It's an ordinary day, the sky is still cloudy, Magno walks with his sister showing and introducing some secretaries, and employees of the Wiki Palace, until he arrives at his office in which his only entrance is guarded by City Guards, who shout at the sight of him.
- Good morning, sir!
- You too. - Magno replies calmly.
He walks up to the door and continues.
- You can open the door.
If asked, they both open the door, almost shouting.
- Yes, sir!
Soon you could see the large windows of his office, the floor was a large coat of arms painted on the concrete floor.
- It's been a while since I sat here.
As he said this, Magno went to his chair to sit down and when he had done so, he commented quietly.
- Well, I was forgetting how comfortable this chair is, my sister, you can feel free to look around the office, just don't touch them.
- All right, sir knight, could you explain every corner of this place to me?
He looks at Magno.
- I don't know, I'm your brother's bodyguard and advisor.
Magno hears this reply and then orders.
- Of course you can, by the way, I'm going alone to fetch my ministers, accompany her and answer the questions she asks, take that as an order.
He sees the seriousness in her calm expression.
- Yes, sir.
So Magno gets up and leaves the office in search of the ministers.
"Now let's see where they are."
In his search for his ministers, he was quick to find one of them, and soon he was finding them one by one. He even found one of them in the bathroom, when he heard him answer his question as to whether anyone was there.
- Ministers? Are any of you here?
- Me sir!
"That's a familiar voice."
- Minister Corton Burkem?
- Yes, sir!
- You in my office after you've done whatever it is you're doing. - Magno comments as he leaves.
So, after meeting all the ministers, he returns to his office.
- Well, let's see if they're making a mess in there.
Opening the door, he sees the knight explaining to his sister about a portrait that was in the office, who was paying close attention to everything he was saying, while being impressed by the details of the painting.
- Even in the capital there aren't paintings as detailed as these, this gentleman's portrait makes him seem alive.
Seeing all this, he thinks.
"This painting is to honor the founder of this city, this was the first thing I did when they built this palace, I commissioned an artist who I heard was very talented with my money, I didn't want to use public money, because it was a personal thing, so I used my salary which isn't much, honestly, I almost went broke in the month because of this work, but it was worth it, however, I will never do anything like it again."
After that, he adds to the explanation the knight had given Antonia.
- My little sister, this painting is of the founder of this city. When I arrived here, I learned that this city was already more than a hundred and fifty years old, and with the records I found in the library here, I assumed that he was the founder of the city, so I took the descriptions to the painter.
- That's magnificent! Can I ask her to do a painting for me?
Magno gives a small smile.
- It's been three years since I've seen her, but I'll go and see, and when I find her I'll send you a letter.
- Thank you, brother.
Soon after, his ministers arrived, most of whom were semi-humans, all well dressed and led by the Prime Minister, who is a semi-human.
- Good morning my lord, why have you summoned us at this time?
She is confused when she sees them.
- Who are these gentlemen?
Magno explains to her how the city's administration works.
- Know one thing, when I arrived here, I realized two things, firstly, that if I managed it alone, I wouldn't be able to be as efficient as I wanted to be and secondly, sooner or later the population would want freedom.
Then he goes to his desk and opens one of the desk drawers.
- So in order to solve these two things, I diminished my power and handed it over to the people in a book I called the Constitution.
And he takes the aforementioned book from the drawer.
- It contains the rules of the city, one of which is the right of the people to organize themselves politically and to decide their representatives, who will work with me here, they take care of internal affairs and I take care of the external affairs of the city.
When he's finished, he hands her a copy of the constitution, which you can see is embroidered with leather, and the city's coat of arms is silver-plated.
- That sounds boring, you don't even run everything.
He quickly responds by saying.
- When you start running your city, you'll realize how exhausting and problematic it is to manage everything yourself.
But the Prime Minister interrupts them.
- But your lordship, why did you call us?
Magno looks at him.
- I'm going to take the troops to the capital, without disguise. This year I want to demonstrate our city's war power in tomorrow's parade.
- That's right, I'd forgotten that tomorrow there's a military parade in honor of our fathers. - Antonia comments as she reads the Constitution.
- Your Lordship, who is that child next to you?
- The one you see is my younger sister and she came here today because I wanted to show her the city.
His tone changes from a little suspicious to very polite when he learns that this is Magno's sister.
- You might as well have told me that you were coming to visit us, I could have organized the city for you.
- Prime Minister, the problem would be that if she found out, she'd be angry with me, but after all, we have nothing to hide from her, so I didn't want to take that risk. - Magno replies calmly.
He falls silent when he hears this and after a very short time.
- A thousand pardons my lord, I really didn't realize that.
He turns away.
- Minister Clouver, come forward now.
He walks over to him, a swarthy human with black hair and brown eyes, dressed in the same uniform as the gentleman, only without the armor.
- Sir, what do you want?
- Immediately call out the army and take the military police with you.
- Okay, sir, this parade will show what we're capable of!
But during this he thinks as he looks out of the window at the city skyline.
"Everything's fine for now, I can't wait to show her the rest of the city."
Then Magno speaks.
- So, Minister Davi, can you answer me one question?
The same semi-human with glasses, the young minister comments nervously.
- And what would that question be, my lord?
Magno notices his nervousness and rephrases his question.
- Why are you so nervous?
- It's just that it's my first time as Minister of the Economy, and the city's big businessmen are pressuring me to open up the city's market to the rest of the Fiefdom.
He frowns at this answer.
"So their pressure has already started? They've gone faster than I thought."
After this brief reflection, he says.
- So I have to open for business, do I? Well, I'll look into this right away after tomorrow's parade.
Minister Davi thanks him.
- Thank you, my lord.
So Magno looks at the Prime Minister and says as he sits down again.
- Well, Prime Minister, how are you after a year in office? For example, how are you finding running this city?
He, in turn, vents his frustration at Magno's questioning.
- Honestly, this job is a lot more tiring and stressful than I thought it would be.
With this out of the way, he looks at Antônia.
- You see, I said it's tiring, you'll learn my sister, in the future you'll wish you were the age you are now, remember that.
And the Prime Minister continues.
- Waking up early every day and working until dawn.
- Well, rest is over. - Magno says as he gets up from his chair.
- Sir, can I leave now? Together with the other ministers?
- All right, we'll have meetings later, dismissed for today.
- Thank you, my lord.
Magno watches all the ministers leave.
"Apparently they're fine, I really don't know exactly how his popularity is, but if it's bad, the people will soon remove him."
Then, after getting tired of reading the Constitution, Antonia suddenly asks him.
- Hey, brother! Is the tour going to continue?
He looks at her.
- Of course, and it will be now.
The knight quickly walks up to him and whispers in his ear.
- Sir, would you like me to take you to the barracks?
He replies, also whispering.
- That's fine, let's go.
However, Antonia listened briefly to the whispering between the two of them without understanding anything that was being said, and in this great curiosity generated by the occasion, she confusedly interrupted them by asking.
- Where are we going?
The knight realized the situation and went over to her.
- Now we're going to the barracks, so you can see what we'll be showing at the parade tomorrow.
His innocence makes her think of the soldiers' swords and armor, which her innocent enthusiasm spills over into.
- Wow, this is going to be great!
Magno sees her enthusiasm and reflects, watching her.
"I still have a lot of cards in my deck, but the way she's behaving, the barracks could be my final card."
So they leave the palace and talk amongst themselves.
- Hey brother, aren't you sad? You haven't shown any signs of sadness so far. Today is the tenth anniversary of the death of our parents.
Magno blurted out when confronted with this question.
- Actually... It's just a mask for the people, I'm trying not to cry.
Witnessing his outburst, she thinks as she continues along the route.
"So he's not one hundred percent calm and calculating, but of course! He's also a person, if he's going to act like that, then I don't want to rule."
However, the knight interrupts them.
- My lord! The carriage is already in front of the palace.
- Thank you, we're on our way. - Magno comments cheerfully.
As they get into the carriage, he reflects.
"I'm going to do everything I can for her so that she doesn't have the same trauma that Charles and I had when our parents were murdered."
Ten years ago.
It was another day in the capital.
Magno was playing quietly with the other children of the subnobles.
Charles was already engaged to his future wife at the age of 10 and was learning about the public administration of the fiefdom from his parents, and it was on a day like this that it all happened.
They were inside the palace when things started to move. 20 thugs stormed the castle and, one by one, killed the guards in their path.
But they didn't go unnoticed by Magno when they passed through the courtyard where he was with the other children.
- Who are they? - he asked, not knowing what was going on.
Two of them immediately attack him as soon as they hear his voice.
However, someone appeared to intervene.
It was an almost elderly knight who was supervising them at the moment.
- No one will lay a hand on the sons of the lords of these lands! Not with me here! Never!
At this, one of the jagunços shouted.
- Then die, you moldy old man!
Using their knives, they try to stab him, but having great agility and reflexes, he ends up dodging their attacks.
- Cheeky children! They can't even handle a knife properly!
Then, through an oversight on the part of one of them, the old knight draws his one-handed sword and cuts off the hand that was holding the knife.
He began to scream in pain, blood gushing from the cut, and this frightened the other jagunço by the suddenness and precision of the attack.
- But how?
The old knight smiles.
- You call yourselves jagunços? You can't even kill an old knight like me!
Their fear soon turns to anger.
- Damned old man!
However, the one who had lost his hand saw Magno and the other children fleeing into the castle.
- Our goal is not you!
They attack the children, but the old knight finishes off the one who had already lost his hand by cutting off his head, which frightens all the children who look back.
- Keep running! I'll make sure you're safe! - He shouts as he tackles the other.
In this way, they headed for the western area of the castle, full of paintings of nobles, emperors and feudal lords, but it didn't matter, they were running for their lives and behind them was the old knight fighting.
- Keep running! We're not far from the guards' post!
Running through the dark stone rooms and corridors of the castle, partially illuminated by candles, they heard a scream.
- Damn you!
It was Charles' scream, which echoed through the castle on the upper floors.
"It was at that moment that I had lost my parents, but at that time I didn't know that it had happened, and that a trauma was to come."
Now.
They are getting into the carriage, the knight in turn is riding along with a group of other knights, who were outside the small palace, surrounding the carriage and the knight in front.
They headed for the city's military base.
When they got there, they came across a base in a more remote part of the city, until they heard a very loud sound.
"What's that?"
Magno covers his ears with his fingers and shouts because of the loud noise.
- That's a prototype! I think you'll like it!
She looks outside and sees an airplane similar to the first bomber created, which scares her into despair.
- Brother! There's a giant bird coming towards us! - She screams in despair as she walks up to it and shakes it.
He removes his fingers from her ears and stops shaking her.
- Hey! Calm down! That's not a giant bird, it's an innovation passing us by, you haven't even seen it yet.
She tries to calm down when the carriage door is opened by the rider.
- That's not a giant bird, it's nothing like that, Mr. Magno will explain what that thing is, please calm down. - says the knight as he sees her frightened inside the carriage.
As soon as they got off the carriage, she saw a large military base, the center of which was practically a fortress on the outside and a bunker on the inside, but to get inside they had to pass through the large steel gates with paintings of the Wiki City Coat of Arms.
There was also a large wall with barbed wire surrounding the base and two guards protecting the gates outside.
The guards soon stood at attention and saluted when they saw Magno.
- Attention! - Shouts one of them.
Then one of them goes into a small room to radio the others inside, and the gate opens.
As they entered, they came across several soldiers wearing uniforms similar to those of the German soldiers in 1918, only instead of gray and red, it was deep green and red, all of them marching like the Prussian March towards them.
But then they come to the edge of the road, all standing at attention and carrying a rifle in their right arm.
- Wow, that was really cool! - She says impressed.
At this, he speaks confidently and cheerfully.
- And you haven't even seen anything yet.
She's thrilled to hear this.
- This is going to be cool!