Landon, Henry and a few others sat in Henry's office to finalize some major issues.

One should know that months ago after Henry signed the contract, he and Landon discussed how to put an end to many practices In Deiferus.

Of course, Landon also gave Henry time to discuss these issues amongst his aides as well.

After all, it was their empire, and Landon didn't want to make all the changes himself.

Nonetheless, he educated them on the consequences of many practices, which left them stunned and fearful.

And today, he wanted to discuss the last few things on his agenda.

Henry's aides, Trenton and Mike, were with them, as well as Lieutenant Vlad, Captain Glindor, Captain Amelia, and warrant officer Corwin.

This was a formal meeting.

And in matters like this, they needed someone to take down the meeting minutes.

So Corwin was chosen for the job.

Over time, with Landon's regular visits to Henry, he and his men had gotten very much used to taking meeting etiquette.

And they had to say; it made everything a whole lot better and smoother.

Earlier on whenever Landon warped over, Henry's men had to learn about creating agendas, taking minutes and whatnot.

And now, several months later, they got a handle on it.

So when Landon's team passed the documents around, they first wrote their names and signed to confirm their attendance.

From there, they picked up the well-typed document before them calmly.

Of course, water bottles were also shared around the table too.

With that, Henry officially began the meeting.

After all, it was his empire and his region, so he had to take centre stage, while Landon would be second behind him. 

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"Lady and gentlemen.

For as long as we Deifers can remember, we have indulged in some traditional practices created by our forefathers with the intention of war only.

These practices have long since made our people uncomfortable.

And some are also unhealthy as well.

That said, we must eradicate the bad practices from our glorious empire permanently.

With that, I'll hand over the floor to his majesty Landon, who will further explain the issues at hand."

"Thank you, Prince Henry," Landon said while nodding before finally focusing his attention on everyone else.

"Everyone!

Like the prince has said, we will work hard to reevaluate and stop some of the practices that seem to hinder the growth and rose of the empire.

So without wasting any more time, everyone should please turn to page 2.

We'll start from there."

Flip Flip Flip Flip.

The sounds of pages turning, echoed across the tranquil room.

Landon looked at them and smiled.

"Lady and Gentlemen, our first problem arises with birth."

Everyone's ears were perked up as they listened attentively.

Why childbirth?

For Landon, the problem was the birth process itself but traditions that followed.

Where to begin?

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Unlike the other empires, Deiferus had a bizarre and terrifying way of raising children.

Right from birth, the children's fates were decided by the Sacramentos.

They were found in every town and city, and those in villages also had to report to the closets towns and cities to meet them.

The Sacramentos were a group of people that decided if a child would live or die.

So every pregnant lady had to inform any Sacramento around.

It was illegal to give birth without the presence of a Sacramento.

Even royalty wasn't exempt.

For Deiferans, from the day they were born to the day they died, their lives were under constant examination.

They were seen as high-level products that would boost the empire to the next level.

It was believed that the only reason they were alive was to make their empire great.

Now, starting from the root of the problem here, from the moment the child popped out of the woman's belly, the Sacramento would do one of two things.

If the child were a girl, the child would be given to his mother to raise as normal.

But, the mother had to take the female child to the Council of Fertility to examine whether this child would be able to bear children in future.

They believed that the fatter the child's thighs, the more children the child would have in future, as it already showed signs of having excellent childbearing hips.

As they said, everyone was born to make the empire great.

So even women had their own expectations.

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Now, if the child was a boy, then things got a lot more complicated.

At that point, they would be taken by a Sacramento to the nearest Injang, which was a council with several leading elders that were very skilled in war or other positions.

From there, the child would be inspected like goods in a store

If the child was disabled, mentally ill (by not crying) or seemed dick, then he was no use to the empire.

A real man came out of his mother's womb strong.

So why would they want such weaklings?

And so when a newborn was deemed as useless, what do they do to it?

They would be abandoned in the wilderness to survive and prove themselves, even though they were just a few hours old.

So many-a-times, over 70% of these babies got eaten by wild beasts.

While the rest were sometimes picked up by peasants that would take them, intending to use them as cleaners to clean their houses and do their work for them.

Everyone knew that babies in the wilderness were wastes.

So why not pick it up and get free labour?

Of course, some somehow manage to survive but were taken in by wolves or other animals, which was strange but true.

At times, slave traders will also collect these babies after they were thrown in the wilderness.

For them, they got these slaves free of charge without paying for anything.

So why not?

This was a good investment.

Again, the female children who were rejected by the council of Fertility also got thrown into the wilderness.

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All in all, the councils decided the fates of the children.

And for this matter, Landon was utterly speechless.

If they didn't want the babies, why not send them to Baymard?

Do these people know how dangerous the wilderness is?

Just the crazy creatures in this world were enough to deal with a handful of adults.

So why send a poor innocent, defenceless child there?

Wasn't this too cruel?

This Deiferus was really something else.