章 20: The Gold Kingdom
The Gold Kingdom was the size of North America. It was vast and expansive and was ruled under military law, the kingdom is divided into sectors and each sector overseen by a captain is called a captains station. Next was the majors that oversaw up to 5 captain stations, then the lieutenant colonels ruling over 5 major stations ( 25 caption stations). Then was the Colonels that ruled over 5 Lieutenant stations (125 captain stations) and then the Brigadier General who oversaw all the military stations and each of the 4 Colonels. Above the Brigadier General who was in control of making sure all the stations were working properly and appropriately was the Major General, in other words the King of the Gold Kingdom. The Gold Kingdom was technically a stratocracy but the royalty and the other higher ups still held their own wealth and private armies, which where independent of the military stations but these private armies and wealth could be controlled by the Major General. As the son of the King and the royal prince with all the resources and personnel at his disposal, Prince Hugart was already Lieutenant Colonel at the young age of 18 and had control over one of the most lucrative regions in the Gold Kingdom. Although he had reached the spirit gathering stage at 16 he had only reached the peak of the stage as he reached his 18th birthday. The prince was the same as Rebecca to be frank. Spoiled, pampered and babied since birth. Everything he had ever asked for was handed to him on a silver platter and he learnt to use people to his advantage from a young age. He knew how to manipulate and scheme to get exactly what he wanted, whenever he wanted it. However, as there always is, there was an obstacle in the way of Prince Hugart getting everything he wanted by reaching the peak of the Kingdom. The Whites.
Jack White was a rare breed in the Golden Kingdom as he was a kind soul. He was considerate, caring and overall a great guy. As a result of his saintly behaviour his region of control was the best region in terms of the people's satisfaction and trust. Jacks region was where all the commoners and captains wanted to be at. This of course meant that Jack had more power than the other 3 colonels, holding an influence almost on par with the Brigadier General himself. When Prince Hugart broke through to the spirit realm, he had used his influence as the royal prince and his connections to put forth an application to the Brigadier General for him to become a Colonel, but this couldn't be solely decided by the Brigadier General. To become a Colonel, all the current colonels would have to unanimously agree to the position being assigned, and unfortunately for Hugart, Jack had denied the prince his place. Jack White was the type of man who was a great judge of character so he had rightly judged the prince as an asshole, he knew the prince was corrupt and cruel. He would make the lives of the people under him hell even more than they already were. Hugart ruled his region under strict rules with exorbitant tax policies and was cruel with punishments and unjust at trials. He favoured those that flattered him and promoted those that kissed his ass, he was an overpowered scumbag with too much power and no discipline. Jack saw this and consequently stopped the Prince's ascension but Hugart had already thought of a simple plan to take care of this. Rebecca.
He had decided to marry Rebecca as he knew she was as vain and arrogant as he was but she wasn't as scheming or cruel. He would be able to play her like a fool with a few sweet words and a couple of handsome smiles, as long as he promised her what she wanted, he was sure she would even betray her family. He didn't only have plans for her as an inside man but he had also come into the collection of a rare forbidden technique given to him by his uncle the Brigadier General, the yin devouring technique. His uncle and father had both used this technique when they were young to enhance their cultivation speed and foundations. They had literally built an empire on the corpses of innocent woman and children, because yes, the great Major General was a paedophile.
Anyways, Jack's region of the kingdom was the western quarter, closest to the Western Mountain Range as he was the strongest of the colonels and the mountain range was the most dangerous place close to the kingdom. However, it also meant that he was the last to reach the battlefront at the east against the Horde. This was orchestrated by the Brigadier General and the Prince to lower the credits and power Jack could amass. They had also made petty changes like limiting the number of people that could go into the western region and join Jacks army by giving the excuse that the western region was too dangerous for the weaker masses. These subtle political manoeuvres were always hidden by Jack so Rebecca would never notice them, and even if she did, there was a most probable chance that she would not care as she hated her parents for being 'controlling' and 'manipulative' .
When Lucius arrived at the Western Star, the capital of the western sectors and the Whites' place of Residence, he was met by a monumental wall. It was 100 metres tall and went off into the horizon, bordering off the entire forest. It was mostly white with an expansive formation carved into it with a blue lining. Jack described to Lucius in an extended monologue how it had taken 5 years to build such a large wall while inscribing it with protection and sturdiness formations all throughout and it had taken up half of the White family fortune but he had felt it was worth it after seeing the magnitude of the wall. It was his pride and joy, like how an old man might be in love with a boat he had nurtured and sailed for all those years, Jack was proud and boastful of his 100metre wall. Rebecca rolled her eyes at the exaggerated ego of Jack and thought he was overcompensating for other areas as she knew that the Royal Capital did not have a wall and thus decided that her father was probably too afraid while the Royals weren't. Johnny on the other hand was even more fascinated with the wall than he was with hunting and camping. Johnny had a general positivity and a liking to almost all the things he did or found but he had a special spot for advanced constructions like the 100 metre wall or the White palace. He had actually studied the schematics and engineering behind the building of the wall and other places of notice and was quite accomplished in the art of architecture.
When Lucius entered the city, effortlessly since he was with the mayor and commander of the city in one (Jack), he immediately noticed the hustle and bustle of people that were going back and forth. The city was laid out with efficiency and safety in mind, most of the buildings to the west were barracks, storerooms or adventurer lodgings. To the centre was the White mansion and other administrative buildings and to the east was the civilian residences as the east was the furthest from the Western Mountain Range and thus the safest part. As the Gold Kingdom was a stratocracy there weren't many merchants but a state controlled group of military barters. They would give out the food and commodities to the people while trading with the adventurers for their beast products in exchange for weapons and armour. Nearly all blacksmiths and alchemists belonged to the Military so the adventurers would have to go to the government stores to get the things they needed. Most youths would choose to pursue a military career anyway as it was the accepted norm for strong young ones to join the military to help the Gold Kingdom to expand. This was simply because of deep seated Nationalist ideals that had been present since the founding of the Gold Kingdom 600 years ago. The rebels and outliers among the otherwise indoctrinated usually just became adventurers or low level store owners, like tavern owners, tailors, stable owners and other bottom layer jobs. Alcohol was one of the things that was more lax among the Military as they didn't prioritise it before water or spirit water as being drunk while in a battle could be detrimental, if not life threatening. As a result, alcohol became a bootleg currency used in the black market and in taverns and such. People would rather brew their own beer from leftover barley than to work even harder for some meagre rations from the Army.
They all walked for a while before stopping before a grand mansion, the size of a small town. It was the White mansion that housed most of the government facilities as well personal training grounds and other things that took up a lot of space. However, because of Milly's touches, the Mansion had a style and elegance to it even though it was the Military central of the Western Sector. It was relaxing and eloquent and Lucius felt weird standing in it as it was so wide he felt it was unnecessary and slightly lonely. Lucius was used to living in the confined Garden which was a lot smaller but more cosy and homely to Lucius than a giant mansion with pretentious water fountains and leaf effigies that held no purpose or meaning. To Lucius it was mostly just a waste of space. He didn't really think of it as beautiful or pretty, he thought of it more as clean and proper but even that wasn't that impactful to Lucius' image of the place. He simply couldn't care for it.
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