Kirkcour Woods,
Northern Rosendun,
15 th Banem 1092.
Two days had passed since the events at Suvron’s Gate. Since then, Kashi, Shadow, and Larsial had been wandering through the forests north of Rosendun, searching for the centaurs Absalon saw. Regarding the events at Suvron’s Gate, initially, Kashi intended to lie to Larsial. However, he changed his mind when Shadow inford him of her deductions.
Kashi was impressed by Larsial’s ability to discern the nature of his inner world. For most people, having such an intelligent person by their side would lead to them becoming wary and suspicious. However, for Kashi, it was the opposite. The smarter Larsial was, the happier he was.
With most people, Kashi would have to rely on sohow winning over their hearts. However, for brilliant people, it was often enough to convince their minds. After conquering their hearts, Kashi could then look into winning their hearts.
Kashi did not need Larsial to like him. He only needed her to pick him over the daeben. This was the reason he had asked her to shadow him. Following this line of thought, Kashi explained the summary of his abilities to both of them. He did, however, leave out his ability to manipulate the elents.
Of course, another reason Kashi could so confidently expose his ability was that it wasn’t sothing that could easily be countered. Whether it was the improved regeneration or muscle strength, they were both things that an enemy could not manipulate in battle. Also, Kashi adding life to his world was sothing they could not manipulate or stop.
At worst, the enemy would send assassins to hunt Kashi down. But was that any different from what they would do regardless? As the guildmaster of one of the largest guilds in the continent, it was only natural to be the target of assassinations.
Unfortunately for most assassins, Kashi was often a solitary wanderer; hence it was tough for these assassins to track down his movents.
This was also why Kashi did not tell Shadow and Larsial about his ability to manipulate elents. Now that was an ability that could change the battlefield. It was better to keep that one a secret for as long as possible. Only then would it be even more effective against their enemies.
Following Kashi’s explanation of his abilities, the trio traveled down to a large forest north of Rosendun called Kirkcour Woods. Kirkcour Woods was a dark forest ho to many high-leveled creatures and monsters. The trees were robust and thick, often climbing as high as fifty to sixty ters high. Tightly-knit canopies blocked off sunlight, casting a dreary atmosphere over the forest. Eerie silence ruled like a mage had cast [Silence] on the entire forest.
Absalon had reported eting the centaurs on the outskirts of this forest. Absalon did not search out the village because of ti restraints, but the centaurs had assured him they lived within the forest. The centaurs were scouts sent out by the village to seek out adventurers for help.
Absalon was not the first group they had asked for help, nor would they be the last.
Before Absalon’s arrival, a couple of adventurers had volunteered. Unfortunately, all the volunteers subsequently perished in the forest. Luckily for other curious people, a few of the adventurers were Summoned.
One of the Summoned spread on the real world forums that the monsters in the forest were around Level 150. Analysts quickly realized that if the beasts were Level 150, then more than likely, the centaurs had to be around that level to have lived for so long in the forest. However, now, there was a threat that even these Level 150 centaurs were utterly helpless against.
Unfortunately for Kashi, by the ti he arrived at Absalon’s specified location, there were no traces of the centaurs. Fearing they had switched locations, he even checked along the forest’s periter. However, after checking several miles in both directions and still not finding anything, Kashi accepted the reality that the scouts had retreated into the forest for so reason.
Kashi was not pleased with this revelation. There were three possible reasons why the scouts had retreated, and none of them were good for him. The first, the centaurs, had sohow found a way to defeat the Blight. While this was good for the centaurs, it removed the advantage the daeben had of arriving as a rescuer during dire circumstances.
Secondly, there was a chance that the scouts had finally found adventurers strong enough to combat the Blight. This would an the battle was still ongoing, but Kashi would also be forced to compete with another group for their affection. Worse yet, another party’s involvent would put his new plan for the centaurs in jeopardy.
The last and perhaps worst possibility for the centaurs was that the Blight had beco so terrible that they had no choice but to call back their scouts because they needed every available hand to survive.
However, as long as the situation was not irreversible, this was Kashi’s best-case scenario.
Kashi could only pray to the gods that he would get so of that light-novel protagonist luck and arrive just in ti to save the day. As for the centaurs that either had to die or be injured for such a scenario to arise—
Kashi promised to raise incense for them.
Unfortunately, even after searching through the forest for two whole days, Kashi’s group had yet to find the centaurs’ trace. However, Kashi was not discouraged by his. First, the forest was quite large. Their current cycle of leveling, sparring, resting, and exploring ant they could not cover too much ground in a day. Furthermore, the complex terrain allowed Drixlia to gain so experience running through bumpy terrain, avoiding and jumping over obstacles.
Kashi resolved himself to the realities of a long search.
The Royal Palace,
Riven, Rosendun.
At one end of Rosendun, the Guildmaster of the Hopeful Maggots had just resigned himself to a long wait. anwhile, at the other end of Rosendun, within the most critical location in all of Riven, the vice-guildmaster of the Hopeful Maggots had similarly resigned herself to a long eting.
Leila Lightwood, who had recently been awarded an official role of ‘minister’ in Rosendun as a reward for her excellent achievent during the expedition to Serisis, was once again the center of attention within Rosendun Politics. This ti, she had taken advantage of a summit of delegates from the three allied nations: Rosendun, rriheim (Aygorzi), and Serisis, to submit her latest proposal.
Naturally, Leila had already taken the necessary steps by presenting it to King Parissius and his ministers beforehand. Only after they approved it did she then move forward and submit the docunts at the summit. The summit, which was initially scheduled to last for one hour, had now dragged on for over eight hours.
Worse yet, while other ministers could take ti off to take a break or get sothing to eat, Leila was always on the move, explaining the docunt’s details to the confused ministers.
Leila did not dare to slack in her duty, as this was perhaps the most crucial piece of legislation she would ever be involved in. It would form the basis of the Rosendun Empire and everything it stood for.
The docunts explained in detail plans for forming three significant governnt branches, twelve subsidiary departnts, or ‘ministries’ beneath them.
Leila used the model of modern-day democratic branches of governnt. Usually, in most democratic countries, the governnt was made up of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches. The Executive branch of governnt usually had the President at the top, with millions of people working with him to enforce the country's laws. The Legislative branch was the branch of governnt concerned with actually creating and editing laws for the country. In so countries, this branch was split into Senate and House of Representatives.
The Senate usually had an equal number of candidates per state, intended to represent each state's interests. Longer-term tis were also established to ensure the elected Senators spent less ti focusing on reelection and more on actual legislation. On the other hand, the House of Representatives was usually more of a popularity contest. The terms were shorter, with so states having far more reps than other states. The House of Representatives was intended to be closer to the people, reflecting the common man's desires to the lawmakers.
Unfortunately, in recent tis, both parties blended into each other so much; it was hard to discern any difference between them. Worse yet, both parties were susceptible to corruption as large companies often paid to have their interests brought forward rather than the people's interest.
The final branch was the Judicial Branch. This branch judged those suspected of having broken any rules in the nation’s constitution. Often, there existed a High or Supre Court, the highest court level, and a lower-level court group. Decisions passed in the Supre Court usually beca standards for lower courts, which handled everyday issues to follow.
Leila applied a few subtle changes to the current template to combat the two most significant issues: corruption at the legislative level and the problem of autocracy vs. democracy. This was a fantasy world with kings and queens, not presidents. Autocracy was the rule of thumb here, not democracy, and Leila had no plans to change it.
Recent events in the real world had proven that even though democracy was often better than autocracy, an excellent democratic leader would never achieve a tiny percentage of what an outstanding autocratic leader could achieve.
In a democratic structure, the President of a nation often had far less power than most people realized. Any policies he intended to enact had to pass through the Senate before approval. While this served as a perfect check against crazy Presidents who wanted to eliminate half of their population, it also hampered even more good presidents' progress.
As ntioned earlier, many mbers of the Senate were ‘appointed’ by top companies. These Senators often prevented the passing of any bills that would damage the interests of their benefactors regardless of whether it benefitted the public or not.
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The popular party system just made this already complicated situation even murkier. Often, senators on opposing sides would block or push ahead policies to either make their parties look more competent or reduce the opponent's chance of appearing more competent. In situations like these, the public’s well-being took a complete backseat.
This kind of environnt could slide during peaceful tis. Most humans were not too interested in fighting their governnt beyond a little shouting or complaining now and then as long as their lives were not in danger. However, if this sort of environnt existed during warti, it would not be hard for enemies to turn the nation’s citizens' disillusioned hearts against the country.
And what was happening in Destia right now?
War, war, and even more war!
Although not yet on the scale of the Sengoku Jidai (Warring Period) of ancient Japan or China, the continent of Destia was undoubtedly in the middle of one of its greatest warring period.
Major players had risen here and there, eager to make a na for themselves. This naturally ant there were battles regularly occurring on several battlefronts. Add monsters attacking settlents to the mix, and you had a volatile situation that needed to be handled with special care.
As such, it was imperative that the eyes of the Royal Palace were always on the people at every corner of their territory and responding in ti to issues, not embroiled in pointless debates and blocking themselves from getting any actual thing done.
It was not like Leila thought autocracy was better than democracy. On the contrary, autocracy was a roll of the dice. A good roll would produce a great leader who would introduce a couple of decades of prosperity for a nation, whereas a bad roll would raise an inept, cruel, or greedy leader who would cripple the country for decades.
However, for the current situation, an autocracy was far more suited to the environnt than a democracy.
Naturally, it helped that Leila personally knew the current Rosendun King to be an excellent roll of the dice. As such, she did not hesitate when making her changes.
The first change Leila made was to eliminate the existence of a president. Instead, the King was placed above the three branches of governnt. He had the executive right to veto any decisions passed by the three branches. At the sa ti, he also had the right to pass any personal decisions without consulting with the units.
Leila surmised this simple change would cause a peculiar ripple effect on the legislative branch in particular. In the end, the idea behind the House of Reps and Senate was an admirable and good one, so she chose not to abolish those two. However, although the Representatives and Senate could still be ‘sponsored’ by the rich, their influence in actual legislation would greatly diminish. This was because laws and policies could now only be proposed by the Legislative Branch.
The King reserved the sole right to pass any law into the constitution.
This would significantly reduce the influence the rich had on policymaking. If the King ever found out so rich person influenced a legislative mber’s argunts, he could have that person removed from the Senate or even severely punished. Putting all the legislative power in the King’s hand should significantly reduce corruption.
After all, how do you bribe the man that has everything?
Leila and Kashi had also long since taken another possible issue into account: the case of a poor Crown. If the King’s coffers were low, rich barons and upstarts could pressure the king into doing what they want. This was one of the primary reasons why, right from the beginning, Kashi had included the Crown in every business the Maggots started.
Furthermore, the Hopeful Maggots were doing sothing no one else was doing at present: Paying taxes to the crown. Currently, Royal Families in Destia earned their inco from four primary sources: First, inco from lands directly owned by the crown. Second, taxes from feudal lords. Third, inco from an annual tax conducted to bolster troops and finally, fines levied against criminals.
The problem with this system was that it depended too much on the Crown owning vast land. Furthermore, dishonest feudal lords could easily shortchange the Crown, thereby reducing its coffers, and finally, the annual tax usually put a considerable strain on the more impoverished citizens.
The case of Rosendun’s Royal Family was especially dire, as up until a few months ago, the Crown had been missing for over a decade. Save seizing by force, it was difficult to lay claim to a lot of the land which brave n and won had fought to reclaim from the wilds by themselves.
To redy this issue, Leila introduced the movable property tax, sales tax, and inco tax. Put simply, the sales tax stated that a certain percentage of Syros from every good sold would be collected by the retailer (seller) and sent to the governnt. The movable property tax or personal property tax stated that all items in a ho not nailed to the floor was a moveable property and could be taxed.
In the proposed model, regular citizens would pay taxes on carriages. In contrast, businesses would pay taxes based on the amount of tangible and non-tangible objects used in the business building, which could be moved around. Finally, the inco tax would replace the annual tax. The inco tax would take a percentage of every citizen and company’s profits every month and give it to the governnt.
With all these steady inco sources, there was little to no chance of the Crown going broke as long as businesses were flourishing and citizens were buying stuff. Needless to say, the wealthy class’s influence would significantly diminish if the Crown had all the money it needed to both uphold the needs of its people and also allow the king to ‘live the life.’
Of course, there was nothing anyone could do if a greedy king who wanted all the money in the world rose one day. They could only pray the greed demon, Ea, would claim such a king as soon as possible.
The Hopeful Maggots already led the charge in the realm of taxation. Not only had they made sure to include the Crown as a beneficiary of every business venture, Miote ensured they kept track of every product sold. They sent 13% of all revenue to the governnt. Rosendun’s ministers had seen the benefit of this for themselves and were more than eager to have this passed.
The only issue arose when debating the prices for the respective taxes. After hours of debate, the ministers finally settled on 14% for the sales tax and variable rates of 35 -45% for the citizen inco tax dependent on a citizen’s inco bracket.
Business’ inco tax was kept at a fixed rate of 20%. This was to encourage business owners as they would have more funds to play around with. After tussling back and forth, they finally decided to have regional lords determine each of their principalities' property tax.
The inco tax was seemingly excessive at first, but its purpose was to facilitate the twelve departnts. These departnts were the Departnt of Agriculture, Departnt of Comrce, Departnt of Defense (Military Departnt), Departnt of Education, Departnt of Research, Departnt of Health, Departnt of Transportation, Departnt of Justice, Departnt of Labor, Departnt of Treasury, Departnt of Construction, and Departnt of Internal Affairs.
The Departnt of Agriculture ensured the country’s livestock, wildlife, and plants were always optimal. They would oversee the cultivation or breeding of plants and wildlife, respectively. They would also facilitate and monitor the trade of agricultural products.
The Departnt of Comrce oversaw all trades in the country. They would ensure that patents, copyrights, etc., were filed and appropriately followed. As such, this Departnt would closely work with the newly established rchant Alliance to monitor trades between rchants and citizens.
The Departnt of Defense were all branches of the military. They were tasked with defending the nation or attacking enemies in tis of war.
The Departnt of Education was one Leila was personally proud of. After a hefty push, she had managed to ensure free education up to sixteen years of age for all citizens regardless of inco bracket. The soon-to-be established Academy would be the first of many to be set up around the allied nations.
Furthermore, Leila had made it her mission to supervise the formation of the Academy to ensure the children were not forced to study for the sake of studying. This was a world with magic, dragons, music, songs, ale, and brave heroes. What a waste it would be if children’s imaginations were killed in the Academy.
The Departnt of Research oversaw the technological advancents of the country. They would do their best to encourage research into new, untested ideas. Leila envisioned multiple grants handed out by this departnt to promote researchers with revolutionary ideas.
Getting free healthcare was another one of Leila’s priorities. The proposed Departnt of Health would work closely with the mages guild and apothecaries to hire people from both sides. Apothecaries were usually better at curing diseases and removing toxins, whereas mages were better at healing injuries and removing magic-related ailnts. With these two, they should be able to cover almost all types of ailnts. Mages and Apothecaries working in the hospitals and clinics opened by the Departnt of Health would be paid directly by the governnt. This and the Education Departnt were the primary reasons for the large inco tax.
The Departnt of Transportation oversaw the thods of transportation within and out of countries. They would ensure modes of transportation were safe for the people and that the right infrastructure was always in place to ensure the free-flow of citizens and goods. Naturally, this Departnt would work closely with the Departnt of Construction.
The Departnt of Justice was in charge of carrying out specialized investigations into potential criminal activities and unearthing hidden threats within the countries. They would also supervise the critical duty of housing indicted criminals in dungeons and prisons.
The Departnt of Labor ensured working-class citizens were sufficiently remunerated for their efforts. They would also monitor the employnt and unemploynt rate in the country and report it. This job was essential because unemploynt usually directly correlated to a nation’s cri rate. In this world, most unemployed youths turned to banditry to feed.
The Departnt of Treasury looked after the Nation’s treasury. It handled loans given out by the crown and ensured they were paid back on ti. This departnt's unofficial form was already well acquainted with the Hopeful Maggots and considered them the best of partners.
The Departnt of Construction supervised the construction of all infrastructure, from roads to houses to city planning. This departnt would undoubtedly beco one of the busiest in the coming months as Rosendun sought to consolidate its power and develop its cities.
The Departnt of Internal Affairs investigated all the other departnts (and themselves) for corruption and wrongful doings. The workers would not be very welco by the other departnts. Still, they were necessary, hence their existence.
There was one more Departnt, but no one spoke about it openly. This was the Intelligence Departnt. This departnt would hide in the night, compiling information on friends and foes alike. Dirty jobs like assassination and sabotage would most likely be also be handled by this secret departnt.
Leila had no idea how much ti had passed while repeatedly explaining all these to the ministers while expounding on specific details here and there. All she knew was that by the ti King Parissius finally ordered for the session to co to a close, the sun had already left the sky.
Each with their thoughts, the ministers, headed back to their hos to ponder what they had just seen.
Leila did not have this luxury. Soon after reaching the villa bestowed on her by the King, upon her confernt as a minister, she changed into her hunting armor and set off with Hogosha. Before she was a vice-Guildmaster, minister, or scher, she was still a gar.
In this world, strength mattered most. Leila would never forget that. Under cover of night, she quickly mounted her horse and sped off towards the north in search of a good leveling spot.
anwhile, elsewhere, an excited daeben examined a dead tree with excitent in his eyes. “Jackpot!”
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