It certainly has been a while since I've made an entry into this.  Three long years of hectic rebuilding, training, and negotiation, and I've barely had a moment to rest, let alone get to myself to write.  But I will say, they have been a productive time between the entries.  Full diplomatic relations with Qua-Toyne were established in February of 1631 and assisted in the reunification of the empire.  After two rapid, yet bloody years, the empire was reunited in May of 1633.  In July, Archon Torenal stepped down, giving power to a gentleman I recommended myself, the now Prime Minister, Agamear, with his first decree being the rebuilding of our old destroyed capital, Amoni-Ram, on the isle of Lemnos.  Aside from his name being related to a certain general, I had quite the discourse with him during my early career, I can tell that he was the correct choice.  Overall things have been, somewhat peaceful.

The thing disturbing that peace is the Lourians to the east.  Made up entirely of humans, they appear hellbent on conquering the continent for some unknown goal, and although I do not know that goal, I fear for what it is.  The few times the Qua-Toynians were able to face their raiding parties in battle, they had surprisingly high-quality troops for this area of the world.  From what I have gathered, they are rather behind when it comes to the technological side of things.  They are still using old mixtures of steel that were later analyzed and shown to be high in carbon, making them more rigid, strong, and hard compared to the lower-carbon steel of the Qua-Toynians.  The same goes for their armor, as even my reforged Xiphos had trouble getting through when it can slice through the hard carapaces of Karcist abominations with little input, albeit unpowered.  I believe I'll put in an order for a different sword, possibly a Jian or hand-and-a-half sword.

Although I am pretty curious about how they got their hands on such high-quality wyverns, maybe someone is supplying them, although that is highly unlikely.

Of course, because of the frequency of increasing raids, the Qua-Toyne Principality had requested assistance from the empire to help deal with them.  Although our options were rather limited, given how strenuous the negotiations between our two states were, they did send me and my bodyguards to Gim back in November of last year.  Officially, I was there visiting, but in reality, I was investigating the Lourian attacks, and helping the Qua-Toynians train to neutralize them. So far, we have met with some success, as the raiding forces are being slowly bled dry, but I fear it will not be enough, given where they are targeted.  From what I can gather, they have been targeted at villages along the border with high concentrations of demi-humans and elves, appearing to either weaken the Qua-Toynians' resolve or try to bait them into a war.  Of course, with how level-headed Prime Minister Kanata is, they haven't taken the bait yet.  So far, the Western Knight Order has shown the most promise when neutralizing these raids, and the captain of the unit, Moizi, has proven himself to be rather quick on his feet when it comes to surprises, and understanding my advice.  Given enough time, he could become quite the general.  However, he was rather irritated at me when I asked him to move his family to the capital.

He told me, "My family has a right to understand that I'm safe, that I'm alive, fighting for them and our future.  Why do you want to take that away from them?  To make them speculate, hoping I'm alive, when in reality I'm dead on a field, never returning to them?"

I told him it was to keep them safe.  "Your future is with your wife and child.  As much as you don't want it ripped away from you, eventually, it will.  Something will come along, and take them from you.  I want to ensure your future, Moizi.  And as much as I am disappointed in myself for deciding to ask you to move them out, I know that in the end, It will be the right choice."  He agreed with my choice after a short deliberation.

  But even after all was said and done, I couldn't get the itching feeling of dread out of my head.  I can feel it in the air, sense it with every fiber of my body, war is coming, and the combatants will be Louria, Qua-Toyne, and the Empire.  I've been trying to train them as best as I could with what little time I have, but I can tell it's not going to be enough.  Something's going to break eventually, be it the Lourian's restraint, the Qua-Toynians' resolve, or my patience.  I've already started to draft war plans during the breaks between training and raids, but our three nations are strapped to tables, with bands of rusting iron.

And whichever breaks first, the others will quickly follow.

And after that, there can be no return.

SirZyBoi

I know, of all the things I return to, it's another diary entry.  Yeah, I'm disappointed in myself too, but to make a long story short, burnout is a bitch and the finals took a LOT out of me, which is the long-ass delay.  But aside from that info, I've made an executive decision as the author of this book to write what could best be described as summary chapters at the end of each arc in the form of Areia's diary entries, although this one will not be due to the nearly 10-year gap between the actual, canon NHS timeline and the MNS timeline (the latter of which being the anagram for the title of this book if translated into Japanese).  I mean, it made sense in my head to do so, since I technically did that for the Prologue Arc or the arc where the Mekhanites were introduced to the New World (which I have given a name, it'll pop up later, don't worry).  So yeah, expect these diary entries between chapters to become more common.

Also, I know it's all over the place, but this is the best my brain could do on a short schedule, so cut me some slack.  I'll try to get a higher-quality chapter out next time, but no promises.