Now that you know the story of Daniel, I would like to tell you of my new life as Alfred Von Earlheight. I'm the son of William Von Earlheight who is the Duke of Demaria and the cousin of the king of Doltia Elric Von Earlheight III. Being the first in line of noble succession and a candidate for king should he have no male heirs, much is expected from me. All I want is to lead a life that is fulfilling and, after my last life, that should be too much to ask. As far as I can tell, infantile amnesia is meant to help people forget their sorrows of their previous lives and the people they knew. However, I don't seem to have experienced that. I remember my last few days on earth in vivid detail. Perhaps, because I no longer felt attached to anything in that life, the gods decided to let me keep my memories of earth.
Five years after I was reincarnated to this life and I had have a better understanding of this kingdom's language. At the age of four I got a personal tutor and started learning the more complex aspects of the language. It wasn't much different from the Spanish classes I took in freshman and sophomore year on earth. But with a general grasp of the language from my infantile years, it was twenty times easier to become fluent.
At the age of five my father decided that the tutor should start teaching me basic math and history. With my 16 years of experience math was easy. But history was far more interesting. It seems that there are four ages that this kingdom goes by. First is the age of barbarism when tribes fought often with both each other and the other intelligent races. Meaning orcs, dwarves, elves, lizard men, and basically anything you can think of from those fantasy RPGs. I think I'm not the only person not to suffer from infantile amnesia. Maybe someone was reincarnated on earth who remembered what it was like to live here, maybe not just one.
The second age was when the barbaric tribes of orcs organized an assault on human kind and almost wiped them out before the elves realized that they were next and organized themselves against the orcs. With the orc invasion, the human tribes began working as one and unified into a single nation after the elves helped deter the orc invasion which lasted 150 years.
The third age was that of peace between humans and elves and last almost as long as the first age. The human kingdom known as the empire of Guthrie form close relations with the elves in thanks for the help with the orc invasion. They formed an alliance in case any invasion should threaten either race. Threatened by this alliance the dwarves under the Rancius mountain range connected their tunnels and formed a kingdom of their own. Many of the other intelligent races lacked the intelligence to form such large nations. Goblins in particular could only decide who would lead by whichever individual was strongest. And therefore, could only form groups where every individual could challenge the leader. Large kingdoms were out of the question.
With such large kingdoms being formed, war was inevitable. Orcs, though now small in number, kept raiding caravans and disrupting trade between elves and humans. The dwarves had to deal with underground monsters and cave trolls (a subspecies of troll, an intelligent species but only just so). Soon goblins began moving further underground because lizard men were pushing them out of their forest. Ogres were moving underground because they felt like it. With an invasion of two races from above the dwarves began to abandon their peaceful ways and decided to invade the surface. Fighting of the invaders, the dwarves all but irradicated the goblins. The few thousand that remained were forced to share the land that the orcs were exiled to. The ogres stopped invading cause they stopped feeling like it. The dwarves now had a stronghold underground and above it. They built a fortress on the second tallest mountain and a city in the valley below to supply it. The lizard men were now firmly in control of their swamp and the surrounding forests. With dwarves now showing interest in life above ground the alliance of elves and humans approached them in hopes of inclusion in the pact. As the three most intelligent races in the world an alliance between them would secure a long future of peace. The dwarves accepted the offer on terms of being an equal partner, not having participated in the orc wars as they came to be known. The three-way alliance was secured and trade between the three kingdoms was negotiated.
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Meanwhile the orcs and goblins formed their own alliance. Being defeated races, they couldn't afford to fight in land disputes. The goblins taught the orcs how to tame Dire Wolves and the orcs taught the goblins how to use magic in battle. This new development worried the humans and they urged the elves to join them in destroying the new threat. However, genocide was against the elves philosophy, and they urged the humans not to eradicate them. This was the first time the alliance faltered. But the elves decided to ask for the dwarves to come up with a solution that everyone could agree with. They decided that military action to secure the border would be carried out but any incursion into the territory would be punishable by expulsion from the alliance.
The humans were angered by the order not to invade. The stretch of plains that the orcs and goblins occupied was the only way to get to the mountain pass to the other side of the continent. The less civilized races on the other side often traded resources with the humans in exchange for weapons. Not only that but the only way to get to the dwarven valley was on the other side of the mountains. This made valuable dwarven metals such as mithril and gold impossible to acquire. Elves on the other hand could pass the mountains quite easily. But to humans the journey to the valley through the mountains would be quite deadly. Not to mention the journey back. The order not to attack effectively cut them off from the dwarves.
The empire of Guthrie brought this to their allies attention. And the elves decided that all trade between humans and dwarves would simply have to go through them. Though the empire was still unsatisfied, they would have to wait until the goblins and orcs attacked to take any action against them.
The orcs and goblins continued to coexist in peace and grow in strength. With the order not to invade protecting their growth, they could do this quite easily. So the standoff lasted for 100 years, the population of both nations growing exponentially. Then civil war erupted in the empire. Led by my great great grandfather Elric Von Earlheight I, the rebel faction opposed not invading the orcs and goblins. Most of the empire's forces were amassed on the border, and most of them agreed with my great great grandfather. They joined his cause and the only battle of the war was fought on the plains near the border. Elric I led an assault on Fort Candria and won, destroying the empire's only loyal army and gaining independence for the kingdom of Doltia in what was known as the six week war. The elves and dwarves had no time to react to the war before their ally lost and ceded a third of their most valuable land to the new kingdom. Elric Von Earlheight I was named king and the third age came to an end.
In the fourth and current age, the elves and dwarves recognized Doltia's independence but warned them that invasion of the goblins and orcs would result in heavy trade embargoes. Without trade with dwarves and elves invasion would only serve to hurt Doltia's newly formed economy. They were forced to abandon their plans for invasion and set up trade agreements with the elves. The joined the alliance as a junior partner only protected by the alliance with no sway. As the border with a hostile party they were forced to allow imperial and elven troops in their borders. 80 years bring us into the current date, and the goblins and orcs are still building their strength. With a population comparable to those of the first and second age, it seems that they are almost ready to regain their former lands. Now they are known as the kingdom of Glathria but remain unrecognized by the alliance.
The history of the land fascinated me and it was important to the path I would decide to take. I continued to do the tutorial for four years until the age of nine.
My father decided to teach me swordplay himself. He said he was the greatest swordsman in the land and the more he taught me the more I believed him. His training was tough and I barely had time for anything else. That was until my magic started to show signs of itself.
The age of ten was when magic started to develop. It would appear in a multitude of unpredictable ways. Mine started to show itself during sword practice. One day my wooden sword ignited into flames. Another, it froze solid. The final straw was when I won a spar with my father because a jolt of lightning paralyzed his sword arm. He said I vastly improved in the year we had been practicing and it was time to hire someone to get my magic in check. This new tutor brought an interesting young apprentice with him.