the first

I flinched, jumped abrupt up, and quickly dressed Mia up. "FYNN!" I called through the castle, while I calmed my nerves and hastily fixed my wife's hair.

Mia looked at me with furrowed brows, one higher than the other.

"The first citizens are coming," I said tersely.

Her body tensed, and she stood upright. "Already? I thought it would take a while?" she asked, her excitement growing hectically.

I shrugged. "Apparently, they were in need."

We took our respective thrones, and I instructed the robots to stand on either side of the podium.

Just as the assistant started the ten-second countdown, Fynn came running out of breath. "So soon?" he asked bluntly, positioning himself behind us with his hands folded in front of his body.

I simply nodded and focused on the countdown.

[4]

[3]

"Three seconds left, activate the crown and a bit of mana for the royal aura," I instructed Mia.

[0]

[Teleportation process initiated]

We watched as the floor of the throne room illuminated with intricate runes.

[Successful]

Suddenly, excited people stood, sat, lay, or knelt before us. We observed them briefly and noticed that many different groups were represented - from small children to elderly individuals.

Woman, men, black and white.

With a slight nod I noticed that I could see a little more woman at the first sight.

Nevertheless looked many somewhat emaciated, some were injured or panicking.

An older man stood up and looked around.

"Welcome to my kingdom of Eternia!" I said with a deep, mana-infused voice. I circulated some mana, making the royal aura stronger.

Everyone looked up at us, and those who weren't lying down knelt, calling out simultaneously, "Our king!"

"I thank you for accepting my invitation. As a token of gratitude, your new queen will heal you!" I announced, winking at Mia.

She smiled excitedly and traced shimmering golden runes in the air. After a short while, she spoke with the voice of a beautiful goddess, "Royal Radiance."

The runes she drew flew into the air, aligning horizontally and growing larger.

Then they shone like the sun on the injured.

There were murmurs of amazement, and the painful groans grew softer. After the spell ended, everyone appeared healed.

They murmured excitedly and looked towards Mia, upon which they fell to their knees again, chanting in unison, "Our queen!"

"We are not concerned with your reasons for coming," Mia spoke, "our priority is the peace and well-being of you, our citizens."

Her words echoed clear through the hall.

"We ask you to place your hands on one of these crystals and let some mana flow," she gestured towards the robots, "then you will be official and the first citizens of our peaceful kingdom."

No one seemed to move, all gazing mesmerized at Mia, who diligently circulated her mana.

I asked the assistant if they even understood us, considering they might come from a kingdom with a different language.

[If they have accepted the invitation, they gain the ability to speak our kingdom's language for a period of three days.]

I nodded understandingly and signaled to my wife to lower the mana flow a bit.

She looked quite surprised, widened her eyes, and fumbled in the air briefly. Then her aura became a little lighter, and the man from earlier stood up.

"Y..y..your Maj..Majesties..." he began nervously, "th..thank you for the hea..healing."

I nodded approvingly, watching him smilingly as he nervously approached the crystal.

Trembling, he placed his hand on it and looked up at us, "Do..do I ju..just let mana flow into the cry..crystal?"

"Exactly." I nodded in agreement, watching as he did so. The crystal briefly lit up, and a golden emblem appeared on his lower wrist.

[A human has been registered as a new citizen]

"Congratulations," I laughed, "You are now an official citizen of the kingdom of Eternia. The ID is linked to you and you can open it at will."

Then Fynn stepped forward and raised his voice, "Your Majesty has blessed you. Once everyone has received their ID, I will explain its benefits, and Your Majesty will provide you all with food!"

Immediately, there was murmuring, and the first ones stepped forward, joining the first man. They whispered to him nervously as they looked up at us.

"Do you notice anything, Manfred?" I heard them whisper.

He whispered back, "No, but we don't have a choice now anyway. We voted, and who knows what else would have happened. As your temporar leader, I couldn't bear to see it anymore."

I heard their words softly, but my wife looked at me with a little smile.

The man named Manfred looked up at me again, got on his knees, and asked firmly this time, "Your Ma..Majesties. I..I am...I was the leader of this small group. May I...say something to my people?"

I nodded. "Of course."

He stood up and turned around hesitantly, starting a bit shaky but growing more confident over time.

"M..my f..friends! The...the past few weeks have been difficult for us. We've been driven out, hunted, and exploited! Our children have died, our parents have died, our friends have died, our family has been ruthlessly murdered.

We've starved, wandered through deserts without water, through forests always with the danger looming! But!"

He paused briefly and said louder now, "But what was our goal, to be killed by the soldiers?"

He looked around, I saw him looking into individual people's eyes, some moist with sorrow, others ablaze with anger.

"NO! We didn't suffer like this to continue suffering and dying in some desert! Where else would we be as welcome as here? Isn't this our last hope for peace?"

Mia stood up then and spoke with her charismatic voice, which she had in special situations: "Your leader is right, you have suffered enough to now retire in peace. We offer you a peaceful life, without monsters, without famine, and with your own free will!"

My wife sat back down, and we watched as the murmuring grew louder. Then, gradually, the first ones stood up and approached the crystals. First a bit unsure, two steps forward leads to one step backwards.

This visible hesitation got less and less after the people who stood besides Manfred did it.

[A person registered as a citizen]

[Three people registered as citizens]

[...]

And the more that stood up and dared, the more were swept along and stood ready in the queue now.

[17 people registered as citizens]

[...]

Old, young, women with babies in their arms, and so on approached.

Hm? By the way, how does that work with small babies? I scratched my head.

[Up to a certain level of consciousness, parents can operate the status. This is usually not very useful, as they don't have any status points yet.]

And with mana? Meaning, they just let some flow into the crystal?

[37 people registered as citizens]

[An outsider can touch the mana stone of the child with their mana, causing a brief movement of mana in the body.]

And that's enough?

[Affirmative]

I slowly bobbed my head.

So that's how parents know the status of their children!

...

[All arrived people are now registered]

After a while, it seemed that everyone had an ID, and I looked satisfactorily at the group, who were happily eating meat and fruits that my queen had gradually brought in during that time.

I briefly glanced at the system overview to confirm.

————

Kingdom Status Overview:

————

Kingdom Name: [Eternia]

King: Leo Eternia

Queen: Mia Eternia

Castle Level: [5]

Population: [848]

Kingdom Size: Radius: 1000 km

Resources:

…

Buildings: [Castle, lvl.5], [Impenetrable Wall x2, lvl. 1], [Impressive Bridge x4 lvl.1], [Special Forges x50, lvl.1], [Central Bank x4], [Central City Cleaner x4]…

Units: [0]

Special Personnel: [1. Fynn]

—————

In the meantime, I had deactivated the royal aura and only activated the crown.

Nonetheless, I noticed that everyone still looked up at me with great reverence, and anyone who met my gaze instinctively fell to their knees.

As the mood gradually calmed down, Fynn stepped forward again.