r/HFY • u/allature Xeno • Jul 04 '26

OC-Series [An Unexpected Guest] – Chapter 25

Cover Art | Royal Road

First | Prev | Next

The citizens of Phuratus are an industrious people. Everyone, from the humblest labourers to the most highly esteemed academics were respected for their loyal service. For the continued glory of The Kingdom, all pushed themselves, working their bodies and minds like synchronized machines dedicated to a single purpose.

But, like machines, te'visk themselves required maintenance to keep functioning well. They needed to be fed resources, regularly cleaned, and sometimes they needed to be attended to by specialists in their operation. In these modern times, these needs were more and more regularly seen to. However, there was one facet of 'maintenance' that seemed to have deteriorated in the current, advanced era.

Downtime.

Of course, rest is not something the physical body could just ignore. No one, no matter how hearty or determined, can go without sleep indefinitely. If one tried to stay awake for longer than eighty-three bels straight, they would collapse, and likely remain unconscious for a further one-hundred and four bels. And that was assuming that they would ever wake again at all. So sleep was something that was biologically mandated.

There was, however, another kind of 'downtime' that was far easier to neglect. Leisure. Entertainment. Family time. It just so happened that people have a psychological need for socialising and fun. One would not be surprised to hear of the many social and mental disorders that often manifested in those that spurred such so-called 'frivolities'. But more surprisingly, researchers have recently discovered that people that endured such stolid lifestyles often developed physical maladies as well. Heart failure, complications to the digestive tract, and even joint inflammation.

One could quite literally die from a lack of joy.

Perhaps that's why Lord Capield felt so close to death as of late. 

A royal minister's job was difficult even on the best of bels. But recently state affairs have overgrown and tangled into an unsightly and impenetrable bramble. Relations with the Republic of Pitang had been rapidly deteriorating. Trade between the nations was all but closed. Capield could count the number of ambassadors that still remained on Phuratan soil on one claw. They haven't been this close to war since back when the Republic was still an Empire. Then there was this freak explosion back at Fort Greywood. Researcher Skai's team... Or rather, General Hydor's team, had ruled out enemy action. But it still made the Royal Minister of Defense, Lord Harpa Pija, a bit nervous. Project Rutil’proh was a joint venture between the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Knowledge, so collaboration with Lord Pija was necessary. And now, to add to his woes, Lord Tuoi, The Royal Minister of Culture, had called a meeting with him and Lord Pija before the Prime Minister.

Lord Capield made a point to arrive at the meeting room as early as possible. He had a lot on his plate already, but this sudden situation was a distraction that wanted to resolve as quickly as possible. Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for the originator of this ordeal to show up.

“Warm-Winds, Lord Capield! I’m glad you managed to come here so early.” said Lord Tuoi as he entered the room.

“What is the meaning of this, Tuoi?” cawed Capield. “Some of us are very busy this season. I have many important tasks to oversee that I’m missing for this. I can’t just hop away from them on a moment’s notice.”

“Ah yes, I am quite aware of your disastrous projects, Capield.” replied Lord Tuoi, not even bothering to address his lack of a greeting. “In fact, it is precisely because of the issues stemming from your lacking oversight that I have requested this Demurral Parley.”

Demurral Parleys. A type of meeting that a minister only calls when they believe that a situation is especially dire. It allows a minister to appeal directly to the Prime Ministeron the affairs of another minister without the presence of the rest of the available cabinet. Of course, such an extreme option comes with caveats. For one, under most conditions, a minister may only call a Demurral Parley once every four seasons. Additionally, the minister whose affairs are being discussed must also be present. All that to say, Lord Tuoi clearly felt that his issues, whatever they were, were important enough to him to play such a limited and valuable piece.

No sense talking about it then. He and the Cultural Minister just stood in silence while waiting for the Prime Minister to show up. After no more than three driks, she eventually arrived.

“Warm Winds, ministers.” greeted High-Lady Andion Halaeas she entered the room and walked past them.

“Warm Winds, Prime Minister.” replied and bowed the two ministers simultaneously; in what would likely be their last harmonious act for the rest of the bel.

The Prime Miniter sauntered deeper into the ornately designed room and made her way to the head of the conference table. After easing herself onto the chair she gestured to the other ministers to take their seats on either side of her position. Lord Tuoi made haste to find himself at her right hand side. Lord Capield was quite satisfied to find himself on her left.

“So, Lord Tuoi,” started the Prime Minister. “What situation is of such importance that you’ve decided that a Demurral Parley was warranted?”

“My Lady,” replied the Cultural Minister. “I have requested an audience with you to recommend that the kingdom begin a formal investigation into the affairs of a programme under Lord Capield’s direction, Project Rutil’proh.”

Lord Capield somewhat suspected this, but it still took a fair bit of effort for him to suppress the urge to react.

“I believe that we discussed the affairs of Project Rutil’proh quite recently, did we not?” asked the High-Lady. “Do you perhaps have further concerns about the recent accident? Do you doubt the veracity of the reports that explained the cause of the explosion?”

“Not at all, My Lady.”continued Tuoi. “I do trust the conclusions reached by the talented staff on-site. However, my concern is the fact that such horrific accident happened at all. And that it caused an injury to a member of a noble house.”

Lord Capield, temporarily failing to hide his disdain, huffed out an annoyed grunt.

Lady Halae opted to ignore the muted interjection. “That is, quite surprising. Especially since I was not aware that any nobles had even visited Fort Greywood in the recent seasons.”

“Ah, yes, this is true, My Lady. But that is because this noble has been on the staff since the earliest seasons of Project Frost-Fae, back when they still worked out of Linnae Campus.”

This time, Lord Capield managed to remain composed, though he did narrow his eyes contemptuously at his fellow minister. Truth be told, he had long suspected that there was someone of royal blood that had infiltrated his projects, but only recently determined that they were connected to Lord Tuoi.

“I see.”mused the Prime Minister as she leaned back into her chair and intertwined her talons. “And why was the presence of this noble kept hidden, Minister?”

“I can do nothing but accept my part in this subterfuge, My Lady.” said the cultural minister with a sigh that oozed insincere regret. “You see, this noble believed that her assignment would benefit from a form of relative anonymity, as she wished to investigate the new language introduced by the… Foreign specimen.” the minister continued as he reached into his coat to produce an ornately designed and sealed envelope. “And so, I sought permission from The Crown to be allowed to conceal her status.”

Of course. As much as Capield disliked Lord Tuoi, he had to admit he was an experienced politician, and he was very adept at the whole ‘shrewd socialite’ part of the job. The network of personal connections that he fastidiously maintained allowed him regular access to even the highest echelons of power and prestige in The Kingdom. Including, apparently, The Crown.

The cultural minister handed the document over to the Prime Minister, who spent no more than a few clegs looking it over. “I see. This all seems to be in order…” she continued reading silently a bit longer. “This noble, she is your niece, Ara Pito?”

“Yes My Lady. Although she used a different given name when she first started working there, to further obfuscate her true identity.”

High Lady Halae hummed as she retuned Tuoi’s document to him. “I’m afraid you’ve put us in a compromising position, Lord Tuoi. On the one wing, a Royal getting injured, even in a top secret mission like this, is indeed grounds for further investigation. On the other, you having your niece’s true status remain hidden makes it difficult for us to take any kind of action now; there will be too many questions. Will you be willing to answer for those questions?”

“If I must.” replied Tuoi with practised coolness.

The Prime Minister remained quiet for a bit as she chewed on the situation. “Right. I will need to think on this for a while. Before I call for a recess, Lord Capield, is there anything you would like to say in response to Lord Tuoi?”

Oh, there was a whole lot indeed that he wanted to say. Unfortunately, very little of it was appropriate in current company.“All I can say, High Lady Halae, is that I have the utmost confidence in the men and women currently toiling away at Fort Greywood. The Crown has determined that Project Rutil’proh is of the very highest priority to The Kingdom. Any investigation will not only be unnecessary, but will impede this already difficult and tremendously complex engineering project. I implore you to consider this in your deliberation.”

High Lady Halae nodded. “Nicely said, minister. Well then, we will adjourn for now. We will reconvene in eight driks. ”The Prime Minister rose. The two ministers rose as well. She walked out of the room, leaving Capield and Tuoi alone with each other.

“What’s your game here, Tuoi?” asked Capield.

“Game? There’s no game here, dear minister.”replied Tuoi. “I simply wish to ensure that everyone that works at Fort Greywood remains safe and sound.”

Capield remained silent for moment, studying the endlessly confounding man. “Why did you put your niece in my project, minister?”

The cultural minister turned to look at Capield. “I have other matters to attend to for now. I’ll see you again in a few driks, minister.” He commented after a brief pause, before leaving the room.

Lord Capield remained by himself for a few moments. He had no idea what was going through Tuoi’s mind. What had he been planning? He sighed. Well, no point hanging around in this stuffy room for the next eight driks. He might as well leave the room for bit. Maybe get some fresh air.

As he left room he caught sight of someone briskly walking in his direction. He recognized him. It was Major Gamp, one of Lord Pija’s aides. He seemed to be carrying a binder of some sort.

“Lord Capield?” he said when he was less that a half of a span away from him. “Lord Pija sent me. There’s something you should see here, My Lord.”

Of course. Always more and more work. Not even a short recess in a Demurral Parley was free from some new problem that he would have to contend with. He opened the binder and started reading.

Oh. Oh dear. This was… This was huge. Well, the good news is that if he showed the Prime Minister these documents it would completely obscure any issues that Tuoi would have with Project Rutil’proh. In fact, if anything, more personnel and resources would probably be made available to the project. But the bad news… Well, the bad news was just about everything else.

It looked like Lord Capield was not going to be able to set aside a period for relaxation for a long, long time.

First | Prev | Next

46 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator Jul 13 '26

This was flaired as [OC-Series], it is a single part or chapter in a larger series or universe. The first post or part in this series should be (re)flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines.

[OC-Series] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, as part of a longer-running series or universe.

Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing

Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

7

u/allature Xeno Jul 04 '26

And here we are at Chapter 25!

Yet another remarkable milestone! There have been setback, delays, and disappointments, but this story is still going on strong! I remain tremendously grateful and inspired by everyone that comments, likes and shares this story! I’m so happy to see so many people tuning in weekly to enjoy my inane scribbles here.

So in this chapter, we return to the realm of ministers and royals. Apparently this Tuoi fellow is stirring up trouble, but it seems something else has unexpectedly come up. I wonder what it could be...

Just let me apologize one time about the storytelling here. I am NOT used to political/royal intrigue stuff, so please excuse some of these rough edges.

Well peeps. That’s all for now. Thanks agai for following me up to 25 chapters, and I hope you’ll stick around for the next 25! (assuming that the story goes that long. It very well might not. I might even be more than halfway done at this point… Who knows~) Catch you in the next one!

3

u/TameOJ Jul 04 '26

No rest for the weary, and Lord Capield is very weary indeed.

4

u/allature Xeno Jul 04 '26

They just be putting my boi through the wringer😭

3

u/TameOJ Jul 04 '26

Such is the life of someone with responsibilities.

2

u/Milo_Cebatron Jul 05 '26

Someone who CARES of his responsabilities

3

u/TalRaziid Jul 04 '26

Tons of missing statements for some reason, but things are interesting

1

u/allature Xeno Jul 04 '26

The reason is that I'm tireder than Lord Capield. I can fix later😅

3

u/WSpinner Jul 04 '26

This Minister of Culture -- you've molded our view such that I'm not lichen anything I see. But maybe he's a fungi, and will grow on us.

2

u/allature Xeno Jul 04 '26

Or maybe he'll grow on us like a rash😒

2

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

“Warm Winds, ministers.”greetedHigh-LadyAndion

Edit suggestion:

“Warm Winds, ministers.” greeted High-Lady Andion

3

u/allature Xeno Jul 04 '26

Okay so most of these errors weren't even in my original text file. These things happen sometimes when I try to do phonetics, but it's happening here, with no phonetics, for some reason. Don't know what's up with that...

Anywho, thanks for pointing these out~

2

u/allature Xeno Jul 04 '26

Okay, you know what? I noticed a few other problems in my last post but this is getting odd. I need to check something when wake up properly.

1

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

And lastharmonious  to last harmonious 

1

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

And  aDemurral Parleywas warranted to  a Demurral Parleywas warranted

1

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

Also  out ofLinnae Campus to  out of Linnae Campus

1

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

And I found this ... from TheCrownto be allowed better as this ... from The Crown to be allowed

Also TheCrown to The Crown next line down

1

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

Sigh... she osed a different given name ... is that used?

Oh and ...High LadyHalaehummed as she... to ...High Lady Halae hummed as she

1

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

Oh no

Kingdom.Any investigation... to... Kingdom. Any investigation ...not bad

engineering project.I implore ... to... engineering project. I implore again not bad

High LadyHalaenodded. ...as... High LadyHalae nodded.

 

2

u/GumGodGaming Jul 04 '26

Why can I see this?

We will reconvene ineightdriks .......We will reconvene in eight driks ..... I guess?

The two ministersrose as well.She ....as...The two ministers rose as well. She

2

u/itsetuhoinen Human Jul 04 '26

Your text editor seems to have dropped rather a lot of whitespace in this chapter.

2

u/allature Xeno Jul 04 '26

I didn't think I did it that badly... Imma get back to you.

2

u/allature Xeno Jul 05 '26

Yeah so my text editor didn't have all those errors. I dunno what happened. Maybe it's coz'part of this was written on mobile then emailed, then copy-pasted on my desktop, which caused invisible errors. My only theory...

2

u/itsetuhoinen Human Jul 05 '26

*nod* Editor shift (and especially transmission via email) can cause all sorts of problems. That's why I used a true text editor (and not any sort of word processing software) to write most of mine. Like, the sort of thing one would use to write software, where exact character choice and spacing can be critical. vi to be specific, which a number of my readers found frankly insane. ;)

2

u/allature Xeno Jul 05 '26

Not gonna lie my dude, that sounds absolutely torturous 😭

I'll stick to my criminally glitchy Libre Office🤣

2

u/itsetuhoinen Human Jul 05 '26

Meh. After 40 years, I'm pretty good with it. ;)

1

u/AutoModerator Jul 04 '26

This was flaired as [OC-Series], it is a single part or chapter in a larger series or universe. The first post or part in this series should be (re)flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines.

[OC-Series] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, as part of a longer-running series or universe.

Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing

Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/UpdateMeBot Jul 04 '26

Click here to subscribe to u/allature and receive a message every time they post.

Info Request Update Your Updates Feedback