Season 2: Castille 1437
January 1, 1437:
Enrique woke up, opened his eyes, and startled himself upright at the sight of the incredibly bright light shining in his face. His head started to pound like a drum, his mouth tasted like a toad crawled in and died, and his entire body felt like he'd spent the last month in the rack.
That was a really good bottle of wine.
He reached over to look for another bottle...empty. A very fuzzy thought formed that empty bottles had been a particular problem lately. As he staggered to his feet, he spied a platter of food on the table from last night.
Or maybe last month, from the taste, as he spat out the rancid muck.
Hours later, he was forced to admit that every bottle of wine in the room was empty. He had lost count of how many at...um...ocho....nueve? Yeah, he lost count at nueve. A few nueves ago.
He staggered to the door and flung it open. "Wine! Fetch me more wine!"
A servant covered his nose from the stench reeking out of the room and hurried over. "Your majesty, I'm afraid there is no more wine."
"Nonsense! Andalucia is the greatest trading city of all the world, and has the finest wines. Bring me some!", Enrique said. Something less eloquent and understandable was what the servant heard, however, and a few tries were required to get the idea across.
"I'm sorry sire, but there is no wine to be had in the castle. It would take days to get more wine. Shall I have a bath drawn so that you can refresh yourself?"
"Wine! Bring me wine!"
The servant sighed deeply. "Si, senor. I will bring you wine. May the Blessed Mother have mercy on your soul."
The servant ran off to find the chief minister, and brought him to see Enrique. The minister ordered that the king be brought coffee, newly brought from the new Castillian colonies in the New World, and that he be told to sample this wonderous drink while his minister was found.
An hour later, Enrique felt more human than he had in hours, and decided to have that warm bath. He sent word to his minister to meet in two hours.
Refreshed with more of this wondrous coffee, a luxuriously warm bath, a fresh shave, and clean clothes, Enrique strode out to meet his ministers.
Felipe Cienfuegos, the Royal Master of the Mint couldn't contain himself. "Your Majesty! It was a true blessing to see you so well and healthy again! We never thought to see it, since you locked yourself in that room seven years ago..."
Enrique raised an eyebrow in response. "Nonsense! I merely took a short vacation. I couldn't have been in there more than a couple of weeks."
The ministers looked at each other. None seemed willing to be the one to tell the King the truth.
Finally, Sten Sture Andresson, the Swedish explorer, spoke. "Sire, you've been in that room seven years today, since you barricaded yourself in there and demanded that the servants never open the door again, and just slip wine and food through the bottom until the cellar ran dry..."
Enrique looked aghast, "That couldn't possibly have taken seven years...I know I'm a connoisseur..."
Felipe explained, "Of course not, sir...until your wife decided to have every bottle in the Andalusian markets sent to the castle."
Enrique sputtered in rage, "That bitch! That French whore! I'll have her hung from the walls!"
Sten replied, soberly, "She passed away last week, and we were finally able to get rid of her servants so we could get you out of that room."
"What did I miss?"
Our explorers have found many wondrous things, and we expanded our holdings significantly, taking control of parts of Western Africa from infidels and pagans....
...starting colonies in a new land we are calling El Nuevo Mundo...
...and we have taken a great deal of land from some backward pagans that we have found there, and we are establishing a system of forts so we can begin to deliver God's word to the heathens.
Our possessions in the Netherlands have been fraught with revolts, which we are slowly bringing under control.
Andalucia has grown greatly, with our new provinces all trading there. There are now 76 provinces trading there, and 623.99 ducats of trade pass through there yearly. We now receive 22 ducats a year in tax from Andalucia alone.
Our treasury is doing well, as well, sire, we now bring in 81.7 ducats per month, which we are minting to pay for the armies we need to deal with rebellions among the ungrateful infidels and pagans, or investing in stability, depending on our needs.
"Excellent"
Note: I lost all the screenshots for this session, and the save died. This was the last save that worked. :rofl: