#but I'm worried about the running/upkeep costs

[mevekagvain]

Chapter 173 - Raskreia wears at least two rings on her right hand so I'm just gonna hc she wears them on each finger. Let her punch people please.

- Extremely hilarious how Seira's all "I cannot lie to the lord, it is illegal and ignoble." Meanwhile Gejutel's just "Now what bullshit am I gonna spout today ^^?" The reason he and Frankenstein are unwilling friends is because they have that in common even if neither will admit it.

Chapter 174 - Ludis and Karias,,, adorable. In fact, Karias' first panel appearance had him at peak pretty boy. Love it. Otoh, Rozaria and Kei are intimidating. Between Rozaria, Seira, and Raskreia, and even Claudia and Edian, all noble women are intimidating as they should be.

- The fact that Ludis keeps his coat's top buttons unbuttoned so you can see his plain white shirt underneath 😶. Works perfectly with my 'he's bffs with Rozaria and is closest to Karias since he's the only one who can handle and understand him completely' hc since that means the two rubbed off on him.

- Raskreia ily but could you not destroy the throne room just by raising your voice. That shit is expensive. Worrying that the clan leaders have no reaction though like okay maybe their infrastructure and architecture just all sucks.

- Ludis being the first to speak up,,, love him. Son.

- Still super fucked up that clan leaders who don't enter eternal sleep with the lord are looked down upon. Mvp lord obvsly was fine with it but the current generation? Yeah uh...

Chapter 175 - His smile to the Central Knight reporting to him 🥺 son boy ily

- M-21, Takeo, Tao, dw about Frankenstein. Man only needs like 30 minutes of sleep canonically so he had plenty of time to write up your shit.

- Regis darling hasn't mastered the art of jumping down from impossible heights yet. I guess that's something nobles actually need to train for.

Chapter 176 - Imagine going home and learning your house, garden, and surrounding land is now forbidden territory like, I wouldn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. Like mostly I'd be worried about the state of the house ofc but aside from that.

- I still can't get over the size because it's not even just one building, it's multiple buildings for two people. Raizel and his brother.

- Tao electrocuted the Central Knight so hard his clothes turned white goddamn.

Chapter 177 - Awfully romantic of you to give Raizel jewellery, esteemed lord. And even more awfully romantic of you to go find said jewellery as your first priority, beloved noblesse.

- Maybe mvp lord just trusted the traitors because he's only seen them mayne 10 times in his life. Nothing in canon proves me otherwise.

Chapter 178 - Raskreia, rebuilding costs. I'm begging you to stop destroying the throne room 😭

- Maybe it's cold because the entire estate has been abandoned and not had any upkeep for centuries. Ever thought about that?

Chapter 179 - The sanctuary only opening up on full moons is so dumb and inconvenient so I'm just gonna pretend that what it means is that it opens up for everyone else on full moons but noblesse can enter at any time.

- I do hc that the statues leading to the sanctuary/in the sanctuary are of previous noblesse but I also find it hilarious because... extremely buff noblesse. I bet unlike Raizel they'd beat people up and only use their powers as a last resort which is ofc exactly what he should be doing. In fact I bet all noblesse did that and he's just dumb. Angel noblesse whacking a noble with a stick until they die while still looking holy or perhaps looking like the devil <3 Door lady is just a noblesse with super high self esteem who wanted to make the sanctuary door cool.

Chapter 180 - Better suited to be lord how??? Raizel would be a horrible lord he doesn't know how to do anything. I still say he's illiterate in Lukedonian. He struggles to learn to press a singular button. You want him to run a nation???

- So mvp lord 100% just uses Ragnarok as decoration yes? I bet he hangs it up above his bed.

- The "I am glad you are safe" at the end of the message in the noblesse' sanctuary always makes my heart hurt like god for all his humour and personality, Ashoka truly and deeply cared for everyone and everything.

Sidenotes - Raskreia looks so pretty with her red eyes and just extremely regal as always. I love her. Wonder if she ties that cravat herself though, or does she just magic it.

- I've said this before and I'll say it again, Rajak truly has no reaction to anything. He does not care. The guy does not give a fuck as long as the laws are upheld.

[plecos-whatifs]

Evil comes in threes

Today we have the alluded to Parsely story! I'll vary the ages of the boys to be a bit more realistic

---begin---

"Mom, Dad, I'm home!" The dwarf walks inside to the usual clamor of her brothers. A few were at the forge with her father, Tumeric. The younger ones were playing in the garden, some game they made up on the spot. But her mom, Coriander, was nowhere to be seen.

"hey dad, where's mom?" Parsely asks. "I thought she'd be here to meet me"

"she's in the study" he tells her. "seems she wants to talk with you in private. Brought out her family's storybook."

"huh, I wonder why?" She asks and walks up. Coriander was waiting, the book opened to a seemingly random chapter. "Welcome back Parsley dear. Please come sit down. How's school? Have you made friends?" She was happy, but there was a tinge of worry behind her voice.

"School's going well, I learned a lot about smithing! And yeah, I made a few friends."

"good, good" she sighs. "Parsely, have you noticed anything... Strange... At your school?"

"well... There is the rot, and the disappearing magic springs... Why?"

Coriander rushes to flip through the book, much as one would flip through an encyclopedia. "That's how it started the last time too" she sighs.

"...last time?..."

"Yes, a thousand years ago, in the grand city of Dwelvin, where my... And your... Ancestors came from. They wrote about a mysterious trio that came bearing magical items and the promise of making life easier. At the time, Dwelvin was known for the fantastic magical weapons and skilled artificers. But the trio came and for a few decades, Dwelvin lived in prosperity. This came at a smaller cost at first. Artificers changed profession to polishing and upkeeping the items brought in. But their magical attunement was slowly lost. Then the blight came, causing a famine. And then, the dwarves themselves were drained of their life energy, as if the blight affected them too. The dwarves nearly went extinct! Our ancestors escaped to the woods in the beginning, as they were artificers hired by a human township. That saved our family."

"what? And what does that have to do with the school?"

"Parsely, does a council of three run the school?" She asks

"yeah, the triad. The maiden, the mother, and the crone, but why does that matter?!"

"Because they are decieving you! Evil comes in threes, Parsely. The three that invaded Dwelvin may be in control of your school! Although ... There was talk of a counterpart. Three men behind the scenes and a trio of dames in front"

"wait... You think the triad is... Evil? Mom, how could you? They've been nothing but helpful to us? And why would they want to hurt us"

"that isn't discussed, so I'm not sure just yet"

"and what, are you going to pull me out of school?!"

"No, parsely, settle down! I just want you to be careful there. To give you the necessary tools if something does happen" she sighs.

Parsely was stumped at that. But not for too long. "Thank you mom, I'll let you know if anything happens."

"thank you Parsely. Now, lets go collect your brothers for brunch"

The pair walk out, and Parsely thinks. "hey mom, do we still have that magic attunement?"

"we should, but it would take a lot of work to make a magic weapon. It's not like forging, you have to make moving parts, and chambers for combustion. And then you need a core for your weapon. There are many rituals involved to ensure you balance your magics. I'll give you a few books on the subject. We can use a good artificer with what's to come."

"alright mom" she nods, a new fire lit in her spirit. This was going to be interesting.

----fin----

If this was a show, the exposition would look like an animated storybook

At this moment, Parsely is skeptical, but as things develop, she'll understand the meaning of the story.

And yes, the school is corrupt, all the way through. The reliance on new magic, the too dangerous missions, why not tie it all together. But that's the next story!

[duchessofostergotlands]

What does Sovereign Grant mean? Sorry I'm new to this 😩

Hey :) Don’t apologise! If you don’t know something the best way to find out is to ask someone who does know!! 

The Sovereign Grant is the funding that the government give to the Queen to run her and her family’s official work. The Sovereign Grant comes from the profits of the Crown Estate, a portfolio of property and land. Basically back in the day the monarch had to run the whole government and all that property and land on their own and manage millions and millions. It was unsustainable and they were in epic debt. It was agreed that they would give it to the government so they didn’t have to worry and in exchange they’d get a portion of profits for their upkeep. All of the money from the Crown Estate goes to the government. They agree to hand over a sum of money to the monarch in exchange which is equivalent to 15% of the profits from two years earlier, known as the Sovereign Grant. This has been upped to 25% to cover BP restoration costs. This covers travel, staff, events, maintenance of official properties etc. The Queen can distribute as she sees fit and anything they don’t spend goes to reserves. There are two other things to know. One is that the money can never decrease based on falling profits- in an age of austerity when public budgets are all being slashed this is not popular- and the other is that there is a cap on the reserves so they have an incentive to spend most of the money they have. So when you hear people talking about how renovations to KP or wherever cost us x million, that is not new money. That money was always going to go to the royals and they were always going to spend it. Harry and Meghan being supported by the Sovereign Grant will not cost us any more money as of now. It just means that a higher percentage of the money from the Sovereign Grant will go to them than it currently does and a higher percentage of their total costs will be publicly funded. Hope that makes sense!