After arriving in the [Throne Room], I sat on my throne next to which Nuwa and Fuxi were waiting with documents I might need during the meeting.
-"Yue! I've got everything to told me to."
~"Thank you, Fuxi. Great work as always, you two."
-"Thank you, Yue."
-"I can see you succeeded in your crafts, Yue."-Spoke Hephaestus, who, as my deputy, was already present in the room.
~"Yes, my abilities made it much easier for me to perform imbuements. This is the result of my work this time."
I passed [Wyrd] to her so she can get a closer look.
-"Hmm... You combined multiple powerful items to create this. Great creation. I won't be able to create something as powerful as this."
~"Well, most of the power comes from items used to create this, so I can't claim this as my creation. Reforging at most."
-"But in the end, you brought it to be. Is it possible to forge similar accessories for others in Hold?"
~"If we reduce power to simple obscuring of Karma, but that wouldn't work on Outer-god level beings."
-"Most of our enemies don't possess those, so it's good enough."
~"Let's work on those together then."
-"Sure, I still need to finish some of my works, but I will call you when I'm ready."
-"To think you two would set up a date in front of us. You've grown bold, Hephaestus."-Loki appeared from behind Hephaestus with her signature mischievous look.
~"Are you jealous, Loki?"
-"Nah, what I'm jealous of is your harem. I have to keep my girls from you."
-"Loki, don't say something so stupid."
-"Riveria, you should have backed me up here!"
Turning my head to Zhongli, who was arranging the guards in the room, I spoke to him.
~"Zhongli, can we so that everyone doesn't have to stand for the whole meeting?"
-"This is not appropriate for anyone other than the monarch and his family to sit in the [Throne Room]."
~"Hold is my family, so there is no problem there."
-"Sigh."
Creating tables and chairs for everyone taking part in the meeting to sit down, I ignored the annoyed looks I received from Zhongli and Loki. In the end, they arranged tables on the left and right of the room, keeping the middle clear.
-"Don't make too many troubles for Loki and Zhongli, Yue."-Spoke Astraea, who entered the [Throne Room].
~"We just have different ideas when it comes to the image of an emperor."
-"I can see that."- She sat on her throne next to me.
~"You should rest for a while before we start. I can see you are exhausted."
-"I'm good, but I will do so after the meeting. I want to deal with the issue without leaving problems for the future."
~"That might be impossible, but let's do our best."
After a few more minutes, everyone gathered, and we could start the meeting. As the Master of Ceremonies, Zhongli walked to the center of the room to lead the meeting.
-"Before everything else, allow me to confirm today's meeting's itinerary. The main subjects are the restructuring of bureaucracy in Hold and plans for establishing the market, while secondary topics are reports from all Ministries, updates on upcoming war, and matters concerning Yue's ascension together with the arrival of Elves and Valkyries. Are there any other matters that need to be heard?"
He looked around, and seeing that no one raised any other issue, he continued speaking.
-"Then the first topic is the reports from Ministries. First is the Ministry of Interior."
When Zhongli called the first Ministry, he stepped aside, allowing the head of the Ministry of Interior to step forward. While this was originally Loki's job, she passed that position to Ji Xuanyuan, wanting to focus on her other tasks.
The once Yellow Empress had a great experience in ruling, so she felt like a fish in the water. She was the first to notice problems in our system and also became the central figure in preparing drafts for this meeting.
-"I will not mention subjects that will overlap with the restructuring, so I will focus on how the Ministry of Interior handled operations up until this meeting."
Ji Xuanyuan explained the overall situation of the Capital and Academic cities, speaking about both expenses and needs in detail. She also spoke at length about progress on the self-sufficiency of the Hold.
-"To sum it up, two-thirds of the food is supplied locally, and only the staple foods such as wheat and rice need to be imported. Luckily, our production of exotic foods and spices is much greater than consumption, so there was no overall loss, and even significant profit was reported in the last half a year."
She passed us copies of the data about what she explained.
-"Lastly, the census. We accounted for a total of over fifty thousand civilians living in the Hold: eighteen thousand in Academy City, twenty-six thousand in Capital City, and the remaining six thousand in various farms and villages. This does not include military personnel and members of Hold, as well as Elves and other peoples not in direct affiliation with Hold."
While I was reading detailed numbers divided by age, gender, and qualifications or professions and listening to the explanation given by Ji Xuanyuan, I used my perception that covered my whole world to match each data point to individual people, putting all that together into a database in the Akasha System.
-"This is all."
~"Thank you, Ji Xuanyuan. I will prepare a database so that your future work is smoother."
Astraea looked up from the document in her hand and spoke while looking at me.
-"On the subject, I thought about creating an ID for our citizens. What do you think?"
~"It would make our life much easier, so I'm all for it. We can discuss it more when we speak about the restructuring."
-"Good, I'll remember to bring it up."
Zhongli once again stepped forward and called the next Ministry.
-"The Ministry of Exterior."
Ganyu was the one in charge of that Ministry, and she stepped forward to give her report.
-"Um, so, all Vassals under the influence of the Hold function without any major problems. Only the issue with the Mage's Association requires Hold's direct action."
Ganyu continued to speak about how the Vassals operated this past half a year, giving us data on their performance. Later, she switched the subject to worlds that Astrall Expres has visited but were not worth mentioning before.
-"I lack precise data about the areas under Hold Influence, but in total, ten billion peoples of many races are under our rule. We also have over ten dead worlds ready for development."
~"Those will have to wait for much longer."
-"Indeed. Ganyu, do you have reports from Vassals?"-Asked Astraea.
-"Yes, I will send them after the meeting."
-"Please do so."
Ganyu stepped back, and after Zhongli called for the Ministry of Economy, Tingyun took the stage. After giving me a wink, she started speaking.
-"The economy of Hold is stagnant, and it's taking things lightly. We don't have our own currency, depend on the IPC's trade routes for most of our needs, and we are massive importers."
Tingyun then brought up trade numbers and statistics, painting us a picture of how terrible the state of our economy was. Even without experience in the subject, one could understand the depth of the problem from the data alone. When she finished her report, no one spoke. Everyone was in deep thought.
We recovered only when Zhongli called for the Ministry of War. Yelan walked out from her seat and started to speak about the state of the army.
-"Right now, each of the five armies of Hold possesses little over three hundred thousand soldiers, supported by two million civilians living on each ship of Hexafleet. Additionally, half a million soldiers are in basic training per army. They will join active forces in a year."
Yelan spoke at length about the state of the armory and the need to expand Starskiffs numbers. She also mentioned the necessity of creating special forces to act behind enemy lines.
-"No serious issues were reported, but there is a need for more officers and strategists. This is all."
~"Good to hear that our military works with no problems."
-"I said that you can leave it to me."-Never shy to take credit, Nobunaga spoke with pride.
~"Sure. Zhongli, please continue."
Now, it was Fu Xuan and her Ministry of Justice's turn. She spoke about laws that were implemented and those that still needed some changes. Astraea and Ningguang asked about some nuances with her, and they decided to meet later to work on some rules that concerned their fields.
Last to come forward was Yae, who was head of the Ministry of Culture. She spoke about the feelings of people in Hold, opinions about both people, and decisions taken by us. She also mentioned Festivals and other arts that were created but pointed out the need to promote artists to form a more healthy society.
After Yae returned to her seat and we finished reading the documents she gave us, Zhongli spoke to move the meeting forward.
-"Now that everyone is on the same page, we can move to the main subject of today's meeting: the restructuring of bureaucracy."
~"Thank you, Zhongli. Astraea, do you want to start?"
-"Sure. Hold right now is staffed only by direct members. We need to create a profession of civil officials who can perform menial tasks on the lower levels of the power structure."
-"I would also need some personnel to assist in the administration of the Hold's chambers of commerce."-Ninggunag also shared Astraea's troubles with personnel.
~"I think all Ministries require more personnel. The issue is, from where are we to get people?"
-"I already thought about that problem, so I suggest we recruit people from both inside the Hold and form worlds under our influence. For the next half a year, we will train them, and they will enter a probationary period for another half a year, after which their family may join them in the Hold."
~"The possibility of taking their family into the Hold will certainly attract people from other worlds, but we can negatively affect our Vassals by poaching their personnel."
-"That's why we will recruit from those young in need. Countless people in their late teens to early thirties are in dire straits due to a lack of opportunities. If we were to provide them with those, their loyalty would be much stronger than already trained professionals."
~"Indeed, but we would have to wait for half a year before they can perform their jobs."
-"Don't forget that the estimated time to prepare positions and other necessary tools for them to start work would require at least three months."
~"I see. Half a year is not that long when you look at all the prerequisite preparations needed."
-"Yes, we can't simply throw thousands of people into our system, or that would cause more chaos."
~"Who will lead the recruitment and training?"
-"I suggest Tingyun."
~"Will you do it?"
-"Sure, but please leave one of your puppets with me."
~"Good."
-"Then we can move to another issue, the Ministries. The tasks handled by each are too varied, so we need to split and create more of them. First, we have to create a Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work alongside the Ministry of Exterior."
-"Astraea is right. Ganyu can't take care of both Vassals and exploration of new worlds at the same time."-Elysia spoke for her deputy.
-"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will take care of those who are not under Hold's rule, while the Ministry of Exterior will supervise Vassals and manage worlds for development. Both will nominally be under Hope."-Astraea continued to explain.
~"Who will be running those Ministries?"
-"Ganyu will remain as the head of the Ministry of Exterior, and I will nominate Himeko for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
~"You mean the Astrall Expres Himeko, Elysia?"
-"Yes!"
~"Hmm... Will you help her, Loki?"
-"Sure. In my eyes, she is one of best diplomats I have ever seen."
~"Next is Ministry under your Duty, Astraea."
-"Yes. I want to create Ministries of Agriculture and Infrastructure. The Interior will deal with population, policing, and administration. Agriculture is rather self-explanatory, similarly to Infrastructure."
~"Hmm... I think you should also create a Ministry responsible for dealing with matters of members of Hold."
-"I agree, but it won't be under Duty. I'll come back to it later, but first, I would like to nominate Nahida for the role of Minister of Agriculture and Tsubaki for Minister of Infrastructure. I hope you wouldn't mind them working for Duty?"
~"Of course I won't. Just make sure they have nothing against it."
-"Of course."
-"Now it's my turn."-Spoke Ningguang.-"I would like to create the Ministry of Trade to ease the life of Tingyun. The Ministry of Economy will take care of internal matters, while the Ministry of Trade will deal with exports and imports along with other deals between Hold and other forces. Yukong already agreed to lead it."
-"Lastly, your Progress also needs the Ministries of Education and Research. Ministry of Education is for obvious reasons, while Ministry of Research is to help you manage the growing amount of researchers and projects they explore."
~"This indeed would be helpful moving forward. I will ask Dr. Mei to be the Minister of Education. As for Research, I think that Aranyani will be best suited for that due to her experience using the Akasha System."
-"Sure. Next, I want to create two special ministries that will act outside the influence of the Five Principles. Two Imperial Ministries, the Ministry of Imperial Household and the Ministry of Imperial Affairs."
-"Allow me to explain in detail."-Loki walked to the middle of the room.-"Ministry of Imperial Household will deal with the matters of Palaces and Imperial Family. Keqing will be the Minister, and all her current responsibilities will be included there."
~"Then why do you want to create a Ministry for that?"
-"As minister Keqing will have more authority, this will help her in her tasks. Also, it's necessary for the Imperial Court to operate smoothly."
~"Good, what will the Ministry of Imperial Affairs do?"
-"If Keqing is to deal with all matters inside, then I, as Minister of Imperial Affairs, will manage the working of the Imperial family outside the Palaces. Preparing for audiences, Palace Guards, and such will be my responsibility."
~"You just want to make sure I behave, right Loki?"
-"This is indeed one of my purposes."
~"Sigh, I will ask you to be lax on that then."
-"Heh, I will try."
-"Representatives of your Spirit Empire, Elune and Winter, and Zhongli, together with scribes, will finish all permanent Court Positions in the future."-Astraea took over the explanation from Loki.-"We will convene the Court after every Festival so that all matters might be dealt with on time."
~"I agree with your idea."
-"I'm also in favor."-Ningguang was second to agree.
-"Sure!"
-"I don't mind."
After Elysia and Nobu had also agreed to the general idea, we started to discuss the details. While still leaving some room for future adjustments, we created structures for our future bureaucracy, trying to keep it as straightforward as possible.
When we finally finished, we agreed on the short recess, reconvening an hour later to continue with the remaining subjects.