The Sun Kingdom was a complicated Nobility based Kingdom. Tempestis the Fifth was the current King of the Kingdom. He had three sons. Chordus, Factus and Diptus, by order of birth. By right, the King's Noble name was Solarium.

Under the King were five Dukes. The Kingdom was essentially divided into six Dukedoms. The King and the Five Dukes ruled the each Dukedom. Each Duke had five Marquis under them, while the King ruled his Dukedom directly. Each Marquis had five counts and the land continued to be split under titles in the same manner 

It was an open secret that Chordus, Factus and Diptus had no love lost for each other. In the nobility, this wasn't particularly uncommon. However, if this happened in the King's family, it would spell chaos for the country upon his death.

All three sons were extremely ambitious. All had been factioneering since several years, but till now it had been dismissed as a test by the King for his children. Knowing the information he did now, however, Locke realized that things really had the potential to fall apart.

He had unfurled a gigantic map of the Sun Kingdom on his study desk, and then began coloring different sub-territories with different shades, one for each each Prince's influence. He left the neutral territories uncoloured.

When he circled the area where the disaster had taken place, his eyes gleamed. He then cross referenced it with details of the troops who had been massacred and the ones who were now on guard against the so called disaster. He cross verified whose levies were used and lost and which territories had been weakened in the process.

He frowned. The only one completely unscathed in this process was the second prince, Factus. Locke immediately deduced that Factus probably knew something about this pyramid. The waters of this scheme were too deep, he realized.

Locke was feeling frustrated. With no clear information about the nature of threat emerging from the Ghone Forest, he was flying blind. After some thought, he tried to contact a person who he thought could help. However, he wasn't sure if a Grandmaster mage would be willing to answer his call. Still, Locke decided to try anyway.

"Oh, it's you." Beluriel yawned from the other end. He had actually responded. "What do you want, young man?"

"What do you know about Ghone Forest?" Locke asked.

Hearing his question, Beluriel's sleepy expression immediately disappeared and his face turned serious. "The news even reached you, huh. Things have gotten really bad then." Beluriel sighed.

Locke didn't answer. He was silently pressuring Beluriel to speak. Beluriel didn't have much of a resistance. Clearly he wanted to talk about it.

"Don't worry. The situation is bad, but we aren't exactly weak. We are working on sealing the area right now. While that area is effectively lost, we will contain the threat." Beluriel pacified Locke.

"What exactly is the Kingdom facing?" Locke asked. 

Beluriel looked confused as well. "I don't know either. Whatever it is, I have never seen anything like it. These idiots opened this tomb thinking there was a Legacy inside, but seemed to have unleashed some kind of corruption instead." 

"Corruption?" Locke asked.

"Um hm. All those troops which disappeared? They've turned into shadowy monsters that are instead attacking us without any sense of rationality. So have all the creatures in the jungle." Beluriel explained.

Locke's eyes shined. He remembered Hibiscus, the Dryad saying she had lost all contact with the Dryad in Ghone Forest. Could the Dryad also have been turned?

Locke ended the call and began looking at the plans for Barony's development. 

"Looks like the development of the town wall has to be expedited. The reforms are coming along nicely, but instability in the country won't be good for the future." Locke muttered. He could only wait for the Viscount to call a meeting as he glanced at the map of the Kingdom.

The Marquisate Barony Mith belonged to was actually a neutral one. "Marquis Tasmodius, with the ability to sniff out lies in a conversation would probably smell a conspiracy from far away." Locke analyzed.

---

A few days later, Girald returned with tomes of documents. It was all the intelligence he had managed to gather about Legacies.

"This cost a pretty penny." Girald bitterly said

"Money is meant to be used." Locke dismissed Girald's bitterness.

"What did you find out?" He asked Girald.

"Five nobles in the Kingdom are known to have legacies. This is either through their own public display or it, or through them being forced to display the ability in public." Girald said. "Marquis Tasmodius is the most public one. He is known as the professional Lie Detector and has worked directly for the King on several occassions."

Locke nodded as he quickly began reading the scrolls while listening.

"The remaining four are all Dukes. Duke Claithe as a Legacy that is suspected to allow him to see perfectly in complete darkness." Girald continued.

"Hmm, useful skill for an assassination." Locke muttered. "The Duke is also a Great Knight. Match made in heaven."

The strength path consisted of the stages Trainee, Knight, Grand Knight, Great Knight, Master Knight and Grand Master Knight. In the history of the Sun Kingdom, the Kingdom's founder had been a Grandmaster Knight, however, in the current generation the Great Knight was the highest strength known.

"Duke Gainsbraith has a peculiar ability to broadcast his message through the mind without speaking." Girald continued his briefing.

"Are there any specifics? Limits? How many can he broadcast to and what can he broadcast?" Locke asked.

"The Duke is fond of using his Legacy as a party trick. Records seem to suggest he can simultaneously broadcast upto fifty people and the content is limited to words. Witnesses have described it as the Duke's voice ringing inside their head." Girald explained carefully.

'Gainsbraith is a bit of a convenient fool.' Locke thought to himself. The pattern of behavior Girald described fit the Duke's profile.