225 Chapter 225 Political Maneuvering

"Is something wrong, Jozef?" asked Aella with a frown. He didn't normally call her by that title.

"King Aella," said one of the gnomes. "What are you here for today?"

"I am here to discuss a portal to allow trade for all of the kingdoms," said Aella, still looking at Jozef.

"I'll speak with you once we are done here," said Jozef quietly when it was obvious Aella wasn't going to drop the subject.

She nodded and turned back to see the gnomes looking at her excitedly.

"We had just ordered Jozef here to enquire about the lack of traffic access through Bob's bar," explained one of the gnomes. "Our entire city has only managed to survive since the storms with access to the other kingdoms for supplies and goods. When the bar closed and disappeared, we were left scrambling. What news do you bring about this subject?"

"Bob is needing a rest for the moment; from all of the traffic he has had over the past year. His bar was never intended to be used in the manner it was. I am in the process of creating a trade town to be used as a central location for trade to be conducted around the realm. I already have active portals in several locations going to the trade town, and you are the next ones on my list to set one up," explained Aella. "Do you have a location where you would like the portal?"

The gnomes began chatting excitedly back and forth, ignoring the two figures before them as they discussed how wonderful her timing was and where they would want the portal. As Aella listened to them talk, she kept half an eye on Jozef beside her, noting that he was glancing at the exit as if it were too far away to dash towards. The talk she had with him couldn't come soon enough.

"We have decided we would like the portal to be in the center of town. There is a large area where a statue used to be, but we have not had a chance to replace it with something. Could you give us the guidelines on how this trade town will work?"

"Well, there are locations for each kingdom to set up shops and stalls in order to conduct trade with the other kingdoms, and there are no restrictions on what can be traded just yet. No one is allowed to go through other's portals without permission, but my people will only police our side, so you would have to set up some kind of checkpoint on your side to keep out those who you do not wish to enter your city."

"Hmm, we will need to get some of the turtle brigades moved over to the center square to guard the portal," said one gnome thoughtfully, and the others quickly nodded.

"This sounds very good. How long do you think it will take you to get the portal up and running?" asked another gnome.

"We will notify our people that the portal will be active soon so they can be getting ready," said a third.

"I have an order form for communication devices for you," spoke up yet another gnome. "Are you still wanting those?"

"I am no longer the king of the demons, so you will have to talk to the new one. He is the demon that had been traveling with me before, Frederik. I am sure he will be still interested in it, because of how convenient they will be, and I would like to implement them in my trade town as well."

The gnomes were giving each other looks at the news of her successor hit them, but they didn't say anything.

"Frederik is king now?" blurted out Jozef. "I thought Seifer was king?"

"I discussed the transfer of power with him to Frederik, and he seemed open to the idea. I was going to leave the actual transfer to them to work out. Why do you ask?" she asked, turning towards him.

"Seifer was a horrible king," he admitted, looking as if she might disagree with him. When she didn't say anything, he continued. "I was working on discussing with the other kingdoms and setting up trade with all of them, in the hopes of overthrowing him. He was ruining the city, and people were on the verge of rioting. I'm glad you fixed it though."

"Wait, you were going to overthrow him?" asked Aella, shocked.

"I tried talking to him, and offering to be an advisor, but he was just determined that anything you had wanted was bad and he had to do something different. I would have talked to you about it, but no one knew where you were, or how to contact you."

Aella had been holding back from attacking him when she found out he was going to get rid of Seifer himself, but when he mentioned that he would have talked to her, she grew still and all of her anger at him dissipated.

"Why is it your fault?" grumbled Precious from her shoulder.

She glanced at Precious, then nodded to herself. It shouldn't have been her fault that Seifer had been doing such a poor job, but she had been the one to put him in power. Even though she couldn't have known things would happen the way they had, she would take the responsibility if Jozef thought it was her fault.

"I'm doing what I can without stepping on toes. My goal is to let other people step up and handle things, so they aren't constantly needing me," she explained carefully. "I have been given the task of overseeing the entire realm's safety, and it's taking too much of my time to be able to do much else. This trade town will benefit everyone in the realm once it's up and running, which is why I'm trying so hard to get it going."

"Who do you have as the leader for the trade town?" asked Jozef.

The gnomes were still listening in, though they had returned to dealing with their own issues quietly, so as not to interrupt them.

"I had wanted Frederik to oversee it, but he's going to be the new king of the demons. Since I'm moving my assassins out of the city to the trade town, to use them as the police force, I've got Firion as the one in charge."

"Firion?!" exclaimed Jozef in horror. "He's a cold-blooded killer! Why would you put him in charge of anything?"

"He's not going to be swayed by greedy merchants," she answered dead-pan.

Jozef stood there with his mouth open, too shocked by her words to say what he had been about to say. After a moment, he shut his head and nodded. "That's true. He wouldn't be. But why him?"

"He's the only one that the assassins will listen to. And I am the only one he will listen to. Do you have anyone else in mind who would be a good fit for leading the town?" she asked, running everyone she knew through her head and not finding anyone suitable.

"What about me? I used to rule the whole demon kingdom!" he cried, throwing his hands up in disbelief.

Aella paused to think about that. She really hadn't given him a thought yet. "I don't know why I hadn't considered you. Would you be willing to work alongside Firion? He needs to have some level of power there to remain overseeing the assassins."

"Only if we can call them something other than assassins," grumbled Jozef. "That word doesn't bode well for inviting people to come trade."

"I don't care what you call them," Aella sighed in frustration. Why did so many people get hung up on words? "As long as you can work with Firion, I don't mind if you are in charge of running the town."

Jozef nodded, then said, "Then I would like to watch you set up this portal."

Aella glanced at the gnomes, then decided they were done talking for now. Teleporting to the center squire, she studied the area in preparation for making the portal, as Jozef moved out of the way.

"Why trust him so quickly?" asked Precious, watching Jozef as she got to work. "Aren't you afraid he's going to do something else sneaky?"

"No, by giving him power, he's getting what he wants. Besides, I can have Firion keep a better eye on him, with them working together," said Aella quietly so Jozef didn't hear her.

The portal went up smoothly, and she soon had a crowd of gnomes watching in amazement as she formed the runes, then hid them inside the stone framework of the portal. As the last rune was finished and moved into place, the portal lit up and became active. Three gnomes gave a shout and moved into the center square, riding on the back of turtles. She watched in amusement as they quickly had the crowd moved back away from the portal, and moved to guard it.

"Mind if I go through it?" asked Jozef in excitement, moving up next to her and the portal.

"Go ahead. I'll tell Firion to be expecting you," she said, teleporting to the trade town and watching as he stepped through the portal and looked around.

"It's best to keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," she said to Precious, as she looked around for Firion.