The throne room was a gaudy little place. Huge, gold chandeliers and detailed, stained-glass windows that depicted the former king and all of his ancestors. Madison would be added to that glass soon.

A brilliant purple carpet stretched from the doors leading into the room all the way to the throne itself. Along it, Madison walked. At her side were a hodge-podge assortment of the various nobles that she’d had brought to the palace. Their expressions were mostly ambivalent, but some had eyes that openly suggested disgust. While keeping a somewhat convincing fake smile, Madison carefully observed the crowd, taking note of all the obvious dissenters. She would deal with them later. For now though, she had a crown to get.

Madison reached the foot of the throne and stood before it. Next to her was the Zendaval, King Grivelspyre’s highest-ranked advisor. He was both an orc and an immigrant, something that Barnock’s mainly human residents detested, but his loyalty to the nation had been tried and tested over the decades that he’d held the position and people had begun to respect him, at least a little. Zendaval addressed Madison—and the audience—with a formal, preaching tone, “It is with great displeasure that I officially announce King Arthur Grivelspyre of Barnock deceased. His contributions to his nation and his people were truly among the greatest in our history… but this is not a eulogy! That shall come some in due time, after this country’s people find peace under our new ruler.” He took a breath, “Madison Grivelspyre! The next in line to the throne stands before you today to vow a life of service to her people! As a powerful mage and a proven leader, her accomplishments are numerous and her failures are rare.”

He paused to let the crowd cheer, but there was mostly silence. They probably knew the truth already.

“Princess Madison. Do you promise—not on your honor, but your life—that to the best of your ability, you will protect and defend the proud nation of Barnock and her people. To strive for the betterment of your citizens and their lives?”

She answered unhesitatingly, “I do.” Despite her methods, she really did intend to follow the oath. It was just that her way of doing things was inevitably going to be the subject of scorn by her people and maybe even the world at large. She repeated the oath the rest of the oath, adjusting it to be in the first person.

“Then on behalf of our nation and its people, I pronounce you Queen of Barnock!” He place the crown on her forehead and she took a seat on the throne. The gesture was meant with loud, but obviously phony cheers.

Though the ceremony was over, Queen Madison still had some things to say, “Now, while I still have all of you present, there’s one thing I should like to make clear early into my reign.” She paused, and let the crowd refocus, “As you all know, the war ended because of an agreement reached with the Supreme General of the Demon Army, Prince Risitro… but what has not yet been divulged were the details of that agreement.”

The room dropped into silence. This was important.

“The terms were quite simple. In return for keeping the city of Barnock—and all the land it had before the war—under the royal family’s rule, I agreed to do a few things.” She smirked, “First, I agreed to formally recognize the Demon Colony of Sundenspur as a nation. Second, I agreed to support free trade between our countries. That means that there will be no tariffs or embargos on goods from them, regardless of if it’s an import or an export. Third, Demons will be granted the same legal status as the other humanoid races native to our country. Killing or attacking a demon for any reason will be treated the same as if they were a human...”

Just as she was about to move on to the next point, an uproar ensued. The other things were fine—possibly even advantageous—but in the minds of the nobles, treating Demons as though they were equal to humans was a sick joke.

She waited for silence before continuing,” Lastly, we’ve entered an alliance with Sundenspur. As part of that alliance, citizens of both Sunderspur and Barnock will be granted a dual citizenship. All of you are hereby citizens of not just Barnock, but Sundenspur too. The same goes for residents of Sundenspur.”

The crowd was threating to get violent now, with rage almost uniformly plastered across everyone’s faces. Even her advisor, Zendaval, found himself taken aback.

“That’s all I have to say. This ceremony is hereby dismissed.” She gestured to her knights, who immediately got to work on ushering the congregation away from the palace.

The coming months would be interesting, no doubt.