Queen Maria has brought the Holy Empire and even the entire Southern Continent under her control; such a great emperor is unprecedented.
Its vast territory and immense power are unprecedented in human history spanning thousands of years.
Even the once most powerful empire Ancient Holy Noah Empire, still had some small, peripheral countries that it failed to control. For this alone, Queen Maria is worthy of being remembered in history.
Queen Maria was foolish, greedy, and unable to see the bigger picture, but she considered herself very clever.
She established a parliament using a constitutional monarchy system, gathered a large number of people to manage the country for her, and enjoyed a supreme and glorious position, with eternal honor and endless wealth, without having to worry about being betrayed by her subordinates.
Such political maneuvering demonstrates that they have a rather keen political sense.
But in terms of his thinking, he's a complete idiot.
As the Queen relinquished some of her power, another round of embarrassing flattery began.
"Throughout the millennia of history of the Southern Continent, from the mythical era to the present day, from the closed and incompetent Papal State to the thriving era, there has never been a woman as captivating as Queen Maria, with her distinct personality and sincere nature. She is loyal to her duties and wise and holy."
With her elegant bearing and noble character, she is the greatest woman in a thousand years!
Under Queen Maria's wise leadership, the Southern Continent is undergoing an unprecedented and glorious transformation, truly a model for all, praised by all!
" The Holy Empire's sole spiritual faith: Queen Maria! She has defined the changes of this era, the pace of the Holy Empire's development. Her foresight is divine; all the achievements of the Southern Continent in this era are due to Queen Maria's wise leadership. Therefore, this most glorious era in human history should be defined as the Maria Era!"
"Freedom was Queen Maria's most glorious achievement. Her collaboration with the Prime Minister in governing the country and her active participation in politics brought about a revolutionary change to the Southern Continent. Her greatness..."
As the wave of praising Pale God and the suppression of protests and demonstrations came to an end, a new wave of praise began to emerge.
Newspapers across the Southern Continent, much like self-service praise machines, launched an unprecedented wave of eulogies for Queen Maria, with sycophantic language and false glory never before seen!
Under the unseen hand of propulsion, Queen Maria, who had not accomplished a single practical task since her ascension to the throne, was praised to the skies. From the small details of her beauty and elegance of etiquette to the greatness of her establishment of Parliament and the nobility of relinquishing power, almost everything about her was lauded.
Amidst this wave of praise, Queen Maria, who had no political achievements to speak of, was hailed as the most brilliant and greatest woman in the Southern Continent, earning the adulation of the people.
Even major newspapers gathered together, proclaiming this era as the greatest Maria age ever.
Newspapers filled with praise and exaggerated claims swept through the Holy Empire like waves, one after another. Under such hype, even the false was made to seem true.
Even Queen Maria, who now holds power but has also delegated it to others, believed the praise in the newspapers she reads every day, indulging in her false glory and feeling truly superior and noble.
The first thing she does every morning after waking up is to have someone bring her the latest edition of the newspaper to read the praise she receives.
It is said that Her Majesty Queen Maria gets so excited whenever she sees articles praising her that she shouts in bed. Her genuine and adorable personality is truly captivating.
The people of the Southern Continent are quite capable. The Pale God was praised to the point of being ashamed as a Homelander, and Queen Maria was praised to the point of being increasingly foolish. Ironically, all the power fell into their hands. Such manipulation of psychology and public opinion is unprecedented in the history of the Southern Continent.
Of course, this "first time" claim is largely exaggerated, since previous popes of the Holy Lord Empire never cared about their reputation.
Under such a barrage of public opinion, the Holy Empire, following the abdication of the Pale God, officially entered the capitalist era.
At the end of Norton's twelfth year, the Parliament, now in complete control, attempted its first test against the Pale God.
Externally, it abolished the old maritime ban and advocated for overseas expansion, resuming long-distance trade to increase national revenue. Internally, it consolidated former factories and land, transferring them to private hands under the guise of sales.
The national industrial foundation that the Pale God once spent ten years building has now become the property of a family.
The ocean-going trading fleets were mostly owned by wealthy families from the Southern Continent.
As a result, the entire Southern Continent underwent a complete transformation.
Such actions elicited no response from the Pale God, who remained secluded in his palace, nor did he offer any advice.
Such probing finally put the members of the Southern Continent's parliament and the wealthy class at ease, and they became increasingly daring. Various regulations serving their interests began to be passed, proposed, and implemented.
The real darkness begins when all the power of these political classes serves their own wealth.
In order to sell more products, or for the owners to gain more personal profit, some private factories have begun to reduce costs in order to increase competitiveness or their own income.
However, without technological advancements, cost reductions cannot be effectively achieved by focusing on raw materials, so the only options are to reduce labor costs or increase working hours.
The ancient eight-hour workday system established by the Pale God for humans has been broken by the twelve-hour workday system for Vampire.
In order to cut costs, increase product competitiveness, and increase the personal income of factory owners, some factories have begun to try to have workers work overtime for free in order to reduce labor costs.
Such actions were met with fierce resistance from the workers at first, but the resistance was useless. At this time, there was a shortage of various supplies, the factory was operating 24 hours a day, and there were strong laborers everywhere. If you didn't work, there would be plenty of people to do it, and if you didn't work, your whole family would go hungry.
Under such circumstances, the workers' resistance to overtime was easily broken. They begged and pleaded to return to work after only two days, and were even willing to work an extra hour more than others in order to get a job.
With products in short supply and able-bodied laborers readily available, workers' working hours began to lengthen, while their individual wages began to shrink.
Various gangs began to emerge. They divided up territories, engaged in gunfights, and exploited the people, making life increasingly difficult for the lower classes in the Southern Continent.
Most of the young people who participated in the demonstrations in the past are now working in factories, toiling day and night but barely making ends meet. Some are even forced to borrow money from loan sharks at exorbitant interest rates, using their wages to repay the loans and the loans to survive, only to find their debts growing ever larger. This has left them in a state of misery and deep regret.