Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 371 The End
Ten years passed in a circle, and when Orville was about 45 years old, Tia made a rather shocking decision.

Despite strong opposition from people within her faction and the elders' vague suggestion that she continue to work for a few more days, Tia finally decided to abdicate, saying that she was exhausted and mentally tired and no longer capable of governing a country properly.

In fact, Orville and Tia were both in good health. Forty or fifty years old was still the right age for a ruler. Everyone understood that this was just an excuse, and the ultimate goal was to pass the baton to Trajan and let him continue to rule the country.

Fortunately, Trajan's personal morality was beyond reproach. After the two men let go clearly, he no longer worried about other problems and concentrated on governing the country. It should be said that the country's rule was quite stable in his hands.

After that, Orville sold some industries related to national security to the emperor, and only kept some industries that were profitable but not enough to threaten the country, so as to avoid being held accountable by his descendants later and to avoid the trouble of being suspected.

He spent the rest of his life living mainly in Tia's hometown, an estate in the northern part of the Apennine Peninsula. By ancient standards, he would also travel frequently or invite guests.

After leaving office, Orville felt that he was much freer and more independent. Nothing could restrain him anymore, and he had more money than he could spend. Although Tia always nagged him about extravagance, he did spend money more lavishly than before.

He had a lot of hobbies: writing, sculpting, painting, and even cultivating part of the fields on his estate himself. Sometimes he would also accept visits from the emperor as a consultant. At this time, Orville quietly handed Trajan a thick book.

The above are some concise and to-the-point notes: a simple summary of Machiavelli's thoughts, the relationship between state organs and individuals, the harm of land annexation and the corruption of the senators to the empire, why we should pay attention to the spread of monotheism, why Byzantium has more development potential than Rome in the future, the crisis that may lead to the decline of Rome, how to localize the provinces and eliminate the barriers between the provinces and the mainland, what aspects of the economy should be developed in the future, which direction of enemies should be paid attention to, and what problems and shortcomings there are in society.
In short, he wrote down all the important issues and potential risks he could think of. His suggestions may not be correct for the current situation, but this book will definitely attract the attention of future emperors.

He only wrote his own ideas and suggestions in the book, and did not mention any scientific and technological knowledge that should not appear in this time and space. In fact, over the years, he himself had explored some technologies regarded as "magic skills of time travelers" out of curiosity, and had achieved some success.

He would try to spread some simple and harmless improved technologies, but for some key technologies, such as gunpowder and simple textile machinery, he would choose to destroy all related existence as soon as he created them.

He knew deeply that the current social understanding and form were not enough to support overly drastic changes. Giving these technologies to the people of this era would only create a monster whose thinking and productivity levels did not match. By then, it would be hard to say whether the world would be good or bad.

So it's fine if some small technologies improve people's lives, but the key technologies should be left for the people of this world to figure out on their own. Without taking the path of exploration, some things that come too easily may be counterproductive.

After finishing this task, Orville completely relaxed. He thought that he didn't need to do anything substantial anymore. He began to focus on having himself or the writers he hired write some books that record the current or past social history, and engrave them on stone slabs so that they could be passed down to future generations. This was a small gift he left for future generations.

After everything was finally over, Orville sat on a bench in the countryside, enjoying the setting sun shining on him in the evening, and slowly fell asleep with a comfortable and satisfied expression on his face.

He believes that people should at least leave some traces on the world, and he has been trying his best to achieve this. If a god really created this world out of boredom, then he has at least put the world one step further "on the right track."

(End of this chapter)