21 Chapter 21 - The Politics!

The feast went on until the evening where sounds of laughter and instruments being played reverberated throughout the whole square of the village. Some of the village folks even dance around the fire camp accompanied by romantic music and songs. It was truly a lively and joyful atmosphere for the village that would be worth to remember.

At the moment, Theo sat next to the wooden eating table just opposite of the camp fire. He is still eating his fill of rabbit meat while watching the merry scene, he couldn't deny how tender the meat are. Its incredibly juicy and the taste is quite top-notched as well. Eating and drinking a mouthful of grape juice, at the same time, his mind is still kicking and brewing up ideas for his next step to develop the village.

In the end, he made it clear to himself that before he decided to carry out any of his development plan, he needed to make sure of three things:

One, the history and culture of the world. He needed to know how the empires work. He did recall when Gosu stated that Kol's village is under the state of Blight, ruled by the Kalderan Empire. If he were to develop the village without the express consent from the relevant authority, not only would he definitely get in trouble for stepping out of line, even the villagers might get dragged along as well.

Second, he needed to know the overall summary of this village. Its resources, the population pyramid structure, its GDP income and its diplomatic ties as well as trades, towards the other surrounding villages and towns. Through analyzing these important factors, he can then choose which development strategy and contingency he should prepare and work out accordingly.

Third, he needed to familiarize with each of his abilities and make full use of them. By 'full use', what he means is that, working out how to use those abilities in both the orthodox and unorthodox way. By exploiting them, he might just be able to make things more simpler.

After contemplating these three things, he turned his attention towards Gosu, who was eating the rabbit meat with speed like the barbarians. Theo nodded approvingly as such image fitted perfectly in harmony of his appearance. Jerald and the village head was also sitting on the same table, seeming ashamed of the fella besides them. The village head swore to beat up his a*s with his cane stick later on tonight.

"Gosu, can you explain to me how the empires and its states work in this world? I planned to develop this village further, but as you all know, I am not someone from this world. Thus, my interference might cause upheavel in the hierarchy system and would even trouble the village." asked Theo with a concerning voice.

"Umm.. wellsh.. The thingsh ish.." before he could even complete his sentence, a loud 'Pa!' sound could be heard as his head was slapped by the village head from the back. The food in his mouth almost flew out to Jerald sitting next to him. Thankfully it didn't happen. Otherwise, he might lose a limb or two. Crippled into a useless savage.

"You barbaric infidel! Swallow your food properly first before you talk! You are disrespecting the Lord like that!" shouted the village head.

The village head was quite incensed with this fella. He was simply too undependable!

Clutching his head, he swallowed the mouthfull of food in his mouth. He couldn't help but to think that this old man in front of him had gone senile. He felt wronged by the constant abuse this old man did to him. He decided that one day he would hide the old man's cane stick somewhere. See if he can even walk properly by then.

"Well.. the thing is.. eventhough we are part of the state of Blight, our village is located at their outermost border. Since the founding of our village, not even one of their official had even bothered to pay us a visit and tried to relieve our griefs."

He stopped for awhile, seeming as if to compose himself to be calm. He hated the state of Blight and their corrupt officials. Then he continued:

"All they care about is that we pay our due tax on time. We had to deliver two tonnes of iron ore within the span of a year annually. By then, we are only left with a few iron ores per year for our use and some of it we traded with Pearl town for a measly sum of money that we use to buy the necessary daily commodities to sustain ourselves. In summary, we are basically... exploited."

As he said that last sentence, he clenched his fists tight as he remembered how he was forced to work overnight to mine the ores because the state demands an extra tonne of iron ore with a promised salary of 1 gold per person by the end of the year.

Yet, they only received a measly 30 coppers and the reason that they got from the official notice was, that they should feel honored to serve the state. His indignance at that time erupted to its peak that he went to the next town to demand their just due.

Turns out that the mayor of the town had confiscated most of their payment as he thought that they do not deserve such huge amounts of money. He almost went berserk to snap the neck of the mayor but was stopped by Jerald as the mayor was protected by elite guards. They wouldn't be able to win.

Thus, he had to bury his fury deep inside of him and returned to the village.

"Thus, as no one would be paying attention to our small village, whatever development that happens here would take them a long time to realize. And by that time, we have to fight for our independence!"

Theo was listening calmly at first, but his mood became sour when he heard the word 'exploited'. It didn't matter to him if the exploited were those corrupt rich officials, but mere villagers?

He would one day exploit them back so thoroughly that even their underwear will no longer belongs to them!

Then he heard the word 'Independence' and he couldn't help but to be interested in that.

"Independence? Villages can declare their own independence?" asked Theo.

By this time, it was Samo the village head who replied to him with a solemn voice.

"It is possible to declare independence away from the state, but not from the empire itself, Lord Theo."

Hearing this, Theo's eyes began to sparkle.

"Continue." he urged the village head to explain.

"The Kalderan Empire had made it clear before, that the numerous states under it, although are an integral part of the empire's overall structure, are not absolute."

"That's right." said Jerald. He then continued after the village head.

"For any domain under the ruling of a state, should they have the capabilities, are allowed to overrule and fight for independence. A rebel against the state would not theoretically be called as rebels by the empire, but labelled as 'Blooms' instead."

Gosu nodded before continuing where Jerald left off.

"Although the empire has stated that, Blooms that failed to gain independence against the state, would have half of their total population be sent to the scaffold to be beheaded in public, where most of them are the soldiers and their families."

"This... Why?" asked Theo when he heard the dire consequences of the failure.

"This is to ensure that anarchy would not spread in both the empire and the state. Each domain who wanted to become Blooms would have to think things thoroughly. Thus, eventhough the allure of gaining independence is high throughout every domains under a state, its consequences serves to act as its balance."

"That's true." continued the village head.

"Not even the States are allowed to lift the punishments of a failed Bloom in any way, otherwise the Empire itself would march and eradicate the state themselves for rebelling against the decree of the empire."

"Hmmm... then what is the Empire's purpose for allowing domains under the ruling of a State to become Blooms? Aren't they afraid of the State rebelling against them?" asked Theo seeming puzzled. He was someone from the modern world, thus the politics is far different from this place.

"That is because the Empire itself promotes its overall strength to be bolstered by the emerging Blooms that managed to gain independence from a state, proving themselves to be strong and worthy. Whatever powers that exists under the rulling of the Empire, is their's." said the village head and continued:

"Furthermore, the Empire are not worried about rebels coming from States under its rulling, as their military and resources are far more powerful that all the States combined."

"In fact, they would not have to act personally. They would only need to order the surrounding states of the rebellious state to eradicate them."

"Thus, the pressure from both the Blooms and the Empire itself would ensure any State would not grow too powerful. Therefore, these delicate balance were achieved between the three, ensuring the Empire to always stay at the top of the hierarchy."

As Theo heard all this, he now realized that becoming a ruler of his own kingdom wouldn't be as easy as he imagined it to be despite his unique system.

"I see.. so it goes far beyond that what I imagined. But since an indepence is possible, then that is what I will aim for now!" said Theo resolutely.

He was confident. Eventhough it would take a long time to establish his own kingdom, but with the help of the system. It is definitely possible. Not to mention that he even praised himself to be the genius of the millennia. Even conquering the numerous empires in this world were nothing but preordained for him. Fated to be under his rule.

It is only but a matter of time.

Waking up from his dazed look, he turned towards Gosu again.

"Gosu, I need you to do several things for me regarding the summary of this village. This is a task that you must complete under three days. No delays."

Writing on a piece of paper, Theo wrote the Second things that he contemplated before for Gosu to research and present to him. He than gave the paper to Gosu by which the latter read the paper thoroughly.

"Oho? This is quite simple! Seems that the stuff I learned while loitering around the library to pick up girls back then are useful for this task!" Gosu giggled to himself sinisterly before continuing.

"Three days is more than enough! I will leave now to conduct my investigations immediately! Farewell Lord Theo." with a ninety degrees bow towards Theo and sticking out his tongue towards the head village, he quickly skid-daddle his way into the crowds.

The village head threw his walking cane stick in his exasperation. That fella is too shameless! He then turned towards Theo.

"Gosu might be unreliable at times, but even myself are sometimes surprised by his intellect. Please forgive him if he is rude in any way towarss you Lord Theo." explained the village head.

Shaking his head gently and laughing a bit. Theo smiled and said:

"I do not take offense in his antics, in fact I find it intriguing."

Hearing this, the three of them laughed out loud as they soon began to shake their heads together and laugh some more.

Tilting his head towards the starry night sky, Theo was now more than ever resolved to build up his own kingdom.

To become a Ruler!