Direrivia glanced down at Prince Harry. “ Truth be told, with KMega6KMegacharacter competently leading the military, we of the senate have been dealing with the domestic issues of fair trade and regular legislation. Even nearly a year after the war, we are still not as stable as before the Markwell trampled over us. Those that survived the turmoil have been sincere in their reconstruction efforts. However, because we have a duo-government dynamic of simultaneously being a Republic and a Stratocracy where both are necessary but also limit the other, we cannot move forward with things. So I ask you, Prince Luke. No, it should be just Luke now. Will you take the mantle of the Eastguard military, join hands with our Senate, and return peace to the land?” (Direevia)
Direrivia extended his hand as Luke pinned down what had bothered him. “You aren’t human, are you?” (Luke)
Direrivia smiled as a wolf tail waved behind him. “You are correct or half at least. I am a half-breed between a northern noble and a serving girl of common origins. The irony is that I am my father’s only child now.” (Direrivia)
Direrivia sincerely looked at KMega. “A year ago, I was rotting away in a cage following months of hard labor after my father threw me into the fight for his lands to buy time to flee. When I returned home, I encountered my father leading a charge against imperial soldiers in his keep. Three times he attacked, and three times did people of Southguard die. When he was captured, I snuck into the keep through little-known passages with the remainder of his troops and proceeded to where he had been kept. There, I found him dead due to beatings. So, I took his place and liberated the keep.” (Direrivia)
Direrivia then pointed to KMega. “That man was the one who saved me and many others. He has earned much gratitude, respect and patience. We of the senate seek someone to lead in his stead but the void he leaves will be nothing if not vast.” (Direrivia)
Direrivia stared at Prince Harry. “The North is protected by mountains while the West and Center are nearly as isolated from hostiles. Other than a small southern part of Eastguard, there are no seas. That is the battlefield your nation truly excelled in, but you also know how to dominate the battlefields of land. I saw as much when becoming Tonewell Keep’s new lord after using troops of your land. So, we senators eventually started discussing having you or another prince replace KMega as commander of the army to give our hero the well-deserved rest he desires. Now, we have reached a few compromises in the senate because the situation is rather desperate with the demons knocking at our gates and the Markwell Empire marching not far behind.” (Direrivia)
Luke considered everything he had heard. When he came to Eastguard lacking any alternative options, he had expected a land wrecked with strife wrought by demons, but they actually had a different struggle. They needed him, but even without them outright saying it, he already knew he would have to abandon the concept of Southguard in order to save his homeland, the demons have done too much damage to think otherwise. And he’d do it with only a hundred and thirty-six warriors of Eastguard, no more and no less as the nation’s numbers were not great to begin with.
Luke considered Harry. “And him?” (Luke)
Direrivia laughed upon hearing about the other prince. “He has a role to play as well. Not all the senate support this plan. We will listen to what he wants and then tell him what we will do. Naturally, when the union states become one country, the princes will be allowed to govern their original lands.” (Direrivia)
After careful thought, Luke could only concede to their plan. It was not as if he disagreed with their plans, and he had no prejudice toward half-races either. He knew long ago that the five union states were united as one great nation called Guardocia, yet when its grand ruler had died, his five sons had split the country instead of initiating a civil war that would have torn them all apart.
