World Keeper

Chapter 52: Kingdoms United

The nearby residents have recognized you as their rightful leader. Please choose a name for your kingdom.

This message appeared before the face of Cynthia Ryon, ruling queen of Gandor. It was not the first time such messages appeared, and many had even become a part of daily life. However, this was the first time that the contents of the message had anything to do with her kingdom.

“Gandor…” She spoke, hesitantly, drawing the attention of the two men standing in front of her. A pair of mages had arrived to deliver reports about their research, when she suddenly spoke to interrupt them.

“Your Highness?” The man on the right, an elderly elf wrapped in pitch black robes, asked questioningly. However, she seemed to be looking at something else. Not only that, but a feminine voice spoke out in her mind, one she had never heard before. Yet, she somehow identified it instantly, causing a feeling of excitement to well up inside of her.

The time has come, my child. Your efforts have been recognized, and we have bestowed this system to better help your rule. With every word that her goddess spoke, Cynthia’s face lit up more and more.

Kingdom name set to Gandor. Please specify the method of governing, and method of succession.

Just as the elf queen looked confused at the new window that appeared, Ryone’s voice once again spoke to her, guiding her through the process to set up the kingdom in the system in the same manner that it was already functioning. When it was done, another screen appeared in front of her, this one far larger than the others which had asked for simple information.

Kingdom of Gandor M??a????n???a????g?????e????m??e???n????t??? Window

Finances

3,230?

M????i?????l????i???t?????a?????r????y???/???S?e???c??u????r????i????t??y????

3

Art

2

Religion

4

Science

2

Magic

3

Population

4,239

Territory

4 Cities

?Appoint Official?

?Issue Decree?

?Declare W????a???r?????

Although she did not understand the meaning behind the rating system used in this window, and some of the text was unreadable, she was able to discover a few things. It seemed that not all of the cities had been accounted for, as Cynthia knew of six cities that should be included in her domain. When she focused on that part of the display, more information appeared, telling her that two of the cities had not recognized her rule.

Cynthia was shocked with this discovery, and turned towards the two mages that had been waiting for several long minutes. “Send messengers to Errelor and Krendel, asking for an explanation.” When the mages only looked at her in a confused manner, she took a deep breath and explained the situation.

Such scenes were not uncommon at the moment, though only the elves had developed a writing system complex enough for the windows to appear. For the other races, they could only rely on voices speaking into their minds to relay much simpler versions. Still, every civilization faced an upheaval that day of various degrees. It was bound to happen that not every city would recognize the same ruler in this age where travel is a long and difficult process.

Thankfully, for most of these civilizations, this conflict was brief. For the elves and the beastkin, they managed to painlessly absorb the territories that had not immediately recognized their authority. For the centaurs and the dwarves, they established separate kingdoms. However, the humans took this in a much more violent way.

Perhaps it was because their culture was one in which the word ‘War’ would not be unknown. Even with the previous warnings from Bihena, several rulers went into a fit of rage at the knowledge that their outlying cities did not submit to them. War was declared immediately, and several armies had their troops mobilized.

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“Dammit all… Are these guys looking to die?!” I heard Bihena call out from the other room, before she walked in with heavy steps. For once, her anger did not seem to be directed at me, which was nice.

“What’s going on?” I asked, looking to the human goddess as she searched the still-empty living room for somewhere to sit. I had just gotten back from the basement, where I had bought the new systems and information.

Bihena’s glare turned to face me for a moment, before she took a deep breath to calm herself. “The humans are being idiots, naturally. As soon as that kingdom system went live, they started to declare war. Fuck, I even warned them that I’d be back if they went through with stuff like this.”

I was… honestly surprised that she wasn’t mad at me this time, given the circumstances that caused her anger. Seeing my apparent confusion, she shook her head with a bitter smile. “Not your fault this time. Ryone gave me a heads up earlier that this system would come in, so I had plenty of warning. Not opposed to the system or anything, just wish they weren’t so battle-hungry.”

“I see…” I nodded my head slightly, giving a mental thanks to the absent elf goddess. “Well, if you can’t get them to stop fighting, why not try to set down rules on how they can fight?”

Bihena’s head snapped up to look at me as I said that. “Explain, quickly.”

“W-well…” Her suddenly urgent tone caught me off guard, but I suppose she likely wanted to take care of this before the situation became irreparable. “For instance, passing down rules such as not wantonly killing innocent bystanders. Fighting the enemy army is one thing, but killing people that aren’t fighting is something else entirely.”

Bihena listened closely to my idea, nodding her head heavily when I was done. “I think I get it. If they have to fight, fight in a way that minimizes losses.” With that said, she closed her eyes, focusing on something.

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In almost every human city, a statue of Bihena had been erected. These statues became something that the people deemed as necessary, as if not having one would incur the wrath of the goddess of battle. Even though it had been some time since she descended upon the world, few dared to think what would happen if they truly angered her.

And now, at the same time, every statue of Bihena among the human cities seemed to come alive all at once. Each one spoke with moving lips, no matter how crude their design. “Listen well, for I shall speak this only once.”

The moment the booming voice called out from the statue, it seemed to cover every corner of the city, as well as a considerable distance outside the walls. Men cowered in fear at the angry tone their goddess used. Kings and Queens alike tensed up, remembering the orders for war that they had sent mere moments earlier. But no matter which city you looked at, none dared to ignore Bihena’s words.

“These are the doctrines of war, and shall be the rules by which you engage in battles. Any army found to break these rules will be treated as if they wish to defy my orders.” The statue then began to spout several rules which must be followed. These rules were generally along the lines of preventing people from attacking the innocent in times of war. Although no rules were set to monitor the acts of individual soldiers, it was clear that any army openly committing heinous acts would have to personally answer to Bihena.

Those who were able to were quickly writing down any notes that they could take from Bihena’s words, unwilling to allow their people to accidentally break these doctrines in the future. It was at this point that a familiar voice rang out in their ears, notifying them that they had unlocked a new class.

_______________________________________________________________

While Bihena was busy doing… whatever it was she was doing, I started to put the living room back to how it was before I gave Tubrock his personality. Thankfully, she had positioned herself out of the way, so there was no need to disturb her while I placed the furniture and the TV back down. By the time I was done, Bihena still had not come out of the trance that she seemed to have placed herself in.

It was only roughly ten minutes later when she finally opened her eyes, letting out a long sigh of relief. Looking around the room, she blinked in surprise, before moving to sit down on the couch. “Okay… that is taken care of. Hopefully, they’ll manage themselves well enough that I won’t have to take action any time soon.”

I nodded my head, sitting atop a chair next to the couch. “Would be nice. So, how did it go with Tubrock?”

Bihena looked at me questioningly for several long moments, before something seemed to register. “Oh sh*t, I left him alone in the kitchen.” Forgetting her earlier tension, the human goddess bolted to her feet and rushed out of the room, as if she were running to prevent a disaster.

I could only let out a brief laugh, shaking my head back and forth as I watched her run out in a panic. “Okay… what’s left.” I thought on it for a bit, and decided to finally get the calendar from the market. It was only five points, and would help me keep track of time better. Considering that I don’t need to sleep anymore, it is very difficult to properly track days.

Following that, I went ahead and started making a forge area for Tubrock. Thanks to Terra’s ‘teaching’ earlier on, I was familiar with the basic construction of a forge, and could easily implement it into a new room. As for his own personal room… I’ll let him create that himself. I’m not being less considerate because he’s a guy, okay? I made him the forge, after all! I’m not, okay?!

Anyways, with that taken care of, I started heading back up to my room again, so that I could take a look at the computer. It seemed like a good time to fast forward again, now that all the civilizations had a deity to watch over them. Not only that, but I was running out of systems that seemed like they would be good to add to the world. At this point, it was just a matter of watching their civilizations grow for a while.

Hmm… I looked at the culture options again, considering whether or not I should do something with them now that I had a surplus of points. This was not something to do with the market, so I wouldn’t be breaking my own rules to let Ryone handle that stuff! It was just a matter of if I thought that it would help.

Now, I admit that it would be fun to do something erotic with some of the cultures, but that was not really what I wanted with this. I mean, if I build their culture around sex, then what are they supposed to do when the games start? They aren’t demons that get stronger through sex or anything like that, so it’d just be for the entertainment value.

I could focus some of them on developing science, or magic, or building a stronger culture… After thinking about it, I decided to assign a few civilizations a fifty year secondary priority, like I had initially done with the elven kingdom. This way, it would help balance things out a bit more.

For the dwarves, I gave the mountain kingdom Flame’s Peak a fifty year priority on crafting sciences. For the humans, I gave them a fifty year priority on internal security, so that they can better protect themselves from monsters. Halflings had only barely established what could be called a kingdom, with the mayor of one of the vagrant cities being appointed the ruler of the area around it. For them, I gave them the priority of developing language and communication.

I didn’t assign anything to the Daeva, as they were basically getting the leftovers of all the other races combined, which would likely help them grow faster than any one race. But, for the centaurs, I had them work on construction techniques for fifty years. That seemed like it would be the biggest hurdle for them, given their unconventional body type.

And finally, I assigned the kingdom of Terraria fifty years of developing their own culture. As they already had the advantage in numbers, and a significant lead in multiple fields of research, I figured that this was the best direction for them to proceed in. Nodding to myself, I committed the changes, and spent the necessary fifty points to confirm them.

And now… let’s do a fifty year fast-forward, to see the results of those choices.

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