"Balbadd?"

You stopped yourself from pouring a cup of tea to look back at Kouen. He was currently scanning papers spread all over his desk. He didn't even realize he was mumbling until you overheard some of the things he was saying. 

You turned away from the tea set and walked over to the desk. You leaned over his shoulder and took a peek at some of the documents. "What's going on at Balbadd?" You asked with a raised brow. 

"Financial troubles."

Those words piqued your interest causing you to grab one of the papers and begin reading. You grimaced as you read how the country's economy began to steadily decline. It all began a few weeks after King Rashid had died and there was a new king, King Ahbmad. 

As much as the decline wasn't a lot, at some point, it would soon grow to be too much. You put the paper down and picked another one and this one made your eyes widen. "Wait a minute," you said with your brows furrowed. 

Written there was yours and Koumei's idea for paper money use exclusively in Kou.  

*~*~*

It was a peaceful time in the gardens of Kou. The busiest time of the day was over and now the staff could take their time with the rest of their duties. It was also the time of day where most of the royals could take some time to relax after a busy afternoon. 

However, not all of them would be able to escape their harsh work environment.

Koumei was just getting ready to feed some of the pigeons that always came to the gardens until someone startled them. They all flew away in a large group, looking similar to a massive cloud. Koumei watched them with a sad sigh and glanced at who disrupted his alone time. 

It was you and you had arms crossed, your expression seemed angry. "I don't understand," you simply said. 

Koumei raised a questioning brow. You held in an annoyed groan and tried not to roll your eyes. "Why is the Kou Empire planning to loan Balbadd Kou paper money?" You asked, holding up one of the documents you had read earlier. 

He didn't seem very fazed by your question. "It was direct orders from the banker, who had received orders from the Emporer," he explained, "after seeing our plan, it was decided that it would be used at Balbadd."

Your eyes widened and then your brows furrowed, "but that can't happen. With their economy steadily declining as it is now, they'll never be able to catch up with the loans," you said, "besides, this was meant to be used here only."

Koumei then sighed and stood up, he'd long since accepted the fact that he'd never be able to have a moment's peace anyway. "I understand that, but it's out of our hands now," he explained with a shrug, "the moment the banker suggested this plan, it was all set into motion by the Emporer."

You rose a brow, "And who exactly is this banker?" You finally asked. 

*~*~*

In the middle of the throne room stood a man with a sinister smile on his face. He was the banker Koumei had referred to earlier. His smile was directed to the Empress who, oddly, was sitting alone. The Emporer was nowhere in sight. 

"I trust that everything is going to plan, Banker?" She asked, her sleeves covering her sickeningly wicked smile. Gyokuen could even help herself as she even let out a small giggle. 

The Banker directed his wide-toothed grin at her, "of course, my Empress," he said, "not even the singularity could interfere now." With that, even he let out a cackle of his own. 

Their laughter soon died down once there was a knock at the door. Gyokuen scowled at whoever was on the other side, but nonetheless, allowed them to come inside. It was one of her own servants who popped their head in, "excuse me, Empress Gyokuen, but Princess Y/N has requested an audience with you," he explained. 

Gyokuen sighed and waved her hand, allowing you to come inside. Her servant nodded and stepped aside to motion for you to enter. The moment you got inside your brows furrowed to see the Emporer wasn't present. Before you could even ask, your question was already answered. 

"The Emporer wasn't feeling well today, so, he is staying in bed," Gyokuen quickly explained, "what is it that you need?"

You got over your slight shock at the news and cleared your throat. "Well, Empress Gyokuen I wanted to speak with you regarding the paper notes of Kou," you said, ignoring the bored expression on Gyokuen's face. 

"What about it?" She asked. 

Once again, shock overcame you. "There's a problem with just loaning Kou paper notes to Balbadd," you explained, "with how much the King spends he'll never be able to pay us back."

Before Gyokuen could respond, you continued on and on about how their economy could suffer with this kind of weight on it. Not to mention how the value of the notes could change at an instant depending on Kou's own economy. 

"You're basically putting them between a rock and a hard place," you said persistently, "there has to be a better way to assist them." As much as you never did enjoy pleading with people like Gyokuen, there was not much of a choice now. After all, it is partly your fault for coming up with the notes in the first place.

Gyokuen then sat up, a hard look in her eyes. It almost made you freeze in your place. "And what makes you think we actually want them to thrive without us?" She asked, "considering how many wars you've fought for your own country, I'm surprised you don't understand what's going on here."

"W-Wait, you don't mean..." You couldn't finish the sentence without growing a little sick to your stomach. 

Gyokuen let out a small laugh, "she finally gets it!" She said triumphantly, "if you need more details the Banker will fill in, but if that is all, you can leave now." She gestured for one of her servants to take you out. You were in such a shock, you allowed them to do so. 

Once you were finally out, you fell to the ground. So, they were planning on putting Balbadd in a tough position that they would have no choice, but to submit Kou. Even you had to admit to yourself that it might be better than war, however, it was probably going to be hell for all of the poor citizens. 

You grit your teeth, the expression "ignorance is bliss" hit you like a ton of bricks. You supposed those words the nobles uttered when you were around were starting to make sense. You began hearing them whenever you were training by yourself or with another sibling. 

"How horrid that they let a woman fight."

"Right of you to say, it is a man's job to fight. Not a frail women's job."

"We all know their only job, do we not?"

"Of course! Produce an heir."

You wiped the tears that came into your eyes. You had always thought there would only be one point in your life where you regretted coming to Kou. But now, there is a second time. It wasn't surprising how sly and backstabbing everyone here was, but being surrounded by it 24/7 was suffocating. 

You leaned your back against the wall and took a moment to breathe. You closed your eyes as well, whoever passed by would probably stare but at this point, you didn't care. After a small moment, there was a tickle on your nose. Your nose twitched and swiped it away. It was gone, but then it came again. 

You groaned in annoyance and finally took a peek at what was making your nose so ticklish. Your eyes widened and you accidentally slammed your head into the wall in your surprise, "ow," you grunted. As you rubbed the back of your head you stared at what appeared to be a golden butterfly. 

You rose a brow at it, but the confusion wore when you realized it was a rukh. "What...?" You asked yourself. Why was it trying to get your attention? And for what?

"Ah, it looks like one of them found you before I did."

At the sound of the voice, you rose your head and saw a stranger. He was floating with a staff in his hand, clearly, he was a magician. Even though he had a seemingly kind face, you couldn't trust him. You grabbed your necklace, "who are you?" You asked. 

He tapped his finger against his chin for a moment, as if thinking whether he should tell you or not. He took a quick look around. "Unfortunately, I can't give that answer," he said while pressing a finger to his lips, "at least, not yet."

You furrowed your brows and then shrugged. "Fine then," you simply said. Before he could do anything else, you raised your hand causing a large rock to erupt from the ground. Unfortunately for you, before it could harm him, he created a shield around himself. 

"Okay, okay," he sweatdropped, "my fault for being so mysterious." He laughed sheepishly. 

"What I meant is that, I can't tell you here," he explained. 

You crossed your arms, "okay, let's say I trust you," you said, "Where can you tell me?" You asked. 

He thought again for a moment and then snapped his fingers. "Follow me," he said. 

You stood your ground and stayed still, wondering how long it would take for him to notice you weren't following. It didn't take too long and once he looked back at you, he pouted. "Oh, come on. Do I really look that threatening?" He asked. 

"Well, for all I know, you could be leading me to an ambush or you could just attack me instead," you simply explained. This guy seemed one of a kind considering he thought you had trust in him despite meeting him a minute ago. 

He crossed his arms and stayed in thought for a moment, "I suppose you're right," he said with a shrug, "but you do have those two djinns to protect you, do you not?" 

Your eyes widened. It made sense that he knew about Raum, you had just used the power a moment ago. But you hadn't even touched Beleth since he arrived. As far as you knew, he didn't seem to know about Andrealphus, considering you had left your sword safely tucked away in your room. "How did you know about them?" You asked, "who told you?"

"As much as I can try to explain everything now, I won't have much time," he said, "looks like you're stuck following me if you want to know more." He came down closer to you and held out his hand. 

You stared at his hand and grabbed it. But before he could float out with you in tow you began to drag him inside of the palace. Fortunately, you spotted what you assumed to be an empty room and threw him inside. You closed the door behind you and stared down at him (he must've fallen when you threw him inside).

"If you had flown me out like that no doubt someone would've noticed and shot you down," you explained, "surprising how no one noticed you floating out in the open like that anyway." 

He stared at you and blinked for a moment before laughing a bit. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I suppose I'd never been the best at sneaking around," he said, "my bad."

You rolled your eyes, "you might as well start talking now," you replied. You sat down in front of him with your back against the door. You silently hoped no one would try and open it. 

He nodded before crossing his legs together, "okay, my name is Yunan."

*~*~*

Standing over the balcony looking over his beautiful country was one of his most favorite past times. It always felt like an elaborate dream whenever he took a moment to gaze at every last detail. It also made sense to do so, considering what happened the first time he built it from the ground up. 

Sinbad shook the memory from his mind and allowed the smiling faces of his citizens to help him forget. A smile came to his lips, but something about it didn't feel right. He stared down at his hands resting on the balcony railing and allowed himself to get lost in thought. Before he could pinpoint what the feeling was, someone came and interrupted him. 

"Sinbad?"

When Sinbad turned, after flinching just a tad at the abrupt voice, he saw Ja'far standing there with a raised brow. "Is everything alright?" Asked Ja'far, "you're going to be late to your next meeting." 

Sinbad allowed himself to take a moment to shake the feeling from his head and then smiled at his advisor. "Why would anything be wrong?" He asked with a chuckle, "everything is perfect." Not that something was imperfect, but the feeling still seemed to be bothering him. 

Without saying anything more, Sinbad walked past his advisor and went on his way to his next meeting. "If you say so," said Ja'far, taking his place at Sinbad's side. 

Then, as if he was hit by an arrow, he felt it. He understood what the feeling was. Sinbad gave Ja'far a small glance while forming the question in his mind to make it seem as nonchalant as possible. "Ja'far?" Began Sinbad. 

Ja'far glanced at him with a raised brow. 

"Do you..." Sinbad hesitated for a moment and folded his hands behind his back. He stopped walking causing Ja'far to stop as well and look back at him. "Do you ever wonder what happened to Yunaan?" He finally asked. 

The only answer Ja'far could muster was a look of shock. Sinbad's lip twitched a little at the expression he was given. He decided it was best to just drop it. He put up his hand, "nevermind, pretend I said nothing," he said. With that said, he quickly walked past Ja'far without saying another word. 

After a few seconds of standing there, frozen, Ja'far finally snapped himself out of his trance and caught up with Sinbad. As the advisor walked beside his King, he thought of what he could say to bring ease, but nothing came. So, he just silently walked beside him instead. He figured that would suffice. 

*~*~*

By the end of the entire story Yunan had spun for you, let's just say, you found it unbelievable. You had your hand resting on your head with your elbow leaning on your knee. At this point, you were just trying to sort out the whole thing. During your thought process, you had left poor Yunan in complete silence. 

"I'm sorry," you almost whispered, Yunan perked up at your voice. "I just don't think I can wrap my head around all this." You went back into silence and leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. 

Yunan's head tilted to the side, confusion evident on his face. "What's so confusing?" He innocently asked. The expression you gave him almost made Yunan think he was crazy. 

You ran a hand through your hair, "okay, well, let's start with the fact that you want me to go into another dungeon?" You asked rhetorically, standing up to start pacing. 

"Not to mention, a King's candidate?" You added, "I gotta be honest, I didn't even know Magi's had King's candidates." Soon after that, you were going on a full tangent about everything Yunan told you. But the real kicker was the fact that he had suggested you enter a dungeon. 

Soon enough, Yunan stood up and placed a hand on your shoulder, effectively stopping your tangent. You turned to look at him with a raised brow. "I know it's a lot to take in," he said, "but you're the only one who can help."

You brushed his hand from your shoulder, "why?" You asked, "I just don't understand."

Yunan took a step back from you and stared. "It's because... there's something about you that's different than all the others," he explained, "something good."

When he said that, you placed a hand on your chin. That's always something each Djinn said about you, sure, it wasn't exactly the same thing Yunan said. However, they spoke as if something truly was different about you. You could just never pry the answer from them. 

Andrealphus, "Hmmm... There's something about you... Something special. Rukh like that hasn't been seen in a long time."

Raum, "Ah, there's so much familiarity that comes with seeing you and your rukh."

Beleth, "you truly are a special one to have been granted such a power."

With all those words flooding into your head, you had your answer. 

"I'll do it."

*~*~*

A/N: Wow, haven't updated this since last year, ha ha.... ha ha. 

I swear I'm funny. But anyway, I know I said this before, but I think that after this next dungeon adventure the more exciting parts will be coming along soon. If I'm being honest with myself, I really do hope I get to finish this story. 

Anyway, till next time!