[ Chapter II (2): "COUNCIL MEETING & THE REBELS" ]
Thinking that is very unlikely to happen, Maceo then calmled down. As he then stares at the green emerald eyes of the cowering woman besides him. Seeing her shiver again, may that be due to cold or fear, something inside him steered.
As he wants that to stop, so looking at the surroundings, he then noticed a coat... A coat hanging by the chair of the man sitting right besides mind; at the bear-like man with stack of papers in front.
Seeing that he could use that huge coat to cover the shivering lady, he then asked for it. Seemingly bold in his ways, [ "You, give that to me." ] He points, which was received by the man with confusion, but ultimately did what he was told.
Handing over the coat to him, Maceo felt the heaviness of it. As the coat covers his hand fully, causing him to put some strength in it, if not, then all. The coat long to the point that it touches the floor, [ "Thank you." ]
Seeing the intricate details in the coat, the gold, the silver, the crest, the everything placed in this beautiful coat. He couldn't help but covet it for himself, especially because he doesn't have one...
But he pushed that thought back as he then stood up under the watchful eye of the hundreds or-so individuals. Ignoring their stare, he approached the shivering lady before draping the coat over her; [ "Your shivering, dear. Have this to... keep you warm at the very least." ]
He could have sworn hearing someone gasp from afar, but he ignored it, before then carrying her small delicate body as he then sat back on his chair. This time, with her on his lap as she tries to process what is going on, as Maceo then stares at the crowd of onlookers. [ "Is there a problem?" ]
The crowd then coughed simultaneously as they avoided his gaze, seemingly trying to say no, but couldn't as something gets stuck to their throats. The woman sitting on his lap on the other hand seems to now realized what was going.
Her cheeks reddened with her eyes widening, as she stammers not being able to look at any of the High Ranking Officers' eyes, or at anything as she fears for her life.
Earlier before, when she was sitting right besides the Prince's chair, the attention wasn't on her. Sure, she did receive weird gazes from people time-to-time, which caused her to be shy, but this... This situation is different.
All eyes are now on here, more-so on her due to her sitting comfortably so in the lap of the future ruler of the Empire and current Prince of it... Which caused her to blush and think that this is a dream.
She subconsciously pinched her arm, weirdly enough feeling pain, which signalled and confirmed it to her. That yes, this is in fact reality... And she's blatantly disrespecting the Prince by sitting on his lap; a crime that in normal circumstance would have caused her and her family's life.
[ "I-I'm sorry, I-I'll get off..." ] About to get off the Prince, she was stopped by a hand. She stared and looks behind her and could see the Prince looking at him in confusion, seemingly asking her, "what are you doing?" Like she is the crazy person in this scenario.
Which should be the opposite, because this isn't normal, even bringing a woman in a Quarterly Meeting is abnormal. Furthermore someone which isn't his fiancé, that is abnormal. But now, with that said woman sitting on an engaged Prince's lap... THAT! That warrants a scandal, with her being the homewrecker in the scenario.
There is no way out of it, as she cries inside her, wanting to escape this place if she could. But with the hand seemingly holding her in place, she can't do any of that, as she tries to be strong and not do anything stupid that could get her parents and younger sister killed, [ "Continue with the meeting." ]
Thankfully after some time, the Prince looked pass her and instead focused on the Officials inside the council... Signalling for the meeting to continue, as the man that was previously speaking— Henry Zacharias the fifth to continue from where he left off.
The maiden on the other hand— Henrietta who is caught between a rock and a hard place couldn't let a single pip squeak, as she tries to as comfortably as she could sit on the Prince's lap, but also not to hurt him, and/or to obscure his vision from the report which takes importance than her comfortableness.
...
This lady is annoying... For a few minutes now the lady sitting on Maceo's lap could be felt by him and occasionally seen to be trying to move from side-to-side, causing him to lose focus and pay attention to the speaker which is talking about squashing the rebellion or something.
[ "Hey, stop squirming around." ] In annoyance and for her comfort, he pulled her. Causing her head to fall also, hitting his chest which he ignored; hearing her breathing calming down as the seconds goes by.
Straightening his back, so that he could sit comfortably. He then watches carefully as the floating holograph in front shows him the map of District 13, 14, seemingly connected to one another. Few places having red dotted lines as he looks.
The admiration hidden behind his stoic appearance, wouldn't want the people to see him salivating in seeing this high technology never before seen in his world.
He cranes his neck, as the speaker, someone that looks pompous but is really great at reporting, and also speaking that every word seems to have been calculated, meticulous. Making even Maceo who doesn't know anything about fighting, war, or squashing a rebellion insight on what was and is going on.
[ "The rebels have forsaken the Royal Family, raiding nearby houses. Thankfully due to a raid conducted by the local warriors, we we're able to know where they are, their bases, and how many they are." ]
[ "But at the moment, my Lord, Grand Regent, we ask for aid, as the problem in District 13 and 14 are seemingly beyond our reaches, as... Sadly, this rebels have places in other Districts, or so we heard." ]
The man stopped speaking, as the map in front zooms out, to show the other Districts. Those Districts seemingly either close or apart from one another, each one having different style of architecture and landmasses which caught Maceo's eyes.
Maceo smiles in seeing this in real-time, as he screams inside his head. He didn't have a sense of scale on how big the Kingdom he is supposed to rule in the future, but apparently it is pretty big... So big in fact that he couldn't believe such things exist.
He a nobody now reincarnates as a Prince of some wealthy, technologically advanced Kingdom... If he isn't wrong, then a Planet... Which is a great thing, because it means he could slack off and not worry every again about wealth, sleep about 25 hours each week and so-on and so-forth.
Focused on digesting the information in front of him, he couldn't believe but be in awe, as the people all the Officials around him panic from the information that was given to them... Why are they panicking?
[ "There has to be a mistake!" ]
[ "This cannot be, the information here doesn't add up. Is the data you acquired not false in any sense, District Commander?" ]
[ "We have fact checked everything madam Commissar, the data given is not wrong in the slightest." ]
What's going on? Maceo absorbed everything, watching carefully in how everyone acted. Some are calm, but are hiding the panic in their eyes— he could see. Some are on the fence and aren't believing the data. And most are angry, protesting and even wanting to attack.
And one person especially seems to be worried, as he furtows his brows, before then massaging it. To be precise the man sitting besides him, the one he took the coat of; He could hear the man muttering something to himself, [ "This... is... problem." ]
Or in-between those lines, as he then notices the absurdity. Not just from him, but also from the men and women around here, their lip are forming words differently in how it should be spoken...
Which should be weird, even Maceo is doing it. He wants to say the word, "thank you" for example. He did say that earlier, but what came out of his mouth is different... But he still understood it as thank you, even the other words he spoke, or heard.
All aren't English, the primary language that he spoke and use to day-to-day. As it... It is weirdly enough is English, but not at the same time. A perk or some sorts he acquired in inhabiting this body, something that he is specially thankful for.
Moving aside from what he is thinking, he then glanced at the map in front, noticing that the amount of red spots and total amount of rebel population seems to have blown up exponentially, from the previous 263,723 of Sector 13 and 14 to 3,947,369 spanning the 21 known Sectors.
[ "N-no this can't be..." ] The lady sitting on his lap could be heard muttering words to herself, which then caught the attention of Maceo who didn't know anything. Glancing to her face, he then notice her crying tears, as she stares at the map in front.
Maceo followed her stare and immediately noticed the people talking over each other, at the Officials that was quiet earlier, but now seems ready to shoot one another due to disagreement. Aside from that, he noticed the lady staring at Region 6 which looks like a big ugly red spot due to the sheer amount of red buildings it has.
What's so special about that? Maceo doesn't know, but he sucked back his words in hearing the next word she said, [ "M-my home." ] Oh... He fell into contemplation, as he takes back what he just said inside his head.
...
[ "T-this is a problem." ] Maceo muttered those exact same words to himself, as he stares at the floor before him. His expression and frustration similar to that of about 3/4th of the individuals inside the room.
He listened carefully on the explanation, he has been here for half an hour, listening to them and noticing the problem. Before finally he fully understands that he is gonna die.
In total the population of the Planet Urath, or the Empire of Urath is estimated to be roughly in the 50 million mark, quite small for a world total population. But thought they have only that population, they are still advance enough to have futuristic technology and such.
But the problem at the moment is that, about 1/10th of the population seems to be in an state of open rebellion against the Empire, to be more precise at the ruling family— the Maxwell Family.
That is just one group of rebels, from what he heard there are also other factions of rebels. And even some people though not rebelling, are on the way there, as they openly shows hostility to the goverment. Which is under the rule of the Maxwell Family i.e. the Grand Regent for the moment.
That Grand Regent is finally known to Maceo as the man sitting besides him, at the man which has heavy eyebags and is currently stressed to the teeth... That bear.
But that's the least of his concern at the moment, as from what knowledge he accumulated, and in seeing the trajectory in how the Planet is going... He is quite sure that it is gonna burn down, unless his head is in a pike or something.
That is how much they hated the Maxwell Family, or apparently Maceo Maxwell which seems to be a Tyrant in the eyes of many. The population, which seems to ring true as the original openly bought a... A woman inside a very important meeting.
So unless he dies— the last Son of the Maxwell Family, then the rampant people of Urath will not back down, and will tear him down wherever he goes... A heavy problem that he is now forced to recken.
So unless the deity that pulled his soul out of Earth and place it here, on the body of the Tyrant of Urath, give him something to work with. A cheat code, a golden finger, or a guide that could help him overcome this crisis, then he wouldn't survive to see the sunrise of this planet he reluctantly rules over...
[ "Only if..." ]
[ SYSTEM ACTIVATED ]
[ WELCOME PLAYER NO. 1 ]
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 05/25/2025 ]
[ 05/26/2025 ]