Chapter 348 Coronation of the New King (2)
With the girls following right behind me, we went up the backstage exit and walked along a narrow and dim path. Soon, the light at the end of the path could be seen.
"..."
I wasn't nervous, given that there was absolutely no danger to me during this coronation. Four god tamers were guarding the place. The reason I was getting cold feet was the thought that millions of viewers were waiting for me right outside. Stage fright!
"Will?"
Fatima, who was to my right, worriedly peeked at my countenance. Since my face was probably pale at the moment, her brows furrowed as a frown covered her beautiful face.
"It's fine; there's no need to be nervous. We're all here with you."
Fina, who was on my other side, comforted me as she pulled my hand, sandwiching it between her hands. Ember, seeing this, quickly moved between Fatima and me and grabbed my hand, doing the same thing as Fina.
"Everyone... Right. With you all by my side, there's nothing to be afraid of!"
Their words and actions reignited my dwindling courage, enabling me to finally take the last step and move to the stage. As soon as I did, a deafening roar shook the entire subspace!
*WOOOOAAAAH!*
Before me... is a crowd that was too many to count!
The entire subspace was made like a stadium, with the center being the lowest point and the stands going higher and higher the further back it was.
I estimated a million would be watching the coronation, but from how many levels of the stand were set, I guess there are more than 10 million citizens present!
Furthermore, they were too excited. Even after a couple dozen seconds passed, the roars didn't die down at all.
Just when I was getting worried about how the coronation would proceed, four figures suddenly appeared above the stage, slowly flying down and standing right beside me.
To my right were the goddesses Blanc and Vermeil, and to my left were the gods Zeshion and Ajax. The four of them took a step forward, waving their hands to signal the crowd to stay quiet.
As expected of their influence, the 10 million viewers quickly shut up. It didn't even take three seconds before the entire venue became so quiet that you could hear the sound of the front-row audience's heartbeats.
Seeing that everyone had calmed down, Goddess Blanc took a step forward, summoning a white scepter to her hands. It was the first time I saw such a beautiful staff, so it must be ceremonial only. After all, I haven't seen her use it when fighting.
"Today, we are gathered here to welcome the rise of our new king..."
With that as the start, her loooooong prelude began. It wasn't a boring story, however, as she started talking about the history of the kingdom that only a few knew, how it was built, and how it fared for a few hundred years after its founding.
Hours passed, and we, who were standing on top of the stage, were starting to get tired. Fortunately, before our legs buckled, Goddess Blanc's story finally ended.
"... And now, today, we will be crowning Will Seimei as the 67th king of our kingdom!"
She waved her hand, calling me to step forward. I took a deep breath, calming myself, before taking a big step, lining beside the God Tamers.
"I am Will Seimei."
I spoke with as deep a voice as I could muster. It's not really required, but I think a deeper voice would command more respect than a normal one. I think I've read research like that before.
"Today, I will respectfully take on the position of king of this kingdom with no name. And, as promised, the first thing I'll be doing after settling down as the king is to abolish the current nobility system!"
*WOOOOAAAAH!*
Another batch of wild roars echoed all over the pocket dimension. However, this time, the ones sitting in the front row were visibly staying silent. Those sitting up front were mostly nobles, after all. They would be the ones that would end up losing a lot after implementing the change.
I guess they're hoping that my propaganda was simply a joke and that I wouldn't really act upon it. Well, too bad for them, but it wasn't.
After that, I finished my speech with a few more words. I didn't want to take up more time since Blanc had already wasted hours. As soon as my turn ended, Zeshion took a step forward and began his talk.
This time, he talked about the "current" situation of the kingdom, taking advantage of how literally everyone was watching the coronation. The surface information was something that everyone already heard, but as the talk went on, the severity of the situation became more and more evident.
"... As we are currently, we probably can't defend against the joint offensive of several kingdoms at once. As such, we would need to strengthen our government, indirectly strengthening our defenses and disaster response."
D*mn... So you mean, you're dumping the nitty-gritty part, thinking of a solution, completely on me?! Great, I haven't even taken office yet, and I have more things to do!
After Zeshion, Vermeil and Ajax also talked about other things. Vermeil talked about the damages we suffered from the last attack of Noir, the demon tamers, and the demons, and how much we have recovered from that damage over the past couple of months.
Ajax then talked about the situation in other countries, exposing that it wasn't only our country that was attacked by demons. Other than the Cleaver Kingdom, where Noir wreaked havoc before heading to this kingdom, the others were still in one piece. However, they weren't entirely unscathed, with varying degrees of damage.
Each one of them took hours on their own talks, but nobody bothered to even stand up from their seats at all during the entire thing. Everyone listened attentively from start to end.
Finally, the "introduction" ended, and the actual ceremony began.
It wasn't much of a ceremony, as I only kneeled before the four God Tamers, taking up the role that was supposedly done by the previous king. Goddess Blanc bestowed the crown (brand new since the original one was destroyed by Vermeil's AOE attack) to me, symbolizing the dignity of a ruler.
As soon as the crown settled on my head, I received a scepter from Zeshion, symbolizing power and authority. From Vermeil, I received a royal cape, symbolizing virtue, and from Ajax, a book, symbolizing knowledge and wisdom.
"..."
I just realized this, but my attire, the crown, and all these completely didn't match... Well, who cares anyway?
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