The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

The Mayor of Red Brick Town was a thin, severe looking old man – who looked like he was a decade or two older than Grandpa or King Corvus, but in actuality, was only a decade or so older than King Jaren, as Mana and Raven found out soon enough.

The Mayor peered over his eye glasses at Mana's young face. "Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom, grand child of the former Duke of Flames of the Amber Kingdom," he murmured in a cold voice. "Why is it that you wish to purchase our desert wastelands?"

"To grow dates," Mana replied honestly.

"Why?" the Mayor asked.

"Because they are good dates, and I like them," Mana replied with a smile.

The Mayor narrowed his eyes. "If you buy our desert wastelands, all the dates that grow on the lands that you buy will have to be exported. You will not be able to sell them here in our Amber Kingdom," he said sternly.

Mana blinked. What kind of weird law was this? She had thought that she would have to pay extra for getting exclusive supply of dates – but it looked like if she bought the land, all the dates that grew on them were automatically hers, and on top of that, there was a legal restriction that was actually so much in her favour that he could jump up and dance in delight?

"You will also have to employ the desert people on the lands that you buy, and you will have to pay them fair wages to grow dates for you on the lands that you buy," the Mayor continued.

The businesswoman in Mana did a happy little dance – the problem of labour was also sorted, it seemed.

"There is also an export tax that you will have to pay to us, and this will be zero point two five per cent of the local value of the dates, and not the export valuation," the Mayor continued to speak sternly.

From the nervous glances of everyone around, Mana could easily guess that the export valuation of the dates was probably close to zero, while the local value was still a little better, even though it was dirt cheap in her eyes at the moment.

But the terms were sounding quite favourable to Mana, even though it may seem like a really stupid business decision from the point of view of the people of the Amber Kingdom.

Perhaps it was truly a case of one man's garbage being another man's treasure.

Mana wondered for a moment if the dates, the desert lands and the desert people actually so despised around here that the government of the Amber Kingdom had absolutely no idea of the value of any of them and had put up such ridiculous conditions – or if the old Mayor in front of her was a really shrewd fellow who was trying to entice her into buying these desert lands and dates.

"Also, once an agreement is signed, you are not allowed to back out, no matter what, even if a war breaks out between the Amber Kingdom and any other nations," the old Mayor said.

The inn keeper and his assistants looked extremely nervous.

"Lord Mayor – can't we give some relaxation to Princess Mana on these strict conditions? She is the sister in law of our Crown Prince Mars after all, and it would be a shame if we could not offer her better terms than we offer to strangers…" the inn keeper suggested in a mild voice, trying to cajole the old Mayor.

This dispelled Mana's doubts about the intention of the old Mayor. Perhaps he was just a regular old fogey, she thought.

The old Mayor's next words proved her right.

"Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom is permitted to buy these lands only because she is the grand child of the former Duke of Flames and holds some of the noble blood of the Amber Kingdom in her veins," the old Mayor said coldly. "That does not mean that the law will change for her. The law is the law, and we will follow it, and if these terms are not acceptable to Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom, she can go and complain to her grandfather the former Duke of Flames about it, or her soon to be brother in law Crown Prince Mars of our noble kingdom about it."

Raven's face darkened at that.

Mana chuckled and patted Raven's hand in a reassuring manner.

"That's all right," she said. "I appreciate the honesty of the Lord Mayor, and I agree with him that the law is the law and we should not make random exceptions to the law. I agree to these terms. How much land am I permitted to buy, Lord Mayor, and could you let me know a bit more about the payment terms and transportation arrangements for the dates from here to wherever I want the dates to be delivered?"

"Transportation charges will be extra, at the rate of zero point two five per cent of the local value of the dates, and not the export valuation," the old Mayor said in a monotonous voice.

The inn keeper and everyone else in the room hung their heads, and their shoulders drooped in a disappointed curve that was almost funny. It was clear from their attitude that this was a deal breaker for anyone with any business sense, and even if they considered Princess Mana to be a naïve little do gooder of a princess from a foreign land of prosperous idiots, there was no way she would be foolish enough to agree to such a terrible deal.

The old Mayor also seemed to be affected by the disappointment that was oozing from all the local people in the room, and he could feel their resentment against him, as if he had snatched away the plate of food that had been placed in front of them at the last minute when they had been ravenously hungry for days on end.

The old Mayor flushed a little and cleared his throat. "There is a discount of five per cent of the total value of the desert wastelands that you buy if you buy a large piece of land," he murmured. "If Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom is interested in buying a good chunk of land, I would recommend this option, since this discount is on the value of the land and not on the value of the dates, and this will save you a good amount of money."

"What happens to the dates that we grow on the lands bought by Mana? Other than the government tax you mentioned, and the transportation charges – are there any other hidden costs?" Raven asked.

The old Mayor frowned at the boy. "Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom is not eligible to buy any of our desert wastelands. Only those with fire magic are able to buy land in the Amber Kingdom, or those who share blood with the royal family," he said.

"That does not answer Raven's question," Mana said, narrowing her eyes.

The old Mayor blinked. "No, there are no other charges," he said.

"How much land can I buy?" Mana asked.

"As someone with royal blood but without fire magic, you can buy about ten square kilometres," the old Mayor said. "If you had fire magic, you could buy more."

"Is this limit per head or per transaction?" Mana asked.

"Per head," the old Mayor replied. He brightened a bit. "Would your elder brother also be joining you?" he asked hopefully.

"He might," Mana said, nodding at Vanilla, and the older girl went off to fetch Jules.

"What are the buying limits for those with fire magic? Are there different categories of fire magic, or is it only the type that runs in the royal family of the Amber Kingdom?" Mana asked the old Mayor.

"One hundred square kilometres for regular fire magic," the old Mayor said. "And five hundred square kilometres for those with the fire magic of the royal blood of the Amber Kingdom." He hesitated for a moment. "There is one more category, under law, but there are no living persons who possess the true hellfire, so it is moot…" he murmured.

"What category?" Mana asked curiously. "Is it even bigger limits than the fire magic of the royal family?"

The old Mayor nodded. "The ancient hellfire is the rarest and most powerful fire magic in the world," he said. "And one thousand square kilometres for those with the hellfire magic is the limit, even higher than the limit for the royal blood and royal fire magic of the Amber Kingdom."

"What does hellfire magic look like?" Mana asked, glancing at Raven, who seemed rather interested in this deal now.

"It is the most beautiful fire magic of all, with rainbow coloured flames that are much more powerful than ordinary flames, and…" the old Mayor's voice faded away, and his cold face developed an almost comical expression of shock at the little rainbow coloured ball of flames in Raven's palm.