The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

After their meal, King Jaren and Jules were quite interested in seeing Fox's machine, so they headed to the shop once again. Fox was delighted to meet Jules, and Fox's mother nearly fainted at the sight of the king of the Emerald Kingdom.

The communication device caught King Jaren's fancy. "Is there any limit to the distance it can communicate over?" he asked.

"Not unless there is magical interference," Fox replied. "Very strong wards and magical areas may disrupt the device – but I don't have enough data to make a conclusion yet."

"Fascinating," King Jaren murmured. "So…I could speak with Mana or Jules or Raven even when I'm in the capital city…?" His eyes shone with joy. "How long does it take to make them?"

"One pair takes about a week," Fox replied.

"I have a suggestion," Mana spoke up. "Since we're planning to go and examine that cave later and transportation arrays take up some time to be set properly, we can request Fox to make one pair for Papa and one of us, and take it along. That cave will probably have some magical wards, and we could run a test. Also, the wards in our summer palace are similar to those in the imperial palace in the capital city. If Fox's device works well, it'll be easier for Papa to know whether it'll work properly in the capital city or not." The date for their visit to the cave in the Sapphire Kingdom to explore the origins of the magic scroll had been set to ten days later, and Fox would only be able to make one set of his Fox's Letter Machines by that time.

"Great idea!" Fox said enthusiastically. "I'll go with you to the cave, too – if something goes wrong with the device, I'll be able to sort it out and even if I couldn't fix it right then, at least I'll be able to do it once we're back!"

"I'm going with you, too," Jules said immediately. "I'm not leaving you two brats on your own."

"Is the cave dangerous?" King Jaren asked worriedly.

"Not at all, Your Majesty," the shopkeeper said quickly. "The hunters didn't encounter any danger at all, and my husband will be going there tomorrow to check for any remaining items as well as to take measurements for setting up the transportation arrays."

King Jaren stroked his beard. "Then Mana's suggestion does make sense."

And thus, it was decided that the four people to travel would be Mana, Raven, Jules and Fox. King Jaren would stay behind at the summer palace and use Fox's Letter Machine to write to Jules.

"Papa and Big Brother should have the first device," Raven said. "Fox already promised he would make one for Mana and me – since we'll be here for a while, there's no hurry on that one."

Mana nodded.

"I'll start making it right away!" Fox said happily. He narrowed his eyes at Mana and Raven. "Don't forget, you promised to visit me tomorrow!" He glanced at Jules. "Bring that handsome fellow, too!"

Fox's mother buried her face in her hands, not even bothering to apologise for her son's behaviour anymore. She was a smart woman, and she had realised by now how easy-going the royal family of the Emerald Kingdom was. No wonder hardly anyone wanted to emigrate out of the Emerald Kingdom, she thought, while there was a near constant stream of immigrants seeking to shift to the Emerald Kingdom. Who would want to leave a happy and prosperous place like this where the rulers were not only competent, but also warm and nice?!

Mana burst out laughing. "I told you, that handsome fellow is my Big Brother and the Crown Prince of the Emerald Kingdom!"

Fox frowned. "So what? He's still handsome!"

"Can't refute that," Mana said, winking at Jules.

Jules rolled his eyes.

"I would definitely want to see more progress on this device and other forms of long-distance communication," King Jaren murmured. He eyed Fox with a speculative look in his eyes. "Since you're friends with my kids now – would you like to join them when they come over to the capital city? The IMARI could do with a bright young fellow like you."

"IMARI?!" Fox exclaimed. "Seriously?!"

Fox's mother was stunned. Her son…her fool of a son who had been ridiculed all his life…was actually being invited to the International Magical Appliance Research Institute by the founder of IMARI himself?!

IMARI had been established by King Jaren about twenty years ago, when he had been officially made the crown prince of the Emerald Kingdom. The best thing about IMARI was that it didn't matter whether you were rich or poor – the institute itself took care of not only the education expenses, but also the living costs of the students and even funded their research. Over the last two decades, it had become one of the most reputed institutions across the kingdoms and it was the dream of every young person who liked to fiddle with devices to be able to study there. When he was small, even Fox had dreamed of it…but as he grew up, he realised how different he was from others…and all the taunts and insults flung at him over the years had made his dream crumble away bit by bit…until nothing was left.

But now…it looked like he still had a chance!

King Jaren shrugged nonchalantly, just like Mana often did. "The whole point of setting up IMARI was to find and encourage brilliant young talents like you, who can invent new stuff rather than replicate the age-old designs. Besides, the Sapphire Kingdom already produces excellent quality and quantity of traditional things anyway."

For the first time since Mana and Raven had chanced upon this eccentric guy, and for the first time in many, many years for Fox's mother – Fox's face took on a solemn look and he bowed formally and properly to King Jaren.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Fox said courteously. "I would be very honoured to accept your invitation."

"Excellent," King Jaren said cheerfully. "I'll look forward to even greater devices coming out of your laboratory in the future, young Fox."

"I will try my best not to let you down, Your Majesty," Fox promised.

Fox's mother burst into tears, laughing and crying at the same time, and hugged her son.

The royal family hastily beat a retreat, promising to visit again.

The next place King Jaren wanted to visit was the girl Vanilla and her father's stall.

Vanilla's cowardly father fainted in shock when he saw King Jaren. Vanilla herself, however, was pretty clear-headed and well-spoken, making Mana appreciate her even more. They discussed the conditions and requirements for the optimal growth of the vanilla climbers, and King Jaren's subordinates took copious notes.

"I can think of two plots of suitable land," the subordinate said thoughtfully.

King Jaren looked at Mana, clearly expecting her to take a decision. Mana carefully listened to the descriptions of the two pieces of land, and chose the second one, since the first one sounded more ideal for cacao than vanilla. Also, the second land had a small, empty house which could be cleaned up for Vanilla to live in. Since the couple at the restaurant were locals, they had their own house anyway and Mana wouldn't need to arrange for their accommodation.

"Have the house cleaned up and set up for Miss Vanilla to live in, and help her bring over the plants from her village," Mana instructed. "If she needs any help with the registration process, please do assist her with that as well."

Vanilla bowed and thanked Mana profusely.

Vanilla's father, who had regained consciousness a while ago, stared at his daughter in shock. He had never imagined that his daughter could be so decisive and capable and unafraid when dealing with foreign royalty…or that she could achieve what she had always said she would – a stable life and a proper business!

At last, the group went over to the restaurant serving love soup. They had just sent off their last customer for the day and waved when they saw the royal family coming over.

"I think the first piece of land you spoke about would be very suitable for our cacao farm," Mana told her father's subordinate as they entered the restaurant. "But let's get the details about their requirements to grow those trees first."

The chef and his wife passed mugs of hot milk to everyone as they sat down to chat.

"Would you happen to have any of the powder that you make from the cacao and use to make chocolate?" she asked the couple.

"Of course, Princess Mana," the chef's wife said. "We have plenty. Would you like some?"

Mana nodded. "And a bit of sugar, too, please."

A few minutes later, hot chocolate made its debut appearance in the Emerald Kingdom, much to the delight of everyone who got to taste it!

After that, it was a cakewalk. The land was indeed very suitable to grow cacao, and a deal was settled to the satisfaction of all parties.

Mana went home happily, very satisfied with her investments.