Chapter Fifty One

Rozarria was an empire that had an army and force that could rival Archadia's, and they were determined to make sure that it remained that way. Therefore, they had to deal with the issue of Dalmasca and Nabradia most carefully.

Unfortunately, it was not that easy. If it was, then their empire would already be much bigger.

A while ago, the crown prince returned from the meeting and his answer was what everyone expected. The truth was that they did not feel that the crown prince should waste his time like this, but since Archadia sent what was as good as their next emperor, they had to do so.

What the crown prince should have attended was the wedding of that said person, but this was not possible due to the infamous battle between the senate and the emperor. Perhaps the role of emperor had a different meaning in Rozarria, but it was certainly not what the senators thought.

"An out-of-date system." Al-Cid recalled his cousin saying at one stage. "A country that size can no longer be governed in such a way."

Rozarria had its problem too, such as the all too powerful military who often felt unhappy at the choice made by the imperial family. There have been times when many considered giving some army position a political position too.

This idea, however, was always rejected. The reason was simple.

"Take a look at Archadia."

A severe case of power sharing going wrong.

In the end their solution was this: the Rozarrian military would always be acknowledged and praised, often in a very extreme way. There were also special powers given to them in councils, but this was always portrayed as a privilege and reward, not an automatic thing. The disguise was that it would be the result of the specific person in question's hard work.

Rozarria still had its problem but Al-Cid like to think that it was not as bad as Archadia.

"Cousin, I am here. You wanted to speak with me?" he was quite glad at this opportunity as it has been a while since he talked to this said kin, who he was actually quite fond of.

"I know you are curious about my trip to Bhujerba." Fernando said simply.

The two of them were talking in one of the balconies in the palace and Fernando's youngest son was actually in his lap. At a glance, it seemed a most idealistic and innocent scene.

"I probably have spent too much time in Archadia." Al-Cid admitted. "Now that I think about it, you have met the deceased Tudur Solidor, is that not so?"

"At my wedding. You were there too, although you would only have been a child then. I was quite curious about him since we were of the same age and were both the eldest in the family. He was like anyone in his position." Fernando said simply before he answered the unasked question. "As for whether he is like the now eldest son of House Solidor, I cannot tell."

"Sixteen was the age his younger brother became his executioner."

"A foolish blunder." Fenando said bluntly. "A man who cared would have lost his compassion, while the man who lacked that would have lost even more. For the greater good…that term would no longer be so painful. The man I saw is not a man with emotion despite all that he faced. Therefore, he is very dangerous due to what they robbed him of."

"Archadia does not seem to think so." Al-Cid reasoned. "Does he not occupy a position of great power? In addition, is he not devoted to his empire?"

"He would be a worthy ruler of that empire." Fernando said and his tone actually contained admiration. "Archadia is not in danger from him, but we are. However, I suspect that he would start an inner purge first. That could be advantageous to us."

"To strike the bird as it hunts?"

"Exactly, although it would mean giving the military more power and I do not think expanding our empire so would result in the benefits outweighing the deficits."

The infant suddenly woke and began to cry, causing his father to smile apologetically at Al-Cid and halt the conversation so that he could rock the child.

"Perhaps he finds the topic too grim." Al-Cid joked, but it was with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

"Yet they are things that he would be forced to be very familiar with." Was the blunt reply. "Your little emperor-in-waiting is the same too."

"He is different from his brother. He wishes for a peaceful solution where no one gets hurt. Perhaps it is due to my lady evening star's teaching."

"You have a rather strange obsession with your belief that she does not dislike Vayne Solidor. Why would you have such a strange idea? You do not have any proof and what benefit could their masquerading give? If this is an act, then it is something that clearly requires great effort."

"To get the others let down their guard?"

"Perhaps, but it would not affect Rozarria. However, I have met them and saw the two of them together, and this is a couple that only manage to tolerate each other."

A convincing at due to the amount of practise they had.

"What do you think of her?"

"Like the wife of any in power. Like any woman in a position of power. She does what she need to. Perhaps your little emperor-in-waiting learnt of his ideal from her, but she certainly does not follow them herself."

"I think she might have a lot of answers."

"Like any woman in her position, but do you think Vayne Solidor is a type of man who would confide in his wife, especially one that he dislike? Even if the latter is not true, do you think he would actually tell her what is important?"

Al-Cid could not deny the common sense in his cousin's words, yet he did still have a rather strange interest which persisted. Often, he thought that it was because of the unguarded concern he managed to see in Vayne. He was then curious at what Messallina could have done to result in this.

"Archadia would make a move soon. Our report shows that the armies are mobilising and there is only one reason for that. Either Archadia wants this more, or they are more desperate and worried." Fernando said, interrupting his thoughts on a much trivial matter. "It would be Nabradia due to our too active supporters whose impulsiveness makes what they achieve even less realistic."

By crying out for Rozarria's protection, this makes the rulers even more determined to not do so. Meanwhile, Archadia was using this as an excuse of them being in danger.

Once a decision was made, excuses would appear and it would be easy. It was for protection, it was for prevention, it was something that got out of hand.

"A last desperate attempt, a straw." The crown prince of Rozarria said as he took a letter out. "I really don't want to do this, but we are desperate. You are to sneak into Nabradia and offer them a final chance- to call on us when Archadia attack."

"And what is so pleasant about our help?"

"That we will let them keep their name and rulers. That we will be more merciful then Archadia." Fernando said very grimly. "Hopefully, Landis would be a good enough example."

"And should they reject this?"

"Then we pretend to hope for a miracle, that the combined power of the two small armies would be enough. However, the army that we truly rely on would be ours. By strengthening it, Archadia would realise that another attempt would cause war."

"Would it?"

"If we attack first then Archadia would see this as the perfect excuse, and the pro-Rozarria groups would justify their actions. Right now, I only hope that if the worst to come happens, Archadia would make a mistake. As for the next step…that is not for me to make."

"So we can only wait?"

"No, we prepare."


Al-Cid has received a lot of difficult assignments, but this was truly the most difficult one. After all, no one must find out until much later.

He had to create a guise of being a Nabradian merchant who recently returned from Rozarria. Not only did he dye his hair into a blond that he hoped to never see again, he even adopted a Nabradian accent. The truth was that he always speaks in that exaggerated Rozarrian accent to prevent people from recalling the simple fact that a noble like him would actually be multi-lingual and fluent in each language.

That was only the first part though. He then had to work out a way to enter the palace.

When he eventually did that- he then shifted into a second persona. This task was too dangerous to be given to anyone but an immediate member of the royal family, but it could not be known as so. Therefore, he was the trusted servant of his cousin, the crown prince.

Perhaps they would recognise him, or perhaps it would just be the recognition of a disguise. Regardless of the result, he would most likely have to keep a low profile for a while.

"My master offers an alliance." He began, after achieving his way through by using both names and material goods. "Your majesty, you must acknowledge the truth. You have to choose a side. Archadia's banners are flying high, ready for war."

"What different would it make to be chained to Rozarria?" the King of Nabradia said coldly, while his son declared out: "We will fight on instead of just giving up."

"A noble sentiment but one that you cannot make." Al-Cid said bluntly. "Your soldiers are great, yes, but so are Archadia's. In addition, they are much more then you."

"That is not untrue." The King admitted. "However, we will not bow to anyone."

"And the people of Nabradia will hate you for it." Al-Cid whispered, these words almost identical to what Vayne would later repeat.

They were both countries that existed in the wrong time, where being harmless become harmful. Perhaps it was not fair to blame them for choosing dignity, but their action does not only affect them. It was this pride that would cause many deaths.


The assignment given to him was done, but he was not going home just yet. Since he was here, he would have a slight stay in the boarder of Archadia and its new targets in the hope of finding something out.

The result was that Archadia might really be the current favourite of the gods. What were the chances that he would meet one of the few who would be able to recognise him in this disguise?

If it wasn't for her genuine surprise at seeing him, he would suspect that Archadia has found out about this last attempt at creating an alliance.

A little boy had his kite stuck on a tree and he happened to be the only one who could get it. Things would probably have been different if had just performed this deed and go, but he lingered due to wanting to savour this peace.

"Lord Al-Cid, what are you doing here? And your hair…"

He thought about bluffing his way out, but her eyes indicated that there was no point in doing that.

"I can ask the same of you." he told her, still using that Dalmascan accent, which caused her eyes to widen in surprise again. To speak Rozarrian would be too conspicuous, and so would using his normal accent. However, he made his new accent very exaggerated to downplay his abilities.

"You just helped my nephew. I told him to be careful with his kite but he does not really listen." She shrugged before she yelled out a reminder to the faraway boy now.

"I never know that you have a nephew that age." He said in surprise, which was justified since the two of them has exchanged many things.

Her answer, however, was a clear warning.

"I didn't either, not until very recently."

"Can I at least ask why you are here?"

"Will you tell me why you are here?" she replied evenly although she then chuckled. "But that is not fair, is it? Because you reason is much more important then mine. Mine is simple: my husband is irritated at me and so wishes to get rid of me for a while. Doesn't say much about my marriage, does it? We are not even married for a year."

"And no one objected?"

"Because he didn't say it in those terms. My sister's husband heard that the sister-in-law he has never met has now become Lady Solidor, so he thinks that he should seize advantage from this. My sister warned him, as she has much more sense, but he clearly did not listen to her."

"Dare I ask about your husband's reaction?"

"He started to laugh and even though I agreed with him, there was something rather menacing about his laughter, as his eyes were very cold. He then left but everyone knew that this was not the end of the matter. A few days later, my brother-in-law's division was transferred to a far posted station."

"Due to Vayne?"

"Probably, but most says that my brother is very lucky to only receive this for being so presumptuous. However, not long after that, Vayne suggested that it might be a good time for me to visit my sister, since my brother-in-law would be away from home for quite some time."

"And you just agreed?"

"He wants me to be out of the way for some reason, so it is best if I do so." Messallina said practically. "After all, he is a man who can also get rid of people by killing them."

It seemed that she was choosing one evil over another, because she clearly has not been in contact with her sister. When she speaks of Vayne, her voice contained a clear scorn as well as worry.

"It's finally happening, isn't it?" Al-Cid finally said. "Something is finally colliding."

He would remember that conversation as it was the prelude and it would be more then two years before they met again, and instead of something about to happen, they would be in the middle of a crisis.


Author's Note: Whenever I write about Al-Cid, he has a tendency of stealing the spotlight. Initially, his talk with his cousin was going to be quite short, it was going to be the end of chapter thing. However, it ended up being pretty long. I know that he tend to speak in a rather exaggerated way (along with the heavy accent), but I suddenly thought: maybe it is a disguise. Because he talks in such a dramatic way, people would not realise that he might be able to speak the language fluently and go in disguise. After all, he seems to be a member of the royal family, and I find it hard to believe that they would not have taught him the other languages at a very young age. Given that he is clearly a very smart man, I don't think that he would fail to learn it. Therefore, I have the idea that this is his disguise. The talk with his cousin is to show the idea of how for a royal, the domestic is mingled with the politics. At a glance, it might just be a father spending time with his son, but it beyond that, as they are talking of severe international issues.

What Fernando said about Vayne is something that I think is very relevant. The senators and even Gramis himself probably made Vayne kill his brothers to reduce his power, but in a way, it does make things worse. If he had been someone who is very kind and gentle, then this would probably cause him a breakdown and make him crazy. However, if he is not, then this would make him more cruel, if he could do this, then what else might he not do?

I felt that the pro-Rozarria fraction made it harder for Rozarria to interfere, and Vayne seemed to have seized this opportunity by making use of it. In addition, Vayne is clearly more desperate for the attack to happen due to the nethicite. I feel that Rozarria could not interfere by attacking the land, as that would definitely trigger Archadia attacking them, yet they hoped to get a final alliance with the two smaller kingdoms due to the fact that Archadia was going to attack. I also think that Rozarria might have been more reluctant to attack due to the royal family not wanting to give the military any more power.

To be honest, the reason that Al-Cid met Messallina is for a plot purpose- I feel that we need the appearance of Vayne or Messallina to connect the story together.

Since Archadia's ruling system is meant to be based on the Roman Empire, I feel that it is safe to say that it was bound to fail in the same way that the Roman Republic fail. It was possible when Rome was that little city, but not when it was a huge empire. One of the problems that the Roman Empire faced was that the empire was just getting too big, it was too hard to rule. Therefore, I feel that both side might actually not want to expand their empire that much, because it seems that they are already facing some problems in ruling due to the size.