The second affair, the inheritance of Lord Edmond, was about a noble in Therowld. He had just passed away recently. Lord Edmond was an Earl, and he left behind quite a fortune.
He had three descendants, two sons and one daughter. The three, of course, wanted a piece of their father's fortune.
However, an unexpected issue arose. Edmond's personal maid came forward and claimed that she was secretly a daughter of Edmond. Born out of an illegal marriage with a village girl. Edmond had taken her in since she was a child and raised her as his personal maid, while secretly knowing that she was his daughter.
To complicate matters further, this so-called secret daughter had a will hand-written by the late Edmond. Saying that all his fortune will be passed down to his personal maid who was also his daughter.
There were also four options for this affair. Three were supporting each of Edmond's legal descendants, and the fourth was supporting the secret daughter. Under those options, Jack was also given the option to write his own decision outside of the four given ones.
"I'll be damned... Do I have to deal with more of this kind of drama when the number of affairs increases?" Jack asked.
"I think because it is this kind of arbitrary drama that the governor, where these cases happen, chose to pass the decision-making to you," John said sarcastically. "These cases are too grey and lacking in information. Making any one decision will just cause the party that is disadvantaged to bear ill will. Those governors want to run from that responsibility. They believe the king can better shoulder those ill wills."
Jack again gave him an irritated glance.
"Well, this one had a shorter time limit, only five days," Jack said. He then turned to Jeanny, who understood his gesture.
"I will manage them," She responded.
"Well, I guess that's it for the Affair Overview. How many more screens are there?" Jack asked Peniel.
It was nighttime already. He wanted to go on, but he didn't want to impose on the others. If there were still many more, he would suggest continuing tomorrow.
"There are two more," Peniel answered.
"Oh, only two more," He looked at the others, who just gazed back silently.
"Let's finish this today," John finally said when the others continued to be silent.
"Okay," Jack said and closed the affairs screen. At the same time, he asked Peniel, "Will one of the remaining two screens contain information about our country's guardian?"
"No. If we still have a country guardian, it will be shown on the main screen, the country overview," Peniel answered.
"Wait... Are you saying, we permanently don't have a country guardian anymore? What about that giant earth dragon that tried to kill me? Won't he come back again after some time?"
"You angered him. He left after Themos died. His connection to this country was through Themos. Only a king of a country could form a bond with a country guardian. Usually, this bond is passed down during the coronation. But given the circumstances and you are also not Themos' descendant, Tiemezzys had no obligation to continue maintaining his bond."
"Doesn't that mean our country is vulnerable then?"
"We are," Isabelle said. "But there is nothing we can do. I hope the other countries didn't see this as a chance to mount another invasion."
"It is such a pity," Thaergood joined in. "It is extremely difficult to get a country guardian. I am not sure if we will be able to get one again..."
"He is underestimating you," John said to Jack while pointing at Thaergood. "He said you are too weak to form a bond with a being suitable to be a country guardian."
"I say no such thing...!!" Thaergood yelled. He truly didn't like this John person. Why did the king have to appoint this guy as the royal advisor? That just meant John was now his superior.
"Please don't take to heart the things that he said," Jack said to Thaergood. "Trust me. I feel like smacking him a lot of times as well, but it is easiest to just ignore him altogether."
"Really?" John asked.
"Okay, let's move on to the next screen. See? I'm ignoring him just now," Jack said to Thaergood.
The next screen was the Foreign Overview. It showed the six other main countries and their standing toward Themisphere.
*
Verremor Nation = Hostile
Republic of Palgrost = Friendly
Aurebor Dynasty = Neutral
Hydrurond Dominion = Neutral
Liguritudum Realm = Unfriendly
Sangrod Empire = Friendly
*
"Is this screen only for seeing the relationship with the other countries, or there is something I can do here?" Jack asked.
"You can select one country to see its details and also the diplomatic action you can take," Peniel informed. "Try selecting one of the friendly ones."
Jack chose the Sangrod Empire. A list of information appeared.
*
Sangrod Empire
Ruling race: Vampire
Sovereign: Marcus Maxius
Total population: ???
Total Settlements: 55
Total troops: ???
Total coins: ???
Total mana: ???
Kingdom Enchantment: Eternal Night
Relationship with other countries: ???
Capital: Vacharest
Trade route established. Generating 50,000 gold coins/month
*
Several diplomatic actions were listed at the bottom of the screen. Send a gift, establish an embassy, establish a trade route, send a message, propose an alliance treaty, make a demand, declare war.
The trade route option was greyed out. Peniel explained that was because the trade route was already established. If Jack established an embassy, much of the unavailable information on this page would become available. Through the embassy, it would also take less time if they wanted to send a gift or a message.
If they form an alliance treaty, they would become allies. If a country was invaded, the ally was obligated to send troops to help.
"If we are to prepare for Liguritudum's invasion, then we should be focusing on this diplomatic relationship," Jeanny said. "If we can become allies with everyone, they will think twice before they attack."
"It's not easy forming an alliance, you know. Even to a friendly country," Peniel said.
"Even if we can't secure an alliance, making contact with the other countries is also the right move to let the others know that you are in charge now," John said to Jack.
"You are not thinking of allying with Sangrod, aren't you?" Thaergood said. "It is because of them that King Themos was ruined! We should denounce them by sending a message condemning them instead."
