Arthur looked around and teased, "I thought I would see new members here when I came back."
"What new member?"
Alicia asked as she came out with the big calf and threw it in front of Sonny.
"I haven't been here for two or three years, and you two are the only ones in the castle." Arthur's words stopped here.
And Xia Ya and Alicia also understood what Arthur meant.
Alicia stood up.
And Xia Ya laughed and joked, "I don't have a throne to inherit."
Arthur shrugged.
"Is there anyone you like?" Xia Ya asked.
Arthur was silent for a moment and said, "My heart has been given to this country."
"But you always have to get married, and the royal family will find a suitable person for you." Alicia came over and sat down, "Political marriage is something that every member of the royal family has to go through, even you can't make the decision yourself. "
Arthur was silent for a moment. He didn't seem to want to answer this question, but continued, "Let's talk about it then."
Arthur is indeed much more mature than before, and his tone of voice is not as childish as before, and his words are a little more reserved.
But it's normal. After all, he is the emperor now, and he does have to maintain some dignity. However, it is just due to the influence of habit, so he is still very relaxed when talking to them.
But all in all, they had a great time chatting, the food was delicious, and the rest of the ingredients that Alicia sprinkled on the grilled fish were also very good. Even after eating them all, some noodles with the soup were perfect.
The charcoal fire is constantly heating, and there is no need to worry about cooling the food. It is very suitable for chatting while drinking.
They chatted about their lives and interesting things over the years. Alicia also told him about the existence of the magic school, the beauty of the Sky Island, and the interesting things about the battle of wits and courage with those naughty students.
Char told Arthur some future domestic affairs suggestions, and Arthur also told what he learned about Britannia during this period.
Selim Lake on one side is rippled by the breeze, and the waves are undulating. The snow-capped mountains stretch in the distance. It is approaching winter, so it is a bit chilly.
They gathered around the warm stove, eating delicious food, drinking fine wine, admiring the beautiful scenery, and chatting with family members they had not seen for a long time. It was extremely comfortable and joyful.
They chatted until Selimu Lake was illuminated by a fiery red glow.
Arthur also said goodbye to Char and Alicia, and left the castle with Sonny.
Although the war is over, it is also at this time that the domestic government affairs are the most intense.
Another longer journey has just begun, and Arthur's fate will also go in another direction today.
Whether it is more glorious or gradually declining, at this moment, even Xia Ya is not 100% sure.
However, what is certain is that at this moment, Arthur has already firmed up a certain belief in his heart, and he has made some kind of realization and decision.
However, Xia Ya is still not sure what this decision is.
Alicia ordered the dishes to be cleared away automatically and jumped into the sink to wash herself.
Xia Ya, on the other hand, lay on the hanging basket after eating and drinking, lazily watching the sunset in the distance. The sunset continued to turn red, the clouds and mist on the horizon and the undulating mountains turned red, and the scenery of Sailimu Lake turned red. The setting sun dyes the calm lake surface into a colorful and magnificent world.
After packing up, Alicia also climbed into the hanging basket, lay on him, pillowed on his shoulder and also admired the sunset.
Xia Ya tilted her head and gently rubbed her hair with his face, but his eyes always remained on the beautiful scenery.
Food can heal people's hearts, but Xia Ya feels that beautiful scenery is even more healing.
When you feel depressed, all the mountains, lakes, grasslands and sunsets in front of you are asking you with a vitality stronger than anyone else: "What are you sad about?"
While quietly gazing at these beautiful scenery, you will feel that your soul is integrated with the mountains, rivers and lakes, playing a silent rhythm of life with them.
It was an indescribable feeling.
"Char." Alicia whispered softly, "Do you want a child?"
"Having a blood relative connected by blood will bring about more destiny entanglements." Xia Ya whispered softly, "But the problem is not big, I should be able to handle it well."
"If you really want it, I know a secret technique that can increase the probability to a certain extent."
Hearing this, Alicia raised her head and looked at him expectantly.
"What?"
Since the last time she saw Helen, Alicia has not actually mentioned anything about these things.
Xia Ya always felt that Alicia didn't care, but now it seems that she still has some expectations.
Of course, Char knew Alicia very well.
It is not because she has the traditional concept of "carrying on the family line" that she wants to have a child.
They are all immortals and do not need these things, nor do they need such descendants to support them in their old age.
However, if such a life comes with their common blood, she will feel joy and happiness.
That is the miracle of life, the joy derived from biological instinct.
Of course, she won't force it, but will always retain a sense of expectation.
Xia Ya raised his hand and groped from his sleeve for a while, then took out a box and placed it on the ground.
Char set up a space expansion spell in the sleeve of his magic robe, which was the kind of magic used in Tony's box, creating an effect similar to the universe in his sleeve.
"What is that?" Alicia straightened up and sat beside the hanging basket, her bare feet hanging down naturally.
"Preparation for this secret technique." Xia Ya said.
He opened the box.
Alicia looked over and saw that there were some clothes in the box, but the styles were completely different from the clothes of this era.
"This is something Tony synthesized using alchemy." Xia said.
After Charia helped him refine the Philosopher's Stone before, he gave Charia this box and said that Charia would definitely like it.
But Xia Ya never took it out.
"Clothes?" Alicia said.
Xia Ya nodded and said seriously.
"In certain special ceremonies, you need to wear certain clothes. You should understand, right?"
Alicia nodded, "There are similar ones in some of the Druid sacrificial rituals I've seen."
She got off the hanging basket, squatted down next to the box, and took out something from the box. It looked like pants, but the material was very thin and transparent, and it felt good.
"Are these pants?"
"It's stockings." Xia Ya said, "To be precise, it's called stockings."
Alicia suddenly realized that stockings also existed in this era, but they didn’t look like pants and were not so thin. It's so thin it's almost like it doesn't exist.
She thought about how it looked when she put it on, and her earlobes couldn't help but turn red.
"Is this really wearable?"
"Of course you can't just wear this." Xia Ya said, "There is still a skirt."
Alicia nodded, stretched out her hand and took out a blue and white checkered pleated skirt from the box.
She compared the skirt on her body and found that the skirt was so short that it could only cover some key areas, and there was almost no obstruction from her thighs down.
"There should be other clothes?" Alicia asked.
"Of course." Xia Yayong took out a short-sleeved white shirt from the box. The white shirt was also very thin but very clean. "This is a top."
"No, what I'm talking about is" Alicia's cheeks turned red, "Is this skirt too short?"
"This kind of clothes is called JK, which is derived from the abbreviation of an alien creature. It is necessary to prepare for the ceremony." Xia Ya said seriously, "Of course, if you don't want to wear it, you can."
Charia took the skirt from Alicia's hand and put it in the box to pack it away.
"Wait a minute." Alicia said. She was silent for a moment and said, "There shouldn't be anyone else in this ceremony, right?"
"It's just you and me." Xia Ya said.
Alicia exhaled a breath and said, "That's okay, where should this ceremony be held?
In the Druid sacrificial books, I have seen that many sacrificial rituals require going to special locations, such as sacrificial pillars used to communicate with gods. "
"No need to bother." Xia Ya closed the box, holding the box in one hand, and holding Alicia's hand with the other, "Just follow me upstairs."
With that said, he directly pulled Alicia up the stairs.
After sealing the God of Sleep, the power of destiny in his body was completely exhausted, and the several destinies he had woven basically entered a period of silence, and nothing major would happen in the world in a short period of time.
So Xia Ya could only wait for the passage of time and then do other things to pass the time.
When Hypnos comes out, Char believes that the power of destiny he can recover will be very huge.
After all, it is the fate of a god, so it goes without saying.
But during this time, Chara was also paying attention to Arthur with clairvoyance.
The imperial capital of the Spanish Empire was moved to ruins after the last war, but Thanatos restored it to its original state and resurrected all humans who died because of the divine war.
After Arthur attacked the Imperial Capital that day, the defenders inside the Imperial Capital asked for help. The nearby defenders rushed over as quickly as possible. Some of them were affected by the divine war, and some of them also saw Arthur's release. The glory of the Holy Sword.
When the radiance of the holy sword fell, it was not only Hypnos' host body that was shattered, but also the will of the country's army.
Next, the Spanish Empire announced its defeat and surrender and signed a surrender agreement. Arthur exempted the Spanish Empire from compensation, but in order to give an explanation to the country, Arthur asked for several Caribbean islands.
The following year, the Spanish Empire announced its disintegration due to domestic conflicts and was divided into three countries.
The frontline war was dealt with, and Arthur gradually shifted his target to the country.
So far, the power structure in Britannia is still very complicated. It can be roughly divided into four types. One is the large aristocratic class with fiefdoms, and the other is the gradually rising bourgeoisie and imperial power.
Arthur also needs to consider the balance between the people of this country and these forces, which is still very taxing.
The nobles of Britannia are very similar to those in medieval Europe, probably because they originated in Britain.
Some are simple nobles with no fiefdoms, only names, and some are large nobles who own a large amount of land.
These great nobles are also lords. Their territory is not just a piece of land, but a combination of property, rights, income and power.
By occupying most of the land, they supported their local political and economic influence, and sometimes even used it to compete with the central imperial power.
Peasants or serfs on the land needed to pay land rent to the nobles, money for hunting and collecting firewood in the noble territory, fees for using tools such as mills, and various feudal obligations.
In the early days, these nobles even had the power to collect taxes.
But because these nobles did not have to work, they only cared about collecting land rent. Most of them did not care about how to manage the land or improve technology, but simply increased the burden on farmers.
The fundamental reason is that the land in Britannia is too vast and cannot be managed without enfeoffment.
In the past, the royal family relied heavily on the nobles, and in case of war, they had to summon the nobles to lead their soldiers to fight.
At that time, the nobles had absolute power in the territory, were loyal to the Pope, and put the country second.
So later, several emperors of Britannia began to weaken the power of the nobility.
For example, it turned the church into an organization that obeyed the imperial power, weakened the power of the great nobility, established a standing army, strengthened the military power of the imperial power, and took control of the power of taxation, which effectively guaranteed internal rule and external expansion.
Absolute monarchy is established, that is, monarchy, and the monarch has the greatest, generally speaking, supreme power.
The era of absolute monarchy was an era in which the military power of the nobility was gradually stripped away, and a standing army loyal to the king developed.
However, after many twists and turns, although the standing army is extremely powerful, Britannia has not been able to eliminate the hidden danger of mercenary rebellions by the nobles and autonomous cities.
Even if the monarch established a standing army to attack the great nobles, the system in which the nobles served as intermediaries to recruit and command the army did not fundamentally change.
The emperor needed to use enough funds, privileges and personal prestige to appease the nobles to ensure that military power was in his hands.
Later, during the Moria period, he was also working on taking back the power of the nobles.
He planned to imitate the eastern county system, take back the administrative power of the nobles, strengthen centralization, and plan to put all the nobles in the imperial capital to become a special group that collects fixed wages.
However, he did not carry out this kind of reform from the beginning, but reformed the military power first. The legislation did not allow the nobles to organize the army during non-war times.
Only nobles who are "allowed" can organize armies and conduct border garrison, and the Marquis of Os is such a person.
The nobles of Britannia basically need to serve, because they or their fathers were nobles who relied on military honors in the past. In this era when quality education was not yet widespread, they were rare generals.
The nobles are actually not opposed to this, because many nobles' feudal income has dropped sharply due to factories, and they can no longer afford to support an army.
After reclaiming military power, Moria was ready to begin reclaiming administrative power.
However, this news was leaked by Victor. The nobles were naturally unwilling to lose their power and become a group of mascots, so he united the rest of the nobles to resist Moria.
The country fell into civil strife. Moria used the army to suppress the rebellion, but it still could not be solved. Britannia was too big for the army to manage.
Some big nobles even had vague intentions of declaring independence. Moria obviously couldn't agree, so he chose to make a partial compromise with the nobles.
This is also the reason why today's Parliament of Nobles exists.
Yes, Britannia actually has a parliament, and enjoys certain legislative and administrative powers, and even has certain rights to recruit troops. It is similar to a constitutional monarchy, but the power of the nobles and the emperor is divided.
However, this parliamentary system is imperfect, leading to partisan politics, and the aristocrats' tendency to cling to groups has become more serious. The increase in the power of the aristocracy has also made the people more exploited.
But it is undeniable that with the establishment of the Noble Parliament, the previous conflicts of the nobility were resolved through civil strife instead of being resolved through rules, which reduced the violent social unrest.
Moreover, because of the establishment of the Noble Council, Moria's revised county system was implemented, and power was recovered, albeit only to the Noble Council.
However, this has also successfully implemented "one country, one law", that is, one country uses one set of laws, and judicial fairness is also promoted. At the same time, it also increases unity and reduces the possibility of division.
However, after Moria failed to regain the power of the nobles, it was not that they did nothing. Instead, they carried out a series of economic and military reforms and promoted the professionalization of the army.
The reason why Arthur was able to fight against the Western French Empire and the Spanish Empire for so long at the same time was due to his ability on the one hand, and the family fortune left by Moria on the other.
After Arthur succeeded to the throne, he began to reform this parliamentary system, adding a House of Commons composed of civilians to the Parliament of Nobles.
The main purpose is to give civilians a voice while competing with the House of Representatives.
Of course, the common people here do not refer to the working and peasant classes, but to the non-aristocratic class.
Most of them are the newly rising bourgeoisie. They have higher education and wealth comparable to the aristocrats. These are the basis for competing with the aristocrats.
Initiating the rule of the people in an era when quality education has not yet become popular for all people will undoubtedly lead to mass politics. This is the lesson he learned in the Western French Empire.
And at the same time, Arthur also strengthened his imperial power on this basis.
The monarch is the head of state and has real power. The monarch appoints cabinet members. The government is responsible to the monarch. The parliament exercises legislative power but the monarch has veto power.
In this form of government, although the country has also formulated a constitution and established a parliament, the monarch still maintains the authority of the feudal autocratic era, holds state power alone, and is the center of power and the highest actual ruler.
The constitution is often decreed by the emperor and reflects the will of the monarch; the parliament is the advisory body of the monarch, and the legislative power is formal. The monarch not only has the power to veto parliamentary legislation, but also controls the parliament by appointing or designating members.
The cabinet is the institution through which the monarch exercises executive power, and the prime minister is appointed by the monarch.
This system is called a dual constitutional monarchy.
(End of chapter)
