Kirkcour Woods,

Northern Rosendun,

16th Banem 1092.

Two days had passed since the events at Suvron's Gate. Since then, Kashi, Shadow, and Larsial had been wandering through the forests north of Rosendun in search of the centaurs Absalon had seen. In regards to the events at Suvron's Gate, initially, Kashi had intended on lying to Larsial. However, he changed his mind when Shadow informed him of her deductions.

Kashi was impressed by Larsial's ability to discern the nature of his inner world. For most people, having such an intelligent person by their side would lead to them becoming wary and suspicious. However, for Kashi, it was the opposite. The more intelligent Larsial was, the happier he was. This was because, with most people, he would have to rely on somehow winning over their hearts. However, for extremely intelligent people, it was often enough to convince their minds to begin with. After their minds had been conquered, he could then look into conquering their hearts.

Kashi did not need Larsial to like him. He only needed her to pick him over the daeben. This was the reason he had asked her to shadow him. Following this line of thought, he explained the summary of his abilities to the both of them, leaving out his ability to manipulate the elements.

Of course, another reason Kashi could so confidently expose his ability was that it wasn't something that could easily be countered. Whether it was the improved regeneration or muscle strength, they were both things that an enemy could not manipulate in battle. Also, Kashi adding life to his world was also something they could not manipulate or stop. At worst, the enemy would send assassins to hunt him down. But was that any different from what they would do regardless? As the guild leader of one of the largest guilds in the continent, it was only natural that he would be the target of assassinations. It was just unfortunate that Kashi was often a solitary wanderer hence it was immensely difficult for these assassins to track down his movements.

This was also why Kashi did not tell Shadow and Larsial about his ability to manipulate elements. Now that was an ability that could change the battlefield completely. It was better to keep that one a secret for as long as possible. Only then would it be even more effective against their enemies.

Following his explanation of his abilities, the trio traveled down to a large forest north of Rosendun called Kirkcour Woods. Kirkcour Woods was a dark forest home to many high-leveled creatures and monsters. The trees were robust and thick, often climbing as high as fifty to sixty meters high. Tightly-knit canopies blocked off sunlight, casting a dreary atmosphere over the forest. Eerie silence ruled like a mage had cast [Silence] on the entire forest.

Absalon had reported meeting the centaurs on the outskirts of this forest. Absalon had not gone to find the village because of time restraints, but the centaurs had assured him they lived within the forest. The centaurs his troops encountered were scouts sent out by the village to seek out adventurers for help. Absalon was not the first group they had asked for help nor would they be the last.

Prior to Absalon's arrival, a couple of adventurers had volunteered. Unfortunately, all the volunteers subsequently perished in the forest. Luckily for other curious people, a few of the adventurers were Summoned. One of the Summoned spread on the real world forums that the monsters in the forest were around Level 150. Analysts quickly realized that if the beasts were Level 150, then more than likely, the centaurs had to be around that level to have lived for so long in the forest. However, now there was a threat which even these Level 150 centaurs were completely helpless against.

Unfortunately for Kashi, by the time he arrived at the location specified by Absalon, there were no traces of the centaurs. Fearing they had switched locations, he even checked along the forest's perimeter, but after checking several miles in both directions and still not finding anything, he was forced to accept the reality that the scouts had retreated into the forest for some reason.

Kashi was not pleased with this revelation. To his knowledge, there were three major possible reasons as to why the scouts had retreated and none of them were good for him. The first, the centaurs had somehow found a way to defeat the Blight. While this was good for the centaurs, it removed the advantage the daeben had of arriving as a rescuer during dire circumstances. Secondly, there was a chance that the scouts had finally found adventurers strong enough to combat the Blight. This would mean the battle was still ongoing, but Kashi would also be forced to compete with another group for their affection. Worse yet, his new plan for the centaurs would be put in jeopardy if another party was involved. The last, and perhaps worst possibility for the centaurs was that the Blight had become so terrible that they had no choice but to call back their scouts because they needed every available hand just to survive. Naturally, as long as the situation was not irreversible, this was Kashi's best case scenario.

Kashi could only pray to the gods that he would get some of that Light Novel Protagonist luck, and arrive just in time to save the day. As for the centaurs that either had to die or be injured for such a scenario to arise... He would raise an incense for them.

Unfortunately, even after searching through the forest for two whole days, Kashi's group had yet to find any trace of the centaurs. However, Kashi was not discouraged by his. First, the forest was quite large. Their current cycle of leveling, sparring, resting and exploring meant they could not cover too much ground in a day. Furthermore, the complex terrain allowed Drixlia to gain some experience running through bumpy terrain, avoiding and jumping over obstacles.

Kashi resolved himself to the realities of a long search.

***

The Royal Palace,

Riven, Rosendun.

At one end of Rosendun, the Guildmaster of the Hopeful Maggots had just resigned himself to a long wait. Meanwhile, at the other end of Rosendun, within the most important location in all of Riven, the vice-Guildmaster of the Hopeful Maggots had similarly resigned herself to a long meeting.

Leila Lightwood, who had just recently been awarded an official role of 'minister' in Rosendun as a reward for her excellent achievement during the expedition to Serisis, was once again the center of attention within Rosendun Politics. This time, she had taken advantage of a summit of delegates from the three allied nations: Rosendun, Merriheim (Aygorzi) and Serisis, to submit her latest proposal.

Naturally, Leila had already taken the necessary steps by presenting it to King Parissius and his ministers beforehand. Only after they approved it, did she then move forward and present the documents at the summit. This summit which had originally been scheduled to last for an hour had now dragged on for over eight hours. Worse yet, while other ministers could take time off to take a break or get something to eat, Leila was constantly on the move, explaining the document's details to the confused ministers.

Leila did not dare to slack in her duty, as this was perhaps the most important piece of legislation she would ever be involved in. It would form the basis of the Rosendun Empire and everything it stood for.

The documents explained in detail, plans for the formation of three major branches of government, and twelve subsidiary departments, or 'ministries' beneath them.

Leila used the model of modern-day democratic branches of government. Usually, in most democratic countries, the government were made up of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches. The Executive branch of government usually had the President at the top, with millions of people working with him to enforce the laws of the country. The Legislative branch was the branch of government concerned with actually creating and editing laws for the country. In some countries, this branch was split into Senate and House of Representatives.

The Senate usually had an equal number of candidates per state, intended to represent the interests of each individual state. Longer term times were also established to ensure the elected Senators spent less time focusing on reelection and more on actual legislation. On the other hand, the House of Representatives were usually more of a popularity contest. The terms were shorter, with some states having far more reps than other states. The House of Representatives was intended to be closer to the people, reflecting the desires of the common man to the lawmakers. Unfortunately, in recent times, both parties blended into each other so much, it was hard to discern any difference between them. Worse yet, both parties were susceptible to corruption as large companies often paid to have their interests brought forward rather than the interest of the people.

The final branch was the Judicial Branch. Those in this branch were tasked with judging anyone who was suspected to have broken any rules in the nation's constitution. Often, there existed a High, or Supreme Court, which was the highest level of court and a group of lower level courts. Decisions passed in the Supreme Court usually became standards for lower courts which handled everyday issues to follow.

Leila applied a few subtle changes to the current template in order to combat the two biggest issues: the corruption at the legislative level, and the problem of autocracy vs democracy. This was a fantasy world with kings and queens, not presidents. Autocracy was the rule of thumb here, not democracy and Leila had no plans to change it.

Recent events in the real world had proven that even though democracy was often times better than autocracy, an excellent democratic leader would never be able to achieve a tiny percentage of what a good autocratic leader could achieve. In a democratic structure, the President of a nation often had far less power than most people realized. Any policies he intended to enact had to be passed through the Senate before it would be approved. While this served as a perfect check against crazy Presidents who wanted to eliminate half of their population, it also hampered the progress of even more good Presidents. This was because, as mentioned earlier, many members of Senate were 'appointed' by top companies. These Senators often prevented the passing of any bills that would damage the interests of their benefactors regardless of whether it benefitted the public or not.

When the party system was added to this already complicated situation, the waters just got murkier. Often times senators on opposing sides would block or push ahead policies to either make their parties look more competent or reduce the chance of the opponent appearing more competent. In situations like these, the well-being people took a complete backseat.

This kind of environment could slide during peaceful times. Most humans were not too interested in fighting their government beyond a little shouting or complaining every now and then as long as their lives were not in danger. However, if this sort of environment were to exist during wartime, it would not be hard for enemies to turn the disillusioned hearts of a nation's citizens against the nation.

And what was happening in Destia right now?

War, war, and even more War.

Although not yet on the scale of the Sengoku Jidai (Warring Period) of ancient Japan or China, the continent of Destia was certainly in the middle of one of its greatest warring period. Major players had risen up here and there, eager to make a name for themselves. This naturally meant there were battles constantly occurring on several battle fronts. Add monsters attacking settlements to the mix, and you had a volatile situation that needed to be handled with special care. As such, it was imperative that the eyes of the Royal Palace were always on the people at every corner of their territory and responding in time to issues, not embroiled in pointless debates and blocking themselves from getting any actual thing done.

It was not like Leila thought autocracy was better than democracy. ON the contrary, autocracy was a roll of the dice. A good roll would produce a great leader who would introduce a couple of decades of prosperity for a nation, whereas a bad roll would introduce an inept, cruel or greedy leader who would cripple the nation for decades. For the current situation, however, an autocracy was far more suited to the environment than a democracy.

Naturally, it helped that Leila personally knew the current Rosendun King to be an excellent roll of the dice. As such, she did not hesitate when making her changes.

The first change she made was to eliminate the existence of a president. Instead, the King was placed above the three branches of government. He had the executive right to veto any decisions passed by the three branches. At the same time, he also had the right to pass any personal decisions without consulting with the branches.

Leila surmised this simple change would a peculiar ripple effect on the legislative branch in particular. In the end, the idea behind the House of Reps and Senate was an admirable and good one, so she chose not to abolish those two. However, although the Representatives and Senate could still be 'sponsored' by the rich, their influence in actual legislation would greatly diminish. This was because laws and policies could now only be proposed by the Legislative Branch.

The King reserved the sole right to pass any law into the constitution.

This would greatly reduce the influence the rich had on policymaking. This was because, if the King ever found out a legislative member's arguments were influenced by some rich person, he could have that person removed from the Senate, or completely ignore that person's views. Putting all the legislative power in the King's hand should greatly reduce the corruption. After all, how do you bribe the man that has everything?

Leila and Kashi had also long since taken another possible issue into account: the issue of a poor Crown. If the King's coffers were low, rich barons and upstarts could pressure the king into doing what they want. This was one of the major reasons why right from the beginning, Kashi had included the Crown in every business the Maggots had started.

Furthermore, the Hopeful Maggots were doing something no one else was doing at present: Paying taxes to the crown. Currently, Royal Families in Destia earned their income from four major sources: First, income from lands directly owned by the crown. Second, income from feudal lords. Third, income from an annual tax conducted to bolster troops and finally, fines levied against criminals.

The problem with this system was that it depended too much on the Crown owning vast amounts of land. Furthermore, dishonest feudal lords could easily shortchange the Crown, thereby reducing its coffers, and finally, the annual tax usually put a large strain on the poorer citizens.

The case of Rosendun's Royal Family was especially dire, as up until a few months ago, the Crown had been missing for over a decade. Save seizing by force, it was difficult to lay claim to a lot of the land which brave men and women had fought to reclaim from the wilds by themselves.

To remedy this issue, Leila introduced the movable property tax, sales tax, and income tax. Put simply, the sales tax stated that a certain percentage of Syros from every good sold would be collected by the retailer(seller) and sent to the government. The movable property tax or personal property tax stated that all items in a home not nailed to the floor was a moveable property and could be taxed. In the proposed model, regular citizens would pay taxes on carriages while businesses would pay taxes based on the amount of tangible and non-tangible objects used in the business building which could be moved around. Finally, the income tax would replace the annual tax. The income tax would take a percentage of every citizen and company's profits every month and give it to the government.

With all these steady sources of income, there was little to no chance of the Crown going broke as long as businesses were flourishing and citizens were buying stuff. Needless to say, the influence of the rich on the Crown would also be greatly diminished as the Crown would have all the money it needs to both uphold the needs of its people and also allow the King to 'live the life.'

Of course, there was nothing anyone could do if a greedy King who wanted all the money in the world was to rise up. They could only pray the greed demon, Ema Ages would claim such a King as soon as possible.

The Hopeful Maggots already led the charge in the realm of taxation. Not only had they made sure to include the Crown as a beneficiary of every business venture, Miote ensured they kept track of every product sold. 13% of all revenue was sent to the government. Rosendun's ministers had seen the benefit of this for themselves and were more than eager to have this passed.

The only issue arose when debating the prices for the respective taxes. After hours of debate, the ministers finally settled on 14% for the sales tax and 40% for the citizen income tax. The income tax for business was set at a fixed rate of 20%. This was to encourage business owners as they would have more funds to play around with. After tussling back and forth, they finally decided to have regional lords determine the property tax for each of their principalities.

The income tax was seemingly exorbitant at first, but its purpose was to facilitate the twelve departments. These departments were the Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Defense (Military Department), Department of Education, Department of Research, Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Department of Justice, Department of Labor, Department of Treasury, Department of Construction, and Department of Internal Affairs.

The Department of Agriculture ensured the country's livestock, wildlife and plants were always at an optimal level. They would oversee the cultivation or breeding of plants and wildlife respectively. They would also facilitate and monitor trade of agricultural products.

The Department of Commerce oversaw all trades in the country. They would ensure that patents, copyrights etc, were filed and followed properly. As such this Department would closely work with the newly established Merchant Alliance to monitor trades between merchants and citizens.

The Department of Defense were all branches of military. They were tasked with defending the nation or attacking enemies in times of war.

The Department of Education was one Leila was personally proud of. After a heavy push, she had managed to ensure free education up to sixteen years of age for all citizens regardless of income bracket. The soon-to-be established Academy would be the first of many to be set up around the allied nations. Furthermore, she had made it her mission to supervise the formation of the Academy to ensure the children were not forced to study for the sake of studying. This was a world with magic, dragons, music, songs, ale, and brave heroes. What a waste it would be if children's imaginations were killed in the Academy.

The Department of Research oversaw the technological advancements of the country. They would do their best to encourage research into new, untested ideas. Leila envisioned multiple grants handed out by this department to promote researchers with revolutionary ideas.

Getting free healthcare was another one of Leila's priority. The proposed Department of Health would work closely with the mages guild and apothecaries to hire people from both sides. Apothecaries were usually better at curing diseases and removing toxins whereas mages were better as healing injuries and removing magic-related ailments. With these two, they should be able to cover almost all types of ailments. Mages and Apothecaries working in the hospitals and clinics opened by the Department of Health would be paid directly by the government. This, and the Education Department were the major reasons for the large income tax.

The Department of Transportation oversaw the methods of transportation within and out of countries. They would ensure methods of transportation were safe for the people and ensure the right infrastructure was always in place to ensure the free-flow of citizens and goods. Naturally, this Department would work closely with the Department of Construction.

The Department of Justice was in charge of carrying out specialized investigations into potential criminal activities and unearthing hidden threats within the countries. They would also supervise the important duty of housing indicted criminals in dungeons and prisons.

The Department of Labor ensured the working class citizens were sufficiently remunerated for their efforts. They would also monitor the employment and unemployment rate in the country and report it. This job was especially important because unemployment was usually directly correlated to the amount of crime in a nation. In this world, most unemployed youths turned to banditry to feed.

The Department of Treasury looked after the Nation's treasury. It handled loans given out by the crown and ensured they were paid back on time. An unofficial form of this department was already well acquainted with the Hopeful Maggots and considered them the best of partners.

The Department of Construction supervised the construction of all infrastructure in the countries, from roads to houses, to city planning. This department would certainly become one of the busiest in the coming months as Rosendun sought to consolidate its power and develop its cities.

The Department of Internal Affairs investigated all the other departments (and themselves) for cases of corruption and wrongful doings. It could be seen that workers in this environment would not be very welcome by the other departments. Still, they were necessary, hence their existence.

There was one more Department, but no one spoke about it openly. This was the Intelligence Department. This department would hide in the night, compiling information on friends and foes alike. Dirty jobs like assassination and sabotage would most likely be also be handled by this secret department.

Leila had no idea how much time had passed while she explained all these to the ministers over and over while expounding on certain details here and there. All she knew was that by the time King Parissius finally ordered for the session to come to a close, the sun had already left the sky.

The ministers, each with their own thoughts, headed back to their homes to ponder on what they had just seen.

Leila did not have this luxury. Soon after reaching the villa bestowed on her by the King, upon her conferment as a minister, she changed into her hunting armor and set off with Hogosha. Before she was a vice-Guildmaster, minister or schemer, she was still a gamer.

In this world, strength mattered most. Leila would never forget that. Under the cover of night, she quickly mounted her horse and sped off towards the north in search of a good leveling spot...

***

Elsewhere, an excited daeben examined a dead tree with excitement in his eyes. "Jackpot!"

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A/N: Shorter Chapters My ASS!

Christ, this one took forever too complete. Unlike other chapters, there just wasn't any good breaking point, and I didn't want to post two politics chapters back to back, so... 

Anyway, no action here, but hope you guys still enjoyed the chapter. A trip back to Social Studies and the Branches of Government... Somewhere in the middle of this chapter, I felt I went on a little rant lol... Don't blame me, please. A bit of an author tends to blend into every work of his.

Anyway, this has been a touchy subject for me ever since I started following politics. The Democracy v Autocracy thing. Note (I don't mean military coup d'etat when I mention autocracies so let's forget about those.)

What do you guys think? Which is better? Democracy (In its current form) or Autocracy?

I personally still believe democracy is better, but I wish we could get rid of the party system. It is literally designed to set one end of the nation against the other. Also makes it difficult for neutrals to rise to power. It's always one end or another, and I friggin hate that..

Anyway, this chapter took me to some dark places... let's clean those up with the picture of the day yeah?

Picture of the Day...

The Centaur Deity... Ain't named him yet, but his design is just beautiful. I envy all these artists. Need to find one of my own, cuz I ain't ever getting that good with the limited amount of free time I have.