Bright and early the next day, the whole city had begun to work.
Everyone had been assigned different jobs. The first task was merging the eight cities of the Northern Region and the nation of Minora, before dividing it into nine cities. With the capital city at the middle of the Empire with the eight cities surrounding it. The capital city was going to be the largest city taking land from the territories of all the clan cities and Minora.
In another meeting we had last week, after the arrival of the Dwarves, the plan for the nation had been drawn up. We discussed and planned where and how the cities, towns, barracks, and other things were going to be built.
Small buildings were being torn down. Some parts of the forest were torn down. The Dwarves were in charge of the destruction and the constructions. Work was much and time was scarce. But the work had been efficiently divided between all sixteen clans.
The Slimes were put in charge of Health care since they had powerful healing abilities. Dryads were put in charge of Agriculture since they were monsters with the ability to grow trees and plants. Many areas were sealed off as areas to be used as farm land.
The rest of the clans were in charge of assisting with the construction of roads, houses, cities, city walls, military barracks, industries and the Emperor's Castle. A separate group of Dwarves were making weapons for the military and other metal tools that are needed.
Minora, being the only known and accepted Kingdom of Monsters, was among the countries that employed the services of the Merchant Guild. One of the Five Guilds that provide a wide range of services to all the nation's in the continent.
The Adventurers Guild. The Merchant Guild. The Engineers Guild. The Information Guild. And The Academic City. These Five Guilds were an independent, non-governmental organization that receive money from every nation they worked with in form of taxes.
The Merchant Guild, helps with the trade of goods and certain services between affiliated countries. Duke Klaus used his connections with the guild, to continue trade temporarily under the name of Minora. Giving us time to build and prepare before other countries receive news about the formation of the new nation.
*
Meanwhile, I had begun planning my departure to the Dungeon. I commissioned Tony, the Head Smith, to craft me weapons best suited for my fighting style. Then I called the Rulers together in the Great hall of my temporary castle.
"I am going to the Dungeon in three days time." I said to them.
"I plan to spend about three months there before coming back."
"The Dungeon? Are you going there to train?" Ash asked.
"Yes." I replied. "Meanwhile, you all... will be in charge. This kingdom isn't one that would crumble in the absence of its King. So for the second part of my plan. Phase one; Building. Phase two; Training. Phase three; Gathering information."
"Don't you think we should start forming alliances, or something, with other countries?" Duke Kris asked.
"No. If we do that, we will be overwhelmed. We are in the most vulnerable stage of a nation. Its birth. We need to plant deep, and hidden roots, before we can reveal ourselves. We can't risk any information getting into the wrong hands."
"Alright." Kris said.
"We already began phase one. So for phase two..." I turned towards Roger and Ralph. "Ralph, Roger, Klaus, Scott. I need you in charge of training the Military. The clans have been separated for years. Telling them to fight together now won't be easy. They are all trained in different ways. So we need to break down their training and start again. Let them learn together. Fight together. Grow together. This way, they will be able to fight side by side when it's time."
"Leave that to us Emperor Jordan." Ralph said.
"For phase three. Ash. Lisa. I need you to select nine of our best soldiers from the military. After I leave, send them in teams of three to Glavis Kingdom, Margrave Empire and the Salvador Federation. Have them register as adventurers at the guild and gather information from the three countries. Don't let them return until the three months are up."
"Alright." Ash and Lisa said.
"Lucy. Take over for Jade. Her squad, squad three is in charge of our communications. As the construction is going on, make sure to lay down magic webs all around the nation. Ones that can be used to transfer sounds. This will help us communicate quickly anywhere all around the nation. Once all the webs have been laid. Connect them to the squad three barracks. So everything can be monitored from there."
"As you wish Emperor Jordan." Lucy answered.
"Also, what's with this Emperor Jordan, Emperor Jordan you all keep calling me?!"
"That is your title now. You have to get used to it." Ash said in a condescending tone.
"Hmmm." I let out a soft grunt to express my disapproval. "I don't like it. You all can keep calling me Jordan. It's one thing for others to call me Emperor Jordan every time but, you all are different. You are the people I am with most of the time. If you all keep calling me Emperor Jordan whenever we are together. I am going to get migraines."
Everyone laughed. It seemed they had planned it together knowing I would not approve of them calling me Emperor all the time.
"Alright then." Ash said. "Whenever we are together like this, we can call you Jordan."
"That's better."
"Are you going alone then? To the dungeon?" Ash asked.
"I'm not. I am leaving with Nick, Grey, Ace and Jade. I need them to go with me. This will also be a chance for them to get more exposure with the world outside the region of Monsters. Most monsters haven't set foot outside this region since they were born. Since they are the General and Captains serving directly under me in Millis, I need them stronger."
"Alright, but we are spread thin as it is."
"I know we are, but we will make it. I wouldn't ask anything of you if you all couldn't handle it.. Troy. I will need the weapons I commissioned to be ready by tomorrow."
"Don't worry Emperor Jordan. They will be ready by tomorrow. All seven of them." Tony said stroking his thick brown beard.
"Jordan." Anne called out. "Isn't battling beasts, for three months a little much?"
"It will be okay." I said. "I need to do this so I can get as close to evolving into the Demon Realm as I can. That way, it will be easier."
"How far down will you go?" Roger asked.
"The fortieth floor or lower." I replied.
"But the forty-first floor is the starting floor for Decal Millennial Beasts. That's also the starting floor for people who have already evolved into the Demon Realm."
"That is true. But I won't be alone. The five of us together should be stronger than most beasts in the forty first and forty second floors. Remember, we all need to get stronger as quickly as possible. And since we are all connected, the stronger I get, the stronger everyone connected to me gets. Now, we... are all one."
"Anyway." I continued. "I will make sure to be back before Margrave has the chance to make any move against us."
"You better." Lisa said. "Your plan only works with you here."
"I know, but... You all can handle even if I am a bit late. And Millis is here too. " I looked around the room scanning for Millis. "Wait a second! Where is Millis?"
*
*
Millis stood on the roof of my temporary castle, watching the whole nation. She could see over the kingdom with her blue eyes. Millis was the daughter of the God, Althea.
So she inherited the All-seeing eyes from her mother. Millis had chosen to stand beside me, whatever I decided to do. She was going to take her new role as Guardian seriously.
She knew her younger brother, the Guardian of Margrave, was a Celestial who loved war and chaos and only sees it as harmless fun. But she already made an oath to guard the subjects of this Empire. Even if she had to be at odds with her brother.
The clouds were dark. As if a storm was about to roll in. The weather chilly, as it was the middle of winter. Though the cold never bothered us monsters.
Everyone was dressed in thick winter clothes as the worked but the cold was not really a problem. Even the Dwarves had high tolerance to cold. They were after all, Arctic Dwarves.
I climbed up to the roof and stood by her side. I looked over to her and was about to ask what she was doing on the rooftop, but stopped. It was obvious. She stood on the roof of the tallest building in the city, looking over the city. Maybe even farther than just one city. Maybe she was watching over the entire Empire.
I smiled then asked her. "How long have you been here?"
"Since this morning." She answered without taking her gaze off the horizon. "Why are you here?" She asked.
"For you."
"Me? What's wrong?" She asked finally looking at me.
"I will leave for the dungeon soon, as we planned. So I want to spend as much time with you as I can before then."
"I believe you should spend this time getting closer with the people you will be with for the next few months. Or maybe be getting closer with your new subjects."
"For my soon-to-be party members, we still have a lot of time to catch up while we are on the road. So that's not a problem. As for my subjects, well I am sure they will understand. The whole nation is getting restructured. This isn't the time for me to start going around the nation meeting people. Though it is on my mind. I want to get to know everyone who is in my kingdom. But that will have to wait till the country is more stable and peaceful." I stopped a while, watching the horizon with her. "Why is it that whenever we meet, we always end up talking about politics."
"This is our life now." She said.
"I know. But we are more than our roles."
"More than our roles? I suppose that's true."
"Aaah." I sighed deeply." This view is amazing. Watching the whole city from here is nice. Maybe I should add a tower in the plans for the Capital, so we can watch the country together from the top. What do you think."
She looked at me and smiled. "I would like that."