The Allied forces reorganized themselves once the last of the obsidian dragons fled. They built camps outside of Dritzuut as. The commanders reviewed their losses while the soldiers buried the bodies of their fallen.
Inside Dritzuut, there were many civilian casualties. Master never bothered to evacuate the citizens and simply let them hide inside their houses during the battle. Many of these houses were demolished due to the bombardments from the Allied forces' siege weapons and ships.
The Allied forces were now reestablishing order inside the capital under the hateful gazes of the surviving citizens. In their eyes, the Allied forces were the culprit who attacked their city and killed many of their fellow citizens.
With Jack still unconscious, John took over the leadership. He didn't bother explaining this invasion to the Liguritudum's citizens. It was indeed their weapons that killed those citizens, regardless of whether their past ruler could have avoided those casualties if he had shown a modicum of care.
John let them curse him behind his back. He knew whatever he said to them would only be considered as excuses. Persuasion and indoctrination could be done later once things cooled down. For now, he organized soldiers to keep watch around the streets to discourage these disgruntled citizens from causing trouble.
Liguritudum's lower-ranked soldiers who surrendered automatically switched to their side. John didn't worry about these soldiers' loyalties. They were influenced by the world system to obey the one who possessed the throne. John sent these Liguritudum soldiers to reinforce the Themisphere soldiers who patrolled the streets. Seeing the soldiers of their own race should appease the angry ethereal citizens.
John was able to access Liguritudum's monarch system because he was Themisphere's royal advisor, and this country was considered Themisphere's vassal state. However, he was unable to appoint the puppet sovereign for Liguritudum. Only Jack had the privilege to do that. This meant before Jack woke up, John had to manage Liguritudum's monarch system directly.
The first thing he managed was the officers. He gave those former Liguridutum officers the chance to swear fealty. Those who did, were given positions but only until the mid-ranked posts. For the higher posts, John asked Wilted to give him the names of the natives from her rebel force. John then entered those names into the monarch system, giving them the power to oversee the surrendered officers.
He restored Morphic to High Marshall, which was his old post. The high marshal who supported Master, Oberon, had been killed during the siege battle.
Former officers who refused to swear fealty were put into jail. He knew Jack would have let these officers go but he preferred to keep these people in confinement for now. This newly captured country was still very unstable. He didn't want those officers to run around the country and scheme.
There was still the matter of World Maker. They might have won the war and conquered the country, but Master and his guild were still at large. This was not yet over. He sent a garrison of soldiers to scout the region where World Maker's guild headquarters was located. Once they finished reorganizing here, he would have the Allied force march there.
John didn't know if Master was there or if he had let go of his guild headquarters the same way as he let go of Liguritudum. John feared it was the latter. If he was in Master's shoes, he would have gone into hiding to fuse with the divine treasures. If that was the case, they could only depend on luck to find Master before he was done fusing.
No matter the case, they would still have to go to World Maker's headquarters. Even if the headquarters was deserted, John hoped they could find some clues of Master's whereabouts.
If everything proceeded smoothly, the Allied forces should be able to depart in one or two days.
John spent some more time working on the monarch system to manage Liguritudum's settlements, particularly the capital. He prioritized improving its security. There were some kingdom coins available for spending. Unlike in Hydrurond, Master didn't drain the kingdom coffer.
Because Themisphere was now the hegemonic state, there was an option to apply tribute. This tribute was deducted directly from the kingdom's monthly income. The maximum amount of tribute that could be set was fifty percent. If he set that maximum amount, he was sure he would get reprimanded by Jack once Jack learned of it. Additionally, applying such a heavy tribute would cause dissatisfaction among the officers. Their loyalties would tend to lower, and their desire to free the country from being a vassal state would grow.
After some thought, he decided on thirty percent. He would still be scolded by Jack for this, but he never minded a scolding. He was pretty certain Jack would let go of Liguritudum as a vassal state and transfer its sovereignty to an ethereal native or an ethereal player once Jack found a suitable candidate. Until then, he wanted to milk some of this country's resources first. He didn't go directly to the maximum fifty percent because he didn't want a rebellion to happen so soon after they just subdued this country.
After finishing managing the monarch system, John spent some time holding a meeting with the high-ranking officers he just appointed. The meeting discussed the urgent issues regarding troop management, the capital's security, and the rebel settlements.
Because the previous sovereign, Master, wasn't killed when the throne was destroyed, not all settlements yielded to the new sovereign. This was similar to what happened when Master took Hydrurond from Queen Frorryntiar. John told the officers in the meeting to send a delegate to each of those settlements, with a warning that if they didn't submit, the army would come. If that happened, the governors in charge of the settlements would be stripped of their positions and jailed. But if they surrendered, they would be allowed to retain their position.
John hoped those settlements would just surrender from the warning because he couldn't send their armies so soon. They had to deal with World Maker first. Once that was over, only then could they deal with the rebellious settlements.
After the meeting, John visited his mother. Linda was held inside Dritzuut palace. Instead of a jail, she was placed inside one of the royal guestrooms. A runic rope was still binding her, so she couldn't do anything.
When she saw John enter her room, she said, "Is this how a son treats his mother?"
"I place you in one of the best rooms. What more do you expect?" John answered. He then took out the Mind Breaker. "Say, mom. Care to tell me where Master is hiding with the divine treasures?"
