Chương 152: Chapter 144 - Another Status Screen!?

Hey guys it's Riley. I need a quick favor. I am in a positive bout of Author PVP. I (stupidly) challenged The Last Survivor, saying I bet more of my readers would click on his shoutout than mine. Well the day has arrived and while it feels like a David vs Goliath situation I think we've got this. His Shoutout already peaked at 176 clicks. We can beat that. I just need you to click the shoutout above or... here use this: D The Demon Queen Wants to Live I just need you to click on it.

Obviously following him would be awesome too because, well, it's an insanely good book but honestly I just want the clicks so I can rub it in his stupid face when we win. Thanks in advanced! Chelsea Chelsea had learned that ruling an empire involved way more sitting than she was used to. She had spent most of the morning in a small records room beneath the Crystal Cathedral with Sir Liam, an admin, and three stacks of prisoner files spread across the table in front of them.

The first stack contained people awaiting trial. The second held prisoners who had already been sentenced and likely would remain prisoners after review. The third was made up entirely of cases someone in the records office believed Chelsea might want to personally review. That stack was by far the largest. Chelsea rubbed her eyes before opening another folder. She had already learned that the old Church officials had been very creative when it came to finding reasons to sending people to be tried by the cardinals.

Sure, some deserved to be there. An angering amount didn't deserve it though. The current file belonged to a forty-two-year-old woman. She had been imprisoned for falsifying Church tax records. Chelsea almost moved the file into the pile she wasn't touching before she noticed the amount. She read the page again. She had changed the reported annual income of seventeen families. Not upward. Downward. Chelsea continued reading. All seventeen had been families with more than four children.

Most had been behind on their taxes. Several had already received seizure notices against their property. This woman had altered the records enough to keep them beneath the collection threshold. Chelsea looked across the table.

"Did anyone investigate whether she stole anything?" Liam glanced at the file.

"They did."

"And?"

"There was no evidence she benefited personally." Chelsea leaned back in the chair.

"So she committed fraud to stop poor families from losing their houses." He nodded.

"I remember hearing about this case."

"How long was she sentenced?"

"Eight years." The admin replied. Chelsea stared at him. Chelsea looked back down at the paper. She had served three of those years already.

"Where is she? Is she in the temporary containment?" Chelsea had had some abandoned buildings in the slums converted into temporary jails. Jail was a bit of a joke to a lot of those in the know. The people imprisoned there, lived better than the residents of the slums around them. Chelsea had chosen this specific building as it was one of the wartime escape exits. In case anyone were to invade the Crystal Cathedral, there was a secret tunnel under the giant gemstone that led directly to the new jail.

A short time later, Chelsea was walking through the lower levels with Liam beside her. She was becoming familiar with the place. The new jail wasn't filthy like the dungeon. Chelsea had already ordered this to be one of the top priorities after her first visit to the original dungeons. It still felt miserable, though. Stone walls were stone walls. Locked doors were locked doors. Deedra, the lady who had committed fraud, stood when Chelsea approached her cell.

She was shorter than Chelsea expected and had dark hair streaked heavily with gray. The woman stared through the bars before her eyes moved toward Liam. Chelsea had stopped wearing elaborate dresses unless someone forced her into one for a ceremony. Today she had chosen simple white clothing with gold trim, although the glow surrounding her made any attempt at looking ordinary pointless.

"You altered seventeen tax accounts." The woman swallowed and nodded. Chelsea opened the folder.

"You lowered their reported income enough that the Church couldn't seize their property." Deedra remained silent. Chelsea continued reading.

"You did it repeatedly for almost two years." The woman reluctantly nodded again. Her eyes moved to the floor. Chelsea looked up from the file.

"Were there more?" That got a reaction out of the frail woman. Deedra hesitated before giving another small nod. Chelsea closed the folder. Wonderful. Apparently the investigation hadn't even found all of them. Chelsea looked toward Liam. He understood and motioned for one of the guards to unlock the cell. Deedra didn't move when the door opened. Chelsea stepped inside.

"You're pardoned." Deedra just stared at her in complete and total shock. Chelsea had encountered that reaction enough times to recognize it. Pardons were easy. You just said…

'you're pardoned' and boom, they were. Chelsea glanced at the folder again.

"You worked in Church accounting for fourteen years before they arrested you." Deedra nodded.

"Yes… Uh, yes your Grace."

"Good." Chelsea handed the folder to Liam.

"I need people who understand these records." Deedra didn't seem to understand. Chelsea knew this reaction well.

"You'll be paid." Chelsea continued down the corridor several minutes later with one new employee following a guard toward the administrative levels of the cathedral. One down. Unfortunately, the next case wasn't nearly as simple. The man had beaten a merchant badly enough that the victim permanently lost the use of one hand. Chelsea read the report twice. There wasn't a hidden explanation. No corrupt noble or false accusation. The man had become angry during an argument and nearly killed someone.

His sentence was twelve years of slavery in one of the Empire's stone quarries. Chelsea stopped reading. There was that word again. Slavery. She hated how often it appeared in legal records. Sometimes it was punishment or a way out of debt. There were even instances where someone had simply been born to enslaved parents and inherited the status. The more Chelsea learned about the system, the more she hated her new empire. She closed the file.

"How many people are sentenced to slavery?" Liam considered the question as they continued walking.

"I don't know the exact number."

"That seems like something we should know." She sighed. He nodded his agreement, "We can get the number." Chelsea looked toward the cells they passed.

"What happens to someone sentenced that way?"

"The sentence specifies a length of time. They are transferred to a work site or contracted to an approved private holder." Chelsea stopped walking.

"Private holder?" Her face scrunched up, "They can be rented out?"

"In some circumstances. Yes."

"Sold?" She asked, already knowing that answer.

"Only if the remainder of the sentence is transferred with them." Chelsea turned and started walking again.

"No." She didn't know exactly what the replacement would be yet, but that part was ending. The next several hours were spent going through more cases. Chelsea pardoned a man who had spent four years imprisoned for operating an unlicensed bakery after refusing to pay a Church official for the license. She didn't hire him. She did ask someone to find out whether there was an empty bakery anywhere near the cathedral. Another prisoner had been convicted of stealing medical supplies.

Chelsea was prepared to release her until she discovered she had stolen them to resell at a higher price during an outbreak. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. That file went back into the sentenced stack. Not everyone in the dungeon had a tragic misunderstanding waiting to be uncovered. That was probably for the best. Chelsea wasn't sure she could emotionally handle finding out the entire prison system was filled with innocent people.

The last person she visited before lunch was an older man named Thomas. His offense was forgery. Very very good forgery. Chelsea stood outside his cell looking at two documents. One was an authentic Church travel permit. The other was his. She couldn't tell which was which.

"Which one did he make?" The records officer pointed. Chelsea looked between them again.

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Your Grace." Chelsea turned toward the man sitting inside the cell. He had apparently spent years producing travel documents for people who couldn't legally leave their assigned districts. The old Church had restricted movement for debtors and certain races. Thomas had helped them get around those restrictions. He had also made money doing it. A lot of money. Chelsea entered the cell after it was unlocked.

"How long did it take you to learn to do this?" Thomas looked at the documents in her hands.

"Thirty years." His voice was rough. That meant he had a naturally rough voice because the treatment in this new jail wouldn't lead to the voices Ivy and Rose had when they first got out. Chelsea examined the forged permit again. She looked at Liam. He already knew what she was thinking. She knew for a fact he was not going to be thrilled about this one. Chelsea smiled.

Thomas left the jail less than twenty minutes later with a conditional pardon and a job working under direct supervision in the Imperial records office. Liam waited until the man was gone.

"You enjoy doing that." Chelsea started toward the stairs.

"Hiring criminals?"

"Hiring people immediately after pardoning them." Chelsea considered it.

"A little." She finally replied with a smirk. They made it back to the upper administrative floors before lunch. Chelsea had food brought into one of the smaller offices instead of going to the dining hall. Liam remained across the table while Chelsea ate. She had spent the walk upstairs thinking about the slavery sentences. The problem wouldn't leave her alone.

"What happens if a slave tells their owner they don't want to be a slave anymore?" Liam lowered the report he had been reading.

"That depends on the type of slavery." Chelsea picked at the food in front of her.

"Let's say someone sold themselves because they owed money."

"They remain enslaved until the debt specified in the contract is satisfied."

"And if they change their mind?"

"They can't simply leave." Chelsea frowned.

"What about someone born into it?"

"Their legal owner retains authority over them." Chelsea's appetite disappeared. She pushed the plate away.

"And sex slaves?" Chelsea had already read enough to know the answer. She hated it anyway.

"I want that completely illegal." Liam nodded once.

"I expected you would."

"No transition period. No grandfathered contracts. Nothing. The second I sign it, every sex slave in the Empire is free."

"That…" He sighed, "can be done." Chelsea was slightly surprised by how easily he accepted that so she continued.

"And everyone else gets the right to leave." Liam remained quiet and Chelsea waited for his response. There it was. That look meant he was about to explain why one of her choices was the idealistic ramblings of a teenage girl.

"What?" She asked, prodding him.

"The criminal sentences." Chelsea leaned back.

"What about them?"

"You just reviewed a man who crippled someone during an assault."

"Yeah? So?" She asked.

"He was sentenced to twelve years of labor." Chelsea understood where he was going.

"Liam. He shouldn't be owned."

"That isn't the issue."

"It kind of is." She retorted Liam placed the report down.

"If every slave can end their status whenever they wish, then every person sentenced to slavery can end their punishment the moment the sentence begins. This would include imprisonment as it could be seen as a form of slavery to the empire." Chelsea opened her mouth and stopped. Damn it. She hated when he had an actual good point. She had gotten too accustomed to arguing with her family and valkyr. Liam was a different animal. She looked toward the window. The city stretched far beyond the cathedral grounds.

Somewhere out there were people who had committed serious crimes and been sentenced to labor because of them. That didn't mean she liked calling those people slaves. It definitely didn't mean she wanted some noble buying them. Chelsea rubbed her forehead.

"So criminal slavery stays." She said slowly.

"Some form of compulsory labor sentence needs to remain if you intend to honor existing criminal judgments." he nodded his head at his words. Chelsea stared at him.

"I don't like it." He nodded his understanding.

"What if they aren't slaves?" Liam waited for her to explain. Chelsea sat forward.

"They're prisoners serving labor sentences. The Empire controls the sentence. They can't be sold to anyone. They can't become someone's property. If they're assigned to a private company or estate, that person is paying the Empire for labor, not buying the prisoner." Liam considered that, making an impressed frown. Chelsea continued working through the idea as she spoke.

"They still can't walk away because they're serving a criminal sentence. Everyone else can."

"That would address my concern."

"And nobody gets sexual access to someone because they're serving a sentence." Chelsea quickly added.

"I assumed that was the case." Liam nodded. Chelsea picked up a piece of fruit again. That felt better. Not perfect though. She hadn't abolished slavery completely. She still wasn't sure she liked compulsory labor as punishment, but that was a different issue. She didn't need to redesign the entire criminal justice system in one afternoon. Chelsea took a bite.

"What about debt slaves?"

"If you give them an unconditional right to leave, the existing debt would need to be addressed."

"Put the debt back." Liam raised an eyebrow.

"They can leave slavery whenever they want. The remaining debt still exists, but nobody owns them."

"That will cause lenders to stop accepting enslavement contracts as security."

"Good." Liam didn't argue. He just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Chelsea became more confident as the policy took shape. Privately owned slavery would still technically exist for anyone who chose to remain in it, although Chelsea couldn't imagine why someone would. Anyone who wanted out could leave at any time. No owner could physically prevent them from leaving. No contract could waive that right. Sexual slavery would be illegal in every form.

Children born to enslaved parents would never inherit enslaved status. Criminal labor sentences would become a separate legal category controlled entirely by the Empire. Chelsea knew there would be consequences. Industries probably depended on slave labor. Some nobles were going to be furious. There would be arguments about contracts and property and money. Chelsea didn't care nearly enough about any of those concerns to keep people trapped.

"I think that's what we're doing." Liam nodded.

"I'll have the legal office prepare the decree." Chelsea looked at him.

"The legal office?"

"Yes."

"We have one of those?" Liam stared at her for a moment as if she were a child once again. Chelsea shrugged. There were apparently entire pieces of her government she still hadn't discovered. That realization reminded her of something else. She had received a notification immediately after the evolution. Chelsea had ignored it because she'd been surrounded by several hundred people. She had forgotten about it since. She leaned back in her chair and focused. The familiar interface appeared.

Imperial Interface Unlocked Chelsea selected it. The screen changed and expanded. Her eyes widened.

"Oh." Liam looked up from his papers. Chelsea didn't elaborate. There was a lot. HOLY EMPIRE Current Population: 72, 742, 611 Seventy-two million people.

"L-Liam." She squeaked.

"I thought someone said there were umm… less than twenty million people in the Holy Empire."

"Are you looking at the stats? I'm not sure of the exact number. It was estimated at around twenty million and should double with the cathedral waking up over the coming years."

"Uh, nope. Seventy… two million." She said slowly. She knew the Empire was large. Knowing something and seeing the exact number were apparently very different experiences. She continued. Major Cities: 14▸ Regional Cities: 88▸ Small Cities: 499▸ Towns: 5070▸ Villages/Hamlets: 39, 529▸ How fucking big was this stupid empire? Chelsea thought she was dealing with just the Holy City and maybe one or two other cities. What the hell is a Hamlet? She looked back and found her answer Area: roughly 3.

1 million square miles And that meant nothing to her without any frame of reference. Male Population: 48. 7% Female Population: 51. 3% That seemed normal enough. The next number was less pleasant. Average Life Expectancy: 43. 8 Years Chelsea frowned. That was terrible. Another line appeared beneath it when she focused. Average Life Expectancy After Surviving Age Five: 57. 2 Years Okay. Still not great, but apparently childhood mortality was dragging down the first number considerably. Chelsea kept reading.

Literacy Rate: 21. 4% Current Birth Rate: 31. 6 per 1, 000 Current Death Rate: 24. 9 per 1, 000 Urban Population: 28. 2% Rural Population: 71. 8% Chelsea scrolled. There were categories for religion, agriculture, trade, crime, military strength, education, health, treasury reserves, employment, crop yields, and dozens of things she didn't actually understand. She opened trade. Major Exports The interface displayed agricultural products first.

Grain made up a surprisingly large percentage, followed by iron and finished steel products. Wool, glass, silver, and enchanted religious goods accounted for much of the remainder. Chelsea opened imports. Seafood was near the top. That made sense. The Holy Empire was landlocked. Silk, spices, rare medicinal plants, specialized alchemical reagents, and several types of monster material followed. Chelsea backed out and opened population again. There were more categories beneath the basic information.

Age distribution. Racial distribution. Average household size. Marriage rates. Orphans. A chill ran up her back. Children Without Recognized Parent or Guardian: 41, 826 Her good mood disappeared. Forty-one thousand. Chelsea stared at the number. She knew there were a lot. She hadn't realized there were that many. She would come back to that. Chelsea continued downward. Then she found what she had been looking for. Legally Enslaved Persons: 386, 119 Chelsea breathed out a sigh of annoyance.

Almost four hundred thousand people. She focused on the category and it expanded. The interface separated them by legal status. The largest group consisted of inherited or privately contracted slaves. Debt slavery represented another substantial portion. Criminal sentences were smaller than Chelsea expected but still numbered in the tens of thousands. Then she reached the final category. Registered Sexual Servitude: 27, 403 Chelsea's wanted to throw up. Twenty-seven thousand. Registered.

Which meant the government knew exactly what was happening. It had records. It collected fees. Chelsea closed that section. Liam had noticed her expression.

"What did you find?" Chelsea looked at him.

"Twenty-seven thousand four hundred and three." He waited.

"That's how many people are registered as sex slaves." Liam breathed in quickly, obviously taken aback by the number as well. Chelsea reopened the interface. She hadn't even signed the decree yet, and suddenly twenty-seven thousand people were no longer an abstract policy question. They were sitting somewhere in the Empire right now. Some probably didn't know there was a new Holy Empress. Some had probably heard and assumed nothing in their lives would change. Chelsea stood.

The interface remained floating in front of her.

"Get the legal office." Liam rose as well. Chelsea opened the slavery category again and stared at the number.

"I want this specific decree finished today." Liam gave a single nod and headed for the door. She looked over the rest of the Imperial Interface. There were seventy two million people in her Empire. Forty-one thousand children without parents. Hundreds of thousands of slaves. Thousands of prisoners. Entire industries she barely understood. Trade routes she had never seen. Cities she couldn't name if shown a map.

She had spent so much time dealing with whatever crisis was directly in front of her that she hadn't really understood what ruling the Holy Empire meant. Now she had numbers. Far far far too many numbers. Chelsea sat back down. She reopened the population section. There was going to be a lot of work.