3 Matters Arising

Duke Ivan's eyes widened in shock, and he fell to his knees once again.

"I am completely loyal to the kingdom, Your Majesty!" Duke Ivan shouted out indignantly.

He was a man who had served the previous king for decades, and had slowly risen through the ranks up to his current position, owing to nothing but his wisdom and loyalty.

Yet the current king actually doubted his loyalty right after the coronation ceremony! How did it come to this? Had he been misled by some scheming whisperers?

"Rise, Chancellor," Roland's voice sounded out once again.

"Please trust this humble subject of yours, Your Majesty!"

"I get it, rise. I do not wish to repeat myself once more."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Duke Ivan stood up and looked straight at his king, who nonchalantly returned his gaze.

The others in the room could sense the tension in the air, and held their tongues in wait for an explanation.

"Do not misunderstand me, Chancellor. I do not mean to say that I distrust you," Roland smiled when he noticed the powerful gaze directed towards him immediately soften after hearing those words.

"Then…" Duke Ivan's words trailed off, much unlike his usual confident self.

"I meant to say that I absolutely trust you, Duke Ivan. And with that in mind, let us not waste time reading through these documents here. That can be done later in our own chambers for further clarification. For now, simply summarise the gist of the issues, tell us what we need to hear," Roland crossed his fingers and placed them confidently on the oak table.

"Y-Yes, Your Majesty!" the stiff expression on everyone's faces finally relaxed as they saw Duke Ivan's face light up.

Perfect. That was a perfect performance. Everything actually went exactly the way I expected, am I actually a natural at this?

Roland nodded to himself in satisfaction as he saw his plan succeed without a hitch.

And with that, his siblings stopped reading through the document as well, shifting their attention to the Chancellor.

Duke Ivan took a deep breath to prepare himself mentally. He had been to many of such meetings during the previous king's reign, but this was the first time that he had to do a presentation on the matters arising, so he was naturally slightly nervous.

But it was only slightly. He quickly composed himself, picked up the document that was meant for his own reference, and started speaking.

"As I mentioned just now, there are 121 matters that require our attention. Let us go through them one by one. The first issue is regarding the flooding of the Great Manta River," Duke Ivan's words were smooth once he got started.

The Great Manta River was the largest river that winded through their Great Manta Kingdom, and was vital to the kingdom as a source of food and water. So much so that it was named after the kingdom itself.

However, the river would flood over during the rainy season every year, causing damage to lives and properties along the banks of the river. It seemed that this year's rainfall was significantly higher, and thus the nobles were especially worried about the upcoming rainy season.

"I understand that floods are an annual occurrence. How have we been dealing with this issue every year?" Roland inquired.

"We will relocate the commoners from the areas that are expected to be hit the hardest, and organise a rescue team for any areas that suffer unexpectedly bad floods," Erin was the one who replied rather than Ivan.

"A rescue team?"

Erin flipped through the documents to find a page with a map of the kingdom, which always accompanied the issue of flooding, before raising it up to show Roland while pointing to certain areas along the river.

"These are the areas that are usually hit the hardest. The organised rescue team would extract the ignorant commoners who climbed onto the roofs of their houses to avoid the flood. It will usually contain magic users who can manipulate water or flight to a certain degree."

Erin's words contained an obvious tone of disdain, sending a cold chill down Roland's spine.

Oh shit, Erin sounds irritated. Perhaps I was supposed to have known that? I have to be careful not to let my ignorance show from now on.

"Y-You seem to be very familiar with this matter, Erin. I suppose it is impossible to completely hold back the floods with magic?" it was slowly developing into a conversation between just Roland and Erin.

"Your Majesty is wise. The magic users are able to hold back the floods temporarily but their mana and stamina will not allow them to continue. And if the water were to be held back temporarily, it would only pour out in greater quantities once it is released. I have a greater understanding of this issue because father used to make me study this matter," Erin explained.

"In combat, when we cannot completely block an attack, we will divert the force away instead. Is there any way we can divert the water such that the floods are concentrated to somewhere else?" Roland looked at the map that was in his stack of documents, but he was unable to glean any useful information from it.

"Divert it? It might be possible to do so with Earth and Water Magic users, at least up to a certain extent. But may I know if Your Majesty has an idea where to divert the water?"

Upon hearing the question from Erin, Roland's eyes started to scan the map frantically, desperate to find an answer.

Finally, he cleared his throat softly and looked straight at Erin.

"I naturally have an idea. But from what you mentioned previously, father must have thought that you are the best person to deal with this matter. I am sure you must already have an idea as well, so I shall not influence your decision with my opinion. I will leave this to you then."

"Eh? To me? U-Understood, I will not let you down, Your Majesty," Erin was apparently flustered by that response.

"That's settled, then. Let us go on to the next topic, Chancellor."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Aside from the flood, there had been news of sporadic goblin attacks on villages in the East. According to reports, the goblins had acted in an organised manner during each attack, which had never been heard of in the past," Duke Ivan dutifully reported.

"Organised goblins? That is strange. Goblins are known to be low intelligence beings after all. Do we have any other information?" Roland asked.

"Unfortunately, we do not. But we have already sent scouts to gather more information, and will hopefully know more soon when the scouts return."

"In the East, eh?" Roland tried to recall if he had heard of anything in the East that could lead to such a situation, but to no avail.

Should I ask Erin if she knows anything? She is the smartest one here after all. But after the matter just now, she might just start doubting my capabilities as the king, so maybe I should wait till later before asking.

Erin narrowed her eyes in surprise after noticing that Roland was looking right at her, and then it struck her. She immediately turned her attention back to reading the map in front of her, as if trying to confirm something.

After a few moments, Erin finally voiced out in a trembling voice, "Your Majesty, do you really want to do this?"

Eh? What was that? Are we back to the flood issue? Didn't we already agree that she would do the water diversion? Is she having second thoughts?

"A-Are you not able to do so? If so, I c-" Roland cleared his throat nervously before answering.

"No, Your Majesty. I will do it!" Erin suddenly shouted out with a voice full of conviction, shocking everyone present, and even Helena who was about to fall asleep jolted up in her seat.

"G-Good," Roland had no idea about the reason behind Erin's sudden outburst, but it did not seem to be a problem since she was agreeing, so he decided not to ask further. "Well then, about the goblin issue…"

"Leave that to me!" Erin shouted out once again.

"Okay…I will leave it to you then," Roland frowned in confusion. "Chancellor, next issue."

"Yes, Your Majesty. Lately, there seems to be the emergence of a cult of sorts among the commoners. We do not have much information at the moment, but it seems to be a divergence of the national religion of worshipping the Great Manta God."

"Ohhhh…"

A soft exclamation could be heard from Annabelle as she stared right at Duke Ivan.

"Do you know anything about this, Annabelle?" Erin was the first one to ask.

"No," Annabelle shook her head briefly.

"I guess this is what you are good at, Annabelle. Do you want to take charge of investigating the matter, then?" Roland followed up immediately.

"Yes," Annabelle nodded her head briefly.

"Report all findings on this matter to Annabelle then. Annabelle, update me periodically on this. A new cult could have disastrous outcomes if not handled right."

"Okay."

"Next topic, Chancellor."

"Yes, Your Majesty. The next two issues are closely related to the recent war," Duke Ivan continued without protest. "As everyone may know, we lost more than half of our army in the previous war. Many of these soldiers were conscripted from the commoners, and with half of them gone, there is now a lack of manpower for food production, especially for fishing which had always been a comparative advantage for us."

Comparative advantage?

Roland's eyebrows twitched in unease upon hearing a foreign term.

"It is not an immediate problem, but if left unaddressed, this might gradually grow into a situation where the commoners completely halt fishing activities for simple activities like sustenance farming," Duke Ivan continued.

Sustenance farming?

Roland's eyebrows twitched in unease once again.

But apart from that, he also picked up on a phrase that had greater importance.

"Well, if it is not an immediate problem, let's leave it for after we deal with the issues that require more attention. Next topic, Chancellor."

"Eh?" Duke Ivan turned to look at Erin again.

He was used to seeing Erin in such meetings, and she had always been known as the most intelligent of the royal family. So he naturally kept looking at Erin for hints on what to do next.

However, just like before, that action was a mistake.

"What are you looking at me for? Do you have problems understanding His Majesty's words? Or are you waiting for His Majesty to plead for you to continue?" Erin snapped at him once again.

"Y-Yes, will-I will continue then," Duke Ivan was not as flustered as the incident before, but was still anxious enough to accidentally stumble over his own words.

He was not an inexperienced noble, but this new king was still a big unknown to him after all. So he had to be extra careful.

Roland looked at Erin helplessly, but chose not to say a word, instead turning his attention back to the Chancellor.

"Another matter that arose from the previous war was that after losing many capable soldiers, the morale of the armies in our kingdom is at an all-time low. This is true for all of the nobles' personal armies, so I believe it should be the same case for the Royal Army as well. In addition, loss of key personnel in the army had led to a decline in military prowess. This could result in an imbalance of power relative to our neighbouring kingdoms," Duke Ivan seemed to have recollected his nerves.

"Ah! But didn't the other kingdoms participate in the war as well? Their armies should be weakened as well, no?" Timothy cut in for the first time.

"That is not necessarily the case. Depending on the situation, each kingdom would have suffered varying degrees of losses, and this is information that everyone would be eager to learn about others but hide about themselves. Since we do not know about the current situation in other territories, things could prove dangerous if they were to find out that we are now weaker than them," Duke Ivan answered promptly.

"No matter what state other kingdoms are in, it will only serve us well to improve our combat strength," Roland's spirit quickly rose when it came to discussing about combat matters.

It was finally a topic that he was interested in!

He had always wanted to join the army. After all, the battlefield was the perfect place to hone a person's combat instincts.

However, his ambitious brothers had always tried all ways to keep him away from the Royal Army, fearing that his martial prowess would only serve to overshadow their capabilities.

This is a good chance to finally take a look at how the kingdom's armies operate, and see if I could learn anything there!

With that thought in mind, Roland cleared his throat softly before speaking, "This is a good opportunity as well for us. As the king, I might be able to raise army morale if I were to personally visit the Royal Army. As for the armies of the nobles, it does not seem too feasible for me to visit them one by one, so that is a bit of regret, but that cannot be helped."

"That cannot be helped indeed," Erin agreed, her mind deep in contemplation.

"Your humble servant shall arrange for a visit to the Royal Army then," Duke Ivan nodded.

"Yes, do so. Now then, I suppose everyone is tired, so let's stop here for today," Roland suddenly stood up to leave.

"B-But Your Majesty, regarding the other 116 issues…" the Chancellor was surprised at the abrupt end of the meeting.

"The king says that we are stopping here for the day. Do you have any objections?" Rose spoke up with a voice that almost froze the room over, immediately causing the Chancellor to break out in cold sweat.

"None at all," Erin answered before smiling at Rose, who promptly returned the smile.

"I shall be taking my leave then. Wake Helena up after I leave," Roland instructed before leaving the room.

"Ah! So that's why we ended early!" Timothy exclaimed in realisation.

"Why? Because Helena fell asleep? But does she not sleep in every meeting?" Duke Ivan did not understand the logic.

"Are your ears there for show? His Majesty explicitly mentioned that he was not like the previous kings. He will do things differently. This is probably so that Helena would not miss out on anything important," Erin explained coldly.

"Ah! Our royal brother is so kind!" Timothy grinned happily.

"Kind…" Annabelle added from the side as well.

"R-Really…?" Duke Ivan could only scratch his head in confusion.

He felt slightly relieved that the meeting was over as well. But was he truly the only one who felt that the king was just trying to use Helena as an excuse to escape the meeting?