Capítulo 4: What They Have Left
'This is...nerve-racking' King Adrian thought to himself. He was currently inside a meeting room and was sitting on one end of an elongated table that stretched the entire large room. In front of him and sitting on the sides of the table were the highest-ranking military and government officials who have survived. The heads of the government branches were mostly intact as they did not join the battle, but the military was almost extinct as the best generals and elites were deployed to the front lines and did not survive.
"Your Majesty, this is the current population situation after an emergency census that we just conducted." Braum handed him a piece of document. Usually, government documents would have all sorts of stamps and royal decorations but with the urgency of the current situation, it was just a simple piece of paper with the most necessary information.
'Population Census-Kingdom of Vathria
10.540 Civilians
3.005 Military Personnel
510 Government officials
Total: 14055'
It was truly a grim number. Especially considering the fact that the capital of Dathria alone housed over 750.000 citizens. The entire kingdom had around 5 million individuals spread over various regions. The current numbers truly showed how the evil forces managed to drive humanity close to extinction in the previous world.
The census did not stop there.
'Profession Data
Citizens:
Normal Citizens (Children, Elderly, Workers): 4.520
Craftsmen: 602
Traders: 500
Farmers/Fishermen: 2.012
Students of various schools (School of the Knights, School of the Mages, School of the Tradesmen, School of the Craft, Etcetera): 2.400
Educators, Researchers, and Teachers: 506
Military Personnel:
Royal Knights: 2.005
Mages: 300
Archers: 200
Intelligent Officers: 100
Magic Knights: 200
Assassins: 200
Government Officers:
Agriculture Department: 50
Judicial Department: 50
Manufacturing Department: 50
Infrastructure Department: 150
Foreign Affairs Department: 50
Royal Servants: 100
Trade Department: 50'
"I see..." King Adrian thought the number was extremely low. This population size was truly not enough to create an empire worthy of admiration.
'I'll need to either gain allies, lure people of this world to become citizens, or invade territories and absorb their population....or all of the above.' King Adrian thought.
After thinking for a while, King Adrian thought of a plan. 'This is going to be the first step according to the guidebook I wrote 10 years ago' He imagined the plan inside his head.
"I apologize to everyone, but for now, I will only speak to the names of the people I am going to mention. The rest of you please leave the room and sort out your own departments first. I will come to you at a later time.
Head of Intelligence: Grant Horne." King Adrian called out the first name. A blonde man with sharp features nodded.
"Head of Infrastructure & City Planning: Moka Rose"
A woman with red hair tied in a ponytail looked up to see the king and nodded.
"General of the Royal Army: Tobias Williams"
This time, a muscular large bald man did a salute to show his understanding.
"And finally, Head of the Mages, Vaye Braithwaith"
The final name was an attractive woman with long violet hair wearing a magician robe and top hat.
"The rest of you, please sort out each of your departments while I discuss the most urgent issues with the people here." King Adrian said to everyone and they got up to leave reluctantly. They started murmuring among themselves in dissatisfaction and worry as they were leaving the meeting room. They were still not sure whether this fresh new king was able to lead them in this time of crisis.
"My King! What are your orders!" The General, Tobias Williams, did a salute again. His voice was strong and loud as one would expect from a fearsome general. But in comparison to the Generals deployed to the front lines, King Adrian thought this person was a bit lacking.
"Alright. I will be brief about this since I want it done right away. I will give you further details later in documents that I will send to each of you...Grant Horne." King Adrian called the Head of Intelligence.
"Yes, Your Highness?" Grant answered.
"I know that your scouts have been dispatched. Please look for signs of civilizations and for any dangerous beasts that may come to our way. If there are settlements nearby, find out more about them before reporting back here again to me. Understand? You are dismissed." King Adrian ordered.
"As you wish, Your Majesty" Grant stood up and did a salute before suddenly disappearing in a flash of light right in front of them.
"What.." King Adrian was quite surprised as he had never seen that before. The intelligence department of Vathria was known worldwide for being one of the most fearsome and secretive. Adrian now understood part of the reason why.
"I don't like that fellow. Always so mysterious. What's your order for me, Your Majesty?" General Tobias inquired again.
'I was not going to call you after this....' King Adrian thought secretly. "*cough* Alright. General Tobias, I want you to use the military to temporarily be a hunting party for the entire population. This is a crucial task as we first need to secure a stable food supply for a few weeks. Please gather as much food as you can for us and exterminate any nearby dangerous beasts. You are dismissed." King Adrian said.
"As you wish!" General Tobias got up and ran outside of the room. His heavy steps were still heard as he ran through the hallways.
"Uh...." King Adrian was speechless. This eccentric bunch was the last hope of Vathria. Not that he could say much in the defense of himself either.
"And for me, Your Majesty?" The Head of the Mages, Vaye Braithwaith, said with a voice that one might deduct to be seductive, but yet still professional. King Adrian was quite taken aback but snapped out of it after he realized that he must not be distracted due to worldly pleasures for the time being.
"Vaye Braithwaith. What do you think about the magical signature of this world?" King Adrian inquired. He wanted to know if they are still capable of using the same kinds of magic as the previous world.
"Your Majesty....the magical force in this world is simply satisfactory! It is stronger in concentration than our previous world. My department will definitely be able to invent wonderful magical devices and recreate the things we had before...but only if we have our mage towers..." Vaye was quite excited at first before realizing that they did not have the facilities they had before as it was outside the castle and were not transported with them.
"Rest assured, I believe once we sort everything out, we'll start building a new city around this area, and that would include mage towers as well. What I want you to do currently is this..." King Adrian gave Vaye a piece of paper that has some sort of design on it. Vaye received it and had a look of surprise as she was studying it.
"Your Majesty...this is..." Vaye's voice was stuttering as she was amazed.
"It is exactly as it looks like. Now, I know the resources we have currently is not enough and you'll need a mage tower to invent it correctly, but please begin studying on how to create one. This is not as urgent as the other issues but I believe we must start now in order to defeat future threats" King Adrian replied.
"The Mage Department expresses our biggest gratitude for King Adrian for this! We shall be working on it right away!" Vaye's face was full of smiles.
"Alright, you are dismissed." King Adrian said and Vaye left the room.
"Moka Rose, Head of Infrastructure & City Planning" King Adrian called the last person.
"Yes, Your Majesty." Moka replied seriously. Coupled with her red hair, her sharp eyes would make one imagine that she was an extremely intimidating woman.
"I want your department to create temporary settlements for our citizens. Currently, I want you to create separate settlements for citizens who are dependent; children, elderly, and the injured. And then another settlement for people who are able to work. This is not the time to separate people based on their status so I want you to not think about that when you are planning the layout. Also, I also want temporary buildings for all the departments, this is the last priority after all the settlements are finished. Understand?" King Adrian was equally as serious as she was, which made Moka quite surprised.
Moka was still uncertain about something, though. "But Your Majesty...about the workforce and the surrounding area..."
"I know what you're thinking about. Our location is quite fortunate as we landed in the middle of a large clearing with a forest nearby. As for the workforce, I want you to recruit normal citizens who are able to work. Give them an incentive...say an extra share of meat if they are willing to work building the settlement. For the materials, We can't really build anything intricate yet so you'll have to cut down trees from the forest to build. I believe you can take it from here, yes? I'll send you a plan for something else I need later." King Adrian asked.
"I understand, Your Majesty. Everything you asked shall be done. I am extremely honored to be the first architect in creating the first city of our kingdom in this new world." Moka was smiling after she heard the king. She was skeptical like everyone else about the capability of this King but as it turns out, in terms of wisdom, this King is highly dependable.
"That you will be. I'll make sure you'll be recorded down in history. You may leave now." King Adrian returned the smile.
After everyone left, King Adrian slouched down his chair. He looked like he was about to fall to the floor.
"My liege, are you okay?" Braum asked in worry.
"...It's fine. I'm not used to handling important people. I didn't go to any of the Balls or events that the former King arranged you know...now I am leading these people. Oh, Father, you chose the wrong person for this." King Adrian flashed a nervous smile. He was not a sociable person in reality.
"You looked extremely professional and dependable before, though, my liege." Braum was surprised about the contrast of the demeanor of the king before and after the officials were here.
"That's because I'm a good actor." King Adrian started grinning while showing his teeth.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
KingSquidward
KingSquidward What makes this novel different than other kingdom-building novels (as much as I love them), is that the King is going to be a good leader and 'manager' but he won't invent EVERYTHING by himself. Instead, he might have some rough ideas about something but he'll still employ real experts to solve the problems on how to invent it.
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