As I stood at the edge of my tower and looked down at my city, I couldn't help but think back to the last few months. They had been… eventful.
The events of my interview were staggering. My coming out as a woman was quite a shock to a lot of people. Countless people felt betrayed, cheated, and questioned everything else about me.
I didn't blame them, but I had never promised them that I was male; that was indeed a trick, but I wasn't about to go out on a limb to apologize to them.
Instead, I focused on proving to them that I was a righteous king, a kind ruler. I would not be questioned, I would be obeyed, and in return, I would give them what they desired and deserved.
Throughout the ages, there have been many brilliant and kind individuals. People who saw the truth, who worked for it, people who were just and led the way. Those people saw problems and offered solutions.
Such as the minimum wage, an easy and simple rule, every job, no matter what that job might be, should pay enough that it can support a family.
That was reasonable, if someone had to spend their entire day working, they should be rewarded for it. One man, one job, able to pay for one house, one car, one wife, and three children.
Math had been done, a rate set, and that was the bar; everything could go higher, but never lower.
Council housing, all through the British Isles, houses had been built by the state, owned by the state. People rented them, and after a few years, they could buy them for cheap, and the state would use the money to build more.
This had solved problems; housing prices were down and people were happy.
But every time someone brilliant came along, there would be countless fools who could only see problems and couldn't find solutions. They could only think in the short term.
It was a sad truth that the one and only female leader since the nation of Britain became a democracy was so bad at her job that people distrusted women in leadership positions.
But, I didn't blame people, that woman had done so much harm, selling off utilities? What was the idea behind that? How could that lead to lower prices?
The state didn't need to make a profit on your hot water, on the electricity in your lights, the state could even afford a minus on all that. But a company? They needed profits, they needed that. So naturally, they would raise prices.
It could never make things better for the majority of people, and indeed, prices had been going up ever since, and the state even had to step in, paying billions on their own to keep prices down.
It was ridiculous, they now had to pay to the company they once owned, bleeding money endlessly.
All these things were something I had dealt with. From my original emergency measures of tax relief and rent caps, I continued to cut down greed; if something couldn't be sold at a fair price, then it shouldn't be sold at all.
Countless international companies had lost everything, and I ruthlessly took everything from them. Their property? State property now. Their inventory? Sold for cheap. Their inventions? Do I care about your patents? NO!
If you have a medicine my people want, then I will have my people make it. Televisions? You won't sell? Fine, we will make our own.
I created millions of new jobs, and I enforced the old principle of minimum wage, one job, one household.
It wasn't easy; a lot of people didn't like it, and a lot of problems kept popping up here and there. People saw their money becoming worthless.
The Pound was pretty much dirty outside of my borders now. Everything we imported, we paid for in gold and silver. The pound was worthless, but inside Albion? A single pound could buy something again.
I ruthlessly cut prices everywhere; I increased the value of the pound by a massive amount. If you just had a few pounds in your pocket, you could still go shopping, still have a meal. Feed your family.
It wasn't easy, but it was worth it.
Even if I had to use the Grail to help me, I acted too quickly, and to compensate, I had to use magic. Make crops grow overnight, and fields just sown would be ready to harvest the next day.
My people did pay a price, but I believed it was well worth it. And in time, everything they lost, they would regain.
Because the rest of the world wasn't doing nothing during this time. No, the world was busy, very busy.
Magneto had taken things to an extreme; he engaged in a semi-open war with the entire non-mutant world.
And he was seeing results. Smaller nations were struggling, in particular around Europe, those democratic nations didn't have a strong grip on their population, there, the people had a bit of power.
They didn't support this war on mutants; they didn't want their children to fear suddenly awakening a mutant power. Would those parents support their kids should it happen?
I didn't know, but it didn't really matter, because everyone wants to seem like they would, so they had no choice but to stand up, shouting for rights for their kids, no matter what.
Those nations, driven by public sentiment, had no choice but to halt the hunting of mutants, repeal laws targeting mutants, and gradually prepare laws to protect them.
Sure, they might drag their feet, be slow, but not everyone had a burning hatred for mutants, some people in power feared them, desired their power, or had other reasons to hate them.
But most people? They were just afraid. Afraid of getting attacked and killed my mutants, which left them with one of two options.
One option was to get rid of all mutants; no mutants, no need to fear them. But that did have a problem, the fact that those mutants could be their own kids, their grandkids, their friends, family… and those couldn't be bad, could they?
Magneto had support from my Veiled Hand, to work on his PR.
So, he had mutants hack into broadcasting channels, show evidence of cruelty against mutants, and ask the questions, would you want this to happen to your child?
And most people didn't want that, even if they weren't mutants, they couldn't guarantee that their kids wouldn't be, so… what options did they have?
Risk their future?
No, this left only one option open.
To just make sure mutants wouldn't use their power on them.
Most people had really no more reason to fear a mutant than a person with a gun or knife, and Magneto and his PR machine were reminding them of them.
People were quickly getting around to the idea that they shouldn't make mutants the enemy, because everyone knew a cornered animal is the most dangerous one, and the same goes for humans, mutant or not.
"Mordred, what brings you here?" I asked as Mordred stood behind me, clearly wanting to say something, but unwilling to do so.
"Father, well… I was wondering if we could do something again… together? Like with the Hand or something?... if you want, I mean." She asked, sounding far more nervous than she really should be.
"What's this, Mordred? You sound like a squire, be proud, be brave, be the person who dared strike me down." I didn't look at her, but I didn't need to do that to know the reaction she had to my words.
I could feel it.
She stood up straighter, a mix of pride and shame on her face. "Father! Wanna go out and kick some ass?"
I sucked in a breath of the cool morning air. "I believe that we might indeed need to deal with some issues soon, the continued attacks on my realm can't be ignored. That witch, claiming to be my sister, must be dealt with."
Mordred lit up at my words. "Finally," she said, cracking her knuckles. "I've been itching for a proper fight. And that witch, daring to invade Camelot, pretending to be my mother, is just asking for a new meeting with Clarent!"
I didn't blame her for her excitement; Mordred was greatly offended by the so-called fake Morgan.
Mordred had a difficult enough relationship with Morgan as it was. She was her mother, my sister, and someone who used her. I didn't even want to think about it.
And to have someone else pretend to be her? Trying to use her against me? Against Albion? Even the real Morgan wouldn't get away with that, much less someone Mordred saw as a fake.
"Keep Clarent in its sheath for now, We can't just set out, the world is in chaos, and she is using that to hide herself, us hunting her down right now will only help her."
Mordred reacted like a child who had been told Christmas is cancelled. "What?! Why not!!?"
Her outrage echoed off the tower stone, loud and indignant, but underneath it, I could feel the frustration—hot and twitching in her limbs, aching to be unleashed.
"Because, before I am a knight, I am a king." I said calmly. "This is a burden you, too, must know before you are worthy to claim my crown."
I could feel Modred's anger, her fury, and it was righteous. "But father! Shouldn't a king kill their enemies?"
I sighed. "Yes, Mordred, they should, but a king should also handle other things, such as diplomacy, or guests." I said, my voice as heavy as my heart as I thought about my troublesome guests.
Mordred too bristled at the mention of that, because she knew who was causing me problems, and he wasn't particularly popular.
Indeed, over the months, many things have happened. For one, Thor was still around. Something he shouldn't have been, not by the original plot.
He should only have been on Earth for a few days, maybe a week at most, but now? He had been here for months.
This clearly told me something big had indeed changed; Loki hadn't made any attempt at killing him, nor had Thor's friends come to take him back to Asgard.
Thor had recovered a good bit from his lowest low, no longer did he drink his days away and carry trash at night. Now he spent his time fighting in the arena, which was just putting on shows for the masses.
He was highly popular there. He was, without a doubt, the best mortal fighter we had. The crowds went wild for him, and he loved the attention. He also spent time hanging out with my knights.
They knew about his true identity, and that allowed them to bond somewhat; not every knight got along with him. Mordred, for one, mostly just trashed him hard.
One particular time I had to use Avalon to heal him after he pissed her off. He didn't think; he liked to taunt his opponents, and well, Mordred fell for that very easily.
The problem was just that Mordred was far stronger than the current Thor, so when she stopped holding as much back, he stood no chance. Sure, she fought recklessly, had openings, but Thor just wasn't able to make use of them.
And Thor just never learned.
But he was doing well, he was slowly on the path to kingship, it would take a while longer, but I believed that he would be more than worthy of Mjolnir before the end of the year.
All without him having to go through some near-death experience, sure, that was a great place to learn something, but a true king wasn't just forged on the battlefield.
He, however, wasn't the guest who brought me trouble; no, that was his brother, Loki. Mighty ruler of Asgard, and well… seemed to have taken a liking to lording it over mortals.
(End of chapter)
A small timeskip, more of what happened will be revealed in the following chapters. But yes, events of Thor 1 are completely out of the window, Loki never felt the need to overreact, so Thor wasn't forced to fight not for himself, not for glory, but for others, he didn't learn the value of sacrifice.
He still will, in time, but slower, and that leaves Loki on the throne until Odin stops being lazy. What consequences will that have in the future? Who knows.