by Scar, Rick
Royal Order. This long-cooldown skill was useful to start an instant order completion, avoiding any objections or delays.
Royal Pace. A passive skill making the citizens of any country part before you once they see you.
Note: This skill only affects ordinary people. At maximal level, it will make them worship you.
There were a few more skills like this, all related to his royal power. Skimming through them, Will opened the State Management menu—and recoiled from the colossal map expanding before him.
Holy crap!
But the giant map was nothing compared with the rest that followed: countless buttons, arrows, names of villages and cities, and loads of other information that made him dizzy. Spotting the Treasury button in this chaos, Will pressed it—just to get overloaded once again.
Revenues. Spending. Loans. Capital city accounts. Accounts of other cities. More. More. More. He had to examine the whole lengthy list in detail before he found what he needed.
The available treasury balance.
2 674 000 Gold
“Huh?!” Will jumped up, staring at this number until he realized something had changed in the hall. Glancing around, he saw the courtiers and guests peering at him apprehensively. Sighing, Raven waved to the silent orchestra to play on.
His first impulse was to check if he could withdraw any gold. The popping-up message made it clear that he couldn’t. The developers knew better than to let any player become rich overnight at their expense.
Attention! This gold can only be spent on state development**. From now on, you will be able to manage all the funds paid to the treasury or earned by the state, but this money can’t be:
1) Transferred to your personal account or any third-party account;
2) Used for purchasing gear, weapons, pets, potions, and other in-game items intended for personal use;
3) Given as a gift or paid to NPCs, except for those employed as workers or members of other trades in public construction or other state development projects in your country.
Note: This is just a general introduction. For more information, please see the State Treasury menu → Permitted and Prohibited Operations.
**You will get 1 gold coin to your personal account for each 500 coins earned by the state under your rule.
To increase your income, please check the State Management menu for available improvements.
I’d rather print that. Does this game allow it?
***
“How are you? Happy with the party?” Sprawling on the princess’s bed as he asked this question to the girl sitting by the mirror, Raven studied the map of his country. He’d already marked the task of getting the throne as ‘completed’ in his mental notebook. The next thing on his to-do list was finding the Monarch’s Door by pumping Emin or Daltaro for info, which did not look much of a problem.
The real problem was developing his country. Who would stay in charge after he and the princess set off? The only one who looked appropriate for this role was Nanel’s uncle, but Will did not trust him. Tricked by some young noble so easily. I’d rather not leave my country in the hands of such a naïve man. I need someone more skilled. But who?
“Um? Raven?” The girl turned to him. Her darting eyes and reddened cheeks gave Will hints about how she might be feeling, but he was not sure he guessed it right.
“Yes? I’m listening to you.” Closing the state management menu and fluffing up the pillow, he peered at her closely.
“I… I just w-wanted to s-say… as w-we are h-husband and w-wife…” Saying the last word, she shuddered all over and, closing her eyes, she turned away to the mirror.
“Yeah. Sure. I was trying to remember where I could’ve seen you earlier this day.” The rogue smiled. “So it was you whom I married? Thank you for hinting. I would’ve stayed oblivious otherwise.”
“You fool!” Nanel flared up. “And why lie in my bed?”
“It’s our wedding night, silly.”
Hearing that, Nanel blushed again, while Raven went on: “…and I have an idea.”
“An id-dea?”
“I’m not sure if you will agree to it. But I can promise you’ll never forget it.”
“Eh?!”
“Come with me. You won’t regret it.” He stood up, and the girl followed him out of the room, moving like a hypnotized lunatic.
Does he want…? No! Stop thinking about that! Shaking her head, the princess walked on.
***
“Oh! What a joy! This is a dream come true. I’ve been dreaming of it for so long. Isn’t that cool? Tell me.”
“You…” Standing by a large pile of gold with her arms crossed and tapping her foot angrily, Nanel watched her newlywed husband wallow in the coins, taking a mouthful of them and spitting them out like a jet of water. “Come here, you greedy brute!”
“This is the best wedding night ever!” the young king screamed, tossing the gold up into the air and dodging the wife’s slipper as she flung it at him.
Chapter 132. Her Birthday
W ill woke to the sound of the key turned in his apartment door. The clock by his bed showed 7:30 a. m. Yawning broadly and groping for the slippers with his feet, he stood up, wrapped the blanket around himself, and walked out to the hall.
This sudden guest was his father holding paper bags with groceries in both hands. “Are you up already? A bad joke, sorry. But now you are, anyway. Please take these.”
“You…” Yawning so hard it brought tears to his eyes, Will wanted to ask why his father had to buy that much food at once, but Darius hurried him up.
“Go. Take them to the kitchen. Make coffee for yourself too. Do you remember what day is it today?”
“Eh? Saturday?”
“Yes. At least you remember that, but I meant a different thing. It’s your sister’s birthday.”
“Oh damn! December 24th! Damn wedding…” Will picked up the bags, his sleep gone at once. He quartered himself mentally. How could he have prepared Christmas gifts but forgotten Leah’s birthday?
Stooping to take his boots off, Darius froze, then he straightened up slowly. “What? What wedding? Have you got married?”
“No, Dad. Sure I haven’t. Not really. Relax. It’s not what you’re thinking,” Will tried to calm his father down.
“What else could I think?” Darius asked, removing his boots and coming to the kitchen.
“That’s…” Pondering over how to put it best, Will decided to explain the in-game events briefly to him.
***
“Oh. Who could ever think it would turn out so…”
“Fascinating?”
“No. A different word. Weird! That’s it,” Will’s father commented, taking a sip.
“Huh! That’s just a tiny bit of all my adventures there.”
“If you’ve started to tell me about this… maybe you will tell me about money, too? How do you get it? You spend day and night lying down in that… that virtual thing of yours.” Mug in hand, Darius came up to the window. “I just don’t get it. How can one be making that much by lying down? This world must be going mad.”
“Going? It has long since gone mad,” Will replied, standing by his father’s side. “What was crazy once is now the new norm.”
“So how do you make it?”
“Er. In a nutshell…”
***
“Game gold traded for real money? At what exchange rate? Gosh. I’m not that old. I’ve missed all those computer games out, but… Damn! What’s so badly wrong with these people?”
“Dad. I have a different opinion on that. I see it as just a great opportunity I’d rather not miss. Why complain and ask questions when you can simply use it? This game will be humanity’s second home. I’m sure of it. I’d like you to come to visit this world at least once. A world full of mysteries, quests, and fantastic sensations.”
“Do you think it’s worth all the trouble?”
“I… I don’t know if there are any guest accounts available for A
scension. But if there are, I can arrange an excellent trip into this dream world for you and Leah. She needs a break too.”
***
His little sister arrived early in the evening. As she entered the apartment, she smelled a delicious meal in the kitchen. “Oh. Again. I’m getting tired of that.”
Taking her winter coat off and coming to the kitchen, Leah saw the laid table—and two her closest loved ones disobeying her again. “Where did you get all that? Why spend so much money?” She peered at them strictly, waiting for an answer.
“You explain,” Darius whispered to Will.
“I did last time,” Will whispered back, barely moving his lips, smiling and keeping his eyes on her just as Darius did.
“Rock-paper-scissors?” Darius’s gentle smile looked sincere, almost distracting from the beads of sweat on his forehead.
“Well,” Will replied briefly. Although they spoke in low voices, Leah probably could hear them, standing just a foot and a half away in the small kitchen. There was no way out.
“If your reasons are the same as the last time,” she said, “I will lower my estimation of your IQs.”
“Leah? What are you saying?” Will moved to stand up and hug his sister, distracting her from the fact they’d spent money again to celebrate her birthday. Gave it away. That’s how she used to call this kind of spending.
Will loved his sister and sometimes envied her financial skills. Hearing a list of groceries, she could estimate their total cost accurately to within five dollars. She always remembered the cheapest places to buy any of the items too.
Sometimes Will found it hard to believe she was just fourt… no, fifteen now. Her attitude to money was far more mature than his own. Will only cared to make sure he had enough to pay his bills, food, and other living expenses, but she was always striving for more. He did not think he would ever become as good at saving as she already was.
I’d rather not let her know how I lost over $30,000. She would hate me forever for that. She could’ve made an excellent banker… Hey, stop. A banker? Will froze halfway through his standing move. It dawned upon him he hadn’t been considering anyone from outside the game. But Leah indeed could solve his problem of having someone sensible and knowledgeable run the country for him.
The best thing he could do with Adamarona himself was selling it to get lots of money at once. Sure he could begin to study Economics, but his whole mindset was not financial at all. He was the kind of a person who wanted wealth for the sake of freedom—and who knew no other way of making money but his own labor, literal blood and sweat. If he had put $100,000 in stock trading, he’d now have had… zero left of it.
Financial management was not his cup of tea. Totally not. But it was his sister’s. This young prodigy fascinated with investments and profit-making was the one who could master the art of developing his country.
“Sis—” he started, but Leah interrupted him.
“Bro. Are you trying to distract me so I don’t think of you as dishonest men using a poor little girl as an excuse to fill their bellies?”
“You not only think that. You say it aloud.” Dad laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.
“Yes. You’ve just said it. And it’s not really pleasant to hear,” Will backed his father. “Hey, what was I going to say?”
“How awesome I am?” Leah smiled, sitting down to the table and looking at her brother. “Or something else?”
“I think it’s time to tell you what I do for living.”
***
Telling Leah what he’d already told their father, Will brought the printed screen shots of the state management menu (the game actually enabled making them, and it was really helpful). They were many; Leah spent the next two hours examining them and making calculations. Her face was serious. Clicking fast on the calculator, she wrote down more and more numbers into her copybook, covering the screenshots with marks and notes.
In the meantime, Will and Darius discussed the next day, avoiding any mention of money in order not to get pierced with Leah’s what-a-stupid-waste stare.
“So, bro. That’s just a very rough estimate, but I think we’ll be able to make between two and four thousand gold monthly over the first quarter. That’s unadjusted for war, natural disasters, civil unrest and other unpredictable factors of unplanned spending. Here, here, and here”—she pointed at the screenshots portraying agriculture, metallurgy, and military industry development branches—“cost cutting is needed. The long-term gains are apparent, but short-term instability is involved. I’m not yet sure if we should develop the military. I need more information about this state’s relationships with others. Who are the neighbors? Are any of them hostile? And stuff like that.”
As Will listened to her, his mouth opened wider and wider, just as his father’s. Her reasoning, her ability to see the whole picture, and the speed of her drafting a rough plan, were just incredible for such a young girl. But she did it.
“I’d love to take these with me to give it a more careful consideration. I’d rather get my teachers’ advice, too.”
“But…”
Will was about to remind her it was not wise to show these screenshots to every Tom, Dick and Harry when Leah continued: “I’m not going to show them the screens. I’ll just say I need it for an essay or report. Don’t worry.”
“Have I told you how awesome you are?” Will asked, patting her on the head.
“Now you have,” the girl replied, smiling and squinting with pleasure.
When Will stopped praising her, Leah sat down to the table and landed a sudden blow. “Now tell me: why did you have to spend that much?”
Will and Darius exchanged quick glances. “Rock-paper-scissors! Now!”
Chapter 133. The Birth of Empire
“E min!”
“Yes, royal sire.” The captain put a hand to his chest and bowed slightly.
“Oh, stop that.” Will heaved a sigh. However many times he’d asked his friend to stop over the past few days, Emin kept calling him ‘royal sire’, again and again, with an ironic smile.
“As you like, Your Majesty.”
“You’re waking a beast in me… friend,” Raven warned, squinting his left eye at the other man.
“Well, well. I won’t be doing it again. I just need time to adapt,” Emin said, shrugging and sitting down across from the rogue.
They were in a small office used by all past kings, furnished with taste. It was weird and eccentric, but still a taste of sorts.
“I hope so, Emin,” Will grumbled as he remembered all the events of the past three days since he’d returned to the game.
***
On Sunday, Will, his father, and Leah (still lecturing the two of them on their stupid habit of wasting money) attended a game club. Deciding not to overcomplicate things, Will selected his former practice club for this purpose. And they did not let him down: they actually had a handful of guest accounts for Ascension.
However skeptical his little sister had been about the whole thing, she still came to enjoy the staggering diversity of races, ancient cities, medieval castles, and natural environments in the game.
Guest users of Ascension could not level up or take any quests. They could not attack other players, and no one could attack them. Besides, they were only allowed to visit a few places. This experience provided a demo version of the whole game.
Leah apparently enjoyed the charming ambience of this world. It was another of the moments when she looked like an ordinary girl of fifteen.
In the evening, Will saw her off on the train and, staying face to face with his father, he had a simple conversation with him over tea.
***
He decided not to take any lengthy journeys in the game until January 1st, instead sorting things out within the country. Leah’s notes were not all about finance; she’d also made a list of historical articles and books for him to read to learn more about public administration.
She kept in mind all t
he real-world knowledge was not directly applicable to Ascension as it was not a copy of the actual Middle Ages, but rather a completely different reality.
The first thing Will decided to do was upset the princess by reminding her of their old agreement that she wouldn’t leave the palace until he had destroyed the Swarm.
Hearing that, Nanel started to gasp for air. She apparently wanted to set off once her ‘beloved’ became the king, but instead he not only refused to take her along, but he was also confining her to her chambers for an unknown length of time?
“Don’t you dare!”
Bang!
Another hard object thrown at him by Nanel hit the wall.
“That’s not what we’ve agreed on!”
Swish!
The hair comb missed the king too and clinked against the window.
Tired of throwing things at this impudent one who was so damn good at dodging them, the girl plumped down on the bed.
“This is what we agreed on,” Raven objected calmly, sitting on the window-sill and peering out into the courtyard. “I know how you feel about it. But we can’t leave the country unattended.”
“Unattended? Is it a pet that might starve or run away?”
“Do you want to travel so badly that it makes you compare your kingdom to… to a small animal?” Such a comparison was just beyond Will’s comprehension.
“Um… Er… You’ve got me all wrong. The king’s presence is necessary only for strategical decisions. Not for routine issues. The great Iron Throne was always away at war. He was hardly ever visiting the capital city.
“Was he?” Will looked at her with doubt.
“Er… I guess so.” She sounded hesitant.
“I see. But I don’t seem to have much choice anyway—other than to rule distantly, sometimes visiting to hear Emin’s report.”
One of the things that came with the throne was a teleport in a separate room inside the palace. As the king, Raven could use it once every three days. He’d learned about that by accident, while studying the Castle folder in the state management menu. Using the teleport was free other than using 500 energy.