After the meeting, Braum requested to be allowed to rest in his room. Although they insisted that they should have a celebratory dinner, Braum had enough dealing with people today. He had been alone for a long time and the first day that he actually meets people is the one where it is too much for him to handle.
His room is fit for a king. An extremely large bed with the soft fur of a mysterious animal sits inside the room. Private bathroom with a bath so large one would think it is a public bath. Another door leading towards a private library where Braum can study and write. And finally, a strange rectangle-shaped black mirror in front of his bed.
“What’s this?” Braum asked no one in particular.
He has no idea what this is and why it was there. Suddenly, a military officer enters the room.
“Excuse your humble personage, Your Majesty, I bring dinner and refreshments.” The officer said.
“Aah, Yeah thank you, man. You have any idea what this mirror is?” Braum asked.
The officer looks in horror. Braum is confused why that would be his reaction.
“Your Majesty! I am but a lowly officer you should not refer to my by ‘man’.” The officer replied urgently.
“Huh...Look, if I’m going to be a king then everyone is going to do things my way. And one of those ways is that I can talk to people the way I like, formalities or not, got it?” Braum replied.
“This humble personage understands and will comply!” The officer replied back.
The officer goes down in one knee and puts his right hand on his chest, the usual salute. Braum sees that the officer has a name tag on his chest so he knows his name.
“Cut with the ‘humble personage’ bullcrap...Brok. *sigh* just please tell me what use is this mirror thing?” Braum asked again.
“At once Your Majesty! That is a Picture Box, a device that can transmit moving pictures from anywhere within Yakana. It contains programs from news to entertainment like dramas.” Officer Brok answered.
“...That’s amazing. Truly a technological marvel. I wondered who invented this thing?” Braum asked himself.
“That would be the first king Your Majesty!” Officer Brok answered.
Braum looks confused. A king made this?
“The first king?... Actually, hold your answer, how do you activate this device?” Braum asked.
“You can do it by clapping twice your majesty. You can turn it off by clapping once. You can also change channels by saying up and down.” Officer Brok replied.
Braum is surprised that this device is voice controlled. How advanced is this country’s technology?
“Thank you very much, Brok. You can leave now, I wish to rest.” Braum replied.
“Have a good rest Your Majesty!” Officer Brok said.
With that, Brok left the room. Braum is now alone in the room and is curious about the device.
(CLAP CLAP)
The device starts shining a bright white light then moving pictures of a person enters Braum’s vision.
“-Yakana is still mourning the loss of the entire royal family. The funeral held yesterday was one of the most watched events in Yakana’s history. The Militarist is claiming responsibilities and they have just seized control in the following cities: Gura, Yamatra, Larneo, Ugantan.
If you are in these cities, we wish you safety and may the royal family brings us the light of hope once more!” The caster said.
The news is filled with grim news of the passings of the royal family and the militarist faction taking over cities.
Deciding it was enough for now, Braum turns off the picture box. He starts eating the delicious meal of grilled meat and cake for dessert.
After his dinner, Looking to not be as ignorant as he was today, he decides to learn of Yakana in the private library. He sits and opens books about its geography, history, and politics.[https://imgur.com/a/rJHJ1h6]
“So I’m in Kurala, the Capital which resides in the western part of Yakana. The militarist has taken over Gura, Yamatra, Larneo, and Ugantan in the east. That’s almost half of Yakana’s territories! This is really above what I can handle.
Map of Yakana: https://imgur.com/a/rJHJ1h6
From the books I’ve read, Yakana has a population of 20 million inhabitants and over 7 million of those are in the hands of the militarist. The militarist started over 50 years ago when Yakana suffered great damages from a Grade 8 Kaiju attack...grades? Well anyway, the loss of lives that day led to Larnstein Yakubi, the second general of the royal forces, to create a faction that aims to invade other countries in order to gain more resources to fight the Kaijus.
Man, I do agree that if the whole world is in this together, then we have a better chance against them. But world domination? What’s going to be the difference between us and the Kaiju if we are going to commit genocide upon whole populations?” Braum said to himself.
Braum is thoroughly disagreeing with their values. He now feels that they are truly a danger to not only Yakana, but the whole world.
Braum also learns of the history of Yakana.
“Yakana started only 500 years ago? It seems that before, Yakana was just an undeveloped island with different tribal societies existing side by side. Conflicts between the tribes were common. That is, until the first arrival of Kaiju, which almost drove the people of Yakana to extinction.
One day, a man claiming to be from another world visits one of the tribes. He brings the knowledge of the far future that brought forth rapid developments in Yakana and unites the tribes. He was the first ruler, King Gundala. His knowledge brought inventions in technology, medicine, infrastructure, government, and the military. The humans now stood a chance against the Kaiju after 50 years.
Before the death of the first king, he wishes Yakana to not reveal themselves to the outside world, for he knows what human greed and thirst for power can do. *sigh* I agree on the human nature part but shutting yourself from the world will only lessen our chance of victory against the bigger threat.
An interesting fact is that it was also the first king who named those monsters Kaiju.” Braum muttered.
Humans triumphs over any other species due to their ability to cooperate with one another Braum thinks. He believes a sustainable union between countries will be the saving grace of this world.
Braum feels that he has studied enough for tonight. He then jumps to his bed and experiences the most comfortable sleep in his entire life.
The next morning, Braum wakes up as early as his usual routine in the forest and went out of his room to look for some sort of training room. After an hour of getting lost in the enormous castle, he found one on the huge back garden and field of the castle. The training field is filled with training dummies made of some sort of smooth black material with only one person using it.
That person is none other than Rosil, who he left behind yesterday to go to the meeting. She is currently pulling some impressive martial art routine into one of the dummies. Each hit produces enough force to generate a small sonic boom. After a while, she notices Braum staring at her.
“Your Majesty! What are you doing here?” Rosil asked.
“Aah don’t mind me I’m just going to train like what you are doing right now. Those are quite good moves you have there. Mind sparring with me? I haven't sparred with anyone for 6 years after father left.” Braum answered.
“Your Majesty! Forgive me for being direct but it would be this humble soldier’s honor to spar with the future king!” Rosil replied with visible joy on her face.
“Then let’s start right now. And please, I want to be your friend, Rosil, you saved me after all, can we refer to ourselves normally? Pretty please?” Braum asked.
Braum has a pleading look on his face which looks almost like a puppy trying to earn sympathy.
“...As you wish...Your-” Rosil said.
“Ah ah ah!” Braum interjected.
“-As you wish Prince Braum.” Rosil said again.
“*sigh* well good enough for now. Let’s get ready to rumble!” Braum said.
Immediately after saying that, Braum starts to charge with an inhuman speed towards Rosil. Noticing this, Rosil took a stance with her right hand in front of her body and her left hand near her chest.
“Hyah!” Braum shouted.
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While running, Braum sweeps his right leg at an unimaginable speed towards the unprotected left side of Rosil, creating a medium size sonic boom. With quick reflexes, she steps to the side, grabs the leg, then throws Braum into the ground.
After being thrown, Braum does not fall but instead pulls a spinning maneuver which propels him to stand again.
“Not bad...not bad at all. They teach you really good here in the capital huh” Braum said.
Braum is smiling for being able to spar with someone for the first time in a while.
“This is the level of fighting skills required to be a soldier Prince Braum.” Rosil replied.
Rosil also smiles back, she noticed that he was holding back in his kick yet she was almost caught off guard with the sheer speed of his legs.
“Although, I wish that Prince Braum would not hold back, even though the Prince is only fighting a lowly soldier such as myself.” Rosil said.
“You put yourself in such a low position Rosil. You truly have the potential to be something great. But unfortunately, you’re right. I’m holding back just to test the waters. Well if you want to see me fighting seriously then you would have to put me in a deadly situation, which I don’t think you can do yet. Instead, I’ll show you the differences in our powers.” Braum said.
Braum’s words might seem arrogant but he means well. He wishes her to grow with him and achieve her full potential so he will show her something that she should strive for.
“Forgive me for being rude Your Majesty, but I haven’t shown you my powers as well. Let me show you what a mech pilot can do.” Rosil replied.
After saying that, Rosil’s body emits a burst of red aura which covers her entire self.
“Oooh! Two can play that game!” Braum muttered.
Braum also did the same thing as her except the aura he has on right now is gold in color.
“The royal battle force!” Rosil muttered in surprise.
Rosil seems to be surprised of Braum’s aura but her face shows excitement for the battle.
“This time, I’ll be the one to strike Prince!” Rosil said excitedly.
Immediately after saying that, Rosil disappears from her original position and appears in front of Braum. But Braum is always ready, Rosil strikes first with Braum parrying every move.
“Not bad Rosil, not bad!” Braum said.
Braum starts to smile while still parrying Rosil’s punches which produce sonic booms that shake the grass around the training ground.
“Prince Braum you say that too much!” Rosil replied.
Feeling a bit inpatient, Rosil starts to increase her battle force, which ups the intensity of her aura.
“More power does not mean you have a better chance of winning Rosil. Let me show you.” Braum said confidently.
Braum then starts his counterattack. He starts to disappear after every punch, appearing in front, behind, and on the sides of Rosil in the matter of milliseconds.
“Ugh! This power!” Rosil said in a surprised tone.
Rosil starts to become overwhelmed not by the sheer strength of Braum, but by his precise control of the force and unimaginable speed.
“Let’s end this.” Braum said.
As Braum says that, he pulls a kick which looks like the attack of an emperor shrimp, a legendary sea creature that can kill their prey with one punch that holds immense speed. The kick produces a visible circle of sonic boom and throws Rosil into a tree outside of the training ground.
“Ugh...I concede defeat Prince Braum.” Rosil said.
“Sorry, Rosil! That was fun though.” Braum replied.
“It’s okay Prince Braum. I now have a greater goal than my pursuit of power.” Rosil said in a mysterious tone.
Rosil starts to shine a bright smile, one that looks the sincerest since Braum meets her.
“And that is?” Braum asked confused.
Braum looks confused and is wondering what that goal is.
“A secret Prince Braum. Let’s have breakfast shall we?” Rosil replied.
“Ah yeah. Let’s.” Braum said.
The two then goes to the dining hall after they had clean themselves. Braum was surprised by the bathroom which can produce water from something that looks like a metal tentacle. He later learns that the people here called it a ‘shower’. Braum and Rosil are now sitting next to each other while eating their food.
“Say, I never tasted anything like this, what is this?” Brauma asked.
“Ah, that’s called fried rice Prince Braum.” Rosil answered.
Braum is fascinated by this ‘rice’ which holds a unique texture and fills him up very quickly.
“Everything here really surprises me. I mean, I thought my father and mother were the only people in this world that look like me after seeing paintings in books!” Braum said excitedly.
Braum is talking about skin color. The people of Yakana has a brownish bronze skin while the rest of the continent usually has people having a white skin color. He thought he was unique after never seeing books depicting people having brown skin.
“The people of this island evolved to have brown skin in order to be able to stay in this heat Prince Braum. After all, this is a tropical island while the rest of the continent has a colder climate and have multiple seasons.” Rosil answered.
Rosil’s answer satisfies Braum’s curiosity.
“Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Kraus is your father right? I noticed from the family name and all.” Braum asked.
“Yes, he is my father... I’m not too close with him since he’s always so busy but I have a deep respect for him as a general.” Rosil replied with a sad face.
Rosil’s face looks a bit lonely but she looks as if she’s trying not to show it.
“Ah right...well I’m pretty sure you’ll be in his position one day Rosil.” Braum replied.
Braum’s words cheered up Rosil and they continue their breakfast in silence.
After breakfast, Braum was called by Kraus to yesterday’s meeting room in order to discuss what’s next. Surprisingly, the room was half empty. Braum thought they must now be busy with war preparations and such.
“Your Majesty, welcome. We will now start the meeting right away with the minister of defense's briefing of the current situation.” Kraus said.
After Kraus said that, a young man in his 20s stands up, his face is very attractive with glasses and a purple hair ponytail.
“Your Majesty. My name is Kiyu Nazuma, the minister of defense of Yakana. I will now give you a briefing on the current situation:
Our intel suggests that Gornstein and the militarist group is currently residing in Larneo in the east to create a new government there. However, their military power is more spread out in Yamatra, Ugantan, and Gura.
We also found that they are currently in the process of producing mechs and forcing nobles to be pilots for them-” Kiyu outlined the situation.
Braum cuts off Kiyu’s words due to sheer curiosity.
“Wait, nobles? Why would they recruit nobles and not the common people?” Braum asked.
“That...it’s because only nobles can pilot mechs.” Kiyu replied hesitating.
Kiyu does not seem pleased to have Braum interrupt him but answered him anyway.
“Why nobles? Can’t common people pilot mechs as well?” Braum asked again.
The one who answers is Kraus instead.
“Your Majesty, Let me explain that; it is because the people who get battle force training are only the nobles so the one who can pilot mechs are only nobles. The common people can only be ground soldiers.” Kraus answered.
Braum looks even more confused.
“Are you implying that common people CAN pilot mechs but are not trained to do so?” Braum asked.
“Well….yes.” Kraus answered.
“Well, there’s your problem then! You people are too arrogant to train the common people? Talents exist everywhere! Not only in nobles! Everyone can become something great if given an equal opportunity! And here I thought your kind was supposed to be so enlightened, so much better than the people of the continent! I thought with the advanced civilizations Yakana has, something like discrimination would already disappear but I guess I underestimated human’s greed and thirst for power.” Braum said in an angry tone.
Everyone falls silent after Braum’s shocking words. They are surprised that this new would-be king is already this ferocious.
“We will do a full change on this! I want the common people to be pilots and increase our military strength!” Braum said still angry.
Braum is quite angry. What he hates the most is the discrimination of people. But the one who speaks next is Kiyu again.
“Your Majesty, even with the recruitment of the common people, it is not enough to deal with the Militarist power! They currently have pilots with skills that are out of current army's capabilities to handle." Kiyu said.
“Then what do you suggest we do?” Braum asked.
Braum calms down a bit after hearing Kiyu’s words and is curious about the solution. But instead, everyone falls silent, they don’t seem to have any solution.
“....There is former second general Toziro…” Someone muttered quietly.
The whole room erupts in a flurry of rebuttals.
“We can’t have him here anymore!”
“Why would we call him here again?”
“That bastard should just stay there!”
“SILENCE!” Braum shouted.
Braum screams angrily once more. These people are really too much for him to handle.
“Who is that? How can he help us?” Braum asked.
The one who answers is Kraus again.
“He was….he had the same idea as you, Your Majesty, he was the second great general Toziro Migune. He thought that recruiting the common people would increase our chances of winning against the Kaiju and he disobeyed direct orders from the late Queen to explicitly not do that by training some common people to be pilots. After being summoned by the Queen to punish him for his disobeying of her order, he spits in the queen’s face. Usually, that would warrant an execution…
But he was special...his elite squad, the Yojimbo, which consists of 10 highly-skilled pilots excluding him, manages to defeat a record number of 7 high-grade Kaiju during the last invasion 10 years ago. His squad was truly the best of the best.
The queen was angry, yes, but she also thought his contribution has saved millions of lives as well. She decided to exile Toziro and his squad somewhere in the continent. In order for them to not reveal the existence of Yakana, she also implanted a chip in their brain which explodes when it detects them trying to reveal our existence.” Kraus answered.
“You people really don’t care about talents that much…*sigh* he must be truly pissed after our treatments of them...Alright, I will personally go there and convince him to go back!” Braum said confidently.
Braum is determined to meet this Toziro and bring his squad back to Yakana. He also thought he would be the perfect guy to train the common people to be pilots after this.
“But Your Majesty you can’t just leave! The Militarist forces can attack soon!” Kraus replied urgently.
Kraus stands up in shock of Braum’s plan and intends to stop him. But then Kiyu interferes.
“Well, actually...our new Intel also suggests that the Militarist don’t plan to attack for another year” Kiyu muttered.
“And why is that? Isn’t that too long with our current weak situation?” Braum asked.
Braum is confused. One year is a long time. Can’t they attack now?
“We are not exactly defenseless Your Majesty, our best pilots are currently on high alert defending the cities that are not controlled by the Militarist, including the capital city. Their successful attack against the royal family was an exception due to them having people from the inside. We have executed those people and done a thorough check on our current people and found no other traces of spies.
Now, they are only focusing on two things. One, the expansion of their military which can take a while since the majority of mech factories are still in our territory. They will need to build a new factory and secure the resources. Two, we also have intel that they are currently trying to invade another country on the continent which would further divide their resources and prolong their preparation to attack us.” Kiyu answered.
Kiyu’s answer surprised not only Braum but everyone in the room since this is new information as well for them.
“Then it is settled, I will go fetch Toziro back to our kingdom. Where is he?” Braum asked.
“Your Majesty, we do not have a precise location but we do know that he and his squad is residing in the capital city of the kingdom of Estalia. If Your Majesty will go there, then we will provide the best security for your journey. The militarist also has no knowledge of your existence, Your Majesty, since you have not been crowned yet so this might be our chance!” Kraus replied excitedly.
Kraus is also convinced that this is the best solution right now. Some doubts can be seen in the faces of the people in the room but they are out of options so they reluctantly agreed.
Braum has his mouth wide open in a smile. He truly wants to help Yakana but most of all, he finally gets the chance to explore the continent and its cities, his excitement is sky high right now.