NOVEL WEB “Change the name of the territory of the former Sahelrn Principality to Sahelrn Duchy and delegate full authority during peacetime to Grand Duke Martini Sahelrn.”
“Change the name of the territory of the former Helraig Principality to Helraig Duchy and delegate full authority during peacetime to Grand Duke Jeil Helraig.”
“Change the name of the territory of the former Bertica Kingdom to Bertica Duchy and delegate full authority during peacetime to Grand Duke Selina Bertica.”
Immediately after the coronation ceremony, I, determined not to procrastinate the pesky procedures, moved busily without rest.
Ironically, while I was shouting about delegating authority, it was actually me who was the busiest person here. But then again, just having been crowned, there wasn’t much I could do about it.
Last week, at Martini’s behest, I had to choose a name for the royal family and the nation, and I selected the pseudonym I used while staying in the Mist Labyrinth.
Aria Scarlet.
That became my new name, and naturally, the national title was decided as the Scarlet Union Kingdom.
It wasn’t too awkward to be called a name I had used before, but being in the spotlight was somewhat burdensome.
While I had accustomed myself to malice and disdain, the expectations directed towards me felt oddly uncomfortable.
I thought to myself, “Wow, I really have come a long way to sit on the throne.” Still, I accepted the weight of the crown resting on my head.
‘Pressure isn’t always bad.’
If pressure breeds vigilance and vigilance opens the path to a better future, then it’s something to be welcomed.
In any case, it would be those around me who would be more troubled handling the truly important and complicated matters, so I shouldn’t complain.
“Beastmen and elves will largely be recruited for maintaining public order in the Bertica Kingdom for a while. Details will be confirmed through future orders.”
In fact, the name ‘Union Kingdom’ and delegating nearly all powers of governance to the dukes without altering the existing ruling system were part of a similar context.
As I had openly declared during a gathering before, I had no intention of living as a part for ruling the nation forever and maintaining an ideal system.
The statement about delegating full authority during peacetime strongly emphasized that aspect.
For now, I had no choice but to be involved due to the state of emergency, but once stability returned after unifying the continent, I intended to sprinkle the idea that unless major rules were broken, they could manage the minor details according to local characteristics.
Of course, this meant I had no way to avoid the current hardships, as I needed to lay a solid foundation from the start.
“Criminals sentenced to imprisonment will undergo additional blood extraction proportionate to their sentence, separate from their existing obligations. Also, stricter regulations will apply to particularly heinous special violent crimes.”
While I referred to particularly heinous special violent crimes, in specifics, it meant that the stronger one was, the harsher the punishment would be when rebelling against the rules, considering their influence.
The criterion was the Blood Supplement.
In fact, it was all an excuse about how greater power comes with responsibility; if someone possessed enough strength to receive the Blood Supplement but broke the rules, they would be forced to contribute to the increase of the vampire food supply.
This truly was a win-win situation capturing criminals while securing food supplies.
Various basic policies were presented, but nearly all restrictions applied only to humans, the lowest class of subjugated beings, and did not pertain to others.
Of course, not all humans fell under this category.
Nobles participating in the coronation and cooperative humans would openly receive benefits.
Therefore, humans would strive to escape the lowest class, and their efforts would suppress any rebellious sparks from malicious neighbors.
Of course, it was strictly forbidden for vampires to arbitrarily increase their subordinates without permission.
The number of vampires compared to the total population was one of the most critical aspects.
Additionally, Plona, Eleonora, and Lavina were completely excluded from this chart as my direct special unit.
They had not been given any territory or fixed roles, but their effective status and speaking rights were almost equivalent to those of a Grand Duke.
Unlike the Grand Dukes who directly managed their principalities, there were several entities wielding transcendent powers without being bound by forms and procedures, which might displease some, but what difference would that make?
‘If you’re unhappy, go be a king yourself.’
Giving roles to the kids isn’t hard, but once the continent is unified and the system has stabilized to some degree, my ultimate goal is to reign without ruling.
I can’t just force a crown on those who wish to be near me and think I can have all the fun myself, nor do I intend to.
Naturally, opposing opinions didn’t exist.
The fact that I grant many powers to my subordinates simply reflects pure discretion and trust, and the general perception is that all power of the Union Kingdom emanates from me — a dictatorship.
Whether I give authority or not is up to me, and my loyal subjects and future subjects wouldn’t express discontent.
In that sense, order determined by power is quite convenient.
However, in exchange, I’ve been working so hard amped-up that my mouth is dry and my feet feel swollen — a metaphorical expression, of course — and it wasn’t until six days after the coronation that I could finally get a moment of rest.
“Thank you for your hard work, Your Majesty. This concludes the matters you needed to personally verify for now.”
Martini said as he organized the mountain of documents piled up on my desk.
‘I don’t want to see documents for a while.’
Just reading the text makes me want to throw up reflexively.
Although it’s likely that the wind will never come, sometimes you have to know how to just live for today. For now, I decided to revel in my current freedom.
“Not easy, huh? It might sound odd, but I’d rather stick my neck out than be buried in a pile of paperwork for days, though only once, of course.”
“That’s an interesting joke. It truly reflects the level of regenerative ability only one like Your Majesty could pull off.”
“You won’t die if you get decapitated either. And by the way, when it’s just us, you don’t have to call me Your Majesty.”
“Hoho, does that make you uncomfortable?”
With a smile that seemed overly pleased, I slightly turned my head away and nodded lightly.
“I’m very happy that you wish for a friendly relationship and I’d gladly reciprocate, but at least for a while longer, wouldn’t it be better to keep it this way? You’ll have to get used to this title as you’ll continuously hear it from now on, right?”
“……”
There it was. I kinda expected he might react that way, especially given how smug he looked.
Oh well.
Sometimes I do feel a twinge in my stomach but titles are a minor issue.
Right now, there are much more pressing matters.
“Well, fine then. Anyway, this means that for now, we’ve extinguished all the urgent flames, right?”
“Regarding the Sahelrn Duchy and Helraig Duchy, there’s really nothing to worry about since only the organization has changed slightly. The only variable is the Bertica Duchy, but…”
“…yes! Huh? Me? Ah, well, over here, we plan to proceed step by step to reduce backlash, so it might take some time, but for now, the matters You Majesty needs to approve have been concluded, so it’s sufficient.”
As Martini trailed off, Selina, busy flipping through paperwork from a distance, jumped slightly, as if she had sensed his gaze, and answered shyly.
While Selina could converse comfortably with Eleonora and Lavina, it seemed a bit harder for her with Martini or Jeil.
Even though she was now given the same title of Grand Duke, it’s understandable that she finds it difficult to regard a vampire with a 200-year age gap as her equal.
‘Jeil would especially feel that way.’
Nonetheless, lately, Jeil seemed to be attempting, perhaps out of respect towards me, but fundamentally, the atmosphere still felt quite hard to approach.
This is putting it kindly; to put it bluntly, they have some serious social shortcomings.
“By the way, where’s Jeil?”
Now that I think about it, it feels like I haven’t seen Jeil since yesterday.
I was too swamped to even notice what others were doing.
Of course, without Jeil, I doubted that both Selina and Martini were thoroughly occupied with paperwork.
I figured I’d ask if Martini had heard anything, and surprisingly, it was Selina who responded.
“I heard that Grand Duke Helraig went to check on the military organization.”
Ah, so he had gone that way directly.
Since Selina mentioned this, it must pertain to matters related to the Bertica Duchy.
Even though the three Duchies had been divided, they were not completely independent from each other.
The Grand Duke is merely the responsibility holder of the area, but in practice, they belong to one kingdom, so close and frequent collaboration is inevitable.
The vampires from Helraig were also scheduled to be deployed to Bertica Duchy for a while, so he likely went there for direct inspection.
Well, Jeil certainly doesn’t look like the type to just sit behind a desk and do paperwork.
I completely understood.