n

n

nToday, Landon had gone to meet Chef Benita and Chef Blake to talk about his upcoming birthday party.

nYes!!!... His birthday party.

nLandon was born on the 3rd of November.

nLast year, he had his birthday in the Capital... and on the 20th of November, he was off to Baymard.

nThe journey took 4 months and 2 weeks, before he arrived.

nAnd ever since March, he has been working nonstop in developing Baymard.

nTime sure does fly by when one was busy.

n

"Your majesty!!! my children love those story books that you wrote.... Especially the Christmas stories.

" Chef Benita said excitedly.

n

"Hmm.. my son loved the Father's day one... he said that on that day, he would get me a gift..hehehhe.

" Chef Blake said cheekily.

nLandon smiled as he listened to them.

nOver the past few days, people had been talking about the new story books that were being sold in the stores.

nLandon had made 2 story categories: Holiday stories, and Fantasy stories (like disney stories).

nThere were 5 disney stories that he had selected: Cinderella, Mulan, Tarzan, The Sword in the Stone, and the three musketeers.

nAnd finally for the holiday stories, Landon had made stories on: Valentine's day, Christmas, Mother's day and Father's day.

nEach Category within the holiday section, had at least 10 story books on them.

nFor example, there were 15 Christmas stories that were being sold in Baymard.

nOf course Landon had changed some major concepts about Christmas, so as to fit this era's beliefs.

nBack on earth, Christmas was a time for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.... As well as the time when children gave their wish list to their parents.. in hope that Santa Claus would fulfill their wishes.

nBut over here, they didn't know about Jesus, and neither would they believe in Santa Claus.

nSo Landon had to come up with new holiday stories for the people.

nIn respects to religion, the empires within the Pyno continent all had different beliefs and non-beliefs.

nThe empire of Deiferus, believed in the Goddess, Serena.

nThey believed that she was responsible for creating the stars, the moon and the land.

nShe blessed the land and people, as well as cursed them.

nSo all marriages were blessed by her ministers, who were called 'Sermo Ministers'.

nAs for the empire of Terique, they believed in the sea god... Memphis.

nIt was said that only by offering sacrifices to this sea god, would one stay blessed in this life.

nThe people would drain the blood of either a lamb, white wolf, or any white furred animal.. and dump it into the ocean, streams, lakes or wells, for the sea God to bless them with whatever they desired.

nThe empire of Carona believed in the god of fertility, light and happiness, Kleponia.

nIt was believed that kneeling in her temple for 4 hours twice a month, would also give the people blessings as well.

nWhile the empire of Yodan believed ved in absolutely nothing.

nTo them, Gods didn't exist since they couldn't see them.

nAnd finally, Arcadina believed that the souls of their forefathers were now being transformed into Gods.

nThey believed that praying on their land, would allow their dead fathers, mothers and ancestors, to continue to bless the people and the land.

nSo since these people believed in their ancestors and not Jesus, Landon had to modify the Christmas story.. as well as other modern day holiday stories...to fit their beliefs.

nAnd although Landon didn't believe in their religion, he had no right to change them.

nEveryone was entitled to believe in whatever they wanted to.. as well as pray or worship whatever God or person they desired.

nNo one could or should demand that these people stop praying to their ancestors.

n

n

nAs for the named of the holidays, Landon still didn't want to change them.. as he felt like anything else would be a downgrade.

nHoliday names like Christmas and Valentine's day, were already amazing names... want else could one call Christmas?

nAnything else would just sound wack in his ears.

nMaybe it was because he was already used to those names, as he felt that changing them would really make these holidays seem strange.

nWith these stories, Landon was sure that the citizens would understand why we celebrate them, as well as appreciate them more .

nAnd instead of having Christmas on the 25th of December, Landon had decided to have it on the 7th of December.

nFirstly, snow usually started falling around December 18th, so he didn't want others to walk around in the snow just for the celebration.

nSecondly, the public school would have finished this semester's work on November 15th... and their exams would be held from November 20th, till Tuesday December 2nd.

nSo everyone would be available for the celebrations.

nSpeaking of the children, they started this semester in August... so November would make it 4 months.

nOf course after their exams, they would also start their 4 month long holiday as well.

nAs for those at the Academies, since they literally lived and had classes within the academies, they only had a month long break (December)... before they resumed school by January 7th.

nSo in general, everyone's exam period ended by December 2nd leaving them enough time to prepare for Christmas on December 7th.

nIn future, more stories would be printed and more holidays would be added.

nbut for now, these holidays would have to do.

nThe reason Landon put them off for now, was because most of those holidays would fall in Summer.

nHolidays like Independence day and labour day, would definitely have to take place in summer.

nHeck even his Coronation would be definitely be in summer, since there was no way that he would make a parade during winter.

nHence he decided that he would add more holidays during Spring.

n.

nAll around Baymard, both children and adults were completely fascinated with these books.

n

"(Sniff sniff)... mummy... daddy.... I love you,

" said a cute little girl with pigtails.

nShe held onto the books and cried her eyes out, as she looked at her wonderful parents.

nShe had just read the mother's day story.. as well as the father's story.

nShe really felt like she was blessed to have both in her life.

nThis story made her have a deeper understanding of what her parents had gone through daily for her.

nThey fed her, clothed her, as well as roofed her... although their living conditions had improved immensely, that didn't mean that she should feel ungrateful towards them.

nOnly by working hard in school and in life, would she be able to take care of them later on in life.

nThe stories from these books were really touching.

nFor Mother's day, the story looked at a young boy who was ungrateful to his mother..

nThe boy had lost his father, and only had his mother by his side.

nThis boy didn't appreciate all that his wonderful mother did for him.

nHe didn't want to study hard in school... he joined bad gangs... did bad things... and even stole money from his hardworking mother just to give his girlfriend.

nBut to his surprise, the woman took all his money and ran away.

nAnd when he finally realized that he was wrong, his mother who had been sick for several years, suddenly passed away.

nBut the thing that made the little girl cry.. was that even till the end, the boy's mother kept smiling at him and telling him that he was her greatest treasure of all time.

nThe story had several moral lessons within it.. and also showed the children what might happen if they kept being ungrateful to their loved ones.

nThe little girl also secretly vowed to never be that kind of woman who married or got together with someone because of money.

nThe more the little girl read the stories, the more pain she felt.

nBefore Baymard had changed, her parents always suffered to get food for the family.

nHer dad would go out hunting, and would even return with heavy injuries on his body.

nHer mom would clean the house and sew clothes for her and her dad.

nAnd even when there wasn't enough to eat, they would give her all their food and stay hungry.

nAnd finally during winter, they would wrap themselves around her when they slept.

n

n

nJust remembering the past made her cry even more.

nWhy did her parents always say that they were fine when they weren't?

nWhy didn't she notice that they were also suffering more than she did?

nAnd even though she was just a child, shouldn't they tell her... so that she would be able to assist them in whatever they were doing?

nAlthough she had noticed it, she didn't think that it was that bad since they always assured her time and time again, that they were fine.

nTruthfully, she was really thankful to his majesty.

nEver since he came, everyone had excess food, good clothes, more money and better homes.

nAlthough she knew that things were better now, she still felt hurt that she didn't realise how much her parents had given up for her.

n

"Father.... mother... (sniff sniff) .. thank you for taking care of me

".

nHer parents looked at her and smiled.

n

"Silly girl... we do this because we love you too.

" her father said while rubbing her hair.

n

"My little baby don't cry.... you are very precious to us.. so cheer up okay?

" Said her mother as she wiped the little girls tears away.

n

"I...(sniff).... I ... know... I love you both (sniff sniff).

nAnd I'm not little anymore... .... I'm 10 years old!

"

n

"Hahahhahhahah

" her parents laughed.

n.

nWhile everyone was getting emotional from reading these stories, Landon continued his birthday plans with the Chef Benita and Chef Blake.

nAlthough he had never cared about his birthday before, he still wanted it to be perfect since all the citizens would attend the celebration.

n

"Your majesty, I think we can make this happen

" chef Benita said.

n

"Hmmm... Your majesty, we will try to create these new dishes for the celebration.

" Chef Blake said.

n

"Good!!! I'm counting on you both.

"

n

n