Ferdinand's thunderous words echoed emptily within the battlefield. And yet, once again, not a single one of his men moved. All of them kept their mouths shut and eyes affixed to the ground.

It was a rather blatant display of disobedience!

While Ferdinand was feeling shocked at this unexpected showing, the eerily calm Alexandros continued with his question.

"Why? Why did you murder the late Emperor? Why did you betray Our royal father?" he asked.

Each one of the boy emperor's words fell like sharp swords; the weight of each subsequent word grew heavier with its utterance. The enemy soldiers, Ferdinand's men, felt their heads falling ever lower as shame and heart-rending guilt assaulted their conscience.

"Ungrateful whelps! Are you revolting against me!?" Ferdinand screamed, his eyes growing red with rage. Turning towards one of his men, a captain, he briskly stomped towards the man and grabbed the latter's arm. "Answer my question!"

Pulling the arm and casting the man towards the boy emperor, Ferdinand grimly howled. "ARREST! THAT! BOY! OR, I WILL HAVE YOU BEHEADED FOR DISOBEYING MY ORDERS!!"

The captain tumbled into the ground at Ferdinand's forceful tug. He then slowly rose to his feet, lifted his lowered head, and…

… turned to face his superior, Ferdinand.

"My lord," he hoarsely began, "I have been in service to your family's army for thirteen years. From the lowly position of a page, I have earnestly climbed my way up to my current rank. A 'Captain.' The highest station that a person of common birth, such as myself, can ever hope to attain."

He stared into Ferdinand's eyes with a murky gaze. "In these thirteen years of service, never once have I nursed a grievance against your noble family or you, my lord. I was content with having my contributions recognized and my efforts rewarded."

"However, my lord," the murkiness within the captain's gaze grew stronger, "I fail to understand. For what reason did you order this servant to block the gates four months ago? For what reason did you ask your men to slaughter the guards and loyal followers of the Imperial Family?"

"My lord," he dramatically paused. "For what reason did you slay the Old Emperor and commit regicide?"

Silence fell on the scene.

The enemy captain stared at his master with a questioning gaze. The enemy soldiers present on the scene also levelled a similar gaze at their master. All their hearts carried the same question. A question born four months ago and had gone unanswered for the same period.

'For what reason did their noble master rebel? Wasn't the Old Emperor a good man? Wasn't he a benevolent ruler?'

Not one amongst these men was an idiot. Most of them knew who to read and a select few amongst them were even fully literate and had read various books. History was also a popular subject that was regularly discussed amongst the South Aislan populace.

Alexandros Centinni the Eleventh, the boy emperor's father, wasn't an amazing emperor. He wasn't a hero like the First Emperor, and nor was he a reformist like the Fourth Emperor. Neither was he a brutal tyrant who took pleasure in slaughter nor was he a lustful ruler who regularly snatched his subjects.

The Eleventh Emperor was as regular as they came. He ascended to the throne after the peaceful passing of his father, undertook his responsibilities with sufficient sincerity, and performed his duties to the best of his abilities. Under his competent leadership, the empire functioned as ever. It neither saw an abnormal flourish nor an unexpected calamity.

And yet, such a normal, unremarkable man had been brutally stabbed in the back of his chest by a loyal follower of his. A follower with whom he had neither grievance nor greed.

The emperor had suffered a betrayal. And the reason behind the betrayal was as clear as day; a subject's lust for power.

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Ferdinand Sinna de Auberville had treacherously murdered the old emperor. He had then proclaimed himself, within the same bloody floor stained with murder, a free vassal and announced his breakage from his older brother's command. He had then gathered the men under his control, communed with the foreign forces, and carved a portion of the empire for himself. Anyone with eyes could see his intentions; he wanted to become an emperor!

And yet, Ferdinand's loyal followers could not understand him. They could not understand why this previously faithful vassal of the empire, a man who had made not a few contributions towards the emperor, would suddenly have a change of heart and lust for power.

"You ask me for a reason?" Ferdinand grimly uttered. "You dare ask me? You? A dog?" He scoffed.

An avaricious light glinted within the traitorous man's eyes as he proceeded to draw the twin swords by his waist and point them against his own men. Startled at his sudden display of violence, the captain, and the rest of the soldiers, each drew their own weapons and aimed them at their former master.

"Hah!" Ferdinand scoffed. With a pleased smirk on his face, he spoke, "And there it finally appears. The disloyalty which you lot had been brewing within your hearts. Did you really think that I did notice it sooner?"

"My lord, please answer the Venerable Emperor's question," said the captain.

"Venerable Emperor? Who? That brat who looked like a woman?" Ferdinand turned towards Alexandros at that comment and laughed with derision. "Not even his unworthy father was suitable for that title in my eyes. And him? Even less so!"

"The Centinni Family may have contributed immensely during the empire's founding but the times have changed! This Era is not the same as it was back then!" Ferdinand howled. "Times have changed and with it, so must men!"

"Venerable Emperor? Hah! With every subsequent generation, that title becomes less and less suitable to be borne by that family! The time has come for that mantle to be borne by another person! A reshuffling of power is in order! I speak these words, not out of greed, but keeping in mind the best interest of the empire!"

"Tell me," he gazed around mirthfully, "what great feat did the Eleventh Emperor accomplish? What about the one before him? And the one before him!?"

Laughing to himself, he continued. "All of us acknowledge the might of the First Emperor. All of us stand in awe at the wisdom of the Fourth Emperor! But from the Eight Emperor onwards, our thoughts about this family have been; 'I suppose, he was alright.'"

"Tell me, 'O' loyal subjects of the emperor,' is such a disappointing display enough from a man hailed as the 'Emperor!' If so, what difference will it make between a man being an emperor and a horse!?"

"Look at yourselves! Look at those weapons that you hold within your hands!" Ferdinand pointed at the rifles and pistols that the men carried. "With a single press of the trigger, a little child can slay man and beast alike! A CHILD!!"

"Did we invent it? No! Do we at least know how it works!?" asked Ferdinand. Gazing at those faces painted with ignorance, he laughed uproariously. "Hahaha! What would mere dogs know about the workings of the devil's armaments!?"

"This devilish weapon! This… gun! It was given to us by foreigners! Foreigners! Ask this yourself! Should you have to fight against foreigners, the inventors of the devil's armaments, with weapons devised and built by the empire, would you be able to win? Would you?"

Everyone confronted by that question stood still. The painful answer was aware to all.

"No," Ferdinand spoke aloud the answer within their heart. "It would be impossible. Entire armies will fall before we even reach within striking range of our enemies. The foreigners would step over our fallen corpses, claim our wealth and women, destroy our culture and history, and rule over our lands for all eternity! Your families, your children, will be reduced to slaves and wh*res crawling in service of an outsider!"

"That! Is the consequence of having an 'alright' ruler!" Ferdinand finished.

The atmosphere stood silenced. Only the echoes of Ferdinand's mocking accusations remained behind.

There was a saying; 'Stillness represents death. Conflict represents life.'

To live in a peaceful stillness, unknowing of conflict, would mean living a life without progress. In order for progress to happen and for humankind to advance, the spark of change is required. And more often than not, this spark is alit due to conflict.

War is an unforgiving cradle of death borne out of the selfish greed of man. It serves no purpose but to claim lives and divide people. However, it was as a result of this very same war, that humankind often progressed in leaps and bounds.

The underlying meaning behind Ferdinand's speech of mockery was clear to all. He reasoned that his murdering of the late emperor was done in an attempt to awaken the stilled empire. To have it spark with fires of change and for it to grow and match the progress of the outside world.

History was filled with more than one instance where a superior civilisation laid siege and claimed an inferior civilisation. And during all such instances, the fate of the inferior loser was the same; to be slaves of the victors.

In their current Era, slavery was more or less prohibited by the Heavenly Spirit Tower, mankind's beacon. So, while the literal meaning of the word was unsuitable, the underlying intent was all the same.

Should foreign powers invade and colonise their continent, the empire would be stripped of its sovereignty and be reduced to mere vassals of another power.

Such an outcome was more or less the same as slavery.

Just as the entire field was enveloped in a depressing mood, a boyish voice spoke up and broke the silence.

"For a conscienceless traitor, you sure do speak grandly."

Alexandros ventured a retort against the radical, Ferdinand.