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Keliandra sets off to see Lotru. The manuscript with the tale appeared quickly and almost on its own. The Song of Rinze can inspire even greater deeds...— How do young people say these days... Hmm, ah! A little vanilla, in my opinion. Once, a friend told me a story, I don't know if it's true or not. There lived a knight or a fallen paladin who had done a lot of things in his life and at some point became invisible! Like the wind! He could live and do whatever he wanted, but he learned that pirates were tormenting a captured sorceress and decided to help. He crept up to one of these pirates and stabbed him with a knife... But the sea robber had a magic ring on his finger that he had stolen from the sorceress. And it, in turn, protected its owner and turned attackers into ice. Well, and the invisible knight turned into an ice statue, and the pirates stabbed him to death with sabers, and he didn't achieve anything despite his terrible ability. And it's both cruel and the morality is clearly visible, although I don't agree with it. But never mind, what am I boring you, young one, with old tales. Hmm, or not so young? It's hard to tell with you guys. Okay, here are your 500 rem and go.
— Greetings! And here is your order!
*In a dark empire, mired in vice and ambition, the emperor had a son and a daughter. According to an ancient tradition, the throne passed to the young man, but he did not desire to take on such a heavy burden. On the contrary! He wanted to enjoy life, he dreamed of happiness and peace. If he had been offered to be reborn outside of any nobility, he would have agreed without hesitation. The girl, however, had seen the troubles that had befallen the empire since childhood. Inequality, corruption, violence, injustice, filth, and the ominous shadow of a bleak future... All this bred and multiplied, bringing the inevitable end closer. The brother and sister loved and valued each other, but, alas, all the princess's attempts to make the young emperor take care of his affairs were in vain. His soul held only simple matters. He dreamed of marrying a slave who helped him get dressed in the morning, he spent all his time on entertainment, and he only helped the ministers, because with such an emperor, their hands were free. To her dismay, the princess realized that if things continued this way, the empire would perish. Whether she wanted it or not, the throne had to be taken from her brother.
The princess spent several years gathering a circle of supporters, which included the most ruthless and promising people from all over the empire. With their poisonous speeches, these people gradually convinced the emperor to leave the throne to his sister, because the title only prevented him from following the path of pleasure and seeking happiness. One fine day, the emperor finally believed the princess and fled the palace with his chosen one. The latter hated the lord with all her soul, because all his love was violence and complete indifference to the opinion and fate of others. Upon learning of the escape, the princess immediately ascended the throne and ordered all those who tried to prevent her to be executed. Soon, only the supporters of the new empress remained in the palace. The final act of the ascension was the order to kill her brother. The best of the empire's assassins readily carried it out, asking in return only a drop of the ruler's blood.
Thus, knee-deep in corpses, the empire found its empress, cruel and merciless, for as the experience of the previous ruler showed: weakness and naivety lead only to the abyss.
All the guilty received the only fair punishment: death. Peace and order reigned in the empire. An era of prosperity began. Blood nourished it, and corpses fertilized it. The empress even believed in success. The next few years pleased her with the picture that had developed, but only until she learned that even in her circle there were enough depraved people, and that the weakened state, which had suffered numerous losses, was attacked by neighbors. Cowardly, miserable puppets... The advisors who built the new world side by side with the empress had long understood her behavior and used it just as the emperor had once done. Enemies poured in an endless stream. From within and from without. The empire was unable to resist either its former trading partners or the hordes of wild tribes, let alone its own power. The end still came. Just differently.
Betrayed and thrown into a dungeon by her own comrades, the empress watched with hatred as they made peace with the enemies and bought them off with everything they could. In the end, she herself became a gift for the leader of the tribes, who had long admired her cruelty and determination.
— I destroy peoples, I ravage empires, I take everything to the last thread even from slaves, but I have never touched my own people," said the leader when the gift fell into his hands.
— I just wanted to cleanse the grain from the chaff...
— And did it help? I don't think so. Killing everyone is not the answer. Even slaves can be useful, right?
Deprived of all power, having become nothing more than a toy in the hands of a tyrant, the former empress realized one truth: ignoring the problem kills the country, too zealous a solution also... Everything needs balance, but is it possible?
A few years later, the leader of the tribes was found dead in bed with his own wife. And only the former empress could recognize the bloody trace on his neck: the handwriting of the killer who had disappeared without a trace many years ago. Alas, she is still accused of her husband's murder. Soon, the one who was once an empress is buried alive.
Thus, only the killer remains alive. In his hands, a vial shimmers in the daylight, filled with the blood of countless rulers.
— The blood of rulers is the same color... Fools. How many I have seen, so many mistakes I have seen. In this vial, their blood seems the same. No boundaries, no fractures. An ideal liquid, and you wouldn't know that it was taken from hundreds of different bodies. The world will be saved only when it becomes just as united, and not a moment sooner.
Thus, even the strongest fell into decline. The empire became nothing, the tribes were mired in internecine warfare for power... the rest were to face such a fate a little later. And the killer continued to wander in the hope of finding at least one ruler who would not make such mistakes. He never found him, for as long as blood is shed and enmity remains the engine of history, the era of unity will never come.*
Keliandra smiled. There is definitely no recipe for medicine here. And it is so simple. And its name is Rinze.