Now that she had returned to the Imperial Palace, the Demon King decided to settle down and work for a while. There hadn’t been much going on these past few days, which was why she had been able to spare so much time to bicker with Sephine.
Everyone was busy with their own tasks, only gathering during meetings. The things that truly required the Demon King’s personal attention weren’t many: this Joint Conference counted as one, the daily Morning Court counted as another, and the irregular Cabinet Meetings were a third.
She was astonished to discover that this place could still run stably without Sephine, and the pace hadn’t slowed down by much. It just meant her own workload had increased a bit. In the past, she had been a complete absentee boss.
The newly appointed Finance Minister was quite a capable figure. She had been working intensively for almost a week now. The Demon King admired her—she was almost on par with Aspha Koda.
“Aisi, report on the progress of the Magical Academy’s reconstruction.”
The newcomer, Aisi·Kelaishilei, had earned this position through strict selection and sheer ability. Others might have put in a good word for her, Lansting for instance, but the credit was mostly her own.
“Using the technology provided by the Great Witch, the Academy’s reconstruction has reached 60%. It will be restored for use by the latest next week, but getting it fully operational will take a few more days.”
“How many Gold Coins have been spent?”
“Five thousand so far. By conservative estimates, it should total around nine thousand by completion.”
“Dismissed.”
“Yes.”
Spending so many Gold Coins… if it weren’t for the trade deals just struck with the Elf Kingdom and the Church Kingdom, this would have been another significant shortfall. Fortunately, refrigerators sold for a high price—50 Gold Coins each. The Magic Reactor used for cooling was costly to produce, but thankfully, they managed to keep its cost under 10 Gold Coins. The total production cost per refrigerator was around 15 Gold Coins.
Selling one yielded a profit of 35 Gold Coins. What the other kingdoms did with them in their own territories was none of the Magical Kingdom’s concern, as long as they bled those countries dry first.
The Demon King directly drafted the foreign trade orders and even wrote some perfunctory words of gratitude to put on a show of the Magical Kingdom’s sincerity.
Soon, the Elf Kingdom and the Church Kingdom would send caravans to haul the goods away by horse-drawn carts. In exchange, the Church Kingdom would bring over the items they needed.
The matter of worship was always handled solely by the Demon King. Among all citizens of the Magical Kingdom, only she had the right to make contact with the gods and receive fragments of the Oracle.
Even though most of those Oracles were incomprehensible to them, they still had to follow the procedures. Otherwise, who knew if the gods might suddenly lose their temper and curse the Magical Kingdom.
“If there’s anything else, report it to me quickly.” The ministers hadn’t left; they were all lingering in the Cabinet Meeting Hall. The Demon King knew from intuition that these people had something embarrassing to tell her.
“Speak up if you have something to say, or leave if you don’t.”
Freyja was shoved forward as the unfortunate scapegoat. Everyone’s eyes were on her as she slowly approached the Demon King.
“Demon King, shouldn’t we… select a new Grand Chancellor?”
“Of course I don’t mean Lady Sephine is bad, and I have absolutely no objection to her walking away without a word. We all know Lady Sephine is the best person for this position. But since she’s not here now, shouldn’t we pick a temporary replacement first?”
“If that’s not possible, forget it. We can still work fine as we are, right, everyone!” Freyja turned around and tossed the problem back to the ministers.
The Demon King lowered her head, resting her chin on her hand.
The ministers didn’t respond. They were dead set on making Freyja the sacrificial lamb. Everyone present knew what Sephine meant to the Demon King.
“What? A problem at the construction site? I’ll be right there!”
“Demon King, the Academy reconstruction has hit a snag! I need to handle it! Goodbye!”
Continuing this conversation might lead to a worse outcome than running away now. Miss Freyja made her escape first. If the Demon King wanted to settle the score later, that would be a problem for later.
“You’re right. It should be put on the agenda.”
Everyone broke into smiles at this.
“Who do you all recommend?”
“Well… how about Lord Flander? He’s the most reliable and highly respected!”
“I wouldn’t dare! Perhaps the Great Witch should take over! She’s meticulous and has contributed the most to the Magical Kingdom’s development!”
“I’ll pass.”
“In other words, you still don’t know who’s fit for the job?”
The Demon King knew their true intentions better than anyone. Many had long been dissatisfied with Sephine’s various policies, but they dared not voice it openly, only whispering complaints behind her back.
For example, Sephine had required every minister in office to clock in for Attendance Check and calculate their attendance rates. Those who lived in the Inner Ring of the Royal City, like herself, could manage, but the majority of officials had their mansions and villas in the Outer Ring, where it was more spacious. They had plenty of complaints.
Sephine had also suggested that ministers should not take too many wives. Wasn’t that a joke? Which generation of royalty and nobility didn’t have a harem full of wives? Wanting them to practice monogamy was a pipe dream!
But they still didn’t dare to speak up. They could only grumble behind her back and try to curry favor with the Demon King by offering young, beautiful girls, hoping to drag her into the same mire.
“We’ll find the right person as soon as possible! Rest assured, Demon King!”
“Then go ahead.”
“Yes!”
Everyone left. Only Catherine remained.
“Is there something else?” Just having this person standing before her irritated the Demon King. Someone who was constantly eyeing your wife—the Demon King would have loved to cut her down.
But Catherine was a rare talent. No matter what, she had to be spared.
“Demon King, there’s something I must inform you.”
“What is it?”
“It’s about two children.” Catherine had once brushed past Aglis on the road, who was with two children. At the time, she had felt a strange sensation, but she couldn’t quite place it.
But after handling a few recent incidents related to the Church, she remembered. It was the unique presence of the gods.
“Hm, go on, tell me.”
“First, let me be clear: I’m doing this for Sephine’s sake, but I don’t think she should be told about this yet.”
“Do you know about Reincarnation?”