VIIIth Century, year 63, Brumáire. Day 16. in the Dusselmoth Confederate.

Department of homeland security.

Room of the first person in charge of homeland security.

The man was wearing a classic military suit, had gray tones, with gold buttons. He was type 3 of the Dusselmoth Confederate. On his uniform stood out the insignia of the head of the national security office. There were few people who possessed as much autonomy as he did in the confederation.

His office was full of articles, some of which needed his signature, others were recommendations for action or letters from his family.

His face was slightly wrinkled, and he had a huge white beard, probably in his forties. In that room there was also another man, but this one was wearing civilian clothes, long dark hair and a round glasses, in his hand there were more piles of papers.

Among those piles of papers that had just arrived, one caught his attention. It had the Government Seal, meaning that it was from the highest chain of command, which by rule should be checked and dispatched urgently.

"You understand what this means Kevin. Are they promoting me even after the failure of the last battle?"

"Of course they would do that, sir, your strategies are paying off very well for the Confederation. Even after a few lost battles, it is still to be admired."

There was no tense, or uncomfortable atmosphere between them, even though Secretary Kevin didn't answer in the way Pierre would like to hear, it didn't displease him. It was just common sense that he had spoken unconsciously.

Pierre imagined a general disapproval after his last defeats. And that wasn't a lie, of course, it was true that the confederacy was losing some battles, but the ones with the greatest strategic advantage had been successfully concluded.

Putting into the balance the merits won out over the demerits.

"An officer of such high rank should not be kept so low as his morale could be passed on to lesser officers and so on." Affirmed Kevin, placing the piles of paper on his desk.

Kevin could not afford to generate a snowball of negative thoughts for the troops.

"Yeah... you're right Kevin"

Generating negativity in the troop would be suicide.

Pierre demanded a lot of himself, he did not allow any flaws and this strongly implied the unpredictable battle scenario which influenced his mood. Pierre was willing to give his entire fortune to find a solution to his problems.

"I imagine there will be better news yet sir" Kevin said with a happy voice, in his hand was a white cup with small details in gold, and inside this cup a black liquid.

While Pierre was talking to himself.

Kevin was pouring the cup on his desk, making a space between the various papers.

"Fuuu. So this they call dark wine?"

"Yes sir, this spice will soon be being marketed throughout the Confederation territory"

"You know Kevin, I don't think it's time for them to promote me"

" ... "

"I am already happy with my autonomy, here, in this department I am the highest position and I like that."

"So... I think I can understand sir." Said Kevin shaking his head in concordance.

Even with the long friendship between them, Kevin didn't see himself able to deeply opine on his superior's decisions, aiming for the future well being between them both.

Yeah, we'll see..."

As Pierre went through the papers looking for less urgent matters to calm his mood, there was a report about a spy who was in the Kingdom of Florence.

"That Queen is finally showing her teeth" Pierre whispered to himself.

"Pardon me sir?"

"That Queen from the last banquet, who I talked to about possible military sales, was Urias her name, correct?"

"Yes Urias of the Kingdom of Austrelia"

"Urias...I knew she was a little box of surprise, I must put a closer look on her... I also remember her greenish eyes, ah, what beautiful eyes"

The report showed that the Kingdom of Austrelia had started a war against the Kingdom of Florenz. Several factors contribute to the start of this war, but the main one was a small old dispute of possessions of the Silesia valley region. A mountainous region that had no economic or military value.

"She just needed a casus belli. It wasn't hard to know that the kingdom of Florenz was in deep internal trouble, and her conquest would be made easier."

"I don't know Kevin, I believe this war was a wrong move by Urias"

"Because of the vassalage of the Kingdom of Florenz to the Western Kingdom?"

"I don't know Kevin, they are both Kingdoms so there is no reason to worry about a possible threat, but this Kingdom of Florenz is giving me a bad feeling"

That quote from Pierre left Kevin curious.

"They were sent three generals, and over 80,000 men against a Kingdom with only one general and 30,000 men, is that kind of out of proportion?" Kevin asked intrigued.

"They are in a hurry, there is no benefit to both nations with such low protocol to maintain a long war"

"Protocol, does Nation protocol determine everything?" Asked Kevin with a certain curious about a deeper talk about Nation Protocol.

The report was quite extensive, the informant had worked for hours on these notes, and exactly why Pierre took the time to read the article, even though it was of lesser urgency.

"Well it doesn't matter much, the internal situation of the Kingdom of Florenz will be the main reason for its ruin."

"In the report it also mentions that the Astro Federation is interested in this war, what do you think, sir?"

"No, they probably want to further increase their trade routes to the south, the war itself is just another business for them"

"Well I believe it's not a waste of time to delve any further into that Kevin. But this besides i have an assignment for you"

"Yes sir!"

"Can you get a meeting with the Chief of diplomacy cabinet?"

Normally that wouldn't happen so easily, even with all of Pierre's privilege. The Cabinet did not have a good relationship with The Department due to ideological conflicts.

"There was a great general, who quoted once. "War is just politics by other means" maybe he's not so wrong"

Pierre muttered to himself, looking up at the ceiling.

Well, there was once a time in Pierre's life when he had argued tooth and nail that war was the only option for a Nation to prosper, but that was many years ago.

Kevin had agreed to help provide a meeting between the two.

"Is tomorrow okay with you sir?"

"As soon as possible"

VIIIth Century, year 63, Brumáire. Day 18. in the Florenz Kingdom.

A man, he could see a light shining from a small opening at the top. He looked over his shoulder, and saw that the trap door had been opened after so many years locked in the prision. A warrior in well polished armor and with a very long sword opened it, this armor dentified him as a first class warrior of the Kingdom of Florenz. The warrior took the first steps towards the stairs, the humidity was gigantic and bothered the warrior's nose.

"Argh, why the hell do I have to follow these stupid orders"

As he walked further down the stairs, lighting the way with a torch, the more the cries for mercy could be heard.

"Please your majesty, Please have mercy"

"Oh holy light, our Matré has come for us!"

"Silence!" Proferred the angry warrior.

After the warrior increased the tone, everyone immediately fell silent.

So finally the warrior cloud uttered a name that had not been heard in this Kingdom in years.

"Archemis Ieda!"

No one responded to the name requested by the warrior. Then again he pronounced the name

This time in a deep voice

"Archemis Ieda, answer immediately!

And again silence filled the dungeon

"Tsk, you'd think she'd be dead by now. What should I tell to that bastar-, Majesty?

When the warrior turned around, going back to the stairs, soft whispers began to echo under one room deep in the prision.

"Can be you, yes, this can be you. They're talking about your...a"

"Answer him, it's your chance to get out of this miserable jail"

But even so, the warrior received no answer for his call.

Until at the last moment, with only two steps left for the warrior to return, and that trap door closed again.

"W-wait!"

The warrior stopped, his body went cold, that voice sounded more like the whisper of a spirit. Could that soccer's be alive?

"B-but what, you're still alive?" Answered the warrior, returning to the bottom of the prison.

"N-no, well, Archemis, are definitely dead... b-but I was your apprentice in your last years of life." Said that gosthly voice.

The warrior scratched his head in a sign of doubt, would his apprentice be enough.

"Tsk, So she really was dead."

The warrior seemed indifferent about the girl.

"That was an order from the majesty-?"

"You can read rune?" Interrupted the warrior.

The girl felt that her life depended on his answer, so without hesitation she answered.

"Y-yes!"

The warrior looked around again, waiting for someone to answer by the name he had mentioned.

Even though he didn't like to obey the order of a bastard son, he also didn't want to disappoint the royal court, and in the end even though he was a bastard at that moment he was the son in the first line at the throne.

"Command those who can, obey those who have sense". Said my grandmother everytime to me.

But if this girl tried to take advantage of her ignorance of who this Sorceress was, she would probably never see the light again.

"Fuuuuuuuuuu" The warrior sighed deeply.

Meanwhile, the girl's eyes were shining. She was so excited, it was obvious that her never looked outside of this jail, her mother had been put in captivity already pregnant. In her cell there was always a lady called Ieda, this lady loved to teach there about ancient magic but could not complete her teaching completely passing away long before the girl came an age appropriate for your mana core responds to magic.

This lady was one of his joys, his only time killer and his only teacher.

"Enough with those shining eyes, it's going to be you"

The guard took his keys from his waist, slowly checked which one was the right one and unlocked the grid that separated the main corridor from the damp and smelly room the girl was in, no one dared to run away, quite the contrary everyone kept in their place waiting for that grid to be closed again, they were slightly happy to know that the girl would be set free.

"Come, your majesty wants to speak to you"

In small steps, between puddles of water being vaguely lit by the warrior's torch they made it to the stairs. When they finally climbed all the steps that trap door would be closed again and everyone present there was doomed again to darkness.