[A Certain Regent of Romwell City POV]

I have no idea when was the last time I slept.

The war between the Romwells and the Kaisels has been raging causing our reserves to be used up. That’s not all, the young lord has ordered us to conscript more people.

Hard as it is, the bigger problem is that the territory is nearing winter some towns and villages would be decimated if we take the working population now. But the young lord rebutted me.

“That’s why we’re taking them before winter, by then they should have harvested the crops already, make sure to send that in too we need more provision in the south.”

So I went and sent some soldiers to start conscripting in the entire Northwest territory. Some nobles who were not vassals to the Romwells tried to turn us away but after telling the young lord he ordered that I send 4,000 soldiers to collect the new conscript as well as reparation for the delayed response.

So, at the moment not just Kaisels, but the Romwells are at war with some Northwestern lords.

But as the war progressed something weird happened…

“Sir, many villagers in the frontier have been entirely abandoned. Even some town’s populations have been halved, the city alone lost 20% of our population.”

“Do you know the cause?” I did not want to admit it but I already knew to some degree.

“It is due to a new city in the Northwest frontier.”

My wife was the first one to find out about it due to her dealing with merchants. There’s a city in the frontier that has been exporting massive amounts of products. Products that have never been seen in the market before. And also my heir… has been very comfortable living there.

That city is the reason why merchants have rarely stayed an entire day in Romwells nowadays, instead just using this place as a passover, before heading to and from that city.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of it yourself, Lord Arren.”

“Yes, I hear my son has been staying in that city and studying there.”

“The so-called ‘University’ huh? Is it really that good that he continued studying there despite graduating from the Royal Academy?”

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“I can’t say but when I got someone to pick him up he declined, he is currently the top student in the ‘University’ Department of Political Science whatever that is.”

“Lord Arren, although I hate to cause a rift between you and your family, that city is siphoning our citizens. We must send an army to conscript them.”

“The problem is that city is in the frontier, no, that’s an understatement it’s in THE Frontier. I’m not sure we even have the right to conscript them.”

“But won’t the young Marquis be mad if we can’t get more conscripts to move south?”

“Indeed.”

In the end, we had to report it to the young Lord as well as the Marquis who is currently in the capital. A few days later, the Marquis gave me an order to send an army to collect taxes and conscript that city.

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[A Certain New Duke West of the Kingdom POV]

I just graduated from the academy when I found out my father had fallen ill. Not long after I was sent back to the West due to the aggression of the Romwell Marquis family.

We have never really gotten along with them, they used to be our vassal 200 years ago but they got cocky and supported another person in line to the throne, leading to a civil war which we lost.

Now, the West has fractured.

Currently, my family supports my cousin Liam the 2nd Prince. Like those who came from our line we’ve been trained by the sword since we were young, it was out of necessity due to its proximity to the empire.

But as months of this war went by my father passed, and I became the New Duke of Kaisel, the entire west was engulfed in a crisis.

“Sir, the merchants have stopped passing to our border towns. In addition, due to some villages being abandoned, our mines have been having a hard time producing necessary ores.”

For a couple of months now the entire territory has been suffering due to a lack of people. Which led to not only a lack of soldiers for the war but also a lack of miners. There is one cause.

“After conducting some investigation the City of Neverwinter has been attracting the attention of the merchants as well as villagers Sir. Many have begun to flee North to find a home there.”

“That’s a wasteland!”

“Our agents have confirmed that there is indeed a city there Sir. Not just any other city, it was a city with walls that can even rival the capital’s.”

“Such a place cannot exist! We should have heard of it years ago!”

“But it does, Duke Kaisel. Here are some reports from the agents we sent there.”

I read through the report more questions seemed to surface rather than answers. The more I read it the more I find it unbelievable. A place that offers hot baths to everyone, a place that serves orc meat and other rare cuisines, black walls that not even swords can scratch.

If such a place existed the Marquis would have made that his focus instead of us to make it his capital… But no… it was just recently did we received some of the Marquis’ troops retreating to some camp, even the young duke and some generals have left the battlefield. They may be preparing for an invasion of that… That could mean that they have only just found out themselves.

“What should we do Duke?”

“Send a letter to the capital and this city.”

“What letter sir?”

“We’re going to sue them before the Marquis takes over the city. On grounds of stealing our residents.”

“It shall be done, Duke Kaisel.”

“To be sure, make sure to send my uncle to make our case.”

I will make sure to bleed that city dry before the Marquis makes a move.