CHAPTER 44: LAND WITHOUT LANDLORDS

The kingdom of Drakestadt was a very weird political entity.

It was a monarchy, yet it didn’t have a nobility. In the game, Martin would just appoint people to the positions of regional leadership, and he was very strict on meritocracy.

His character had no children, so, when the player died and the character went absent, the few players that were still around created a regency of sorts to deal with the kingdom in the last week of the game.

They elected an NPC, Aelindra, to be the queen regent until the closing of the server, not imagining that the world would keep existing afterwards. They selected her for her personality, levels, and several kingship-related techniques she had unlocked.

It was an easy choice from the point of view of those last players. She was the NPC character with the best stats. There was no reason to put anyone else in her place.

That’s how, after the players disappeared for good, Aelindra ended up as the queen. A weird mix of indirect election and divine right, with the added benefit of being from a long-lived race who had also eaten one of the fruits that multiply the lifespan.

She had a certain traditionalist mindset, so she kept most of the laws from the time of the players in place.

That’s why several policies that made sense in a world where legendary entities walked around, several of which were trolls, griefers, or just unreliable, were still in place.

One of them was the reason that Cecilia went to the mayor’s house after breakfast. In Drakestadt, all land was owned by the state. One couldn’t exactly buy a house and then sell it, they only bought the rights to use a house, which returned to the government on their death.

Mayors were appointed by the province governors and approved by Aelindra herself and would be in charge until dismissed or retired.

Mayor Otmar was nearing his retirement himself. He had worked as the mayor for almost thirty years now, and age was starting to show. But he was still very competent in organizing the life of the small village, and everyone relied on him.

"Good morning, Miss Cecilia. What a nice surprise to have you here. Come in."

"Good morning, Mayor Otmar. I’m sorry for imposing so early in the morning."

It wasn’t early, but Cecilia thought that it would be polite nonetheless. Otmar led her to his office, where he took a seat on the same chair that the bandit chief was using as a throne the other day. Cecilia sat on a chair on the other side of the desk.

"So, what brings you here?"

"I want to buy a house for me to live in. Is there any available?"

"Oh? You’re gonna move in to Aberswan? May I ask you the reason?"

He was very grateful for her help with the hunting and even more for her help with the calamity. Yet, he wouldn’t sidestep the normal procedures for her.

"Well... I do have a house in Drakenhof, though my daughter is the one who live there. It’s her space, not mine. I wanted a place to live in that was far from all the hustle of the capital, and in my travels I ended up making some dear friends here.

This is a special place in my heart, and I’ve been traveling without a proper home for so long... So I thought about growing my roots here."

Otmar leaned back in his chair, thinking. Then, he opened a drawer on his desk, took out a form, and handed it to Cecilia.

"I’ll need you to fill this in. I need the name and occupation of all your relatives, as well as your own occupation. I’m sorry, Miss Cecilia, but I can’t waive the formalities."

((Oh, fuck. What do I do here? I can’t just invent, but I didn’t want to disclose... Well, there’s no going around that.))

"There’s nothing to apologize for, Mayor. But I... Well, you see, my daughter is a special person of public interest. I didn’t want my ties to her to come out in public, because it would affect the way people treat me in a daily basis..."

"I understand, Miss. You don’t need to worry about that. Everything you write in this form is under an oath of confidentiality, witnessed by the queen herself."

"I see... Okay, then."

She proceeded to fill out the form, without omitting anything. In the section about the family, she put in only one entry: Aelindra Thal’Mor; occupation: queen.

After finishing, she handed it back to the mayor. Before reading, he pronounced a couple of words in a language Cecilia didn’t recognize, then the form shone in a red light for a moment, then returned to normal.

"That spell guarantees that only the person who filled it in and myself will be able to read what’s on it. Everyone else will see it as mere gibberish. Okay, let’s see..."

He began to read the scroll, and he got pale just by seeing the first line.

((Morielen Thal’Mor... That’s the surname of the queen. Wait, I remember that name from history class...))

He went straight to the ’family’ part, and only then did he get back to the beginning and read through everything.

"I understand now what you meant. Don’t worry, this secret is safe with me, Miss Cecilia. It would really cause an uproar and quite the headache for me if this information ever came to the public. Well, at least now a lot of what you’ve done makes sense."

He was making an effort to look composed, even though deep inside he was screaming.

"Thank you, Mayor. That means a lot to me."

"It’s nothing. Well, we have only one free house in this village. It’s one that was built by the players long ago, so it’s very solid. Come, let me show it to you."

He stood up, and they went outside.

:::

The house was indeed very well-built. It wasn’t one that Cecilia built herself, but it felt familiar because it followed one of the standard designs for houses in Drakestadt.

It had three bedrooms, a spacious kitchen, a living room, a dining room, a basement, a kitchen, and a very big bathroom, plus a smaller one that was only accessible through the biggest room.

((I wonder how I will keep all this clean... Well, I can always bring Mina here from time to time.))

The truth is that Cecilia didn’t know the first thing about cleaning a house, much less using the technology of a fantasy world. And Mina had several skills tailored for cleaning and maintenance.

"It all looks very good. How much does it cost?"

"Do you intend to purchase a life license or rent by month or year?"

"A life license, please."

The mayor scratched his head, making calculations.

"The fare for humans would be five briars. That is five thousand nickels, for reference. But for a dark elf it would be ten times that, which is five sinars, or fifty thousand nickels."

((Whoa. That’s cheap.))

"That’s fair. Do I pay when we sign the contract? I have the money with me now."

"Y-yes. Let’s go to my office."

The mayor was unconsciously sweating cold. Who carries such a fortune on their person, after all?