1717 Where Is My Son?
Seated in Landon's office, Tilda was very relaxed.
She has been here so frequently that one would think it was her second room.
Unlike the others, Tilda was 'homeschooled' by Landon himself, as well as several other military trainers and officials who gave her a strict overlay of what it was like to run an empire.
She not only focused on training her body but also primarily focused on the 4 main essences of life: Food, clothing, shelter and protection.
Without any, her empire would plunge into chaos.
If these 3 can be improved, she will be hailed as the greatest and wisest Dafaren Monarch of all time.
Dafaren wasn't part of the UN Empires and still yielded to the old system where 97%of its population was poor while most of the wealth was circulated among the rich.
In a nutshell, it depended on one's definition of <poor>.
Know that even though the Dafaren peasants are poor, they were still far better than what Pyno peasants used to be before Baymard's emergence.
At least, the empire had most of its roads laid out with stone which drove more merchants into the place.
They lived richer lives than those outside, but within their empire, the rise of prices and currency rates also made the people struggle.
Of course, everywhere in the world gold, silver and copper coins were used.
But in the old Pyno, if one could buy a Healthy cow for 500 copper coins, out in Veinitta, Dafaren, one would need to buy that same cow for 700 or even 800 copper coins.
Things were just more expensive there because people had higher standards of living there.
In a way, everything balances itself out, because more tax is requested of them.
But even though they paid so much taxes, they still had more food available and better homes compared to Pyno's peasants years back.
Many matters went into play in determining an empire's economy; good roads, accessible water, death rate, birth rate and so on.
The things Tilda studied were many, which also included how to manage people under her command.
Her classes with her many teachers were thorough.
Even her grandmother pulled her to the side to share her experience living in her former noble home in Dafaren.
Since she came here, she has been studying within the confines of the palace walls.
She had classes for 3 weeks every month since then, meaning each month she had a 1 week official holiday period.
She could also choose when this 1 week holiday would fall.
If there was a festival coming up and she wanted to be with little Momo and the others, she could choose to have her 1 week holiday then.
But just know that the first 4 days after the holiday would be a test period assessing if she forgot everything just because it was her holiday period.
This sort of schedule carried on from August to May 1st without a stop.
As for what she usually did from May 2nd to the last day of July she typically worked as an intern in government positions to see with her own eyes how things are run.
Sometimes, during her lesson period between August to May she would also be taken on trips across the many Baymard territories to brainstorm with other government officials and solve economic crises or situations concerning natural disasters.
Understand this...
When she finally gets to Dafaren, she will mostly be alone without Landon or anyone's guidance.
She will be the decision maker.
She will be the one to lead her people forward for the next decades until she is ready to pass the throne to her children or someone worthy of the seat.
You can rely on Landon now, but you can't do so forever.
---
Landon tapped his fingers rhythmically with a smile on his lips. "Tilda, you turned 16 this past September."
"Yes, big brother Landon." Tilda nodded heavily. "According to the plan, I will have to go to Dafare and build my forces in the dark soon, right?"
"Yes... but not alone."
How can he allow her, one of the Keys with the ability to connect and locate other keys, to go out without protection?
He would've loved that she stayed in Baymard until he got the Holy Core but it would be impossible since the clock was ticking on his mission and he had to allow her to build her forces and sit on Dafaren's throne soon.
Heh.
Don't think he has time.
She is already 16, and next September she will be turning 17. Another year after that, she will be turning 18.
The system required he place her on the throne between the ages of 16~18, and no more than that.
So he had a year and 9 months to make sure she ascended with her own forces and her own people supporting her.
This was a requirement the system stated must be included.
Think about it.
Unlike Henry and other monarchs, he helped fit on the throne, at least these chosen sons and daughters had supporters on their side, no matter how small the factions were.
But for Tilda, she had no supporters at all!
Don't go get that everyone saw her as a cursed being, a disaster to their empire.
So for her, they had to work from the absolute bottom to get to the top.
If she can even gather up to 50 people, that would be a miracle seeing as how many people truly feared her 'cursed' abilities.
They can help place her on the throne but without supporters to work with her and protect her, Landon feared he would be appearing in Dafaren every single day to stop assassination attempts on her.
1 year, 9 months...
The time was short so they must act fast.
----
Tilda's eyes glowed in determination, understanding all that was requested of her.
"Big brother Landon, I'm ready. So what's the plan?"
"Little girl... I'll be leaving for a mission come January 7th. During that time, you will also be heading to Dafaren with a small team."
When she gets there, she will link up the teams already in Dafaren.
Don't forget that they had long sent another team to Dafaren to track down and destroy all hidden underground slave camps created by a big influential TOEP member.
This man was the one who showed the late Nopline the ropes on how to get things done.
The number of underground camps Nopline had in Pyno was peanuts compared to what that man had in Veinitta.
With the plan set in motion, Tilda knew this month was her last in Baymard, till she retuens later for visits.
She was sad but knew it was inevitable.
"Alright, brother Landon. I will prepare."
"Good. You will have no more classes from now on. Have fun and enjoy your time however you like... Go."
With that, their meeting concluded.
Tilda rushed out to find her grandmother to tell her the news while Landon calmly vanished into his immaculate special within the system.
Sitting on his table, he began modifying and revising his already existing plan for Tilda's rose to the top.
In the meantime, things in Dafaren were getting more and more heated by the second.
----
Boom!
Alexander smashed his fist against his armrest furiously.
"Answer me!" Alexander's roar made the scholarly advisors and ministers lower their heads in fear.
Their monarch could be quite scary when angered.
Everyone dared not raise their heads not wanting to be the unfortunate person he calls put.
"Well? Am I talking to the wind here? First, my son, Skye gets lost and I just got word this month that he has ended up in some barbaric prison... As if that isn't enough bad news, you now say the crown prince of this heavenly empire is also missing? Are you all kidding me right now? Who did I piss off to end up with such incompetent officials like yourselves?"
Is this some sort of joke?
You have to know that he has been asking of his son recently, thinking his son was in the far south end of the empire solving a major crisis he appointed the brat to do.
It's true that the boy left the job to his subordinates who did a fantastic job at resolving the problem while he was away. But is this the issue here?
When his subordinates reached the city he is supposed to be in, they saw he was nowhere to be found.
Immediately, he spread his forces to locate the crown prince while also capturing a few of Daniel's subordinates to get the truth out of them.
Many did know that Daniel went, only knowing that he left Dafaren.
So if he wasn't in the empire, where else could he be? Mind you, he planned to crown Daniel om 4 more years.
This time was crucial for Daniel to be in the empire. So what was all this? Why the sudden movement?
What made him so mad was that many of these ministers and people in Daniel's faction have been lying to him saying they had one on one meetings with the crown prince not long ago about certain political matters that he also entrusted to Daniel.
Who knew they were meeting Daniel's subordinates and not the Crown prince himself?
Looking at the group of weasels cowering in fear, Alexander wished he could behead them all here and now.
"I don't care how you do it, but I want the crown Prince found and brought back in no more than 12 months. Don't test me!"
Alexander's eyes glowed with a deadly light.
"Failure is not an option… And someone, do get that other son of mine out of Baymardian prison now!"
