Chapter 28: Capital City Development Part 2 (Capital city expansion)
Six months had passed since the first Royal Examination. The capital city of Aethelburg was transformed into a sprawling worksite buzzing with the relentless energy of a kingdom. The air, once thick with the smell of woodsmoke and stagnant water, now carried the clean scent of cut stone and fresh lumber and the rhythmic, percussive heartbeat of a thousand hammers.
From the highest balcony of the royal palace, Alexius surveyed his domain. The city spread out below him. To the south and west lay the old city, a familiar, chaotic tapestry of winding streets and tightly packed rooftops. But to the northeast, where the festering slum known as the Leaky Cauldron had once been, there has become a vast, orderly expanse of construction and renewal. The first phase of the Lyra's District project was complete, and the second was well underway. Far beyond the city walls, the unmistakable Prince's Highway spread its way south, a masterpiece of Borgin Ironhand's dwarven efficiency.
Deciding that she wanted to check out the ground situation herself, Alexius descended from the balcony with Cilia and two of her scouts as a discreet escort, transforming into merchant outfits.
They entered Lyra's District, and the change was visible. The first completed residential block stood. The new tenement buildings were marvels of practical design, three stories of clean-lined brick and stone, their tiled roofs gleaming in the morning sun. Their windows were large, letting in light and air, a stark contrast to the dark, oppressive hovels they had replaced. Between the buildings were clean, cobbled walkways and small, green community garden plots where families tended to rows of vegetables and flowers, a touch of life and hope brought to the stone by Lillia's insistence.
Children, their faces cleaner and their cheeks fuller than he had ever seen in the old slum, chased each other around a public fountain in a small square, its water drawn from the new aqueduct system, pure and clean. He could see the happiness in the faces of the residents as they went about their day. They swept their own doorsteps. They spoke to their neighbors. They had been given more than just a home; they had been given a community and a sense of ownership over their own lives.
He entered one of the ground-floor apartments. A woman, the wife of a man who now worked as a mason on the project, was inside, cooking a simple stew that nonetheless smelled rich and savory. She saw him, and her eyes widened in terrified recognition before she dropped into a deep, trembling curtsy. She remembered him from the triumphant return from the Civil War.
"Your Majesty!" She gasped.
"Please, stand," Alexius said, his voice gentle. He looked around the small, two-room apartment. It was not too wide, but it was surprisingly clean. There was a proper kitchen for cooking, a separate small room for sleeping, and a window that let in a shaft of bright, clear sunlight. "Are you well housed?"
Tears welled in the woman's eyes. "My son… he coughed all through the winter in the old place. From the damp," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. "Here… the air is clean. We have clean water. My son's health has improved a lot. Your Majesty… you have not given us a house. You have given us life. I cannot thank you enough."
Alexius simply nodded; the woman's heartfelt gratitude is a more satisfying reward than any treasure. He left the apartment with the feeling of satisfaction.
He continued his tour with Borgin Ironhand, who had arrived to oversee the day's work. The dwarf, covered in a fine layer of stone dust, led him to the heart of the renewal project. Here, on a massive, two-block footprint, the foundations for a building unlike any other in Leo were being laid.
"The new Central Government building," Borgin rumbled with pride, "the seat of power of the entire realm, as the men have started calling it."
It was not like a palace. There were no soaring, frivolous spires or gilded decorations in the plans. Inspired by the principles of practicality and imposing order that Alexius had sketched out, Borgin had designed a structure of monumentality and efficiency. It was to be a vast, symmetrical building of grey granite, its lines clean and severe, its facade dominated by a grand colonnade of massive pillars of unshakable strength and permanence. The entire structure was designed around a great central hall, with wings radiating outwards to house the various ministries of the new Royal Service and the Grand Prince himself.
The construction site was a marvel of dwarven logistics. Huge, counterweighted cranes, Borgin's own design, lifted multi-ton blocks of stone into place with terrifying ease. Hundreds of workers, organized into specialized teams for masonry, carpentry, and transport, moved with a disciplined purpose that resembled one of Varrus's legions.
"The Ministry of the Treasury will be here," Borgin explained, pointing to the western wing. "Connected by a secure passage to the Ministry of Works. The chancellery will overlook the main hall for easy access to all departments. No more messengers running all over the city from one noble's manor to another. Everything will be here. Centralized. Collective and Efficient."
Alexius looked at the sprawling foundations and saw the physical manifestation of his governmental reforms. This building was important for governance of the whole realm, a place where all the ministers and government officials could work together.
His tour concluded outside the city's ancient walls. The success of his reforms had led to a new problem: Aethelburg was growing. The influx of workers for his projects, new residents from rural areas seeking new opportunities, the new merchants drawn by the stable economy, and the non-human subjects seeking the protection of the Crown had caused the population to swell. The old capital city was becoming cramped.
Standing on a hill with Borgin, Alexius unrolled a new, larger map. "The old walls are now becoming overpopulated, Master Borgin. We must think beyond them."
He had designated a vast area of Crown land, a circle with a two-mile radius from the old walls, for future expansion. But it was not to be an uncontrolled sprawl. He had zoned it. Each area—commercial, industrial, residential, and public—is systematically planned out.
"Here," he said, pointing to an area near the newly constructed Prince's Highway. "The new Merchant's Quarter and Industrial Zone. We will move the tanneries, forges, factories, and dye-works here. It will concentrate our industry, make it more efficient, and move the noise and pollution away from where people live. Here," he indicated another, larger section, "we will lay out new residential districts, built on the same principles as Lyra's District, for our growing populace."
The most critical part of the plan was the new line of defense. "The new city will not be protected by a simple curtain wall," Alexius explained. "You will construct a series of interconnected forts, built on the new principles we are using in the south. Angled bastions, overlapping fields of fire, deep earthworks. It will be a defensive ring that can hold against an army a hundred times its size."
As dusk began to settle, casting long, purple shadows from the hills, Alexius stood alone on that same hill, looking back at his capital. The beautiful lights of the old city glowed warmly. Beyond them, he could see the scattered, brave new lights of the completed homes in Lyra's District. And all around, the darkness was punctuated by the bonfires of the construction crews working through the night.
The city was alive with his will. Elias will probably nag him again about the cost of this project. But, we have enough funds for ten times this kind of project, only from paper and soap (recently developed by Alexius with the help of the system) sales to foreign nobles, and the profit is rising. He foresees the construction of the most powerful economic and military engine on the continent. He was building a capital that could support the empire he would need to forge, a fortress city that could be the last bastion of hope against the coming darkness.
The system's interface shimmered in the twilight.
[Project: [Aethelburg Urban Renewal]—Phase 1 Complete.] [Capital City Status Updated: [Planned Expansion Initiated].] [Public Health (Capital): Increased by 12%.] [Happiness Index (Capital): +15.]
Alexius felt satisfied and smiled. (Continue…..)