The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 364: Pride of my city

I returned to my castle, there are 5 days until October 21st, which is my birthday, so I decided to come back to the castle, but as soon as I arrived, Zephyra came to prevent me from wandering around the castle.

You know who canʼt hide my party from me, so they decided to at least prevent me from seeing how itʼs going until the birthday, which is really cool, so I decided to accept it.

Thatʼs why Iʼm now with Zephyra, who decided to be my distraction for the day. I wanted to go see Eclipsya, but itʼs okay, I have several days for that.

”So Zephyra, what do you have planned for me today?” I say as Zephyra quickly pulls my hand, pulling me towards the castle gates.

”A walk, I want to explore the city with you, the city is incredible but you donʼt even enjoy what youʼre building, so how about exploring a bit of what youʼre creating?” She says to me with a smile.

”Anything you want, my queen,” I say, hugging her by the waist and giving her a little kiss on the forehead.

”...” She gets embarrassed but moves forward, taking me with her, but sheʼs right, I havenʼt explored much of the city I built, it was a lot of effort to create this city.

It happens that general problems couldnʼt be solved with modern world ideas, since the modern world has never experienced the problems we have, so I had to keep creating solutions.

And now experiencing directly what I created seems fun, especially with Zephyra by my side.

”...” Zephyra quickly takes me to the castle gate, before leaving, I take a look at the castle, it now has a monstrously large size, much larger than in the past.

It is undoubtedly an impressive and very beautiful castle, the various expansions in its diverse areas have had very interesting results.

Without wasting much time on this, Zephyra orders the gate to be opened, giving me a view of the city outside the castle, and I follow Zephyra outside, looking at everything attentively.

ʼThe streets... they did a great job.ʼ I look at the perfect streets of the city, they are made of various types of compacted stones and minerals with magic, one of my ideas for a resistant, easy-to-make and easy-to-handle material.

The streets are without any irregularity or potholes, generating excellent sidewalks and roads for walking and transporting things, I see the carriages passing through the road without any problem and the people walking on the sidewalks.

I see children playing, running after each other, a guard helping an old lady cross the street, civilians talking about their daily lives as the sound mixes into an interesting natural symphony.

ʼMy people seem happy...ʼ This only proves that I am right, no matter how tyrannical and authoritarian my reign is, the people are happy. I do what no one wants to do, but what is necessary.

”Letʼs go, Pandora?” Zephyra says, taking my hand and pulling me down the sidewalk. I see the posts, they were made to simulate modern light posts, but instead of wires and lamps, the post uses a crystal that emits light in the dark.

So the posts themselves activate when it gets dark and deactivate when it gets light, making something beautiful that doesnʼt interfere with the beauty of the city by filling the place with unnecessary wiring.

Without wires, the post works more as a beautiful decoration that illuminates the environment at night, I also notice the regulation of the streets made by trained guards to maintain order and safety.

”It seems no one has noticed me yet,” I say as Zephyra leads me to the sidewalk on the other street.

”Is that so... why is that?” Zephyra says, noticing that many havenʼt noticed me, unlike another encounter with Zephyra where I attracted looks.

ʼProbably because Iʼm too strong.ʼ The stronger something is, the harder it is to notice the power it emits, for example, I canʼt feel Delphinaʼs power, I just feel that itʼs dangerous.

”Well, thatʼs good, because no one will bother us,” I say as Zephyra nods with a smile, leading me through the streets. We enter the commercial area where I see several well-organized stalls.

Fruits, meats, and tentacles being sold at a very low price, considering that food is free, this type of specialty food is mainly for the taste, which makes the sale more about enjoying the flavor of the food than hunger.

ʼThe smell... that aroma of food in the air... the smell of perfume too... the clear sky... itʼs quite pleasant.ʼ The sky is clear in a blue that is even rare to see, while the smell of food and perfume is pleasant in its own way.

”You know, Zephyra, itʼs interesting to see how the problems were solved, donʼt you think?” I say, remembering the past. These people who were starving and didnʼt even have a place to stay, to the point of crowding around my castle, can now live well.

With basic needs being given for free as long as they work for it and maintain the law.

”Itʼs true... itʼs even a bit strange, normally I would think that people would be sad with the extremely rigid laws... but look, everyone is happy... well, almost everyone, the humans who came, some are still dissatisfied, but between demons and beastmen, everything is great,” she says as I agree.

I even heard that Elena gave that demoniaction potion to Isabel, and Isabel started using it, transforming humans and elves into demons, which helped reduce some complications.

”Zephyra, what did you think I would do with them?” I ask as I approach a stall, ordering two fried tentacles coated in sugar, the sound of frying being pleasant to hear.

”Well... I donʼt know, at first I thought you... werenʼt a good king,” she admits, looking away as I pay with gold for the sugar-coated tentacle.

”Hahaha, I believe many would have that view of me.” If you just read the laws Iʼve written and approved, along with the way I treat criminals, I bet most would say Iʼm a bloodthirsty king leading my people to ruin.

However, as ironic as it may seem, the most bloodthirsty kings in history were also, for the most part, some of the most visionary, who led their peoples to glory and growth.

For example, Alexander the Great (356-323 BC), who did not hesitate to massacre entire populations that resisted, as in the destruction of Tyre.

But he built one of the greatest empires of antiquity, spread Hellenistic culture and commerce over vast territories, showing how despite his tyranny he did incredible things for his time.

”Zephyra, do you know why, even though Iʼm so rigid, tyrannical, and bloodthirsty, my people are happy, healthy, and powerful? Itʼs simply because absolute power and rules allow me to change whatever I want in a radical and rapid way.”

”One of the biggest problems in changing the policy of a kingdom is the delay, the bureaucracy of the rules hinders everything and makes the people suffer, but if everything is done quickly, the time of suffering is minimal.”

”Think of it as ripping off a bandage, taking it off slowly and carefully only causes pain, itʼs better to just pull it off quickly, and thatʼs exactly why my people thrive, because everything is done quickly following my will.”

”If a king knows what to do for his people to grow, even if itʼs in a tyrannical way, it doesnʼt change the fact that results are in the end the best thing that can be obtained.” I say as Zephyra seems to be thinking about something.

”But... doesnʼt that make the people able to hate you?” She asks, and I think about the best answer.

”Zephyra, I donʼt seek the love of the population, itʼs a fact that certain decisions can generate discontent, but does that really matter? The duty of a king is not to be loved by the people, but to govern his people.”

”If my people are incapable of seeing the greatness of my plans, then I can only ignore public opinion and follow what I want to do, because in the end I am the king, not them.”

”The ʼcrownʼ does not belong to the people, it belongs to me, and in the end my order is absolute and if anyone is dissatisfied, let them come to me so that I can kill them.” I say with a smile.

”Thatʼs...”

”Cruel?” I say to her with my smile growing.

”Youʼre right if you think that way, that is cruel, but life is also cruel, and no one can deny my results.” I say as she nods affirmatively, just look at how well my kingdom is doing, thatʼs all the proof that Iʼm a good king.

”Besides, the people even like me, demons are quite loyal and that helps a lot.” I say as I take a bite of the fried tentacle, offering the other to Zephyra, who takes it and tries it.

”...” I savor the flavor, itʼs simple and nothing special, but itʼs pleasant to eat every now and then, it has the taste of Shogo, showing that these tentacles come from her.

I continue walking with Zephyra, observing the people, the population seems happy and cheerful, of course not everyone is like that, there are some with more neutral expressions and others more serious.

In the end, itʼs still a hostile world, but the fact that a large part is content is enough, much better than in the past when they wouldnʼt even know if theyʼd be alive tomorrow.

”Look!! Itʼs a basic relics store,” I say excitedly, seeing one of my ideas, I didnʼt imagine they would already be working.

”A... basic relics store?” Zephyra asks without understanding.

”Yes, itʼs an idea that just came to me, you know? It seemed like a good idea, so I had Elena do it. These stores will basically ”create” a personalized basic relic for everyone who goes and pays a small price, itʼs for private leisure.”

”These relics will have very basic effects, nothing destructive but useful in daily life or for occasional fun, which will really help the population, and will also encourage them to spend the money they earn on something that can work well.”

”And there are a lot of things, from things to help with cooking, relics to store things, jewelry that can apply small effects, and even sexual items for them to have fun alone.”

”And the best part, entertainment, some of the jewelry has games and an instruction manual, of course the jewelry needs magic, but there are basic games like chess, checkers, rock-paper-scissors, hopscotch, and even more strategic or simple games.”

”The jewel creates a kind of magical image that teaches the game, itʼs good for children and adults, itʼs to pass free time doing something fun, after all, life is sweeter if you have something to spend your daily life.” I say with a smile.

”Wow, this idea... is incredibly good,” she agrees, surprised since this idea has nothing bad, itʼs just for personal entertainment in free time.

”Undoubtedly, although it also has very strict rules, no one can use them outside their free time, those caught playing during work hours will be thrown in prison for 1 month without food, only water,” I say as Zephyra shudders.

”In the end, obviously something like this needs rules, right Zephyra? I wonʼt let the fun turn into a mess, anyway, their free time is theirs, as long as they donʼt get late for work, and donʼt waste time just having fun, itʼs fine by me,” I say, finishing the fried tentacle.

”Youʼre the only one who turns something fun into something dangerous,” Zephyra sighs, speaking as I partially agree with her, itʼs not like Iʼm throwing children in jail.

Itʼs just those who waste work time on games, work time shouldnʼt be interrupted by games, I made it very clear that games and hobbies are only in their free time.

”I know, anyway, shall we continue? Thereʼs a lot more I want to see if itʼs already working,” I say, now excited about the walk to get to know more of my city.