Heavy is the Head that Wears the Solemn Crown

Six - Words That Mean Everything

Wilbur

Wilbur stared at the many reports before him. Paperwork was not an issue for him. He had dealt with state affairs for many years before this point. There was not an issue that he didn't have a hand in solving, if not answering it all by himself. He knew how to organize paperwork based on their importance and the time he needed to have them done. He knew how frequently he needed to take short rests to ensure that his brain was working properly without spending too much completing none of his assigned tasks. As a king, he was guaranteed a cushy life of power and protection with a large palace and hundreds of servants. In exchange for that, he was expected to perform the jobs that no one else was equipped for. It was a responsibility that Wilbur had taken to heart. He cared about his people. He wanted to ensure their happiness and prosperity. He knew how to handle the paperwork.

The real issue was that he didn't want to handle this kind of paperwork. He could solve problems that concerned food shortages, poisoned water supplies, rowdy citizens, or corrupted nobles. He could handle all those problems with due diligence. It was when he was faced with reports about how his enemies were moving, how they were excepted to move, how many soldiers had died following his orders, and how many of Wilbur's people Schlatt was willing to throw away to get what he wanted. Wilbur felt sick to his stomach seeing the death reports on both sides. He knew that anyone who sided with Schaltt was a traitor to L'Manberg, but they were once the citizens he had sworn to protect to the best of his abilities. It was obvious that he must have done something to make all of these people turn against the crown, and Wilbur felt not only responsible for the caustilites on Pogtopia's side but also the one on Manberg's side.

"Your majesty," A voice broke Wilbur out of his concentration. He looked up to see a man bowing in front of his desk. Wilbur felt a tired smile rise to his face. Fundy had once been a normal kid living on the docks in the west of L'Manberg. When the war began, Fundy had ventured all the way to Pogtopia's base to offer his services as a spy to his king. Fundy had kept a journal with him on his travels. He didn't have much information, but what little he did manage to discover, he had delivered to Wilbur. The king had hesitantly put Fundy in a tent as he tested whether the information was correct. When his armies came back with victorious results, Wilbur had made Fundy an intelligence officer for Pogtopia. Fundy was able to blend into Manberg, and he had gotten into the good graces of a few important figures. When Wilbur asked why Fundy was doing any of this, the redhead had told Wilbur that his mother, a former pirate who had turned to a life of fishing after having Fundy, was a woman with powerful connections. Wilbur knew in that moment that Fundy was the child of Wilbur's oldest friend, Sally. She had been a pirate who had kidnapped Wilbur when he was a young child. Wilbur had actually been smitten with her at the time, but she kindly turned him down. They developed a good friendship until Wilbur had to return to his kingdom. They had sent letters frequently, but Wilbur stopped receiving letters a couple of years prior to the war starting. He always wondered what became of Sally. He supposed now he knew.

"Yes, Fundy?" Wilbur asked. It wasn't often that Fundy came to personally deliver his reports. It was customary for him to leave a diary in one of a few select locations that were filled with codes that only Wilbur himself and one other person could decode. To anyone else, it would look like a simple commoner's day-to-day life. To Wilbur, it was valuable information that he needed desperately if he was going to win the war. Wilbur preferred it that way, in any case. He didn't want anyone suspecting that Fundy was a spy. If their was any cause for distrust, Fundy's life would be subject to forfeit. Wilbur couldn't bear the thought of losing Sally's child. Fundy had become someone important to Wilbur. Some small part of him he knew that he couldn't jeaprodize everything to save Fundy if he got caught, but Wilbur didn't let that aspect of thought processes speak for long.