Another two hours passed

Shahiem stood in front of the closed door, taking a deep breath before walking into the room and when he did the entire room fell silent, anger was still evident of the faces of some of the nobles but no one spoke.

Taking a seat on the throne overlooking everyone Shahiem sat down and didn’t utter a word of greeting or an apology for being later.

Nobody spoke up because they weren’t sure about what’s happening another half hour passed before a young lord stood up bowing out respect before speaking.

“My name is bradaka, Prin-...Your majesty, I hope I am not being too presumptuous but, when will the citizens be allowed to return to the capital.”

Shahiem sat on the throne looking down on everyone neither arrogant nor humble, simply casual.

“They won’t…Waterford is the new capital of Gaza”

Pausing for a moment to observe the reaction of those below him, he then continued.

“Gaza city no longer exists, it is nothing more than a tomb that will house my father body, you will all be allowed to visit as you please but absolutely no one will live in the city”

Everyone was stunned people wanted to speak but couldn’t find the words, this was madness! Pure madness.

Bradaka tried to speak up again but Shahiem raised his hand to stop him and silencing everyone in the hall.

“Now onto the matter you've been waiting for so patiently I’ve decided to abdicate the throne, Gaza was Adidja and Adidja was Gaza, I have no interest in inheriting that burden, so as of today Gaza will be split up into smaller countries or states where you will all choose or lord or prince or even a king to rule, how you decide on your leader is up to you. As of today the royal family of Gaza no longer exist only Waterford will remain under my mothers’ charge”

The entire hall was completely quiet everyone was unsure of how to reply but undoubtedly they were all ecstatic and some had a hard time hiding it.

“Your Majesty you can’t!” bradaka protested

Shahiem spoke up again and the hall hushed.

“Majority of you are all snakes waiting to strike and if I ruled I would end up executing majority of the nation my father built simply because you’d try to rip it down so I believe it’s simpler to let you have it, but there is no such thing as a free lunch.”

The expression of majority of the hall changed but Shahiem expression showed that couldn’t care less, he wasn’t normally like this he normally chose his words carefully and he didn’t go through any life-changing realization when his father died it was because Rhyno and the others stood by his side giving him the confidence to act freely.

“I’ve changed my mind, you will all decide amongst yourself now how and who will rule what portion of land, if you feel like killing each other you can, but once you leave this room that’s it you will not bring the citizens into a senseless war.”

Letting out a gentle sign Shahiem continued.

“You should all have a token that represents your authority, I've noticed a few lords didn’t respond to my summons and instead sent representatives I’d suggest you kill them and take their authority tokens, I’ll give you three hours after three hours I’ll come back with a map to divide everything…”

Getting up off the throne Shahiem walked out of the room, regardless of how things turned out Shahiem would have weakened his enemies inside Gaza considerable so even when the land was divided and he hands down his laws it will be no different from when the country only had one ruler.

Shahiem might not want to rule but that doesn’t mean he’ll let his father’s legacy be destroyed.

His mothers’ were still mourning his father’s death and Rhyno and the others were hidden in the palace just in case anything unfortunate should happen after all this was a very unstable time, so for the three hours he basically sat by himself deep in thought.

Once the three hours passed he walked back into the meeting room just as casually as he exited it, the floor was littered with corpses and soaked with blood but this was something he expected so he just stepped over the corpses on the floor returning to the throne.

To his surprise majority of the meeting hall was spotless as if they’d all agreed not to use any spell or techniques that would cause major damage.

Of the close to eight hundred odd invited guest only about three hundred and something remained.

For this much to have survived they must've formed alliances with each other, after all, there was no fighting when he entered the room and every one of the survivors stood in groups of different sizes.

“I suppose this means you’ve decided.”

Majority of them were injured or tired so they only grunted or made small bows in response, in short order a group of servants walked in with a table and a giant map plastered over it.

When they came into the room they were stunned for a moment but they dared not tarry so they brought in the table and left right after.

“Well, come let me see who will govern where”

A newfound energy that they didn’t have before rushed into their bodies and they all rushed up —as if pre-discussed — in an orderly fashion.

Shahiem would take each set of authorization token from a particular lord and combine them into one, across Gaza in every city the city hall would always be in the form of a tower and in the center of that tower would always be a projection of a map of Gaza with the majority of it dimmed and only the area under the control of the different lords across the city would highlighted.

Gaza’s city halls were plunged into chaos as the border of said lords started expanding overlapping with the borders of other lords, they all understood that this was something only the royal family could authorize, so majority of them of them could guess that this was the way how the young prince would buy the loyalty of the nobles.

The problem was some nobles didn't go to the meeting and also didn't send a proxy so right now their authority token that they have would burn into ashes and the territory closest to them would absorb them, so right now all across Gaza nobles were beating down the doors of the city hall for an explanation but they had no to give, its not like they could reveal their inner thoughts.

The entire process took a few hours to complete, combining different territories, creating borders and renaming some of them, another servant walked in rolled up the map and left right away.

“Now let us discuss tribute and laws”

When Shahiem said this very few were surprised after all there is no such thing as a free lunch.

“Even though you have the power to make your own laws there are few that must be the basis of all your laws as well as even though you have become your own countries if the queens of Waterford should ever call upon you will act as if it is a royal edict………….”

As Shahiem continued the once smiling faces grew serious until it turned into to completely anger.

Finally, someone couldn’t take it anymore and exploded.

“Fuck you boy! Do you know how many of our former comrades we just killed because of the promise that we would rule our own states!!! With those conditions what’s the fucking difference between you ruling us and we supposedly ruling ourselves? I’ll tell you there is none! you fucking bastard! No difference! If you think I’m going to sit here and let some snot nose brat make a fool out of me your fucking crazy!!!!”

The moment he stopped ranting a blade light came out of nowhere beheading him without warning stunning everyone in the room.

Shahiem gave no reaction other than using his hand to prop his head up the say way adidja did, when he spoke again to all the nobles in the room his figure overlapped with the figure of a young adidja.

“I’m sorry I didn’t hear you, could you please repeat that?”

~:~

After making an example out of one person the meeting progressed smoothly.

Once the meeting ended Shahiem went straight to his room closing the room behind him.

Shahiem walked out to the balcony staring off into the distance, tearing welling up inside his eyes.

“Father….”

Finally, he couldn’t hold it in anymore, gripping onto the clothes he wore that once belonged to his father he started crying without holding anything back.

His entire world crumbled around him and he had to be strong for everyone, to honor the memory of his father but he couldn't anymore.

He hadn’t cried from the beginning and now everything just kept pouring out and he didn’t have the strength to stop it anymore, so he dropped to his knees and screamed without holding anything back.