Two guards bowed before opening the main hall's door for him.
"The king has arrived!" announced one of the guards.
The nobles and ministers who had lined up bowed to him as he entered the main hall and walked to the throne. Flare was standing waiting for him beside the throne, on the right and left of the lower part of the throne stage there were two desk filled with writing equipment with two royal clerks and some guards stood in front of each pillar of the hall. He sat on the throne and looked at the center of the hall which was filled with people."First of all is there anything you want to report?"
Everyone just bent their heads down and remained silent, no one replied his question.
He sighed; usually at the court many people took the advantage of this opportunity to give their reports directly to the king even though the report seemed trivial, just to raise their names in the court while showing their existence to the king. Silence is a sign they have not fully considered him as their king."If you have nothing to report. I'll discuss a few things. First, regarding the attack plan against Asteria..."
The people's expression in the room instantly stiffened as the atmosphere turned tense. With Euphorion's condition still in a mess, war was the last thing they wanted, let alone the war against Asteria. Kingdom of Asteria was the largest and strongest kingdom on Andromeda Continent, attacking them at a time like this was like suicide. But what can they do? During the reign of King Xenos they had been forced to approve this attack plan, now they were led by an exiled Asterian prince, of course he would use this attack plan to get his revenge over his family.
"I want to cancel it." he continued.
They immediately raised their heads and looked at him with shocked expressions."Don't you want get your revenge?" blurted one of the nobles suddenly, but he quickly covered his mouth with his hand and looked down in guilty."Forgive my impudence, Your Majesty." he said in trembling voice, preparing to get his sentence.
"Why should I take revenge on Asteria? Besides, right now Euphorion's situation is in mess, rather than a war against another kingdom, isn't it better to take care of our internal situation first?" he said with a straight face, as if his past had nothing to do with him.
The whole room began to exchange glances with confused expressions but no one let out their words.'He doesn't want to take revenge? Is he not Angelus Raizel Reinheart, the second prince of Asteria who was reportedly executed?' they thought.
"I also want to cancel the fortress construction at Pearl Gate City. I have other plans for that place." he added.
The whole room exchanged glances once again this time with a look of sarcasm as if they were saying 'I knew he was just pretending he still wanted to get his revenge' but again he proved them wrong."I want to turn that city into Euphorion's economic city." he continued.
"May we know your reason, Your Majesty?" Chancellor Allan asked nonchalantly, straight to the point.
"The city is at strategic position and easily accessible, it's very easy to attract other foreign traders and merchants. We also can use its beautiful scenery as an attraction for tourists." he answered.
The whole room was shocked again at his words."Your Majesty, are you planning to reopen our trade routes?" one of the nobles asked.
"Yes, closing trade routes will only cause financial losses for us."
Their expressions began to look brighter after heard his answer. King Xenos had tyrannous government style, so he closed Euphorion's trade route for a long time since he didn't want the civilians to escape to other kingdoms and ordered to tightly guard the entire border. If anyone tried to escape whoever they was there's only death would await them, so the civilians have no choice but to obey him.
"We will do it gradually; we need to socialize it to the civilians beforehand. Also I want to remove the compulsion for the civilians to kneel when the king enters the city and revises some military ethics." he added.
"Revising military ethics?" asked Duke Nicolin.
"There's a big gap between the military and the civilians in Euphorion. Both of them are important pillars to sustain this kingdom, they shouldn't harm each other."
Once again, his words shocked the room. In the past, military forces were used to make the civilians to submit and obey the king, eventually many of them turned violent since they felt they were given the freedom to act arbitrarily.
Duke Nicolin and Chancellor Allan exchanged glances, smiles began to develop on their faces as they began to realize what was meant by Prince Lucian's words yesterday. Although this is only the beginning of his reign, but this is a good start for Euphorion.
Chancellor Allan turned his gaze to Angel, then he stepped forward to get out of his line and nodded slightly to ask permission to speak."Your Majesty, I have arranged the funeral ceremony for the late King Xenos in three days and have made a list of yesterday's damage."
"Thank you for your report. Meet me with the finance minister at my study room to discuss it after the court is over."
"Yes, Your Majesty." said Chancellor Allan as he returned to his position.
This time, Duke Nicolin stepped forward and nodded slightly to ask permission to speak."Your Majesty, how about your coronation ceremony?
"That should wait until my uniform is finished. How about next month?"
"Alright, I'll help you arrange it." then Duke Nicolin returned to his position.
Now, the finance minister who stepped forward and nodded slightly to ask permission to speak."Your Majesty, how about the source of funds for reopens trade routes and rebuilds Pearl Gate City? We need a large amount of funds to build them."
"Isn't the late King Xenos planning to turn Pearl Gate City into a fortress? We can use the funds to rebuild Pearl Gate City from there. To reopen the trade routes we can use the funds that prepared for the war against Asteria."
"I understand, Your Majesty. " then the finance minister returned to his position.
The other nobles and ministers began exchanging glances and smiling after seeing that he was really serious about rebuilding Euphorion. Then one by one they started to stepped forward and bowed slightly asking for permission to speak."Your Majesty, Emerald Gate City is one of the trading cities of Euphorion, its location is also quite strategic how about we also develop it?"
"Your Majesty, how about we open the trade route starting from the northern route I hear Springwell City of Asteria is very lively ."
"Your Majesty, I heard that the Kingdom of Zephyrus is often in revolt. What if we build a new outpost to protect our western border?
The quite main hall was suddenly turned lively with people's voices who were coming out the line one by one to give him reports and suggestions which meant they began to recognize him as their ruler. He didn't expect the first day of his court would go so well. Unconsciously, a slight smile started to develop on his lips when he saw their enthusiasm. He raised his hand ordering them to be quiet."Today's court will take a lot of time, since we have too much things to discuss, therefore I will invite all of you for lunch at the castle. Do you agree?"
"As you wish, Your Majesty." they answered while bowing slightly.
He turned to Flare who was standing next to him."Flare, tell Sarah to prepare lunch for everyone here and reschedule my meeting with the royal tailors at tomorrow's noon."
"Yes, Your Majesty." replied Flare then she bowed and left.
He returned his gaze to the center of the hall."The court continues."