Joseph was making his way to the dining hall, for a meeting with the leaders of his mages, when he heard the pitter patter of little kitten feet on the floor behind him. It had to be Layla. Turning with a soft smile, he waited for her to nervously approach him. He wasn't sure what her past had been, to cause her so much caution, but he had never seen a more timid cat-kin.
"Your majesty?"
"Yes, Layla?"
"I mean no disrespect, but Pannath, one of our most talented beaver-kin builders, is curious about the buildings that are being constructed. No one has ever seen buildings so tall before, and there are concerns that they might… fall?"
"Don't worry. I acquired the design from very skilled workers. Essential stone and orichalcum are superior to steel reinforced concrete in strength, so the buildings should be even stronger. Just as important though, those are the only blueprints for a building that size I have seen. I'm not certain how to scale them down to only 10 or 20 stories, and don't have much time to experiment. And I have mages verifying the loads are acceptable and there are no weak spots to propagate and cause issues. They are also going to be verifying the buildings don't have any issues every day, for the first couple of weeks, to ensure nothing happens."
"He…he was worried they might tip over in the wind," she stuttered, uncertainly.
"The buildings should be sound. Their foundations are tied to the rock of the mountain. When the mages are finished, the buildings are going to be enchanted with climate control, so thermal expansion shouldn't play a factor. The mages in charge of construction, have had a lot of practice building stone buildings and sewers by now."
"Of course, your majesty... What about the large holes in the center? The hollow shafts have confused several of the builders."
"Well, I intended there to be elevators, but I left them out in order to put in something more simple… though I guess I will have to enchant platforms with the flying carpet spell, and have them go up and down those shafts, in order to carry people. It was intended to keep people from having to climb so many stairs. Though I do kind of expect mostly bird-kin to enjoy being that high up."
"Your majesty, another thing that bothered Pannath, was the unit of measurements. Each kingdom and race had their own measurements. The beaver-kin are used to measuring things in tail lengths, while the bird-kin mostly use the talon length, established by the raptor-kin. None of these match the measurements your mages are using…"
"Of course, they won't. The knowledge rune covers that."
"Um…"
"No, seriously. The knowledge rune will give both the universal value, that the knowledge unit measures, and every unit of measurement the caster recognizes."
"I am afraid I don't understand," she squeaked looking miserable.
Joseph considered just sending the information into her head, but decided he had a few minutes, and needed to work on his social skills. Stella had told him the other day they needed some work.
"Alright. Consider I measure the distance between us currently, with the MEASUREMENT spell. I will get the answer back in unbiased units: feet, inches, light-seconds, AU, kilometers, imperial donches, standard donches, etc. Every measurement you recognize, is returned, but the one you expect, and probably need, is listed first. Time is measured in days, years, hours, centidays, seconds, true seconds, etc. too. It's a bit confusing at first. My father had people from all three kingdoms, and none of them measured the same way. We already had to deal with that. We had to train the mages in the knowledge college to always use unbiased units that the KNOWLEDGE rune itself recognizes, to keep everything consistent. Let Pannath know to report to the TECHNOLOGY college. I need people like him in the research department. I have a feeling I am using far more stone in the walls than I actually need to, but I don't want to risk a collapse, and I'm not certain how to calculate the appropriate values."
"Of course, your majesty. I'll see to it immediately." She gave him a smile, before darting off, looking much relieved.
Stella passed her in the hall, carrying a large plate of cookies. Her eyes followed the cat girl, as her orange tail disappeared around the corner.
"What was that all about?" she asked, holding the plate out for him to take one. They were still warm, and just crispy along the outer edges.
"I think she was chosen to be the one to bring all of the worker complaints to me, because she hasn't figured out how to stand up for herself yet. I think she's making progress, though. The last time I saw her, she couldn't say a complete sentence without stuttering every other word. We actually held an entire conversation, and she only stuttered once."
"That's great, but don't we have a meeting? I think they may try and start without us, if we don't hurry."
"Ha, that's funny, since I'm the only one who knows why they're here."
"Then we really shouldn't be late, huh?"
Grabbing another couple of cookies, Joseph turned with a laugh and continued to the dining hall. When he stepped through the door, it was easy to see that everyone was already there, waiting on him.
"I have a few announcements to make, and much of it involves re-organizing," began Joseph, as everyone settled into their chairs and gave him their full attention.
"Stephan, I want you to start training Becky and the nurses in healing. They are not going to compete with the healing college but be a separate entity. Basic knowledge that they possess, like sanitation and diagnosis, are incredibly helpful.
"Becky, you will be in charge of your department, and Lucy will be the administrator and a direct subordinate to you.
"Derek, you are going to become the head of the elemental combined college, and hand over your role as head of the EARTH college to Bryan, your second.
"Cassandra was one of the people who received the LIFE rune. You will be in charge of the ENCHANTMENT college. Brandon, you are the same as Cassandra, and will be in charge of the GATE college. Brandon, you will not be able to appoint more people to your department without my direct approval for now. We can't risk any accidents breaking the wall around the realm. It is keeping the demons out. We do need more people capable of TELEPORT.
"I shouldn't have to remind any of you, that ENCHANT and TELEPORT can be learned by one spell in each of ten different runes, and all LIFE rune spells count for another rune as well.
"Vincent, you were also given LIFE knowledge directly, the day I first spoke it. You are in charge of the LIFE College.
"All of the warrior bloodline will need to learn the LIFE rune, and I wish it to be the first rune children learn. It takes half as long to learn the LIFE rune as others, so 50 hours of practice for Wizar with perfect memories, and 100 for others. This will be, by far, the largest college by numbers alone, so everyone will need to assist as needed. You may be called to assist in lectures and teaching on your spell in the LIFE rune.
"Tekaun," Joseph said, turning to her.
"Yes, my Kenrick?"
"I am going to hold a class this evening for the spirit mages. I learned a lot when destroying the barrier on the elven forest, and I haven't had a chance to share it yet.
"Theon, the necromancers should also benefit from attending."
"Yes, your Kenrick…er Majesty."
Joseph laughed. "It's fine, Theon. Whichever of the titles you are most comfortable with."
"First one?"
"Yes, Blade?"
"Some of the…new people, say you have gained the title of Demon King?"
"Ah, yes. In their realm, most of the kin were labeled demons. Since I've seen actual demons, I knew they were full of shavist, but the title stuck. Basically, it is the title for the leader of any group of non-pure humans in their realm."
"Ah," Blade nodded in understanding.
Joseph smiled and looked at the poor boy.
"Did you think bad thoughts about your king?"
"Uh…no my lord…er, your majesty…I was…"
"It's ok, I understand the confusion. You are fine, Blade. Just keep weird questions to meetings like this, instead of the coronation ceremony, ok?"
"Yes, your highness."
Stella looked at him. "You really are going to need to pick a single set of honorifics, Joseph."
"It certainly seems like it," he agreed with a sigh, before turning back to the group before him.
"Alright. Carlos, you are going to be in charge of the ANIMAL college. Being a bear-kin, I believe you still possess the ability to speak with animals? Therefore, I am promoting you to head of the college, despite your current lack of understanding of magic. I'm sure it won't take you long to get caught up.
"Andrew, Anya, you will not be a new college, but will be cooperating with the agriculture department to ensure we have plenty to eat. Andrew and Anya? I expect the two of you to help Carlos. He's determined, but just like the kingdom mages had terrible teaching practices, the realm he is from operated differently, so he has to play some catch-up.
"Fred is a bunny-kin who possesses fantastic hearing. He also plays several instruments."
Several of the girls looked at the bunny man interested. Joseph glanced at Stella.
"Ok, so it's not just guys," she said, throwing her hands in the air, much to the amusement of everyone in the room.
"Fred, you are going to take over the SOUND college.
"Issa, I expect your assistance with this, as SOUND is pretty much required for ILLUSION.
"Lilly, the LIGHT college can assist Issa if she needs it.
"Now, last is Boris. He was a dwarf from the other realm who fell in love with Stella. While I admit, he has good taste, I informed him I would END him should he try anything."
The dwarf nodded matter-of-factly, giving Stella a quick glance.
"Why is he being introduced then?" asked Nancy.
"He is going to be in charge of the college for TECHNOLOGY. He will work closely with the craftsmen and the FIRE, PLANT, EARTH, and MAKING/BREAKING colleges."
Stella muttered, "Not very subtle there, Joseph."
He ignored her and continued on.
"Now, the goal of every division, is to increase our strength in whatever way you can think of. I'll be honest with all of you. The monster to the north, that tried to kill everyone when I was a child, was the avatar of the god NURKONG. He is a god of death, destruction, and cold. There are at least four factions of demon worshipers still active, and one of those may belong to him. Should the demons open a portal and pour forth from their realm, or realms, in order to take over this realm, it will be difficult to stop them. NURKONG has pronounced an unending personal vendetta against Stella and me, because we stopped him once already, and killed one of his subordinate gods.
"My end goals are to remove the corruption from the world tree, restore the planet, kill the arch demons in charge of leading their forces into our realm, and dragging NURKONG from his divine realm into ours, so I can murder him for good. Stella and I have already killed a lesser god by surprise attacking him when he was distracted with a dragon. This time will be harder. He will do everything he can to harass and assault us in the meantime. Any questions?"
Selena nodded, "I think you explained that very well, little Joseph. I will talk with FIRE to see what is required to burn a god to death."
"Thanks, Selena."
(PLEASE DON'T ACTIVELY THREATEN GODS. THEY CAN HEAR YOU.)
'He started it, system.'
(PLEASE?)