Romulus
January 1st, Year 501 of the 3rd Era. Romulus stood on a hill near the edge of King Harbor. He was wearing one of his royal robes over top of his armor as the snow made it too cold to even stick your hands out.
In reality, it wasn’t advisable to have any part of your body exposed to the cold, but Romulus needed the time to think. The other seasons were never as quiet as winter. There was also something going on. Either people or birds in the background, but everything came to a halt in the winter. Only about half a meter of snow and white as far as the eye could see.
There had been no success in searching for Noah, and with the treasury almost defaulting on its debt, Romulus no longer had many men. He knows only had twenty men including himself. It would be impossible to look for Noah with twenty men. Though, he thought he should be thankful as he had no idea how the treasury was still on its feet. According to Maximus’s letter, it should have been defaulting for weeks now.
Romulus knew that Noah was somewhere out there. Either in the woods or on farms. In a couple of minutes, he was out there, he almost came close to screaming. Damning Noah to hell and demanding that he face him right away. They barely had enough food for the winter. Farmers were put down from all over the peninsula, but even then, food had to be shipped from the capital, and to make sure they got something out of it, the earls were taxed to hell on every grain they received. ‘Maybe that saved the treasury?’ Romulus thought. ‘Or did Gala’s plan actually work?’
After hearing about Gala's suspension of slavery, Romulus thought about sending a letter to Gala, demanding her to redact the suspension, but decided not to. Abolishing slavery came with so many risks, but with the risk of the crown losing control over the economy, it became a necessary evil at the moment.
Thinking of temporary measures, his mind wandered eastward. The War of the Republics was in full swing, and he wondered how Nero was holding up. He wished all the best for his little brother, but not only because he was his backup. Romulus missed the small interactions he had with him about things he didn’t know about. How Nero would interrupt Romulus to correct him. However, his brother never did it in public, and Romulus sometimes played a game in his head to see if Nero would correct him if he made an intentional mistake in recalling a fact. It now seemed like years since Nero corrected him. Everything felt like years ago, like the events didn’t belong to Romulus, but to a happier, more patient, and resourceful Romulus.
The only comforting news was that Nero finally sent a letter. Nero asked about what he had been up to this entire time. Nero wrote that he also sent a letter to Gala, asking the same thing, but that is not what stood out to Romulus. Apparently, Nero passed a bill in Congress. A hesitant smile crept on Romulus’s face at the thought. He was proud of Nero, but he was colluding with a foreign nation on behalf of the kingdom without their knowledge. Though it wasn’t an official representation, it didn’t matter. If Nero wasn’t his little brother, he would have him either imprisoned or quietly disposed of.
Romulus heard soft footsteps in the snow and would have rested his sword on his hilt, but by the sound of the footsteps, he knew it was Kosta. “You really had to make someone climb a hill in the snow to talk to you if they wanted?”
“That’s the point,” Romulus responded.
Kosta reached the top of the hill and looked over the edge with Romulus. “Well, happy new year.”
Romulus gave out a small chuckle. “Yes, happy new year.” There was a brief silence while the two of them stared into the distance. The trees softly swayed along, taking the place of the now-frozen northern oceans. “Is there a reason you came up here?” Romulus asked.
“We never talked about my relationship with Captain Smith. It has been months, and I don’t think this operation can last much longer.”
“I told you, Kosta, that we will deal with Noah, and then we will deal with your problems with Smith. Did you see what Captain Smith did that day we ran in with Noah? I never saw the enemy so afraid before.”
“To be fair, you haven’t really seen the enemy until last year,” Kosta pointed out.
“Don’t be a smart ass with me. You just hold it together with him until we deal with Noah, and don’t worry because if anything happens, I take your side before his.”
Kosta digested the thought for a moment. “Thanks, but why? He is obviously more capable at almost everything.”
“That’s not true,” Romulus responded. “It’s just that…I reward people who are loyal to me and have saved my life.”
“Are you talking about the bison?” Kosta asked. “Surely—”
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“If it wasn’t for you, that bison would have killed me or, you know, died from thirst or hunger. What did Captain Smith do? Kill a bunch of People’s Lord terrorists with his swords. We had plenty of troops, and I’m sure you and I would have made it out anyway.”
“But more people would have died,” Kosta pointed out.
“Yes, but—”
“Let me ask you this: who would you rather fight in a duel? Me or Smith?”
Romulus turned to Kosta and laughed. “Well, obviously, Captain Smith is the better fighter.”
“So, you should be more careful around him,” Kosta suggested. “The man’s got some demons in him. I don’t know where they came from, but he must have experienced something in his childhood or soon after.”
“You don’t reckon he is just a controlled maniac?” Romulus asked. There was no response from Kosta. “Sometimes,” Romulus continued. “I feel like life is just one big mess.” Romulus took a deep breath before continuing. “I got the news that there has been increased People’s Lord activity in the south. Fucking Borzors, man. When are they going to give up? Of course, General Pluto has been assigned to deal with him.”
“Is there a problem with that?” Kosta asked.
“God, yes!” Romulus exclaimed. He calmed himself down before continuing. “Of course, I want every People’s Lord terrorist to be destroyed on sight, but what has General Pluto suffered from them? Has he lost a mother, or has his family ripped apart? For God’s sake, the second-in-line for the throne is in the Griffin Republic.” Romulus wanted to tell Kosta about the alcohol tax that Nero helped pass, but he couldn’t. It would damage the reputation of the crown too much.
“If it’s any comfort, remember that if anyone is going to have the key to finding the People’s Lord, it’s going to be Noah. When you find him, I’m sure missing the action down south won’t mean much.”
“How do you do it, Kosta?” Romulus asked. “You don’t have a family anymore. You said Cholera killed them, so how do you deal with going on and have nothing to funnel your anger into?” His voice trembled. It sounded like he was going to cry, but no tears emerged from his eyes.
“How did I deal with it?” Kosta corrected. “At some point, you just focus on surviving. You realize that there are some things that you can’t control.”
“But I did control what happened. If we were smarter, we would have gotten my mother out, and she would have been safe. If only we were more careful.”
Romulus and Kosta fell silent as the white noise of the winter filled their heads. Kosta focused on trying to keep as warm as possible as he had less clothing on him compared to Romulus. Meanwhile, the heir to the throne tried to collect himself and thought this was no way for a superior officer to act in front of his troops. “Can I ask you something?” Kosta petitioned. “What do you want from life? You are complaining about so many things, but they are all in the short term. When you become king, what do you want?”
“Reunification obviously,” Romulus responded, sounding offended.
“No, besides that. If I went into the future and walked around the streets of Gatherstorm, what difference would you want.”
“God, I don’t know. For people to be more loyal, happier, and healthier, what do you want with your life? Mister asking all these questions. You said you learn to survive, but what if I want to live? What if I want to look out the window and see something that I am proud of? Something I created?”
“Technically, you tell other people to create stuff in your name,” Kosta corrected.
Romulus burst out laughing at the remark. “You’re starting to become more like Nero. Speaking of him, I think you two would get along very well.”
“Why?” Kosta asked.
“Why would you get along with Nero?”
“No, why do you want a world that is not only good but one you created? What made you so involved in other people’s lives?”
Romulus didn’t answer. He thought over the question, but it seemed so simple to him. He would be the king. He had divine right over these people. He could guide them better than anyone else, but Kosta wouldn’t take that as an answer. So, Romulus answered it as if he was a common citizen becoming king.
“I joined the military immediately after I came of age. Twenty years old with a proud title. None of them gave a shit, though. Not the recruits, privates, sergeants, and anyone above that. I wasn’t treated like everyone else, but worse. I was picked on all the time, my form was critiqued to oblivion, and people wanted to know me but not be friends.” Romulus fell silent as he remembered those times. “I still have scars from those days. My back looks like a drunk tried to draw the outline on a continent.” Romulus’s voice was somber, and he no longer looked at Kosta or far into the distance. His head pointed at the ground.
“I made it through, though,” he continued. “And I became a sergeant by twenty-one and captain by twenty-three. I’m thirty now, and I am still a captain. I had and still have every advantage in the world, but I still hold the same rank, so it’s not hard to figure out what the problem is.
“The military wasn’t a fan of my strategies on the field. They said I killed too many men to achieve the objective, but what’s the point of war? Even if it’s only a war game, those men who died create better men who can win on an actual battlefield, and the battlefield is in the South. General Pluto is relying on old tactics that lost us the continent in the first place.” Romulus lifted his head. “But when I go to the south, I get in the one situation where my strategy doesn’t work, and I am punished for it.”
Romulus’s voice suddenly became harsh and vengeful. “There is only one way I get out of this state that I am in. I kill Noah, I kill Lia, I kill Benito, and I kill anyone who stands in my way. After I become king, I reunify the continent and have my name carved into the history books.” Romulus stared into the distance. Somewhere, Noah was hiding, plotting, ruining countless lives, but most importantly, destroying the reputation of a future king. “Not everyone loves the People’s Lord. We can’t smoke out the rats, so it has come to a point where we have to become the rats.”
Romulus turned around and faced the outskirts of King Harbor. “Kosta, tomorrow we are going to get more men. I don’t care if my father allows it or not. We are going to get as many men as possible to temporarily associate with the enemy so we can find out where they are. Once we do that, we can figure out what I want to do as king.”