It was the morning of the King's address to the citizens. It was the first of such events for 3 months since Vathria was transported to this world. Unlike the first address which only had a makeshift stage and a magical voice amplifier in the castle courtyard, this address was much grander as it was held in the new city square outside the castle. Vathrian knights were all over the place tightening the security more than usual.
All 10.504 civilians of Vathria was there (with the exception of the military and some government officials, which would add another 3.000). Additionally, the elves were also invited so around 100 hundred of their highest officials, including Chief Kylantha, attended the event. This was truly a grand event.
Before King Adrian's arrival, a variety of performances were held in the grand stage. From traditional dances to musical performances, the overall atmosphere was very flowery. After an hour of opening performances, King Adrian arrived...in an unconventional way.
"Look! It's King Adrian!" A citizen shouted while pointing at the sky.
"He's riding Starlight!!!! So beautiful!!" One woman shouted the name of the King's white pegasus. It seemed even the pegasus had gotten famous for being owned by the King himself.
"Who's that on his lap?" A citizen also said.
As Starlight lowered himself to the grand stage, the citizens could see that King Adrian was carrying a young elven girl on his lap.
"It's an elf! How cute!" A woman shouted.
"But who is that elf? Why is she on the King's lap?" A man asked.
The King disembarked the pegasus with Renna the elf. After patting the pegasus, Starlight took off to the sky again, leaving the stage.
On the side of the stage, Chief Kylantha was sitting with two of her highest elders: Elder Galather and Elder Edea, these two were always by the Chief's side in official events. Elder Galather, was, of course, the elf who always disagreed with their relationship with the humans and also...
"Grant, that's him." Braum, who was also on the stage, spoke to no one in particular. It seemed like he was just muttering for himself.
But there was a reply coming from the ears of Braum. "Elder Galather, is it? The one who reacted to the name 'Slaven' being mentioned? I see. I'll keep my agents on him from now on." Grant replied while staying invisible.
King Adrian walked to the side of the stage and shooked Chief Kylantha's hand, who replied the gesture with an extraordinarily beautiful smile.
"Chief Kylantha...you look especially dashing today." King Adrian took her hand and kissed it.
Chief Kylantha smiled. "Ho ho...you have such ways with words, Your Majesty."
"Please, have a seat again. I shall address the citizens first before getting back to you again." King Adrian winked.
Chief Kylantha just smiled again in response and took her seat on the stage.
King Adrian felt a tug underneath his suit pants. "Hey...do you like Chief Kylantha?" Renna asked.
"Perhaps." King Adrian replied honestly.
"Then that's good! Humans and elves can be friends!" Renna replied cheerfully.
"That's right." King Adrian patted her head.
King Adrian was wearing his new suit tailored by Morgan Randolph. It was a grey suit with a white shirt and black tie. The fitting looked perfect on him and although King Adrian was not a tall man, he cut of the trouser made his overall figure taller. He looked very king-like. The audience was amazed by his appearance and murmured among themselves. They were talking about the clothing he was wearing in particular as they had never seen anything like that.
One of the officials came to the center of the stage and handed King Adrian cone-shaped device known as the magic microphone.
"My Citizens." King Adrian spoke directly.
The murmurs all died down in an instant. It was true that it was because they did not want to disrespect the King, but it was also for the great respect they have for Adrian as a person.
"First, I bet you are all wondering about this clothes I'm wearing." King Adrian continued.
The audience started to laugh together, forgetting that they stayed quiet to not bother the King. The King's first sentence just threw them off as they initially thought he was going to say something serious.
"Haha. This piece of clothing is called a 'suit'. It was made by Morgan Randolph from the known family of designers, the Randolphs. This is clothing for males but at the same time, I don't see why it would be wrong for females to wear it as well." King Adrian explained.
"This clothing seems so foreign at the moment, but it will be common soon. YOU are going to wear something like this as well." King Adrian said.
The audience gasped. They were surprised. For one, royal clothing was something that normal citizens couldn't wear (and in the past, it was also not allowed. They also saw how intricate and classy the suit was and thought it was something out of their reach. But hearing that they were able to wear it, some of them got excited.
"That's right. This will be publically available. Every professional in the city will be able to wear this. I did say before that Morgan Randolph created this suit, and he will also build a boutique in this city...why do I mention this? Because I am personally funding his startup business...and I will fund YOUR businesses as well." King Adrian said again.
The audience gasped yet again.
"This is, of course, such an odd time for us as we don't have a formal economy yet. But I think we all know that we will need to get the economy running again to not only grow as a kingdom but compete with the outside kingdoms. This is a special time for us. YOU are all progenitors, the founders of this kingdom. So for a special period, the castle will provide the fundings required to start your business. And afterward, there will also be a 10-year period of tax cuts for the business we funded." King Adrian announced.
The citizens murmured among themselves, many in an excited manner.
"But Your Majesty! You talked about there not being any economy yet! How will you fund our business if there is no fund in the first place?" An audience shouted. In truth, King Adrian planted this audience member in order to have the flow of the announcement runs smoother.
"Good question! We will not use coins anymore!" King Adrian said to the microphone.
"What?"
"H-how?"
Many citizens were utterly confused on what the King meant. What other forms of money could there be?
King Adrian continued. "I think we all know that money is just numbers, right? Even when we have coins, it is only the perception of worth we attach to those objects that make it have any worth. They are only numerical values so that we can exchange it for the things we want. For example in our currency Vaths, 100 Vaths would be 10 gold coins. They are 10 gold coins, that's a fact, but what made them worth 100 Vaths? Our kingdom used these physical objects because there were no alternatives in the past....until now!" King Adrian pulled out a card.
"This is now our money!" King Adrian announced as he was holding up a card.
The audience had a mixed reaction. Many of them were even more confused now.
Yeah so I am EXTREMELY busy as I've said. I got at least 5 more essays and more tests for this final 2 weeks.
We'll have this announcement event for some chapters (maybe it'll just be until the next one, who knows).