I walk into the Arrian throne room. I have been here multiple times but each time the eerie atmosphere leaves me shaking in fear. The buildings are all majestic and powerful but seem to lack the Allonian charm. They seem... empty.
I look up to see the Arrian flag. A foreboding symbol of Arrian military might and sovereignty. Instead of Michael De Arria it is his wife sitting in the seat. She is a cold beauty, much like snow. She is probably just here as a figure head, most likely it will take some time before the emperor either refuses or accepts my proposal.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, your majesty.”
I say bowing in a sign of respect. I have found that following traditions and showing respect are the most important part of dealing with Arrians. Without these it is impossible to even get to diplomacy. The Arrian Emperor once told me that ‘the rules of politeness must be followed at all times. Even during a declaration of war.’ I, however, have a feeling his empress will not care much for any offers I will make. “Your reputation as a beauty precedes you.”
“Thank you, I see that you are doing well here in Arria Reynard Hamond De Mitham.” Her intonation doesn’t hint at her opinion of this meeting. Her faces is complete neutral. My intuition from dealing with these Arrians does give me a hint. “Shall we get on to the matter of the day?”
“Of course. By the powers vesting in me by the Emperor of Allonia, William Asherton, I request Arria sign a treaty of white peace. Further hostilities shall cease and all land shall be set back to before the war.” I am beginning to sweat more and more as each word comes out of my mouth. The guard behind the empress, his name being Luca, begins to glare at me.
“Luca, cut his tongue.” She spits out the command. I should have listened to my intuition. She is definitely scarier than the emperor, he is much more reasonable. I begin to retreat but before I could sprint away, I notice that Luca doesn’t move.
“My lord, the Emperor has stated that he finds killing the messenger to be distasteful.”
“Very well, we shall allow him to keep his tongue.” My knees feel as if they are about to defect and collapse at any moment. Her eyes still look down upon me, she wouldn’t even flinch watching violence. Remind me too much of the Goldwell family. A bunch of heartless people. Hell, the Goldwell family has silver hair just like these damn Arrians.
I dismiss myself before walking out of the throne room. This meeting has taken a couple years off of my life. I look out the window trying to get my baring and gather my thoughts. Arria is a beautiful. A pity the nation is a bunch of fanatics. Military? We have to be the best! Religion? Ours is naturally the best! Land? It is the most resource rich! Do we actually use the darn resources? Nope. Though one could argue if they were really the most resource rich country the fact of the matter is they are fairly resource rich.
Instead of tapping into their vast resources they just leave them and farm. The wasted industrial potential makes me sad but I am not about to tell them. Well... they are at least better than the Yanzhou. They absolutely refuse to do any sort of diplomacy, Arrians may look down on us but they seem to treat us with a baseline of respect. Besides the Yanzhou aren't even native.
Perhaps I shall go to the tavern tonight, might find myself a lady to spend the night with. Today just isn’t looking like my day. I walk back to my lodging and begin writing a letter for the Emperor. He will have to bring Arria to its knees before it is even willing to talk to us.
This means a headache within my future. If I don’t kill myself first the Arrians will probably do it for me. Each person I had passed within the halls looked at me suspiciously. The collar of my clothes had begun to stick onto my neck due to sweat.
I just want to get back to the great plains and farmlands of Allonia. To see the rivers and coastlines of my homeland. Living with these Arrians have affected me.
A/N: I have decided on my schedule. I will upload at least once a day with an aim of two times a day if I get a lot of work done. On another note, I was waiting for us to get to this chapter as it is the first time we get to see Arria from an outside perspective. A big difference from the usual Arria is number one mentality (Which of course it is, you treasonous heretic). Though keep in mind every single perspective is biased and thus some stuff might need to be taken with a grain of salt, especially when they are about the Yanzhou. Nobody in this book likes them and therefore nothing good will ever be said about them, and I do mean nothing.
i'm not sure it's just me ...but sometime i feel lost in explanations at first chapter... like how the guy ended up there from what country or how he was chosen ... did i missed some content ? it was told that he had birth mark and was prince of another country ... but didn't find anything else.
Reynard is the temporary Allonian diplomat. He is not that important of a character but gets a few chapters. By far the most important Allonian characters are William and Hudson. Nathaniel Hudson being one of the big POVs.
As for the Sigil. The Arrian imperial sigil is passed down through the royal line and only those that descend from Lucifer (The first Arrian Emperor) possess it. The more defined the sigil the stronger it is. Some of its powers are defined a little more than others but overall the most important feature is that the people believe it to be the sign that the person is the chosen of god. If this is true is up to you but it is true that it is magical in origin and VERY strong.
@Mizu oh i meant the emperor... so he is from the royal family of arria ?
@rust Michael is from the royal family. Only people from the royal family can have the De Arria at the end of their name. The only other person with the sigil is Antonio and that is because he is related to the royal family. I hope you are enjoying the story so far.
@Mizu yeah while it is confusing a little ... i'm looking forward to see how he will use his brain ... you know like "the experimental log of the crazy lich" i love the way the mc does things .
@rust I hope I meet your expectations. As for what is confusing: Can you explain what makes you confused? Like why did you think that Michael was from somewhere else? I always want to improve and being able to better clarify things is always helpful.
@Mizu oh. he was telling the difference in the situation of arria with somewhere else like he was comparing it with his home town ... like he was send from another country for marriage... and people talking about characters like this is part 72 of a another story... i wonder if i've should read some other story before read this one .... it gives that kind of feeling ...at least to me.
@rust Oh, thanks for the information. The prologue was kinda the summary at the start. It was meant for me to remember what the story was about because before I would pick up and drop stories often. So when you don't work on a story for like a year a prologue that tells you what it is about is SUPER helpful. I talked about this a little bit but it was kinda something I regret uploading. It isn't the worst thing so I am just kinda leaving it atm.