Speech (20)

I eventually had to reach a compromise and postponed my speech for two days. It was an action I took to let more elders who are still loyal to Calenon to reach the city and attend my ceremonies. Nazhiff was practically begging me to do this before I had even thought about pushing it sooner.

This burial ceremony and my speech after that wouldn't be considered coronation. Such a thing would require beyond 3 days of preparation and countless invitations to other imperial nobles, which could take months to arrive here. Adding the cost and the manpower require to perform such an event and you would begin to understand why I held my coronation as crown princess until Runford has been defeated.

Hence, here we are, three days later after I return to this city. It hadn't changed much, nothing that smelled elven has. The rough smell of the slums and the green scenery of the proper city pleased my senses as I stood here in the temple beside my mother.

The entire place was surrounded and heavily fortified with guards, who wore their ceremonial black piece of clothing which covered their usual light green armor.

Father's body was put inside a coffin and laid in state for the public to pay respect to. The ceremony was accompanied by songs performed by temple attenders and guarded around the entire day by guards. The citizens all made a queue and took turns to pay respect to the dead monarch.

We only allowed 10 people to be near father at a time and only allowed them there for no more than several moments. Of course, my mother and I were the first to sit near the corpse. Around us, we saw citizens looking down and mourning the dead grand prince. I could even hear a couple of sobbing in the mass, almost making me snort a little.

I did nothing other than what was necessary. I held his right hand for several moments only before pulling away. In contrast, mother broke down in tears as her crying was heard loudly in the temple hall. Her eyes wetted the wood and some dripped down to settle on father's skin. She then muttered something incomprehensible due to her lamenting. Something about love and something about a promise, I didn't hear anything other than them.

I had to drag mother away from the catafalque, because if I didn't, then she would stay there until tomorrow. She was resistant at first, but eventually she let go of her struggle and allowed me to guide her away. Next was most courtiers and the lieutenants belonging to the guards. Then it was the elders, half of them weren't present, and after Nazhiff had identified, all of them who were missing were from the east. After that, it was the old veterans from back during the heresy, and then the city elites and their entourage and so on and forth.

The veterans were probably trying to stay beside him the longest, aside from mother. Some saluted him, others left many of their personal belongings from back when father was still a military leader. I saw one such veteran leaving a discarded piece of cloth tainted with blood, hearing from the guards, it seemed that band aid was personally put on to him by father to seal his wound.

The city elites did put on a great mask. To the average commoner, they were weeping in sadness throughout, but judging from how their face was curled, they were faking it. The majority of them were elves, but there were dwarves, humans and even halfling paying their respect too. They were guild leaders that ran the various groups in the city at this age, so they were equivalent to CEOs back on earth.

The common citizens are more honest and upfront than their elite counterparts. They were also forced to come here as a sign of formality and respect. It was demanded from their class, and they were forced to comply with societal norms. Hence why most didn't stay long to pay respect and only did so with formality, like me.

After all of them were finished. Zani signaled the guards to carry the coffin and put it in a shrine next to Serena's altar.

Speaking of the goddess, she was still asleep like the sleeping beauty on her sanctum. Telùris and I were the only ones able to see her. Me and the priest exchanged glances, and I saw his empty face. How much he was suffering from seeing his goddess lying asleep was beyond my comprehension. She didn't move, or respond much even as songs were sung across the entire room and father's coffin was put on his final resting place.

After it was done, father was encased inside a metallic box that served as his final resting place. A crescent moon symbol was carved onto the shrine and it was glowing when sunlight reflected it.

Suddenly, a runner came up to me. A guard, running at full speed with his armor. His entire weight and the cluttering of his armor caused his step to be heavy and loud. It broke the silent atmosphere that was shrouding the temple, causing him to be looked upon by most people.

Zani, who was beside me, quickly addressed him.

"What is it, Hinthor?"

Hinthor dropped to his knees as he was panting his breath. He was visibly sweating when I looked at the exposed part of his armor.

"Commander, Your majesty…, there are lower-city citizens trying to come here, to the temple! Thousands of them!"

"What?" Zani exclaim. "Are they armed?"

"N-no commander, they wanted to see his late majesty's burial"

Zani retracted her face before she looked at me. "Shall we allow them, Your majesty?"

At this point murmurs started to rise among the masses already in the temple. There were too many for me to pick up what they were saying. My ears were also picking up several shouting outside the temple.

I held my breath. "let them come, but keep them outside at the foot of the temple. Zani, I want you and your men to maintain order as much as possible outside. Do not let them climb to the complex"

"Yes, my lady" Zani nodded, before dragging Hinthor away. "Come.."

I turned my attention to Telúris who was behind me this entire time. "Pontifex, go with them, calm the crowd"

The Pontifex looked at me for a moment, before saying. "Maybe we should let them pay respect to Elizar, your majesty. He has been their lord for their entire lives"

I frowned. "Are you suggesting we let them come inside the temple? All thousands of them?"

"Well..no…" The priest said. "We could just bring him to them"

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I instructed four guards to begin carrying the massive coffin and move it outside the temple. I followed them, and so did the masses inside the temple.

As the four were descending the stairs, I finally looked at the people who were desperate trying to get here.

"Look, His Majesty!"

"Your majesty!"

"Is that him? Our lord?"

"He looked way much older than I thought!"

The four guards slowly lowered the entire coffin so that the people could see my father. They remained at the four corners, guarding the man and keeping the rabble from touching his corpse.

"You may mourn his late Majesty" The front guard said.

Initially, most of them look at him with solemn expression. The ones who were in the front can easily see the man inside, but those far in the back can't see anything parallel or lower to their vision. Thus, most of them began pushing each other, wanted to get a look at their previous monarch.

"Hey! Watch it!"

"Scram brat! Let me see him!"

"I got here first!"

"No you don't!"

"I haven't finished looking at his Majesty!"

"I can't even see him!"

"No! Get away!"

"ORDER! ORD-!"

The guards were quickly being pushed back. The mass of thousands of people were upon them. As they quickly surrounded them, the four couldn't effectively maintain a coherent barrier to protect father.

"Men! MARCH!"

Zani then took the initiative and order the rest of her line, which was behind the coffin, to move forward. It was like a riot scene where the SWAT team with fewer men but stronger equipment managed to push the protesters away. It was like that scene.

Zani reinforced her men and covered father, preventing the commoners from looking closely.

I sighed and put a hand on my forehead. This is why I didn't allow them to attend this ceremony. The manpower to keep tens of thousands of them in order would overstretched the guards, who weren't even reaching a thousand men, not even counting the trainees.

As Zani's men bear the full force of the masses with their shield, I decided my voice was needed.

"CITIZENS!" I shouted.

I never knew my voice was that loud until I realized it had beaten any commotion caused by the crowd. It was like a subsonic gale, vibrating all the air around the temple. It had achieved the job of calming the crowd. They were astonished about what had happened and promptly stopped caring about father, and instead looked at me with astonishment.

"Please, give his majesty a calm rest, it is what he needed" They were silent after, not daring to betray my command.

For what seemed like forever, finally I gestured to Zani and told her to bring the corpse back to the temple. As we retreated inside, the commoner crowd also began to ascend the stairs, following me and my father's coffin.

I initially didn't want them to crowd the complex, but seeing hundreds and even thousands of them had climbed half way up, I kept that to myself. It was too late for that. I turned my gaze around and focused on my father.

He was now resting on top of his altar, right next to his goddess.

I then moved towards the main hall of the temple. There was a huge statue of Serena looking down on us holding the moon in her hands, her expression was calming, a curtly smile with the facial expression of a loving mother. It couldn't be the same as me.

As the crowd settled in, I stood above them several steps high, just below the statue itself.

"Your majesty!"

"Her majesty's about to give a speech, look!"

"She looked similar to the goddess, right?"

"Really?"

"Yeah! Look!"

"Order!"

I coughed once. They were silent again.

"Citizens of Calenon!" I louden my voice, while looking at the people below me.

They all look back. People from different backgrounds, occupations, status, and wealth. Yet, they were all equal beneath me and Serena, their goddess.

"Today…we mourn the passing of his majesty, my father, lord of Calenon and the greatest mage this world has ever seen. A great man, who carved a realm for his own and took care of it for three hundred years"

I saw sad expressions in the crowd as I talked about father.

"But now, his legacy, and his entire possession has been passed down to me. And I, Elissa Sil Elizaron swear, by my faith, and my way of the sword, that I shall lead this nation to the top of the world!"

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"As it stands, my father's legacy is under threat from an ancient enemy to our empire. The king of Servin and Alania had supported a usurper to the throne, someone unwanted to rule this nation! With that-"

"Yondaril, you're actually listening to this stuff?"

A feminine voice arose behind Yondaril's left ear. His wife, Talana, yawned behind me, while holding his son. They were wearing simple togas that covered most of their body.

"Yes! Don't you look at her majesty? She really knows how to move the crowd in her favor"

Talana clicked her tongue. "Is that it? Or are you just admiring her? I know she's pretty and all…"

Yondaril looked back, shrugging. "Well, that too"

His wife sighed, disappointed in her husband's response. She then looked past him and stared at the woman giving a passionate speech in front of the crowd. Then, she snorted.

"Blast it, she's really good at managing her expression" She said, holding a laugh.

"Really? What do you mean?"

"Can't you see? Her voice might be soothing and inspiring and all, but her face doesn't show any of that"

"So, she's acting? How do you know that, Wife?"

"Well…" she moved closer to her husband before flicking his nose. "When my strong husband was all busy in our farm, I was in town selling his hard produce wheat to people. So, based on interacting with them, I know how people usually are"

Yondaril scratched the back of his head. "Well…uh…"

"Anyhow…, little Terma is a bit restless here" she said, as she comforted the baby in her arms. "He doesn't like in a place full of people"

"You're going home?" Yondaril asked.

She nodded, before adding. "If you wish, you could stay here. Just remember you still have a family at home"

"Do not worry, dear" Yondaril said. "I will always come home"

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"And, that is why, I requested your utmost loyalty in these troubled times. All your effort shall be considered a service to our goddess, do not doubt that. Remember, that your sacrifice in defending our lady's name are counted by herself, for she is the one who foresees all of us"

"We will, your majesty!"

"Glory to the moon!"

"Moon bless the grand princess!"

"Death to Sildori! Death to Servin! Death to Alania!"

I must say, even though they are rowdy, the lower city citizens are still one of the loudest and most fanatical of my subjects. They are easy to charm and persuade, just sprinkle some saying about virtue and sacrifice for Serena and they would mindlessly say yes.

"Your majesty?"

One of the upper city citizens asked me. While I wasn't planning on holding a question and answer session, the sudden raised voice prompted me to answer him.

"Yes? What is it?"

"It's almost winter season, your majesty. How can we take up arms under your banner while our fields lie unharvested?"

"Correct your majesty!"

"We must collect them before they waste, your majesty!"

"We merchants would also close our shop, your majesty, how can we feed our children if we had nothing to pay for food?"

Soon enough, the entire hall was erupting in murmurs. While they didn't address me directly, their concerns were due to my decision.

I gestured to the guard in front of me.

"ORDER!"

The room quieted down soon after.

"I will allow harvest, and other activities within the first two weeks of autumn" when I said that, their faces lit up. "However, each family must send at least one able bodied man to fight in their stead. They who are without family and land must join the army."

Some of them had grim faces.

"Fear not, once again I insisted that your part will not be unrewarded, both in this world and on the moon. For every man who survived until the end of this war to see my coronation, you will be rewarded with 3 acres of foreign land that we took, and if you wish, you could sell it back to me and receive the payment in the form of coins."

"And those who had fallen in battle, their families shall receive the compensation instead"

They all were taken aback when I said 3 acres. It was a large area to be given to just one man. A generous salary for a mere soldier.

"Her majesty is generous!"

"Bless her! Let the moon bless her!"

I smiled satisfactorily.

"You shall all be dismissed"

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As the people began to disperse away from the temple, I let out a big sigh. I was sitting at the main chamber of the temple where Serena slept. She was still sleeping soundly, and soon enough, she might get a friend to join her. As I was staring at her, I couldn't help but to notice something.

Wasn't her left hand on top of her right last time I saw her?

She was sleeping like the girl from Sleeping beauty. Her hands were stacked on each other and were on top of her chest. Her legs were beside one another, their toes pointed up. Her white toga showed only her neck upwards, a small part of her arms, and the feet of her legs.

What was abnormal about her appearance was the fact that last time I saw her, her right hand was now on top of her left hand. It should have been the other way around.

Did she move during sleep? Was she just pretending to sleep? Did she wake up and sleep again?

It made me want to touch her. I had avoided doing it so as to not disrupt her rest. Angering a being so powerful would be disastrous, but now…

My right arm lifted itself and my body leaned forward as I targeted her left arm. However, just as I wanted to touch her, a voice came to me from behind.

"Your majesty" It was an old but strong voice. I glanced behind, and saw my gardener.

"Yohan" He nodded, before bowing to me. His condition was healthier than last time I saw him. Although I couldn't see his wound due to his covering clothes, his posture had hinted on his overall wellbeing. And right now, his posture was straight. "Is there something you need to report?"

He nodded, grimly. "We received news from our spies in the east that Qaraka, Tyrfll, and Tearelis had raised their levies"

"Do you have an estimated number?"

Yohan shook his head. "I do not dwell in speculation, your majesty, but I can still say that it is more than ten thousand foot soldiers"

"So it has begun" I said. "Do you know where Keeper Zani might be?"

"She is currently organizing the equipment needed to supply our forces, my lady"

This is not good, even with the current level of fanaticism and willingness of people to serve in my army, we would still be outnumbered and outdisciplined. If we remove the possibility of female volunteers, Calenon could field twenty thousand men, although only a quarter of that could actually be men in battle. With the quantity of equipment available in Silveril, where our supplies were stored, then it would only be possible to field five thousand men with full basic levy equipment.

Our lack of numbers meant that staying still inside the walls was the only viable option, a pitch battle is a gamble, but more towards suicide. We would be besieged, but that's the only way we had a fighting chance. Abandoning Calenon, the temple of the moon and the body of Serena to the enemy will not be tolerated.

I looked back at Yohan. "Your service is greatly appreciated, Spymaster"

"As always your majesty"