160 Chapter 157 The Council (2/2)
”The humans here, call you demons because they are idiots who don't understand the term. I suppose it's possible you don't know what a demon such as this would be either…”
PERFECT ILLUSION.
The image of a demon, terrifying in its form, appeared in the center of the table. Its black oily skin shone in a light that wasn't there. Everyone at the table, including the king himself, jumped back away from the table.
Joseph quickly ended the illusion, and was glad that he blocked the only door out of the room, as many of the weaker beast-kin looked as if they would have bolted from the room had he not been there.
”And you expect us to go with you to a place that has those things?” squawked a parrot-kin.
”Those demons are what I am dealing with. You should never actually encounter them. But this is why I don't agree with your people being called demons. You are beast-kin. You would be wolf-kin, eagle-kin, bunny-kin, snake-kin, turtle-kin, dragon-kin, fox-kin, parrot-kin, tiger-kin, rat-kin, bear-kin, goat-kin, and whatever other races your people might have.”
They spoke softly amongst themselves for a few moments, sitting back down around the table, then the tiger-kin turned to him and asked, ”Can everyone in your realm do such magic, as you have done?”
”No, only a small number of my people can do magic, though I hope to raise that number. Once I have cured my world tree of its corruption, I fully expect more magic to appear. Though, having said that, I have magic everywhere in my kingdom. It is integral to almost everything. There will definitely be magic available for use by your people, should you come with me.”
”How exactly?” asked the bear-kin.
”I focus mostly on making improvements with my magic. If something happened, and an entire field were destroyed, it would be easy for me to use magic to replant it and grow food, but it's not something that every farmer could do, thus it makes more sense to provide magical items for the workers to use, to make life easier.”
”Other than not having enough room for food and living, the main things our people deal with are sickness, injuries, and fighting with the humans. You've explained how you would deal with the food and s.p.a.ce issues, your immense lands, and by taking us away from these humans, the fighting will be dealt with, but what about the health issues?” asked the rat-kin. His nose twitched curiously.
”My kingdom will have extensive sewers to remove waste from the living areas, and bath houses for sanitation. We have trained medical people to deal with small injuries and who have trained with mages to help with larger injuries.”
”So, if someone broke a leg?” asked the bunny-kin.
”They would set the leg and either heal it, or place a cast on it to heal straight,” Joseph answered patiently.
”What if it were cut off?” asked the bear-kin softly.
Joseph could tell by the looks of the council members that this was a loaded question.
”I would use magic to regrow it. Normally it takes a month, but I can do it instantly.”
”That's impossible!” cried the bear-kin, rising out of his chair.
Joseph shrugged. ”Unless you have someone missing a limb, I don't know how to prove to you otherwise.”
A young boy with fox ears jumped off a stool from the corner behind the king and dashed out the door behind Stella without a word.
”My brother lost his arm in a battle and is running messages around the castle,” explained the bear-kin, his voice catching in his throat.
The wolf-kin spoke up, ”What would you charge for taxes?”
”That depends, because most of the tax collecting is handled by sales tax. Bartering is also common, and I will be coming up with a functional form of taxation for that, once I return and get a chance to deal with such things. I normally have the businesses pay me. My kingdom's main form of income will mostly come from business I do with other kingdoms.”
”I have a question,” said the goat-kin. ”You tell us of all of these things that your kingdom has, yet you've also said that your lands are currently wasteland. How do you have a kingdom, and yet not?”
Joseph nodded, knowing that this was bound to come up eventually.
”My current kingdom is a thin stretch of land along the boundary of the wastelands. Most of the things I have described to you, have already been implemented in one way or another, but the actual kingdom building will come once I have restored the wastelands to their former glory.”
”Then where would our people live in the meantime? a.s.suming we agree to go with you?” asked the goat-kin, his horizontal pupils focused on Joseph's face as if watching for signs of betrayal.
Before he could answer, there was a knock on the door and a large bear-kin, with black fur stepped into the room. It was obvious from the scars on his face that he had been in many battles, yet the empty sleeve on his side and the look of angry depression spoke volumes of his warrior nature.
”I was told to come to the council room immediately?” he asked in a deep voice.
Joseph was a little disappointed that the bear-kin had no magery in him, because with a voice that low, he could almost speak origin words.
”May I see your hurt arm?” asked Joseph.
”It's not hurt,” he said, stepping up to him, ”It's b.l.o.o.d.y cut off.”
INSTANT REGENERATION.
A new bare arm, all bright and pink grew out from the empty sleeve.
HAIR GROWTH.
HAIR CUT.
His hair instantly puffed up and grew, then was trimmed neatly so that you couldn't even tell that he had been missing an arm.
”It's hurt, if I can fix it,” said Joseph.
<script>