Alexandria, Egypt
Alexandria was to be regarded as the capital of knowledge and learning because of the Great Library. Its mighty stone pillars housed over tens of thousands of scrolls and parchments that held all kinds of knowledge as well as poetry. These were maintained by countless influential scholars and librarians, re-writing, re-inking, and keeping the place well-maintained. The Great Library was also considered as the first research center harboring all the wisdom of the ancient world.
The creation of this great library had started three centuries ago after the death of Alexander the Great, the king of the ancient city Macedonia. This famous conqueror had an unclear heritage due to the people of Macedon being considered as outsiders by the Greeks. Nevertheless, the great conqueror died without naming a successor of his massive empire stretching from Egypt to India that resulted in civil wars all over the place, which resulted in dividing it into several smaller states. One of these states became the kingdom of Egypt and ruled by the Ptolemaic dynasty. Due to the influence of Greeks valuing knowledge above all, what was once only a small museum turned into the greatest library of the world.
Inside the Great Library, a beautiful black-haired girl sat in a private corner of the library wherein she had been studying nonstop for weeks. This girl, of course, wasn't a simple citizen because not everyone could be given the privilege in getting a private space in this historic building. She was the third daughter of the 12th Ptolemaic King, officially named Cleopatra the 7th but more commonly called Klea.
She was the third daughter out of six siblings born from the royal family. Klea had always believed that in order to succeed in whatever task she may find herself into, the person who had the most knowledge always had the advantage. This was instilled to her since childhood, thus she had received the best education from philosophy, astronomy, rhetoric, and mathematics amongst other things. However, ever since her return from the Magus Academy, Klea secluded herself learning a new subject in which she had the most interest in, magic.
Although all lower worlds acolytes had been restricted in using magic, that didn't mean they were unable to practice cultivating the elements. As she took up a private space in the Great Library, which now became Klea's cultivation room for the past two months, she finally had a breakthrough of understanding in one of her three elemental affinities.
[Congratulations! You have mastered the middle stage foundation of water elements.]
[Spirit Energy - Water - middle stage]
[Klea]
[15 years old]
[Spirit Aptitude S]
[Spirit Affinity: Wind, Water, Lightning]
[Wind Spirit - middle stage]
[Water Spirit - middle stage]
[Lighting Spirit - Initial stage]
[Battle power 12 (9)]
[Spirit power 44 (39)]
[Acolyte Rank 4]
Klea had managed to improve her understanding of two elements she found the easiest the most. Due to that, her wind and water upgraded to the middle stage in just a short time.
After achieving such a breakthrough, Klea stretched her sore limbs from sitting a long time as she exhaled, feeling wonderful and recharged. She then stepped out of the private room, which was only covered with a thin curtain, heading to the balcony located just beside this room.
From the balcony, she rested her bronze-skinned arms and stared at the beautiful blue sky. Below, was a road filled with merchant caravans and vendor stalls selling figs, grains, carpets and various accessories, which the Egyptians loved to adore themselves with.
Looking straight into the horizon, the magnificent city of Alexandria was filled with many two story buildings and palm trees everywhere; if she observed even further, she could also see the vast stretching Mediterranean sea and the dock that had a large flock of birds circling around the ships on shore.
The scorching sun mixed with the cool sea breeze blew refreshingly on her face. Klea closed her eyes to marvel at the enlightenment of the water elemental she had just experienced when a bird landed on the balcony. She smiled because this bird became like a companion to her, visiting her every morning. Klea grabbed a piece of fig sitting on the balcony and fed the bird with it.
After it had its full, the bird hopped on Klea's palm that had a symbol, which she then used her elemental wind to form a small gust to push the bird upwards.
[Restriction, usage of elemental wind energy detected. Power has now been decreased to one-third of its strength]
The bird flew away with gleeful chirping and as soon as it was out of sight, the accompanying woman who always took care of Klea's needs came in and with her an old bald man wearing a long white-yellowish robe also entered.
Klea's brows twitched for a moment before it returned to her usual welcoming aura. She waited for the man to speak and salute.
"Your Highness, Princess Klea. I have been tasked by your sister to ask you to join the gathering," said the old bald man.
She replied while plucking a grape, "My Honorable Vizier, what is so important that my sister's personal regent came to me to be picked up?"
The Vizier lowered his head further and said, "All the neighboring states are here to meet the queen. The gathering would involve a discussion involving the future prosperity of our great nation, Egypt. Hence, your presence and great intellect is highly requested."
"Tell me, dear Vizier. Was it truly my sister's request or yourself?" she said, giving him a sharp glance.
The Vizier stayed silent, not even daring to look into Klea's eyes.
"Haha, don't be so serious. Of course I'll attend. I would love to meet these people," said Klea, standing up from her seat.
"Excellent. Please come with me to the palace, Princess."
That day, the Pharaoh's Palace welcomed many guests, all of whom were representatives from neighboring countries as well as tribes who frequently traded with Egypt. Some Greeks, some Afrikaans, some coming from the far east, including traders from the west of Egypt. Almost everyone who had a trade agreement with Egypt came into attendance.
They were talking to the person sitting on the throne, which was occupied by the acting ruler of Egypt. Berenice IV, Klea's oldest sister; the Queen-in-charge of Egypt.
The main reason for this gathering was to find a solution to the trade conditions that had been so terribly disturbed by the political conditions in Egypt, which for the last decades had been filled with corruption and violence.
Although the monarch technically owned all Egyptian lands as part of their estate, virtually all aspects of the Egyptian economy were nominally tightly controlled or supervised by the central government headquartered in Alexandria spearheaded by a Raja. The previous Raja as well as the current exacted high tariffs on imported and exported goods, established price controls for various goods, imposed high exchange rates for foreign currencies, established state monopolies and forced farming peasants to stay in their villages during the planting and harvesting periods.
The systems implemented appeared good on paper, but the reality was that there were many obstacles they were facing, thus Egypt's condition continued to deteriorate with its aristocrats losing influence, which could pose high risk of assassination to the princes and princesses due to growing power of the merchants.
Bernice had ascended the throne as soon as her father left for Rome due to being exiled after a revolt in Egypt. She tried hard to become a good leader but almost all her court advisors had little confidence in her because she didn't have the talent in the kingdom's administration, unlike her younger sister Klea, who was often invited to get involved in politics. Bernice didn't like Klea because everytime Klea was in a gathering, she was always being overshadowed by Klea's intellect and popularity. Fortunately, Klea was smart enough not to get too deeply involved.
Although sitting on a highly respected throne, Bernice appeared overwhelmed by the questions of those who were in attendance. She wasn't able to give them direct answers and was having a hard time dealing with various translators.
Klea's arrival into the room immediately caught everyone's attention. She stood beside her sister on the throne, and started helping Bernice with decisions and strategies. Klea easily communicated with the envoys coming from everything without needing a translator and answered all their questions and doubts. Although Bernice was there, Klea was still respectful and spoke only in turn, sometimes out, if she felt like Bernice was about to present an idea that was detrimental to the purpose of this gathering.
Whenever she spoke, it was as if all men were charmed by her beautiful voice and allure, which tamed the rising tension as soon as things were starting to go south. In this gathering, most of the speakers were actually Egpytian, since the Ptolemaic Dynasty spoke Greek and governed Egypt as Hellenistic Greek monarchs. Klea, on the other hand, was the only member of the royal family who could speak the native Egyptian language without the need for a translator. She was also fluent in Hebrew and Arabic since childhood, but this time Klea showed some miracle in the room by speaking in 10 languages. Hence, the people dearly loved her as they viewed her as a person in the royal family who had her heart set for the people of Egypt.
Unbeknownst to them, Klea was indeed a smart woman, but her fluency in the various languages actually came with the help of the Magus symbol on her palm.
The meeting ended with a new strategy for maintaining economic stability and security in Egypt. One of the main topics actually was the upcoming dry season, which was expected to come soon, but Klea didn't delve too much about it because the seasons were things out of her control. After bowing to her older sister, Bernice, Klea returned to her private room in the Great Library of Alexandria and started training once more.
