After the one person in our group who knew about back alley deals debated for a few seconds, we got an answer to our question. “Technically the back alleys have info on ceremonies to get to the next path, but they won’t give us anything. Most thieves and criminals stay around the second path. Ways of furthering our paths from the first path still exist from before the founding of our kingdom, anything to the third path remains firmly in the hands of the church. Most people who want to have a full path while living in a grey area tend to get their third path in a tangential area to the more illegal activities that are benefited. In doing so they have a back-up plan if things get too heated and the church doesn’t get suspicious of them having a mass murdering undead raising path.”
I nodded with him, as everything he said was true. It did touch upon some of our country's history that I wasn’t sure the saintess knew, but I could give a history lesson later.
“Was that your plan?”
Logan and I looked over at the saintess. Not fully understanding the question.
“Were you planning on taking a legal trail first?”
Louis looked at her briefly before understanding that she meant path instead of trail. “Yes. I wanted to become a traveling merchant. Also a fence for illegal goods, but mainly a merchant. I wanted to see the world and be as free as the wind. Guilds have more leeway than unaffiliated criminals so I might have gotten pardoned even if they saw I had the option of being a fence. Our agreement hasn’t been broken, yet.”
“Story for another time. I’ll let you know about the agreement he is talking about later as it is mostly related to the history of paths.”
The saintess nodded at my response. She furrowed her brows slightly deep in thought. “I’ll practice some spear forms,” was all she said after thinking for a few minutes. Most likely she was trying to distract herself from her first murder today.
Logan also looked deep in thought. I had a feeling he was thinking about the glaring issue that was becoming increasingly apparent. The fact that the church seemed to leave large gaps in her knowledge was understandable. The timeframe to teach her was very short. They left out almost any knowledge on paths and the kingdom. History states that the church was the strongest ally that the crown had, as well as the longest standing one. This was a concerning puzzle we had only a single piece to and not even she had any idea where she fit in.
Still, that was a problem for another time. I picked up my sword and shield and slowly went through the motions of the basics. No flashy moves. No theatrics. Only basics.
After a few hours of us working on improving ourselves, as well as Logan helping the saintess stop ignoring the fact that she killed someone so she could move forward, the other two finally came back. The saintess had mostly worked through the worst of her first kill. The monk and prince were in a good mood, but I didn’t hear about what happened with their task. It all went to shit when I plainly stated that the saintess stabbed and killed someone.
“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!” Flames coated the prince's arms as he screamed. I messed up enough to justify it.
“I was getting ambushed and stabbed. This proved that having groups of two is safer than going alone. I might have died if I was alone.”
“Have you thought of what would happen to her path now that she’s killed?” He turned to the saintess with a somber look. “We’ll find a way to help you no matter what your path becomes. You have my promise as a member of the royal family.”
“Thank you. I may not fully understand how this will affect my future, but thanks for supporting me.”
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The prince nodded at her with a regal smile, only to remove it as he turned to me. “I need to work with a blacksmith to improve the positive concept behind my element of fire, you would be the best person to help me.”
I pondered the concept of an elemental concept. That was not something ever brought up for knighthood and I had no idea what he was talking about.
I heard a sigh come from the prince. “I can see that elemental concepts will need to be the conversation point for tonight unless someone else has a suggestion.”
“Does the saintess know about the founding of our kingdom,” I asked.
All four of us turned to the saintess, who slowly shook her head.
“Looks like I get to talk about the country that my family was named after. It was not the other way around.” Hands on his hips, the prince seemed genuinely excited to talk about this.
It all began with an empire that only let people get to the second path. Every peasant, every merchant, every knight. That is, unless you swore allegiance to the emperor and were one of the very few who were accepted. Otherwise, no third path for you.” He paused, for dramatic effect.
The monk then continued the story after feeling that the pause went for one second too long. “The people who were raised from birth to be allies, the nobles, all chose mage paths. Mages were more easily able to demonstrate large feats of power to cower others into obedience. Plus, the ease with which a third path magician performs powerful feats compared to a second path is incredible. There was little point in trying to be a mage if you weren’t going to the third path, the nobles just did the big jobs better. So magic practically became a symbol of allegiance to him.”
“Correct. As I was saying, the empire had revolutions continuously smoldering, but the emperor kept destroying leaders as they popped up. Eventually, one of them gained traction. Took over a city and began to infiltrate other cities. Rebellions started forming all throughout their bread basket. Glorious tactics and intrigues that we still use today. Eventually, it became apparent that if an army could be formed against the emperor, he couldn’t defeat it with an army almost entirely of mages who refused to stand on the frontlines and risk martyrdom. Longbowmen, assassins, minor knights, and even merchants were learning how to counter mages. They couldn’t defend against the diverse army, especially when farmers were willing to destroy their own fields to starve the emperor. Took a few years, but the emperor was defeated. The empire was split up and our country was named after one of the fallen leaders of the rebellion, Fraland.”
“I’ll take over from here.” The thie… Logan said. “The person who kept the local rebellion organized was crowned king, but many people were afraid it was going to be a repeat of the last ruler. Promises like everyone getting access to a third path could be made very cheaply if one never intended to follow through. The king needed people who he could trust to work with him. So he asked other figureheads to publicly swear loyalty to him. A stupid decision given he wanted to separate himself from the emperor. Many of the more prominent figureheads swore loyalty to him publicly. One person, the spy who kept stealing enemy plans and giving them false intel, hesitated. He remained silent for so long that someone eventually asked him if he was not going to swear loyalty to the king. His exact words were ‘I swear loyalty to the ideals for which this kingdom was founded and strive to see them continued’. Which the king was later able to use to assure citizens that all would be well. The first king was great with people. Things settled down afterward. Great Evil popped up. Church was founded and monopolized ownership of the stones to further paths, too many powerful murderers caused that one. Guilds developed and cemented themselves in society. The Great Evil popped up more times. Now here we are. Oh, and in case you are wondering, the more unreputable guilds are called loyalty guilds and the leaders must meet with the king periodically to ensure they follow ‘the ideal the country was founded on’ in a sort of evil you know situation.”
The saintess looked deep in thought after hearing this, then slowly lifted her head to meet our eyes. “I understand that, but I have a few questions.”
The prince smiled, “I’ll be happy to answer anything about this topic.”
“How long ago did this occur? Was the great evil a problem the empire dealt with? Did the rebellion cause it? Did it just appear? The formation of the church was completely ignored, there is likely a big story there. Another story with the murderers. Are you a mage as a prince because royalty still tries to use big shows of force as deterrents? How much better are people living under the new kings? What tactics were used against the stronger forces and could we use some of them ourselves?” She caught herself having realized one of her last questions. “Sorry, the more I learn the more gaps in my knowledge I realize I have.”
The prince slowly nodded, “Understandable, we’ll go through them slowly, as many as we get to tonight. To start off with, people definitely live better under my family. Don’t ask that in front of officials or they might scream treason.