"Alright, now that new management has been established, let's talk about the structure or Rather The hierarchy of new eight fingers."
Renner spoke, her smooth and pleasant voice contrasting well with the oppressive atmosphere in the room and relieving the fear of the two remaining members of eight fingers.
"But before we can do that, I do believe there's still someone missing"
She informed.
"That is Correct M'lady, however do not worry, he will be informed of the changes"
Zweden answered promptly, as he felt less and less fear, he glanced at the bloody waist and legs in the room and the wall painted with blood. No hand movements ever happened or occurred from Arthur, yet half of Cocodoll's body simply became blood on the wall.
The thought of simply Running away occurred to him, however leaving Eight fingers meant leaving the money behind, he Hasn't lived like a commoner in years, he can hardly remember the time where he did not have maids waiting on him.
'This is fine. It's just a change in management'
He convinced himself, taking a glance at Hilma he could tell she had come to the same conclusion as him, the heads of eight fingers were greedy and to run away from the business they had given so much wealth simply idiotic, they just needed to simply swallow their pride a bit.
"Very well then, if he resists, then Informed us, we'll deal with him promptly"
"Yes ma'am!"
The two responded and the princess could not help but feel a bit excited, it was one thing to watch Arthur absolutely dominate the room and showcase his ruthlessness and it was another to have People Like the heads Of eight fingers be subservient to you.
This was another reason why she was prepared to ensure Arthur never leaves her side, his Presence gave her power and power gave her control, and It was magnificent to be in control.
"Now then, for the most part, your positions will remain unchanged, however the difference will be that you report to us about anything and everything"
She informed and waited for any objections or complaints, but it seems there are none, so she continued.
"secondly, the way in which the various businesses with eight fingers function will be slightly changed, this includes the brothels and human trafficking as well as the drugs department"
"h-how different will they function?"
Hilma daringly asked, her eyes refusing to look at the princess directly.
"the finer details will be discussed at length a 2 days from now but the gist of it, we'll be limiting the amount of drugs in circulation and we'll have all of the prostitutes be properly paid, don't worry there won't be a lot of loss in terms of money so it would be fine plus you lot don't pay taxes so there alot of dirty money lying around¹."
She said, it was quite obvious that criminal organisations did not pay taxes, but since they've taken it over, it should be fine for the time being at least
"You say there won't be a loss in money, but where will it come from?"
"As I have stated, the finer details will be discussed two days from now, not unless you want to spend the next few hours discussing this in a room with a dead body and blood walls?"
Zweden took a look around and concurred with the princess, although he also suspects she's giving them two days to properly accept the situation and decide if they want to flee or work under them.
"very well then"
"good, in the future, my maid over here, Edstrom. Will work as my liaison, obviously as a princess I can't be seen with people like you as such since she's familiar with all of you, I believe she'll be right for the job. Do you have any complaints, Edstrom?"
"none M'lady"
The former member of six arms did a small bow as she agreed to the Princess's idea. The two heads of eight fingers could not help but raise their eyebrows, it was an odd sight.
"In the future, you should expect the other two to return to you as well, although both Zero and Succulent are dead, unlike Malmvist and Pershurian, who are still in the dungeon"
Renner informed, unlike Edstrom, the other two six arms members needed to stay in the dungeon for the time being.
The two former heads of eight fingers nodded to her words. They had questions about what she said, but the smell of a dead body was starting to permeate the room.
"If there are no questions then we shall take our leave, if you want to run or hide, i advise against that, despite how it might seem you won't lose much of your power so do try and relax"
With that said, both Arthur and Renner exited the room, leaving the two individuals to suddenly collapse on the floor as the tension was released from the bodies.
Hilma let out an audible sigh before turning her head towards Zweden and asked a question.
"What do we do?"
"If we trust her words about us retaining our status in eight fingers, then we do nothing, it's business as usual, I'd rather live under her rule than lose all my wealth"
Zweden informed, and Hilma could only silently agree to his statement.
.....
The next day in the afternoon, the throne room was filled with all the nobles of the kingdom. The ceremony was short notice but as it usually is announced a week before however the King wished to quickly have Arthur join the noble ranks of the kingdom and most of the nobles understood and thus made time for the ceremony.
"Today is a wonderful afternoon, as we the one blessed with power to lead the people of Re-estize kingdom, are gathered to welcome another to our ranks"
The king spoke as he stood on his throne, and Arthur was bowed beneath the steps that led to the throne listening to the king give his speech.
"On this day we welcome Arthur Pendragon in to the noble ranks of our kingdom, although he may be of foreign origin, the valiant deeds he has done for our kingdom deserves a greater reward than just mere gold"
The king continued to speak and took a few steps forward and arrived before Arthur. He descended a single step before holding out the scepter in his hand. The scepter was an ornate stick made from gold and crowned with small jewels that made it head.
"As such by the power vested in me by the very land this castle was built upon, the very land that shelters the people of this kingdom, I King Ramposa the third king of the Vaiself royal blood line bestow upon you, Arthur Pendragon The noble title of Baron. Henceforth, you shall be referred to as Baron Pendragon. Do you accept?"
"I accept the honour, my Liege"
Arthur answered, and the king placed the scepter on one side of his shoulders before moving and placing it on the other side.
"now stand, Baron Pendragon"
Arthur stood, and his gaze met that of the king.
"Do you swear, to both uphold and ensure the law of the Re-estize kingdom is not broken?"
"I swear"
"Do you swear to protect the citizens and drive off the enemies of the Re-estize?"
"I swear"
"Do you swear to always ensure the prosperity of your people and the kingdom as a whole?"
"I swear"
"Then go Baron Pendragon and do as you have sworn"
"yes my liege"
With those words out of his mouth, resounding claps echoed throughout the room with many nobles shouting "congratulations" unfortunately their clapping was halted not by the king but by the princess, she needed to only raise a hand.
The king looked at her daughter in confusion. There was not anything she was scheduled to say at this ceremony, however , deciding to trust his daughter, he gave her the floor, allowing her to speak.
The beautiful and radiant princess stood up and walked towards Arthur. Her illustrious long hair shimmered a beautiful golden hue as it was struck by the light of the sun, her magnificent blue eyes sparkled brightly as her gaze was fixated on the newly appointed Baron.
The Golden princess was beautiful, and none could ever contest or disagree with that statement. It was simply fact, just as the rising sun was a fact
"Baron Pendragon, amongst everyone in this room, I am the one who have spent the most time with"
Her beautiful melodious voice echoed in the room, forcing all within to hear and appreciate its splendor.
Arthur gave a nod.
"as such I have seen your, Valor and your heart first hand and can attest to your bravery and conviction, although it may have been unofficial, you were still my knight and you took your duty to protect me seriously and because of that I believe being a Baron is still too small a reward"
At this point, everyone in the room had gone deeper into confusion. They could not follow what she seemed to be getting at. What reward could she offer?
"as such, I believe along with your ascension to nobility, I offer you my hand in marriage, do you accept"
Renner stretched out her hand towards Arthur, and the baron took it, gave it a peck on the back palm before turning it and giving another peck on the front palm.
"I accept my lady"
It took a minute for everyone to understand what had transpired, Renner had offered her hand in marriage to the new Baron, and he accepted.
Zanac was the first to have his eyes bulge out his head before exclaiming the word that came out of everyone's mouth.
"Ehhhhhhhh!!!!"
….
[1. Ok we're getting into economics now and I was never good at that subject, so if you are please help, I have some questions, would it cause inflation if the Money taken From eight fingers was used for infrastructure and stuff? like, for instance, whenever eight fingers have surplus profit, Renner uses it to improve the kingdom's roads and housing etc?, if the answer is yes, how do you work around it?]
A/N: this should be the conclusion of this arc however like I said there's going to be some character POVs like Lakyus and Gazeff as well as the POVs for the Baharuth empire and Slane theocracy.
Also should I write Arthur fighting the dragons or should he just have the tamed in the next arc, coz I don't feel like writing a chapter like but I also think it would be nice little side quest, what do you guys think?