Chapter 142 Laws For A New Kingdom

Joseph left as the adults were gathering up the children. It was a madhouse.

Apparently, a bright light from the sky and sudden heavenly blessings made people start thinking that he could be divine. And it was all his fault. He knew that with the low mana, the gods were having trouble affecting the realm, and thus the people weren't very religious. The only problem was that he wanted to be their king, not their god.

With no miracles and the obvious terrible lives that most of them had lived, it wasn't hard to see why they had a difficult time believing in gods. From what he understood, the gods resided in a different realm, and thus having any affect or even trying to walk in this realm, was incredibly difficult for them. He only understood so much, because the system forced him to know about them. The reason they were so interested in him, was because he was so powerful, as if he was becoming a god himself.

(JOSEPH, ENACRA WISHES TO MAKE YOU HIS AVATAR, HOW DO YOU WISH FOR ME TO PROCEED?)

(IF YOU WISH TO BECOME HIS AVATAR, YOU WILL NEED TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE GOAL.)

'I'm very flattered, but I wish to fix my own realm first. I'll reconsider then.'

(SO, YOU WISH TO KEEP YOUR LIFE GOAL AND ARE TURNING ENACRA DOWN?)

'For now, at least; the realm's a mess. Besides, he will probably offer me a better deal after it's all cleaned up.'

(ENACRA IS STUNNED. HE HAS NEVER HAD A MORTAL TURN HIM DOWN BEFORE. HE WILL RESPECT YOUR WISHES AT THIS TIME, BUT ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE IMPRESSED HIM SO MUCH.)

With a nod, Joseph continued on to the building that had all of the magical training going on. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at Stella, then decided she didn't need to know about the offer from the god of magic. She would have enjoyed it too much.

He encountered Daisy first. She used to be one of his father's slaves, but had shown intense passion for her rune of expertise, and at the age of fifteen had surpassed all of the kingdom mages. The thing that made her really unique, was that she couldn't speak. She had learned MIND-SENDING almost immediately.

Joseph was used to voices in his head, by this time, so one more didn't bother him. Others were a little weirded out by her, but she got along wonderfully with Stella. There were a few times he noticed she turned red as a tomato, but didn't ask Stella why. He probably didn't want to know.

"Daisy, did the others get the formation I drew for them, finished?"

'Yes, Master Joseph. I'll show you! Um…'

"What is it, Daisy?"

'The second diagram…what is it?'

"Ah, that is my current mana circulation pathway. They don't need to create that. It was helpful for me while I was planning."

'Master, your pathways have every rune in them.'

"Of course. That way I can activate any rune almost instantly when I need to. It's the fastest way I could do it until I changed to dragon speech. I'm only saving the area over my mana heart for META. It's sort of the one rune to rule them all sort of thing."

'Oh.'

She looked to Stella but it was a waste of effort if she thought Stella could explain what he was doing. Stella used magical abilities on instinct. It would be like asking someone how they breathe. She had no clue how magic worked. They had discussed it countless times, and she could repeat word for word what he had told her. He finally got her to admit she had a disadvantage, through the system, that didn't allow her to understand rune magic. That's when he gave up trying to explain it to her. He didn't ask what she had used the points for. He was afraid of the answer.

The device they had created per his specifications was a large device that, when a person stood in the middle, would detect their proficiency and compatibility in each of the known runes. Then each rune would physically move closer based on how good they were with it. Each rune was created with enchanted silver.

When he tried to ENCHANT pure silver, it changed into something with a long-complicated name, that he found really stupid. Who wanted to call something unobtanium? He would much rather just call it enchanted silver. Orichalcum was the magical essence of metal, and was ridiculously strong. However, it possessed so much magic, that it was really hard to further enchant. Plus, the only way had found to melt it was to use essential fire. It was easier to just use SHAPE METAL. Enchanted silver was fantastic because it was a mana superconductor.

Joseph stepped into the center of the device, and fed a small amount of mana into the disk at his feet. The silver runes all began to glow and then crowded around him within two feet, before beginning to circle him. The only one that acted differently was LIFE. It came right up to his leg and seemed to cling to him.

"Alright, it works."

After he stopped inputting mana, the runes all returned to their starting location.

"Daisy, please try it."

Daisy's results weren't really surprising. COMMUNICATION came about 4 feet away and MIND CONTROL about 6 feet. The others were all a bit farther apart. Everyone tested well in their primary rune, though one of the new students tested about 5 feet in every element.

All of the elemental teachers started arguing over who got her.

Most of the teachers were in the 3-7 foot range. Selena's result was hilarious, as FIRE floated over to her, let her pet it, then went back, all without activating the device with mana.

Most of the people with high FOOD, were also decent with PLANT and ANIMAL, which made a morbid sort of sense. FOOD and NECROMANCY weren't high together on anyone, except him, which left him relieved. Those two really should not be together. WATER and the MAKING/BREAKING rune were mostly neutral to each other. It was quite interesting to see the combinations.

"Mas…Your majesty?"

Joseph turned to Daniel. "Yes?"

"Your father has sent me to inform you that everyone has gathered for the meeting that you requested."

"Ah, alright."

Joseph followed him, arriving at his father's office.

"Joseph, it's very difficult to find you, when you are running all over the place."

"I've had nine years to plan what needs done. How is the food situation, Daniel?"

"Excellent, mast…my king."

"Wonderful. Dad, have the sewers and bath houses been finished in the first two districts?"

"The bath houses in the second district had a few issues, so I sent the waiting men on to the third district. It should be done tomorrow and then the second district will be finished by the second day of next week. I'm concerned with the strength of the sewers in the 4th district, however. A lot of apprentices were involved in its construction. I'll have a group sent to investigate it. You have mages assigned to inspect these sorts of things."

"Alright. Brian, how are the patrol groups doing?"

Brian was his father's chief of guards. "A few minor scuffles, but nothing much. I would like another 20% on the force, when the first of the alcohol is made, from the winery next month, though. Some of the food mages can make it through magic, but that's too expensive for most people. A lot of these people, from the kingdom, were heavy drinkers and now they've been dry for a few months. They are going to overindulge, and we expect fights and disturbances."

"See to it. Also only allow 5 pubs in each district to serve alcohol the first week and get a mage capable of SLEEP, DAZE, or something similar at each location."

"Yes, my king."

"Brian, you've certainly gotten better since Miss Rachael agreed to marry you."

"Yes, well, my king, being married to a woman who teaches etiquette, gives even an old guard captain like me a bit of motivation to speak more properly."

"I'm still happy for you."

"You honor me your majesty."

"Now, how is the progress in the pottery division?"

"Well…apologies my king, it goes poorly. As you know pottery was a high class item, so your father's slaves had few instructors. Any skilled potters were snatched up by nobles before your father could purchase them when they fell into slavery."

"Understood, but continue."

"We have made much progress, your majesty, but unfortunately, most of it has been with the aid of your earth mages. With their help, a number of issues can be gotten around, but sadly, many issues with actual craftsmanship cannot be overcome with magic."

"Skill in shaping the earth is also critical. Was the pottery wheel design not helpful?"

"Oh, no, your majesty, for making simple plates and bowls and vases it is invaluable, but you wanted significantly more complex creations."

"Yes, it's important. I will try and demonstrate personally tomorrow what I'm intending."

"In other areas, the blacksmiths, goldsmiths, and silversmiths are making much progress. This strange new metal you gave us is almost impossible to form, but the tools made from it have been a blessing to all of the smiths. I never thought I would see a day when odd scissors could cut through flat iron plates."

"Your majesty, if I may interrupt?" asked the secretary in charge of the printing projects Joseph had ordered.

"Yes, go on."

"Are you certain you wish to display the laws for all to see? It will be much harder to change them if you wish, after copies are made?"

"Let's hear what you have."

• You shall not physically harm another member of the kingdom unless protecting yourself or another from attack.

• Selling more than 10 items and exceeding 25 coins a week to a non-merchant requires you to register as a merchant

• Merchant tax is 20% of sale price on all goods sold to non-merchants. Merchants selling to merchants are not taxed.

• Attempts to avoid the tax in either letter or spirit will result in seizure of assets equal to 100 times the amount owed.

• Craftsmen who wish to register at a guild or own a store must present a piece of their sole work for inspection and pay the fee before they can be approved and display their sign.

• Theft will be repaid at 5 times the value of what was stolen.

• Accusations of rape will be confirmed magically and rapists will be executed.

• Accusations of murder will be confirmed magically and murderers will be executed.

• Intentional false accusations will merit the intended punishment upon the accuser.

• Adulthood for humans is recognized on their 12th birthday.

• Only adults may be hired for dangerous or sex work.

• All sex workers must register and submit to monthly health cleansing and sterility verification and must pay the tax for these services.

• A woman who is pregnant may require the male who gave her a child to marry her if she wishes.

• A man or woman who is married may not have sex with anyone to whom they are not married.

• Wages for hire shall be paid in coin at the end of the working day or sooner.

• Gambling may only be for money currently in one's possession and never for property or money on loan.

• A man may never buy a woman alcohol or other drugs unless the woman is their wife.

• Children are recognized as citizens of the kingdom upon conception, forcing a woman to lose her child is murder.

• Slaves of members of the kingdom are still members of the kingdom and protected by these laws.

"That sounds about right. Go ahead. If I need to modify them, I'll worry about that later," said Joseph with a nod.