TACENDA // Technoblade X Reader

2

Your brother stopped in the middle of the throne room, dropping to kneel before the dias you and your father sat on. "Father." He greeted. "I come bearing gifts and the news that our northern border is safe now - we shouldn't be hearing from that particular band of barbarians for a long time."

Your father smiled warmly down at your brother. "Thank you Malcolinus."

Malcolinus was the epitome of what a crown prince should be - tall and broad and confident. He looked like your father had when he was young. They shared the same cleft chin and square jaw, and the fiery spirit that danced behind their eyes. The light shading of stubble that stuck to Colin's chin made him look older than he was - but that was why he even kept it in the first place. He looked a little brutish, but he was your brother, and the crown prince. 

Behind him, his men filed into the room - looking worn from their travels, but happy nonetheless as the carried in large chests overflowing with riches and laid them in front of the dias. The chests were propped open, and your eyes caught the glitter of emeralds - but mostly the luster or gold. 

Lots of gold. 

You pursed your lips, glancing between the chests and your brother. Pillaging tribes didn't usually carry much gold, as emeralds were the trading currency of the land, and gold was mostly used for decorative purposes - or trades with the Nether. 

It seemed your father was thinking much the same, because he leaned forward, squinting at the treasure. "So much gold..." He said, glancing up at your brother. 

Malcolinus picked himself up off his knees to stand proud amidst his winnings. "Your treasury will be happy for the addition, no doubt." He said, running a hand through some gold nuggets and letting them drip back into the pile, a glint in his eye. 

"And you said that this was what you looted off the pillagers?" Your father asked.

Colin was too busy looking over the treasure to meet your father's gaze. "Yes, off the barbarians." He glanced up then to see the skepticism in your father's eyes. "I would have thought you'd be proud I was able to eradicate the nasty brutes?"

"Of course." Your father said, dropping the issue. "Tell us your travels - Deirdre and Tarquin can transport this all to the treasury."

Colin's eyes found the twins, almost blending into the shadows behind the thrones, and his eyes narrowed a bit. You weren't surprised - he had never liked them, even as a child, and it carried over into every interaction with them. You thought it was childish, but he was adamant that they could never be fully human - they were monsters.

Bullshit, in your opinion, but when had Colin ever cared about that?

"I'm sure my men can take it all to the treasury, there's no need-" Malcolinus started. 

Your father raised a hand. "It will be faster this way, and I'm sure your men need rest after such a long journey." He clapped once, dismissing all of the soldiers from Colin's battalion. They filed neatly out of the room as Deirdre and Tarquin stepped forward, examining the chests. 

"Come sit, my son." Your father said, gesturing to Malcolinus' throne. Your brother took his seat, turning to face you and your father. "Tell us of the northern border."

"The mountains are wonderful." Colin dove right in, the glint of adventure twinkling in his eye. "You can't even see the tops from the normal level and we almost couldn't get our horses through the pass because of the snow. And the air smells so different up there - like pine, and snow."

Your father smiled, settling into his throne more comfortably, as anyone would do before listening to a long story. You could tell he missed going out on adventures of his own just from the way he looked out the palace windows sometimes - but his body was too frail to be climbing mountains and fighting off pillagers anymore. 

As Malcolinus told his story - a harrowing tale of surviving in the wild, and protecting small mountain villages from those great beasts the pillagers rode - you found your eyes drifting back to the chests of treasure your brother had brought home. Every now and again one of the twins would pop into existence and take another one down to the treasury, but there were so many, and they were all filled with gold. 

Where had the pillagers even kept all of it?

Perhaps it had been strapped to one of their beasts, although it seemed wasteful of a war animal like that. Or maybe Colin had found it all tracking the pillagers back to their hideaway - but then where had the pillagers found it all? There was no way a group of thieves would spend their time mining it all. The sheer amount of it would have taken years to collect here. 

Maybe the pillagers had gone to the Nether. You had never heard of a group of barbarians collecting the materials for a portal, but you supposed it wasn't impossible - especially if they were desperate for the riches. 

The air coughed, and Tarquin appeared to pick up another chest and disappear again, leaving only purple wisps in the air. 

You had never been to the Nether, but had always wanted to visit. Your father told you stories of trees that had leaves as blue as the water and that sparkled like moonlight and fortresses that spanned over lakes of lava. Gold was abundant there, as it was the common currency of the people that lived there - Pigmen. Perhaps the pillagers targeted those villages as well.

"Colin," You asked. "Do you think pillagers could go to the Nether?"

Colin paused his storytelling to look at you like you were an idiot. "Of course not. They're too stupid to even farm their own food."

You just rolled your eyes at let the matter drop as Deirdre came for the last chest of the gold and you turned your attention out the window, watching the breeze blow through the leaves outside.