Chapter 525 (2/2)
Roland appeared a little surprised. “You don’t wish to remain in King’s City?”
“Of course not, Your Majesty,” Barov replied without the slightest hesitation. “The government affairs of City of Neverwinter are much more complex and important. As such, I can’t be away for too long. And it’d be too exhausting for you to go and handle these issues yourself.” Please, Your Majesty, let me continue to manage the City Hall of City of Neverwinter for you. It has suited me well to serve under you.”
Barov had thought very clearly about this. His Majesty had confirmed that City of Neverwinter would become the new capital of Kingdom of Graycastle, and therefore, it was only a matter of time that it overtook this city. At present, the former’s population and development potential had already surpassed King’s City, and after the launch of the new batch of recruitment programs, its scale would be unarguably greater than any other city within the Four Kingdoms. Of course, he would get to listen to the mourns and wails of his “old friends” if he remained in King’s City, but over time, he would inevitably get bored and sick of them. Furthermore, such mourns and wails could not provide him with more authority and influence, and on the contrary, would gradually pull him away from the power center. He knew that it was only by appearing regularly in front of His Majesty Roland that he would be able to leave a strong impression.
Roland gleefully observed Barov for a long while until the latter lowered his head out of his guilty conscience. Then, Roland consented. “Alright. But my condition is that the change of city hall officials mustn’t cause King’s City to fall into disorder. You should know that every single person in this city is important to me.”
…
Subsequently, His Majesty enquired about the details of the situation regarding the mining and farming projects in Longsong Area. He paid particular attention to the latter. Barov had known about Roland’s preference beforehand and thus had obtained information about the farming projects from Petrov. He replied smoothly to every question, such that Roland continually nodded in agreement.
The afternoon passed quickly. After asking his last question, Roland patted Barov on his shoulder to show his appreciation. “You’ve done well. I won’t have to worry when I’m out leading the army into battle. Go and have dinner. We’ll discuss the development plans of Longsong Area tomorrow.”
“Yes…” Barov hesitated for a moment. He noticed that out of so many questions, Roland had not mentioned his coronation. “Your Majesty, may I know when you intend to be officially crowned and proclaimed King?
“Plans haven’t been made,” Roland replied calmly.
“What?” The City Hall Director could not believe his own ears. “These things should be arranged as early as possible! With it, your prestige will increase tremendously, and the people’s hearts will unite as one. There aren’t any downsides. Why don’t you…”
“It needs too much time.” Roland cut him short, stood up, walked over to the window, and looked down at the magnificent city under the dusk light. “I’ve asked the ceremonial officer. He says that a full coronation will require many months of preparation. Aside from making the gold crown and the gem scepter, invitation letters have to be sent to the church and the other three kingdoms. The ceremony can only begin after all of their emissaries have arrived. Even if we omit the Holy City of Hermes, Kingdom of Everwinter and Kingdom of Wolfheart, it’ll still require more than a month to contact Kingdom of Dawn. This will severely slow down our plans for the second half of the spring offensive.”
“Your Majesty, you can simplify this process…”
“That would lower the prestige of the coronation, such that it might even have an adverse effect.” Roland shrugged his shoulders in rejection of Barov’s idea. “Even Timothy pays heed to this process. I can’t appear to be more anxious and cheaper than him. However, my ambassador to Kingdom of Dawn will set off shortly. He’ll notify them about this. When we get a formal reply from them, it won’t be too late to consider this matter.”
*******************
After Barov took his leave, Roland could finally exhale a sigh of relief.
There was another reason that he had not mentioned. It was the deep and pervading notion of “Focus on amassing grains, while slowly becoming king”, in other words, “Become rich silently”. At present, he only occupied Western Region, which was not even a third of the land area that Timothy occupied when he was king. It was best to be modest before the church officially attacked Kingdom of Dawn, and it would be troublesome if Hermes made him the prior target. Though he was no longer afraid of falling out with the church, he did not want to draw aggro on behalf of others.
Shortly, Roland summoned Kyle Sichi to his study.
He was hoping that his Chief Alchemist had already thought of a way to intimidate the Alchemist Workshop of King’s City.