Diaz now found himself in the main Hall of the citadel, an extremely large room used for special events such as the Golden Fields Festival happening right now, being able to accommodate hundreds of people inside it and even more in the beautiful garden outside.

While he went to his objetice just in the corner of the room, Diaz took a moment to see the Hall and people in it. He could see many landed nobles from all around the kingdom, identifying them by the heraldry and colors they wore, powerful landowners each with a great deal of influence and the capacity to raise armies to fight for then, many even came here wearing ceremonial armors coated in gold to display their wealth and power.

If a commoner saw this scene he would without a doubt feel that the royal family, by managing to gather such a large number of these powerful men, was secure and that there was unity in this land. However, to those more knowledgeable it was clear that there was a lack of numbers in the heraldry of the 15 most powerful families, of duke and marquese houses, where only 3 were present.

Out of these 3, the one with the most relatives present was the house of Algiers of his mother, who Diaz spotted talking to a tall, large and bulky man who barely fit his clothes, his grandfather the Duke of Algiers, Totila.

Noticing her son's gaze, Cassandra quickly gave him a small wave and wink before returning her attention to others in front of herself, most likely vassals directly under the royal family who came to appeal to the queen about their problems.

Diaz by instinct waved back, quickly returning to his duties.

He was slowly accepting his new life here in this world even if he still felt the desire to return, a desire that was materialized in the small empty satchel he still carried in his person even now.

Finally arriving at his destination, he found himself surrounded by young children aged 4 to 6, all of them attempting to greet him like their parents taught them.

“G-greetings to his Majesty”Said one.

“hey! it's not his majesty, it’s his excellency!” spoke a second.

“Is it? i dunno...“shyly said another.

“What about his Highness?” said a fourth.

“hmm…” a young one was just sucking his finger in wonder.

Diaz seeing this scene chuckled a little bit, this reminded him of the time his own grandchildren came for a visit. He of course did not forget that he is basically one himself now, however since he can't bring himself to be enough of an actor to be childish like them it’s better to make others used to how he usually is. As such he decided to ease the air a little bit.

“Greetings to all of you, I welcome you all in the place of my father to this feast. And yes miss Leonias, that would be the right way to address me as the son of the king.”Said DIaz to the fourth child.

"R-right! See!" responded the girl excitedly.

“Why is that though…” wondered one of them.

“Well.. as to why I do not have the answer. It is how it was made by our ancestors I suppose. By the way, your majesty is solely for my father and mother, the king and queen Sir Barcer”Diaz responded to the child.

“Oh! then… Thank you, your Highness.”

“You are Welcome.”

Small exchanges here and there began as the children around him took their turns to say something. Like all children they came disorganized, stumbling their words out of embarrassment trying to speak while someone else was still speaking, staying silent due to shyness.

Still, Diaz patiently waited for them to finish their sentence or chastise the ones who tried to speak out of order, much like he used to do when his children ran out of line.The children, even if small and immature, still respected the hierarchy so even if Diaz had the same age as them they still followed his instructions Because of this the conversation run fluidly.

They talked about their houses, where they were in their studies, how strong they were, how well their etiquette is, basically mostly flaunting themselves and their houses in front of Diaz in order to impress him, much like their parents instructed them.

However, whenever Diaz spoke to them he focused on knowing them. What they liked, what they liked to play, what kind of toys they had, what was their favorite food and so forth. By doing this, what at the start seemed to be children being used for political gains slowly became a more relaxing and friendly conversation.

Looking a bit away from where Diaz was, The king, seated at a large throne in the end of the room, at first was a bit worried that his son would not be able to deal with the other kids but it seems his worry was unnecessary. It didn't seem that he was making friends with them but at least he seemed to be having fun.

Looking for his wife, he noticed that she was already going to where he was at. This probably meant she just finished talking with the most powerful nobles in the area, and that negotiations were over at this point.

“How was it, my wife?” asked the king.

“boring as always, but it did wield the result we wanted.” Responded the queen.

“And?”

“Both Duke Cavadonga and Baeliris will help us negotiate with the other 12 great households for support.” answered the queen tiredly.

“And what do they want in return?”

“I managed to settle with some tax reduction and reduction of some obligations for a time, as well as ‘that’”. said Cassandra while ordering some wine to a nearby servant.

“I see, was there no other way ? the royal coffers are not exactly full and well… I am not very comfortable with the arrangement our party and theirs come forth with.” Wondered the King.

“Either that or a matchmaking with the royal house.”the queen sarcastically responded.

"Preposterous! for something like this!?” angrily retorted kniva trying to keep his voice down.

“They insinuated long term political support if such an arrangement was made.”

“... don't kid with such topics” calmed down Kniva.

“ I am sorry about that, but you know we need their support one way or another, maybe trying to find a good spouse for our sons would not be a bad idea as long as they are welcomed into the royal house rather than the other way around.” The queen explained.

Such political arrangements were common in this period, but no parent that cared for their children would willingly send their own flesh and blood to a household that was hostile until recently, for most times the one sent, would suffer.

“Would they agree to send over their daughters?”

“They do not care as much as us for their children, dear. At least as long as this guarantees them more power for their name, they would send them.”

“...”silently the king thought. “I will think about it.”

“Good. Then, let’s go my king, it’s time for the announcement”.

Cassandra and Kniva got up from their thrones. The king gave a signal to Alexios, who now went back to his post as a captain in the Royal guard, and the man gave some taps with the butt of the polearm he was carrying.

Now all the attention of the party was at the royal couple, gathering a crowd toward them. With this, Kniva went a bit closer to the aristocrats and begun a speech

“Friends! Thank you all for coming to this feast!” Loudly thanked the king.

“We are today as you know enjoying the fruits of hard labour of our great nation! Thanking The Sovereign for his wisdom, the Warrior for his arms and the Beloved for her blessings! What a great day ths is, truly a symbol of prosperity and wealth to our great kingdom!”

The king then took a long sip at the wine he had on his hand, not actually drinking a lot of it, but right now he had to make a scene for what was to come. Then he continued.

“However! Even if such wine is sweet and such food is great, wasn't there a time when it was even greater and even sweeter?!”

Most of the aristocrats became loud at the last words of the king, some who were quiet knew what was to come. The king kept going.

“There was a time I remember that some of the best lamb visited my stomach, some of the finest wool made my garments and some of the great people of Catalunia were present at my court!”.

When the name “Catalunia” was heard, something snapped in many of the nobles present. The sound of teeths grinding, finger snapping and roars of anger took the room. The children with Diaz became scared, while the prince tried to ease their fears, he now understood the objective of his father.

“Do you all remember the most glorious days, my friends and brothers-in-arms!? That time when that region was our?! When the boons of that land took part in this very same Hall?!”

““YES WE DO!!”” Answered the nobles in unison.

“Then! How about we take that land back my friend!? how about we take what is rightfully ours back!?” Angrily asked the king to his men.

“”YES!!””

Catalunia is a rich region taken from the kingdom of Lusian and annexed by their rivals the kingdom of Oderick during the reign of Kniva’s father, Euderick the Harsh. It was a rich land that had wool and lamb as it’s main produce, some of the best in the entire Vasconcy Region. Now it was a land of constant strife, where the nobles of Lusian and Oderick fought on a seasonal basis in brutal raids.

Since Kniva took the throne, there were constant skirmishes but never an actual full scale campaign, as such there were many in the main Hall who wished for this to happen for a long time, for many of them fought in the previous war and lost much in it, burning with ambition and revenge.

“Great, I can see that my countrymen are truly courageous and warriors to the core! Such confidence you all inspire me! As such I announce today that the general levy for the war is called!”

“WOOOO!” loudly cheered the nobles.

“Such awe you all bring to me with this magnificent vigour that I shall take both my youngests, Teia and Diaz as my aides to watch you proudly, my brothers! So they may grow to be exemplary men such as yourselves!” Proclaimed the king.

As if waiting for this, Teia came at the side of Diaz and gently grabbed his hand, whispering to him.

“Come my little brother, let’s go to mother and father's side, i know you’re confused but just come along”

Diaz, without complaining, went along as Teia guided him. The fourth prince was not surprised by this announcement despite not being told before about it because he read about the chronicles of his grandfather's reign, so he knew about the region of Catalunia and what it symbolized for this kingdom in current time.

When both princes arrived in front of the royal couple, Kniva picked up both of them and placed them on his shoulders to show his son to the nobles below.

The nobles copied their king and picked their kids too in the same manner, however it was chaos below as many were scared and some crying. Still, the excitement of the nobles was not abated and they kept celebrating, drinking until they fell.

“I am sorry…”

Diaz heard coming from his father, looking at him he caught a glimpse of worry and fear on his father before disappearing in a mask of excitement and happiness.

In his mother, with her face hidden from the nobles by a fan, he could see more clearly that she was not ok by looking from the side.

‘It must have been some sort of agreement’ Diaz thought. And indeed it was.

The King and queen, when negotiating with some of the opposing but more moderate duke and marquese households, had to cede not only some tax rights and obligation over these nobles but also use their youngest sons as propaganda, in order to rouse the spirits of nobles as well as build some confidence over this campaign.

‘So much faith the king put in this campaign that he is taking such young children to witness this victory, if you do not come are you truly a Lusian?’ was the message they wanted to pass.

Of course the king and queen wanted to oppose, however even the king’s own camp openly agreed to this, with the only exception being Totila, the queen’s father, who just kept silent neither speaking for nor against, for he actually agreed too but did not wish to displease his daughter.By the way, the queen still got angry with her father.

This was how the first campaign Diaz would participate in this world came to be, when he was only 6.