(Reyvin's POV)
"The final amendments, as you requested. Your Majesty." Vayrin Indoril set the downright chonky tome atop my desk, his back straightening by a good few centimeters at the loss of weight.
"Very well" I nodded "Let's see if you finally managed to do all I asked of you."
The Indoril offered a deep bow, not a sign of discomfort at my remark, and stepped back to join the two dozen other legal scholars from all over Tamriel.
Admittedly, most of them were Dunmer or Imperial in origin but there were a few Nords, and Redguards dispersed in there, as well as a couple of Altmer and a Khajiit with a fu manchu goatee and a pair of round glasses.
That cat man knew how to make an impression.
'Stop delaying.' Scorch crowed 'Read n'wah, read!'
Holding back a groan, I flipped open the first page of the codex, and cast a minor temporal acceleration spell on myself.
To the group of scholars, it must have looked like I was just flipping through the pages, but as much as I would have liked to do it, the grand lawmaking effort was my own idea, so I was forced to meticulously go through every single rule they came up with.
This was the sixth Dagoth damned revision as well!
Despite my whinging, it took me only five objective minutes to read through it all, and for once I found myself mostly satisfied with what I found.
"It seems the lot of you finally got the message." I hummed aloud.
One of the Altmer piped up before anyone else could "Well, Your Majesty's focus on... repurposing the lowest rungs of our society was... unusually generous. It took some getting used to is all."
"Yes, yes" I waved him off "I realize it is sometimes simpler to just execute most troublemakers but with the need to rebuild the continent and repopulate abandoned areas putting them to work is much more efficient."
I scoffed "And a small part of me hopes some of the idiots can be redeemed and reintegrated after performing honest work for long enough."
"Not that Khajiit disagrees, Great Mane." The glass-wearing cat-man spoke up, slowly removing said glasses and awkwardly wiping them with his robes the moment my eyes landed on him "But some of the crimes that are traditionally considered lesser carry a much greater sentence by your order. May we know why this is?"
I frowned 'Some parts of this world are still so god damn uncivilized' "Because some things need to be treated as sacred if we want to live in a stable and good society." Is what I settled on saying "Crimes that target our children, or those that ruin the base dignity of others will thus have no quarter given."
"Though" I drawled "We have already been over this multiple times."
"Merely a confirmation, Great Mane" The cat-man bowed deeply.
"Indeed" Vayrin Indoril spoke up "This occasion will be discussed for many years to come. Having your blessed opinion known plainly makes our path much clearer."
'Even years later, his genuine belief somehow manages to surprise me' I grumbled internally "Very well then."
I clapped my hands, and Indoril pulled out his official scroll and quill.
Taking a short breath, I let my voice carry clearly across the whole chamber.
"Let it be known, that thirty days hence, on the 2nd of Midyear of the tenth year of the Fifth Era, under the authority of Empress Minthara Septim, the Penal Code, and Civil Code revisions 6 will be going into full effect across all the lands administered by the Tamrielic Empire, superseding all local traditions and laws."
The official vellum scroll was quickly brought to me, and I sealed it with mine and Minthara's crest.
"Ready yourselves and your apprentices" I looked up and faced each and every scholar in turn "You will be faced with great challenges wherever you may go, but so too will you be the harbingers of a new age of law and order. Let no arrogant lordling stop you from executing your duties."
All of them bowed to me as one, and quickly shuffled out of my study.
Finally alone, save for my two silent guardians, I let out a tired groan "Ten god damn years of this shit." I grumbled "You'd think the reward for saving the world thrice over and uniting the continent would be a bit more fun, but nah. I have to write laws and shit."
Scorch poofed into existence atop my shoulder "Should have just let your wife do it then."
"And have another civil war on our hand?" I asked, tugging at my hair "She wanted to go 'full iron rule of law' on their asses the moment she got the chance. We'd be having rebellions by the month!"
"Yeah" Bird man of doom bobbed his head "But think of the war crimes!"
"I don't want to do anymore war crimes!" I complained "Our personal kills are already in the six digits, we don't need anymore!"
And of course the little shit let out an impressed whistle at that.
"Why do I even try?" I let my head flop atop my table and grumbled.
Ten fucking years of this, and we still weren't done fully stabilizing the situation.
Skyrim, Morrowind, and Cyrodiil were prospering like mad under our rule. My whole wide-range colonization effort had infected the rest of the 'core' provinces of our new empire like a plague and the economy was already exploding after the initial investments.
And so was the population.
The amount of Dunmeri births in recent years had the madmen slowly start deifying me, and all I got when I complained to Mephala was her usual amused tittering.
Not even Boethiah or Azura tried to dissuade them!
They were probably laughing at me from Oblivion.
Fucking highschool sorority, I swear.
The Crowns of Hammerfell tried resisting our reunification efforts but one short trip and show of draconic dominance by Minthara, joined by her now fanatical Forebear followers, and the desert dwellers were bowing and scraping as was their lot.
High Rock was relatively peaceful, even if I had to make almost yearly trips to resolve disputes between Durrak and Uthred's subjects, though thankfully the two of them remained cordial with each other.
I doubted the underlying conflicts between the Orsimer and Bretons would be solved before a few generations lived and died in peace with each other, but we were at least on the right track.
Alinor was... well needless to say, the place was just a touch... underpopulated as of recent years. They tried closing themselves off while still 'technically' serving the Empire but my own efforts stopped any kind of idiocy from occurring.
We considered forcing them to accept Minthara as their official Queen of Alinor, she had the divine right after all, but seeing as that would have just made things even more tense, we settled on them forming a Council of Kinlords where no Kinlord stood above another.
Just enough to keep them content, and more importantly, divided.
A few visits from my agents made sure unity between them would not sprout before loyalty to the Empire did.
Valenwood was another place that brought particular irritation to me specifically.
Most of the woods continued on as they always did, except for the towns and cities bordering the rest of our territory, where the forests were slowly being overtaken by glorious civilization, and what few remained of the Camoran dynasty were weakling puppets we could parade around as we wished.
The issue was, that Y'ffre and his goons refused to let up, and so I had to make a few more visits just to hammer home my point.
Which only exacerbated the whole 'Cult of the Ashen Tribulation' issue happening in Falinesti.
I don't even want to think about it anymore.
Elsweyr was surprisingly... completely on board with bringing things to a stable close.
The Mane was still a timid little shit who never even wanted to rule, but that timidness allowed us to divide and conquer the entire province on a diplomatic level. Offering minor concessions to some of the cities in exchange for their loyalty and support.
Even if those concessions were actually chains that were yet to be clamped around their necks.
Hehehehe.
The only part of Tamriel that so far remained outside of my grasp was Black Marsh, and it was no accident or failure that made it so.
Invading the Argonians was simply a massive waste of lives and resources that could be used on other things, like my colonization and repopulation plans, or the Minthara sponsored Atmoran expedition.
And so I did as my scheming self always did in such situations.
I started destroying them from within.
My agents moved through their lands like invisible shadows, ripping out what little remained of their Shadowscale Order, and slowly sewing the seeds of doubt and hatred between the many Argonian tribes, and more importantly between the populace and their Hist gods.
After all, did not the Hist sacrifice hundreds of thousands of their brethren for nothing?
I felt a touch guilty at how the province was now hurtling towards a massive civil war with no breaks in sight, but I also knew that allowing them to remain there independent forever would inevitably make someone act out.
Be that the Hist, Imperial Glory-Hounds, or Minthara herself.
At least no Daedra decided to act up-
No, best not finish that thought. Fuckers would probably do something just to spite me.
My musings were interrupted as Alor peeked into my study "My lord, an unscheduled visitor is asking for an audience."
"Who is it?" I forced my head up to meet his eyes.
"It's... Vakir. My lord." Alor winced "He wants to report his progress."
Holding back yet another groan, I waved my hand "Let him in, might as well get this over with."
Before the Falmer could even retreat his head fully, the doors of my study were shoved open by a bulky Orsimer dressed in full war plate, a downright unreasonable amount of scrolls and tomes secured firmly under his arm.
"Vakir" I greeted blandly "Here to enlighten me about your train ideas again?"
"Steam Dragons!" The orc corrected immediately "And yes, I have finally managed to come up with a commercially usable model! Your prohibition on using coals and fires was downright crippling, but I have recently managed to scoop up some great ideas from our underground cousins!"
"Oh my" My voice was utterly dry, having heard this four times already "Do tell?"
One might find themselves wondering, why entertain someone like this if they are so irritating?
And usually, I'd agree! The attachee Durrak sent from his new Grand Duchy of Orsinium had many privileges in the Imperial City, but pestering the Diarch of the entire Empire was not one of them.
Except, no matter how irritating the train obsessed lunatic was, he was also competent!
Crazy fucker even came up with a viable airship design, even if the things were prohibitively expensive, something that limited their use to only the most inhospitable mountainous terrains in need of colonization.
And the madman did it after spending only two years of studying Dwemertech and classical engineering!
In short, he annoyed the shit out of me, but he was also brilliant.
"Behold!" The orc announced, and unfurled a long scroll that was carved more than scribbled onto, filled with hundreds of tiny diagrams and ideas "An atmospheric Magicka amplifier!"
Ever so slowly, I allowed myself a blink.
And then immediately slowed my subjective time to a crawl as I began going though every single detail with as much excruciating focus as I could muster.
"This" I blinked as time snapped back into place "This actually looks workable."
"Aha!" The orc laughed "I knew you would see my brilliance!"
"Hold your horses" I snorted "Just because it is theoretically viable doesn't mean your enchantment matrixes aren't dogshit."
The fucking hunk of green meat had the temerity to pout at me.
"Bring it to the Grand Imperial College" I waved him off "Look for Magistrix Edrassa, she should be able to help you perfect this. After you are done, go to the Imperial Bank and open an account for a tunnel between Cyrodiil and Skyrim near the Pale Pass. Don't bother me again until it is done."
The tusked little shit beamed at me and quickly grabbed up his scrolls "You will not be disappointed! I swear on Malakath!"
"Yes, yes" I waved him off "Now off with you, shoo, I have other business to take care off."
He practically frolicked on his way out.
"Anyone else Alor?" I asked.
"No one for now, my lord." The Falmer answered after a moment.
"Fine then, that is enough work for today" I got up and stretched out of habit more than need "Don't call me unless it is an emergency."
"By your will."
I snapped my fingers, and reappeared in the Royal Apartments atop the tower.
And the scene awaiting within made all the irritation of the day slip off me like so much water.
A particularly large and particularly pale, six year old boy with wild red hair, blue eyes, and pointed ears was zooming around the room, chasing after a much older Falmer kid, while Nightshade sat in the corner of the room, watching them with great care even as she appeared relaxed.
At the other end of the room I saw a completely opposite scene.
Minthara was sitting utterly still, with a big smile on her face, as a three year old girl, equally pale and of black hair and pointed ears, and red eyes that were currently closed, was dosing off on her lap.
Naturally, my presence did not remain unnoticed for long, as the two boys stopped whatever they were doing, and Nightshade bowed.
Minthara's smile only grew wider as she saw me and she whispered "Finally done for the day?"
"Yeah" I smiled back "The legal team finally managed not to fu-" I felt Minthara's smile turn threatening and looked to the kids "Fumble things up too much, so the law project is getting underway as we speak."
"Good" Her smile turned from ice to honey in a blink "Now enough about work, the boys look like they are about to explode."
"Truly" I smiled teasingly and turned to the duo "And what-"
"Father!" My son interrupted "Varry says his father is stronger than you! You have to tell him he is wrong!"
"Apologies, Your Majesty-" The Falmer began to stutter out.
"Calm down Varador, I am not going to beat Davos up just because Martin is overeager" I snorted "Also stop it with the Your Majesty-es, I was there when you were born, kid."
He started muttering excuses while his mother directed me with a look of gratitude.
"Now then" I turned more serious "Martin."
My tone made him stand up straight.
"What exactly brough this on?" I asked.
"What makes you think I started it?" He crossed his arms and pouted at me.
I just raised my eyebrow at him and waited.
"Fine" He mumbled "We were training-"
My eyebrow raised further.
His little shoulder slumped "We were playing, and he beat me."
"Aaaand?" I pressed.
"And I said you could beat his dad anytime so I didn't need to win." He mumbled.
"Mhm" I nodded patiently, feeling more amused than anything else "And what does me being stronger have to do with you?"
He immediately went to answer the 'obvious' but despite his rowdiness he was a lot more intelligent than a child his age should be so all he did was slump his shoulder and admit "Nothing."
"Exactly." I nodded with a proud smile "When you lose admit the loss and get better, there is-"
"-no point in running from the truth." He finished for me, still all grumbly.
I ruffled his hair, much to his dismay, and nodded "Exactly. So apologize to your friend and go back to playing, and don't make trouble for Nightshade."
"Okaaay dad." He pouted and turned to his friend.
Shaking my head in amusement, I strolled over to Minthara who was now beaming at me and sat down next to her, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek as I did.
"You are too good with them." She muttered as she watched the two boys pick their practice swords again and go at it "He never listens to me."
The fact Martin was easily pushing back the nearly 11 years old Varador with each move was something I hoped wouldn't make him too arrogant in the future.
"Because you dote on him too much" I chuckled and looked down at the still sleeping girl "How is Elena?"
Minthara sighed in fond exasperation "Almost blew up another pillar by rising her voice too much. The poor guards are terrified of her."
"As they should be" I nodded smugly.
A gesture she followed immediately.
"Still set on your little Pyandonean visit?" I prompted after a while.
Unlike the last few times I asked, she looked down at our daughter, and then at our son, before slowly sighing "Maybe in a few years."
"Ha!" I laughed.
An act that swiftly earned me a punch to the arm.
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Welcome back my beloved miners, your presence was sorely missed.
That is all of my alloted time for a speech, get back to work!
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