Chapter 369: An Endless Road

Mid Afternoon - Early Fall : The Elder Estate | The Cabinet (New Elder Hall)

-----

"To think you were actually late..." Hera's surprised voice met my ears as I hurtled through the thick, dark clouds looming over the estate I left from almost three weeks prior.

"Had you given me a general area to search, it wouldn't have taken me a week to just find the damn place. I didn't know I needed to search the entire **ing mountain for a cave barely big enough to fit a horse!"

"Pft-Hahaha!" Hera immediately burst out laughing, comedically slapping the end of her tail on the ground next to her. "Acanthis did make a bet that you would never find it. That must be why."

"Haah..." My sigh was deep and heavy. "Well, I hope you at least bet on me."

"Hoho~, of course."

FWOOSH Finally piercing the underside of the dark storm clouds, the sight of nearly a thousand dragons bustling about came into view.

Although I was technically over the exact area I left from to explore The Scar nearly three weeks prior, the view was completely foreign to me.

Directly below me was an absolutely colossal structure, still in the midst of construction, with a massive town being built around it, seemingly in a hurry.

None of it was a sight I didn't expect, as I saw it through my aura from quite a ways away, but I still had to admit.. it was quite a jarring sight. -I guess it makes sense for people to be flocking here, considering the opportunities that will eventually arise... -

wooOOOSH-DINGGGG Landing on a thick metal driveway in the middle of a colossal courtyard, I looked up at the massive main doors of the new estate, large enough to let Myles comfortably walk through, and tilted my head in confusion. -But I have to wonder.. how is she staying hidden after starting a project like this? She couldn't have already announced herself as the Monarch to the public yet, could she?-

Previously, the estate that was once there was meant for those in the Elder Hall to use, with rooms reserved for each member so they could all stay there and have more fluent communication with one another when they weren't needed at the Hall itself. However, with the dissolution of the Elder Hall, Hera had taken it for her own use, using it as a sort of temporary estate until things were worked out.

But at that moment, I had to question the way I interpreted 'temporary'.

"What in the world are you planning on using this huge ass estate for?" It was almost big enough to be considered a small town on its own, with a large central circular courtyard and exactly eight long offshoots to create a star pattern reminiscent of the academy. "I can't say I could imagine you living here..."

"Of course not. This place is too small for me." She paused as she shuffled around papers in a smaller room not far from the main entrance. "This place is going to be the new hub for the cabinet, called the Elder Estate. Each member will be expected to live here and manage a 'branch' specialized around their field. In theory, it should centralize everything for us in quite a convenient and orderly manner."

-Huh?- "A 'Branch'?"

"Yeah, I'm actually going to try something Bahamut was too afraid to implement when he was Monarch." She spoke while deep in thought before setting down most of her papers. "I'm going to make the cabinet members something similar to my direct subordinates, each related to a specific subject, while also having each of them form their own organizations, or branches, that are vaguely similar to human guilds."

Finally walking up to the massive front door, I opened it and made my way inside.

"Each branch will be responsible for gathering its own information and managing its own field all around Bahamut. A quick example would be Myles and the Military branch. To explain it quickly, it will be responsible for all military matters that don't require my input, such as establishing public security forces, remote military training and recruitment, and documenting everything under the span of their branch. With their branch centralized here, if I ever need anything from the military, I can simply come here and issue orders or look into information. In my case, if the branch was already established, I would have gone through them to find and deal with the remaining supporters of the Holy Kingdom, at least when the time comes."

-How.. horrifyingly smart...- To summarize, it made it so all she needed to do to get what she needed was say a single sentence, even if it was to implement a completely new system that needed to be built from the ground up. -But...- "Why was Bahamut too afraid to implement that? It seems pretty convenient..."

"His issue with it was it centralized power too much under the Monarch, it essentially made it so there was nothing to keep him in check if he had a bad idea."

"But wouldn't that check just happen when you ask one of the cabinet members to implement something?"

She shook her head as she used her aura to open the door to her office and let me in. "Not exactly. If the Monarch wanted to, they could force it past the cabinet member. The Cabinet is made so the branch heads can come and go as they please since they're voted in by the people, so if a corrupt Monarch got power, there would be nothing to stop them."

-I see...- Walking inside, I quickly let Ilios down off my back and found a nice cushion to sit on, looking over at Hera's shrunken, coiled body on the other side of the office. "That does make some sense, but..." -Bahamut was a god.. or at least close to one.. so why would he worry about someone else being Monarch... He couldn't have been that cautious of Hera, right?-

"Haah..." Hera let out a heavy sigh, knowing what I was thinking. "Bahamut was.. not the saint people believed him to be. He was powerful, so much so even I couldn't hold a candle to him, even now, but as the leader of our race, he.. was not fit, and he knew it." Flutter Shuffling around papers with her aura, she quickly singled out a small stack and handed it to me, seemingly wanting to change the subject. "In any case, I'm not him, so I'm doing things differently... What I just handed you is a list of the branches I would like to establish, with the people expected to be their heads and some additional details about what each branch will cover... If you find something you think I should tweak, let me know."

The moment she paused, my eyes turned down to the array of about sixty pages in front of me, and I quickly began reading through them. -Ah...- But it didn't take long for things to begin falling into place. -It's.. surprisingly clean...-

There were currently eight branches, with each cabinet member manning one. To quickly go over it, Gi Akatharsia, an elder I met at the Elder Hall just prior to leaving for The Scar, was the mining and farming advisor, Grandmother was the political advisor, Pluto Chrysos was the economic advisor, a man I didn't know, Ktírio Péra, was the industry and development advisor, Myles was the military advisor, Amphitrite was the 'humanoid' sector advisor, and another person I didn't know, Vima Epómeno, as the mana research and development advisor. The only branch without a head was the science and technology development branch, but surprisingly there were some names suggested for the head already.

"Are the suggested names for the science branch people who study Acardi wreckages?" I spoke without pulling my eyes off the papers, reading through all the details to try and find flaws.

"Yes, actually. Although they were pretty hard to find since none of them live in Bahamut anymore, there were actually quite a few I found when I looked around. The issue is just how untalented or inexperienced most of them were."

-I see...- Quickly trying to buzz through some ideas, I finally finished absorbing everything on the pages, making a few tweaks here and there before handing it all back to her. "Most of it looks good, I made a few tweaks, but I was expecting there to be a dedicated branch for the thunderbirds. I thought you said you wanted to make an organization specifically for them?"

Skimming the pages, she spoke quickly. "I do, but not as an official branch."

"Why not?" To quickly summarize what her plan with the thunderbirds was, she wanted to create a massive intelligence network with them, using them for their speed, ability to fly at extremely high altitudes, and capability of cloaking themselves so well with light magic. It would give her eyes all around Bahamut, and let her gather any and all intel she needed, if it was inside the confines of Bahamut's borders like a web of spies and satellites.

But she didn't realize why I was confused. "You must not understand how upset people would be if I made an entire branch dedicated to thunderbirds." She spoke as if it were obvious. "I'm actively trying to give people reasons for rebellion to try and drag the rest of the Holy Kingdom's rats out of hiding, but I'm not going to do something that insane..."

"Huh?" I immediately tilted my head. "Why would you dedicate the whole branch to them with you as the head? Why not use Leander as the head and absorb the Foreign Intelligence Agency?"

She instantly froze. "Wait.. that's.. not a bad idea actually..." Vwoom The fluttering of paper instantly filled the room again as tens of thousands of pages were hurtled into the air, before several were instantaneously covered in text as if they had been stamped. "Hmm..." But while she was working swiftly, her expression eventually turned troubled.

"What's up now?"

She paused as she lowered most of the papers in the air and handed me one with a concept painting of a gargantuan building somewhat similar to the one we were in. "This is what I'm building just outside of Emporio. I planned for it to be the central hub of the organization I wanted to make with the thunderbirds. It's not big enough to house all the ones you brought back, but a vast majority will be out working most of the time, and I plan on sending to other branches, so that won't be a problem."

-I see...- "So what's wrong?" I gently tilted my head.

"Distance." She slowly started sitting up and gathering some of her things as she continued. "If I am to add another formal branch for intelligence stuff, I'll need to add another branch to this building, but the structure outside Emporio is logistically the best hub for it. The only solution I can think of is moving the whole branch to Emporio.. but it will be troublesome for both me, and the other branches."

-So she's nervous that the distance will compromise the communication between branches...- It was indeed a predicament, but not one I didn't have a solution for. "Why don't I just create a space rune between that hub and here?-

She instantly froze before looking me in the eyes. "You.. can do that?"

I quickly nodded with a small flicker of excitement in my tail. "I'll need to study the specifics of the existing runes, but yeah, I don't see any reason why I couldn't."

She paused before cycling through pages again, falling victim to her rampaging thoughts. "In that case.. that makes things easier..." Quickly writing and editing hundreds of pages of documentation, she took out a stack of a few hundred pieces of paper before finally standing up. "I need to give these to the construction manager here to add on another branch here. How long do you think it will take to make the rune?"

I gently shrugged my wings. "Longer than the thunderbirds can reasonably stay here." I gently motioned my wing up to them before her gaze followed.

"Alright." A smile immediately washed over her face. "In that case, we can talk about the details of your trip while we fly them to Emporio and get them set up." Finally standing up, she quickly walked past me with a partial trot and a smooth, happy sway in her tail. "I'll meet up with you after I drop this off real quick." Flashing her smile at me with a clump of papers in the air, she left without giving me a chance to move.

But, even if she wanted me to hop up right then, it would have been difficult. "Haah..." From the moment I sat down, a lethargic wave washed over me, and the cushion felt as if it were sucking me into it. "Well, Ilios.. I know you're ready for a nap, but it looks like we still have some flying to do..." I honestly wanted to just pass out right then and there too... -But.. we still have so much to do...- "Ugh..."

Forcing myself up with a little groan, narrowly escaping the grasp of the cushion, I let Ilios up on my back before walking out into the only half-built hallway.

There was a lot on the to-do list, and from my talk with Hera, it looked like I wouldn't be getting any rest for quite a while.

But oddly enough, I didn't really mind it. Although I had minimal political experience or knowledge, I was oddly fascinated by learning how Hera was going to run such a massive country fluidly.

Afterall, I was the Monarch of not one, but two countries now. I had a lot to learn from her.

But sometimes.. her methods were.. a little unconventional...

-----

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read up to 5 chapters ahead of schedule, and get early access to artwork on My Patreon!

( )

-------------

Also, please feel free to check out our discord for all updates related to TDOD releases!

All are welcome!

---

Also if you are looking for a new story, check out my new novel! The System's Harvester

On RR and SH