Chapter 674 Verena Tarnath

It had been roughly a month since King Nathanial made his dramatic announcement at the Rockwell Family’s New Years Banquet, inviting the other nations of the South-Central Region to a meeting this summer in Rockwell City to discuss deepening their economic ties.

Ivo Blandf, the Tarnath Dynasty’s official ambassador to the Rockwell Kingdom, had naturally been very interested in what might come of this conference, especially with regards to the ’bait’ the Rockwell Family had tossed out, but as a trained diplomat, he did not act impulsively and instead waited for the formal invitation to be delivered to him.

That, had turned out to be the right move as when the invitation arrived 10 days later, it had contained even more shocking news.

Apparently, for some inconceivable reason, the Rockwell Family had felt their initial offer of a 30% discount on all grain imports wasn’t sincere enough and had decided to increase that to 40%.

Even understanding his Queen’s long-term strategy for the relationship between the Tarnath Dynasty and the Rockwell Kingdom, Ivo felt it would be foolish to ignore this invitation; however, the final decision was not his to make.

As such, as soon as he finished handing over his duties to his subordinates, Ivo boarded a ship and started sailing back to the Tarnath Dynasty to seek an audience with the Queen.

Flying would certainly have been faster, but the use of aerial mounts by foreigners was generally forbidden inside the Rockwell Kingdom, so Ivo had no choice but to travel by river for at least half the journey.

Once he crossed the border, however, the dandy old man hopped onto a military bird and swiftly returned to Tarnath City, arriving about a day later at the mountain valley where the dynasty’s capital sat.

Tarnath City was the biggest, wealthiest, most beautiful, and most advanced city in the entire South-Central Region.

Situated at the base of the towering peaks of the White Mountains, the city enjoyed pristine waters from the glacial rivers flowing from the north, vast tracks of fertile farmland to its south, and rich mineral and forest resources to its east and west.

On top of that, Tarnath City had a very high World Qi density courtesy of the large Spirit Crystal Veins that ran beneath the nearby mountains and even deep below the city.

Most of these veins were much too far down to effectively mine, but they were still close enough to the surface to turn the surrounding region into a kind of cultivation paradise.

These Spirit Crystal Veins were also the primary reason the Tarnath Dynasty was so much stronger and wealthier than its neighbours.

Even ordinary commoners with the worst Low-Rank Mortal Grade Innate Talent tended to reach the Vein Opening Realm simply by living in or around Tarnath City and cultivating at least somewhat regularly.

That was probably why the city had a permanent population of around 500,000, while the Royal Province itself had more than 4 million residents, accounting for nearly a little less than 40% of the entire kingdom’s population.

Additionally, thanks to favourable geography and some clever engineering, Tarnath City had several features that most cities in the South-Central Region did not, like extensive aqueducts and a working sewage system.

The combination of these two meant that, for all-intents-and-purposes, most big homes in Tarnath City had access to running water. It wasn’t a comprehensive indoor plumbing system, but it was still a substantial benefit to the wealthy residents of the city.

At the northern tip of the city stood the royal palace, a massive complex built from white stone mined directly from the nearby mountains.

It was both a work of art and a mighty fortress, one that, aside from the terrible incident some 30 years ago, had never once been breached, or even attacked by foreign enemies.

Even the tragedy that occurred 3 decades ago couldn’t really be counted as a foreign attack, as the ’enemy’ had actually been the former Imperial Overseer who had been living in the palace complex at the time.

In other words, it had been less of an attack, and more of a punitive judgement, one that had ultimately resulted in the death of every single Direct Descendant of the Tarnath Royal Family and every member of its closest branch families that called the dynasty ’home’.

Except for one individual.

"A trade conference?" Queen Verena Tarnath raised her delicate brow ever so slightly as she listened to the report from her ambassador.

(Authors Note: It’s pronounced Ver-rain-ah, Illustration in Chapter Comments and new Cover Art)

"Yes, Your Majesty," Ivo bowed deeply, not daring to meet the gaze of the young woman who sat upon the throne above him.

Whether this was because he had total respect for the Queen, or because he was terrified of what she might do to him should he accidentally offend her was unclear, but it was probably a little bit of both.

The circumstances which led to Verena becoming the 12th ruling monarch of the most powerful nation in the South-Central Region were very complicated, but suffice-it-to say, 29 years ago, after her life was spared by a whim of fate and she ascended the throne, no one expected her to be able to hold onto power for long.

Every member of her immediate family had just been slaughtered like dogs by the Empire for ’unforgivable crimes’, leaving the 96-year-old Complete Low-Rank Adept Verena with almost no allies and plenty of enemies.

In fact, at the time, many well-informed individuals both inside and outside the Tarnath Dynasty expected a massive civil war to break out and for the over 600-year-old kingdom to collapse into chaos.

However, Verena swiftly proved all of them wrong.

Not only did the newly crowned queen manage to rapidly stabilize and secure her shaky position, over the following decade she was even able to further consolidated authority under the throne, making her the most powerful ruler the Tarnath Dynasty had ever seen.

It was, quite frankly, astonishingly impressive, especially considering Verena’s history.

Even by the Tarnath Royal Family’s standards, Verena was a genius, a fact that was evident from her managing to reach the Adept Realm before turning 100; however, despite possessing such incredible cultivation aptitude, she was nowhere near the top of the candidate list to inherit the throne.

Why?

Because she actively tried to avoid being on that list, going out of here way to rebel, break rules, and generally act out in ways that the Royal Council and her elders considered outrageous and disgraceful.

Verena would often disappear for months to hang out with adventurers as they explored the vast wilderness of the Great Western Forest, journey to foreign lands in search of buried treasure, or travel together with bards and nomads who sang and danced to earn a living.

Such behaviour was considered utterly disqualifying for an heir to the illustrious Tarnath Dynasty and had nearly gotten Verena disowned several times.

Nearly.