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After the unification of the server, I was dragged into the London lord’s home office as Katalina had called me to come there. Even though it was exciting to be visiting the inside of the London Castle for the first time which I’ve always only read about in the books, the reality was…

“What were you thinking, doing something crazy like that? It’s not the first time as well!”

Katalina glared at me as she gave me an earful, angry about what I had declared back when I was doing the speech in front of everyone. I was already in a position of asking for forgiveness by being on my knees and praying for mercy, but it seemed like it still wasn’t enough for Katalina.

“Hm… I just felt that instead of just holding onto the wealth, it would be better to share it with everyone.”
“Oho, is that so? And not just an investment as you look into the future?”
“An investment?”
“So your intention was not to accelerate London’s growth over a long-term plan, huh…”

Katalina’s voice sounded even more frightening when I explained I had no idea what she meant.

“I… I guess it could end up that way.”
“Well, honestly what you’ve said back then isn’t all that bad. We’ve definitely earned massive positivity from the guild members, as well as support from all those neutral guilds so I can’t deny that you’ve turned it into a very positive factor for us all.”
“Hehe… So can I stop begging for forgiveness now?”
“… But!”

Just as I was slowly putting my hand down, Katalina unexpectedly snapped yet again. I flinched as I raised my hands into a begging position again.

Since even if we are inside of Blue Sky, I will still feel the muscle pain of holding my hands up high for a long period of time.

“You understand that trying to make all the decisions by yourself without any discussion with the officers as well as me was something that you shouldn’t have done, right?”
“Yeah.”

It certainly was terrible of me for making critical decisions on my own without any input. Whether I had good intentions or not, I should have at least heard a little bit of Katalina’s opinion before moving forward. Even if it was only for formality. I had acted out of line by deciding things on my own, which is why I could understand Katalina’s anger.

“And it’s not even the first time you did this, remember?”
“Y…yeah.”

This time, my answer to her was even quieter.

“And what do you think you need to do if you made a mistake?”

She talked as if she was scolding a little child, but since it was definitely me that made the mistake, I wasn’t really in a position to argue.

“Then I’ll have to receive a punishment for it.”
“So do you think you should stop asking for forgiveness?”
“No, I shouldn’t.”

I spoke in a defeated tone of voice. It must look humorous to see someone that had just become the queen of a nation kneel and beg for forgiveness like this, but there was no one else except me and Katalina that could come into…

Click.

“Huh?”

…here, right?

“Kyahaha!”

Esther’s laughter rang out in the interior of the lord’s home office. It seemed like the previous situation was so funny to her that she kept laughing even while we were talking.

And because of that, I kept feeling my cheeks burning red with embarrassment.

“Stop laughing, Esther. Ellie won’t even be able to lift up her head at this rate. Do you realize how embarrassed she feels?”

Katalina spoke in a genuinely worried tone of voice for me, but it still felt like she was rubbing salt on my wounds considering her wording.

“Ah… I’m sorry… Pfft. It’s just that, it’s too funny! Kyahaha!”

It seems like she can’t really calm down at this time. I heard that girls of her age laugh aloud even when they see a single leaf floating by in the wind, but I still couldn’t understand why, was that situation really that funny…? Well, I suppose it could be to some.

Stella had been arrested due to her relationship with the drug use incident that occurred, which led to Esther’s parents fainting in shock, but Esther still held on strong and stood tall. Though she wasn’t able to stop Stella from being taken out of the family registry, it seemed that Esther had decided to no longer worry about her older sister who was clearly out of her mind at this moment.

Though the honor of Esther’s family name had fallen greatly due to the incident, Katalina and I used our connections as much as we could so that the worst possible situation wouldn’t fall onto them in the end. There was no helping that the family will need to restrain and be quiet as they learn from their mistakes for a while, but I felt that time will eventually solve the problem. On top of that, thanks to her optimistic personality she recovered from her bad mood quickly, letting us feel more relaxed and not worry so much about her.

“Ouch, my stomach…!”

Seeing her laugh excessively like this could just be her subconsciousness trying her best to relieve herself from the remaining sadness that was left in her heart, so I didn’t feel annoyed by her actions at all.

I am very generous, after all.

“She looked cute, right? I even took a video of it!”
“Wow, Sister Katalina, really? Can you share that video with me? Please?”

… Aw come on!

“Ellie, are you angry?”
“Aww, sis, are you angry now?”

As I was definitely not angry at them, I decided to not answer their question.

“Huh, Ellie, are you perhaps… Pissed off right now?”
“Oooh?”
“I’m not!”

I mean, why would I be pissed off? I was just feeling very very slightly uncomfortable with their behavior. Yeah, that’s all. I would never act like a woman who has a short temper and narrow mind that would quickly get annoyed at such a small thing.

“She really is pissed off…”
“Yeah…”

But it was sad that they couldn’t understand my feelings at all.

“Whatever…”

Who in the world would be able to understand how I’m feeling right now? I felt completely hopeless knowing that in this reality, there was no one that could be on my side. I guess there’s now one more reason for me to go back to Korea.

I felt that I should try to nonchalantly ask Katalina if we could choose Korea as the destination for overseas travel that we will go to once the game enters an ‘update period’ someday in the future.

“Actually, what are you here for Esther?”

Katalina asked Esther.

“Ahh! It’s because the officers of the guild requested a meeting. It seems like they really want to discuss your announcement of making London city Tax Free. There’s also the thing of granting rewards according to everyone’s contribution in the war.”
“That’s probably the case. Well, Ellie, you’re strong with dealing with sudden situations, right? You won’t need any time to prepare for this?”
“Well…”

Damn it… I wasn’t planning to talk to them… but I had ended up promising to talk in the discussion as I was carried by the mood of the conversation. Katalina’s eyes curved to a smug smile as she smirked. It felt like I was being played right into her hands.

“Now then, shall we go now, your highness?”
“Hehe, let’s go then, your highness!”

And then the two of them lock their arms around mine as they call me by my new title. It hasn’t even been that long since I was starting to be called a lord, so it was bizarre and crazy to me that my title changed once more so soon to one of ‘her highness’. With the two of them pulling me forward with all their strength, I was carried to the royal palace.

“Her highness is now entering.”

The servant NPC that was on standby next to the entrance of the royal palace announced my entrance. Katalina and Esther knew that people would be looking and quickly unlocked their arms around mine and entered the palace following behind me.

As opposed to the royal palaces, the royal palace located in London was decorated with much more extravagant decoration as well as red carpets, which was fitting as being the main capital of the whole nation. The throne was actually placed way higher than other places as well, making me truly realize that I had now actually become the queen.

I already had a temporary crown placed on top of my already existing tiara, which was something I had received from the completion of a previous quest.

‘I guess my appearance changed 3 times in total?’

Thinking about it, the Tiara itself was something that had its appearance changed, so I couldn’t help but laugh at the humorous situation.

It seemed that the Blue Sky game system was being generous to let me wear it in addition since the developers knew that wearing a proper armor set at all times was important to a player. But in any case, the temporary crown I had on was quite extravagant even compared to the Tiara I already had.

It was nothing but a decoration though, as it didn’t improve my stats at all.

Thinking about various things, I didn’t notice that I had already reached up to the throne. The first obvious thing about it was that it looked quite impressive, but the other thing was that it looked very comfortable too. The thrones I usually saw in castles of other territories looked stiff and hard, and this one was definitely different in quality and style.

Soon I sat down on the throne and immersed myself in the feeling of soft comfort.

With that as the signal, all the higher-ranked officers of the guild started to sit down on their prepared chairs.

“I shall first give out the appropriate rewards to all those that contributed to the war before the meeting begins.”

Katalina came up to me and handed me a document with names and their positions written on it. As it was all written on a high-quality scroll paper, it was an evidence item that’s created for anything officially related to the guild happenings.

After handing me the document, she went back to the seat she originally sat on, to which I finally opened my mouth again.

“First, to Miss Merlin I bestow the title of a Duchess. I will also transfer over the power to appoint 3 counts, 10 viscounts, and 20 barons within the guild of her choosing.”
“Thank you very much, your highness.”

Clap clap clap!

With my announcement, Katalina stood up once again from her seat and bowed, with a round of applause ringing out around her.

“To Miss Eva, I bestow the title of a duchess as well as the city of Glasgow. I will also grant the right to appoint 2 counts, 7 viscounts, and 15 barons within the guild of her choosing as well.”
“Thank you very much.”

Clap clap clap!

Esther also stood up from her seat to bow towards me, as another round of applause rang out.

“To Mr. Lucas, I bestow the title of a Marquis as well as the city of Cardiff. I will also grant the right to appoint 1 count, 5 viscounts, and 10 barons within the guild of his choosing as well.”
“It is a great honor, your highness¹.”

Another round of applause rang out.

“To Mr. Terror, I bestow the title of a Marquis as well as Belfast. He will also receive the additional rewards that I’ve given to Mr. Lucas as well.”
“Thank you.”

After finally calling out a considerable amount of names and rewarding them each, the announcements were finally over. I was glad that I simply gave over the power to appoint people over to them since if I were to personally appoint each position myself, the time it would have taken to do so would be several times longer.

“With that, the reward announcement is done, and we will now head into proper meeting and discussion. Before we begin, I would like to say that I fully realize my mistake and apologize deeply for announcing that the city of London is becoming ‘Tax-free’ before getting permission from any of you.”

I bowed my head lightly towards them.

Katalina seemed to think it was a good idea, but warned me from doing it too often.

“Hmm…”
“Mh…”

Sounds of thoughtful reaction ran across the officers in the room as they watched my head bow down lightly towards them. It seemed that everyone was using this discussion meeting as a chance to make sure they keep my usage of power in check, but seeing as how I was willing to bow down to them, their worries were relieved somewhat.

But to be honest, to argue against me who had just apologized for my mistake was something that’s absurd to do since I still had way too much power in my hands for them to challenge me in any way.

“Then from now on, will you make sure to first discuss with us whenever there is an important decision to make for the nation?”

The first one to question me was Lucas. It was a clever move for the guild that had joined our forces late in the war, trying to secure the right to speak in important discussion amongst the guild members, for this one and for the future ones as well.

Since I would have obviously made the same move if I were in his position, I didn’t see it as a bad thing for them to do so. The relationship between the lord and their subordinates is one of contractual agreement and fair trade, not one of absolute servitude and ruling. This was why I didn’t particularly like the idea of being in a higher position of power.

“Of course. From now on, anything that is deemed important will definitely be discussed with all of you beforehand, with the result needing to be agreed by everyone before carrying forward with the decision.”
“And what about petty matters?”
“To open up a discussion for petty matters would tire you all out, am I not right? Our efficiency would fall as well.”

I should make sure to draw the line clearly ahead of time. I saw that Lucas’ expression grew a shade darker for a moment. He was trying to make sure that I recognized that it was purely my fault for what I’ve done from the beginning to the end.

“I understand.”

Lucas sat back down again. But there was no way that would be the end.

“I have a question.”
“Go ahead, Marquis Terror.”

This time it was Terror who spoke. As expected of the leader for a large-sized guild, his effort in trying to broaden their influence was quite clear. He knew that he needed to grow his guild’s influence within the Camelot kingdom in any way shape or form. In other words, he was trying to form a definite faction within the kingdom, and this was a problem that always occurs for a group that was formed via a combination of numerous smaller groups.

So to keep them in check and adequately compromise for them was my duty and homework.

“How will you solve the problem of not taking in any tax from anyone living within the London city?”

It was an unexpected question.

“90% of the housing within the London city are rental houses. I believe that you know exactly what I mean by stating that fact.”
“Hmm… but it’s still impossible to resolve this problem even with that method in the short term.”

I had to admit that what Terror said was correct and that just making it tax-free wasn’t enough. But the alternate methods we can choose are not limited to just that.

“Let me answer your question for her. Are you perhaps planning to monopolize each of the territory’s taxation? As the territories are dependent on the central alliance, they will pay a part of their taxable earnings to the central headquarters, the London city. If you’re talking about the number of tax earnings you’d get from every territory that exists in the server, it would be plenty enough to make up for the cost of management for London city and then some.”
“Hm…”

Terror was at a loss for words hearing what Katalina said.

“However, with the announcement of ‘tax-free London’, the territories surrounding us will lose a great deal of their tax revenue. How will you deal with that problem?”

Another person butted in right as Terror finished speaking, asking what I should do about the loss of tax revenue for nearby territories.

“We’ll change the cost of use for the teleportation gates for all the territories close to us. Meaning that we will be transferring all the revenue that London would receive from the use of teleportation to the nearby territories instead.”
“Understood.”

Seeing him sit back down with a satisfied smile on his face, he definitely was a lord of some territory nearby London.

With the announcement of London being tax-free, there will definitely be an influx of population, and the cost of the usage for all the teleportation gates would be immense. It was huge enough to be a significant portion of any small to medium-sized city, and the number of people that will be moving in from the whole country would lead to a huge amount of people coming into the nearby territories of London. Even if it’s just an hour’s distance, there was a clear difference in how much you’d pay for the teleportation after all.

So it was obvious that instead of paying a high price of teleporting directly to London, the average user would instead opt to just go to the nearby territory first before teleporting to London even if it was a little cumbersome since it would be much cheaper. But with this, the number of funds for the management of London city will reduce even further.

“I understand that you will somehow prepare for the cost of the city management, but what will you do for the development and growth costs?”

I felt that this would be the very last question asked for this meeting. It seemed to me that most of the people here understood that we had various other smaller ways of income that would make up for the cost of management overall.

If that’s the case, the only thing left was the cost of development and growth like Terror said. I was sure that they were thinking it’s not so easy to gather up the funds to pay for such things as it is to gather money for the management expenditure. However, that wasn’t the case for me.

“I will pay it from my personal funds then.²”

Staring at all the officers gasping out loud in shock as they looked at me in silence, I stare back at them with an expression asking if they find it a problem.

1. Robinxen: I had an subconscious violent reaction to reading this.
2. Robinxen: Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis person has no idea about governing. The inflation alone from lack of tax control is gonna wreck the economy. Goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooodddaaaammmmmmmiiiiiit.