Moving the Capital

After dealing with the mages within the borders, Leon immediately returned to Camelot to inform his ministers of his decision to relocate the capital.

Relocating the capital was a matter of great significance with far-reaching implications, and the entanglement of interests involved was far too complex. Yet, the moment Leon spoke, every interest group had no choice but to shut their mouths and concede.

After spending two days designing the urban planning for the new capital, Leon handed the blueprints to Luther. Luther and the many ministers present wore expressions of utter dismay; the massive scale and exorbitant cost of the new capital were secondary—the real issue was that they could not understand the plans at all.

"My King, what are these?"

Looking at the spot the minister was pointing to, Leon explained, "Oh, this is the train station, this is the railway, this is the main thoroughfare of the new capital, and there is the grand plaza in front of the royal palace..."

"My King, what is a train station?"

Under Leon's explanation, the group remained wide-eyed and bewildered, completely failing to grasp the concepts.

Seeing his trusted ministers in such a state, Leon knew that talking to them was useless; it was difficult to understand without seeing the physical objects, so he immediately decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Luther will be responsible for all domestic and foreign political affairs, and everyone else must cooperate. I will now devote my energy to the construction of the new capital."

After dumping the miscellaneous state affairs onto his father, Leon issued an order. Taking his wife, daughter, and two thousand-man units, he arrived at Londinium and immediately conscripted fifty thousand people from the vicinity to build the new capital.

After having all the residents evacuated from the city, Leon started by unleashing the Holy Spear.

Although Leon had led his army to conquer the city a few days prior, causing some damage, most of the buildings had remained intact. With this single strike from Leon, most of the structures in Londinium were wiped clean, leaving nothing but broken bricks and rubble.

"From now on, this city shall be renamed Caliban!"

The original name was London, but Leon felt it was inappropriate. This was his new city, and keeping the old name felt awkward.

Leon's planning for the new capital had only one characteristic: it was big! The royal city had to be big, the palace had to be big, the roads had to be wide—in short, he wanted to build a massive wonder.

In Leon's design, he even left enough space for future bus stations, highways, and expressways.

When he directed the laborers to clear the rubble from the original site of the old city, he waited for three full days, yet the laborers had not even cleared one-third of the debris.

This fell far short of Leon's expectations. In his vision, the construction of the new city was supposed to take a year, and there were all sorts of other things waiting for him afterward.

Leon was so angry he wanted to kill, but Morgan, as his wife, stopped him. She took him to observe the laborers' work; they were neither slacking nor cutting corners, but even with their best efforts, this was the only progress they could make.

Helpless, Leon stepped in himself. It took him less than a morning to clear the site of the old city. By noon, he had chopped off a small hill and moved it over, and by the afternoon, he had used that hill to compact the foundation of the new city, even digging out wide, preparatory waterways.

Under the gaze of tens of thousands of laborers, they finally understood the reason why Leon was the King.

Seeing that the laborers were too useless, Leon had the army lead them to smelt steel and iron and make cement. He knew the simple processes, and in any case, Britain had plenty of coal, iron, and limestone.

As for himself, he built the city alone.

In just three short months, just as Morgan finished exploring the Spirit Tomb and was building a new mage workshop, she saw a magnificent city rising from the ground.

The city walls were paved with white marble, standing over thirty meters high, stretching beyond the horizon. A river ran through both sides of the city and flowed into the sea. The main thoroughfare at the front gate was over three hundred meters wide, leading directly to the royal palace, which stood even taller than the walls, shaped like a pagoda.

Looking from afar, it was a sea of white, not like something of this world.

Morgan looked at Leon in astonishment, her cold voice trembling slightly, unable to believe it.

"Leon, you did this? In such a short time?"

Although she had greatly overestimated her husband's power, she was still shocked by his inhuman capabilities every single time.

"Haha, it's alright, I suppose."

Leon's face was filled with undisguised satisfaction. The sense of accomplishment from completing a vast project all by himself was far beyond the achievements of winning battles with fewer troops; victory on the battlefield had already become mundane to him.

The process of building the city reminded him of playing with sand and building castles when he was a child—that purest form of joy.

After three months of heavy labor, Leon felt no fatigue at all; instead, he felt incredibly relieved and proud.

Leon took Morgan's fair, cool hand and walked into the city: "Let me take you for a stroll. This is the future capital of Britain, the new city of Caliban."

After entering the city, Morgan found the buildings inside even more incredible. Aside from some of the commoners' residential buildings being a bit cramped despite their height, every other structure exuded grandeur and magnificence.

Under Leon's showmanship, the royal palace went without saying. The main road was paved with marble blocks two meters thick, and there were crisscrossing underground sewers, a thirteen-story library, a vast academy, a colosseum that could hold over fifty thousand people, a grand bathhouse connected to the river, and a star-gazing tower that reached toward the heavens...

Morgan was dumbfounded. Most importantly, she discovered that there was not a trace of magecraft in the entire city; it was built entirely of ordinary brick, stone, and steel.

But was that even possible?

Seeing Morgan's shocked expression, Leon was very pleased, though he felt a bit regretful and said, "The city is mostly done, but some of the details haven't been filled in yet."

He wasn't skilled at murals and sculptures, so he didn't want to embarrass himself, and he didn't have the time anyway.

But it didn't matter; he had already planned it. The people in Europa were good at painting and art, so he would just go and grab some of them later.

The Germanic People could forget it; they had never been good at this.

Morgan gradually regained her composure and pointed to a canopy-like building not far from the city gate, asking, "Leon, what is that? You haven't told me yet."

"That is the train station..."

"Train station? What is that? A train?"

Under Morgan's puzzled expression, Leon paused and decided to continue: "Morgan, do you remember the steam engine model I made? It's a vehicle powered by that."

Morgan remembered. She had once asked Leon to destroy those items, never expecting that her husband had secretly kept them and intended to use them on a grand scale.

"You promised me you would throw them away! Why did you keep them!"

"Morgan, don't be anxious, listen to me first." Hearing the urgency in Morgan's tone, Leon quickly hugged her to soothe her, trying to calm her down. "Morgan, I have a great use for this. Why do you hate it so much?"

"I don't know. I just hate it."

Morgan could not explain the reason either; it was as if it were a natural predator, a dual aversion stemming from both physiology and psychology, an inexplicable instinct.

"If even you cannot name a reason, how can I easily destroy it? The efficiency with which I use this thing to transport troops and goods far exceeds our current capabilities, and it holds extraordinary significance for future campaigns on the continent... Morgan, just promise me for now; if you see anything amiss one day, it won't be too late to destroy it then."

Under Leon's persuasion, Morgan nodded slowly. She was opposed and disgusted, but since she could not yet see any harm, she had no choice but to indulge her husband for the time being.

If she truly saw something wrong, even if her husband tried to stop her, she would destroy these things.

After the new city was established, Leon notified the ministers of Camelot that the relocation of the capital had officially begun.

When these ministers first laid eyes on Leon's masterpiece, they were even worse off than Morgan; one by one, they were stunned into speechlessness, unable to utter a word for a long time.

During the subsequent major task of relocating the capital, Leon did not bother with it, choosing instead to join the laborers in laying tracks and building the railway.

In just half a year, before the relocation was even complete, Leon had already laid two railways connecting Wales and Scotland.

Four locomotive engines were temporarily built, and in his spare time, Leon utilized the fact that the River Thames was close to the coast to build a large shipyard, constructing an ironclad warship and a steamship for naval military experiments.

In the palace garden, sounds of joyful play echoed.

"Pa, Papa, play..."

Two-year-old Mordred was already able to speak simple words, and she was currently sprawled on top of Leon's head, her small hands clutching his golden hair tightly.

Leon shook his head from side to side, sometimes slowly and sometimes quickly, teasing his daughter until she squealed and giggled, having the time of her life.

Rapid footsteps approached. Leon lifted Mordred down and turned his head to see his older brother, Joe, walking over with a gloomy expression.

"What is it?"

Joe's expression was indignant, unable to hide his anger: "My King, the Roman Emperor has sent an envoy to the royal city. The envoy's conduct is far too arrogant; he brought a letter from the Roman Emperor, threatening to force Britain to submit to him and pay taxes on time."

"Huh?"

Hearing Joe's words, Leon felt a moment of bewilderment.

No, is Lucius Tiberius really that brave? To dare to be so brazen when facing him, a demigod among men.

After the realization hit, Leon was not angry at all; instead, he felt a surge of ecstasy.

"Summon the ministers. I will meet this Roman envoy in person and see exactly what he has to say."

Leon had been fretting over having no excuse to send troops to Europa, and he never expected that just as he was feeling drowsy, someone would hand him a pillow.

He had previously sent merchant caravans to Europa, partly to purchase grain and partly to gather intelligence on various countries for future strategic conquests.

After the Hunnic Empire led by Attila caused the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, the Sword Emperor Lucius emerged, rebuilding the former glory of Rome in just a few short years. Relying on his immense prestige, he carried out sweeping reforms of the old systems, gaining the support of many Romans.

Especially after Leon executed a large number of mages within Britain, it drove the mages on the continent to defect to him and serve him, and he even possessed a powerful magic sword.

Lucius's various fortunes made Leon sigh that this guy was the true child of destiny.

When Leon met the Roman envoy with a group of ministers, the envoy, aside from being initially surprised by Leon's massive stature, kept his head held high, wearing an arrogant and overbearing expression.

Upon seeing Leon, the envoy did not even offer a salute; he simply stood where he was and pulled out a letter to hand to Leon.

Leon scanned it briefly. In his heart, this Roman Sword Emperor accused Leon of failing to follow the orders of Gaius Julius Caesar from hundreds of years ago to pay tribute to Rome, and also accused Leon of secretly controlling the France region, demanding that Leon go to Rome in person to stand trial.

Furthermore, he warned Leon that if he did not comply, he would launch a war.

At this, Leon truly laughed. After handing the letter to his ministers to pass around, he looked at the envoy.

"Do you know the contents of this? Your Emperor actually wants me to submit to him and pay tribute every year?"

"That is only natural."

The envoy lifted his chin, ignoring the glaring British nobles around him, and sneered inwardly. As expected of a frontier land where civilization does not shine.

To have built such a magnificent royal city in this barren and barbaric place called Britain—who knows how much manpower and material resources it must have cost, and how much national strength could possibly be left?

"The land of Britain was originally a Roman province. Now that my master has re-established the Roman orthodoxy, Britain naturally must return to Roman rule. This is the proper order of things. I hope the Lion King will make a decision soon, lest the blades be drawn and Britain be reduced to hell."

Upon hearing these words from the envoy, Leon continued to smile, and there was not even the slightest emotional fluctuation in his heart.

It was not that he had become magnanimous, but rather a feeling of looking down on others from a position of absolute superiority.

I am invincible; do as you please.

"Go back and tell your Emperor Lucius: Britain will not accept these unreasonable demands. Tell him to wash his neck and wait for me to come and cut off his head."

"I will convey these words to the Emperor, word for word."

The envoy seemed to have anticipated Leon's reaction; he said nothing more and left the great hall.

After the envoy left, Leon looked around the room and saw that his ministers were all red-faced and furious.

"Ministers, share your thoughts."

Faced with Leon's question, what thoughts could they possibly have? Leon had already said he would personally cut off Lucius's head, so they could hardly object.

"What else is there to say? We must fight!"

"This expedition will be the perfect chance to let those Romans on the continent see the might of Britain."

"That's right. With our country's current strength, we have no reason to fear Rome."

Seeing that everyone had made their political stance clear, Luther said: "At present, the army is being equipped with a large number of new weapons. While they save effort, we are not yet proficient with them... As for provisions, this year's new harvest, combined with what we have in storage, should be enough to support both the army and navy for half a year."

Ever since Leon forged the ironclad warships, he had immediately sent men to gather saltpeter across Europa. Over the past two years, they had managed to reap some rewards, producing enough cannons to barely sustain a single round of drills for the grand army. It was the perfect opportunity to take them out for a test run and hear them roar.

If they proved ineffective in this world of magic, then he would simply have to find another way.

"Then it shall be as you all suggest. Both the navy and the army shall set out together. The navy is to enter the Mediterranean Sea to provide support, with Sir Lancelot as the vanguard. You must carve a breach into the continent to allow our main force passage."

Leon waved his hand, issuing the order on the spot.

Only two thousand men were left behind on the soil of Britain to maintain order. The remaining army of over ten thousand, along with the navy's three ironclad warships, all set out on the expedition, determined to settle the score with Rome in a single battle.

To put it in a single sentence: this was a gamble on the fate of the nation.