Getting Current with the Hired Help
7 October 1994
4:20 A.M.
Yamatai
Thankfully, Harry didn't hit the ground from the portkey; being a thousand feet in the air gave him plenty of recovery time, and his new broom handled beautifully. Harry himself was pretty sure that Mainland China was on full military alert from the object going supersonic less than a hundred feet off the ground before vanishing, but that was their problem, as Harry saw it.
Coming to a landing on Shipwreck Beach, Harry noted that it was too dark to see anything. He walked over to the bunkers where Reyes had been fixing up the PT Boat and let everyone out of his bag.
"So, this Yamatai, huh?" Shenhua asked, peering out into the gloom; the moon was blocked out by the clouds.
"Sure is," Harry replied, helping Sawyer out, with Lotton and Yakumo following her. "Welcome to Shipwreck Beach. I don't know what all's been happening, but I'm about to summon some people. Please keep weapons holstered. I don't know if the historians are armed, but I'm paying them an awful lot of money." Waving his wand, Harry restarted the old campfire where Jonah had once roasted fish.
Pulling out a thick pistol, Harry fired a green flare into the sky. A few minutes later, a tall, muscular man apparated in some fifty feet away. As he approached, Harry could see that the man was not handsome. A heavy weight lifter's frame, the man's face was craggy, almost brutish with close-cropped black hair. Bizarrely (to Harry), a small cap could be seen towards the back of the man's head.
"Potter?" Harry nodded before the man put out his hand. "Frank Morgan. Glad we could finally meet. You guys been up a while?"
"Since about ten at night, Thailand time."
"Then I we can get this out of the way if you want."
Harry sighed, saying, "Okay. First off, what's the condition of the Palace complex?"
"It's mostly in the process of being cleaned and shored up," Morgan admitted, enlarging a chair that he pulled out of his pocket. "The fire damage is extensive, so most of the structures are unsafe. I have a specialized team slowly going over all of that. I don't recommend going anywhere near there until you get a construction crew in."
"Damn," Harry muttered, rubbing at his stubbly jaw. "What else?"
"We've been mapping out the cave systems," Morgan began, pulling out a thermos to pour himself a mug of coffee. "There's a lot of stuff in them. Stuff that's been buried, washed in, or just set up by locals. The communications complex is being personally seen to by Jurgens; you'll have to ask her about that, as it's not my job.
"The village at the center with the crashed plane is interesting for us. There's a lot of good stuff in there, and thankfully the crash didn't really do much to it all. The shanty town is almost entirely disassembled, and the cleanup crew has been amazingly competent in clearing out corpses and getting the cesspit drained and hauled off to more farm-worthy zones.
"The northern temple complex is mostly just weather-worn. With the exception of the peak, it's all pretty intact, so I've put people on it; there's a lot of fun history in there."
"Got it," Harry replied, considering. "Is there anywhere that's actually structurally safe?"
"Not yet, no," Morgan admitted. "Apart from our temporary warehouses and mobile command center, that is. Sorry, but that's what it is."
"It's fine," Harry murmured out faintly. "I have an idea or two, but they'll require your people to withdraw for a bit."
"What do you plan to do, if you don't mind me asking?"
"A while ago, I managed to pull of a spell to reverse fire damage," Harry replied, leaning back into his own camp chair. "I coupled it with the Repair spell on a dock office. Mind you, it was all very fresh damage. I was thinking that if I get up to the peak of the magical network, I could cast it on the island itself. In theory, it would do a lot of the heavy lifting for the structures."
"I can see that," Morgan mused aloud. "Best done in the day; you'll want a full view of the island. Oh, the citizens that you sent have been a godsend. The half-giant takes direction extremely well, and the veela have already begun planting grain on the Western Sub-Plain. The succubus is... less than helpful for anything apart from historical research, but her age helps. The humans asked us to procure them some wands; we billed you for that, with permission from your banker. They've been helping clear corpses and building temporary structures.
"As for the oni, well..." Morgan trailed off for a moment. "They've mostly been with Jurgens at the communications complex. They claim that they're used to a far more frigid climate, so the snowy section is where they've been staying. You'll have to ask Jurgens about how they're doing."
"I'll do that. Thank you, Mr. Morgan. This is all really helpful."
Four hours later, Harry was high up, far, far above Yamatai. He hadn't been aware that the upper range of the control wards was more than a mile in the air; he actually thought that they peaked above the old Northen Temple where Himiko's resurrection ritual was. Thankfully, his new broom was built to handle such altitudes, unlike his Firebolt.
Looking down, he spent a moment taking in the view of the island. The bow of the Endurance was still lashed to it's bunker, and the battleship was right on the beach. He could spot the palace complex, the radio array, and even the large village in the center of the island.
Pulling out his walking stick, he let his mind defocus for a moment. Instantly, the full array of Yamatai's magic was at his fingertips. Nearly swooning at the sheer rush of power, Harry managed to keep his focus and stay on his broom.
Feeling the ebb and flow of Yamatai's massive sorcerical network, he reached out with his own magics, intoning, "Reparo. Unburn."
Harry could actually feel the energies flowing out, distributing throughout the network as the new enchantment wove it's way across Yamatai. From his vantage, it seemed that the damage to the palace had been lessened, and the bunkers at the communications array looked less horrible.
And then Harry paused. Pulling out his omnioculars, he stared as the Japanese battleship, aground and in half for almost a half-century, began pulling itself together. It took nearly an hour, but the massive ship finally slipped off of the embankment to settle into the waterfall inlet beside it.
Meanwhile, the Endurance was reassembling itself, the detonated aft rising from the waves to reattach itself to the bow. Other large ships were slowly reassembling, but only partially, as much of their hulls had been cannibalized or merely rotted away.
Gliding down, buoyed by the sheer joy of the magics of his kingdom, Harry finally landed at the pagoda to the East, where he'd had to grant mercy a few short months earlier. Morgan walked up, nodding as he began receiving reports from various stations on some sort of magical tablet.
"Jurgens reports that the bunkers are greatly repaired," he began," to the point where she can reasonably begin moving in equipment without having to worry about the weather. The village at the center will need more work due to the rot, but it's stable. The cliffside village is back, and looking like it'll need minimal bracing and repair.
"The palace... Damn. The palace is almost new," Morgan continued, his voice filled with awe. "That's... Wow. Amazing, Mr. Potter."
"Thanks," Harry replied, willing himself not to tremble and fidget at the sheer level of power coursing through his veins. "I wanted most things stable, but I have an immediate need for the palace itself."
"Certainly. A few points, however," Morgan warned. "A number of ships are now in passable repair, as well as a few dozen airplanes and helicopters. We're still running the numbers, but it also looks like a ton of vehicles have been completely repaired, as well as all of the smaller exposed bunkers. I can have a more comprehensive list for you in a couple of weeks."
"Good, good," Harry replied excitedly. "Hopefully this will make things easier for your teams. Now if you'll excuse me, my own team and I have business to manage."
A few minutes later, Harry was in the throne room of the palace. He remembered Lara's description, and it seemed to fit; he'd have to bring Lara in to see if he got it down right. Opening his bag, he let out his team. They carried out a tiny throne, as well as what appeared to be a snow globe.
"I not think that Socialists still have this," Shenhua stated, holding an ornate staff in her hand. "Ability to move entire city was ancient legend among Wūshī. And we use on big room," she ended, giggling loudly.
"It worked, so I'm not complaining," Yakumo added, hefting the small globe.
"True," Lotton inserted, setting down the tiny throne. "Harry's conjuration was quite excellent, and the staff that shrinks and encapsulates a large area was invaluable. I would guess that the PRC wouldn't notice anything amiss for a few years, at least."
"Is this all... yours, Harry?" Sawyer asked, peering around.
"Pretty much," Harry confirmed. "I'll be sharing it soon enough with Shenhua, but Yamatai itself is mine. From the island to the buildings to the boats and planes. This is going to get weird," Harry commented, shaking his head at the entire situation.
"Probably," Shenhua agreed. "But if works, not stupid, yes? Besides, it takes time to make land into country. We take time, get stuff set up, and then we make offer of safety."
"That's my thought," Harry confirmed. "With more of the buildings intact, settlers will have an easier time of things. If I can get the folks in Japan on board with it all, that'll make everything go a lot faster."
"So, how are we doing this?" Yakumo asked, holding up the glass sphere.
"I guess we'll need a big enough space," Harry began. "From there we cut the enchantment, I run the copying magic, and then we re-enchant the copies for shrinkage. After all, unshrinking will be easy; you just have to pierce the outer shell to let everything out. The throne room is too small, but I think that we can find a spot big enough."
An hour later, Yakumo had a new orb in hand, and Harry had reshrunk the originals back into their snow globe. A few minutes after that, the doors to the throne room banged open, and in strode a woman.
Blinking, Harry couldn't help but stare at the beauty approaching him. Middling height, with perfect skin the color of cream, and raven black hair falling to her waist. Every single thing about her proportions was perfect, and her face was unplaceably exotic, with sharp cheekbones, almond-shaped eyes, and a slender jawline.
"Mr. Potter, I'm Gorgo Jurgens," she began with a neutral American accent. "I'm in charge of getting stuff together for your sat-phone internet."
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Jurgens," Harry replied, shaking her offered hand. "What can I do for you?"
"Get me concrete," she stated bluntly, her tone at odds with her natural runway model beauty. "We're going to need a shitload of concrete to get that array back up to where it should be. Gutting the place won't be a problem, and we can reuse a lot of the raw materials. The radio tower still works, and the old radar dish needs a bit of love, but what I need more than anything is a load of concrete. Thank God you got me Mönkhbat; he's been doing a lot of the heavy shit, but I need more to make it all work."
"Who is Mönkhbat?" Harry asked in confusion.
"The half-giant you sent," she explained. "The oni are fucking useless for anything tech-related, so I have them cleaning out corpses, moving vehicles, and so on. You might want to look into getting yourself a yuki-onna up there; those girls are amazing at doing anything in the freezing cold."
"Oh. Okay, right," Harry replied, mentally on the back foot from the woman's aggressiveness. "What else?"
"At this stage, nothing. Talk to me again in two months; then I'll have a list of crap for the complex that we'll need for the internet location," Jurgens replied briskly. "I hear that others are beginning matters around the island. Good for them, but I'm here on business.
"Another thing," she added, "is that you're going to need to figure out if you're going to be moving Iridium. Right now, they're on the East Coast of the United States, but I don't know if you plan on relocating it here, or to Europe, or wherever."
"That... Damn, that's a big question," Harry commented. "I mean, I want to move it here, but I don't think all those people would want to move to the other side of the planet."
"Can't disagree," Jurgens replied. "Something for you to look into. But for now, thanks to you I have less work to do. Mönkhbat and I are down to patching, so get me concrete."
"I would think that you'd be best served by ordering that through Slipshard," Harry countered.
"I tried. Sneaky little shit keeps telling me that you need to authorize it because of the volume," she replied.
"Ah. Right, got it. Wait," Hary said, pausing to pull out a small notebook. Writing several things down, he handed the slip of paper over, saying, "The recipe for Roman cement. This might work out better."
"That it might," she mused aloud, smiling a little. "I better not tell Uncle Tiny about this. He's likely to completely flip his shit about this. Ah," she continued at Harry's startled expression, "His name's Jesus Ramirez. He's an archaeologist specializing in the Roman-Egypt period. His people have been trying to figure this one out for years."
"Ah. Yeah, discretion. Anything else on your end?"
"Just the electricity," she replied. "The Japanese seem to have installed a kind of steam-powered generator. It's a boiler system using the underground lava field that drives a steam turbine to spin the generator. Since it's not my field, you're going to have to bring in someone who knows about geothermal powerplants. And that's gonna suck to be you, since just about all of them are No-Maj. You'll need someone college educated for that, and magicals generally don't get that."
"Right. I think I know of a few people that might fit. I'll talk to them later."
"Good to hear," she replied, shaking his hand again. "Great to meet you, and I gotta go. I got a lot of shit to get done, and those fucking oni are some of the laziest cockbiting fucktards I've ever met."
A moment later, and she was gone, leaving the five to stare at the door that she'd passed through. "That was a very determined woman," Lotton stated.
"No lie. I wonder if there's anything else," Harry murmured, before muttering an 'oh shit'.
A red-fleshed woman with ram horns and bat wings strode into the throne room. Barely clothed, she nevertheless dropped to one knee before Harry, stating, "Your Majesty. Welcome back to Yamatai."
Harry could feel the amused grins behind him as he reached down to pull the woman up. "No kneeling," Harry stated as she got to her feet. "Unless it's a formal time of court, I don't want any of my people kneeling to me."
"I-I understand, Your Majesty," the woman stuttered out, clearly unprepared for Harry response.
"What's your name?"
"In your tongue, I am called Kurmala," she replied, bowing a bit.
"Kurmala, I am Harry. That's Shenhua; she and I will be sharing rulership space and responsibilities. That's Yakumo, over there laughing behind his hand is Lotton, and this is Sawyer; her cleanup crew has been dealing with the corpses."
"Ah, I see!" Kurmala exclaimed, looking Shenhua up and down. "Good. Strong, agile... I believe that she will make you an excellent queen, King Harry."
Shenhua snorted at that, even as Harry corrected her. "No, Kurmala, that's not it. Shenhua is the rightful heir to the Magical Chinese throne. She will be on the Dragon Throne, while I'm on the Sun Throne. Consider her rule to be a Government in Exile."
Kurmala frowned at this revelation. "I think I understand, Your Majesty. So who is your queen? Consort? Concubine? Head of your harem of nubile maidens?" she asked to every time Harry shook his head in denial.
"Kurmala, I don't have any of that just yet," Harry answered, conjuring chairs for everyone. "I'm fourteen, I'm still in school, and I haven't gotten out much before I came to Yamatai. In time, there will be a bride. Just not yet."
"This is most irregular, Your Majesty," Kurmala noted aloud. "Do you have designs on anyone? After all, heirs are important to the continuation of rulership."
"Not yet, no," Harry chuckled out. "Just, well, not yet. So," Harry continued, attempting to change the subject, "what do you want to do once we get everything set up?"
"Your Majesty," she began, "I am over three thousand years old, and have served all manner of rulers. Mind you," she added bashfully, "my service was primarily sexual across the centuries. But I am skilled in statecraft, as well as managing a harem."
"I could probably use some modern statecraft," Harry admitted, doing his best to ignore the sniggering from across the way, "but I don't think that I'll be wanting a harem. It sounds like too much upkeep."
"Ahh, yes. You are truly wise for one so young," Kurmala nodded out, "to realize the demands that a harem would bring. So, a small group of, perhaps, three or four concubines?"
"Let's... Let's work on something once things are further down the road," Harry hedged out. "For now, getting Yamatai up and running is our priority."
"I see. What is your plan, My King?"
"Well," Harry slowly began, "I plan to hit Japan to talk to a couple of groups. One is the original builders of Yamatai, the other had some sort of dealings with them. I figure that if I can get the builders on board, then we can work out some sort of plan for rebuilding for proper settling.
"Come December, I'm supposed to go before the International Confederation of Wizards to work on getting Yamatai ratified as a magical nation. During all that, I plan to announce that native Chinese magicals who were driven out by the Socialists will be welcome here, and that Shenhua is allied with me on this.
"After that, I have no idea," Harry admitted. "It'll probably be a few years before I can really start anything, because everyone will be busy getting everything built."
"And what of your edicts, My King?" she asked, her eyes almost religiously rapturous.
"Er, you mean laws?" She nodded. "I'm not quite sure yet, but they'll be based on common sense, rather than politics. I live in Magical Britain, and their legal system is ridiculously overcomplicated. I want to avoid anything like that, you know?"
"But, as King, your very word is law!" Kurmala exclaimed, an expression of outrage on her face. "There should be none who defy your rule!"
"Except," Harry interjected, holding up a finger, "that I want people telling me if I'm making bad laws. If I'm surrounded by people singing my praises and nobody is willing to say 'Hey, King Harry? I'm not so sure about this law you're writing up, I have some questions', then I'm going to screw up my nation. I worked too hard to get it, and I want people to be damn proud to be citizens of the most sensible nation on Earth."
"Yes, yes, that makes sense," Kurmala crooned out, almost breathless. "Yes, a land of sensibility. So," she continued, back to being bashful, "does that means there won't be sexually restrictive laws?"
Harry blinked at that. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"Many nations have laws against homosexuality, or having to be clothed at all times, or what sexual activities a person is or isn't allowed."
"Oh!" Harry exclaimed. "Probably not," he continued, thinking about it. "As long as the people involved are consenting adults, it's none of my fucking business what they get up to. I'll probably put in an Age of Consent, but other than that, I'm not seeing anything that will make me restrict sex stuff. Maybe a law against public shagging. Or I'll have areas where that's allowed, whichever."
"That is most noble of you, My King," Kurmala breathed out in a panting manner. "As a succubus, I am an inherently sexual being. The laws in many nations actually cut my level of power to nearly subsistence levels. Not to mention the magical effect of your laws on consent; I can be bound to serve against my will," she admitted ruefully. "But if your laws are magically binding, then none can force me ever again!"
"Glad to hear it," Harry replied in a calm voice, while inwardly cringing at Kurmala's zeal. Harry was pretty sure that, at this point in time, Kurmala would do anything for him. Literally anything. "What are you doing for now?"
"I have been assisting Morgan's historians," she replied in a calmer tone. "I am familiar with languages that have been dead for eons, and have the ability to deduce the context of many disparate tongues. In addition, this isn't my first time on Yamatai," she admitted. "You would mark the period as roughly 150 A.D. Himiko was less insane then, and she'd barely begun her full campaign of domination across the seas. I was here for nearly two centuries as a toy for one of her advisors, so I remember quite a lot from how Himiko was before she became truly obsessed with eternal youth and beauty."
"Sounds like you're an essential part of what everyone's doing here, then," Harry answered with a smile. "Keep up the good work, and later on, once things are less dangerous, we can sit down and discuss where we want Yamatai to go from here. Actually," Harry said, pausing for a moment, "given your experience, you could be a lot more effective than I thought. I could use a competent advisor, someone experienced in a lot of the political stuff, as well as someone who's accustomed to how and why people made laws over the centuries.
"How would you like to be my Royal Advisor? Title and all?"
Kurmala fell to her knees, and Harry had to physically pull her up to keep her from kissing his (filthy with mud and ash) boots.
Two hours, a portkey, and an invisible broom ride later, Harry was letting everyone out of his bag in Shenhua's apartment. Harry promptly left before more heckling over the now-religious succubus could restart, and ended up spending the evening with Revy.
"So, let me get this straight," Revy commented, sipping at her flavored vodka. "You five snuck into Beijing, got into the Forbidden City, stole the Imperial Throne and replaced it with a magic forgery, found a magic staff that can scoop up cities, caused the sonic boom over China that has made international headlines, popped in to Yamatai, and then came home. Is that about it?"
"Well, there was a lot more to it than that," Harry scoffed over his own screwdriver. "I mean, sneaking in was a pain, let me tell you. You ever try sneaking into a place with someone carting around a chainsaw?" Harry asked before violently shaking his head. "I don't recommend it. Had to dodge the guards, had to avoid the cameras, since I can only do so much with disillusionment charms, had to avoid laser traps. Then and only then, did we manage to make it into the throne room!
"That part was easy, at least," Harry continued, leaning back in his chair. "I just had to shrink it down and conjure another in it's place. Shit, getting to the treasury was nuts. Had to get there, dodging more guards. And come to find out that the damn door is made out of something that's resistant to magic! I had to constantly, constantly keep recasting the silencing charm on Sawyer's chainsaw! For almost ten minutes straight!
"We got lucky. At least Shenhua knew what to keep an eye out for. I wouldn't have had a fucking clue," Harry admitted, refilling his glass. "So we got the staff, Shenhua knew how to make it work from the legends, and we left. I tucked everyone into my bag and bugged the hell out at top speed. About fifty miles out, I activated a portkey that popped me a few miles off of Yamatai.
"We managed to get everything unshrunk, and then the meetings! Jurgens was okay, just intense. And then there was Kurmala. She's one of the slaves that we rescued in Myanmar, a succubus. Let me tell you about her..."
Several minutes passed, and by the end, Revy had spilled vodka all over herself from laughing so hard. "Only you, brother! Ohh, a succubus who thinks you're the God-King, and looking like she wants to 'worship'!"
Fortunately for Harry's well-being, the two merely passed out together in Harry's bed to sleep off their drunken stupors.