First Arc (King of Euphorion) – 25. The First Court
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 stage, there were two desks 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 centre 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 to his question.
A breath escaped from his mouth, usually, at the court, many people took 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. The silence was a sign they had 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. The Kingdom of Asteria was the largest and strongest kingdom on Andromeda Continent, attacking them at a time like this was like suicide. But what could they do? During King Xenos' reign, they were 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 on his family.
"---I want to cancel it," he continued.
They quickly raised their heads and looked at him in shock.
"Don't you want to get your revenge?" blurted one of the nobles, but he quickly covered his mouth with his hand and looked down in guilt.
"Forgive my impudence, Your Majesty," he said in a trembling voice, preparing to get his sentence.
"Why should I take revenge on Asteria? Besides, right now Euphorion is in a 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. After seeing Euphorion's chaotic state, his grudge was the last thing on his mind. It was the people's interests against his personal grudge, he didn't need to think twice about this.
The whole room began to exchange glances in confusion 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 reportedly committed suicide after his assassination attempt failed?' they thought.
"I also want to cancel Pearl Gate City's fortress construction. I have other plans for that place," he added.
The whole room exchanged glances once again this time with sarcasm gazes 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?" asked Chancellor Allan nonchalantly, straight to the point.
"The city is in a strategic position and easy to reach. It is suitable for attracting traders and other foreign merchants. We can also take advantage of the beautiful scenery as an attraction for travellers and 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 started to look brighter after hearing Angel's answer. King Xenos had a tyrannous government style, so he closed Euphorion's trade routes for a long time since he did not want the civilians to escape to another kingdom and was ordered to guard the entire border tightly. If anyone tried to escape whoever they were, there was only death would await them, so the civilians had no choice but to obey him.
"We will do it gradually, we need to socialize it to civilians first. I also want to remove the obligation for civilians to kneel when the king enters the city and revise 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 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 was only the beginning of his reign, this was 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 late King Xenos' funeral ceremony in three days and have made a list of yesterday's damage."
"Thank you for your report. Meet me with the finance minister in 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." He thought for a while, trying to predict when it was done.
"How about next month?" he finally said.
"Very well, I'll help you arrange it." Then Duke Nicolin returned to his position.
Now, the finance minister stepped forward and nodded slightly to ask permission to speak.
"Your Majesty, how about the source of funds to reopen trade routes and rebuild Pearl Gate City? We need a large number 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 step forward and bowed slightly asking for permission to speak.
"Your Majesty, Emerald Gate City is one of Euphorion's trading cities, its location is also quite strategic. I think we should develop it."
"Your Majesty, how about we open the trade route starting from the northern route? I heard the Springwell City of Asteria is very lively ."
"Your Majesty, I heard that rebellions are frequent in the kingdom of Zephyrus. I think we need to build a new outpost to protect our western border."
The quiet main hall was suddenly turned lively with people's voices 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 his first day 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 many 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 with a bow.
He turned to Flare who was standing next to him.
"Flare, tell Sarah to prepare lunch for everyone and reschedule my meeting with the royal tailor to tomorrow's noon."
"Yes, Your Majesty," replied Flare. Then she bowed and left.
He returned his gaze to the centre of the hall.
"The court continues."