The police force was doing better than Henry expected. In just a single month, crime rates inside the Empire dropped by fifteen percent.
Currently, the police force consists only of retired knight veterans and some young, inexperienced knights. Unlike the full-fledged knights, the police force doesn't wear heavy armor; instead, they wear a simple uniform with blue-dyed leather armor on the surface and a police cap, the same as he remembered from his previous world.
Tavern fights, couple fights, entanglements, violence, blackmail attempts, etc were easily solved by the newly established police force.
Henry was initially expecting the police force to face hurdles and challenges especially since this is the first time their existence was introduced to this world.
Perhaps, hiring the retired knight veterans to serve as the majority of the police force was a good move on his part.
The first and current chief of the police force was a retired Knight Commander who once led a near-suicidal skirmish back during the bloody civil war in Lioncrest, Commander Godric. Also the same guy who once shielded his father from a slash using his own body.
"Now's the good time to introduce police academies. Young and retired Knights aren't exactly a good supply of police recruits." Henry wrote his signature on a piece of parchment before settling it on the stack of papers on his left side.
After an hour of managing the paperwork, Henry stretched his body and murmured to himself, "I miss going out and having adventures…"
Fortunately, he managed to go on enough adventures to form the first volume of his Dad Lore that he would someday tell to his future children.
Knock! Knock!
Henry answered without looking up, "Come in."
"Your Majesty. We received a letter from the West."
Henry blinked his eyes and raised his head, "A letter from those bastards?" Taking the letter off the man's hand, he waved him off before prying the letter open.
A few seconds later, Henry let out a booming laugh, "Buwahahahaha! A truce? Seriously?"
Now that the Umberrians realized they had no chance against the Great Wall, they decided to form a truce as if they weren't on the losing side.
"That won't do. Just when my Rothschild Bank is about to penetrate the Western Lands." A devilish grin spread across his face, "I know…"
Henry then busied himself writing a reply letter. Its contents are simple. No truce will happen unless the Lioncrest Empire gets compensation in the form of gold.
"I heard they spent a hefty amount of gold coins to supply their warships and soldiers. 10 million gold coins will do. Not something they can pay with immediately unless they approach my Rothschild Bank to take a large loan…"
Muttering those words to himself, Henry couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud, with this demand, the Umber Kingdom will have no choice but to give in and take a loan, effectively making them fall under Lioncrest's control.
"Now, as long as I make sure they fail to earn enough gold to pay their debt, their interest will slowly accumulate until they have no choice but to do favours for my bank…"
Once he was done writing, he folded it and called his messenger who arrived a few seconds later, "Yes, Your Majesty?"
"Take this to Umber Kingdom."
———
While Henry was busy with the matters of the Empire, something was going on in Ironmere Kingdom.
After her father's death, Aurora took the reins of the Kingdom and the first thing she did was to make Moors Forest part of Ironmere's territory, effectively placing it under the Kingdom's protection, with Maleficent serving as both its representative and also Aurora's one and only advisor.
She also had to educate a few loyalists who grew up to hate Maleficent and couldn't find it in their hearts to find peace.
And now, with her garden and backyard cleaned, she turned her attention to the letter she received from Henry a few days ago, regarding the cooperation to build Eastern Outposts to defend against the Xingdu Dynasty of the East.
She had already sent her reply on the same day it was received and now, her scouts were telling her that there was an attack on her messenger who was supposed to send the letter.
"You seem to be surrounded by spies. You're gonna need to root them out." On her side, Maleficent spoke with her arms.
She rubbed her forehead, "I know, Mother. But there's still the east we have to worry about. I'm not sure if Henry already sent his men to reinforce the borders but I'm not taking any chances, especially now that we've confirmed we have spies colluding with the East. No doubt they already got wind of our plan."
Maleficent snorted, "You know, these past few days, I noticed something wrong with you."
Aurora blinked several times, "What? Something wrong with me?"
"Aurora, as a Queen and a ruler, you need to know that you are not alone. You kept thinking that you have to shoulder every responsibility and problem that this Kingdom has, especially those that your damnable father left behind. You have me, your mother. Are you forgetting that standing between the Central and Eastern Lands is the Moors Forest?"
Patting Aurora's head, "Leave those small-eyed bastards to me while you do what you gotta do here. I'll send a Mind Message to that Henry boy regarding our spy problem, okay?"
Unbeknownst to Aurora, she found her shoulders relaxing, "Thank you, mother. You're the best."
"Of course, your mother knows best." With that being said, she gave her daughter a peck on the forehead before turning into a raven and flying out the window.
Aurora watched her with a soft smile on her face.
———
In the Moors Forest, as soon as Maleficent landed and turned back into her human form, Diaval perched on her left shoulder, "What's our next move, Mistress?"
"I'm sensing a few breach attempts on the other side of the forest. I'm guessing it's those scoundrels from the East. Gather up our heavy hitters, it's time we show them not to mess with nature."
Diaval couldn't help but mentally grin at her words, 'Now this is the Mistress I know. I'm glad to see her back.'
"It shall be done, Mistress."
After Diaval flew away to do as told, Maleficent wove a magic spell, instantly forming a Mind Message with her student, "Henry. Hear me. Aurora is having trouble with spies, I'm dealing with the Eastern Border temporarily while outposts haven't been set up yet."
A few seconds later, Henry's reply came, "Huh? Teacher, is that you? I didn't expect this spell to reach thousands of miles away."
"Boy, stop prolonging this conversation, my time is precious, can you help her or not?"
"You seem to be grumpier than the last time we met. As for the spy, it's a great coincidence since I just finished making an artifact that solves exactly that sort of problem. It's still a prototype but it works nonetheless. I'll personally go there and give it to her."
"Good. Thank you. Now excuse me, I have matters to take care of."
Before Henry could utter a reply, Maleficent already severed the connection.
Back in Lioncrest, Henry chuckled, "Not even asking how I'm doing? You're really cold, Teacher."
Standing up, he went to his study and rummaged through a chest near his table. A few seconds later, he emerged with a silver ring on his hand, it had a certain sheen to it, making anyone who saw it assume that the ring was magical.
Well, it is. Henry had this ring forged using silver, one of the few common and cheap materials that are compatible with magic. It is also something that the Central Lands have in abundance.
Using his Authority of Truth blessing as a reference, he managed to make a downgraded version as a magical artifact. The only downside is that the strong-willed might be able to resist, especially those who know about it.
That's why Henry will personally give it to Aurora himself. With a mix of scheming and intimidation, the Ring of Truth—a name he came up with just now—would work perfectly fine, even better.
After dusting it off, Henry walked towards the back of the room, hidden behind the curtains was a large teleportation circle.
Now that he was capable enough, and Elias had decided that he would no longer step out of the castle's grounds, he gave all his teleportation points throughout the continent to Henry.
Now that Henry had access to nearly all teleportation circles, he made some improvements to them. With the help of his talent, learning and mastering Teleportation was easy.
It is now faster and less likely to be perceived by strong individuals with sensitive senses to the Magic Hymn, which means being intercepted is now impossible, something that Elias even admitted to being exposed to during his heyday in magic learning.
Putting those aside, Henry also made the teleportation circles bigger, that way. If Henry wanted, he could transfer up to a hundred men to the other side of the continent in an instant.
Unfortunately, teleporting more than a hundred takes a huge toll on both the body and mind, even to Henry. Perhaps someday in the future, Henry would solve that dilemma. But for now, the teleportation circles are as good as it is.
Activating it a few seconds later, Henry found himself in one of Elias's wizard towers. It looked abandoned and on the verge of collapsing but he knew it was all just an illusion.
Opening the window, flames burst out from the soles of his feet, his figure blurring into the sky. His flight speed is now triple times faster than before thanks to his diligent training.
Honestly, if Henry were to fight his previous self, before his birthday, he would mop that Henry's face on the ground.
———
In the middle of nowhere but sands, a lone man on a horse with a parrot on his shoulders stood waiting for the man who was running towards him.
The man was tall and gaunt, his face almost skeletal. He wore deep red and black robes trimmed with gold. A tall black turban with a red ornament at the front rests atop his head.
His eyes were almost hollow but filled with a dark purpose. If someone with a sensible mind were to see this man, the first thing they would notice about him was that he looked like a snake in human form.
If Henry were to see this man. He would immediately recognize him as Jafar, the main villain of Aladdin.
When the short man with deep bags under his eyes finally arrived, breathing heavily, Jafar finally spoke, "You are late."
"A thousand apologies, O Patient One."
"You have it then?" Jafar smirked, as if he already knew the answer.
"I had to slit a few throats, but I got it." The short man took something from the inside of his shirt before revealing it to be a piece of gold. A single look at it one could immediately tell there was another half that could complete its form.
Just as Jafar lowered his hand to take the piece, a flash of greed appeared in the man's face before pulling the gold piece back, "Ah ah ahh. The treasure."
Jafar snorted and gave his parrot, Iago a mental command to snatch the piece.
Iago immediately flew nose down towards the piece. But before he could reach it. Something or someone interrupted.
With a flash of violet flames, Iago, the parrot that had accompanied Jafar for years was instantly reduced to mere ashes.
At the same time. Some unknown force took hold of the piece in the man's hand and pulled it towards a certain location.
Jafar didn't have time to mourn the loss of his bird, as he instantly turned to the side on high alert, "Who goes there!?"
Someone actually dared to steal the key that he's been looking for for years!
"You truly are a heaven-sent to us, Jafar. It's only a shame that you are a man, lest you could've been a great member of the Coven."
That familiar name instantly struck Jafar right in the head. The Coven, his former master's mortal enemy.
Raising his staff, he was about to unleash a wide area-of-effect spell to reveal whoever hid under the shadow of the moon. But before he could do so, a golden rope wrapped around his body, binding him tightly as he lost his grip on his staff, letting it fall to the ground.
"Release me, you witches! Give back what you stole from me or else!"
"Or else what? Are you gonna tell your master? The old man you betrayed for the sake of power? Sorry to burst your bubble but a few months ago, I personally sliced his arm clean off, it's unfortunate that he's tougher than he looks."
"But for you, Jafar. You don't share the same resilience as your master. So killing you right here and right now is just a matter of a flick of my wrist. Unless of course…"
Jafar gulped a mouthful of saliva, realizing that whoever attacked him was giving him a sliver of a chance to get out of this situation alive, "Unless what?"
"Since you can't join the Coven. Turning you into a slave should do fine."
Before Jafar could process those words, a slender hand touched his head, an aura of malicious energy weaving around her fingers. He wasn't able to resist as the magic spell successfully took hold of him.
Watching the passed-out Jafar on the ground, the short man from earlier almost pissed his pants. Everything happened so fast, he couldn't even see the perpetrator behind the scene.
"P-Please spare my li—"
A head rolled off the sandy slopes, a few seconds later, the body and the head were covered in sand under the sandstorm.