Early September.....
　Finally, the western conquest of the West was over.

　All of the western part of the country east of the Adelunian Peninsula is now ours.
　Thanks to Ron, Rosward and Gram.

　Now the only front-runner is the country of King Zordias.
　As for this country, we are in the midst of an economic blockade.

　We'll have to wait a little longer.

　Well, that's good news.

　In order to achieve centralization, the land that has been ruled by the great families in the form of state land must be turned into land under my direct control and I must strip the great families of their position as provincial governors.

　"That's what I've asked you all to come here for, of all things. I want you to talk about centralization.

　I calmly announced to the great families that I was revoking my position as provincial governor and that all state lands would be under my direct control.
　Then I ordered them to move to the center and live as nobles.

　In return, I was to shoulder all debts incurred by the great families in governing their estates.
　I was to set up a senate and grant political privileges to the nobility.
　I promised to pay a certain amount of family stipend.


　The great families reacted in different ways.
　Some were surprised, some were unconcerned, some frowned....
　But all the great clans have solemnly accepted the return of their lands.

　There is the influence of the purge of the As clan not long ago, but even more than that, they understand that they cannot win even if they defy me.

　As expected, all the lands were easily consolidated under me.
　Finally, centralization of power was achieved.

　Well.........
　Here's the thing.

　"I have a message for you. ...that henceforth, the name of King Losey's kingdom will be changed to Kingdom of Romalia. And my name shall be Almus Julius Rosaius as Caesar, and henceforth, my descendants Julius and his family shall succeed to the throne.

　The great families ... no, the nobles raised a groan.
　But as if to break the groan, Raimondo stepped forward.

　''Your Majesty, from now on, as a vassal of the Kingdom of Romalia, I serve the House of Julius as your vassal.

　Raimondo bowed deeply.

　Following that, Ial, Bartolo, Ron, Rosward, and Gram stepped forward and pledged their loyalty to me.
　The nobles who had been rooted out beforehand to follow them pledged their loyalty to the Julius family.

　All the noblemen swore an oath of allegiance to the house of Julius, as if being carried away by it.

　Thank you, gentlemen, for your loyalty. Now about the Senate, which I'm sure you're all wondering about.

　I looked over at Raimondo.
　Raimondo stands in front of the nobles and begins to explain about the Senate.

　The brief summary of what he says is....

　First of all, there are three hundred seats in the Senate.
　Two hundred and thirty-three of these will be appointed by me, and the remaining sixty-seven will be filled in turn.
　Incidentally, why the three hundred seats, why not fill all of them, and if not, why the number two hundred and thirty-three.......

　The first thing I need to make sure that they become senators are Raimondo, Bartolo, Ial, Ron, Gram, Rosward, Soyeon, and Lulu, my most loyal loyal subjects.
　Then the patriarchs of each powerful noble family.
　Then, in consideration of the Cilician people, the foreign leaders who were enumerated among the nobility, such as Ains and Alexios.
　Finally, they were excellent sorcerers.

　If you put them all together, it's exactly two hundred and thirty-three.
　Two hundred and thirty-three is a hollow number, but if we try to get any more senators out of our country, there is a risk that it will spread endlessly.
　Two hundred and thirty-three is the most appropriate number.

　But again, two hundred and thirty-three is a halfway point.
　Therefore, the total number of seats in the House of Representatives would be set at 300, and the remaining 67 would be used for diplomacy and domestic politics.

　The remaining sixty-seven seats were to be used as cards for diplomacy and domestic politics, i.e., to reward those who were able to manipulate the wealthy families of the enemy and to reward those who performed well.

　In addition, there are minimum requirements to become a member of the Senate.

　　You must be a man of at least 20 years of age, or a sorcerer of the state.
　　Those who have served in the military for more than ten years or have a commensurate level of military service.
　　Experience in any public office.

　These are the three minimum requirements.

　Incidentally, the term of office of a senator is for life, and unless he asks for his resignation or I order him to resign, his position is guaranteed.
　Wouldn't a lifetime term hurt the organization's metabolism?　But the average life expectancy of Adelnians is 50 years.
　That means that the longest one can be a senator is only about 30 years.

　Moreover, senators are originally from wealthy families, lords and lords, and are, after all, soldiers, fighting on the front lines.　
　They use their bodies hard, and they are likely to be avenged.

　My guess is that replacing the organization's personnel will work without a problem.

　And, importantly, the position of senator is not hereditary.
　When all 300 seats are filled, the process of selecting the Senate will be revised from one in which I am the nominee to one in which only people who have served in that position are eligible.
　Well, it will require connections and financial resources to get those positions, so hereditary succession is inevitable in the end.
　It will be a stimulus there.

　After explaining how the Senate members are elected, their terms of office and conditions, I begin to explain the role of the Senate.

　The role of the Senate is to be an advisory body to the King, and its role is to advise him.
　In short, the Senate has no political decision-making authority at present.
　It is convened whenever I need advice, and it advises me on laws and orders I issue.
　That is all it is.

　The selection of political officers is also done by the Senate.
　I nominate a political officer, and the Senate confirms it.　
　If the Senate doesn't approve, I won't be able to select a political officer.

　As a matter of fact, I don't think any senator would have the guts to complain about the appointments I've made.

　You've explained enough to the Senate. You can leave now, Raimondo.

　I let Raimondo lower himself, and this time I look over at Ial.
　Ial stood up quietly.

　I ordered Ial to give him a briefing on the political officer.
　I summarize it in a nutshell.

　A political officer is the equivalent of a minister in Japan, and its main role is to lead lower-level officials.
　Until now, these positions had been ordered by the king on a temporary basis, and their roles and the scope of their authority had not been clearly defined.
　However, this is a major problem.
　That's why we decided to officially define the position by law.

　There were five main offices. There are five main offices: Consul, Solicitor General, Treasurer, Inspector General, and Auditor General.

　There were always two consuls for a term of one year. The first term of office was ten years, as it would take some time for the Senate system to get on track.

　They will assist the King, supervise the subordinate offices, administer the government in the absence of the King, and submit bills.
　It is the highest official position, except for temporary positions.

　In short, it is the second or third highest office in the Kingdom of Romalia, excluding the King.

　The question is who to apply to this position........
　After much deliberation, I recommended Bartolo and Ial.

　I can handle domestic politics.
　Only Bartolo and Bartolo can handle the diplomatic and military matters.

　That was my decision.

　This selection will demonstrate to the world that we will continue to expand our territory, both domestically and internationally, with an active military presence.



　The position of Advocate General is one year below the Consul General. The term of office is one year. Unlike the consul general, the members of this office change every year, starting this year.
　Its role is to assist the Consul General, but....
　The Solicitor General has another role that the Steward does not.

　The Judge Advocate General has a different role than the Consul General.
　In Japan, the Judge Advocate General is the equivalent of a judge and assumes judicial power.

　It is a position of great authority.
　Well, the Judge's jurisdiction is granted by the King, and I can repeat the Judge's decisions as much as I want.

　The total population of our country is about 800,000 according to the previous census.
　It is now likely to have reached about one million as a result of the conquest.

　I don't remember where I saw it, as I recall, but the number of judges in Japan was about two per 100,000 population.
　In other words, in the case of our country, twenty judges would be enough....

　Given the court situation in this world, eight people would be enough.
　To begin with, there are few appeals themselves, and the Alliance and Autonomous Cities have their own court systems.

　It is customary for family disputes to be privately executed by the patriarch, and disputes between family members are settled by discussion.

　Presumably, the main appeal will be related to flood control.

　It is also necessary to improve the court system and the criminal law, but that has been put on the back burner for now because we haven't been able to get around to it yet.

　By the way, the selection of legal officers....
　I have recommended two members of the Cilician nobility, Rosward and Ron, two members of the Cilician nobility, and four members of the powerful Adelian nobility.

　I chose Rosward and Ron to strengthen my power base and to give them experience.
　The reason for including a Cilician nobleman is so that the Cilician people are not at a one-sided disadvantage, or to prevent them from thinking they are at a one-sided disadvantage.

　Originally I wanted Seo-yeon to join us, but she's pregnant.
　It was unavoidable.

　Then there's the finance officer. Next is the finance officer, one year below the legal officer. This is also a one-year term of office.
　As the name implies, it is the person in charge of finance.
　It is responsible for the management of the treasury, the collection of taxes, and the management of logistics in times of war.

　There are two permanent positions, but the number will be increased if necessary.
　For this Treasurer, I recommended one person, Ains.　



　Then there was the mensuration officer. This is also a one-year term. This was a separate position, outside the vertical structure of the Consul, the Solicitor General, and the Treasurer.
　It is mainly responsible for domestic security, road and bridge repair, public works. It is mainly responsible for maintaining domestic security, repairing roads and bridges, public works, market management and development projects.

　One of the three officers is Gram.
　This is because only Gram can cultivate the forest of Romalia.
　The other two were nominated by appropriate noblemen.

　In fact, Lulu was also going to be the laying down officer but it seems that the girl's day hasn't come.
　So that's what I'm saying. He's doing what he's supposed to be doing.
　I couldn't appoint someone who would be on maternity leave immediately.


　The last one was the auditor.
　There is no term of office for this position. Unless I'm removed from office, it's for life. There is only one man.

　It's to keep an eye on the bureaucracy and the secretary. Census. Domestic counterintelligence and international espionage. Surveillance of the nobility, allied cities and autonomous cities.
　In some cases, it's even more important than the Consul.

　I recommended Raimondo for auditor.
　I'm sure Raimondo will be able to handle this large role.

　Incidentally, domestic counter-intelligence was originally Ron's job, but he took the opportunity to move out of Ron's command and put it under Raimondo.
　I want Ron to go out into the field and make a difference.

　These are the permanent political officers.

　I'll be able to get the best out of it.



　When the explanation was over, I stood up quietly.

　''Now, I would like to open the first senate as soon as possible. The first item on the agenda is the appointment of the following political officers. Do you have any objection to my recommendation?

　Naturally, all the senators voted in favor of the proposed appointments.



　So, the first step in the process of dealing with the big families is done.
　The next step is to deal with the Autonomous City and the Alliance City.


　''With the sword of the Kingsguard around my neck, who would dare to defy the king? ''The fools who crossed him have all been erased. We have no choice but to vote yes. But what I don't like is that they're putting political office in our hands. And as long as we're doing our jobs properly, they appreciate it. Yeah, he's a great monarch, isn't he?

　-An aristocrat's scribble, excerpted from the archives of the Imperial University of Romalia.

　'The emperor who was probably the most skilled at manipulating the mind of his vassals in the history of Romalia was Emperor Almus. He had no divine charisma. That doesn't mean that he did not play the politics of snitching and fear. But all the nobles and commoners solemnly accepted the orders of the Emperor Almus.
　The Almus emperor was not strongly liked by his vassals, nor was he extremely feared by them.
　But no one disliked or resented him.
　Well, all those who hated and resented the Almus emperor have gone to the afterlife, so in a way it's only natural.
　At least, I can't copy that.
　I'm probably the one who is hated most in this world.
　Well, it can't be helped that most of my enemies were outside, and most of my enemies were inside, so it's easy for them to hate me more than me.

　-Gaius Julius Caesar Westoria Augustus Pater Patriae
　Excerpts from the Memoirs of the Wise Emperor-