Regina hadn’t realized before how much her coronation, including her speech and the ceremony, the real start of the Empire in many ways, would change things. This time, unlike many other occasions like diplomacy with the Esemen or even the recent summit, she couldn’t just go back to the hive like nothing had changed.

Not that she wanted to. She had too much to do to hide away in the hive’s base, not that she was going to stay away from it for too long. Still, there was some adjustment necessary, not just for her.

For now, she’d decided to stay in Cera, at least for a short while. They’d finalized the first set of plans for the new capital and were going to start actually building it, and she knew with her hive’s help it should go relatively quickly. Still, it was probably better not to live in too much of a construction site, at least while she was getting the start of the Central European Empire’s political structures squared away. Which apparently included that she was supposed to have a court.

Things were a bit awkward with Kiara since this was, after all, her capital and royal seat, but she thought they were working through it quite well. Regina had briefly thought about reviving an even older tradition from the HRE and just moving through her dominion from one palace to the next, but she didn’t think she had the nerves for that. Still, a royal visiting their vassals even for an extended period wasn’t exactly new and everyone just went with it.

Her speech had gone well, from what she heard, although it hadn’t quite made as much of an impact as she’d hoped. She wasn’t sure if that was because of a lack of skill on her part or if it was just the limited number of people who could actually hear it in a world without television and the Internet. The important points would be passed around in rumors, but probably distorted. Still, no one had started rebelling yet, or even talking about it too loudly, so she had no reason to complain.

Regina was taking the opportunity to meet with important Cernlian government officials, since she was here, and she had attended court with Kiara. More like a joint court session now. It was interesting to watch everyone’s reactions, at least. Although this kind of thing would be less common once they set up proper judicial systems and a functioning government bureaucracy.

In the meantime, the war against the gnomes wasn’t standing still. Regina spent a while talking to Ben and the other commanders over the psychic link, hashing out their plans for their first major offensive against a key gnomish city. She was trying not to rush into it — it wasn’t like they had any kind of time limit, really — but Ben wanted to press their advantage and not wait too long. In the end, she trusted him to arrange things so it would work out.

There were a few other problems associated with the war, of course. Prisoners were one. Regina had taken the opportunity to have many of them transferred to Cernlia. Keeping them was a constant strain on their resources, and Cernlia and Nerlia still had more manpower than the hive. After all, you couldn’t really trust Swarm Drones to guard prisoners, at least without heavy support from sapient drones. The Delvers were also willing to help, luckily.

They’d also been conducting some interrogations, but Regina kept torture off-limits to the hive, and had made a point to stress the same to Kiara and her advisors. Still, they did get some information that helped the war effort, and background knowledge the Keepers were writing up. Regina found the briefs interesting reading when she got around to it.

She was immersed in one of those, reading about the history of the Gnomish Confederation from what they’d pieced together from some books as well as remarks by captured gnomish soldiers, when Janis tentatively reached out to her over the psychic link.

What’s up? Regina asked, half paying attention. She’d grown used to people asking a few questions occasionally. It was almost like having smartphones or AR gear, she figured, getting texts or voice messages from people you knew. Regina had a feeling she’d been one of those people who always answered them quickly instead of putting them off and were proud of their 0 unread messages status.

Kiara was asking about trade, Janis answered. She seemed cautious, a bit more unsure than usual. In particular, for food, and if she’s allowed to trade with the Esemen?

Regina paused, putting down her papers. That was a serious question. I take it that’s a possibility, then? The Esemen are offering to sell food to the Empire?

That would appear to be a good sign, probably.

Well, it seems to be more about importing food to Cernlia, but yes, that’s what I gather.

Hm. Regina leaned back. The food situation was not as secure as she’d hoped. It was still winter, and the war had drained the stores. She was doing what she could with the hive, but they only had limited land, resources and time to produce more food, especially since it was the middle of winter.

Of course. Kiara, and any Cernlian merchants in general, are free to import food from Esemen, as long as she doesn’t sell them weapons for it, or anything with technology we don’t want them to have. I think the two of you can figure out what would be a security risk. They won’t have to worry about a royal tariff on it or anything.

Alright, thanks, Regina. I’ll let her know.

Good. What do you think of the food situation, Janis?

She sensed Janis shifting. It could be better. People aren’t going to starve in the streets, I hope, but if the weather next year turns bad, we might have issues.

Right. Importing it is an obvious solution. Regina ran her hand through her hair. We should discuss this in more detail. I’ll put it on the agenda and talk to people about it later.

Alright. I’ll still leave for my tour of the south?

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Sure, that’s fine. Don’t have too much fun without me.

Janis sent a bit of amusement and closed the connection, while Regina returned to her paperwork. She did almost wish she could go on that tour herself, but she was needed here and it was probably safer to send Janis. Not to mention that Janis was an experienced commander of the hive, so she was a good choice for assessing their military readiness and coordinating its improvement.

Later that day, Regina met with her advisors and main court officials as she’d said she would. It was a group Regina tried to keep somewhat balanced. Max and Ira were there, and Tim would be if he wasn’t traveling at the moment, but so were several humans from Nerlia and Cernlia, as well as Gwen Cern. There would probably be an ‘unofficial Delver representative’ slot going forward with them rotating in whoever was currently available or a good choice. Excluding Madris, who could just attend when she wanted, but she’d gone traveling for the moment, as well. Regina was waiting to see what came of that, too.

“We’re here to discuss imports and trade in general today,” she started, leaning back in an armchair and sweeping her gaze around the people, who were all choosing seats. “Particularly how we should set tariffs.”

“This is about food, I presume,” Ira said.

Regina nodded. “We could use more,” she admitted. “That’s why I plan on making sure food imports are facilitated.”

“Low tariffs or import taxes would certainly help,” Earl Whitor commented offhandedly.

Regina had been impressed enough by the Cernlian nobleman to give him a position at her court. It didn’t hurt that his situation was still a bit special. He hadn’t quite gotten the independence she suspected he’d wanted, but even if his domain technically remained part of Cernlia, his position with her and her obvious favor, not to mention his contributions, meant he was pretty much able to do as he wanted in practice without worrying about Kiara. As long as he kept to her goals and strictures and didn’t impede her reform efforts, of course.

“Yes,” Regina agreed, “I’ve thought about simply striking all tariffs for food items going into the Empire. At least basic staples, not luxury specialties, I suppose.”

Max nodded, finding that perfectly sensible. Ira scribbled a note in the small bound book she carried. There were a few raised eyebrows from the other people.

“What prompted this, if I may ask?” Gwen asked.

“Apparently, the Esemen are ready to sell food to Cernlia.”

That caused a bit more of a reaction. “Interesting,” Whitor commented. “That might be a good sign for peace. I haven’t heard of them having any economic troubles, either.”

“So we’ll take advantage of this?” Max asked. “Long term? It seems like it would be beneficial to keep these imports.”

“I suppose. We don’t want to be too dependent on food imports, especially from Esemen.” Regina shook her head. “But it can certainly be helpful. And opening the way for people moving from agriculture into other jobs would also be a good side effect.”

It was one of the main drivers and phenomena of industrialization, back then, Galatea had discussed with her. Agricultural output had risen. A population boom and people moving into the cities, working in manufactories and then factories. The demographic changes and lack of other options for all too many people had led to a ‘life is cheap’ kind of attitude, with lacking safety standards, long working hours and bad conditions for workers. Also the rise of communism and social changes, in time. Regina would rather avoid the ‘suffering’ part of it all. But the population was likely going to grow and with all the changes coming, even just the experiments with things like better fertilizers from the hive, there was definitely going to be a shift.

Looking at the people gathered here, she supposed most of them didn’t see it. They nodded but didn’t seem too sure. Gwen looked thoughtful, and Ira appeared to have moved on to numbers and equations.

“What about tariffs within the Empire?” Christine Normas asked. The Nerlian woman, a minor noble lady who had impressed the Nerlian court and then Regina with her intelligence and acuity, tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair and glanced at the paper Ira was scribbling on.

“We’ll minimize those, as well,” Regina answered. “I want trade between the different parts of our new nation to be easy. It should already be easier than it was before, but a strong internal economy is crucial and the ease of moving goods and services is an integral part of that.”

“Thus, your locomotives and rail tracks,” she muttered.

Regina nodded with a slight smile. “That’s another project we hope to have progressing quickly. Although, at the moment, building the new capital is the priority. They should both be helpful to each other, anyway.”

“Have you chosen a name yet, Your Imperial Majesty?”

“I’ve been thinking of Starlit City or something like that,” Regina admitted. “Maybe something accordingly in Latin. But I’m open to suggestions.”

“Not going to name it after yourself?” Max asked with a slight grin.

“That would be naming it after myself, in a way,” she pointed out, returning a smirk.

There was a moment of silence before Whitor cleared his throat and cut in. “Speaking of transport, My Empress, is there any trouble with Lady Florance? She should be here soon, shouldn’t she?”

“Later today,” Regina answered. “No, there’s no trouble.”

It was probably not good that Florance had stayed with the hive up until now, but at least she’d been safe and under the care of their healers. Now the war had been over for a while and Regina didn’t exactly need her as a hostage against Kiara, and with her moving here it was time to move Florance as well. Since the woman was still in an advanced stage of pregnancy and with her history of complications, Regina was being careful about it, though. Instead of flying, they were going to use a carriage with their best suspension and if she had time, she was going to check in on her herself at several points. Via was traveling with her, anyway.

Regina wasn’t really looking forward to that. She was no longer really angry with Florance’s actions, since she’d simply supported her husband, somewhat, but it was still a bit awkward. Especially for Kiara, it might be difficult. She hoped they were going to be able to work out their differences and strengthen their relationship. At least so far, June actually seemed angrier with her mother for, in her view, choosing Lyns over Kiara, but considering she had her own issues with their father that was probably natural.

Gwen asking a question about their new roads snapped her out of those thoughts, and Regina focused on the conversation. They stayed on the topic for a bit before moving back to the question of imports, also exploring the connections between them. Better infrastructure was going to be a ‘great boon’ in more than one way, they agreed, especially for trade of perishable items.

Luckily, making decent roads wasn’t that complicated, even if they weren’t quite up to the standards of modern highways. The hive already had several projects like that on the backburner, and now that they could draw on manpower from Nerlia and Cernlia, it was going to go more quickly. Regina might wish for about ten times as many drones who knew their stuff, and had to prioritize all the things she wanted to do, but this was actually a relatively high priority, behind schools and education.

A lot of these things were shaping up to be springboards for their own successes. Getting better roads would improve trade and strengthen the economy even without doing anything else for it. Better education and access to their resources was going to allow innovation even without her or the hive’s direct participation. Regina just hoped they would have enough time for all of that to come to fruition.

She closed the meeting after a while and headed out, setting off to meet Florance Lyns and get a better view of the city on the way. It was already starting to change, in subtle ways.