Chapter 1368: Ruler of Karadhan
Days passed and things progressed rather slowly.
It took the people in the ships nearly 4 days to even reach the Sunside, where they had finally begun their work to help establish permanent houses for the people that had come from the other planets.
Not only that, they were also to establish connections with the group for future relationships between the two humans.
Ning went over to watch what was happening there from afar and only left when everything was to his satisfaction.
The other side of the world, Barason, had decided on their new rulers. Instead of making a single person their ruler, they decided to form a democratic government instead.
Nobody there wanted to be ruled by a single person ever again. They were done with tyrants.
They were to instead form a government body with around 25 people, all of whom would come together to help improve that section.
Because Barason was too far away from the Sunside and the Nightside, they planned on not governing either of those zones, leaving the people there to do it by themselves.
Ning had never planned on giving that to them anyway.
The Sunside and Nightside were difficult terrains where long stretches of deserts or tundra made it not as hospitable for life. The sections that were had large settlements of humans living there, so instead of choosing one giant body that would rule over them all, it was decided that they would instead be ruled by people in those cities and towns by mayors and chiefs chosen by the people there.
These mayors and chiefs would be checked on every year or two by the people in Barason to make sure they weren’t corrupt.
The Sunside was slightly difficult to do so in this regard because of the newly arrived group of people that had settled. Still, Ning believed they would figure out something.
He had already helped the people have a better life for themselves, the rest was up to them to improve.
Nearly 10 days later, the people of Karadhan had finally chosen the 3 people who wanted to and were most likely to become the next King.
The first person was a middle-aged man named Kett Saltar, a merchant who was known to be loved by many of the peasants for his affordable prices and huge stock of inventory. Just that alone had given the man enough name and fame to put his name into the list of who would be king and come out with the top 3.
The next person was the head of a noble family, going by the name of Yasol Jerrahmul. He was one of the many sons of the Godking and was one of the most well-known nobles in the entire continent.
If this were a normal empire on another planet, this man would have had the power and influence to rival an arch-duke.
Finally, the last person was Kinara. She had been Godking’s most currently loved wife and had put her beauty, fame, and influence into work the past couple of days to have the people choose her to be one of the candidates.
With the 3 candidates now prepared, they were brought to a giant hall in the palace, where the next king of Karadhan would be crowned from amongst them.
Ning sat on a throne in the room that was elevated by a couple of feet off the ground so that he would be looking down at all of them.
There were 3 seats prepared at the center of the room where the 3 candidates sat with a large group of people surrounding them, waiting for the coronation.
Ning looked at the three and smiled. “So you all wish to be the next ruler after I leave, do you?” he asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
All 3 of them answered in almost unison, not one of them willing to lose to each other.
Kett sat in his seat with an amicable smile, looking very approachable.
Yasol seemed haughty and prideful, which he tried hard to hide but failed.
Finally, Kinara remained graceful and calm, the perfect picture of the Queen she would be if she was given the chance.
“Alright,” Ning spoke out loud. “Let’s start.”
Instantly, all the information he had been looking for about the 3 of them flowed into his mind. He closed his eyes for a second and opened them back up with a clear understanding of how selfish each of these people was regarding why they wanted to become the next ruler.
Kett, while appearing a good man outside, was not so good when you got into his inner circles. Not only was he quite abusive to his workers, but he also lowballed every supplier of his to get their supplies so he could sell them at an affordable rate for the outside.
With that, he had made a fortune, that he hid from the outside. If he were to be the king, he would only end up going further with his power to do who knew what.
It was likely he would abuse every subordinate he had once he became a king and would only look for his own betterment instead of the entire continent.
It was better to not choose him at all.
Yasol was an arrogant man, it appeared. While he wasn’t scheming and underhanded like Kett, he was also not a good person.
He was good to his subordinates, had a healthy relationship with his family, and as one of the most influential figures in the entire continent, he was well-regarded by everyone.
Still, he thirsted for power deep inside. The only reason he even wanted to become the new king was because he expected the seat of the Godking to give him new powers.
Nobody was really sure if the seat held any power or not. But regardless, of that, everyone hoped it did.
Indebiss had been the Godking for hundreds of years and had been capable of feats that weren’t simply possible with Melability. Everyone wanted the source of his powers, and that power they thought lay at the seat of the Godking.
It was only a belief though, which was further propagated once Ning became the Godking just 10 days ago and once again started doing things that should have been simply impossible for anyone that was using Color.
As such, Yasol very much wanted that seat of power and to become the next Godking who would rule for years and years on end.
If Yasol ended up becoming the king, he would soon find out just how wrong he had been about the entire situation. In that instance, it was unlikely that he would give up on his thirst for power and turn to his duties as a king to a kingdom.
Instead, he would look for powers where there weren’t any, and sooner or later, the people would once again be under a tyrannical government with a dictator at their head.
Ning couldn’t let that happen.
Finally, there was Kinara, the last candidate to become the next ruler of the continent.
The calm and collected woman hid a surprisingly selfish self on the inside.
She had been a young farmgirl, living on the eastern edge of the continent when Indebiss had found her on accident one day. She had been no older than 16 years old when she had been made his wife and brought to the palace.
Kinara had never wanted to be a wife of Indebiss, she had someone she loved back home. However, she could not refuse the Godking.
She was made to live with the other many wives of the Godking and there she realized there was also a hierarchy, despite everyone being of the same status.
The hierarchy was based on who the Godking showed favor to and who he ignored.
The ones that weren’t even visited by the Godking were of the lowest tier.
The ones that fanned him were just slightly higher, and those that fed him while he sat were higher than that.
Those who could dance or sing to entertain the Godking had a better status in the group, and those that the Godking let hold him were even higher than that.
Finally, those whom the Godking regularly took to bed were considered to be the ones most in his favor and had the highest status among the wives.
For the past 20 years, Kinara did her best to reach that status and make a life for herself.
All she wanted was freedom, to not be in someone else’s shadow. The less shadow she was in, the better. So she had done what she could to make it to the top of the hierarchy among the wives.
And now that the single shade before her was gone, she wanted to be the light that cast shadows instead. No one else would take that away from her.
She had passion and ambition to become a ruler, not for the betterment of others.
“Well,” Ning said out loud after going through each candidate in his head. “There’s really only one good choice, I fear.”
Ning stood up and spun his fingers to produce a crown out of nowhere and walked down the stairs from his throne.
He arrived in front of Kinara and placed the crown on her head.
Even if she was selfish and only thought about herself, she was still the best choice out of all 3 of them.
“Kinara Godera, I, Ning Ruogong, the Godking, hereby make you the ruler of the Kingdom of Karadhan. May you forever rule this kingdom to the best of your capability.”
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