Year 2, Winter, First Month, Fourth Week.

“Around 50 years ago. The three of us were sent to a post village in the first section of the Wind region, located near the border with the Fire region. The three infiltrated agents are always trained in different areas besides the basic training. Omero was trained in politics and he would strive for the position of Chief in the village, which isn’t difficult for a new village. Bill was trained in different crafts so he could provide basic skills and help develop the village. And I was trained in resources: gathering, processing, identifying and locating them. Many have looked down on my area but don’t underestimate its value for both the Kingdom and their enemies. The Democracy’s idea is to place people capable of better understanding the situation and changes in the regions.”

“We lived in that post village for more than 20 years without much problem, we formed families and our lives weren’t so bad. Life in a post village is much better than in a farming village like Caiset. The villagers there are allowed to move freely and own things, even money. I remembered that my earnings from working in a butchery weren’t too low, I had a husband and children. We help the best we could, quietly teaching the other villagers, helping them have a better life. But then, things changed…”

“A group of adventurers that were trying their luck in the forest near the village, discovered a crystal mine and the disputes for its ownership started. The Lords in the nearby Fire region also wanted the mine, but the Lords from the Wind’s first section wouldn’t give up on it. Some conflicts broke out and villagers paid for it. A lot of them died, but who would care for the lives of commoners? However, the surviving villagers became outraged by it, it might seem too much for you, but they were used to living with some liberty and experienced fewer deaths. We saw the tides of rebellion forming, so we contacted our handler in Hurricane City. We waited for help or an extraction plan to save the villagers, but we had been deceived by the Democracy…”

“They raised and trained us to think we were doing a holy mission to save others that suffered like us, and we had good reason to believe them since we too were saved. However, we learned that their hidden agenda was more important than lives… Instead of sending help, they sent weapons, they wanted for the villagers to rebel and fuel the dispute between the Wind and Fire regions. They offered to extract us, but we decided to stay and try to save the villagers from futilely throw away their lives… In the end, we failed…”

“The rebellion not only took the friends we made but also took part of our families…”

Marlen couldn’t suppress the tears from leaving her, the memory of her husband and son pained her even after so many years. Omero decided it was time to take the lead again, so he continued:

“Again, the Kingdom took what we painly recovered over those years… We could have returned to the Democracy and tried to live the rest of our lives in peace, but we knew hundreds of villages and thousands of innocents would continue suffering between the Kingdom’s oppression and the Democracy’s goals. So we made the most difficult choice in our lives, we chose to stay and try making a difference by saving others. We refused the Democracy’s extraction and joined a group of villagers that would be forming a new village in the second section, Caiset. We came here trying to save and help, using whatever knowledge we had to make our lives better, we even condemned our children to live this life… I hope you can comprehend why didn’t tell our story sooner, our only goal has always been helping the villagers…”

Marlen decided to don’t point out a few hypocritical statements in Omero’s speech. Even though he omitted his hate for the Kingdom in their decision to stay, he had told them the facts. The Councillors reacted in different ways, the elders’ relatives were elucidated in a few points that they haven’t been told before. The others’ reactions could be generally divided in two. Karl, Reiner, Said, Lonni and Tael felt a little hesitant to believe in the entire story, while the rest felt sympathy for the long life of suffering.

Their story explained a lot of things, from their knowledge to being acquainted with Keller. However, something else remained obscure, who helped them escape and why? These questions still bothered Karl greatly.

“Thank you for telling us, I’m sorry for all you had to go through… But I still don’t understand who intervened to help us…”

Omero felt relieved, they believed in them and bought enough to keep their status on the Council. Unfortunately, he too was confused about that.

“We actually don’t know… When Toni told us, my first thought would be the Democracy, maybe Keller told them about us and sold them some enhanced weapons so they came to establish contact, but why didn’t they come to us? Also, I don’t remember the Democracy moving strong agents so deep into the Kingdom…”

A cloud of doubt spread over them, it wasn’t comfortable to receive the attention of an unknown party. However, Lew seemed to have an idea.

“I believe you when say you don’t know, but you might have guessed it without noticing. When we were attacked in the camp you tried to convince that dumb Captain the Dynasty was involved…”

Omero’s eyes grew wider and he said in a panicking tone:

“You think…”

“It might be… Toni’s descriptions match all I known about them. The cloaks, the strange voices, the mysterious box… Also, if that Mage was truly the Wind Lord like Toni heard them saying, not many would be capable of stopping him…”

The silence and inquisitive expressions prompted Lew to explain the other party’s identity.

“The Dynasty is a small nation in the northeastern border of the continent, they are rumored to be a strange Country. I never traveled outside the Kingdom so I never went there, but people say they live in the highest mountains of their region, which is inaccessible for common people. They’re supposed to be a clan society based on a Master and disciple system. Apparently, the only regular contact they have with other people is when a few disciples leave the mountains to receive offerings from the coastal villages located inside their borders. Now comes the dark part of the rumors.”

“Supposedly, the Dynasty members are trained in secret techniques, specialized in… killing, and often they might choose to accept a commission to assassinate someone. However, from what I heard, there isn’t a pattern for what commissions they accept and the price asked is always something precious… Although powerful and rich Lords become outraged when they are refused, they don’t dare to offend the Dynasty… However, this might be just rumors…”

Then, the Councillors turned to Omero, he was the one that mentioned the Dynasty in the first place.

“I don’t know much besides similar rumors… In training, they taught us to don’t touch or cross anything related to the Dynasty. They say that even if the rumors aren’t correct, the villages in the Dynasty territory are packed with Assassins for hiring, so the people that go there looking for the Dynasty might settle for other available options…”

Most Councillors shivered at the idea of being involved with this kind of people. Karl was particularly curious, he wanted to find a way to open the box that even Master AI didn’t know about it. But now was time to return to their journey, even without the Kingdom, their path forward wouldn’t be easy…