The Mahagah National Bank was full of people around two o'clock in the afternoon when the fire alarm went off. Not knowing if it was real or just another fire drill, people rushed to the doors to leave the building and found them all locked.
When they turned around in indignation, they found about fifteen men with machine guns pointed at them. All of them wore blue masks. They were being attacked by the people of Gelo. There was not a single citizen there who did not know what was happening in the city, as the news was giving a lot of coverage to those attacks by the people of Gelo. When they realized what was happening, a great cry arose from their lips and they begged for mercy, appealing to the compassion of the masked men, pointing to the children in that enclosure.
One of the men stepped in front of the others, removed his mask, and smiled.
"We will put out the fire with water," he said, and he and all the men behind him clapped their hands and raised their hands. A cloud formed, and thick raindrops flooded the place for five minutes. As soon as it stopped raining and the cloud dispersed, they touched the water on the ground and removed small daggers. The people, who had been paralyzed by the sight of rain inside a concrete building, now begged for their lives again. And that was how they died. The masked men were as ruthless as Attila when he killed the twelve Councilors.
After the death of everyone at the Mahagah National Bank, they entered all the vaults without difficulty and took all the gold that was there.
The fire warriors arrived, but they had already fled. They wept at the cruelty with which the people had been killed and at the destruction left behind by the Ice People.
...
Sean stared at the TV screen reporting the latest attack with a determined expression.
Kurtin was at his side, as he had been since Sean appointed him to be his right-hand man.
"I want another meeting. Attila's council is killing my people. Damn them! I want the heads of all the Ice People!" Sean said furiously. "I shouldn't have listened to Attila. Those people are his blood too, and it was obvious he would find a way to protect them."
"That's not what happened, Your Majesty. Your brother's plan was good. He just didn't know that those plans were the same as theirs. He would never plot against his kingdom."
Sean pointed to the turned-off television.
"If I had listened to the Host, the people would have been alert and could have protected themselves. They were killed like cattle!"
"Now I realize that they didn't make random attacks, as we thought at first, Your Majesty."
"What are you saying?"
"Every place they attacked, they looted. And all those places were owned by the Pharaoh."
Sean frowned.
"So, the bank..."
"They took all the crown gold."
"The way you put it, I guess that last attack left us poor."
"Your personal fortune is safe in other countries, Your Majesty, but the crown gold has been completely taken, as has all of our equipment discovered by our scientists. The crown gold was used for palace expenses, schools, hospitals, and wars."
"Can I use my personal fortune to remedy this?"
"I do not advise you to do so, Your Majesty. The people need to know what is happening and need to accept to come out of their lethargy and fight alongside the soldiers of fire. We cannot cover up this situation from our people. They have always been proud to have their Pharaoh as the administrator of all the people's gold, as it has always been used decently by the Pharaohs. We need their indignation to become more united and thus stronger. What we need now is for every citizen of Mahagah to take up arms and protect their family and themselves. That is how we will win. The crown's gold can be replaced in a few years, and perhaps, at best, recovered."
"Where are the Gumis so that everything you have said can be decreed?"
"The Gumis cannot attend a meeting at this time, Pharaoh."
Sean looked at Kurtin with curiosity.
"The Gumis must always be at my disposal!"
"No, in winter, Pharaoh. They cannot have families, and at this time, they are..." Kurtin frowned as he searched for the right words. "They are enjoying the youngest fruit of their inheritance."
Sean took a deep breath. That was one of the barbarities he planned to abolish from his kingdom.
"Some princess of my blood?"
"Yes, Pharaoh. She is the granddaughter of one of the women who served the Gumis in your grandfather's time."
"I will not allow them to continue this. I will not allow the women of my family to serve as semen banks for the Gumis. This must end."
"This is a very old tradition, Pharaoh. They abstain from marriage and..."
"I prefer that they marry, and I myself will represent my people. I believe these women would rather die."
"Well... Since Your Majesty has brought it up, these Gumis are different. They do not treat women kindly. They began complaining about their violence a few decades ago, but your father preferred not to interfere in this matter."
"My father was a fool," Sean said and looked at Kurtin. "No need to call the Gumis. I don't want them to know what I'm going to do. Don't call Mycon to this meeting either. He is an older man and values traditions, regardless of whether those traditions cause people pain, as long as he and the precious Gumis are fortified in all their needs. No. I want people who live among my people for real. People who eat and walk with my subjects. And it will be these people that I will listen to."
"Where will I find such people, Pharaoh?"
"Choose some of the soldiers. I also want three fathers."
...
The Pharaoh walked into a training studio lined wall to wall with tatami-style mats, designed for combat that belonged to Attila's Wing, and as soon as he saw his brother waiting for him, as well as all the other soldiers at attention, their eyes met, and they greeted each other in a way that was almost imperceptible to anyone watching. Sean sat down in the chair they had provided for that urgent meeting.
"Rest. I'll try to be as brief as possible. I feel rejection in my heart against the Gumis. I intend to change laws that I consider unfair, but until I get the support of the people for that, they will continue with their inappropriate privileges." Sean said, and everyone sat down on the tatami-covered floor. "I need you to start a campaign to show the evil of the Gumis. The people see them as gods, but they are just humans that we fatten with the best we have."
"Your Majesty, Kurtin said we could speak at this meeting without being punished." One of the soldiers said, raising his hand as if he were in front of his school teacher.
"That's true. What do you mean?"
"Your Majesty, the people don't care that the Gumis rape the women in their families. They approve of this practice. The people consider it a small price for the Pharaoh to pay for having his throne for life and refusing to listen to them personally," the soldier said boldly.
Sean looked at the man in astonishment.
"I'm not suffering at all because of the women! The people don't care that innocent women are being raped and humiliated, as long as they are from the royal family?" Sean asked furiously. "Then the people really deserve the representatives they have." Sean said and stormed out of the room without mentioning the other problems. But he hoped that those soldiers did not truly represent the will of the people and that Attila would find a way to convince them that the measures Kurtin had proposed were relevant, necessary, and urgent. And even though Kurtin had told him not to use his personal fortune, he would distribute weapons so that the people could protect themselves. What no one knew was that the Pharaohs kept some secrets. One of them was that they had accumulated many weapons in a hidden vault in the palace over the centuries, and this information was passed down from heir to heir. Sean knew that the time had come to use this trump card.
As soon as he was a hundred meters away from the fighting hall, he heard the men laughing. But he hadn't exhausted his ideas yet. There was still Yuki. She was Farida and could ask that the women be spared from serving the Gumis. He had already consulted the laws, and there were only five things that Farida could not ask for, and asking that the Gumis not rape and take any more women was not among those things. And Sean knew Yuki. She would be happy to help those poor women.