4 A Chance to Change the World

Among the many books surrounding Lucrecia, there were multiple copies relate to magic from many different authors. After all, Magic was a recent discovery, especially for her, as she did have the life expectancy of a silver.

Under her perspective, magic has been around for what might as well be days. She still remembered the young man who had come to her to announce his discovery.

The man had been missing one of his arms, several teeth, and one of his eyes. His face were filled with scars, and he seemed to have been beaten down and ruined.

Despite all appearances, his eye told a different story. One look, and she knew that he was filled with confidence and pride as he looked at her, with a defiant smile on his face. He was full of life, and ready to prove his point.

That attitude was proven when he managed to reach the throne room without being noticed. No alarms, no screams, no bell toll, and no horns were rung when he arrived. He simply appeared there, kneeling in front of her, as if he was always there but was just ignored by the world.

When Lucrecia had questioned his intentions, fully aware of the danger that he represented, the man told her a story about an unknown element. The new element recently found, Mana.

Ever since that moment, she had made sure to stay informed of every last bit of new information related to this peculiar element. There were a few names responsible for the more interesting discoveries, but that knowledge traveled too slowly amongst the every few.

Mana was incredible, full of endless potential, but very few were actually capable of using it. The majority born with said element never actually used this element, and even less were able to use this power to do something useful. The only exceptions were the wise ones full with potential, but those were alone and scattered, victims of their own time.

She had thought about making full usage of their potential by building a school and a university, but those facilities required teachers, and there was a reason why getting said teachers would be difficult.

No matter how hard she tried to think of a way to escape the current state of affairs, she always found herself against a hard wall without any kind of salvation, forced to watch as her kingdom slowly turned to tyranny before her eyes.

"Argh!" Lucrecia shouted as she stood up, pulling her hair in frustration while walking around the room. "Why does everything have to be so complicated? Things were a lot easier to understand when the only thing I had to do was worry about surviving!"

The word that could describe all her emotions in this single day was 'stuck'. The technological advancement that she hoped to achieve was stuck in a strut, the economy was stuck in a lapse, the education was stuck in a loop, the quality of life was stuck to a descending pit, and the only ones capable of bringing some kind of progress were stuck in their own goals.

It was infuriating to witness that much potential being wasted for the pursuit of individual desires, when together, these people could be bringing upon a new age of progress to the whole kingdom. Sadly, it was of no use.

Even if she had managed to convince these mages to work for her, there was still the problem of making work together for more than a month without everyone trying to kill each other. She had seen two mages interact before; it wasn't a pleasant experience for anyone involved. Heck, it wasn't pleasant for the room itself, as that place simply exploded in many pieces.

They were not just stubborn, but competitive and paranoid of each other, due to the fact that they desired their own advancements and discoveries to be put under their belt. Their worry grew beyond the normal suspicion to outright fanatic distrust.

She needed something to convince them all to work together, something that could possibly inspire them to follow a common goal.

She walked around the room, picking up and casually eyeing some of the history books in the shelves around her, in hopes of finding some kind of inspiration or spark of genius. Maybe all the answers she was looking for had been solved long ago, or at least something that was close enough.

While briefly looking at the books and putting them back, a knock suddenly came from her door, disrupting the mood.

"Your majesty, is everything alright?" A man dressed in the royal guard's uniform abruptly burst into the room, concern being clear through his deep and rough tone. "I heard a scream. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Phyron, just a little tired." She replied as she took a closer look at him.

Phyron was a tall man; no, colossal would be more accurate. He was gifted with a body larger than two meters in height and with a body so robust, so muscular that he might as well be a shaved bear.

The muscles on his arm seemed to tense up his rough, grey skin. His hair and beard was short with dark grey tones. The irons always seemed to drawn in coal, as if they had been taken out of a world made up of only grey shades. His face was rough and square, with big black eyes and thick features.

Phyron kneeled in front of her, placing a fist on his breast where the heart would be. The bang made a metallic sound with his heavy armor in a short song of respect.

He was the captain of the royal guard, and despite his big and robust shape, Lucrecia knew that he was fast enough with a sword that his opponents were quickly taken off guard. He was one of her most loyal servants; after all, his father fought alongside her during the revolution long ago. She would state that Phyron's skills surpassed those of his father by a long shot, and that he was far more disciplined than the old warrior who raised him.

She found it funny that she was blessed with such a talented soldier during these peaceful times, while during the heat of the revolution, she had to survive off what she could find.

"Something else I could do for you, your majesty?"

"No, you can leave." Lucrecia answered, returning back to her books to try to find information on how to fix her situation.

"I understand. I will go back to my duties then." Phyron stated calmly as he stood up, before turning around and heading towards the door.

"Wait." Lucrecia said with a calm voice, just as Phyron reached the door frame. She was staring at the last pages of the book currently in her hand, her eyes wide open while looking rapidly through it.

She was focused heavily on the bibliography, where the author had listed the books used for reference. Eight pages full, from face to face, filled with names of authors and books. Almost an entire library of reference books were used just to write this single book.

"This... Is it even possible to read all of this?"

It seemed crazy, and part of her wanted to believe the author was quoting random books as a bluff, but a glance through the book's contents let her know the fact that all the research seemed to be honest.

"Darren Lockwood, huh… This gives me an idea."

Something slowly came to form in Lucrecia's mind, an idea to put an end to this current mess that the kingdom was facing. A dangerous thought that would put her in quite the battle with the nobles that would eventually escalate into a long series of political problems and conflicts.

But, if she managed to pull this through and make this work, not only would this idea make up for all the political conflicts that would arise, but it would be able to finally put all those issues to an end.

"Go and get Carter in here, I will need to redact some forms. Also, take your best men and get them ready, I will need people to deliver some delicate and confidential letters with speed and coordination to several specific places. Last but not least, go tell the maidens to bring me some coffee."

"At your orders, your majesty." Phyron said simply, as he bowed in a respectful gesture before leaving.

Lucrecia made some space on the desk immediately, putting a pile of blank papers down to use. She then took out a pen and some ink, before sitting down again in place.

"Well, it's time. It's time to change the world and truly raise a kingdom." She told herself, before she put her hands to work. It was time to bring change, once and for all.