Chapter 31: Normal Days Part 1
Deos Calendar: July 1st, 5129
The heavy summer heat of July settled over the capital city of the Leo Principality. A relentless peace settled slowly, bringing steady progress. It had been exactly four months since I returned victorious to the capital. The rebellion had been quelled, and the map of our nation had been redrawn to its almost original state.
Avarus City had also been rebuilt. Under my direct mandate as Crown Prince and Prince Regent, I had appointed Count Ares Avarus as the Governor-General of the newly christened Ares Revalis—a name translating to "Revival after Destruction" in the Leonese tongue. I granted him administrative control over the entire Western Region in the crown's name, tasking him with rebuilding the scarred lands.
To ensure his absolute and unwavering loyalty to the throne, his daughter, Rosy Avarus—now Rosy Revalis—accompanied us back to the capital. Officially, she was granted the prestigious title of my lady-in-waiting. Unofficially, she was a high-value hostage to keep Governor-General Ares Revalis in check. She was just a beautiful bird kept in the gilded cage of the royal palace.
However, she was far from a real captive. Since our departure from the Western capital of Avarus and even after arriving at the palace—still even now—her rivalry with Aelrue flared violently. Their daily interactions turned the palace corridors into battlefields. Whether they were competing over who had the right to pour my morning tea, who stood closest to me during official court processions, or exchanging razor-sharp, thinly veiled insults in the drawing room, it was a quiet headache for me—probably in a good way. I largely ignored their aristocratic cold war, leaving them to bicker while I focused on the survival of the state.
The war with the Kalian Empire might have ground to a sudden, unofficial armistice due to unknown reasons, but I knew peace was merely a grace period to prepare for the next war. I spent my mornings in the courtyard with Fidus, pushing my physical limits and refining my swordsmanship until my muscles burned and my hands bled.
In the afternoons, Zemlya and Solon drilled me relentlessly in magic lessons. Under Zemlya's heavy, grounded instruction, I learned to manipulate earth as a projectile and as a fluid extension of my will. Solon focused on my raw output, teaching me the precise and illuminating theories of light and thermal manipulation. The most difficult part was learning space magic and using it efficiently.
My mana capacity and fine control were growing at an exponential rate day by day. I was transforming steadily.
The capital city was also changing. With the war halted, a massive influx of returning soldiers, displaced refugees, and opportunistic merchant caravans flooded the city. To manage this explosive growth and modernize our infrastructure, I introduced several concepts from beyond this era. I directed the royal artisans to construct rudimentary blast furnaces, vastly increasing our steel production.
I also introduced a standardized crop rotation system for the surrounding farmlands and implemented water-powered trip hammers in the forging districts. Business was booming at a terrifying rate. New guilds were forming weekly, and the capital was wealthier and more bustling than it had been in a century.
This rapid recovery was not solely my doing. The religious institutions stepped up to the task—mostly. The main Deos Temple and various other regional churches mobilized their clergy, healers, and vast treasuries. They formed joint expeditions, working hand in hand with the Royal Army and local militias. They traveled to the war-torn provinces, healing the sick, rebuilding shattered infrastructure, and distributing the massive stockpiles of grain we had secured.
The only exception was the Sanctus Humanitas Church. They offered not a single hand, isolating themselves in their pristine, exclusive cathedrals.
The political landscape of the Principality had also been transformed. Because the two main factions that once plagued the court—the Central and Eastern factions—had been utterly erased during the rebellion and the subsequent war, the traditional nobility was left critically crippled. Their private armies were slaughtered, and their wealth was confiscated. Their power was waning to the point where founding a new political faction to oppose me was statistically and practically impossible.
The Southern Faction, led by my grandfather, remained intact. They were absolutely and unconditionally loyal to me and acted as an extension of my own arm, securing the borders and executing my will without hesitation. Therefore, they did not count in the game of court politics.
Then, there was the last remnant of the old guard: the Western Faction.
For the past four months, my desk had been flooded with their parchments. Letters sealed in expensive wax, begging for an audience. They contacted me through intermediaries, bribed low-ranking courtiers, and submitted direct petitions to meet with me in person at the capital.
I rejected them entirely. Every single time.
What point did they think they were making? When the Principality was in a dire state, when the Kalian Empire marched on our lands and the rebellion threatened to tear the crown from our heads, what did the Western nobles do? They cowered. They holed up in their fortified estates, hoarding their grain and their conscripts, waiting to see which side would win so they could grovel before the victor.
Now that the dust had settled and I stood unchallenged, they wanted to crawl back to the table and demand a piece of the pie. I would keep rejecting them. They would receive no honors or awards. Let them rot in the bed of cowardice they made.
This absolute dominance over the nobility allowed me to execute my most radical decree. Just one month after I reoccupied the entire Western Region and forced the remaining dissenters to their knees, I drafted the Edict of Emancipation.
I ordered the absolute abolition of slavery across all territories of the Leo Principality and enacted strict, uncompromising equal rights laws for all races. The beastkin, the dwarves, the elves, and the humans were, from that day forward, to be treated as equals under the law of the crown. Approximately 45,000 registered slaves were emancipated overnight.
Naturally, some of the traditional nobles and wealthy merchants were furious. They were extremely reluctant to give up their free labor and their deeply ingrained superiority complexes. However, the vast majority of the populace accepted it, swept up in the wave of national pride and the current economic boom.
As for those weak nobles who dared to complain behind closed doors—what could they possibly do to me now? If they resisted my laws, if they tried to maintain underground slave rings or subvert my authority, I would kill them and crush their houses into dust. Fear and overwhelming force were highly effective administrators.
Of course, the Sanctus Humanitas Church—an institution built entirely upon the doctrine of human supremacy—threw a massive fit. Their High Priest sent a heavily worded petition, signed by their highest-ranking clergy, demanding I reconsider my "blasphemous" decision to elevate demi-humans and monsters to the level of humanity.
I treated their petition with the exact same respect I gave the Western nobles. I ignored it entirely. They were relics of a bygone era, clinging to a rotting ideology, and I had absolutely no time to coddle bigots while I was busy forging an empire.
I tossed their sacred parchment into the hearth of my study and watched it burn to ash.
I sat back in my chair, watching the last of the Sanctus Humanitas letter turn to embers. The Principality was finally under my absolute control.
A knock on the door of my office broke my concentration, and I granted permission to enter. Fidus stepped into the room.
"Your Highness, the Envoy from the Federation of Libertas is seeking an audience with you. They say it is urgent."
(Continue.....)