The three of them walked into the office without any delay. Raneria, the orc, lead the way in, but she took a second to survey the room. From the way she studied everything, she must have taken a moment to plan an escape route in case anything does take place in the room.

A warrior then, Jonas thought as he studied her frame.

Then again, with how powerful she looked, that wasn’t an incredible surprise. He kind of expected it really, he was embarrassed to say. He assumed it just from his first look of her. An orc was made out to be a warrior first then a living breathing being second. Or at least that was what he was taught by society around him.

Those misconceptions proved to be right in this instant, but he knew better than to judge a book by its cover. Even his dreams harped on him to prove that over and over again. That was not adding the multiple times he clearly underestimated a person before they had gotten a chance to show what they were about.

Damn gut feeling, it's supposed to keep me safe and on his toes. If everytime a powerful person comes around and he automatically thinks they are weak because of their extremely unusual habits, he would die a hundred times over.

Never underestimate your enemy.

A cliche he knew all too well with how many times has nightmares had thought of it or acted upon it even against those that are far less capable than against him.

Even to the point of murder.

That was something he could not do. His noble self would never stoop down so low as to eliminate a person that was not a threat to him and the people he governed. He was not a bandit or a pirate, he was a high noble given the greatest station on this entire colony. King in his Majesties sted.

Ruler of all the lands and water he steps on from henceforth.

And now, the first military city had been taken under his leadership. The others were only a matter of time.

His messenger will rush to them after ensuring PennyHarbor's compliance. And they too will bend the knee regardless of their desires. They are bound by far greater and more Oaths than any noble would ever dream of.

No society could exist for centuries like their own without absolute control of their armies and their standardization. Just look at the kingdom his dream had spoken of. Selling their lives throne to the highest bidder.

There is a reason it no longer existed in that universe.

Raneria coughed to get his attention. He had been daydreaming again. "You've been standing there staring at nothing for ten good minutes now. Are you adle minded? I am a great supporter of helping those with mental deficiencies for they are as much orc as the biggest and strongest warriors. They just started with a bigger disadvantage...err or human, I don’t mind."

She nodded in resolution. “Yes, I don’t. My teacher always said 'those that face greater adversity become the greatest orcs.' That's why she trains me so hard."

For a moment, it was like the orc had said that to convince herself more than Jonas. He chuckled at her insecurity.

To be truthful, it was refreshing being around someone who didn't call him master every other sentence. It gave him a certain perspective he lacked greatly. Or maybe it was a desperate need to speak to someone on a human level. Not as the ruler of a colony almost as big as the motherland.

Even Frezar spoke less commonly than before. His usual rebukes and tangents of fatherly advice seemed to almost disappear these last few months. It saddened him to be truthful, but it was the reality he was still trying to get use to.

“You really think that?” Jonas said, agreeing mentally.

Without noticing, some concepts and beliefs almost foreign to his own culture had been nearly ingrained into who Jonas was. They were more to do with the dreams he had been having than anything else, but with the fragility of his emotions and mental scape the first few months after the incident, those ideas had taken root and begun to fester in his psyche.

“Yes. Don’t you? If they accomplish anything great, haven’t they done more than any single person at the same spot? They had to overcome their disadvantage first then progress on the same road everyone had already been on.” She waved her hands around to emphasis her point.

Nothing she said sounded wrong, nor did Jonas disagree wholeheartedly with anything. Anyone who could overcome adversity was special and had the potential to become their own version of greatness.

Puffing out her chest, Raneria looked out the window in a moment of wisdom. The light highlighted her green skin and shone against her polished tusks. She looked regal even with a tattered dress and bulk muscles.

“I-I have a dream...one day.” She took a deep breath, the words she was trying to say must have been incredibly important. “I will have an entire council of only those who surpassed their mental disabilities! It will be glorious!”

“What?” Jonas replied intelligibly. She killed the setting she created! The perfect lighting, far off look of enlightenment, all wasted.

The entire image of her being a progressive was shattered in an instant. Jonas felt a headache brewing really quickly.

Raneria looked back at him with a confused expression like nothing was wrong in the world. “What do you mean?”

Jonas tried to ignore her question altogether, but her gaze was unrelenting. After a good fourth seconds, he finally shook his head. He was not about to get dragged into another debate like this. No, that was a prospect he was not looking forward to any day of the entire year.

Err...another debate? When had he ever had a discussion about the condition of the mentally ill? Or about change and the issues of the political world that was around them now?

For a moment, Jonas looked lost and confused. What happened? How did it happen?

His breathing became more erratic, he felt like he was losing his sense of individuality and sense of self. Everything she had spoken about was quickly forgotten in that moment. His survival, no the existence of Jonas Levictus Markus hinged on this, or at least that’s how he felt as he so clearly remembered memories that he knew that were not his own.

It was the first time he fully recognized the change occurring to him. And to be truthful, it frightened him more than anything else he had experienced. Everything he had seen and witnessed, from his brother’s coldblooded murder to the talk about releasing the Karashque, none of it truly threatened his life per se.

His brother, even if he planned for his entire life could not directly harm him, it was the main reason he framed him for the death of the Marquis’s daughter instead of finishing the deed and killing him. As for the Karashque, it was a far off problem not even a decade close. Or so he hoped.

But, this was different. He was the center of the threat and it only affected him.

Just as the hyperventilating began, Raneria snapped her fingers in front of his face to bring him back from this never ending spiral of self-doubt and existential dread.

“You’re doing it again.”

He laughed awkwardly. “S-sorry. Was just thinking about what you said, yea that’s it.”

“So?”

“So...what?” What did she say again?

“My idea of a council. We just spoke about it…” She sighed with a look of defeat. “Never mind.” With a massive frown she decided to explore around the room. She went from the office desk to looking through his shelves of books reading each title as her finger ran across it.

“Now that I think about it. Why are you on my ship?” Jonas said, interrupting her impromptu adventure.

Raneria shrugged like it was normal to stow away in other people’s ships. Just another day. “Grega threw me over her shoulder and flew here when you were still near the horizon.”

Jonas chuckled at how straightforward she said that. “What were you doing in PennyHarbor? I thought the orcs were antagonistic against the human kingdom here.”

He chose to hide his identity as the single and only ruler of this entire colony. He didn’t know how she would react if he did. Whether she would attack him, or simply shrug like she was often doing was up to chance really. Especially with how...erratic the orc lady had been acting so far.

Everything was perfectly fine from how she spoke. “Nothing much. Just a political hostage.”

Jonas choked on his own spit and Frezar began coughing. It took them both a minute to calm down and stare incredulously at the orc in front of them.

Did she really say that like nothing was wrong with her standing in front of two humans on a fleet full of humans right in front of a city full of them too?