Fara laughed. “Do I need to pull you into my lap to keep you focused? You’re like a child, Rys.”
“Is that a no?”
Her tails batted him in the side. “I didn’t answer you. But you’re right.” She smiled at him. “Being with you has taught me what it’s like to be free from all the anxiety and worries I had before. I used to worry about my clan, Vallis, my sisters, and every decision I needed to make.”
“And now?” he asked.
“Like you said, I need to do things for myself.” She pressed her head into his neck, and her ears tickled him. “The only time I ever felt this at peace was when I was an enforcer in the mountains. After the first few years, I got used to such a simple duty. That’s what I want. Only with you.” Her hands fully closed over his.
“Sounds like you’re decided,” he said. “Can we get back to sleeping?”
She rolled her eyes, then pulled herself into his lap. The warmth of her body did things to his crotch. She grinned as she felt his erection press into her.
“Before that, I wanted to tell you my plans,” Fara said. “Once Compagnon are dealt with, I want to visit my family near Avolar. I mentioned the village, didn’t I?”
“You did,” he said. He placed his hands on her hips. She held them in place, preventing him from doing anything.
For now.
“My sisters are up there. Ariko is my lazy twin sister who came with me to the archipelago after she got knocked up on the job. Nia’s my younger sister, but I don’t know if she’ll be there. She’s a spy, after all,” Fara said.
“Don’t bring her back,” Rys said.
She rolled her eyes. “I doubt that will be a problem. She follows orders, and Pharos won’t have even heard of you. Nobody will tell her to investigate you. It won’t matter. I’m going there to tell them my decision.”
“To support me?”
“To leave the clan,” Fara said.
Rys blinked. When had that become what she had decided?
“You do realize that it’s impossible for me to serve you and my clan at the same time?” Fara asked. “They gave me permission to leave with Gregory, but working for a foreign ruler is a bridge too far. But I don’t care. I’ve spent my life under the shadow of my clan’s wishes, without ever getting anything in return. I finally know what I want.”
Fara leaned in and pressed her lips against Rys. This time, she let him return it properly. She moaned against him as his tongue slipped into her mouth. They tousled inside her, and he suckled on the underside of her tongue.
Her tails curled around him. He wrapped his hands around her, bending her backward in his lap as he took control of the kiss.
They came up for air eventually. Fara pressed her nose against his and licked his lips with a giggle.
“Once I’m back, I want to continue this,” she breathed out.
“Oh, made up your mind?” he asked her. He rocked her back and forth in his lap. She definitely felt him pressing against her.
She gulped.
“I…” She closed her eyes. “I don’t know if there’s much reason to wait any longer, given I’m turning my back on my clan for you. But I want it to be something special. And… I might want that something special to return to.”
She gave him an uncertain, and slightly sad, smile. The difficulty of arguing with her sisters and clan over this weighed on her.
“I’ll be here,” he said
“Not like you can be anywhere else,” Fara said. Her tails batted him in the sides. She giggled and hugged him.
She refused to move from his lap for over an hour. He indulged in his cute little fox as much as he could. She moaned sweetly into his mouth from the kissing and tail combing.
Soon, Fara would come to him. But he could wait.
Good things came to those who waited, after all.
Like an empire. A few days later, his cabinet assembled at his mansion. The time had finally come for him to create his new nation and to rule over it.
Chapter 33
“Big day, huh?” Vallis chirped.
Rys looked sidelong at her. He said nothing.
“You’ve done a great job hiding it, but I know you’re excited about this,” she continued.
“Not much is changing. If anything, today is more important for you, Maria, and Alsia,” Rys replied.
Vallis smirked and said nothing.
The two of them stood in a small chamber behind the throne room. Other than a small table along the side of the room, it was empty. The purpose of the room was to allow Rys and others access to and from the rear of the throne room.
Noises echoed through the door. The soundproofing here worked differently. Noise reached Rys in this room, but nobody in the throne room could hear him. The same applied for the other antechambers around the throne room.
The reasoning was so that guests and staff could listen in and react to events without intruding, if necessary.
Right now, the design choice allowed Rys to listen to Tyrisa and the others bustle about in the throne room.
Vallis was right. Today was a big day, and he was excited.
Today was the day that Rys created his own nation.
He wouldn’t be running an empire on behalf of Ariel or Malusian. Or putting together the pieces of a collapsed continent.
No, this nation was entirely his own. He had shaped its creation from the ground up. The women who helped him create it were his, and he controlled the infernals who had conquered the territory it occupied.
But it was a bad look to appear gleeful, so he had remained his stoic self. The fact Vallis and the others knew meant somebody had leaked his thoughts. Rys had his suspicions as to who.
There was only one massive demon who knew Rys well enough, after all.
Eventually, Tyrisa poked her head through the door. “I think everybody’s here, Rys.”
“What, no formal announcement that he’s entering? No trumpets?” Vallis joked.
Tyrisa rolled her eyes and vanished back into the throne room.
“No sense of humor,” Vallis muttered.
The two of them entered the throne room.
Dark granite columns lined the length of the room, all trimmed with brass. A long black carpet stretched from the far entrance of the room to the throne itself. Shields bearing the nation’s new emblem hung on the wall.
The decorations were deliberately understated. Rys wanted people to focus on the people in the room, not the wealth he swung around. Even the throne was a simple steel and wood construction with an upholstered facade.
Grigor wasn’t present, as he was busy fortifying Harpiscon. But everybody else was.
Fara stood next to the throne, her tails fanned out as low to the ground as possible. She bowed her upper body to Rys as he entered, a smile on her face. Her ears flattened as well for a moment, before perking back up.
Terry led the demons in a salute. A dozen of them stood in front of the pillars, and they slammed their fists against their chests. Lilim lurked in the corner of the room, as well as some Ashen and Malakin. None of the Ashen smoked in here.
Maria and Alsia stood halfway between the throne and the far entrance, but several feet apart. They both curtsied as Rys sat on the throne, although Alsia’s curtsy was noticeably clumsy. Only a sharp glare from Maria prevented her Kinadain counterpart from bowing.
“Right, formalities over,” Rys declared and waved a hand in the air. “Let’s move onto business. I have some decisions to make so that you three can finalize everything, don’t I?”
He glanced between Vallis, Maria, and Alsia. They smiled in return.
“For someone who is being crowned grand king of the world, you don’t seem too interested,” Vallis said.
“First decision: title,” Rys said, ignoring Vallis’s jibe. “Let’s go with simple. I’m King Talarys. Any objections?”
“A little plain, but I get the feeling that’s what you want,” Maria said, looking at the others. “May I ask why?”
“Because the more attention people pay to the infernal summoner ruling over them from the mansion in the mountains, the warier they’ll become,” Rys explained. “You and Alsia are the faces of the nation. I’m the shadow ruler, so I hold the true power, but people don’t need to think about me. They can go about their everyday lives and never know that I exist.”
“I’m pretty sure they’ll know you exist. You’ll be king. There’ll be demons wandering around,” Vallis said drily.
“He was being hyperbolic,” Fara said. She frowned. “This is like what you did in Harpiscon, isn’t it? You’re trying to minimize rebellion and anger by drawing people’s attention elsewhere.”
“Yes. It’s how the Empire ran for the most part. The Devil Queen and Malusian were forces of nature, and most people worried about the local rulers, who were typically mortals. I don’t need anything that complicated, but the separation will help,” Rys said.
“People will want to know about you,” Maria said.
“Longer-term, I’ll need to build my own reputation. If things get bad, I can become a tyrant, while Maria and Alsia shield their people from me. Or maybe I’m a distant ruler who only cares about the grander scheme.” He shrugged. “We’ll tackle that when it matters. Right now, tell people whatever you like. We can use people’s reactions to shape our strategy in the future.”
Alsia nodded, her eyes glittering. “That is sensible. The Kinadain do not know what to make of you, so gathering more information based on what they hear of you is a good short-term plan.”
Tyrisa tilted her head and looked up from her notes. After a few seconds, Rys looked at her.
She blushed. “Um, if you’re a king, then we’re ruling a kingdom of some sort? We should name our country, Rys.”
“King Talarys,” Vallis corrected.
Tyrisa ignored her superior, which drew a glare from Vallis. At some point, the two of them would learn to get along. But today was not that day.
“Again, simple is best,” Rys said.
“Perhaps not too simple,” Maria added quickly. “Something aspirational, so that people know what you want to achieve, Your Majesty?” Maria’s face flushed as she called Rys by his new honorific and she fiddled with the front of her dress.
“Hmm. How about the Kingdom of Kavolara? We’ll control the whole island eventually,” Rys said.
Everybody nodded in agreement, and the demons tested the name out.
Only Tyrisa frowned. She wrote something down, then tilted her head. A strange smile crossed her face. The Lilim grinned shortly after as well, suggesting they were in on whatever Tyrisa knew.
“Um, I don’t think you thought that through…” she said, trailing off.
“What is it, Tyrisa?” Rys asked, worried about what he had missed.
“The acronym. You just named your new nation the cock. K—O—K,” she said, spelling out the acronym.
Rys would love to say there was silence. There was not.
“That acronym is banned by royal decree,” he said flatly, ignoring the giggles and juvenile gestures made by the demons. The Lilim continued to giggle for almost a minute.
“Living up to your title of Incubus King,” Fara muttered.
“Can we use that title?” one of the Lilim called out.
Rys rubbed his temples. “You already do. Quiet down, children. We still have things to do.”
After another minute, the giggling died down enough that they returned to business as usual. Rys decided to stick to his current name, figuring that it would amuse the citizens. Eventually, his nation would just be Kavolara, once he controlled the island.
Then, one day, he would control the archipelago, and he could change the name entirely. He’d change his approach entirely once that day came.
They discussed some minor matters relating to names, the military, and hierarchy. Grigor was promoted to general. Separate branches for the military were created to separate the infernals from the mortal army that Rys planned to raise, all commanded by Grigor.
Importantly, Rys maintained overall command of the military. Many countries relied on private armies from nobles. The king went to war and asked his nobles to bring soldiers. This reduced expenditure by the king, but minimized his control.
Rys refused to relinquish that power.
“It will be expensive,” Maria said.
“Professional militaries always win out over levies,” Rys said.
“If we don’t control the army, what do we do?” Alsia asked. “Many of the questions from other elders have been regarding how we support you. And my relationship with you.”
Vallis stepped forward and coughed. “We already discussed that.”
“Maybe, but I feel we need to clarify it,” Alsia pressed.
Scowling, Vallis continued, “You rule the Kinadain as the chief elder. Maria controls the rest of our territory. I manage the central government on Rys’s behalf, as he is king and rules everything.”
“Titles,” Tyrisa reminded everybody. “We need titles for everybody.”
“Duchesses,” Rys said without hesitation. “If I’m a king, then we’ll stick with nobility. That way nobody gets any ideas that this is an actual federation. Maria and Alsia will become duchesses.”
Vallis blinked and turned to him. “What about me?”
Chewing on the inside of his mouth, Rys considered a good title. It needed to be something that conveyed power and authority, but only on behalf of the king.
“Viceroy,” Rys said. “That should make it clear to everybody that you have my absolute authority when it comes to running the kingdom. It also supports my approach as a ‘shadow king’ as I’ve appointed you to govern on my behalf.”
Vallis blinked, then a huge grin spread on her face. “Viceroy Vallis Tornnes. Wow.”
The final system fell into place, although largely based on the work done by the others.
Rys ruled as king of the Kingdom of Kavolara. He didn’t bother with a crown—everybody knew he was in charge. Below him, he separated the kingdom into duchies which were ruled independently by duchesses. A viceroy managed the day-to-day activities on his behalf, because Rys had things to do.
Also, he knew far too well how much paperwork the ruler of a nation needed to handle. Disputes, expenditure, taxation decisions, immigration, security, punishment decisions—a lot of things worked their way up the chain.
Alsia in particular was new to this. Rys suspected that Maria could manage a lot of things by herself, but Alsia would be leaning on him and Vallis hard.
For now, he split the kingdom into two duchies. Alsia governed a Kinadain duchy, with no set territory other than the nearby mountains. Maria was responsible for everything else. Eventually, Rys would appoint more dukes or duchesses, but he didn’t need more for now.
“And I’m the Chief of Staff,” Tyrisa said, puffing her chest out.
“Yes, we all know that,” Vallis said. “You’re the queen of paperwork.”
Before Tyrisa and Vallis started a fight, Rys moved onto more important matters.
“Maria, is this enough to get the ball rolling? I understand you’ve brought all the mayors, village chiefs, and major merchants on board,” he said.
“It is, and it isn’t.” Maria bit her lip. “I wanted to talk about taxes. It’s a very sensitive topic with everybody.”
“Did the three of you decide on anything related to taxation?” Rys asked, looking between his new duchesses and Vallis.
“Err, kind of?” Vallis winced. “I mean, I know about taxes, but developing them is very different. Everybody hates them, but they also want to spend money we won’t have unless we tax people.”
“Yes, that’s the nature of taxation,” Rys said drily. “Let’s start with the basics. We have three taxes we can reliably work with right now. Income taxes, property taxes, and trade taxes. Although income taxes are basically just crop taxes, as trying to track income on anybody else is a massive waste of effort.”
Mar
ia raised an eyebrow. “I don’t think I’ve heard of anybody doing that. Was it normal in the Infernal Empire?”
“Very normal, at least for businesses. Anybody who ran a business or made enough working for somebody else needed to keep a ledger of activity, and they were taxed on profit.” Rys shrugged. “We have no way to easily tell if people are lying, and it would drive migrants away.”
He raised a finger. “And that is the crux of taxation. We’re trying to raise the most money as efficiently as possible, without causing people to leave, or harming the kingdom. Easy to say, hard to do.”
“Hence why there are only three taxes,” Vallis said. “So we tax the farmers based on their crops; tax the wealthy based on their property; and tax the merchants based on what they sell?”
Alsia and Maria stared at Vallis in surprise. Then they looked back at Rys, as if wondering if she was right.
He smirked. “That’s mostly accurate. But only in the long run. Most farmers are recovering from Compagnon’s actions. If we start taking a third of their crop every year, they’ll think that we’re as bad as Compagnon. So we need to let most of them recover first.”
“That leaves a large hole in our finances,” Maria said.
“It does. Property taxes are more reliable, but we just killed most of the wealthy people in the kingdom when we conquered it. We’ll need to target the few that were unharmed, or who benefited from Compagnon,” Rys said.
“Finally,” he continued, “we have trade taxes. This is where we’ll make most of our money. Compagnon’s gone, so merchants will thrive again. We’ll let other merchants take over the artifact trade. Then we tax everything leaving our borders, and any imports of luxury goods from the continents.”
“The merchants will be furious,” Vallis said. “They suffered from Compagnon as well. If you exempt the farmers but not them…”
“It isn’t very fair, I’ll admit,” Maria said.
“Taxes aren’t about being fair, they’re about being efficient,” Rys said. “If we design for fairness, we’ll create problems that somebody needs to fix later. Given I intend to hang around for a few centuries, that somebody will be me. And I hate fixing my own mistakes.”
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