The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

"That – that – that is hellfire!" the old Mayor cried, jumping up from the chair that he was sitting on. "That is really hellfire! I would never be mistaken about this! But – but – but how does Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom possess hellfire? How is this even possible?!"

"What is going on here?" Jules's mild voice rang out from the door.

That was fast, Mana thought to herself. Vanilla had just left moments ago and now she was back with Big Brother Jules already!

The old Mayor turned to look at Jules and fell back into his chair in a daze. He raised a shaking finger at Jules, pointing at his amber eye.

"You – you – are you Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom?" he asked in a trembling voice and then swallowed hard.

Jules frowned. "I am," he said. "What is the matter? Is there something wrong?"

He looked at Mana and Raven, both of whom had small smiles on their faces.

"Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom…" the old Mayor murmured. "Also the grand child of the former Duke of Flames of the Amber Kingdom. Do you possess fire magic, Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom?" he asked.

Jules nodded in a careless manner. "I do," he said simply. "And so does Mana. Why? Is there a problem?"

The old Mayor looked ready to faint by now, and everyone else in the room was stunned, too. The people of the Amber Kingdom were not used to looking directly at the faces of the high ranking people – so not many had noticed that one of Jules's eyes was a fiery amber, a testament to his legacy of the Amber Kingdom and proof that he held the fire magic that ran through the veins of the royals of the Amber Kingdom. And Mana's fire magic was even more difficult to spot, because she had silver and amber flecks in her emerald eyes.

"Could you – would you – mind showing me?" the old Mayor asked hesitantly.

Jules looked at Mana and Raven, and both the children nodded.

Jules and Mana opened their palms and fiery reddish gold flames danced in their palms.

The old Mayor looked very gratified.

Mana smiled in satisfaction. "So, Lord Mayor – now, from what you have said so far – if Big Brother Jules, Raven and I – if all three of us buy the desert wastelands from you, we would be able to buy a total of two thousand square kilometres given the limits that your law has set – is that not right?" she asked mischievously.

The old Mayor nodded in a daze.

"Could you draw up the paperwork for us, then?" Mana asked.

The old Mayor nodded in a daze yet again.

It was the inn keeper and his assistants who asked Mana, "Are you sure, Princess Mana? That is a lot of land and there will be lots of dates and you won't be able to sell any of those dates here…"

Man smiled and nodded. "I am sure, thank you," she said. She looked at the old Mayor again. "Can we have the agreement, please? Or would you like me to draft one?"

The old Mayor stood up suddenly. "Please wait, Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom, Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom and Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom," he said politely. "I will fetch the draft agreement and prepare them quickly, and then you can put your signatures on them."

"Sure," Mana said, waving casually at him.

Jules pulled up a chair and sat down in front of Mana and Raven. "Care to explain what is going on? Why are we suddenly buying desert wastelands in the Amber Kingdom?" he demanded.

In response, Mana picked up a dried date and stuffed it into Jules's mouth.

"Oh," Jules said. "This is nice. What is it?"

"Something that is going to make us very rich very soon," Mana whispered.

The old Mayor was very efficient, even if he was a bit of a stickler for the rules. Mana didn't mind. The deal that she was getting here was already quite amazing, and in her eyes, she was investing a small amount that would yield humongous results in the near future. She would be proved right in a matter of months, and later, King Orion and Crown Prince Mars of the Amber Kingdom would try to snatch back the desert wastelands that Mana, Jules and Raven were buying now – but then, it wasn't so easy to take away things from these powerful children, and they were bound to fail miserably. But that is a story for much later.

For now, everyone was very satisfied with the outcome they had achieved today.

After purchasing the land and paying for it in full and having their names registered as the new owners of huge patches of desert wastelands in the Amber Kingdom, Mana, Jules and Raven were quite pleased with the matter.

Mana put down an extra bag od gold on the table. "I want a hospital with at least ten healers to be built in this area within the next month," she said.

The old Mayor stared at Mana for a long time, his eyes widened in shock. The inn keeper, his assistants and all the people in the room, too, stared at Mana in shock for quite some time, and then, suddenly, everyone except the old Mayor dropped to their knees and kowtowed before Mana and Raven and Jules.

"Oh, bless you, Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom! And Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom! And Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom! From today, we owe our allegiance to you, and only to you!" the kneeling figures swore to the three children.

Mana frowned. She didn't want any of these people to be executed for treason. She wanted their loyalty as their employer, of course, but she didn't want their allegiance as such – at the end of the day, these people were still citizens of the Amber Kingdom, and they owed their allegiance to whoever sat on the throne of the Amber Kingdom, didn't they? And the one on the throne of the Amber Kingdom was King Orion, and after him, there would be Crown Prince Mars. Mana didn't think that any of these narcissist men would be inclined to take a liberal view of the matter if they came to know what was happening here.

"Just work well, and we will be fine, all right?" Mana said hurriedly. "Come on, stop kneeling, it makes me uncomfortable."

Everyone stood up gingerly.

Jules, who had understood Mana's apprehension, quietly explained to the people in the room what they wanted and why they should not be speaking so lightly about changing their allegiance to the royals of other countries, lest they be deemed traitors and executed by King Orion.

The old Mayor was the only one who actually understood the implications of the actions of the ignorant small town folk and the goodwill of Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom in explaining the matter to them in detail, and a sour feeling rose up in the old Mayor's heart. Had a single member of the royal family of the Amber Kingdom ever shown even one tiny little fraction of the care and consideration towards the people of the Amber Kingdom that these foreign royal children were showing after having known them for a few hours? Why could they not have a proper and virtuous Crown Prince like Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom? How nice would that have been!

In the end, though, the old Mayor didn't say anything. He merely nodded at Jules to show that he had understood and received the good intentions of Crown Prince Jules of the Emerald Kingdom and that he would speak to the inn keeper and the other people in the room separately and make sure that they don't cause any issues for themselves or for anyone else.

After the paperwork was done, the old Mayor brought out a large map that looked almost as old as the old Mayor himself, and showed to Mana and Raven and Jules exactly where their lands lay.

It was then that Mana realised that she had actually bought quite a sizeable chunk of land.

"What, regretting your decision already?" Jules teased his little sister.

Mana stuck out her tongue at her big brother in a childish manner.

Jules chuckled and ruffled her hair affectionately. "Are you done here?" he asked. "Then we should go back."

Raven looked up at his favourite Big Brother Jules. "Do we need to notify the local people beforehand?"  she asked.

Jules shook her head. "You can ask then to raise the date trees for you just like you have planned. We could appoint a manager and give them the strategy blue prints that we prepare for transactions like this, and then give it to the people to run.. Those who want to go and complain against it are free to do so!" he said.