"Why did you kick the throne, boss?" Hiain asked with slight confusion, the pleiades were just as surprised while the others were completely dumbfounded, not even knowing how to react.
"Everyone is equal, regardless of gender, race and status, I'm not above anyone, and nor is anyone above me." Subaru smiled as the pleiades all had smiles on their faces.
"That is absurd! You think that the nobles will accept such a claim?!" Vincent shouted in annoyance, Subaru smirked with a malicious expression.
"From today onwards, all nobility will no longer have any additional rights, all the belongings that they've gained through their title are now to be returned to the state." Subaru raised his hand and looked at Gustav.
"Boss, this is the paper you asked for." Gustav handed over quite a list, in it were written various laws and rights.
"From today forward, these are the rights of every citizen of this empire, none shall go against them, not even the emperor." Subaru gave the list to Vincent, he read what was written, all were now to be considered equal including the demi-humans, all who've been accused of a crime were to be give a fair and just trial, the punishment for various crimes were increased, such as murder, and that the weak were not to be abused or stepped on by those with power.
"You wish for the strong to protect the weak, and for the weak to become strong." Vincent summarized what he read, while Subaru was already ordering for the city to be repaired, in the following days the injured were being healed, and some tombs were prepared for those who lost their lives,
Subaru was already confiscating all of the wealth and property and had started using their mansions for other purposes in the city, many nobles escaped with as much, while others surrendered to Subaru.
"Brother, you do know that the nobles will rebel, why didn't you stop them beforehand?" Weilz asked as the group walked around the city, with him there were Priscilla, Yorna and Gustav.
"Indeed, but I expect that something amusing shall come out of it." Priscilla waved her red fan as she walked in the city, the citizens weren't scared of the situation, but doubts clouded their minds, Priscilla just needed a glance to determine all of this.
"We'll beat 'em up while dancing on their heads, they're not the main issue, for now we have to start changing Vollachia." Subaru commented as he walked in a newly made building. It was quite big but nothing beautiful, inside there were quite a few people, and all seemed to be experienced.
"So you're the one that called us, your men said you had quite the job." An old man with a built frame spoke, with him were a lot of people of all types. The building they were inside seemed like a workshop, with a forge and other tools of various types. The old man had gray hair and brown clothes, with a few leather parts strapped to it.
"Yes, I want this empire to improve, starting with technology." Subaru spoke as he walked up to a table, where he took a few objects with strange shapes.
"These are gears, and these are pistons, and there are other objects of various types. I want you guys to let your creativity run free." Subaru explained as he showed a few objects made of wood, not even well made, yet the craftsmen took them and analyzed them with great interest.
"I believe you want us to build machines that have yet to be created before , these things have potential, but you already have something in mind, don't you?" The older craftsman spoke as he stroked his chin, he had a devilish smile.
"Your first assignment is a machine that can create books in mass, we are going to need lots of books, the quality isn't important as long as they're readable ." Subaru explained as all those around him were curious, out of all things books were the priority.
"I also have in mind a transport method known as a train. I've drawn one there, it uses steam to move in something called rails, I'm not asking you to replicate it, but if you invent and innovate on my ideas I won't be mad. So, put your minds at work." As Subaru spoke he exited the room, leaving the various craftsmen to play around with the parts he gave them, he hardly remembers how they worked , he also left various notes with the few physics notions he remembered from his time at school.
"You wish to improve the technology, I see, and by taking the noble's money you won't have any issues for a while." Yorna smiled as the group exited the building, a few sounds could be heard from inside.
"Still, to think that even my foolish husband will be stripped away of his belongings, such a shame." Priscilla smiled while thinking of the library of her husband, Subaru stopped and slowly turned towards her, with the most disgusted face he could muster.
"You're married‽‽" Subaru asked with a raised voice and quite a bit of anger, Priscilla was quite surprised by this, she nodded and pointed her fan down.
"Nobles get married from a young age, usually for economic or political reasons." Priscilla smiled as she already deduced what he was going to say next.
"Well, you're no longer married, heck, all people below eighteen cannot get married, the legal age for drinking or smoking is now eighteen, and parents can no longer decide who their children should marry." Subaru gave his order as Priscilla sighed, Yorna raised an eyebrow with a bit of confusion.
"Eighteen? The legal age was fifteen before, why eighteen?" Yorna asked as she slightly lowered her head towards him, Subaru sighed as he internally facepalmed.
"It's when your body more or less stops growing, before that you're not fully developed, physically and especially mentally, also, pedophiles will get their asses kicked to prison for the rest of their life, for what I care, castration could be applied." Subaru exhaled as the group walked towards a giant mansion, Weilz took note of what he just said as the group entered inside.
There they found a great number of workers either taking away the furniture or books, and changing some rooms and destroying walls where it's necessary or changing some shapes, so that more rooms could be used as classrooms.
"Alright, so, we are going to need more tables and chairs, the books that aren't relevant are going to be sent to public libraries around the empire." Subaru ordered as they had already taken away a hundred books, Priscilla was checking what books remained.
"What is the meaning of this?!" An old man was loudly walking through the building, as red as a tomato with anger in his eyes.
"What's the problem, mister?" Subaru asked with quite an annoyed look, the man noticed him and took a deep breath.
"Your majesty, I would like to know what's happening to my home?." The noble asked with a calmed voice, Subaru had a small smile on his face.
"I'm turning it into a magic school." Subaru answered with neutral eyes, the noble remained silent, his group was interested in what he'd said, while the noble was just shocked.
"Father, what is happening to our home?" A boy asked as he looked at the noble, who stroked his head with a worried look, and a woman soon joined him.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of this." The noble spoke with quite a soft tone, Subaru was surprised to see fatherly love in this bloodstained country.
"Hey, kid, is your dad good?" Subaru asked in quite a childish tone, the boy seemed to light immediately at the question.
"My father is a noble, he always works hard for us and sometimes manages to play with me, he's the best!" The boy explained with a smile, Subaru sighed and looked at the noble.
"I have a job for you, you'll remain here even if it'll need a few changes." Subaru pointed at the old man, who raised an eyebrow at those words.
"You'll become the principal, you are to take care of everyone that enters these walls and to keep the peace and uphold the law that everyone is to be treated equally ." Subaru ordered as the two were surprised, the noble bowed down.
"May I ask why his majesty is opening a magic school?" The noble asked, Subaru shrugged as if it was obvious.
"Magic can be an extremely useful tool, not only for fighting. To say, healing magic is quite rare, but it can save many lives, so I want everyone to be able to use it, I don't care if they're nobles or slaves." Subaru explained as he walked around the building, many rooms were being used for classrooms, while the garden was being prepared for magic practice.
"I see, magic is still a useful tool, if most of the citizens were capable of using it our empire will become stronger and more influential both economically and politically over other nations." The noble stroked his chin, the group was heading towards the exit.
"Not only magic, but education too. I want every citizen in this empire to be able to read, write and do math, the more people are educated, the more ideas they'll have, more ideas, more money and stability." Subaru explained his idea, Yorna smiled at the idea, Priscilla was curious, and the others were simply surprised.
The group went on and checked for the reconstruction of the city and for the injured, the days went on like this, and in less than a week, the capital was as good as new, with some buildings having started to function, first it was the school, where hundreds of people already signed up.
Subaru was in the throne room, where instead of a single throne there was a round table where everyone could discuss, there they spoke about the situation in the city and for the next actions they'll have to take for the country.
"So, the school was a success, we already have surpassed the initial expectations, but the engineering team is having quite some trouble in making what you have called the 'printing press', at last the public library you have ordered has been built." Gustav read the various reports, he was assigned with taking care of the reports and taking care of minor issues.
"I kind of expected them to take a while before being able to create a printing press, alright, what about outside the capital?" Subaru asked as he turned towards Idra, who had a face that said it all.
"Due to your new laws that go against mainly nobles, most of them started to gather and prepare for a rebellion, we have sent our strongest fighter in the main cities, but the countryside is still outside of our control." Idra explained with a low tone, Subaru sighed while leaning on the table.
"I expected this but it's still annoying. Prepare to build more roads of better quality, and make sure to put guard posts all over the road network, if we can get better movements and faster information we'll have an easier time." Subaru stood back on his chair, completely sunken in it.
"That's not a position worthy of an emperor, fool." Priscilla glared at him while holding a fan over her mouth, Subaru sighed and leaned on the table, Priscilla didn't even respond and turned away.
"You can do it too, ya know?" Subaru raised his head slightly, Priscilla closed her eyes and replied.
"That is not a position my divine self would ever have." "Your divine self is a child, no one other than yourself is going to scold you."
"I am, and sit upright, Subaru." A calm yet motherly voice came from the door, where a young lady with fox ear and a tail entered, Subaru stood as she said, Yorna sat down with a pipe in her mouth.
"Why are you smoking?" Subaru asked as he raised his eyebrow, with quite an annoyed face.
"It is a small habit of mine, I took it for quite a lo-" "Yeah that's not what I'm saying, why are you smoking when you're not older?" Yorna was annoyed by his statement, she glared at him.
"I am quite old, even if my body is one of a maiden." "And you destroy it before you even get to eighteen?" Subaru asked as Yorna was confused, he sighed and snapped his finger, and Gustav immediately took some paper.
"All people below eighteen can no longer smoke or drink alcohol." Subaru ordered, surprising both Yorna and Priscilla, the two looked at him with surprised expressions.
""Why?"" Both of them asked, Yorna was a bit more annoyed than Priscilla.
"Both of those are bad for the body, especially for younger people who haven't properly developed yet, drinking or smoking could even lead to a premature death." Subaru explained with a menacing tone, Yorna put down her pipe and Priscilla sighed.
"Now, as for the things we have to do…" Subaru took a list he wrote in Japanese, with a lot of ideas or problems he took note of.
"Gustav, take care of the punishments." "Yes boss."
"Idra, can I leave you the magic school?" "Do you even have to ask, boss?"
"Hiain, I've told you that experiment with agriculture, right?" "Yes! I'll do my best boss!"
"Weilz, show me how good of a smith you are." "Sure thing boss."
With that Subaru ordered to each one of his friends, they immediately went to work, all with immense joy, only three remained in the room.
"So, we have another thing to take care of, shall we?" Subaru walked towards the inner parts of the castle, in it was a door with a big steel lock, he opened it, and entered inside.
"Hey guys, have you cooled off yet?" Subaru asked as he entered, within the room were four people, Vincent, Arakiya, Groovy, Chisha and Goz, the four of them weren't chained nor were they held in a dirty cell, instead, they were kept in a guest room.
"You're immensely brave or naive for leaving the five of us together." Vincent spoke first as he glared at Subaru, the four, while unarmed, were still dangerous, and could easily attack him.
"Oh, and what? You're going to kill me?" Subaru provoked the group, Goz stood up immediately but both Subaru and Vincent glared at him with such an intensity that the mighty warrior had to immediately stand back, so that he may not be overwhelmed by the two emperor's authority.
"I suppose you already have a few tricks up your sleeves, as expected of the man who defeated me." Vincent complimented Subaru, who merely scratched the back of his head with a dumb expression.
"Nope, I'll just kick your ass again if you try anything funny." Subaru replied with a cocky smile, the four remained stunned by his words, Groovy screamed in annoyance and slammed his fists.
"Ya wanna get ye'r ass kicked, kid?!" Groovy took a small kitchen knife and pointed it at him, Subaru walked towards him, to the point the knife made contact with his clothes, but instead of cutting him, the knife melted away, falling to the ground.
"Alright, this is the last knife I melt, next it's your fur." Subaru spoke in a cold tone, his eyes seemed to pierce through the demi human, as Groovy stood back.
"Now that I've traumatized the hyena, we can get down to business." Subaru turned towards Vincent and calmly sat down on a couch, he crossed his legs and smiled.
"Hey ya asshole!" Groovy shouted angrily but everyone ignored him.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Subaru asked with a serious expression, the air in the room grew heavy, the old and new emperor face to face, Vincent opened his mouth.
"I must ask to discuss this without anyone else in the room." Vincent asked as Subaru gave a nod to have Priscilla and Yorna bring everyone out, only three remained in the room, the two emperors and Chisha Gold, and Vincent speaked up.
"After my death, a great calamity shall occur, that will plunge the empire in ruins so deep that not even the sunlight can cut through it." Subaru remained still, listening to what Vincent was saying, he stopped for a brief moment, Subaru noticed how Chisha remained still, not being shocked or angered.
"The witch of the kingdom, the night weeping of the city states, the collapse of the holy kingdom, and the great calamity of the empire, the four disasters that will destroy the world." Vincent looked at Subaru, now deep in thought, he didn't seem shocked, or at least, he was more concerned on what to do.
"Then as Long as you live, it won't happen." Subaru replied after thinking a bit, Vincent was surprised to hear that, his eyes flinched slightly and he sighed.
"You think it's that easy?" Said Vincent "I checked already, it's impossible to go against a commandment, I'm fated to die! The only thing we can do is minimize the damage it'll cause." He was quite neutral with his voice, even if Subaru knew that he hated this fate, Subaru sighed and smiled.
"Fate, uh? You think I have to surrender to something like fate? Who decided that?!" Subaru took a deep breath, with a fire in his eyes, to the point they glowed brighter than any light in the room.
"I shall bend this world to my will." Subaru spoke with absolute confidence, as he spoke those words, Priscilla entered the room, hearing what he said.
"Such a bold statement, I hope you shall be able to keep it true." Priscilla put her fan over her mouth, hiding a smile filled with curiosity, Subaru had a cocky smile instead, one he had very often.
"True? At this point my words are just facts!" Subaru pointed at Priscilla as he spoke, she giggled at his words. "How can you claim such a thing, fool?!" Vincent shouted in annoyance, Subaru giggled.
"Last time I claimed such a thing I conquered an empire." Subaru glared at Vincent who stopped talking in anger, then he continued. "Still, I won't bend my head to fate, I'll achieve my happy ending. Anything else I should know?"
As he asked, Chisha started explaining what the stargazers are, and how they helped Vollachia with their commandments. Subaru listened to their words, and at the end he smiled.
"You know, the stargazers see the future, and they help with insurrection or calamities, but have they warned you about me?" Subaru now had a devilish smile, as all the people in the room shot their eyes open, Vincent and Chisha exchanged gazes, clearly wondering how they did not notice, and Priscilla burst into laughter.
"I must admit that your presence has not been known to us stargazers, but it changes nothing, the great calamity shall happen." Suddenly a man with a feminine look, with long gray hair and clothes appeared in the room.
"Ulbik, the empire has been conquered. Are you sure the great calamity hasn't happened yet?" Vincent asked in quite an annoyed tone, he was quite angered too, Ulbik merely shrugged.
"I suspect that this boy might not even be a danger to the empire, thus the stars did not warn us." Ulbik smiled as everyone eyed him with suspicious looks, Subaru then turned towards the two.
"Well, guess I'll have to save your ass and destroy the calamity, alright, Chisha?" Subaru looked at the man dressed in white, who seemed completely surprised at his words, Priscilla and Vincent were confused at those words, but Chisha understood them.
"Even if you were to destroy all the causes for the calamity, then I'll become that cause." Ulbik changed tones, now he had a far more neutral one, he looked at Subaru, who kept on smiling. Subaru stood up from his seat and walked up to him, with fire in his eyes and an unshakeable determination that the presents all came to respect.
"Then cause it, right now, go on, try to kill Vincent or whatever, I'll destroy that shitty calamity of yours, bring it on." Subaru stood proudly as he watched Ulbik, who didn't speak, Subaru gave him a nod telling him to get out, which he did promptly with quite a neutral look on his face.
"Well then, do you know when the calamity will strike?" Subaru asked as he sat down, playing a fist under his cheek while leaning on the couch.
"Approximately seven or eight years from now." Chisha answered while Subaru giggled slightly, Priscilla then sat down too, next to Subaru, who was already thinking of innumerable possibilities.
"Brother, for how long did you know about the calamity?" Priscilla asked with quite a serious expression, Vincent remained silent for a while.
"Before the selection, I found the diary of a lunatic named Stride Vollacchia, there he also spoke about some beings called observers, who decide the fate of the world." Silence reigned in the room, the four inside all collecting their thoughts.
"I suppose these observers are the stars that guy was talking about, do you know of one of those beings?" Subaru had a devilish smile on his face, with Priscilla already understanding where this was going, while Vincent and Chisha were quite worried.
"This Stride seemed to think that Volcanica was one of them."
"Isn't that the dragon from Lugunica? Let's go ask him a few questions."
"Are you a fool or merely ignorant? The dragon is seen as a god to our enemy, Lugunica, you think you can just talk to him?"
"Uh, I'll make peace and then talk to that dragon."
"You are undoubtedly a fool."
Subaru and Vincent went back and forth as the other two took some tea, after a moment of silence both Vincent and Priscilla laid their eyes on what was on the table.
""What's that red fruit?"" Both of them asked at the same time, Subaru was surprised at their question, he took one and showed it to them.
"It's an apple, haven't you seen one before?"
""You mean appa?""
"Apple."
""Appa!""
"Apple!"
"Regardless, appas are white, not red." Priscilla ended the banter, Subaru looked at her with an incredulous smile.
"Wait, you've never seen an unpeeled apple?" Subaru giggled slightly, the two were confused until Subaru opened one, brother and sister were surprised at seeing it, while Subaru started laughing.
"Pfttt, these two idiots should rule Vollachia, and they don't even know the color of an apple, ahahah!" Subaru laughed so much that he rolled on the ground, Priscilla and Vincent looked at him with annoyed eyes, for then taking their yang swords.
""Shut it fool!"" The two struck together, aiming at his head, yet the heavenly blades merely bounced off of his body, as his magic was active.
"What? You wanna play?" Subaru took his sword too, and the trio started fighting, rather, Priscilla and Subaru fought, as Vincent immediately got launched away.