"Excluding the monarch of Strange Speech Kingdom, the rest of the Strange Tales should first be branded with the Strange Tales Association's mark, then sent back to stabilize the situation."
Having made the decision, Kisaragi Rin led a group of anxious subjects toward the Round Tower.
As long as they are branded, even if they run away, Medea can use the power of the [Prelati's Spellbook] to recapture the fleeing Strange Tales through their connection.
The Strange Tales were unaware of this matter.
Strange Tales that could work obediently were considered to have completed the first step of their employment trial.
As for the disobedient ones?
They could simply be killed in front of the obedient Bizarre Tales; it wouldn't affect anything.
The interior of the Round Tower was quite spacious. The frightened Rapunzel Witch no longer thought of resisting and directly led the way, introducing the structure of the building to Kisaragi Rin.
Before long, The conference room was filled with Strange Tales of all sorts.
Hmm... Because there weren't enough chairs, the original inhabitants of Strange Speech Forest and Rapunzel Territory had to squat on the floor.
"Let's stabilize the Kingdom first."
The Magic Mirror floated up, and a projection of the entire kingdom landed on the table. Centered around a hill, the territory looked like an irregular trapezoid.
The main reason was that the Houyhnhnms Kingdom was too far away. After the Prelati's Spellbook transferred it, it squeezed directly into the original structure, forcing the Wind-Blown River, which was originally the border, into an inland river.
Fortunately, the Prelati's Spellbook could perform a secondary renovation later.
"So, the first agenda item: choosing a resounding name for our kingdom."
The crown shone brightly atop Kisaragi Rin's head, and the Strange Tales who had seats were whispering among themselves.
"The Nation of Infinity!"
"The Holy Nation of Samsara!"
"The Celestial Empire!"
The discussion was fierce, but the former monarch of Strange Speech Kingdom, who was squatting on the floor, tentatively raised its hand. "Um, actually, none of those can be used."
It was a Bone Demon, and its fundamental Ability was a very peculiar [Chimera Suture Technique].
This resulted in its entire skeleton being pieced together from different species: its arms were from a zombie and a ghoul, its torso was the head of a Cyclops, its lower body was half an undead horse, and most strangely, its head, which glowed with blue soul fire, was a broken Poison Dragon Skull.
This fellow's strength was terrifying; even Esdeath took some time to defeat it.
Kisaragi Rin nodded toward it. "Speak."
"Yes, My King."
The Bone Demon had absolutely no intention of resisting, as a sword mark that had previously ripped it in half was still visible on its chest. Conquered by such a powerful figure, it could only try to integrate into the new kingdom.
"Uh, I'm not good with words. The general meaning is that at the kingdom level, the establishment of every kingdom divides the fate/luck of the Fairy Tale World.
This means that the name of every kingdom in the Fairy Tale World is unique, and the names the lords mentioned were likely already taken by previous kingdoms."
Perhaps because they had experienced too many dangers, the Strange Tales of this world were quite savvy when encountering strong individuals; even Hanako-chan could be respectfully addressed as 'lord.'
"Nickname already exists?"
Kisaragi Rin smiled. "Why do I feel like this world has more than a slight connection to the Paradise."
"Perhaps those Divine Nations know something, as they must have encountered Players."
Medea took over the conversation. "Then what name should we choose?"
"Pants Village?"
Kisaragi Rin asked the Prelati's Spellbook to try it, and it turned out that a Strange Tale in this world had actually used that name.
This made Kisaragi Rin's expression subtle. The primary reason they came to Rapunzel Territory was that it was very far from the nearest Divine Nations. [Bikun Fort] was likely also a Divine Nation-level entity, and Miss Red still didn't know—could it be right next to the kingdom in the Dead Sea?
Kisaragi Rin questioned the Rapunzel Witch and the Bone Demon. The former said that water monsters frequently attacked the land in Rapunzel Territory but had never seen an overly powerful enemy. The latter also said that having lived for several hundred years, it had never heard of that Divine Nation's name, which led Kisaragi Rin to temporarily abandon the plan of transferring the territory and running away.
Since all the good names were taken, Kisaragi Rin gazed at the persistent darkness in the sky and finally decided to conform to the naming conventions used by the existing Divine Nations in the Fairy Tale World.
Hmm... Dark Planet Kingdom.
That name immediately sounded like it had the potential to become a Divine Nation.
As for names like the Underworld or the Netherworld, they could be changed once the territory became a Divine Nation.
Afterward, Kisaragi Rin and the others carried out modifications to Dark Planet's topographical structure.
They made the hill the core of the territory, moving it inland away from the Dead Sea coastline. The Wind-Blown River was merged directly with the other rivers within the territory, which would not only create a major thoroughfare but also use the rivers as boundaries to separate the different types of heteromorphic creatures into distinct living areas.
Strange Speech Forest was enormous; the original [Strange Speech Kingdom] only occupied less than one-tenth of its size.
This forest also needed to be moved inward into the kingdom, creating a clear boundary line. Otherwise, if it remained connected to the untamed regions, the Strange Tales who accidentally strayed into Dark Planet every day would cause a lot of trouble.
The final kingdom roughly took the shape of a rectangle.
It bordered West Wind Wolf Ridge to the north, Strange Speech Forest to the west, the Dead Sea coastline to the east, and a cluster of trembling level two and three territories to the south.
"Does anyone have opinions regarding Dark Planet's official structure?"
Kisaragi Rin felt he could rest now, as he had no experience managing the remaining affairs.
But it didn't matter; he could just leave a mere kingdom to them.
"Divide the kingdom into three areas, and establish a five-tier official structure."
Spider Mother already had an idea and was just waiting for her master to bring up the point.
The other women also had opinions to varying degrees, but none jumped ahead of Spider Mother.
She explained:
"This is a transcendent world. Since we can control the overall situation at any time, and various soul-searching powers can ensure that subordinates harbor no disloyalty, an overly bloated official structure is completely unnecessary."
"My idea is to divide Dark Planet into counties: White Tower, Rapunzel, and Forest."
"Then, based on strength, responsibility, and trustworthiness, all Strange Tales will be categorized into five ranks."
"Soldier Guard: Composed of ordinary Strange Tales like the Rapunzel Sword Maiden, Azure Zombie, and Rapunzel Sorcerer."
"Knight: Composed of powerful Strange Tales who have been subdued, such as Succubus, River God, and Shepherd Witch."
"Baronet: Primarily composed of older Association members whose strength is too weak, like Hanako and Sadako, as well as the two subdued former lords, the Rapunzel Witch and the Bone Demon."
"Noble: Myself, Saeko, and Miss Red, the powerful individual who voluntarily joined."
"As for the final rank, it is the worship. It holds no practical duties but can freely command Dark Planet, comprising powerful individuals who have not joined the Strange Tales Association."
"Those who reach the Noble rank can fully manage one district of Dark Planet."
After Spider Mother finished explaining the five ranks, everyone listened and had no objections.
After all, the relationships of all parties had been taken into account.
The old faction remained the old faction; only the former lords were given the respectable Baronet status. The rest of the people could only work hard if they wanted to advance to a higher rank.
As for Esdeath and the others, they were handled separately.
The powerhouses of the Association could become Nobles, and the rest of the people understood that their strength was far from meeting the standard. Those who couldn't even defeat the Knights didn't expect to be directly assigned to the Noble rank.
This could also motivate them to improve their strength.