Shadow King Chronicles: Building a Kingdom From Behind the Scenes
Two Years Later

Although recovery has been slow, the results have begun to be felt. Little by little the reconstruction of the capital has been going on. Many buildings were destroyed and rubble rubble has been cleared, and highways within the capital have also begun to be repaired. The merchants who lost their stalls and shops set up mini tents on the side of the road to sell. Slowly, the capital that was almost like a dead city is now back to life.

It had been about three months that Aurellia became queen while replacing the king Leonidas who was still unconscious due to his illness. Thanks to him, the crisis began to resolve. In addition to working hard, Aurellia is also assisted by competent subordinates.

Issac has two obligations. First was the queen's advisor and prime minister and the other was as Viscount Starfall. For the affairs of the La-Sa Guild, he had given up his ownership rights to Olivia completely. At least it lightened his load a little.

He personally provided financial support for the kingdom. In addition to providing a light loan to the palace treasury, he also helped entrepreneurs whose businesses went bankrupt due to the war and began to rise. That was why, the capital became a little more crowded now.

But the problem is not completely solved. Aurellia, Margaret, and herself must prepare to face threats from both the North and the West. It was territory that was under the authority of Duke Balzaac along with the noble knight family that supported him.

"I have given them two warnings to swear allegiance to Aurellia. But there was no response from them. Instead, they demanded the right to the throne, which he thought belonged to Prince William."

Issac did not speak to anyone in particular. It was because he was alone in his office. Naturally, it's already night. The other servants and retainers had rested in the palace.

"I will send them a warning letter for the third time. If they refuse again, I will have to use the way I prepared before. Well, even as much as possible, I don't want to use this way anyway."

Issac stood up from his desk full of piles of documents. Farming and farming slowly stabilized so food prices dropped. Likewise, the production of clothes that are slightly recovered makes the public at least able to buy clothes at a fairly cheap price. For now that's enough.

The problem is the military. It was easy to disarm the personal military might of the nobles considering as large of them had blurred. Of course, they left their troops behind. Thanks to that, Issac could unite them into a royal army unit and retrain them.

This includes the Starfall military. His troops had been united in the Royal Army as well. The number gathered reached more than 100,000 troops.

It's a lot, but that's the main problem. Giving food to the stomach that much is not easy. Likewise by equipping them with quality weaponry. And it is this problem that makes him tend to ignore military affairs and improve the condition of the kingdom's economy.

"While our military is experiencing a decline in quality, Prince Lewis's faction is the opposite. They have more quantity as well as better quality. I don't know for sure where they can assemble as many as 120,000 troops and prepare supplies for them.

"But there is a possibility.they secretly cooperated with the Moskov empire which became a superpower in Lantos. It's very troubling."

Issac looked at the night sky. The full moon shines quite brightly and is dotted by a brilliant expanse of stars. It brought a bit of calmness to him but there was still a lot he had to settle for.

"Aurellia and Margaret. They are day and I am night. Both have their own duties. If their light is the light that shines upon the kingdom, then I am the darkness that surrounds the shadow.

"Even if I have to dirty my hands, I will still protect them. That's why.I'm sorry Aurellia, Margaret. I will protect your power in my own way."

After thinking about many things, Issac walked into his office. It was time for him to enter the next stage. Make the William faction submissive.

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Meanwhile in the Balzaac region, Richard Balzaac as the head of the Balzaac family, Johan Hill as the head of the Hill family, and Frans Albatros as the head of the Alabtros family have gathered. But it's not just the three of them. There were some strangers gathered there.

"Thank you gentlemen for fulfilling our call. Sorry for having to call you all here at night because there's something we have to discuss."

Duke Balzaac started this important conversation. They all looked serious while the three-man stranger looked quite relaxed and not tense.

"No problem, Mr. Duke. As allies it is our duty to fulfill this call. So, what's something we should talk about? Is it something very important?"

To the point. It seems that these three people do not like to make small talk. They directly asked Duke Balzaac to get straight to the point.

"really. That's how it is. In fact, the new ruling queen of Now, Aurellia, has officially given us an ultimatum. Not just one but two. I'm sure if we don't respond to the ultimatum they give, there's a chance they'll take military action. If that time comes, would you be willing to give us some help?"

One of the three people nodded after listening to Duke Balzaac's explanation carefully. Broadly speaking, they had understood the intent of Duke Balzaac.

"of course. We will be happy to send you help. Didn't we do that before we did? I'm sure if it's military action they're taking, you can at least hold them off until our troops arrive."

Duke Balzaac nodded. They have been providing assistance all this time. Taking care of 120,000 people is not easy. The funds needed to ensure that their strength remained sturdy were extremely expensive. The only reason why Duke Balzaac could survive in the midst of the crisis that was hitting them was because of the help of these people.

After talking about a few other things, the three people said goodbye. It was only after they left that Prince William entered the office located in the mansion of Duke Balzaac.

Prince William began to grumble but Duke Balzaac had another opinion.

"We have no choice, Prince. The only source of help we can get is them. Take it easy, as soon as this matter is over, we'll stab them."

"That's right. It was painful to be begging them. But for the sake of royal honor, we cannot keep silent as they continue to progress. We also have to move and prepare a lot of things to seize what should be our right."

Albatross confirms Duke Balzaac's opinion. Meanwhile for Johan, he nodded several times. Well, he's not a typical talker.

Right, those people who were representatives of the Moskov empire. As Issac had predicted, they had moved. Amidst the ongoing chaos, they infiltrated many spies deep into the heart of the kingdom.

In addition, they also made a deal with Duke Balzaac. They knew that the fate of Prince William was no better than that of Prince Lewis. They supplied weapons, food, medicine, and clothing and money to William's faction.

Both sides do not understand. Their real threat is neither Prince Lewis nor Queen Aurellia. Their opponents were much more cunning and slippery so that even an empire as big as Moskov himself would not realize what they were getting if the two were to come face to face with that person.

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Day after day, month after month, everything went by so quickly. Not noticeably, already two years Aurellia served as a substitute queen in the kingdom of Heinz. The king was unconscious. He was in a prolonged coma.

But people's opinions are different. Thanks to the reforms made by Aurellia, the restoration of the kingdom proceeded very quickly. The government economy is recovering. All debts imposed on the government have also been paid off. Creditors were satisfied and they even invested their money in the kingdom into various fields because they believed in the bright prospect of Heinz's kingdom under Aurellia's rule.

Not only did she manage to reconstruct the facilities destroyed by the war, the queen of Aurellia was even able to expand the area of the capital. Walls were destroyed and villages and forests were turned into urban areas.

New villages around the capital emerged as the population grew. The network of highways and large bridges connecting the various regions within the kingdom was built at an unreasonable speed. The development of this network of highways and other infrastructure makes the prices of basic goods that had jumped to fall slowly.

With the construction of this network, the government was able to transport staple goods from their production centers and distribute them to other regions so that the price of basic goods became cheaper.

In addition, this project adds a lot of labor. The demand for wooden carts with large capacity is booming. Eventually the craftsmen who made the cart recruited many people to speed up production.

That doesn't just apply to carts. That was just an example. There is also a demand for agricultural tools such as hoes, farm forks, crowbars, and others. That made the blacksmiths also open vacancies for the residents.

Aurellia, through her newly formed finance department, built a bank-like financial institution. The residents will keep their money there and the money saved later will be invested into various fields. Their money will be used as loans to entrepreneurs and the profits will be returned to customers as interest.

In addition to preventing inflation, this financial institution is also an income for the country. The customer is required to pay the service fee every month. Although the cost is not large, but if the user is a lot, then it will bring a large profit.

In addition, the finance department also ensures that taxes are applied progressively. The richer the tax paid, the higher. They make sure that wealth does not accumulate in one community but also distributed to other residents.

In addition to forming the finance department, Her Majesty the queen also formed the departments of agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries. Through this department, the kingdom channeled various assistance in the form of seeds, fertilizers, and pest-preventing drugs to farmers throughout the kingdom.

The kingdom also built many new livestock centers in places suitable for use as a livestock industry. They provide financial assistance to farmers.

As a result, productivity has really increased. The yield increased by five times compared to previous years and the community enjoyed a surplus of crops so that the standard of living also increased.

In addition, there are also departments of education, health departments, departments of internal affairs, departments of foreign affairs, and departments of military affairs. Her Majesty the queen is really working hard to make the kingdom into a powerful country.

Development and economic growth also have a good impact on military-related affairs. To ensure that security throughout the Heinz kingdom was assured, many soldiers were needed. That was why the 100,000 soldiers available earlier were not enough.

The kingdom added about 50,000 troops in one year. They are all equipped with the best weapons. Their loyalty and discipline are beyond doubt.

With this, even if a battle with the second prince faction occurred, the kingdom was not in a disadvantageous position. Instead, they could fight whenever they were ready.

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Maybe Readers are bored with the explanation as above? But I love themes like this and will continue to make this story progress in this direction.