System Change

Derek followed along toward the back—the announcements were for Edward and Osian to make, and he didn’t want to be anywhere near the front. Diana—keeping to her currently helpful role—chose to lead the part back out of the palace. Everyone agreed that as the leader of the highest noble house there, she would be the perfect person to introduce them all to the rest of the nobles of Astrus—at least, the ones who chose to show up.

Tevara had also readily agreed to her role as an adviser, and was walking with Edwin, Edgar, and a few others directly behind Edward and Osian. Her brother had also agreed to the adviser’s position, but he was still having trouble controlling all his emotions, so it was decided that it would be best if he stayed toward the back and only watched and listened.

Finally, Diana took a step out of the palace entrance with everyone else right behind her. When Edward, Osian, Tevara, and a few others were outside, on the top stair, Derek was still standing next to the entrance. That was fine by him—he had a good enough view to see everything, and he wouldn’t have to worry about hearing anyone because he knew they were going to be speaking very loudly. Plus, with his stats, he’d have to actively not listen to be able to avoid hearing anything over a whisper…

The view they ended up having was insane. The entire back half of the courtyard was completely packed full with people standing shoulder to shoulder. Derek looked at the way they were dressed and came to the conclusion that those in the back were very well off commoners—most likely merchants and well-paid adventurers. The rest of the courtyard was occupied by what appeared to be the nobles.

The nobles were too good to stand shoulder to shoulder like the commoners, so, while still closer to one another than they seemed to enjoy, they kept as much distance between each other as they could. Derek wasn’t familiar with any noble houses from Astrus, so he leaned in to hear what the others were saying.

“This is surprising,” Diana whispered over her shoulder to Osian and Edward.

“What is?” Edward asked.

“I see a higher up representative from almost every noble family in the kingdom. I have to admit, I did not expect that.”

“Is that right?”

“Yes,” Diana answered sternly, then nodded almost imperceptibly toward a certain man in a black robe with runes etched on it standing toward the front of the gathering. “House Ileal didn’t run. Or at least Cassandra’s brother came to the gathering. He could be stalling so the rest of his family can run, but I don’t think Simeon Ileal is that selfless.”

“So, the queen’s family is taking a big gamble by being here. That’s respectable, at least,” Osian said. “Also, did you see the relief on his face when he saw Tevara standing beside us? His shoulders are relaxed, and he’s finally remembered to breathe.”

“Are there any families missing out there?” Edward asked. “If each only sent one or two people, then it looks like you have a lot of noble families here in Astrus.”

And that was true. Even with them only taking the front half of the courtyard, Derek counted upwards of fifty different groups of representatives from noble families. Some were alone, and a few groups had three people in them.

“From my knowledge, I’m counting three,” Diana answered. “One family I expected not to come, but the other two… they should be here. They are very minor noble families with no reason to run.”

“We are a little early,” Osian said. “Perhaps they are just running late.”

“Perhaps,” Diana replied. “They are not higher ranked than a merchant family. It’s possible that they are just in the crowd of commoners out there.”

“There is still time,” Edward said. “We’ll wait and give them a chance. If they are like you’ve said, they are already here and we just can’t see them. If they still don’t show up, we’ll send someone to them and see if the families have cleared out or were here and just not seen.”

“I expect it to be the latter with everyone but House Melton. I do doubt House Melton shows up, but I also doubted more that House Ileal would, and have already been proven incorrect on that front.”

Derek continued to listen to the three talk back and forth while waiting for the exact time to come. A representative of one of the missing minor noble houses actually ended up fighting his way out of the massive crowd of commoners and made his way to the tail end of the noble houses. Seeing that, Derek believed that it was as Diana had said—the last minor noble house representative was most likely lost among the crowd of commoners.

“It’s time,” Osian finally commented once the minor house representative got into place. “The crowd is getting antsy.”

He was right; the crowd was beginning to get very uncomfortable. The murmurings between one another continued to grow louder and louder until it was practically all anyone could hear. Finally, Edward took a final step forward—onto the edge of the tallest step—and held up his one good hand in a motion for silence. Not everyone saw him at first, but over time, the entire crowd soon grew silent.

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“Firstly, I want to thank you all for attending today,” Edward began. “I know that today seems crazy, and is certainly not what everyone was expecting, but here we are. Your rulers have made a grave many errors up until today and have paid for them with their lives.”

Another round of muttering went through the crowd after that. Edward did not rush everyone. Instead, he waited for the noise to die down naturally this time. It didn’t take long because everyone was surely anxious or excited to hear what came next.

“That is correct,” Edward said. “Tevarian Sinclair, Terrin Sinclair, Cassandra Ileal, and a good deal of others who chose to fight outside the gates have all met their end today. We tried to end everything with less bloodshed, and to some degree, we succeeded. However, no matter what was said or asked of them, those deceased rulers would not listen. They fought, and they came up short.” After that, Edward turned to Osian and gave him a serious nod. The elven king stepped forward beside Edward.

“We are not heartless, though,” Osian began. “We have decided not to judge other based on problems caused by their parents or relatives.” With that, he pointed toward Tevara. “Take Ms. Sinclair, for example. Investigations have shown that she is an upstanding citizen and a noble of decent character—the same is true of her brother, Tyler. For that reason, we have chosen to bring the two former royals on as advisers to a newly appointed ruler.”

That got another, even louder pop from the crowd. Derek wasn’t sure if it was the fact that they spared Tevara and Tyler, made them advisers, or if it was the mention of newly appointed rulers. It seemed that Osian was leaning toward the latter, as once everyone quieted down again, he continued speaking.

“That’s right,” Osian said. “We will be appointing a new king and queen to manage and rule this kingdom. There will certainly be changes, but nothing that will interfere in the overwhelming majority’s daily life. Most changes will be minimal, and those that aren’t will affect the higher ups more than the common folk.”

“To show that we’re not singling Astrus out, these same changes are planned to occur in both Cydaria and Indria as well,” Edward said to the crowd. “New leadership and new rules and laws will be a change, but they are all needed for the overall wellbeing and health of our nations.” The majority of the nobility were quiet at this, but many commoners seemed happy about the upcoming change. It looked like they weren’t all too happy about how everything was with the old leadership. A lot of that may have been because of the war—wars tend to make most of the population very uneasy.

“Now, for our first announcement,” Edward continued. “As I said before, the nobility will be the ones affected the most by the changes. We will be conducting private investigations into each and every noble family in the kingdom. These investigations will determine the future of the noble houses—and again, to show we aren’t singling anybody out, and that everyone will get a fair investigation—we will be beginning with houses Reeves, Rivia, and Barro.

“The leadership of these three houses has already been very helpful to us as we prepare to move forward, but, as I said, no house will be above these investigations.” Edward then looked over at Diana. “Diana,” he said, and she nodded.

“As many of you know, I am Diana Reeves, of House Reeves. As the matriarch of the noble house, I have agreed to these investigations and will accept any outcome or punishments that may come from them. I, for one, am in wholehearted agreement that we must clean up the kingdom so that we all may thrive together.” After that, the older woman took a step back for the others to speak.

Finn stepped forward and gave a near identical speech as Diana. Finally, Garrett came forward, and, though very nervous and uncertain, he gave his blessing as well. It seemed that the man had already accepted that some parts of House Rivia would be in trouble.

Edward moved to speak again, this time, he spoke directly down to the nobles up close. “I thank all of you for coming today, and hope we can all work well together in the future.” His eyes then fell on the patriarch of House Ileal. “Mr. Ileal,” he said, getting the man’s full attention. “You have my condolences for your sister. It is a shame that things played out as they did. However, I must thank and applaud you for attending this announcement. It was the correct decision.”

The middle-aged man’s hands tightened into a ball and he squeezed, but he held himself back from speaking or making any kind of scene. Edward wasn’t gloating, he was being sincere in his words, and it could be felt.

“Everyone else who lost loved ones, today or any time during this ill-timed war…” Edward continued. “You have my condolences as well. Again, this entire war and situation was a shame.”

After that, Edward went on to announce multiple changes that would be happening throughout all three kingdoms. Some nobles grew angry, and some became happy—none stepped forward to speak up against anything that was said. Finally, once everything was said and done, Edward made one last announcement.

“To celebrate the coming together of our three wonderful kingdoms,” Edward started. “We will soon hold a marriage ceremony right here in Astrus. The marriage will be between two individuals that have been chosen to supersede the former royal family and carry Astrus into a new, better future. The ceremony will be here, in the capital, in the palace courtyard. It will be a day of celebrations and history.

“It will be a kingdom-wide event, and all cities will be part of the celebrations. More details of what to expect will be provided soon.” From there, Edward actually lightly bowed to the people before continuing. “Again, I thank all of you for coming, and I look forward to helping lead our combined kingdoms into a great future of cooperation and alliance. Everyone may leave, but I would appreciate it if those representatives of the noble houses would stay. Thank you!”

The commoners in the crowd cheered heavily, but Derek believed it was most likely due to the announcement of a kingdom-wide celebration. Celebrations, as such, usually came with many free things and fun things to do. The leadership of the kingdom, after all, was way above the vast majority’s pay-grade.

As the people cleared out of the courtyard and surrounding areas, all the nobles there chose to stay as Edward requested. The speeches and announcements had gone much smoother than they thought they would, as not a single noble challenged anything—whether that was because they were too scared to or not, Derek didn’t know.

Finally, Edward and Osian—with Tevara trailing them—moved down to the courtyard. What happened next would be up to those two. But there was one thing left on Derek’s mind. I wonder where the treasury is.