The Chancellor

The first few days of auctions for Kinky Company were vicious, the company ran through extreme amounts of their CP buying items. Until the third day, the traffic inside was almost entirely one way. By the third afternoon however, there were lines of people outside of the tower.

They had come to shop.

The Auction house had run out of almost all of the regular ingredients for basic needs, spirit grasses, herbs, potion ingredients, meat. There were even a few cases of people being robbed in the Capital, though, those who were robbed didn't have anything of value to begin with.

Kinky Company was turning a profit, a large one. Invega had been given the manager position for the first floor, she could hire as many people as she wanted so long as they signed the bloodoath contracts. It was lucky for Errit that she hired a small team to be on standby, each of them were given communication stones so they could remain on call.

It was remarkably efficient, Errit made a note to give her a raise and then Luimei caught up with him. "I have news from the Chancellor. He has agreed to meet with us, he will be arriving in a few minutes. We should not hide anything from him, he comes with the Truther Duchess."

"What? What's a Truther Duchess??" Errit's ears perked up.

"Its not a what, its a who. Ying Qingchi, Truther Duchess, wife of the Demon Prince Ho, Chancellor and the Ruler of the Kingdom?" He put up air quotes to show his sarcasm and continued. "You cannot hide anything from her, she and the truthers are psychics. If you fart silently in a distant hall and no one notices, they will know when you wave it away in distaste."

Errit gagged and almost fell over laughing at the thought of someone using psychic powers to sniff out a fart in the astral plane. The seriousness of Luimei's eyes stopped him cold. "That sounds serious, why should I worry?" Errit already knew he had lots of things to hide.

"Your chest, for starters." Luimei pointed at a spot. "I saw that mark, it was only for an instant. It is the mark of one who was once dead. I do not know what fortune keeps you alive, but you might be considered an Undead to some. Your heart beats, you sweat, swear and shed tears, so therefore you cannot be a mindless killing creature."

Then, Luimei pointed at the mask. "Your mask screams the words 'hiding something' It would be unkind of you to shroud your identity, and probably unwise."

Kink shook his head and replied. "I have my reasons for the Mask, its ability to conceal my identity keeps me safe. Even from Zao Ho." The knuckles in his hand cracked when he squeezed and then he said, "I make no efforts to hide my distrust and distaste with the actions taken by Zao Ho in my past life. If he cannot accept that someone has suspicion about him, then he doesn't deserve the title he holds. I will not drag my feelings out unnecessarily, that would serve no purpose in my goals."

"If you say so, I still think its a bad idea to hide your face. Why don't you make a true self potion and fix this already? Didn't I see you holding a Night's Flight Larkspur just yesterday?" Luimei had some questions, he knew that Errit was struggling with something.

"I don't know what the potion will do. The Potion details say that it will restore my former self. well, I like who I am now, I don't want that to change. What If my power is stripped? This wasn't and isn't my original body. What happens if I'm what's removed and the person who was, re-emerges?" Errit seemed worried, annoyed and frustrated over the interpretations of the writs he had seen from the past.

Most of the accounts from the usage of the potion in the libraries had been someone returning to a state where they had power, after having lost it. Errit's needs exceeded that, he wanted to retain himself, but regain his appearance. Almost a year had passed in his new body, he was comfortable but weary of what secrets the body's former host had waiting for him.

The experience during his awakening replayed in his head, he was barely conscious at the time but he had clearly remembered killing that woman. Her shrieking, the beatings.. he had just woken up and was clearly injured, gravely even. The wound on his neck and the symbol burned into his flesh at the time were signs of something but he couldn't figure it out. 'Black magic maybe? Luimei said I could be considered undead.. if that's true, am I immortal?' Errit pulled out a knife and cut his hand, the blood flowed into a vial.

When the dripping stopped, he looked at his hand and the wound closed over. 'maybe its just regeneration, not immortality.' Errit didn't want to test it by trying to kill himself but the question lingered for a moment before it passed. 'I know I can die.. everything dies at some point.' "Luimei, how long until he gets here?"

"He should be here any minute, I spoke to him on a communication crystal, maybe he's in the lobby?" Luimei turned around and started to the stairs, "You should change into that Blackout Hat if you want to hide your eyes but I think it would be best that you remove the face coverings when you meet the Demon Prince."

֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍

The outside of Kinky Tower was lined with people eager to enter for trade, across the walkway near the entrance, a black ball started to appear. It grew in size and electrical arcs covered its exterior. Two people emerged and then a hundred shadows collected nearby into their own.

Entering into the store, the pair had the eyes of everyone in line staring in awe.

"Excuse me, you have to wait in line like everyone else." Invega saw the new doorman giving a rude customer the business but stopped him in an instant. "My apologies, Your majesty." She knelt and so did the rest of the people in the store.

"Get up, I have an appointment with the Chief Council, I'm told he's here." The Chancellor let her stand and then walked to the back. "Is there somewhere I can wait without so many people?"

"Yes, right this way." Invega seemed nervous, the Demon Prince was notoriously well known for his unforgiving side. 'Please don't kill me' repeated in her mind.

A small voice next to the Prince spoke. "You don't have worry, we're not here to kill anyone." A peaceful aura spread out in the vicinity, everyone outside of the building felt it, even through the shield.

"Thank you, your Majesty." Invega looked at the Truther, she smiled back.

The main office and meeting chamber for the staff had a large table in the center. The chancellor stood by a chair and waited with his Queen.

Koesr opened the door for Luimei and Kink, he waited until he was dismissed to leave.

"Chancellor Ho, it is good to see you. There should have been a better to meet sooner but I'm afraid we're having a bit of a problem and I think you should be somewhat informed already of it?" Luimei pulled out a chair to sat down. "Please, let us talk."

They all sat around the table, Kink looked the two of them over, his mind was racing about things like his old life, he was unable to hold them back while sitting across the table. When the Truther eyed him, he sighed.

"What is it?" the Chancellor Ho looked over to Qingchi.

"It is that mask. It blocks his thoughts, what a good thing it is." She smiled, uncaring about his appearance.

Luimei looked over at Kink. "Okay, Okay. I had to check for myself, he didn't fly of the handle when I have this on. I'll sit here and talk with my killer and his queen." Kink's words shocked the Chancellor and Qingchi.

"Killer?" the word and question escaped both of their mouths simultaneously.

Kink took the mask off, his thoughts, fears, plans and memories were exposed to Qingchi.

She started to cry.