After a few hours of chatting with the Old Emperor, I showed him how the portals worked, how many I would need to set up, and the strategic locations I would like to put them. I then went to great detail on how the IDs would work and how we would use them for passports, how people would go through processing just get certain things, I told him to have everyone ID number hooked up into an account that would keep track of all their records, medical and criminal. As long Counties kept their records locally and the Dukedoms over their own Counties held copies, things would run smoothly and efficiently. The General was the first one to dismiss himself, not saying a single word the whole time I was there, though he did eye my wings pretty thoroughly.

I then dismissed myself, claiming I need to meet with Construction Guild. When I turned to Ashley, she seemed in a very cheery mood. A little more relaxed now that her problem seemed dealt with. I unknowingly solved whatever problem she had, though I’m guessing it was the impending war I narrowly evaded. Good thing the emperor was slightly senile.

As we passed through the portal, Ashley looked up toward me with her burning green eyes, “Father has recognized you, agreed to your terms, and is even interested in seeing you succeed. You are indeed praiseworthy, and I love you.”

I looked down and whispered, “I love you too.” I then leaned down and kissed her for a few seconds before parting, “Come now we must catch the Construction Guild.” I grabbed her hand and ran toward the Court Yard where the Construction Guild came with the designs I had given them. They were all huddled around it as if to commit it to memory.

I walked over to the huddled group and demanded their attention. “Alrighty, there has been a slight change in plans, and with it a slight change in how you will be repaid. I have found there was a flaw in my design. It is way too small for what am envisioning. I need it to be a round based tower still, however, I need it to be three hundred feet in radius, bringing it up six hundred feet in diameter. Instead of four stories high, I want it to be seven stories high. I want two hundred archways along the walls on the first four floors, sixty five on the fifth and sixth, and thirteen on the top floor.”

Some of the older guild members nodded their heads at the impressive tower they were about to build, the younger ones had eyes the size of fists over the astonishment of it. I continued my demands, “I will hold you all under contract until all of the projects I ask for are complete. The remaining projects will take you the longest, probably a few months due to travel. I want you to go out to each County Capital city on Zugrielia and build a road with a dead end toward the center of each of the Merchant Districts. At the end of these roads, I want you to build a two thousand square foot room with a large archway in the back. We will furnish each of these rooms with desks and cabinets that line the side of the room and a curtain over the door way. The curtain will have our nation’s flag for the design as to tell the people where they are going.”

“In the tower I want curtains in the archways as well, each with a design of the flag of each city they will lead to. The fifth and sixth floor will have Dukedom flags and the top floor will have curtains that represent the flags that signify which kingdom and nation they will lead too. I want mine in the middle. Also I need a large wooden table in the middle of the top floor. While you are under contract, fulfilling these demands, your families will living in my Palace and you all will be granted Diplomatic Immunity. Your families will be taken care of, with the hospitality of my maids and they will eat their fill as long as you are all under contract.”

Now, even the older members were slack jawed. I smiled a bit to myself when they murmured amongst themselves in joy. I then remembered a few of the things I was about to pass in the next few days, “Ah, yes but before you start those projects I need a few buildings erected here in the Astral Kingdom. I don’t need all of them in Starwind City, I could use a few scattered throughout the Kingdom, such as in Solara and Lunaetaeum in their respective Dukedoms area and even a few in Shienriech, like in Ferlen. It is very important that you make these as structurally sound as possible. I need these buildings located to where the maximum number of people can reach them, so I need them to be in Commoner’s Districts. These buildings will hold men and women of medicine, it will be a place where can be treated for injuries and illnesses alike. This will also be a place that will witness births and record them. These buildings need to be massive with a ton of rooms, each proportionate to their respective cities.”

I paused before I continued as they digest the information, “I will also need a few buildings located here in the capital and smaller versions of it spread across the Kingdom. These places will be that of learning. The bigger versions will be that of higher learning. I will also need another wing added to the Palace to act as work spaces for government officials. So do we still have a deal? You are still expected to put your guild seal on each structure.”

The leader stepped out from the crowd, I recognized him to be the demon I talked to in their Guild building. He approached me with an open hand, “I would be honored to take down such a colossal feat for such an outstanding ruler.”

I put my hand in his and shook firmly, “I wouldn’t say outstanding, I’m only doing this for the benefit of all. It’s only my job.” I flash a smile before I ask them, “I assume that the Construction Guild has member cards much like the Adventurer Guild, right?” with a nod from the members, I continued, “Well possibly everyone in Zugrielia will get something similar to it, these ID cards help us keep track of the population and some other political nonsense that I will go over in my speech to the public, anyway when you guys finish the medical and educational places I will hand them out to you. These ID’s will help you when you need to get or do some things. This will help you get another type of ID that allows international travel, that will be forbidden to everyone without.”

The leader nodded, “Well I think it’s about time we departed for our grand projects. I’ll be seeing you soon.” We said our goodbyes as they left Ashley and I by ourselves. Ashley looked up at me, “So these buildings, I get the ones used for medical purposes? Don’t demons educate their offspring?”

I give a smile, “In most cases yes, nobles are the only ones rich enough to send their children to a private institution, like Louis. I plan on using some of the Kingdom’s riches and taxation to run many government buildings, such as the schools. The schools will have a unified education program that is meant to challenge young minds during their time in the institutions. It will be mandatory that all children attend these every day until they are of age. After they graduate from school, I will have colleges available. Colleges will be like the schools, but for higher education, it will be optional to go to one, but it is ones best interest to actually go for it.”

“The point of going to one of the said Colleges, will be to obtain a Degree of your choosing. The students that attend Colleges will be able to choose their own curriculum, however certain classes are need to graduate with each Degree. When you obtain a Degree it is used as a certification that you are knowledgeable in that field. Some jobs that can be easily be obtained or faked now won’t be in a few years, you will need a matching Degree to your desired job. Some Degrees will be easier to obtain than others, have you got that all down?” I ask the perplexed looking Ashley.

Ashley shook her head as if to clear doubts, “Y-yes, I think so. But what jobs will need these Degrees?”

I look up in the sky and start listing off a few, “Right now it is easy to say that you are a man of medicine and make a ton of profit for not doing much, some these people even harm their patients without even realizing it. Some of the jobs out there need quick wits and a sharp mind, such as General of the Army. I need a general that can direct my troops exactly how I need them, even when I’m not there. If they aren’t too bright, then they could unintentionally send many soldiers to their deaths. So I want people to go to College before they can obtain these jobs.”

…

Looking up at the sky, I saw that the sun was about to set that I realized I was too busy explaining the buildings to Ashley in great detail, that I lost track of time. I feel like I’m talking a bit much lately… I looked to the center of the Courtyard and see that the outer shell of the Tower was already completed, the Tower should be done tomorrow. I guess I will check on the prisoner in the morning, greet Dukes and Duchesses throughout the day along with getting ID cards ready. I won’t be able to give them out until I get the information on everyone in the Kingdom, but since it would a little much for me to handle everyone, I’ll lend that task over to the counts. I’ll also try to get Adolf to get his counts to pull double the work for the places that don’t have counts and dukes yet.

I really need to assign the Void lands and break it up between a few counts and dukes, otherwise it will be a nightmare to pass programs and laws. Maybe I’ll hold another contest for titles that will likely to disappear within a year or two. In the near future I will also set up banks and start the school year for everyone, but I’ll have to wait until everyone gets an ID card.

Ashley still looked a little confused but was starting to grasp what I was talking about when I described the function of a Police Station. However, I feel as it was time to go inside and see what chaos has befallen the Palace since our departure. I knew I should have come in as soon as I could but I felt the need to educate Ashley a bit about my future political plans.

I should have done so, because I found Louise helping Maddie preach a sermon to some of the maids in the kitchen while they were teaching them how to make, what I guessed to be lasagna. I cringed on the possibility of what they could be preaching about, and so I left them be and exited the kitchen as soon as possible without getting noticed. I then found Chloe exiting from the makeshift portal room with her father, the Demon King, behind her talking about who knows what. I hope they were talking about politics, I really do.

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Next, I hunted down Aria, which wasn’t too hard, because I knew she would be my room. I cracked open the door to get a view of Aria dancing in her dress of feathers. Looking at the dress I noticed that the feathers changed a little. They now had purple tips and the larger ones on the bottom of the dress developed a silver crescent on them, much like my wings now. It was interesting but what really held my attention was the small figure twirling in it. I was simply captivated, it wasn’t until Ashely tugged on my sleeve did I decide to leave.

I had shut the tiny crack a made in the door, only to have the door be thrown back open and me landing on my back before I could even blink. Looking up from the ground I gaze into the Candy Apple Red eyes of one of the girls that had captured my greedy heart. She made a pouty face that made me smile, “That was mean. Why weren’t you going to say hi? I missed you all day. I wanna come with next time, please?” She stared at me with pleading eyes, it was really hard to look away from her face.

My hand started to stroke the back of her head subconsciously, while I spoke “All of you no longer have to stay away, you guys can accompany me where ever I go from now on. I do prefer for you guys not enter the Dungeon however, I wouldn’t want you to view the filth we have down there. I won’t forbid it though.” To that she looked overjoyed. Standing up, I set her down and spoke to the two of them, “Come now, I must see why the Demon King is here now. I really do hope that it is strictly about the Coronation.” Please be about the Coronation.

We walked down the hall and just about got to the stairway when I noticed that Chloe and Satan, I mean the Demon King, were walking toward us, chatting to each other. Wait, they were headed to my room, I can only imagine it now. I walk into my room only to find a figure that closely resembles Satan sitting on my bed, I think I would have a heart attack.

When they noticed the three of us in the hall, they waved and greeted us as soon as they came in handshaking range. “How are ya holding up my boy?” The Demon King said sounding a little chipper. “You got a big day ahead of you in two or three days, right? And an even bigger one soon after that, am I right?” He smile dropped a little as his voice questioned me, “So when is it boy, the wedding?”

“The wedding ceremony will be held after the Coronation. I will have specifics at a later date.” I flashed a smile and the room heated up a few degrees. I looked up to the Demon King smiling down at me.

He then let out a boisterous laugh and told me, “Ah, yes, yes it is after the coronation, one cannot rush a wedding. Well I have to be back to my duties, I can’t wait for our bout.”

I nodded my head, not even listening to him at first but I did a double take when I heard him, “Wait, bout? As in fighting? Why are we fighting? Are you against me marrying your daughter?”

He stared at me for a while and then threw his head back in laughter, “Ha, my boy, you really do make me laugh. Of course we fight, its tradition. Did you grow up in a stable? Let me explain why we fight. I’m sure you are well aware that Fire Demons are amongst the most fertile of the sentient races, so to prevent overpopulation we fight each other for the right of a hand in marriage. We can’t help it, if we suppress the need, the outcome is… gruesome. So, as a measure of me not setting you on fire at a family gathering, I would like a bout with you.”

I pondered a little, “So if I lose, I lose the right to marry Chloe?”

The Demon King frowned a little, “Not at all, sure rules are placed on the match usually, but it is not necessary, because I want you two to marry. However if you are itching for a wager than I have one for you: Become a commander of my armies. I could use someone like you, as I have heard your achievements from your ‘priestess’. If any of them are true, then I could use you to teach my high ranking officials a thing or two about leadership.” Maddie, I am going to kill- have a nice long chat with you later.

I laugh awkwardly, “Ha, I see. Well if I win, then I want you to pass a few political movements I’m about to pass myself. I want you to work together with me on foreign policies toward each other and the Imperial Domain. It will help your government out more than you’ll know. More details when I beat you.”

This time his laughing became boisterous, “You seem confident, I like that. We have our wager, would you like to set any rules placed on the match? Such as I can only use my left hand?”

“Ha, and you call me confident. Other than not maiming each other, I see no point in adding rules, may the best demon win. Ah, we are getting ahead of ourselves, we need to do this before the ceremony, right? Well, let us move our enthusiasm to a couple of days before then shall we.”

The Demon King spoke up again, “Hey, I had enough vague talk from everyone lately. It seems there is shifty business happening in some of my Dukedoms, but I can’t track it down to its source. What I’m saying is, I need specific information. So, what do you say, boy? Mind giving this weary king the details?”

I felt for the Demon King, his best friends died recently, there is obviously turmoil happening within his kingdom and now his daughter is going to get married. There is a ton of stress laying on the shoulders of the man in front of me and he didn’t even show an ounce of it to anyone in the room.

So in order to keep everything relaxed, I said, “I was planning on having the wedding two and a half weeks past the coronation in a few days. So the day of the summer solstice.”

Looking pleased with my answer, the Demon King straightened up satisfied, “I see, well I guess I’ll see you around.” He turned to Chloe, “It was good seeing you again, I have an appointment with some surrounding dukes that don’t like their neighbors. I love you, try to contain yourself for a while longer.” He turned to wink at me before he walked past me and toward the stairs.

I looked toward Chloe, “You knew about this the whole time?”

Chloe looked around as if she was trying to change the subject, “So how are you going to contact your parents? You know necromancy is one of the few magic that humans have down better than the demons right?”

“I realize. Nice dodging the question by the way.” She shied away at the comment, “No matter, I won’t be using necromancy per se. It is something only I can do. If you have listened to Maddie and Louise, you might have heard of the way I summon them. If you do not know you will find out in a moment.”

We walked into the room and I had Aria and Chloe sit down on my bed as I got ready to start my summoning. I poured every ounce of my Mana into a shining blue ball that I dropped to on the ground. A purple puddle formed on the floor and a black column of fog rose from it and out stepped a Skeleton. The purple fog clothed the skeleton and wrapped around its bones and started to form the blue flesh after its bones thickened. This at the point I would call it a Captain, it absorbed more of the Mana from the puddle at its feet turning its skin from blue to light purple, attaining power far surpassing that of a Captain, I will call this rank a Colonel. It still had mass amounts of Mana at its feet and absorbed more and more, hardly at first but gained momentum as it tried to rank up.

The light purple skin grew darker and darker before the skin turned color of that of the goddess Anelia. Midnight Black skin, its silver armor gained more detail and added more pieces. It now had shoulder guards, bracers, shin guards, complete with a ginormous silver Shield and a silver handled, black lance. This rank was the top of the chain of command besides myself, it would soak up no more Mana. Its rank became that of General. Black feathered wings? The feathers all had silver crescents on them.

Well, it was interesting to see that I would eventually summon Night Demons, but I need to summon my mom. Placing my hand on the shoulder of the General, I closed my eyes and pictured my mother and all her kindness, I pictured her in front of me. When I opened my eyes the Generals massive figure melted away into that of my mother. “Mom!” the shape of my mother reacted and looked at me and a tear escaped her eyes as she embraced me.

She looked confused as to where she was, “You are not dead, correct?”

She lost the wings, as she never had any in life, but her skin remained pitch black. “No mother,” I smiled, “I am very much alive, the goddess, Anelia, allowed me to call you temporarily. I missed you.”

She looked at me with the kindness that I had once remember and said, “I missed you too, son.”

I held her tight before I loosened my grip and I leaned back to look at her face, “Mother, I have news for, you would probably like to hear it.” When her face raised in anticipation, I told her, “I’m getting married. It will be two and half weeks after the Coronation.”

“I’m so proud of you, so who is the lucky girl?” She turned toward Aria, Ashley and Chloe.

Shortly after she turned to the three girls the door flew open. In the door way, stood Louise and Maddie. Louise looked at me a little furiously, “Why was I left out of this, if I had not used my Clairvoyance to find you, I would have been left completely out.” After she threw her small tantrum she sulked a bit.

I laughed, “Ah, Louise, I knew you would come, so I went ahead and started without you, I should have waited, I apologize.”

She looked at me with teary eyes, “Do you mean it?” When I nodded my head, she wiped away her tears and straightened up, “That’s another one.”

Now I was confused, “I’m sorry?”

“Another child, you owe me another child. Watch yourself, if don’t, you may end up with more family than you can handle.” She smiled and sat next to Chloe and winked at her.

I was trying to think of something but my mother beat me to it, “Ah, it’s good to see that your group is as tight knit as a family. So, I ask again, who is it?” She questioned.

I turned from Louise to my mother and told her, “Well, besides Maddie there, it’s everyone else. You will have a ton of grandchildren, mom.”

She looked at me with a warmth that always seemed to exude from her when she was happy and surrounded by her loved ones. She then turned to the girls and said, “I don’t have much time left, paradise is calling me again, but I do want to tell you. I love each of you as if you were my daughters. You all have my blessing. It was nice meeting you, Maddie.” Maddie nodded her head as she watched my mother’s form return to that of purple fog.

I repeated the process with the remaining Mana pooled on the ground and in the Air to summon another general. This time I summoned my father. The wings remained as they were, as he had wings before he died. “Father, I have news”

“I know son. You have made me proud. What news do you bare, son?”

“Dad, I’m getting married, I will rule in your place as King, I swear to help the people, not just of this nation, but of this entire world. I will make you proud of the legacy you left behind, I will make you proud of me.”

“Son, I’m already proud of you. I trust you will make a far better King than I could ever be. I know you will help the people of this world as you were doing so since you before you were born, I love you so much son. Know that your father is proud of you, and that you have my blessing. Now, come now. No need for the future King of the Astral Kingdom to cry.” He reached over with a smile and brushed away tears that I had not known were there.

That was the last action he performed before he disappeared into purple fog. After a while of standing there, I absorbed the Mana within myself and noticed that it was substantially lower than when I initially let it loose. I guess I will call Uncle Ares later.