New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

From that moment on, Astaroth and Phoenix barely had a moment of reprieve, as citizen after citizen entered the throne room, be it to praise or complain, in a never-ending stream.

Since a large part of the citizens were adventurers, and very few were regular people, there were not many regular people wishing to meet them. And those who did mostly wanted to see the face of their new monarchs.

The majority were adventurers, with some occasional players who had mixed themselves in, just to get a chance to meet the guild master and vice guild master.

The comments were an almost equal mix of praise from the Players and Natives, who thought the system in place was conducive to power growth. But in the complaining portion, they wanted more initiatives to be taken for regular citizens.

Astaroth and Phoenix took the time to listen to everyone, especially the ones bringing complaints, and after four long hours, they had finally reached the end of the line.

It baffled Phoenix how many regular citizens and shopkeepers complained about how rowdy the adventurer population was in the outer ring. She thought they had kept this to a minimum, since they had some royal guards patrol the outer ring as much as the inner one.

She knew there were adventurers both on the Natives' and Players' sides that were less than inclined to stick to their manners. She only hoped that the Players that were being rowdy were not part of their guild.

This would reflect terribly on them.

Astaroth had a similar line of thought since this was the point that stuck out the most. He didn't want what little Native residents they had to suddenly pack up and leave.

As they were left alone once more, Astaroth got up to stretch, as they had been seated for a long time. His butt was sore, and his legs felt like jello, as he rose to his feet.

"God, it's finally over!" he exclaimed, as he pulled his arms over his head.

"I never thought it would be so tedious to run a kingdom… I thought kings and queens had other people deal with this kind of stuff."

Phoenix giggled.

"You aren't entirely wrong. But I think it's better if we deal with it in the foreseeable future. We wouldn't want to create a schism between the citizens and us so early on. Leon said he would meet like this at least once a month, so the newer residents knew he wasn't detached from them. I think we should keep up this trend."

Astaroth knew she was right, and that it was a good habit. But Christ, was he bored.

"What do you think we should do about the rowdy adventurers?" Astaroth asked.

He figured Phoenix would already have a few ideas about this matter.

"I was thinking maybe we should establish a proper city guard, instead of splitting the Royal Guards thin. But it's not like we have soldiers to spare…"

She had a few ideas on how to fix that issue, but none of them were ideal.

"What about using players from the guild?" Astaroth asked.

Phoenix shook her head.

"I thought about it. But there won't be many players who will accept to stay inside the city walls and use all their play times, just to play guard. And how do we even pay them? Wouldn't that be just forcing them to work, instead of playing the game?"

Astaroth listened to her, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"And we can't really put Natives either, since we are in short supply of soldiers, as you said earlier."

Phoenix nodded her head.

"What about both?" Astaroth asked.

She looked at him, tilting her head in thought.

"It's not a bad idea. But how do you consolidate power? If we put a Native in charge, the Players might not be inclined to follow orders for long. And if we put a Player in charge, the Natives might not want to join at all…"

Astaroth chuckled.

"You are thinking about too much. The way I see it, it's simple, really. Put one of each. And we make sure the teams or squads under them are a mix of both as well. This way, they learn to work together."

Phoenix looked at him with a strange frown.

The idea was crazy. Two commanders?

Wouldn't they fight for power?

And what of the squads? Would they even try to work together?

Players weren't exactly models of virtue.

"I'm afraid two commanders would just make for a power struggle waiting to happen," Phoenix said.

"Not if you put someone over them whom they have to report to. This way, they don't really have a choice to get along. Since they don't hold the last say. As for trying to one-up each other. Let them.

"You forget that healthy competition breeds growth. Isn't that all what players are about? And if the Natives see the Players being so competitive, there is no way they will let themselves fall behind."

In Astaroth's mind, he equated every soldier with someone like him. Someone who wanted to grow in power, for one objective or another.

Phoenix wanted to slap him behind the head, for oversimplifying the matter so much, but she had to admit. He made a certain sense.

"Who would we put in charge?" she asked.

"Easy. Rodney Levine, the Royal Guard Commander. He already knows how to run an effective guard. He'll drill anyone we put in charge into shape in no time flat. I'm certain of that much."

Phoenix took a moment to digest everything he said. Already, Astaroth could see the cogwheels of her mind turning, as she took his rough idea, and turned it into a workable solution.

He didn't want to interrupt her thinking process, so he walked down the dais, toward the door. There was one more matter to settle that day, and it was waiting for an audience.

But instead of busting Phoenix's thinking bubble, he decided to take it to another place.

Pulling out of the throne room, he turned to the guards.

"Would one of you know where they sent the Themiscus diplomat, by chance?"

Surprise slightly took the two guards, as they were not expecting this question. But one of them recovered faster than the other.

"Yes, Your Highness. We sent the diplomat to the luxurious meeting room, in the east wing."

Astaroth smiled at them, thanking them, before he walked away, both hands behind his head, whistling joyfully.

'Today was a productive day. One last meeting, and we get to spend the rest of the day in peace,' Astaroth thought.

'It will be a well-deserved rest.'