Chapter 187: New Capital

The Aethelin Kingdom, a crumbling empire, a small state that barely qualifies even as a kingdom.

After all, which kingdom cannot even muster two-digit taxable cities, most of which are nominally independent cities at that?

His people are mainly composed of three of the five most common races on the continent; the lizardfolk numbers are passable, while the Crowned Ones (bird-people) dislike this climate; their true core races are the cat-folk and the Horned Hoofed Ones (cattle, horses, sheep, deer), considered a medium-to-low potential race.

The kingdom possesses no dominant rare races, and the relatively warlike dog-folk are mostly "small dogs."

The three main races of the army are not particularly dominant; even the royal family can only be considered big cats (lion-folk), which often means the most numerous in the kingdom are cat-folk with a low baseline.

Fifty years ago, it was a third-rate small state on the continent.

Now it is roughly fifth-rate, the kind that could be annihilated at any moment.

"We absolutely cannot lose the City of Radiance."

The kingdom's new capital is named New Linser City; compared to Old Linser City (the old capital), most simply call it the New Capital, or at most add the prefix Aethelin New Capital.

Contrary to what many people of the City of Radiance imagine, the new capital's specifications and permanent population are only slightly superior to the City of Radiance, and that limit is strict.

The new capital is not on the same tier as the metropolis of legend; in terms of urban vitality and atmosphere, it is even far inferior to the rapidly developing City of Radiance in recent years.

After all, this city was born the year after the "Great Kingdom Catastrophe (Great Dragon Calamity)," forcibly built by concentrating the kingdom's entire strength that year.

Its origin was to unite the kingdom's political will, and its current survival is actually mainly due to political reasons.

"Maintaining the new capital costs too much; we should have moved to a more suitable development region long ago."

The new capital lies basically on the periphery of the "Great Canyon," not far from the old capital, and the surrounding environment is quite terrible.

Let alone developing industry, even the agricultural environment is mediocre; that massive canyon shaped by dragon breath still produces strange monsters and elemental lifeforms, as if that strike directly pierced through several planes.

Extreme weather in the surroundings is frequent, and strange interdimensional disasters occur often, including plagues, insect swarms, high temperatures, acid rain, and so on.

The old capital in the dragon-breath land has long been out of control; nominally it is still part of the kingdom, but its rulers no longer obey.

Various strange cultists and criminals abound within the city; these unstable factors continuously drain the new capital and even the kingdom's national strength.

In fact, there has always been discussion within the kingdom about whether to completely abandon the old capital region and move the royal capital to a more suitable location.

The City of Radiance is a choice with considerable weight.

"The kingdom absolutely cannot move its capital again; moving the capital for the second time in twenty years! The prestige of the royal house and the kingdom would be utterly destroyed, the various city-states would no longer pay taxes on time, and we would be doomed."

"But just drag it on like this? The kingdom's spies sent to the old capital region basically never return; either they are corrupted and defect, or they are found hanging on the city walls in miserable states. We should have long ago discarded this rotting wound instead of continuing to pour resources into this bottomless pit."

"Yes, even if we clear out the troubles of the old capital, how do we deal with that great rift? Magic is being produced there endlessly; we should have long ago abandoned this region. Be realistic; embrace the new era."

Beneath the throne, the ministers had already erupted into a brawl.

Yet the queen, wearing a blue-and-white robe, simply sat upon the throne, seemingly calmly watching all of this.

But the light occasionally flashing in her pupils indicated she was not merely a prop.

If Li En were here, he would be surprised to discover that this queen no longer resembles the person in the portrait.

The original softness of the maiden is now piercing frost; beneath the golden sapphire crown lies a cold face veiled in black.

Still beautiful and strikingly charming, but the sunlight has turned to ice and snow, and the maiden has become a queen whose eyes hold resentment.

In the gentle eyes of the portrait, only majesty and loathing remain now. Suddenly, she raised her scepter and lightly tapped the marble floor of the throne.

"Click."

Then, the noisy throne room instantly fell silent; the queen's authority was evident.

Her phoenix eyes swept around; the ministers gazed upon one by one lowered their heads, and only then did she speak.

"The new capital is the only royal capital, forever." Her calm words were a declaration and an order. No explanation was needed, no debate, and certainly no discussion; this was the will of the king.

"Increase the training of mercenaries and the army; recover the old capital as soon as possible. Let our allies from other dimensions participate as well; spend more bounties." Beneath her calm declaration lay a new battlefield and countless losses of money and lives.

Having said this, she rose and left directly; after she walked out the door, the ministers behind her instantly erupted into noise again.

However, the direction was already set; they could only quarrel within the scope determined by the king.

The kingdom has weakened, but the royal house is still that royal house; although it is a bit of a stretch, what should be there is still there.

"How could we abandon it?" The queen walked into the corridor; her tightly bitten red lips revealed she was not as calm as she appeared.

Even though it is riddled with holes, the kingdom is still a kingdom, and the royal house is still the royal house. If the royal capital is abandoned, if the promised place is abandoned, that will be the end of the kingdom.

"Is it confirmed?"

Behind the open side chamber stood an old wizard; the room filled with crystal balls and skulls made the chamber appear quite eerie.

But this one, even twenty years ago, was the continent's famous great prophet, Daniel Tu.

"The location of the Hero's Sword still cannot be locked. Laina's side did suddenly produce a reaction, but the reaction was strange, very strange; we must prepare for the worst." The old wizard sighed too; astronomical funds and magical material investments still failed to lock onto the lost Hero's Armament and the Hero, a failure within a failure.

The most headache-inducing part was the inability to probe the matter itself. According to past experience, this often involved the schemes of certain deities.

"A few days ago, Laina had some reaction (Li En, who shelters Lana, left the City of Radiance), and these past few days it has ceased; we must prepare for war against the conspirators who seek to overthrow the kingdom."

As for who did it? There are too many possibilities; the fall of a kingdom does not merely satisfy an evil god; those Shanshen Sects can also feast to their heart's content.

On the map on the table, the location of the City of Radiance was marked by a red knight chess piece.

And for the decision-makers in this room, they only smelled the scent of conspiracy and traps. How could it be so coincidental that Laina, who had shown no reaction for two years, suddenly reacted at this moment, and then the reaction ceased again just these past few days?

This must be some conspirator or even an evil god fishing; precisely at this moment, the royal house must take the bait.

A new hero can be found, but there is only one Hero's Sword.

"The selection of the next hero."

"There are candidates, but without finding the Hero's Sword, it is meaningless. To be honest, even if we recover the hero, it is just adding one card; we must prepare to face the beasts head-on! Two, or even three beasts!"

On the map, there were two black pieces: one with an elephant head and one with a deer head!

The deer head's position and symbol were with the red knight representing the hero; naturally, the City of Radiance became the focal point of the focal points.

The good news is the elephant head is in another country; the bad news is that it is merely a neighboring country, and the sealing line is still near the border. Considering the karma from before, it is almost certain it will rise and charge toward that direction.

The only thing worth rejoicing is that the neighboring country is more anxious than they are; they are currently frantically conducting encirclement and strengthening the seal, so the kingdom should not need to invest forces there.

Some things need not be stated plainly: even if the hero is found, he absolutely cannot compare to the previous one! And that one, who desperately sealed one beast, was called the Continental Hero!

"The third beast."

The most headache-inducing thing, however, was that there was still a "flying beast" piece on the table; it was merely placed there, yet had not been set down.

"Its position is still not determined?"

"Merely because of the Beast Cult's and the Beast Horde's movements, we cannot confirm it is within our borders."

Queen Marianna shook her head.

"I consulted the records of the First King. At the founding of the nation, it was due to his merit in slaying multiple evil birds. Prepare for the worst."

Relocate the capital? Relocate to where? Unless abandoning all territory, these resurrected Ancients would still not let this kingdom go.

"I will go to Radiance City first to strengthen the defenses there, and in passing, bring that runaway silly girl back to work. Heh, perhaps there will be extra gains." Recalling certain legends obtained from the Ancients, Queen Marianna touched her red lips, feeling some expectation.

"... My karmic tie with the Heroine is deep; perhaps I can gain something." For some reason, Queen Marianna always felt she could find what she longed for in that city.

(End of this chapter)