Knight Alanbu gave a slight hum, instructing his servant to close the window as the celebrating Creoles passed by the villa outside.

"Read it, please read it once more..." someone shouted from the crowd.

A short and stout lawyer was being carried, yet he was still exhausted and panting, seemingly more tired than after ten court debates.

But he still wiped the sweat from his forehead and, with a strained voice, began to read from the parchment document in his hand:

"...Effective immediately, within the Governor’s district of New Granada, all civil and military positions shall no longer require proof of lineage from applicants...

"Export restrictions on goods including coffee, sugarcane, and canvas products are lifted, and there are no longer destination restrictions for merchant ships...

"The source of imported goods will no longer be limited to the Iberian Peninsula, and foreign tariffs will be set by the Trade Commission..."

All the buildings lining the street were lit, illuminating their path to the plaza—City Hall had issued a special decree, pausing the ten-day curfew.

And each pause the lawyer made was met with a tidal wave of cheers from the people: "To hell with the certificate of lineage!"

"From now on, we can buy cheap cotton directly from the United States, haha! Do you know how much cheaper it is? Forty percent, a full forty percent!"

"In the future, I can ship my goods directly from Caracas to New Orleans without having to declare taxes in Cadiz!"

"Long live His Majesty the King!"

"May Jesus bless our king!"

In the plaza, someone brought out several cases of wine—not the cheap local Venezuelan stuff, but good wine from Iberia—and generously poured it for everyone here.

"To His Majesty the King!"

Everyone immediately raised their wooden cups, the sparkling wine splashing everywhere.

Under the church colonnades on the north side of the plaza, twenty or thirty lavishly dressed Creole merchants watched the celebratory crowd with smiles on their faces, though they remained distant.

"Hmm, this is the unique sweetness of the Monterrey Morilles region, Mr. Philippe, you are generous!"

This wine was priced at 1 Escudo 7 Reales a bottle, yet the coffee guild’s secretary general Philippe distributed a solid 80 bottles to strangers here!

"This is nothing." Philippe gestured with his cup to the distinguished Creoles beside him, then looked out at the crowd in the plaza, "They seem already quite content, but we need to make our next plans."

A magnate who ran a port immediately asked, "What do you mean by plans?"

"Executive Officers." Philippe enunciated the words heavily, "You should have seen from the decree that henceforth, those 150 Executive Officers will manage New Granada.

"And the Executive Officers of each town are to be nominated by the City Hall and the ’Gentleman’s Committee’.

"Committee members don’t need a lineage certificate; anyone with a certain amount of property or influential scholars and celebrities can serve. This means that we Creoles will decide the candidates for the Executive Officers."

Most of them had thought of these things, but after his clarification, they were eager to act.

He raised his voice: "So, I hope that everyone can temporarily put aside your businesses and actively participate in the committee’s affairs.

"Caracas should have 5 Executive Officer positions, and we need to ensure that at least 4 are ours."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Executive Officers can formulate orders such as tax rates and trade rules, which will determine the income for these Creole merchants and plantation owners next year.

A lively discussion then ensued among the most influential Creoles in Caracas.

"I think Mr. Valerio Medina is very suitable," a plantation owner said, "His books are highly influential in Bogota."

Medina was a best-selling author with some fame throughout South America.

"I recommend Mr. Claudio Cabreja, everyone surely knows him..."

"No, he’s too close to the Peninsula people."

"That way the Peninsula people won’t meddle."

"We shouldn’t have to look at the Peninsula people’s faces anymore, Mr. Rusello. I think Venancio Navarro is more suitable..."

As people in the plaza began to dance to the music, the big Creole figures already deliberated over six or seven candidates for Executive Officers.

Philippe nodded, looked at the list of names just recorded, cleared his throat, and said, "Mr. Ribas can be decided first. What are everyone’s opinions?"

No one objected.

Ribas was a radical Creole liberal and had strong oratory skills, with significant influence among the Creoles.

Of course, most importantly, Philippe had always been one of the financial supporters behind him.

————————

Caracas (Spanish: Caracas), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the nation’s political, economic, and cultural center. Located in the valley south of Avila Mountain in the north-central part of the country, surrounded by mountains, it lies 11 kilometers south of the Caribbean Sea, at an altitude of about 900 meters, with Spanish as the official language. Its area is 845 square kilometers.[26] As of November 2025, Caracas has a population of 3.22 million. The Greater Caracas area includes five city-level administrative units: Chacao, Libertator, Sucre, Baruta, and El Hatillo.[11]

With a tropical highland climate, the annual average temperature is 21℃.[4] "Caracas" was originally the name of a local wild plant, later used as the name for the local Indian tribe.[10] Founded in 1567, it was originally a settlement of the Caracas Indian tribe and became the cradle of the Latin American independence movement in 1810, officially becoming the capital of the Republic of Venezuela in 1830.[4][18] The Caracas riots against public transportation fare increases broke out in 1989[20]. In November 2025, Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, and five other regions initiated the Integrated Defense Command ahead of schedule. On January 3, 2026, the United States attacked facilities such as natural gas pipelines, causing explosions to be heard over the capital Caracas, and the Venezuelan government immediately declared a state of emergency. On January 5, gunfire and drone overflights occurred near the President’s Mansion[24].

As the national economic and financial center, Caracas’s industrial capacity covers the fields of food, textiles, and car assembly, hosting the largest banks and major commercial enterprises.[3][8] The outer port of La Guaira handles foreign trade and is the national transportation hub, housing the Simon Bolivar International Airport. On January 13, 2026, Panama Airlines resumed flights between Panama City and Caracas, and LATAM Airlines announced it would resume the Bogota to Caracas route on February 23.

"Caracas" was originally the name of a local wild plant, later used as the name for the local Indian tribe. On July 25, 1567, the invading Spaniards established a colonial post here, naming the fort "Santiago de Leon de Caracas City," but people ignored the cumbersome name and simply called it "Caracas".