(Recap — In the last part of the story I mentioned about a kingdom that happened to exist prior to our this present Eon. In that part I “specifically” mentioned about a “class of alchemists” of the Medieval period of that time….)
It was the dark of the night and the great king Montana Mustachia in his castle was about to go to his bed for night sleep after the day long hectic schedule. At that very moment, his special private attendant knocked his door with an errand and announced the urgent visit of ” Ex chief of the army.” This at once alarmed the great King. He at once grasped the intention of this arrival, it meant an urgent discussion. The truth was, the Ex chief of the armed forces had clandestinely been designated as the “chief of the secret service “mysterious circle” by the king. It was an unknown designation to the rest of people of the kingdom.
This special secret service organization in the name of “mysterious circle” was established by the king himself to keep a vigilant eye on the activities of all the Alchemists across the entire territory of the kingdom. This special cell had come into existence after having deep consultation with three other most trusted men of the king. These all were the highest rank officials and top brass of their department. One among them was the present Army Chief, second one was Home minister and third was the Head of the coffers. In total it was a formation of five top ranked officials including the Great King himself.
It was a sort of anonymous organization and existed no where on State’s any maintained official records. The Ex- Chief of the army held the post as the Chief of this “mysterious Circle” and was responsible to run the organization as per his valuable experience of past service. For the purpose, he had recruited in his team some trust worthy sleuths at district level, who were further entrusted with the job “to form and run” their own operational group at district level. The entire expenditure on operational activities was bore by the king from the coffers but no audit was maintained. This mysterious Circle was entrusted to keep a vigilant eye on the all activities of Alchemists and people they come in contact with.
As narrated before, the gold was given the level of “mysterious metal.” All alchemists were supposed to dedicate their life in the intense research to find the technique for the preparation of the precious metal in the “workshop” ( lab.) The Great King and his trusted allies had the conviction that no sooner, any of the alchemists succeeded in obtaining the formula of gold in the workshop, he at once might be caught by the strong surge of greed to horde the gold in person. An another probability was, such Alchemist could hide his success story or if not then could have a foul play about the exact output. In simple words, he might tend to embezzlement.
It was not that the Great King had not announced a reward for Alchemists on attaining success in this regard. The King’s officially had announced twenty percent of total output of gold to be given to Alchemist. But this award majorly were in shape of other immovable property and chattels. Indubitably, some of this portion could be taken in shape of gold metal for use of personal or family’s jewelry. With the help of this “mysterious Circle” King sustained a position to remain updated about the activities of every Alchemist, whether he was State’s sponsored or funded privately by local feudal Lords.
In addition, the another benefits too accrued to this “mysterious Circle.” No matter, still precious metal had not been invented but in this process of research work, other too many metals and chemicals been invented and discovered. The king’s office was being informed about them before hand. Some of these outputs and innovations were being used in State’s beneficence. Some others were proven useful as chemicals in medical section as ” drugs.” In all, these inventions and discoveries were being used for the common welfare of subjects.
The great King Montana Mustachia signaled his attendant to send in the Ex- Chief of army into his private chamber and ordered the attendant to disappear from there to some remote part of the castle. The fact was, attendant recognized Ex- Chief of army but in his old capacity only, never he had any surmise of his real visit. To him, the King might have had some consultation with Ex chief on some matters based upon his past experiences.
Here, some description about the Great King Montana Mustachia is needed for reader. It was not his real name, it was a kind of decoration conferred upon him. It was supported by some reasons. Firstly, the huge and vast territory of the Kingdom was guarded on three sides by huge, high invincible mountains. The slopes of these mountains were rich in all kinds of woods. This happened to confer him the decoration “Montana.” Further, at that period of time, all kings were often given to the hobby to grow the beard and mustache to produce an imperious looks. The growing of impressive mustaches were an all time fashion of every royal king.
The great King, his father and forefathers had earned a renown in growing unique types of mustaches. This helped them look quite distinct in appearance in occasional gatherings of various kings whenever occasions offered the opportunity. This uniqueness in types, size and in fashion helped earn a title “Mustachia” to this Royal family. This uniqueness too were the result of hard and innovative acumen of the Barber of the King. The forefathers of the present barber too had been in the service of the royal family for last so may generations. This too had endowed them the status of “Royal barber.”
Since kingdom was supported by luxuriant dense woods of all kinds, hence this helped in providing natural resources in shape of perennial rivers. The abundance of irrigation water had added affluence in growing of different kinds of crops and enriching arable community. To say, the subjects of the kings were in excellent condition. Besides, exuberance of woods supply helped to grow a refined industry in wood arts and reach to an acme. People at large were living a peaceful life with sense of felicity. To people, all this peace and happiness occurred were due to the benevolence of their beloved and redoubtable great king. People in common at that period of time felt obliged for every facility to the mercy of the King and in affectionate way referred the king as “Junglee king.” This term was simply derived from the term Jungle. King too knew this entitlement and accepted it as bonanza from subjects. To him, his subjects were living in peace with felicity and it was enough for him. (End of the part 3. Cont’d.) Penned by — Vinay Pharasi —–(
