"Release them... Do you think they'll be loyal to you?"
Marco frowned, skeptical about this.
They had just defeated these people, completely destroyed the world they had been striving for, and turned Edolas into a magicless world.
Was it really possible to gain their loyalty?
"I've already tested the waters, and there are no issues. In the current Edolas, with magic gone, power has become even more important. Tempted by authority, they actually have little reason to hesitate."
Mystogan smiled.
He had briefly spoken with several of them - both Byro and Hughes had expressed their willingness to submit, completely unconcerned that they had just been defeated.
As for Erza Knightwalker, the girl had become somewhat withdrawn.
The changes in this world were difficult for Erza Knightwalker to accept.
Everything she had done before had now become a joke.
All the sins they committed to restore the world's magic had turned into meaningless slaughter.
Reality was just like this - the victors become kings while the losers become bandits.
If King Faust had ultimately won, if they had successfully restored magic to Edolas, then everything they did, all the killings they committed, would have been righteous and necessary sacrifices.
But now, as the defeated party, they were undoubtedly criminals, butchers, the ones responsible for the deteriorating situation.
Mystogan found Erza Knightwalker quite interesting.
This woman clearly had more backbone than Byro and Hughes.
She wasn't immediately tempted by power, only tormented and struggling with her failure.
She was still fighting with her own heart, which was why she hadn't yet responded to Mystogan's recruitment offer.
"I still maintain a conservative stance. Rather than using these people, it would be better to transfer members from the Fairy Tail of the Edolas world to help."
Marco continued shaking his head, not really approving of releasing the captains.
Were they truly loyal? He worried that after being released, they might still cause trouble.
"That won't work. The Fairy Tail members don't have relevant experience either. Having them do it would be starting from scratch. Rather than that, I might as well directly promote a few people on the front lines - at least they'd have more experience in military campaigns."
Mystogan shook his head. Whether they had capability was one thing, and besides, the Fairy Tail members might not be willing to come.
They were all people who yearned for freedom and might not necessarily want to be constrained by working in the government.
"That's true."
Marco fell silent for a moment, then expressed agreement. He indeed had too idealized a view of Fairy Tail, but in reality, this really wasn't appropriate.
As a Magic Guild, Fairy Tail was naturally unique, but for politics, it was a completely different style that didn't match well at all.
After careful consideration, for Mystogan to quickly grasp power and establish effective control, the best approach was indeed to continue using the original team.
Future matters could be dealt with later - he would gradually develop trusted followers he could appoint.
But for now, it was best not to launch large-scale reforms.
This matter actually fell into Marco's area of expertise. Mystogan's current situation was like a carefree prince suddenly inheriting the throne—having spent his days traveling and enjoying leisure without any trusted aides.
To exercise imperial power, he couldn't simply replace everyone on a large scale but had to continue using the existing personnel.
If he started a major purge immediately upon taking the throne and installed numerous new officials, it would only cause turmoil in the court and make him a public enemy.
Although possessing supreme authority, confronting the entire bureaucratic system and the nation's influential noble families would be nearly impossible for a rootless emperor to succeed.
Even if the emperor were highly capable and ultimately won, the time required would undoubtedly be long, and the cost would be inefficient governance throughout the country during that period.
Mystogan didn't want to face such a situation, so he preferred to release a few captains and continue to reuse his father's ministers.
Of course, those who held positions without performing their duties or were corrupt needed to be removed—this was a normal cleanup that wouldn't provoke significant resistance.
Some had to be made examples of to warn others.
"Handle it as you see fit."
Marco gave up on continuing to "dictate" to Mystogan.
It was proven that Mystogan had his own rhythm and ideas.
This "prince" should be able to become a good king—at least he was rational, resilient, and had enough patience.
"Stay here for now, Marco. I might need your help later. After all that's been said, it's because of your support behind me that my ideas can be realized."
Mystogan smiled and invited Marco to stay in the palace.
His words were sincere, and after removing his mask, he had become more prone to smiling, finally showing some of the demeanor appropriate for his age.
"Don't worry, that's exactly why I came." Marco naturally didn't refuse.
He had come to back Mystogan up—this was a king who came from their "Fairy Tail"!
"Where is the library? Was it damaged?"
Mystogan still had government affairs to handle, and Marco didn't want to accompany him there, so he asked about the "treasury of knowledge" in the "Edolas Kingdom."
"It wasn't destroyed. I'll have someone take you there."
Mystogan called a servant to escort Marco to the library.
He naturally had no reason to distrust Marco, if Marco found any books he fancied, he could even take them back to "Earth Land."
Of course, he'd have to remember to return them later as reference copies—making a copy to keep for himself was perfectly fine.
Following the servant to the library, Marco spent the next few days immersed in it.
The contents of some books greatly interested him, such as those about "Dorma Anim"—that now-defunct "Dorma Anim" also belonged to Marco, and he had been pondering how to repair it.
It had to be said that Edolas' magic tool technology was indeed highly advanced, producing many incredibly powerful magic tools.
In comparison, the world of Earth Land was truly lacking in this regard.
Marco flipped through various related books and selected some to take back, planning to copy them and place them in the Fairy Tail library.
He was like a hamster, wanting to hoard anything good he found back in his home.
Thinking about it carefully, the reason Fairy Tail's library had so many books was probably due to everyone gradually collecting them over the years.
Regardless of whether they could understand the content themselves, if a book looked decent, they would bring it back to the library—someone would surely be able to make sense of it.
'Hmm, this was also why the library's collection was such a mixed bag.'
'While there were indeed many excellent books, quite a few were just fillers with little substance.'
As Marco was immersed in the library's knowledge, Mystogan's letter sent throughout the entire Edolas Kingdom finally received responses.
Faced with such a major event—the overthrow of the king—the "frontier officials" of each province naturally couldn't pretend to be unaware.
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