MMBMGAP CH 31

Chapter 31: Political Situation

Once the decision was made, everything became much simpler. Sade took a bit of time to pack up his things at the dorm. The process was straightforward—he applied for a leave of absence for all remaining courses, didn’t bother formally withdrawing from the dorm, and since he had already earned enough credits, all that was left was to wait for graduation and receive his diploma.

When Sade returned to the dorm to pack, Achille was with him. They had already sorted things once when moving up to the top floor, so there wasn’t much left. The two worked quickly, and in no time, everything was packed into three large boxes—just enough for one trip.

Sade and Achille sat in the now-empty room, chatting as they rested.

“Achille, have you ever considered joining me at the military department? I really need someone I can trust,” Sade said seriously. His responsibilities were increasing by the day, and he needed a dependable right-hand man.

“Bro, I’ve been waiting for you to ask. I was starting to wonder if you didn’t want me around,” Achille replied with a grin. He and Sade had grown up together, trained side by side, and had originally planned to join the military after graduation. Now that Sade was leaving first, there wasn’t much point in him staying behind.

“Mm… then I’ll be counting on you,” Sade said, smiling in relief. Having Achille by his side gave him peace of mind.

“I just need to wrap up a few things here and speak with my family. If all goes well, I should be able to join you by next week,” Achille promised.

“Thanks, brother,” Sade said sincerely.

With the academy matters handled and Achille confirmed as his adjutant^[1], Sade could finally devote himself to learning about state affairs.

Within the Empire, there were three institutions directly under the Queen’s command: the Temple, the Upper Council, and the Military Department.

The Temple’s responsibilities included public services such as healthcare, maintenance of the Heavenly Canopy System, and spiritual power research, all overseen by the High Priest.

Temple affairs were relatively simple, and the Queen rarely interfered. Since maintaining the Heavenly Canopy System was physically exhausting and required constant monitoring from within the Temple, the Queen was always considerate of the High Priest’s burdens. Unless it was a special occasion, the High Priest was not required to attend palace meetings.

The Upper Council functioned essentially as a House of Nobles, composed of aristocrats whose main roles included assisting the Queen in setting policy directions, supporting the implementation of laws, and holding the power to impeach.

From Sade’s perspective, Upper Council meetings were just a bunch of old men clinging to their outdated authority, engaging in political scheming. Meetings were frequent but rarely productive—plenty of opinions, little consensus. Even so, the Queen still showed great respect for the council members. She once told Sade, “These nobles are the foundation of the Empire. It is their duty to care for the people, and the monarch’s duty is to care for the nobles.” Though Sade disapproved of their conduct, he still humbly accepted the Queen’s teachings.

As for the Military Department, that was firmly under the command of Lieutenant General Allen. The previous General was the Queen’s and Allen’s father, the late King Ace. After King Ace passed away and Queen Aishia ascended to the throne, Allen insisted on not holding the General rank to show deference to the Queen. Since Queen Aishia had no interest in controlling military power and wanted to delegate it to Allen, she also refrained from assuming a military title herself. As a result, the highest-ranking officer in the military was currently only a lieutenant general.

The Queen’s intention was for the military to be returned to the control of the monarchy once Sade ascended the throne—a vision Allen fully supported. The Military Department, managed strictly and internally stable under Allen’s leadership, was driven by strength and unity. For Sade, it was the least of his concerns. His identity, combat strength, and upbringing within the military made it easy for him to earn their respect and take command.

The real challenge lay within the Upper Council.

Although the Queen told him not to worry for now—that he only needed to sit in on meetings and familiarize himself with the people—Sade couldn’t help overthinking things. What exactly had his father been hinting at? Was there truly someone among them disloyal to the Queen? Who was it? And how far did their disloyalty go? During the meetings, Sade silently observed and took notes, recording each councilor’s proposals and the reactions of others.

The council was mainly divided into two factions: the progressive faction led by Speaker Laide, and the conservative faction headed by Deputy Speaker Roger. The rest of the members either kept to themselves or chose to live quietly and uninvolved.

On domestic issues, the two factions could still find common ground—most were content to follow the Queen’s lead without objection. However, their stances diverged sharply on foreign policy, where the two sides were polar opposites.

The progressive faction, led by Laide, prioritized military readiness and harbored strong hostility toward the Zerg. They believed the Zerg were constantly eyeing the Empire, and the threat of invasion was ever-present. As such, they strongly supported military training at the academy and advocated for the development of auxiliary systems to the Heavenly Canopy System. Their stance was that preparations should never be relaxed.

Deputy Speaker Roger and the conservatives, however, disagreed. He believed that the Empire had enjoyed two decades of peace with the Zerg, who had remained stable under the rule of their queen. Rather than adding enemies, they should aim to gain allies. Roger supported easing tensions through cultural exchange and technological cooperation, insisting that the Empire should abandon prejudice and seek friendship with the Zerg. He opposed military expansion and pushed for more interaction and diplomacy.

In truth, under current peaceful times, neither faction’s position held immediate or drastic implications. The Queen had no intention of indefinitely expanding the military, and the existing number of soldiers and spiritual research were already on a stable track. She deeply understood the value of peace.

However, the Zerg had never been trustworthy. The Queen didn’t believe they had abandoned their desire to invade. Cultural and technological cooperation with them was too idealistic. As such, she neither openly encouraged nor completely banned civilian-level exchanges, but official diplomatic contact remained strictly limited.

Because of this, the two factions were essentially constrained by the Queen’s will—unable to make sweeping changes and left to squabble endlessly in meetings. These daily arguments, repetitive and fruitless, turned the council into a noisy marketplace. Listening to it all was downright exhausting.

Well, at least that’s how Sade felt.

Council meetings, in his opinion, were a complete waste of time—hours spent discussing vague, meaningless topics.

Eventually, when he could no longer bear it, Sade complained to the Queen. She simply smiled and said, “This kind of time-wasting is necessary. One of a ruler’s most important responsibilities is to listen.” And since Sade was annoyed by it all, the Queen told him to get used to listening more.

So from that point on, Sade was no longer assigned to military duties. Instead, his sole job was to stay by the Queen’s side and attend all kinds of meetings—big and small—as an observer.

(To be continued…)