Second World Novel

“The what system?” Jack asked.

“The monarch system,” Peniel repeated. “That’s how a ruler rules a country.”

“Maybe it’s some kind of a control panel,” John said. He was there in the throne room with Jack, together with Jeanny. Jack had invited the two to help him learn how to rule.

“You need to sit on the throne for that, Your Majesty,” Thaergood said. This advisor was also there with Duke Alfredo and Duchess Isabelle. They were also there to assist Jack on his first day in doing kingly duties.

“Oh? I sat there two days ago but nothing happened,” Jack said, indicating the time during his coronation.

“You are still being coronated on that day,” Thaergood explained. “You are only formally considered the king of this country after the coronation day ended.”

“Just sit on the throne and try it, will you?!” Peniel said impatiently.

“All right, all right,” Jack said and went to the throne.

As he sat on it, several holographic screens appeared.

“Whoa!” He shouted.

“What is it? Something happened?” Jeanny asked.

“You can’t see it?” Jack asked. “A whole bunch of screens just popped up.”

“It seemed only you are privileged to them. Hm… This will make it difficult for us to help,” John said. “You will need to describe everything you see if you want our help.”

“There are a lot… I’m not sure which to start first,” Jack said. He felt overwhelmed by the displays in front of him.

Thaergood came to explain then, “Those screens held the general information of the country, officers we have, and also tasks needed attending to.”

“Oh? You can see them too?” Jack asked.

“Yes,” Thaergood replied.

“You can click them one by one to see their details,” Peniel added.

Jack clicked the one that showed the map of the country. The map zoomed out and showed him the overview. John had seen this complete map when he was strategizing for the orc invasion, but for Jack, this was the first time he laid eyes on a complete map.

After having a general view of the map, he could see that he had not even traveled one-tenth of this country. He simply didn’t have the time to.

Multiple dots were marked on the map, signifying human settlements. Besides the map were numbers of the settlements, which were classified into five categories: Village, town, city, metropolis, and megalopolis.

Currently in Themisphere was 22 villages, 16 towns, 8 cities, 11 metropolises, and 0 megalopolis.

“The settlement classification is based on the population of the said settlement,” Peniel explained. “A village has a population of one hundred to five thousand, a town has five thousand to one hundred thousand, a city is one hundred thousand to one million, a metropolis required a population of one million to ten million, while anything above ten million is considered a megalopolis.”

“We have eleven metropolises, the same number as the main cities,” Jack said.

“Yes, only a city that becomes a metropolis can be the main city,” Peniel confirmed.

“Is the population fixed? Or can it grow?”

“It can grow and decrease. Aside from external factors like disaster or warfare, the population will mostly be affected by how you rule.”

“So, if we help a city grow and become a metropolis, we will have twelve main cities?” Jack asked.

“Yes,” Peniel answered.

“Then will that mean the number of guilds who can have a guild headquarters become twelve as well? Will a bandit outpost appear in the region of that new main city?”

“Well… In theory, it should,” Peniel answered.

“If we can have more guilds with headquarters in our country, that will help boost our military power,” John remarked.

“It’s not easy growing a city you know, and it certainly will not happen in a short time,” Peniel said.

When Jack clicked on the list of metropolises, the eleven main cities were shown. Out of the eleven, the capital Thereath boasted the largest population, with 7 million natives and 1 million outworlders.

The two next most populated metropolises were Theneward and Thehemburgh, with a total population of natives and outworlders at around 6 million.

The next four metropolises had a total population of around 4 million. These metropolises were Thenident, Themetus, Thebrington, and Therimdell. The remaining four, Theveyork, Thedoonvall, Therowld, and Thevoltes had around 2 million populations.

Thesewal and Thesylvania where Jack had visited were considered towns. Thesewal used to be a city before Verremor’s invasion, but its population had declined due to the invasion. Even though much of its population had returned, it was still not enough to push it back to the city status.

Jack continued his observation on the general overview display. Aside from information about the number of settlements, other main information was listed there. They were kingdom coffer, kingdom mana, and kingdom enchantment.

When Jack saw the kingdom coffer info, he couldn’t help but draw in a deep breath.

“Five… five million gold coins?” He stammered. “I… Can I take some of those?”

The question was answered by a slap on the head by Peniel. Thaergood was unsure whether he should scold the fairy for such disrespectful treatment. The king himself seemed to just treat the slap as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

“The coins inside the kingdom coffer are for use to develop the kingdom. It is not for private use,” Duke Alfredo explained.

“Ahaha. I’m just kidding, just kidding,” Jack laughed. Jeanny, John, and Peniel shook their heads at the three natives, telling them that Jack didn’t joke.

“Well, let’s move on,” Jack said, trying to change the subject.

By the side of the kingdom coffer were two sub-details, total coin income and total coin expense. The income was 2,106,000 gold coins while the expense was 1,399,000 gold coins.

“Those are the monthly income and expense,” Peniel informed.

“Which means the monthly net income is 707,000 gold coins,” Jack said. He then looked at the five million gold coins in the kingdom coffer. “These coins must have accumulated for some time already.”

Thaergood explained, “It has been almost a year since King Themos ordered any development. It was the royal advisor who dealt with the matters. But his authority is limited, so he couldn’t fully use the coins in the kingdom coffer.”

Jack nodded his understanding.

In the kingdom mana section, two million mana was listed there. Jack didn’t know if that was a large amount or not. If this mana was equal to the mana cores, then it was certainly a lot. Similarly, there was total mana income and total mana expense by the side. The income was 581,000 mana with an expense of 386,000 mana. So, the monthly net income was 195,000 mana.

For the kingdom enchantment, there was no number. Instead, it had a name listed there.

“Hey, it said here we have Serenity’s blessing,” Jack said after reading the name listed under kingdom enchantment.

Jack hovered his attention over the description and some extra details popped up.

*

Serenity’s Blessing

Boost food production.

Increases population growth rate.

Boost Happiness and Economy.𝐧𝗈𝒱ℯ𝔩𝒩𝑬xt.𝒞𝗈𝐦

Happiness will never fall below 50%. Drafting will not cause happiness to fall.

No natural disaster will happen in the country.

Duration: 1 year