Chapter 967: Devan In Court Part 1
"Okay, Okay, Then younger brother it is," Kana replied with a nod. Angelica and the girls smiled as they began introducing themselves.
"I am your big sister Angelica."
"I am Rain."
"Bi Ling!" "Mei Ling!"
"I am Yana."
The only one who did not introduce themselves was Ako as she stood there petrified by the small child, unsure of what to do. She seemed to be afraid if she moved the wrong way, she might hurt the child. Scenes kept running through her mind of her accidentally tripping and crus.h.i.+ng the child or moving the wrong way and b.u.mping into him, making him fall.
Each scenario was getting worse and worse, causing her to freeze up. "Auntie Ako?" Bi Ling pinched Ako in the side, causing her to jump and yell out. "Ahh! Bi Ling!"
"Hehe!" Bi Ling giggled, causing everyone else to laugh.
Kana waved at Ako to come over. "Ako, come. Meet your nephew. Devan, this is your Auntie Ako."
Devan already knew everyone since he had been watching this entire time when he was not asleep, gaining strength. He looked at Ako with his big black eyes and smiled at her as he played along. "Auntie Ako."
"Ah…. h.e.l.lo…." Ako answered awkwardly, causing everyone to laugh once more.
"Auntie Ako, you do not need to be so afraid. You will not harm him." Rain said as she walked over and grabbed Ako"s hand, and placed it on Devan"s head. "Children are not so weak. Just be gentle, is all."
Ako nervously stroked the top of Devan"s head before retracting her hand and looking at it. "Soft…."
"Hahaha!" Kana burst out laughing as she pushed her cheek against Devan"s cheek and nodded her head. "He is indeed soft."
With the introductions out of the way, Kana and the girls, along with Devan, all walked around the palace as Kana told Devan what each room was used for. When it was time for court, Kana brought Devan with her and walked right to her throne, and sat down with Devan sitting on her lap. The whole thing made all the officials stare at the little guy in confusion. Only one brave official stepped forward and asked: "Your Highness, this is?"
"This is my newborn son Devan! Isn"t he cute? He"s cute, right? He will be just as handsome as his handsome Papa." Kana proudly said as she hugged Devan.
This news shocked everyone in the room. They did notice the egg the empress was carrying was getting bigger by the day, but they never thought it would be like this! Now they understood that Kana"s race was much different than humans! This was quite a surprise!
"He already looks like a little genius! Long live, Prince Devan! Bless him with eternal life!"
"Long live Prince Devan! Bless him with eternal life!"
The whole hall of officials all knelt down and bowed their heads to Kana and Devan. Devan just sat there, not really caring what the old guys were doing, while Kana held her nose high with pride that everyone was being so nice to her son.
After a while, when everyone calmed down, the court finally regained its focus and went over the current issues. "The border in the north still has a ma.s.s of troops stationed there, but no one has dared cross the border. Are we still waiting for the north to make a move first, Your Highness?"
"Yes. Until we are attacked, we will not make any moves. And I have already talked with the enemy general who said he would put on a fake show while I take care of the rest. Our general already knows of this plan, so we will not see any bloodshed on either side." Kana replied. "This goes for all the borders at this time. We do not want to fight if we do not have to. We are not warmongers. I will only move to take over another kingdom if they attack us first."
"Understood. Because of this, we can actually allocate some of the military budget to…." Another official went to speak but was promptly cut off.
"You want to cut the military budget!? I do not think so!" It was the official in charge of the military who stood up and yelled out. "What happens if we do end up needing it? I think it is better to always keep a fresh supply of resources going into a military and our new police force!"
"Let me finish before you yell out. I was saying to move half the budget to the police force so that our police members could have a bigger budget. In times of war, we can always move the weapons and armor we purchase for the police force to the military!" The first official, who was the minister of finance, yelled back.
"Stop yelling! What if you scare my Devan!" Kana cut in, causing both officials to go quiet. "Anyway, we will keep things as is. There is no need to change anything. Neither the police force of the military is underfunded, so there is no need to reallocate anything. What we need to pay more attention to are the development funds. How is the current progress of relocation into the new modular buildings?"
"Relocation has been going smoothly. No one has complained about needing to move. Those who had a request to have their homes moved to the mystic realms also got their wishes. Soon the entire capital will be living in the first two blocks of buildings. But the stores are a different matter. What should we do with them? Stores need to be set up in a way that everyone can see them…."
Kana fell into thought for a moment before saying. "Have them stay put for now and have the craftsmen working on the modular sections make a few storefronts with doors in the back that can be turned into mystic realms, so owners do not need to live in different places. This way, the first floor can be used as a shopping center as normal on the streets below. This will keep foot traffic going in the streets. Which means nothing will change besides the towering buildings."