“An old saying went that too many cooks spoil the broth. The same could be said about the Kingdom of Posuin. The King of Posuin was more a first amongst equals, rather than a true king, and the many nobles of the country all had a say in the nation’s politics.

To say that it was a mess was an understatement. The term clusterfuck suited Posuin better, as the various factions formed by the nobles amongst themselves always fought for their own views and preferences and could rarely agree with each other on anything.

It was a miracle the nation lasted as long as it had, honestly,” - Aideen deVreys, the Silver Maiden, when someone asked her about the Posuin Kingdom’s fall.

“Allow me to formally thank you for the aid you have rendered, Miss deVreys,” said the Duke with a polite nod of deference to Aideen before the silence could grow uncomfortable. “I know it was what Markgraf Stahlfaust asked for, but as a father I would like to extend my gratitude for saving my daughter nevertheless.”

“Think nothing of it,” replied Aideen nonchalantly. “I was just doing a favor for a friend. By the way, she also asked me to relay a letter to you, personally.”

“A letter from the Markgraf?” asked the Duke with a raised eyebrow. While he had dealings and meetings with dwarven nobles from Knallzog before, Dvergarder never had any contact with Ginnie’s territory, since her holdings were far to the east. “I am quite interested in what she has to say.”

“Here you go,” said Aideen as she brought out the envelope and placed it on the table, before she slid it to the Duke with a deft flick of her hand. The Duke’s quick reaction as he caught the envelope made Aideen certain that the man must have been a trained warrior himself, as she had suspected from his build and the poise he carried when he walked.

In fact, although Solenia was lacking in experience, there was nothing much to complain about the girl’s skill with a blade. She was clearly trained well, by people who knew what they were doing. So were the knights and maids who had been in the convoy. Fitting for retainers of a noble who lives by the border, she thought.

The Duke brought out a monocle he set on his right eye before he unfolded the letter and read carefully. Everyone else was quiet as they waited for him to finish reading the letter, which he finally did as he sighed in relief and shook his head.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

“What was the letter about, dad?” Solenia asked, breaking the silence. Her older siblings had similar looks of curiosity on their faces, so had the Duchess. The girl was just the one who cared the least about formalities and asked first before anyone else could broach the topic politely.

“Nothing much,” said the Duke with another shake of his head. “Just some polite apology for… roughhousing our little Solenia a bit… and a reprimand for letting our local troubles leak elsewhere to the point that she had to do some clean-up.”

Aideen couldn’t help but to chuckle when the Duke said those words. Dwarves had little consideration for etiquette and polite, flowery languages the nobility of Posuin favored. She had no doubt that the letter was quite riddled with epithets and profanities, which definitely explained the odd look on the Duke’s face while he was reading.

“To call it… roughhousing might have been a bit of an… understatement,” said Solenia quietly as she shivered a bit, probably from the memory of just how Ginnie had demolished her in the arena. “Though I guess I got lucky and walked out without any lasting harm, all considered.”

“That reminds me… show me your hand,” said the Duke suddenly as he leaned towards his daughter. Solenia extended her right arm over, and the duke rolled her sleeve up, exposing her forearm and hand as he peered closely at her wrist.

“Not even the slightest sign of damage… and you said you’ve been able to use it as usual ever since?” asked the Duke with some surprise. He had naturally heard the extent of Solenia’s injuries at the arena, and was apparently still in some disbelief that such heavy injuries could be recovered so quickly, and without any side effects to boot.

“Nope, pretty much good as new, dad,” replied Solenia as she wriggled her hand around to show her father that her hand was working fine. “Even that slight hitch I mentioned having from time to time after the one time I broke my hand was gone after Lady Aideen healed it.”

“If I may ask, Miss deVreys,” said the Duke politely as he turned towards Aideen. “My Knight-Captain had informed me of your identity, that you are an Unliving, from the southern continent no less. I would like to know the reason for your being here in Alcidea, if you would deign to answer.”

“Mostly to look around, for now,” replied Aideen honestly. The plan she had discussed with grandpa Aarin was a long-term one, as even if they were to disembark to try to build a place for themselves, there were just too few of the unliving for now. “I’m especially interested in the lands that remained unclaimed by the various nations, if you would care to share the information.”

“Well… there’s quite a few areas like that. The wastelands to our east are unclaimed right now, though I believe the dwarves had plans to claim them for themselves within the next few centuries,” replied the Duke after some thought. “There’s also the no-man’s land between Algenverr and the tribal lands to the east, but that’s mostly swamps in summer, or frozen swamps in winter, so bad nobody wants to live there.”

“To the east of Jonkver there’s also the Forest of Despair. There’s several mana veins in that area, and it’s full of beasts of every sort. That place bordered us, the dwarves of Knallzog, Avilaz and Ezram to the east, as well as the tribal lands up north, but nobody has managed to tame it so far,” he added after a while. “I’m afraid I’m less familiar with the lands further to the east of the continent, though.”

“That’s already plenty to start with, thanks.”