Travel The Distance

Chapter 10

*Katsuki's POV*

A year passed and I managed to build my Kingdom out of nothing. In honour of my tribe, I named the Kingdom Crepitus. It meant 'explosion' in a language which had long since been forgotten by the common people. I had only come across the language because there were books about it in my private library. My private library was a safe haven. My world away from all of my kingly duties. Don't get me wrong, I loved being King. I adored the power and authority which came with the position and how much trust was put in me by not only my tribe members but the rest of my subjects. But it could get stressful at times. Especially the first few months of being in power.

There were a lot of things which needed to be sorted out when I ascended to the throne. Guards, servants, inventory, relationships, public image, laws, keeping my people in line. I knew that being King would require me to lose sleep, but I didn't expect to be losing sleep because of farming. Fucking farming! According to Shinso, Kendo, Asui and Shoji, since I had become king, people had been having an easier time farming. The soil was more fertile and easier to work. I was glad to hear it as it meant that I wouldn't have to deal with famine. A lot of things had improved for the people of the north-west since I had taken the throne. Ground Zero had explained to me, in the darkness of the night as I stared into my fireplace, that having a powerful dragon on the throne had given the land life. As long as I was alive, the land which I ruled would be prosperous and perfect for sustaining life. This news just made my life easier. It was comforting to know that I wouldn't have to deal with bad crops or rivers drying up.

In terms of life in the castle, after a mere 2 months of living in the monumental stone structure, everything had started to run itself smoothly. People had volunteered to work in the castle as servants. I was never sure why. What could possibly be going through your mind to willingly want to work for a jackass such as myself? After a while, I just accepted the fact that the people who worked for me must be masochists of a sort. A cook, maids, guards and the likes had all been hired by my advisors (my idiot tribe) and the village leaders (who were also sort of my advisors). I was there to make the final decisions but in all honesty, I didn't give a flying fuck who worked for me as long as they didn't attempt to kill me. Luckily nobody had managed to do that yet. The servants and guards all lived quite comfortably in the castle, all having their own rooms and having the weekends off in some form or another. Some had Saturdays off, others Sundays.

Not long into my reign, random nature spirits started showing up from Endeavour and other surrounding kingdoms. They all requested an audience with me, which I graciously granted ( I definitely wasn't forced to by Kendo, Kyoka and Asui), and asked if they could live in my land. I obviously said they could, if I didn't they would most likely die since they were too far from their life source. A whole host of nature spirits had taken residence in the lake and forest by the castle. It didn't bother me, I think that's why the two land features were there, to house nature spirits and the creatures which accompanied them. Fairies and sprites had taken up residence in the forest alongside the tree nymphs. I frequented the forest and lake. I was sure to visit them both at least twice a week. It refreshed me and brought down my excessive levels of anger. I was a tiny bit more level headed. The difference was minute though, hardly noticeable. I think the nymphs, naiads and other creatures liked it when I visited their places of residence. I usually returned from my visits with either flower crowns or water crystals. It didn't matter how much I cursed and yelled at them, my insufferable (but not really) subjects would always shower me with gifts. Nobody needs to know this and if anybody ever finds out I'll murder them in their fucking sleep, but I keep every gift I'm given. Every gift I'm given is linked to a smiling face and looking at them makes me feel... happy. It makes my heart flutter with pride that people see me and their immediate reaction is to smile and call out a greeting. Nobody ever ran away screaming. Nobody scrambled to hide their children from my steely gaze. The people of my Kingdom seemed to understand that I wasn't a very kind and soft-spoken person. I was loud, brash, slightly impulsive and overall a bit of an asshole, but they all smiled and praised me as their saviour. It was nice.