Jack yawned as he stood in his black clerical robe in front of the last temple in the quaint little village, waiting for the priest to lock up and go home. Yet another year had passed him by as his stature continued to grow with his church for being the most successful force behind the church's expansion. He had spread the message of the almighty to thousands of people in this strange eastern land, sometimes through diplomacy but mostly by coercion or to crudely put it, blackmail.
The emperor had enlisted the help of the missionaries to convert people into his religion to have a better chance at unifying the land. The plan was not working well in most parts of the country but he had found it easy to succeed by employing diplomacy and violence as necessary. Most men feared him and those who didn't at least respected him. Ones who did neither and took him lightly didn't last long.
He ran his hand across his balding scalp, wiping his slightly sweaty hair as he shifted his gaze to the end of the street to the priest's house. He saw a young woman in a yellow saree, probably in her early twenties, looking at him quizzically from the entrance of the priest's house. The woman quickly walked into the house when she saw him looking back at her.
Jack heard the sound of the heavy doors of the temple opening and walked towards it, once again trying to negotiate with the priest. He had already wasted enough time with the old man and had decided that the offer he was about to make was going to be final. "Hello again, Your Holiness." Jack greeted the priest mockingly, knowing he was in a position of strength.
"Hello, Jack." The priest greeted him back, not attempting to hide his contempt.
Jack stopped a few feet across from the man, his muscular 6 and a half foot frame towering over the short, skinny old man. Jack looked down at the priest and smiled with his arms behind his back.
He saw someone approaching them from the corner of his eye and turned his head in the direction. He saw the young woman in yellow approaching them and this time he looked at her properly. Jack thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever laid on on these lands since his arrival. She was a petite woman whose head barely reached his chest. Her creamy golden skin was damp with a thin layer of sweat and her shiny, straight hair which was braided reached her mid back. Her eyes looked like a dove's and she had short, sharp eyebrows which were arched perfectly. It did not look like her body was used to physical activity. He could neither say she was fat nor say that she was lean. Her hips were wide and her behind was bubbly, and he could see a tiny bit of fat peeking through on her torso below her perky little breasts.
He imagined her petite frame writhing beneath him in bed as he studied her and averted his gaze up to her eyes, smirking. He knew she had caught him staring and he turned towards the priest.
The woman whispered into the priest's ear and quickly started hurrying back home. The priest called out to her, "Rekha, tell your mother to prepare dinner." and turned to Jack.
"I came here today to make you my final offer. We are going to demolish your temple in 12 days. You have been assigned a plot of land 300 miles north of here to construct a new temple. Consider this your final notification." Jack turned around and started walking.
"But you haven't made your offer!" the priest yelled. Jack paused and turned around slightly and the priest walked up to him. "12 days is not enough time to prepare. My family needs more time. It would take time to make travel arrangements for my girls and boys and I don't have the money to do it."
Jack smiled as he got a nefarious idea. "Let us say I give you more time to prepare and make arrangements, how long would you need?" he looked at the priest blankly.
"60 days at least." said the priest.
Jack thought to himself, "My victory in this village must be absolute. What better way to do it than claiming the daughter of a priest of the heathens as my wife?"
Jack said to the priest, "I will give you 90 days of extra time, a plot of land near the temple for you to build a home for yourself and men to do it. And security for your people for six months until you can support yourselves on your own. As long as..."
"What do you want for that?" the priest interrupted him before Jack could finish.
"I am taking your daughter's hand in marriage." Jack simply stated. It was not a request or him asking for permission.
"What if I object?" the priest hissed through gritted teeth as he stepped closer to Jack as people in the street began to notice the conversation between the two.