Several months passed. Mountains upon mountains of work awaited me at the royal palace.
The war ended in Celden’s capitulation, as expected. They simply lacked the means to keep fighting. Many of their soldiers were killed, and they wasted much of their national resources on the effort. Discontent bubbled up from Celdenian civilians, and the political situation threatened to boil over. The friction between the citizens and the state was about to ignite.
Reactions from other nations were also difficult for Ausgrid to deal with, particularly ones who shared friendly relations with the Celden Republic. Celden’s own actions put these countries in a tough position; even their staunchest allies were unsure of how to respond. This led to Celden being unable to sustain the war for long, and they essentially had to offer their unconditional surrender to end the fighting.
After the war was over, the royal palace went back to cleaning up after the Great Five.
“A pleasure to see you safe and sound, Queen Luxeria,” Gilbert said with an uncharacteristic smile, passing several documents to me. The image of his grin was burned into my mind, even as I devoted myself to more work.
“Gilbert, are you tired? Normally you would never show your feelings so plainly,” I said.
“I suppose I must be.”
He seemed aware, at least, given the bitter smile he sported. He looked better off than Morgan and Brian, who stood at his side.
“I know it’s not my place to say this, but the three of you really should get some rest. It’ll help your efficiency.”
“Well… Yes, that’s true.”
I shuffled through the documents they’d handed me as we talked. “The framework of our postwar negotiations has further solidified. All we need to do now is refine some points and open diplomatic channels. As far as domestic matters go… Regarding phase one of our reforms, we have expelled the rest of the bureaucrats who benefited from the Great Five’s corruption. We are also mostly finished converting their regional governances into ones controlled by the crown. That should finish up in about a month or two. A single day of relaxation shouldn’t affect operations much at all.”
“I suppose you’re right, Your Majesty.”
“I know I am. And once phase one has finished, we will truly be rid of the rats that infested this kingdom. You should be able to relax a bit more then. Your team should take turns with who goes on breaks once things have been settled.”
“Huh? But—”
“No buts,” I insisted. “Keep yourself in peak condition so you may continue to serve me.”
“A-all right, Your Majesty. Thank you!”
“Now then. I plan to present new policies at the next meeting,” I said.
“For what?”
“First off, establishing a school. This is nonnegotiable.”
They were initially confused to hear this, but Gilbert seemed to understand my idea quickly enough. “What’s the plan?”
“I would like a school where children can learn about magic from a young age.”
“Ooh. So you wish to create a proper place of learning, rather than a research institute?”
“Correct. I want to establish a school to educate children on the proper handling of magic to reduce the incidents of magic running rampant.”
“A school made just for mages could feed prejudice among the public.”
“I agree,” I replied. “Therefore, I propose the school should accept children without magic as well.”
“Hmm. But wouldn’t that clash with the stated goal of your school?”
“That’s easy enough to solve,” Brian interjected. “Perhaps we should let the students choose which courses they wish to take? Mages can take classes related to magic, and those without magic can focus more on general academics. Would that be sufficient?”
“A good idea. A compromise should be possible as long as we determine which courses should be required of both parties. That way we can have them study together while having some freedom in what other courses to take.”
“The ultimate goal of this school project is to reduce prejudice toward mages, right?” Morgan piped up.
I tilted my head. “No. My ultimate goal is for people to feel free to use magic in their daily lives as if it were completely normal, to the benefit of our nation.”
“I see,” Morgan replied. “Then it would be wise to include courses designed to train students in practical labor.”
“Another sound proposal,” I told him. “But we could also just make an institution specifically designed for that.”
“We must decide on what courses will be covered, as well as the scale of the institution. Research must be done on how many schools we can open across the nation, as well as how much it would cost to run them.”
“Yes, I know.”
Morgan nodded. “Good. Then I will write down what we discussed into a formal proposal and hand it off to you for confirmation.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
“Mm-hmm.”
After the three of them left, Alicia entered the room, all smiles.
“You’ll be taking a break too, right, Your Majesty?”
“Um, ahh…” I averted my gaze.
“You will, riiight? It’d be a real problem for everyone if you overworked yourself again, you know.”
The pressure was enough to make me sigh. “Fine. I just can’t say no to you, Alicia.”
My lady-in-waiting was delighted to hear it.