The months that followed Rou's appointment were rather calm.
Emrys had not yet left Ulster to fully begin his search for his mother.
He still had several things to do in the kingdom and, now that Rou had officially become regent, he could afford to remain without having to directly deal with every problem that arose.
Rou, meanwhile, had quickly begun his work.
And he had a lot of work to do.
Ulster had grown over the years.
Tens of thousands of people now lived in the kingdom.
Different races shared the same territory.
Different clans had their own habits.
And even though Emrys had spent years maintaining peace between them, one thing had become obvious.
As long as everything depended solely on his presence, the kingdom would remain dependent on him.
Rou had therefore begun to change things.
Not brutally.
He hadn't decided overnight to completely transform Ulster.
He had simply begun putting rules in place.
Some were extremely simple.
Others required more thought.
One of the first things he did was clearly establish the principle that all inhabitants of Ulster were subject to the same legislation.
Their race did not matter.
Their clan did not matter.
Their power did not matter.
A demon could not receive different treatment simply because he was a demon.
A giant could not impose his will on someone because he was bigger and more powerful.
A fairy could not receive special treatment simply because they belonged to an ancient race.
And a member of an influential clan could not use their status to escape the consequences of their actions.
This rule was important enough for Rou to decide to have it inscribed into the Code of Hammurabi.
The Geis was therefore established.
And Rou did not stop there.
He also established rules concerning the use of force.
An argument could not simply turn into a fight because one of the two individuals was unable to convince the other.
Violence was, of course, still permitted when it was necessary for self-defense.
But someone could not use their power to force others to accept their will.
This rule was particularly important in a kingdom where certain people were capable of making an entire city block disappear with a single attack.
A conflict between two inhabitants had to be prevented from becoming a catastrophe simply because one of them was much more powerful.
Conflicts therefore began to be handled differently.
Rou established request management offices throughout Ulster.
The inhabitants could come there to present their problems.
The different parties were heard.
Decisions were made according to the circumstances.
It was not yet an extremely complex system.
But at least it existed.
And above all, it no longer depended entirely on Emrys.
The latter continued with his own activities.
He spent time training and speculating about the different places where the entrance leading to his mother's dimension might be located.
And whenever an inhabitant nevertheless came to ask him to settle a problem directly concerning the kingdom's affairs, his answer was almost always the same.
"Take it up with Rou."
At first, some still had the reflex to come back to him.
It was understandable.
For twenty years, Emrys had been the one making the decisions.
Even though Rou had been considered his right-hand man for years, the change was still recent.
But the inhabitants quickly became accustomed to it.
Rou was now the one handling the kingdom's affairs.
And he seemed determined to take things seriously.
He also established rules concerning people with great influence.
Power was not supposed to allow someone to obtain privileges.
Someone powerful enough to crush ten people could not use that power to impose his will on them.
Someone holding an important position could not use his influence to obtain something another inhabitant would not have been able to obtain.
Once again, the fundamental principles were protected by Geis.
Rou had not, however, merely created restrictions for the population.
He had also imposed them upon his own position.
The regent had to protect Ulster.
He had to respect the laws he imposed.
He could not use his position to obtain personal advantages.
He could not simply use his authority to do whatever he pleased.
And above all, he could not consider his status permission to place his own interests above those of the kingdom.
Some of these rules were also inscribed into the Code of Hammurabi.
Rou had therefore willingly accepted being subjected to some of the same restrictions as the population.
It's not as if he shouldn't have done so. In the end, Emrys would have forced him to do it.
The months passed.
Then a problem concerning the Geis itself eventually arose.
Or rather, Rou began thinking about a problem that could arise later.
The Code of Hammurabi was extremely powerful.
Too powerful to simply allow any regent to use it without any restrictions.
A future regent could be reasonable.
He could also be completely different.
He could decide to use the Geis for his own interests.
He could impose a rule that would give him more power.
He could try to reduce the freedoms of the inhabitants.
If there were no restrictions concerning the use of the Geis, he could potentially use the Code to impose almost anything.
Rou could not allow that possibility to remain.
He therefore created a new law concerning the use of the Geis itself.
The regent could not use the power of the Code of Hammurabi for his personal benefit.
He could not use it to arbitrarily subjugate the population.
He could not use the Geis to circumvent the fundamental laws of Ulster.
Nor could he use this power simply to strengthen his authority.
He imposed this law through a Geis.
The power of the Code therefore now served to prevent the abuse of the power of the Code.
Emrys heard about this new law a few days later.
He remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he simply asked:
"So, if I summarize. You put a regulation in place concerning the Geis?"
"Yes."
"And you established it with a Geis."
"Yes."
Emrys remained silent.
"...You're making things complicated for nothing."
Rou sighed.
"If you think you can do better, go ahead."
"No thanks."
"Then let me work."
"Do whatever you want."
Emrys left.
The conversation ended there.
And Rou continued his work.
───
During this period, Emrys also received several pieces of news from outside Ulster.
The first was important enough to temporarily interrupt his activities.
Belialuine had been destroyed.
Emrys remained silent when he heard the news.
The capital of magic.
Destroyed.
Hearing that name filled Emrys with a bitter nostalgia.
He naturally asked for more information.
But what reached him was limited.
News traveled with difficulty, especially when it came from such enigmatic regions.
He therefore did not immediately obtain all the answers he would have wanted.
He only knew that Belialuine was no longer what it had once been.
The news was strange.
The outside world was therefore continuing to change while Ulster quietly carried on with its existence.
Some time later, another piece of information arrived.
The fairies had withdrawn from the Holy War.
Once again, Emrys sought to obtain more details.
Apparently, the new Fairy King had decreed that this Holy War concerned only the Goddesses and Demons and that he did not want the fairies to get involved in a war that was not theirs.
He did not have all of them.
The Holy War continued.
But its participants were changing.
Events were accumulating.
And Emrys could hardly pretend that none of this would have any long-term consequences.
Ulster was isolated.
But it was not cut off from the world.
News always eventually reached the kingdom.
Rou was also interested in this information.
He did not, however, make any hasty decisions.
He simply continued monitoring the situation.
He already had enough problems to deal with inside Ulster without going looking for additional problems outside.
Emrys rather agreed with this way of doing things.
───
The weeks continued to pass.
Then the months.
Rou regularly added new laws.
Some concerned things as simple as the organization of certain resources.
Others were more important.
But he did not turn every problem into a Geis.
That was probably one of the most important things about the way he governed.
The Code of Hammurabi was only used for principles he considered important enough to require special protection.
Everything else could simply be handled through normal laws protected by forces of the kingdom such as Gáe Bolg, the new name of the assault section for some time now, and Rho Aias.
It should be noted that both names had been given by the King.
And as time passed, Ulster increasingly began to function without Emrys needing to intervene.
That suited the latter perfectly.
Emrys simply had to find something to do during the final months before setting off on his long journey.
It was precisely at this moment that Rou came to see him with a rather strange request.
"Emrys."
"Hm?"
"You should get yourself a family name."
Silence settled between them.
Emrys remained still.
"...Why?"
"A king who respects himself should have a family name."
Emrys remained silent for a few seconds.
Then he answered with the utmost seriousness:
"That's completely stupid."
Rou did not answer immediately.
"Why?"
"Because it's false."
"What is false?"
"The fact that all kings must have a family name."
"Do you know many who don't?"
"No."
"Then you're talking nonsense."
"I just told you it was false."
"Without a single example."
"That changes nothing."
Rou sighed again.
"Whatever. Pick a name."
"Why do you care so much about this?"
"Because it's ridiculous that the King of Ulster doesn't even have a family name."
"But it's completely useless."
"Of course it serves a purpose."
"And tell me what it is?"
Rou froze and began thinking very quickly, but he could not find a reason.
He was then forced to lash out.
"Fine, are you going to choose this name or not?"
Emrys regarded him with palpable disdain.
"Thirty-seven years old and you still act like a teenager. I feel so ashamed for Iklia."
After saying that, Emrys remained silent.
He had no desire to think about this matter.
But Rou seemed determined enough that he probably would not leave him alone until he got an answer.
Emrys therefore quickly searched for a name.
He did not want to spend any more time on it than necessary.
He took the first one that came to mind.
"Muramasa."
Rou remained silent.
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"You didn't think about it any further?"
"No."
"Why Muramasa?"
Emrys simply shrugged.
"It sounds good."
Rou waited a few seconds.
"...Okay."
"There."
"Emrys Muramasa."
"Wait, that sounds weird."
"You're the one who chose it."
"I changed my mind."
"Too late."
Emrys sighed.
"Fuck."
Rou left a few moments later.
And that was how Emrys got a family name.
───
The months continued.
Ulster was slowly changing.
Not enough for anyone to speak of a spectacular transformation.
But enough for its functioning to now be different from what it had been a few years earlier.
The inhabitants knew who to turn to.
There were more laws.
The fundamental principles were protected.
The regent had his own restrictions.
And even the power used to impose Geis was itself limited.
Rou had succeeded in building something that could continue functioning without depending entirely on a single person.
Emrys no longer really had a reason to remain involved.
One day, while he was with Rou, he finally announced:
"I'm leaving."
Rou did not answer immediately.
"Where are you going?"
"You already know. Why you're asking?"
"Your mother?"
"Yes."
Rou nodded.
He did not try to stop him.
He knew perfectly well that Emrys had spent enough time searching without results.
But he also knew that he would not give up.
"Are you planning to come back?"
"What the hell are you asking me for, you fucking son of a bitch. This is my dimension."
"Okay, I know I asked a stupid question, but you didn't have to answer like that."
Emrys remained silent.
He turned his face toward Ulster from the top of Dun Scaith.
"I'm leaving everything in your hands," he said in a calmer and more serene voice than he had imagined.
Rou himself was shocked by Emrys's tone, but he quickly composed himself.
"You can count on me... Your Majesty."
Hearing that last word, Emrys could not help but sigh.
"You still continue with that? It's been nearly 25 years. Aren't you tired?"
"Never," Rou replied.
The atmosphere from earlier had vanished as quickly as it had appeared, replaced by the one that usually existed between Emrys and Rou.
"Well, I'm going. Take care of Iklia and the baby. I'll be back before the birth."
"Huh? What baby?" Rou asked, perplexed.
But he never received an answer.
"My body is made of blades."
Emrys disappeared, leaving Ulster completely in Rou's hands.