novelraw Chapter 16
Chapter 16
16~ Proposal~
The strength of the group of mountain bandits wasn't particularly strong, but in this kind of remote place, they could already be local mountain kings. But the question was, how could mages be mixed in among a group of mountain bandits? Especially Great Mages who were held in high esteem outside.
You should know that mage was a very popular profession. Their combat power was considerable. Used properly, they could match a small military unit. If strong enough, they could even resist a modest-sized regular army. Outside, they were what every adventuring party wanted to recruit.
Mages were divided into six levels in total: Mage Apprentice, Apprentice Mage, Official Mage, Great Mage, Archmage, Great Archmage.
Among them, Great Mages were pretty much already top-tier when placed outside. Archmages and Great Archmages were mostly cultivated and produced by a nation's royal family or great nobles.
Magical talent had a theoretical limit. Relying on talent alone, it was simply impossible to climb to the Archmage level. Only through continuous selection and cultivation was it possible to cultivate an Archmage, while Great Archmages were only possessed by truly great nations.
Intuition told her that this group of mountain bandits was very wrong. How could a Great Mage join among them? Could the money obtained from randomly joining an adventuring party be less than following a bunch of mountain bandits burning, killing, and plundering?
Although after the Empress ascended the throne, she suppressed the Adventurers' Guild within the territory to consolidate imperial power and launch reforms, even so, the Adventurers' Guild remained very large.
"Just send people to investigate later."
The Empress waved her hand indifferently, signaling Ling to continue driving back to the palace.
Just a bunch of mountain bandits. Even with a Great Mage, they only operated between a few mountain peaks. What kind of waves could they stir up?
The little Princess continued lying flat. Although somewhat puzzled during the two's conversation, she still didn't bring it up.
It wasn't her business anyway.
The carriage traveled forward all the way, finally returning to the palace close to dusk.
After getting off the carriage, the little Princess was carried back to the bedchamber by Ling, while as soon as the Empress got off the carriage, someone came to tell her a few things. She then hurriedly left, no one knew to do what.
It had nothing to do with her anyway, as long as she wasn't tortured like that time by the seaside.
...
...
"Your Highness, if you're tired, please sleep first. Her Majesty won't be returning tonight."
"Who cares if she returns or not? You make it sound like I want to wait for her."
The little Princess flopped into bed, not forgetting to tell Ling to close the door properly when leaving.
"..."
Couldn't sleep, simply couldn't sleep! She didn't know why she suddenly couldn't sleep tonight when the Empress wasn't here. She figured it was because the Empress wasn't here, she was too excited to sleep. So she lit the lamp again and pulled out the Empress's notebook to read page by page.
Just when she was absorbed in reading, Ling suddenly pushed the door open and brought in some small pastries to place on the table, as if she'd long anticipated she wouldn't be able to sleep.
The little Princess was first puzzled, then after hearing what Ling said, she exploded.
"Who said I can't sleep without her? I'm just not tired because I slept quite a bit on the road! Who needs to sleep with her to be able to fall asleep?"
"If Your Highness still can't sleep in the middle of the night, you can call me."
After speaking, Ling withdrew again.
"..."
Tch, mere hentai Empress. Meeting her was truly eight lifetimes of bad luck!
Calming down to continue flipping through the notebook, all the way until late at night. The lights inside and outside the Imperial City had basically all been extinguished, but she still didn't have much drowsiness.
After closing the notebook and blowing out the lamp to lie back in bed, planning to sleep as usual, but after closing her eyes for over ten minutes, her mind still remained clear.
Seemed like she really couldn't sleep...
"Ling!"
Not long after, the Maid Ling appeared at her side, holding a bowl of fragrant and still steaming black tea in her hands, sleeping black tea.
"Your Highness, this can guarantee you sleep until dawn. I deliberately put in less, so you won't oversleep."
She was somewhat speechless. So what Ling meant by helping her fall asleep was using computer parts to knock her out. Thank you so much!
However, forget it. Compared to not being able to sleep now and being dead tired during the day tomorrow, this didn't seem like much.
She picked up the black tea and drank it down. Not long after, the medicinal effect began to take hold. Drowsiness began to appear and continuously deepened until she completely fell asleep.
Watching the little Princess fall asleep, Ling also yawned.
She could go rest now too. The Empress's side didn't need her to go over. She just needed to rest here while paying a bit of attention to the surroundings.
...
...
The next day, hearing movement, the little Princess's eyes slightly opened a crack to glance at who came, then continued staying in bed.
"Mo, time to get up."
The Empress sat at the bedside and pushed her. Seeing no response, she reached her hand deep into the blanket, climbing all the way up along her leg.
"Stop, stop, stop. I'll get up, okay?"
"Go wash up now. I'll wait for you here."
Not knowing what madness the Empress was having again, she was too lazy to ask. If she asked, she'd probably be brushed off again, same as not answering.
After washing up and returning, she saw the Empress leaning against the headboard, seemingly asleep.
Although very annoying, her appearance with eyes closed sleeping was still quite pretty, meeting her type standards.
Not knowing if it was because the Empress was asleep, she became bolder. After lightly pinching the Empress's face and discovering no response, she directly grabbed a pen from the side, preparing to leave a turtle on her face as revenge.
"Have you had enough fun?"
The Empress with closed eyes suddenly spoke. The little Princess's small hand immediately froze in midair. Then several "正" characters appeared on the inside of her thigh, and she was required not to wipe them off until bathing tonight.
Fortunately, the skirt was long enough. As long as there wasn't too much height difference, looking from below wouldn't see them. But Ling, as the Empress's personal maid, saw the "正" characters on the inside of her thigh after picking her up.
"Don't overthink it, don't ask too much."
"Understood, Your Highness."
Arriving at the great hall where court was normally held, Mo experienced the feeling of attending court for the first time. Glaze Nation didn't have this process. They generally managed the country directly through correspondence.
My goodness, never expected to have the fortune of experiencing attending court in another world...
Today's court session had an extra person sitting on the Empress's lap, but the ministers below didn't dare question it. From this, one could see how great the Empress's power was. Not like her father, who had to discuss with his subordinate ministers when implementing things. She was completely an emperor who reigned supreme over all.
"Mo, what do you think I should do if I want to weaken the power in the nobles' hands?"
"How would I know?"
The little Princess replied perfunctorily.
"Then how were Glaze Nation's nobles weakened?"
"..."
Of course, it was she who proposed it to her father.
Seeing no way to avoid this question, she could only also propose to the Empress.
"First like this... then this way... then like this and this... finally like that and that... (too much here, directly abbreviated and skipped)"
Use changing the noble inheritance system to cause internal division and weaken their power? This was indeed a good method. Much better than the forceful measures she'd originally thought of. It both diverted the direction of conflict and could weaken noble power effortlessly. It just required a bit more time.
"Good. We'll do as you say."
The Empress tightened her arms, pressing the little Princess against her chest and gently stroking her.