King Watanabe sat on his throne—not the one that looked over the entire room, but the one set for him at the round table, where the nobles and senators sat for discussions.
Of course, he wasn't there alone, as all the other senators who were called to attend the meeting were present as well.
This governing body, aside from the king, was comprised of eight senators and four nobles.
The call for this meeting was for a just cause; as the city was slowly beginning to recover from the invasion, there were a lot of things that had to be put in place during this tense time.
"I believe every member of the Senate is present," asked the King.
"Yes, your majesty," replied Nemu, his royal advisor, who was not part of the senate but was obligated to attend.
Then the king said to him,
"Don't forget to tell the royal messenger, Ena, that he is lucky everyone came to the meeting; otherwise, I would have had him flogged."
Nemu chuckled and answered,
"Of course, your Majesty."
"Alright, let's get this over with," said the King as Nemu rung a handbell, signifying that the meeting had just officially started.
Then the king spoke out,
"As you all know, the kingdom of Langford suffered a near-fatal blow yesterday when the invaders attacked by breaching the Great Wall. I know some of you may have lost something in that event, and as your leader, I want to say, "I'm sorry,... and thank you for still making out time to come talk about the way forward despite all the losses you have suffered—all for the good of the kingdom." I pray God will remember your sacrifices and reward you all accordingly.
"Amen," everyone chorused formally.
"Now let us get into the matters at hand," he said as Nemu handed him a scroll containing the meeting's official agenda.
He opened it for examination, then put it down and spoke out,
"The destruction caused by the invasion would take a heavy toll on the kingdom's economy, and if nothing is done about it soon, it would fall into recession." Does anyone have a suggestion as to what can be done to at least address the situation? asked the king.
"Increase the taxes on the people," said Senator Daisuke (the one who was infatuated with Maria),
"That way, the expenses would be easier to generate, and everything would go well."
"It seems you've forgotten that the ones that suffered the most were the people." "Taxing them would not be fair!" called out another member of the Senate, Lady Kaguya.
"I haven't forgotten, Lady Kaguya. I only keep in mind that the people need to take responsibility for this. "I agree they were not the cause of the invasion, but I guarantee they were the reason several properties got vandalized and destroyed even before the Devil's eyes brought down hell from the heavens," replied Senator Daisuke.
"That is a preposterous accusation! "How can you be sure of that?" asked Lady Kaguya.
"There are multiple eyewitnesses that can testify that the people started destroying government properties once the walls were breached, even before any of the invaders took action," replied Senator Daisuke.
"At best, the people were acting out of panic... and nothing more, Senator Daisuke." "So I suggest we take responsibility as the leaders of the kingdom instead of blaming the people whenever it feels convenient for us," Lady Kaguya said in response.
Senator Daisuke, having nothing for rebuttal, looked around him, and on discovering he had no supporters, he simply kept quiet without uttering another word.
"So what would be the way forward?" asked another Senator, Kohana.
The hall remained silent for over a minute.
Then the king made an honorable yet outlandish proposal,
"We give a fraction of the people's losses back and give gifts to all the tourists and visitors present as a gesture of goodwill!"
Nearly everyone at the round table gasped in shock at his proposal, knowing that pulling it off would be almost impossible given the high population of the city due to the influx of tourists that came for the Memorial Festivals.
Nemu came to his side, believing the King didn't know what he was saying, and told him,
"Your Majesty. "The royal treasury cannot afford what you are proposing, and the members of the senate would not be willing to make such a sacrifice with you."
"He is right," said Senator Hinabi, who was close enough to hear what Nemu was saying to him.
"The cost of such an operation would only plunge the kingdom's economy further into recession, and that is exactly what we are trying to avoid!"
Then the King began sensing murmuring among the Senate, and though he couldn't point out the culprits, he couldn't forget what they were saying—things like,
"Does this King desire to bury our kingdom economically after the invaders failed to do it physically?"
"Those are the naive words of a child, not a wise king!"
"That's a noble proposal, but foolish!"
The king sighed in frustration. He knew that there were members of the Senate who didn't trust him but kept a low profile for the sake of diplomacy.
He knew some of them personally but could not take action against any of them, as that would make him a tyrannical ruler who despises valid criticism.
The Kingdom's legal-political system sets the king as a large gear in the ruling machine and not as the entire machine itself. So taking action against those who subliminally dissed him during this meeting would not be the right thing to do.
So to address the state of unrest in the room, he simply said,
"If none of you would be willing to join me, then I would gladly sacrifice my wealth to do it all by myself because I love my people enough to do so." "I am not forcing any of you to do anything in this matter, so ignore it if it doesn't please you, and stop grumbling amongst yourselves!"
The entire hall kept silent for a while, taken aback by the king's honor.
The king breathed heavily, knowing that the meeting had almost gotten out of hand and that it was only going to get worse from here.