Olivia took about the same 2 days and a few hours that Elia did, and like Elia, once she got out she was amazed by how better she felt.
When she got out, Ars decided it was time to introduce her to the public officially. He called a few guards and told them that once everyone, or at least the majority of people gathered in the main city, he would have a big announcement.
Most of the guards had already heard the rumors and were very excited about them, so the moment they heard Ars had a big announcement they already had a good idea of what it was and they rushed to deliver the news to the entire island as fast as they could.
But unlike what Ars expected, it took 2 weeks and 2 days for everyone who would attend the day of the announcement to reach the main city.
On the day after everyone arrived, early in the morning, Ars came to a platform that was constructed for this day, behind him, 2 maids and 2 females dressed in beautiful clothes followed closely.
Ars looked around, smiled at everyone present and joked about the time it took to deliver the news.
"First, i would like to apologize, i didn't realize the messenger had such short legs, when i went to the villages I managed to reach them quite quickly and I never expected it to be such a long trip."
One of the guards commented.
"That's because your majesty trains like there's no tomorrow and goes everywhere at full speed, there is no lack of soldiers who would like to complain about the hard training regime, but then we look at your majesty training regime and think… It is not that bad, not compared to that…"
When everyone heard that, they nodded while laughing, everyone in the island knew either from rumors or from seeing it themselves, how hard Ars trained, so when Ars joked about the miscalculated time of arrival, nobody was actually surprised.
Finally Ars put on a serious face and officially started his speech.
"First, let's start with the smallest news and slowly go up from there. First I would like to call to my side Rook blue and Fierzy Cinders."
The 2 people who were called showed confused faces, but they went up to Ars side, then Ars kept going.
"I would like to explain why I called them… It is quite simple… Besides me, Rook is the strongest person in the entire island, so I would like to grant him his new position as general."
Everyone watching started applauding, Rook had been caught by surprise, so he was a bit lost, especially when Ars pushed him to talk in front of everyone.
"I don't even know what to say… I only received the news of my promotion a few seconds ago, so… Yeah, I think the only thing I can do is…"
Rook then looked back at Ars who had a very amused face.
"Thank you, your majesty! I will do my best to not disappoint."
Everyone laughed a bit at how awkward Rook was at this moment, then Ars' turn to speak came again and he looked at Fierzy.
"The second person I called is the strongest female in the kingdom, also known as the childish mother."
Fierzy interjected with an offended face.
"HEEY!! I'm not childish… Most of the time…"
Everyone laughed a bit more, before Ars continued.
"I will give her the position of captain of the female corps."
A civilian got curious so he asked.
"Are the males and females always going to be in different groups?"
Ars smiled and replied calmly.
"No, most of the time they will work together as a single group, but there will be a few delicate times where a group of females will be better suited to handle the situation, and that's exactly where the female corps come in."
Everyone nodded and accepted Ars' explanation.
Ars then proceeded to the next information.
"Before I drop the last piece of information, I will explain what is gonna happen in the next few months or even years. As you know the kingdom is in a period of rapid growth and expansion, to the point that once again we are stretched thin and need more people. So for the following months at minimum, Rook is going to be sailing, rescuing refugees and maybe some people that while not refugees might want to start a new life in a new place. If you wish to buy something that you need but you can't find on the island, you also can approach him and ask him for it, then he will speak with me or one of the queens and we will approve or disapprove of the request."
Ars took a break and looked around to see if someone had questions, but since nobody posed one, he restarted his speech.
"I would like to request something from you all, with more people coming, there might be people that don't come with the best intentions, some might come to spy, others to cause problems on purpose. So, I would like to ask this from you all. If you find someone behaving suspiciously, please tell the guards or soldiers what you suspect. Some people coming to spy won't be exactly horrible, it would be troublesome but it wouldn't bring any harm, others might be related to people who would do crimes and hurt people in a heartbeat."
Everyone nodded, they understood what Ars meant and they agreed, they should keep an eye on suspicious people if possible.
Ars then smiled and looked at Maon, who until now had little to do since the island still couldn't afford to pay wages and tax people, Ars smiled making Maon uncomfortable… He could predict that something unexpected was going to happen to him soon.
Ars then said.
"In the last trip, we managed to secure some berries and in the future we will get even more, by catching pirates and selling our products to the outside. So from today onwards you can get salaries from 10.000 to 20.000 berries a month, with very few exceptions who might get a bit more, but I still don't know how much."
Ars looked at Maon and signaled him to approach.
"So I call Maon blue the treasurer of the kingdom, he will be the one that will be in charge of paying your salaries. You all, with the exception of children, in the following days will go to him to make sure your name is in the names of those who will receive a salary, this way you don't need to collect your salaries every month if you don't want too, and it will accumulate from month to month until you come to pick it up. Basically he will have a list of the people and how many salaries those people are entitled to. Because in some cases it will not be possible to receive the salary at that precise moment, for example if you are at sea far away from home."
One man asked.
"Can my wife receive my salary if I can't come? "
Maon looked at everyone and answered politely.
"I thought it would still take one or 2 years for us to start circulating money, but I guess I was wrong. The answer to that question is simple, when you put your name on the list, if you give permission for her to receive the money, then yes, otherwise no."
Then he remembered something and added.
"I guess I should explain about what I believe to be the best way to pay salaries now and in the future. For now everyone will receive those salaries but in the future it will probably change. Since we are starting from nothing and everyone has very little, paying similar salaries to everyone is fine but in the future, it will change depending on the occupation, and in some cases your salaries will depend on yourselves."
He looked around and then proceeded to give an example.
"In the future farmers and ranchers will sell their product to people and to the kingdom, and what they get from selling their products will be their salaries, and for example the building crew, for now they are working directly for the kingdom, but in the future, some might work at a request of a civilian who needs something built, in this case the civilian and the person that led the building team on that project will be responsible for the salaries. The kingdom later on will probably only be in charge of the salaries of people directly working for them or buying stuff from the rest like in one of the previous examples, the kingdom will be in charge of paying for things that the community will use, for example the books in the future library. And I apologise if I can't give you more information, his majesty decided to make this a surprise, so I wasn't exactly prepared, but you can approach me in a few days for more information if you want it..."
Everyone looked at Ars who had a bored expression, since Maon had handled everything quite professionally.
Everyone also understood what maon said, the ones working directly for the kingdom would be paid directly by the kingdom. If you were working for a merchant for example the merchant would be in charge of your salary, and finally production types could sell their products to other island inhabitants, to the kingdom, or to visitors in the future, and the amount they received would be their salary.
Then Maon added.
"And the most annoying part is, that you will probably pay annual taxes."
Everyone already knew it was coming, so no one was surprised.
Ars laughed happily and said.
"You only need to worry about the taxes next year. This year it will still be tax free."
Everyone was super relieved and happy about the news. And finally Ars continued his speech once more.
"Well, I wasn't expecting Maon to already have everything planned, but anyway, for the final news I will call these 2 ladies by my side."
He pointed at Elia and Olivia.
"These 2 beautiful women will be my wives and some of the queens."
Everyone laughed at how mischievous Ars could be, everyone knew by his face, he was bored because his prank on Maon didn't go as he planed…
One of the young females in the crowd asked.
"We would like to see both of their faces, but Elia-sama is wearing her mask, would it be possible?"
Olivia smiled at Elia warmly, Elia looked at Ars who nodded and took her mask off.
Everyone smiled at Elia who was visibly nervous.
Ars then began the last part of his speech, with the introduction of his queens.
"The one smiling and staying calm is Coni Olivia, she will be in charge of the normal kingdom logistics and education. The one that is extra nervous is Sunhalo Elia and she is the head maid and is responsible for the well being of the people living in the future palace, which for now is my home, and its maintenance. And with the introductions done, I officially give the start to the festival which will be going on for the rest of the week. Have fun and enjoy yourselves!"
Everyone went to have fun, while praising Ars as a king and the beauty of his wives.
Most of Ars' close friends and associates came to congratulate the queens and to talk with Ars.
The first ones to arrive were Fierzy and Lily who were already very close. The moment they arrived, Lily decided that today was a good day to make sure Ars knew he was a good chair and directly jumped onto his lap.
Everyone knew Lily was very close to Ars, especially because she was one of the 2 people who followed him first and she had started seeing him as a big brother, it also helped that Ars often played with her, especially in the past when she had no one else to play with. Everyone was amused by Lily's actions, except her mother who was looking at Ars quite envious.
Shortly after almost everyone had arrived and everyone started talking about random stuff for the rest of the day, with the exception of the 2 little maids that while they were close to everyone here still had their job as maids so they were quite busy.