"Are you saying one of our cities has a demonic portal that births a horde of demonic creatures inside it?" Jack asked with disbelief.
"It's not like I intended it to be that way," Thebalder shrugged. "Well, I didn't exactly explain the situation well to my officers or descendants, so I guess none of them know about the demonic portal. The Order of Magi people was also tight-lipped about it. I tried to inform the past kings when they came down here, but since they couldn't hear me, I just gave up eventually. Until you came. I'm glad I can finally tell this to someone."
"Themonium has already grown too large. There is nothing I can do even knowing about the portal now," Jack said. "We can only hope the process of closing the portal encountered no trouble. I will go there and have a look."
"Yes, I do think you should do that," Thebalder agreed. "I left my trusted magistrate to watch over that place. We have to make sure the Order of Magi people didn't just take the artifacts away after the portal is closed, after all. My magistrate's name was Robert Malva. He is also the head of the Malva noble house at that time. I believe his descendant should still be overseeing the place."
"They are," Jack said. He remembered the name of the governor of Themonium was Diana Malva.
"Considering you are not our descendant, you might need something to convince the Malva house," Thebalder said. He made a pulling gesture. Jack looked back and saw something shiny came flying from the corridor he came from. This shiny thing stopped in front of him.
"I instructed people to put this with my statue down here after my death," Thebalder said.
Jack took the shiny thing and saw that it was an ornamental item called Malva Crest.
"It's something Robert Malva gave to me as a sign of his allegiance. My name is also inscribed on the crest. This should help you when you talked to his descendant."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. I'm sure it will be."
Jack stood up and saluted the two past kings. "Thank you for your special class, King Theridan. Thank you for your information, king Thebalder. I will go to Themonium early tomorrow and make sure that everything is still all right. And if possible... See if it is possible to take the Totem Banner to repair our relationship with Verremor."
"In that case, I implore you to help fix the relationship between our two countries that I have ruined," Thebalder uttered with a slight bow.
Jack heard a quest notification then, Repair the relationship between Themisphere and Verremor. The difficulty was SS grade.
'Ho! A quest,' Jack thought. He considered it a bonus. He was going to try doing it either way.
"Seeing your sincerity for our country, I will also present you with a gift," Theridan said. "You asked before what the past kings of Themisphere doing by coming down here, didn't you? I wasn't completely honest with you. They came down here to receive our blessings."
"Blessing?" Jack asked, confused.
"Everyone. Come out!" Theridan commanded.
Soon after, nine other ghost-like figures appeared. They were exactly like the statues that Jack had seen when passing through the corridor. They were also Themisphere's past kings.
"After our talks, we can see that you indeed care about this country. Don't you all think so?" Theridan asked the others. They responded with a silent nod.
"We hereby grant you our blessing," Theridan said. His hand was outstretched at Jack. The other kings did the same. Jack heard a notification that he had received a new title.
*
Rightful Themisphere King (Title).
A sign that the bearer had been blessed by past kings of Themisphere.
Loyalty increase is boosted if this title is equipped when promoting, paying, or gifting the officers.
*
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Jack said. This title would help when he next did the mass pay function.
"We wish you luck then. Themisphere's well-being is now in your hand," Theridan said. Thebalder and the other kings gave Jack a nod.
"I'll come down here to have a chat with you all if I have the time," Jack said while waving them goodbye.
Theridan just chuckled for a response.
Jack looked at Therras' cocoon state before leaving. This place was forbidden to others, so he didn't need to post guards like in the case of Arlcard's cocoon. He just made sure he locked the large door using the Themisphere Legacy Key on his way out.
*
The next day, Jack attended the meeting that was previously informed by Thaergood. The meeting was attended by all the advisors and magistrates. Duchess Isabelle and John were there as well since they were also advisors.
Affairs, petitions, and other details relating to state matters not covered by the monarch system were talked about in the meeting. Jack mostly had to decide what to do with each. He knew that these matters were important so he didn't act like his usual self and simply decided as if he was tossing a coin.
He also knew that he wasn't the wisest person so he didn't try to decide on his own. He asked for everyone's opinions and then simply picked the one he thought was best. He didn't care if he was seen as incompetent for doing that. He thought this was the best for his current limited experience regarding state matters.
He thought the meeting would only take a few hours but it instead took a whole day. After finishing, Jack asked Thaergood how often they would be having this kind of meeting. Thaergood said that it depended on the situation.
Jack asked him to put together the matters and just had a monthly meeting when he was scheduled to come back to use the Officer and Foreign Overviews in the Monarch system.
Since it was already nighttime when the meeting concluded, he postponed his trip to Themonium to the next day.
*
Early the next morning, Jack teleported to Themonium. This was the first time he was in this city so he walked around the place.
He used his Unrivaled Arcaner disguise. If he walked around as his real self in the regal outfit, he won't be able to walk freely. He couldn't use his Orb of Disguise to alter the appearance of his original self's equipment, only his disguise's equipment could be altered.
The city had fewer facilities compared to Thereath, but it was still a decently large city. Everything was also well organized and sufficient guards patrolled the streets. This city was among the ones with the best stats in the kingdom. He supposed this had to do with the governor who possessed high leadership and politics stats.
While he toured the city, he did his usual shopping spree in buying common-grade equipment and ores. Although his current regal outfits didn't need ores for leveling up, his other guild mates still needed them. Additionally, he was preparing in case he got better equipment to replace the regal outfits.
During his tour, he received a notification that Jonathan had completed the quest. The gang hideout had been destroyed.
'So fast,' he thought. Jonathan only took one and a half days to complete the quest. This was another benefit of doing quests instead of the Train command. If the royal agent could complete quests speedily, the gained exp points could be even more than normal training.
He opened his status window and look at the completed report.
Jonathan had leveled up to level 52. 'Not bad for a few days' work,' Jack thought. Jack was sure Jonathan received other rewards aside from exp points.
As for the kingdom's benefit, the quest completion had boosted the security stat of Therural, the nearby town. Not only that, the kingdom received one hundred gold coins from the raid. Several of the bandits also surrendered and agreed to serve the kingdom. They were now integrated into the troops that were stationed in Therural. Their number was around fifty level 40-45 and grades ranging from basic to elite. The leader of the surrendered bandits was a level 47 special elite.
Even though the number was small, this could be considered a free draft.
Jack immediately sent Jonathan on another quest again. He made sure to pick one that was not too difficult for Jonathan's level.
After browsing through the available quest, he picked one that required Jonathan to clear a small-sized monster settlement that was troubling a village. The existence of this monster settlement caused unrest and prevented the village from growing further. The average level of the monster was 45, Jack thought Jonathan should have no problem with this quest.
After finishing his tour, Jack went to the city hall. Two soldiers guarded the entrance. Unless one had an official matter, one won't be allowed entry.
Jack first went to a nearby alley to transform back to his real self before walking to the city hall's entrance.
The crowd was immediately riled when they saw Jack. When Serenity broadcasted Jack's coronation, everyone had a good look at Jack's face. Not to mention, the regal outfit was one of a kind. Everyone noticed the kingly presence from Jack's appearance.
The soldiers that were guarding the city hall took a few seconds before they convinced themselves that it was indeed the king who had arrived.
They immediately bowed and saluted, "Yourâ€"Your Majesty."
"I wish to speak with the governor," Jack said. He tried to sound as authoritative as possible. Which was uncomfortable, because it was against his nature.
The soldiers opened the gate. One rushed in to inform the governor, while the other one accompanied Jack into the city hall.
*
From the windows on the upper floor of the city hall, a woman was looking at the crowd outside who had gathered due to the appearance of the king. From the window, she had seen the king enter the building, but she stayed by the window.
Urgent knockings were heard. The woman let a few seconds pass before telling the one outside to enter.
It was one of the guards at the entrance who had rushed inside. "Maâ€"Madam, His Majesty has arrived. He demanded your presence."
The woman was the governor, Diana Malva. She sat back behind her desk and said, "Take the king to the main hall. I will be there soon."
The soldier was surprised by the governor's words.
"Anything else?" Diana asked with a displeased gaze.
"I... I will inform His Majesty," the soldier said awkwardly.
After the soldier left, Diana took a paper and pen and started scribbling. She was not in any hurry.
