria. All of you colluded with Angelo in what happened in Incident 121 at the slaughter of the Senate. You all remained silent although you could have objected to what happened."
Lauk: "Diogen was a worker in the council and witnessed the massacre of the senators while hiding one after another in the hall."
Fingers began pointing at the council with each statement supported by Lauk's evidence. The fingers multiplied until the members fell into confusion and fear.
Monrach continued staring blankly at the fingers; the atmosphere in the hall changed from burning fury to bone-chilling cold.
Monrach: "Hyonkil the sage — he is the devil. This nation does not need frivolous ideas like his."
He started shouting angrily at Lauk and tearing at his hair.
The Bourbons were defeated.
Lauk: "What the sage Hyonkil wants is not war and enmity. All he sought was a new beginning in Artia under the Atlases' rule to erase what Angelo committed against Eriteria and what his father Apollo the Great did. Work with us and we will work with you. Only then will Hyonkil stop speaking the Bourbon truth to the Atlas."
Monrach's aide struck the council floor and announced:
"In the name of Monrach, I tell you that we agree with your decisions, and from today the Bourbon Council will begin working on legislating the Justice Ministry's laws by the Atlas's decree itself. We will bear the taxes and work to compensate the people of all Artia and Arsia."
Lauk stamped the council floor with his foot, and everyone laughed happily. Hyonkil and Beatrice fell into a deep sleep, and Lauk returned to solitude in the open.
Lauk entered Artia as a stranger, known by no one.
And now, after his departure, the people around him loved him.
The crowd gathered around and greeted him in awe.
He raised his hand toward them and returned their greeting, his head bowed in respect.
Such was the humility of that saint, despite truly deserving all that he received.
The shroud-bearers slept in their graves that night. The Bourbon enmity was severe and most of them were assassinated.
The night insects chirped in Lauk's ears as he left the council building and returned to the library, exhausted.
Diogen: "Well done indeed, my friend."
Lauk sighed with relief.
Lauk: "I will sleep now, Diogen. Do not let anyone wake me, please."
Diogen raised his sword and took up his shield.
Diogen: "Sleep as long as you like, my friend. You have not slept for two days."
Diogen closed the library door and stood alone in front of the masked armed men outside.
Diogen: "Lady Beatrice will not forgive me if something happens to the library. Let us hope, comrades, you prefer to fight this old man here."
To be continued.