Chapter 1089
Reactions from Various Nations
May 22nd—
The history books of future generations will undoubtedly record this day.
The first Eternal Pope of Humanity, Eivass, marries Queen Isabel I of Avalon in the Church. Humans visit the Sanctuary for the first time. Queen Isabel is coronated in the presence of the current Eternal Pope. The New Hrasal Empire is established, and Empress Yulia ascends the throne, issuing the “New Hrasal Declaration.”
—The next day, newspapers around the world went wild.
Anyone who could read knew the magnitude of these events. For the vast majority, this was an even bigger deal than the Fallen Heavenly Envoy Descends—the descent of the Fallen Heavenly Envoy was only truly felt by the Star Antimony people, while this event spread throughout the Hrasal nations in a single day.
Avalon, Star Antimony, Iris Flower… even the Elves of the Church and the Trolls and Goblins of the Southern Continent were discussing it. The Ancient Kingdom of Anxi was alarmed, and immediately several Lords sent special envoys to Avalon. Even the distant Taichu Empire sent a lengthy congratulatory letter through a ritual.
For a time, perhaps the only ones in the world unaware of this were the Dwarves living in seclusion in the Northern Mountain Range.
For the people of Avalon, this was undoubtedly a good thing—
While Avalon was merging into the New Hrasal Empire, it did not mean that Avalon would lose its Queen.
According to the rules of New Hrasal, the newly formed Hrasal Empire would no longer have nobles. Isabel had already abdicated her royal power, but the core governance of the Avalon region remained with the Round Table Hall. However, while previously only Knights could enter the Round Table Hall, now a round of popular elections was required, allowing undesirable Knights to step down and some commoners to enter.
Naturally, as the Queen beloved by the people and the granddaughter of the even more beloved Queen Sophia, Isabel was bound to be selected for the new cabinet. Her every word and action would still carry immense influence… though she would no longer be the core of the nation.
As for the diamond crown bestowed upon Isabel by the Crown Lord during her coronation, it was now placed in the Round Table Hall—on the seat originally occupied by the Queen.
It served as a symbol of authority, an avatar of the Silver Crown Dragon, to oversee the meetings of the Round Table Hall.
Therefore, at least for the people of Avalon, there was little about the reforms of the new era that was unacceptable. Furthermore, the three types of paper currency issued by Avalon—White Coin, Red Coin, and Copper Coin—symbolized the Silver Crown Dragon, the Candlemaster, and the Hourglass, respectively. The faith of New Hrasal was also the same…
The only difference was that the order had changed.
The currencies of New Hrasal, in order of reverence, would become Gold Coins represented by the Hourglass, Silver Coins represented by the Silver Crown Dragon, and Copper Coins represented by the Candlemaster. The Mint had already printed new banknotes and coins according to the new denominations personally designed by Isabel. The first batch of new coins was expected to be produced within a week. Afterward, currency exchange services would be opened throughout New Hrasal, with old currencies being exchanged for new ones at a certain preferential rate, accelerating the replacement of old currencies through this monetary inflation.
As for the laws, they were also largely adjusted based on the laws of Avalon—the new regulations would center around the laws of Avalon and Star Antimony, with large amounts of unnecessary laws being removed. The same applied to taxes, which were significantly reduced.
In Avalon, the only ones who found it difficult to adapt to these reforms were the Arbitrators of the Arbitration Hall. According to the rules of the Arbitration Hall, they were required to minimize diplomatic engagement and keep their distance from others to ensure their arbitrations were not swayed by personal feelings, thus offering no forgiveness. Now, they also had to show themselves publicly to maintain their positions in the Round Table Hall… nonetheless, a group of Arbitrators was destined to leave the Round Table Hall.
Therefore, to most of the people of Avalon, they believed that the New Hrasal Empire was rebuilt with Avalon as its core—Yulia herself grew up in Avalon, as did her brother Eivass; and her sister-in-law was Isabel, the last Queen of the Avalon Kingdom.
From any perspective, these were their own people!
In Star Antimony, the resistance to reform was unexpectedly low—this was largely due to the first Red Phase and the Fallen Heavenly Envoy.
Those two had essentially wiped out most of Star Antimony’s nobility. Currently, Star Antimony’s political situation was in chaos, with unemployment conservatively estimated at sixty percent, and over eighty percent of Star Antimony’s territory completely paralyzed.
Public order, taxation, state affairs, and various public health services had completely ground to a halt—most people had stopped working. Consequently, when sick or injured, there were no doctors or priests to be found; street-front shops were either looted or smashed, and apart from those run by Extraordinary individuals, most others had closed for safety; fires caused by battles or malicious arson went unextinguished, and one could only wait for natural rainfall.
Money was almost impossible to withdraw from banks—many banks had been robbed, and now one had to make an appointment many days in advance to withdraw money, and only after undergoing extremely rough searches and suppression in a sealed environment. Moreover, there was a high probability of encountering waiting desperate individuals just outside.
Counterfeit currency began to circulate widely in the market. Most of them were crudely made, easily recognizable as fake at a glance; however, many genuine counterfeit bills were mixed in—they all came from Count Leipzig’s private mint. This was the real reason Count Leipzig was always able to generously offer everyone handsome treatment: he paid with his own skillfully forged counterfeit gold coins that were indistinguishable from the real thing.
Count Leipzig was, however, quite cautious when minting counterfeit coins—he would use a channel to launder them before using them, and he dared not mint too many at once, for fear of disrupting the market. But now, Count Leipzig was dead, yet his private mint was still in operation… Star Antimony had descended into such chaos; who cared about the future?
Who knew if there would even be a future!
Therefore, the uncontrolled issuance of currency continued to collapse Star Antimony’s market. For the past month, prices in the open market had generally risen by thirty percent… but most goods were unobtainable. Not because they couldn’t afford them, but because no one was selling them. In the black market, these prices had already exceeded threefold.
For the remaining Star Antimony people, they could no longer trust their king—regardless, Valentine VII, who had become an Undead, Valentine VIII, who had become a Child of the Moon… and Louise, the mother of the eighteth Valentine, whose son had been taken by the Fallen Heavenly Envoy and turned into a Succubus, had completely ruined any good impression of the Valentine family; it was utterly disgraceful.
To this extent, Star Antimony’s currency and economy were beyond saving and had to be completely overhauled with a new currency issuance. In this situation, being able to merge into New Hrasal could be considered fortunate—perhaps only then could they survive.
Eivass believed that Crown Princess Noel was one of the rare members of the old royal family who genuinely wanted to see Star Antimony improve. Her most loyal minister, the Clown Laro, was indeed a prime minister with formidable political skills.
But the problem now was that the train was plunging into the abyss. No matter how capable one was, they could no longer pull the brakes.
She herself spent more than half a month trying, only to despair of her inability to do anything—or rather, she originally had a way to barely attempt a rescue, but very few people were willing to listen to her anymore.
Her unconditional joining of New Hrasal essentially meant the demise of the Star Antimony Kingdom. But at least it wasn’t destroyed by the Iris people, which could be considered some solace.
Therefore, some of the Star Antimony people believed that the fall of the Valentine family was only natural; although a few also considered it an act of treason… however, how could returning to the Hrasal Empire be considered treason?
The people of Avalon did not have such a strong sense of belonging to the Hrasal Empire. After all, the founders, the members of the Round Table Knights, were pioneers who carved out their territory by fighting giants because they disliked the atmosphere of Hrasal.
But Star Antimony was different…
According to Star Antimony’s cultural education, they had always regarded themselves as the legitimate successor of the Hrasal Empire—the attire of Star Antimony nobles was almost identical to that of the late Hrasal Empire. Whether it was music, paintings, clothing, or jewelry… it was all in the late Hrasal Empire style, unchanged and uncorrected for centuries.
This was also the fundamental reason for the lack of development in Star Antimony’s aesthetics and art: with what status did you presume to innovate art? Could you be more brilliant than your ancestors? Could your individual power overcome the thousand-year tradition of the Hrasal Empire?
—Innovation that no one recognized was naturally considered a “mistake.”
The influence of this faction of traditionalists was immense in Star Antimony. They were the ones who had instigated the reintegration with the Hrasal Empire… and now that the opportunity had arisen, they naturally continued to suppress other factions. Their enemies had originally been the royal family, and now even the royal family stood with them.
As for the opening of Paths, Star Antimony was already the country with the most open Paths. The only thing they found difficult to accept was the “Extraordinary Registration System.”
No mistakes, no omissions, no one, no inside information, no content, no one looking!
Due to their distrust of the original Star Antimony royal family, nobility, and Children of the Moon, they were very concerned about the leakage of their information.
In any combat within the Extraordinary domain, without an overwhelming advantage, it was essentially an information war. At the very least, it would take three opponents of the same level, two opponents of a higher level, or two levels higher than the opponent to achieve an absolute crush. And if one could hide their Path, profession, and Energy Level, it was highly possible to defeat a stronger opponent.
In other words, if their registered Energy Level and profession were leaked, and the opponent laid out an ambush using their weaknesses, they would have almost no ability to resist; the counter-relationships in this world were too obvious.
Currently, Star Antimony’s greatest resistance to the New Hrasal Empire lay here—and in fact, their concerns were valid. Because Eivass had instructed Yulia to collect everyone’s information, it was to create targeted strategies for suppressing and apprehending every Extraordinary individual.
However, people would soon realize that the enforcement of this law was actually quite lax.
It was not like in Avalon, where any illegal Extraordinary could be arrested or even killed, but rather a different model—for example, if you were only registered as a Third Tier Mage, then you could not use Fourth Tier spells or Extraordinary abilities of other Paths in public. Otherwise, you would violate the safety law and be punished with a fine, imprisonment, or “obligatory labor” depending on the impact.
The so-called obligatory labor was essentially recruitment into the system.
After all, one couldn’t possibly make High-Tier Extraordinary individuals above Fourth Tier sweep the streets.
In other words, this law was not that harsh—even if one used a disallowed ability without registration, the punishment would not be fatal at the very least. Through this method, it was also a way to indirectly suppress the possibility of abusing Extraordinary abilities…
It was roughly equivalent to the penalty for drunk driving; as long as no serious consequences were caused, the punishment would not be too severe; if consequences were indeed caused, the punishment would be intensified; and with this decree as an excuse and deterrent, there would be grounds to not drink, or to prevent others from drinking excessively, thus optimizing the overall social climate.
There was no reaction from the Black Hawk Territory—they had been a vassal state for over a hundred years, and it was merely a matter of whose son they were. At least the new father appeared wealthy and powerful, not only reasoned and cultured but also gentle towards them. That was enough.
The Daffodil Territory, however, had a slight snag.
Because the one truly qualified to join the New Hrasal Empire was the descendant of the Daffodil Duke—that pure-blooded Child of the Moon little princess. She was originally supposed to be in Star Antimony, but she could no longer be found after Star Antimony fell into chaos. The Mages wanted to enter, but they couldn’t, and they were almost frantic.
The only ones with strong resistance and aversion to the New Hrasal Empire were the Iris people.
Or, more precisely—the Children of the Moon of Iris Flower.
—June 1st.
Detected a new Ouroboros Ring ritual landing.
(End of this chapter)
