The three forces acted quickly, uprooting all of their forces and choosing to leave as soon as possible. For them, this was a better option than being rooted out by Daneel one by one using the military. They had only thrived in the Kingdom so far due to the previous King"s inaction and undue focus on sending the army to fight for resources to grow his own power.
The possessions were taken by Daneel personally, while the watching eyes of the trio hounded him until he went out of sight. Even the priest had an expression of slight frustration when Daneel took away the belt with the one-use trinket.
As for the oath, the logic was quite simple: forces like these could only move when an opportunity came like the one where the frustrations of the citizens reached a breaking point. People who reached the Warrior Level regardless of whether they were mages or fighters enjoyed a tripling of longevity, which allowed them to think quite less of a mere 10 years.
In that 10 years, if Daneel also turned out to be incompetent, it would not be too late to begin operations again.
In fact, the main value of the subordinates was their talent. Only top talents who had potential to grow would typically be sent on missions like these to gather experience and hone themselves. Thus, when looking at the situation with the viewpoint that a force might lose a candidate who might eventually aim for the Champion Level, then it was a pretty obvious decision regarding whether to take Daneel"s conditions or not. Champion Level powerhouses were, after all, the backbone of most sects and secret societies.
The spell for the magical oath was quite simple; even those who weren"t Amateur Human Mages could learn and cast it, granted that the oath was not forced in any way. That was the prerequisite for any magical oaths: oaths could not be made when the oath-taking party was forced into the decision using intimidation or blackmail.
With a thought, the oathstone he had absorbed appeared in his hand while the three members each spoke the oath on behalf of their organizations to not enter Lanthanor in the next 10 years. In Daneel"s mind, this caused three new connections to appear which would let him communicate with these three regardless of where they were.
After the forces completely left, the people finally started dispersing. Many were chattering about the crowning ceremony that would soon be held, looking forward to the festivity that would accompany it.
With the commanders here, there was no problem whatsoever for Daneel in taking full control of the palace. He sent out a flurry of orders, from having the members of the n.o.bility locked up in chambers to making sure that his parents were teleported over ASAP, he made sure to handle everything.
Kellor, Ca.s.sandra and Aran were instrumental in every task. They would advise him on everything related to the palace, telling him about how the government worked.
Broadly, the government was divided into 4 parts: the judiciary, the police, the military and the n.o.bility.
The judiciary was comprised of a set of judges whose task was to pa.s.s judgments according to the laws of Lanthanor. Daneel had already looked over the laws before; mostly, they reminded him of the ones back on Earth. The procedure was for citizens to go to the Judiciary Office and file a complaint. The police would then gather all the facts and present them in front of the Judge, who would decide the punishment if needed.
In other words, it was a simplified version of the Law and Order system back on Earth. Instead of lawyers and prosecutors, citizens fought their cases themselves while there was no jury to make decisions based on voting. Judges swore oaths to be impartial in their judgement, ensuring a modic.u.m of fairness in the justice meted out.
Daneel summoned the police commander through the oathstone as soon as everything else was done. He planned to have a meeting with all of the key personnel soon so that they would be clear regarding his wishes and aspirations for the Kingdom.
The Grand Court Mage was ordered to accompany him through the palace, although he did not dare to raise his head and talk unless Daneel asked him something.
The room that the dragon heart was located in was actually the King"s Chambers, where the King would relax and sleep when he wanted to. This was a rule pa.s.sed down from the first King, all Kings had to sleep in this room hearing the heartbeat of the dragon heart formation which kept the Palace safe.
The throne room was near the chambers, just one hallway away.
Deciding to take a tour of the palace while he waited for his parents to arrive, Daneel had asked Kellor to take him to the most impressive place in the whole palace other than the King"s chambers.
At this moment, an easy smile was on Daneel"s face as he talked with Kellor and the Commanders. The time for tension and action was done, and it was now time to loosen up and slowly settle into his role as the King before deciding on matters such as the direction in which to rule the Kingdom.
Thus, Kellor took Daneel to the throne room.
The entrance was a gold-plated door 15 feet high which was studded with precious stones that shone like the night sky.
The formation controlled all access to rooms and parts of the palace, thus there was no ha.s.sle in going wherever he wanted. Opening the ma.s.sive doors with a thought to the system, Daneel walked in and felt his jaw fall seeing the sheer opulence on display.
The room itself was at least 30 feet high, with ceiling to wall windows adorned with delicate gla.s.s art letting in light gently, bathing the throne room in a soft glow.
It was shaped like a funnel, with the entrance and the throne on two opposite ends. Measuring at least 100 feet in length and 50 feet in width, the rest of the room was occupied by red plush chairs which were apparently for the ministers and bureaucrats to sit in.
As for the throne, it was the centerpiece of the room. The hand rests were actually two dragons skillfully sculpted in the wood, with mouths open, roaring towards the one looking at them.
The dragons" claws reminded him of the ones that had appeared when he used the formation. Two wings which looked enormous were folded to the side, while the rest of the body looked streamlined from the tail to the head as if flying was the thing these creatures were born to do.
The dragons" faces were scaled just like their claws, with the two eyes set on two sides of their heads with a snout in between. The elongated jaw hinted at a ma.s.sive mouth with sharp teeth.
Sharp ridges on the snout seemed to ripple, life-like while Daneel stared at the dragons, mesmerized.
Shaking his head, Daneel proceeded to take in the rest of his future seat in.
The back of the throne was a plush pillow on which another dragon was sewn, with its head turned to the side while its menacing fangs were clearly visible.
The rest of the chair was gilded in gold that shone in the glow that permeated the room.
Seeing the throne, memories of all that had led to this point flashed through Daneel"s head briefly. As they did so, he was suddenly reminded of something he had put off for such a time when he was the King.
It was the secret library. When Kellor had first given him access to the Magic Academy, he had said that there was a secret library that only the King could access. Excited to find out just what was inside, Daneel confirmed that it would still take a little time for his parents to come and decided to go to the magic academy.
Using the pa.s.sageway that connected the palace and the academy, Daneel soon found himself on the top of the library which was always closed off to visitors. The Grand Court Mage had used a drop of his blood to open a hidden staircase which led to this room. Most of the people had already gone home due to everything happening in the Kingdom, so the academy and the library were mostly empty.
It was a wide open room which seemed empty except for a familiar podium in the middle which Daneel walked up to.
With the Grand Court Mage"s instructions, who apparently was the only other person apart from the King who could access this secret library, Daneel recalled the oathstone from his body and placed it on a round groove on the podium.
The oathstone fit perfectly, after which Daneel was instructed to place a drop of his blood on the groove after removing the stone which had just glowed a dim yellow.
As soon as the drop hit the wood of the podium, it was absorbed while Daneel felt a ton of information flooding his mind.
[Interface detected. Initiating contact. Would host like to hear the incoming message?]
Having the flow stopped by the system, Daneel breathed a sigh of relief before saying "Yes" in his mind.
The message that followed shocked him, making him gape with surprise while Kellor and the Grand Court Mage watched on.
"Congratulations on becoming the King! It seems that those brats of the Lanthanore family have finally been usurped. I feel so glad to be able to talk to someone other than that punk who kept asking longevity this, longevity that. So, what are you here to find out about?"