The first day of the eleventh month of the year 989983
Owen, sitting in a small meditation room, opened his eyes.
"I am finally a middle-stage rank 1 mage!"
If the mana core is less than 30% of the size of the aperture, then the mage is in the initial stage.
Between 31 to 70 percent is the middle stage, and 71 to 99 percent is the late stage.
After 15 years of hard work, with the help of many pills, including some rank 3, Owen finally reached the middle stage.
Rachel, who got promoted to rank 2 middle stage magic treasure with Owen, said," Congratulations!"
"Thanks," Owen said with a smile.
He stretched his body, stood up, and left the room.
Today's Robels kingdom is everything he wanted.
He eliminated nobles nearly a decade ago.
Now, they are only more affluent citizens with no special rights.
They are still much better off than ordinary people, but without any territory they control.
Owen didn't want to take it further and take their money away.
After all, rich people will always exist.
You can't prohibit being rich.
Of course, Owen didn't like people getting too rich, so the taxes would increase exponentially after a certain wealth threshold.
He was satisfied with this system.
Speaking of people being too strong, he also weakened the king's powers.
Owen granted the prime minister total control over the cabinet again.
However, the prime minister is term-limited to two 7-year terms and is elected by vote of all citizens older than 20 and younger than 80.
If the prime minister commits a crime, he may be charged by a special prosecutor appointed by the king. But even in that case, he won't lose his position.
Only people can remove the prime minister.
If he cannot perform his duties for any reason, including being in prison, an election would be called, and the people would vote on whether to keep or remove him.
If the people decide to keep him, he would be immediately released from prison and empowered to serve another 7-year term.
Owen relied on people's wisdom not to elect a criminal.
Any law must be approved by both the prime minister and the king.
As for the judiciary, judges are appointed by the king.
Judges are critical, as they can interpret and twist the laws, so Owen wasn't willing to give them up.
As for the army, the commander serves at the king's pleasure.
The king can also pardon anyone and appoint special prosecutors to investigate sensitive matters.
The day-to-day operations are under the prime minister's control, while the actual power is still within the king's hand.
People's living standard is much better than before, and mortal science is progressing by leaps and bounds.
Buildings that were thought impossible to be built with only mortal equipment are possible now.
There are many more universities.
With universities came a lot of new inventions.
Today, Owen is satisfied with what he has built in his long tenure as the king.
"It's time for me to pass on the throne to the crown princess!" Owen thought.
That's right, he has already made Doris crown princess.
When it was first announced 8 years ago, it was massive news everywhere, even in other countries!
In the last hundreds of years, no women held any position within the Robels or other kingdoms.
Many people protested, some for personal reasons.
One was John, Doris's brother.
He was the eldest son, so he expected to become king from a very young age.
When it was announced that Doris would become the crown princess, he felt something had been stolen from him.
Even Rose took his side and protested.
However, Owen stood firm.
Today, everyone has accepted the fact that Doris is going to become king.
The protests had died down since she was promoted to the official mage stage 7 years ago!
Her speed was unbelievable, even to Owen.
After only 8 years of mage training, she broke through to rank 1 mage!
In contrast, her mother, Rose, is still a first-grade mage apprentice!
She did try to break through once, but failed, and since then, she has stuck!
It was unexpected for Owen, who expected Rose to break through and become an official mage.
But it's expected when you look at the mage world as a whole.
Without resources that only a mage academy can provide, the difficulty of breaking through with any degree of certainty is beyond imagination.
Owen didn't give Rose any valuable pills.
One reason is that he can't think of a way for the source of the pills.
The Blue Light Academy is there, and if the news spreads that Owen is giving out high-grade pills like candy, they will investigate.
Owen must make up a source before handing them out.
But he didn't find a way after thinking for a long time.
Pills take a lot of work to make.
Even the Blue Light Academy, with all of its glory, has shortages.
What can a rank 1 mage like Owen do that Blue Light Academy cannot?
As for why he didn't just privately give her pills, it's because He didn't trust her completely.
His relations with Rose weren't great before; today, they are more like strangers.
She is still the queen, but they rarely meet.
Owen started walking towards the throne room.
He reached there and went in.
More than 20 people were waiting inside, many standing as there was insufficient space.
Plans for a new throne Room are underway, but it takes a while before it's ready.
Everyone bowed as Owen sat.
"Today, I'm not here to listen to your reports. I'm here to announce that the crown princess will inherit the throne on the first day of the next year, exactly one month away. Make all the preparations. If anyone has any objection, please keep it to yourself." Owen said in an unquestionable tone.
Everyone was shocked.
In their eyes, Owen, an official mage with a long lifespan, could rule for a long time.
So, they didn't expect him to abdicate the throne before his 100th birthday.
However, they knew better and didn't protest it, so with the prime minister in the lead, everyone bowed and said," We obey your order, Your Majesty."
…
The first day of the first month of the year 989984
This day is historic.
Many people had mixed feelings about it.
But even the most sexist people couldn't protest, as Doris was flawless in every aspect.
If an official mage couldn't become king, who could?
It would be something if John were also an official mage.
Then, they would say that John is more suited than Doris.
But John doesn't even have mage talent.
The only 2 official mages in the kingdom both wanted the same thing.
Who could resist?
So they just accepted the fact, wore their best clothes, and came to the palace for celebrations.
Nineteen people were sitting at a table with the most luxurious foods on it.
They were members of the royal family.
The right seat of the first row was filled by none other than Owen.
He was purposefully lowering himself and sitting on the second seat to boost Doris's reputation.
On the left seat of the first row, it was Rose.
She was looking much older than when they married.
She didn't look too happy or too sad.
She wanted John to become the king, but Doris was also her child, so she wasn't sad.
On the following three seats were Owen's wives.
After them, it was John.
He had a poker face, not smiling or frowning.
After John, Owen's other eight sons and five daughters.
He liked a large family.
No other members of the royal family were allowed.
Most of Owen's siblings were dead, and those alive were too old to attend.
At least this was their excuse for not attending.
Owen didn't care, as he wasn't close to any of his brothers and sisters.
After a while, drums sounded, and Doris entered.
Everyone, except for Owen and Rose, bowed.
The chief judge started the ceremony.
After a while, he read the oath.
"… swear that you keep the kingdom safe from internal and external dangers, always do the best action for the greater good of the kingdom, regardless of any personal matter, hold justice blindly for everyone no matter the person, their origin or status, respect the laws as the role model for entire kingdom …"
The oath went on for a long time.
It was written by Owen himself, who wanted it to be comprehensive, covering every subject.
After another 10 minutes, it finally ended.
"Yes, I swear," Doris said.
The chief judge took the throne, which was on a plate held by some servant, and carefully put it on her head.
Then he bowed and said," Your Majesty!"
Everyone else except her parents bowed and also called "Your Majesty!"
...
Dosis, who was on the throne, closed her eyes.
She worked very hard.
Be it knight training, mage training, or studies, her efforts were immense.
Sure, she was talented, but there are a lot of talented people who are lazy and waste their talent.
She wasn't one of those people.
Someone knocked.
"Come in," she said.
A man who looked around 50 came in.
He was a judge who she appointed for selecting new lawyers to be appointed as judges.
The man bowed and gave her a list.
"I required that they should be fair people who don't take anyone's wealth or status into account. Do these people meet these conditions?"
The judge, Connor, confidently said," Your majesty, these people are respected throughout the country. I don't doubt that these people would judge everyone equally and even-handedly."
Doris nodded his head.
…
The ninth day of the third month of the year 989985
Rose was meditating.
After a while, she opened her eyes in disappointment.
"How can it be so difficult?"
She was frustrated.
She can try to break through, but breaking through like this has a great chance of failure.
She is afraid of death!
"My lady!!"
Her servant ran inside without knocking!
"What happened?" Rose asked in confusion.
"Lord John, he murdered a girl in front of everyone!" the servant, an old woman, said.
"He did what? Where is he now?" Rose asked impatiently.
"He has returned to his palace," the servant said.
"Good, let's go meet Doris!" Rose said.
…
Sitting in a room and reading a book, Doris looked at the door and said," Come in."
A servant came and told her the news.
She was shocked!
"Did they just allow him to leave?" she asked in astonishment.
The servant bowed his head and said nothing.
Doris sighed and said," Dale would take care of it!"
Dale Ware was the new prime minister elected last year.
He was from a low-income family and was the law and order-type.
Even if the murderer is from the royal family, Dale is not the person who backs down.
Doris is not going to stop him.
After all, she swore an oath to uphold justice no matter the person's status.
"Go out!" Rose came in without knocking.
The servant left while bowing.
"Doris, please help! The new prime minister wouldn't let this go unless you intervene! You should pardon John before he gets arrested! I heard jail is very dirty; we can't let him go to jail!" Rose said.
"Mom, don't worry, the justice will be served," Doris said.
"Doris, my dear, this is not justice. How can my John be compared with some prostitute? Even if he kills a hundred, it's still not worth him going to jail." Rose said.
"That is for the judge to decide," Doris said.
"Are you going to let him be arrested? How can you? How can you do this to your brother?" Rose said.
Doris sighed, put the book away, and then moved out of the room.
Rose blocked her way.
Doris thought," It's such trouble!"
Rose is a first-grade mage apprentice, so Doris can't just order guards to take Rose away.
With Rose's current state, she will probably kill soldiers.
"Sleep"
Doris cast rank 1 'sleep' spell.
Rank 1 spells are far above the tolerance of an appearance mage, so Rose immediately fell to Dorise's hands.
Doris instructed a few servants to take her back to her palace, then sent a letter informing Dale of the matter.
The kingdom has many apprentice mages, many of whom work for the prime minister, so he can handle Rose without help.
The following day, the shocking news spread.
John, son of senior King Owen, was arrested and is now in jail!
King Owen was extremely popular among the population.
After the news spread, millions of people came out in support of John!
Some ministers and judges publicly stated that John should be released based on his father's merit and services to the kingdom alone!
They argued that laws should balance good with evil, and John had done so much good that one murder of a prostitute could be forgiven.
Everyone was optimistic until the case was assigned to one of the judges appointed by Doris!