"Shall we go over the plans again?" Roland asked. Hannah blinked and looked over to Roland, the 2 were in a room on his airship, the room was rectangular, with a table and several maps and war plots plastered on each of the walls.
"The plans for what again?" Asked the Mistralian princess, she rubbed her eyes. She wondered if she had gotten too little sleep last night.
Princess Hannah was a beautiful woman with flowing black hair, she had a red fabric outfit that clung rather nicely to her figure. An interesting feature of her outfit was a pattern of golden symbols that went across her arms, upper chest, and legs. The golden symbols made for a very interesting pattern.
"The plans for a post-war remnant. For Sanus and our kingdoms" Roland explained to her. Hannah nods at the request.
"Yes yes…I don't, think we ever set those quite in stone" the princess admitted.
The prince walked to a side of the wall and pointed to some of the plans the 2 had.
"We had a few different ideas…one was that we would both take some parts of Vale and we would simply re-establish our colonies in Vacuo…another, was simply to simply take the territories wholesale. Your kingdom would receive Vale, and Mantle would take Vacuo. In both scenarios…we intend to rebrand. In this scenario, Mantle shall rechristen itself as the Solitas Union. And Mistral would solidify the "Pax Mistralia'."
"Yes yes…" Hannah said, she did need to learn to sleep better. She was usually good with these plans but she was tired of this.
Roland noticed her apparent Boredom so he spoke of other subjects.
"Perhaps we should discuss less serious matters, would you like a drink princess?" Roland asked his Mistralian counterpart as he got 2 glasses out, pouring some wine for the 2 of them to enjoy. This seemed to fully snap her into the waking world.
"Why, Roland, you seemed rather interested in more professional matters before" she pointed out.
"Yes yes, however it's been a while since we have been able to discuss things outside of the official business…." He handed her a glass of wine, she accepted as she brought it to her lips. "How is your father? I have heard many stories about him, the great emperor of Mistral, a mighty despot and one of the most fearsome men in the continent. A beast whose brutality is matched only by his cunning" he said, curious what her thoughts on the matter was.
"Well you certainly heard some interesting stories" she said chuckling, Roland listened for her clarification. "My father is an egocentric coward. Had he not been related by blood to my great grandfather, the one who conquered anima, he would never have gotten the power he wields. He is simply a figurehead, the true power belongs to the oligarchs, the prime Minister…men like Julias Arc? They are the true powers behind Mistral. The stories you hear are merely propaganda we tell to inflict fear and respect. He is barely a ruler and he was barely my father at that, I was raised by the staff and close family 'friends'". She said, there seemed to be just a tinge of baggage with that last remark.
"Well whoever raised you, they crafted a competent and very formidable, beautiful woman" he complimented. She just looked back at him.
"Oh, so that's what this is about" she said, she found it amusing. This morning she heard him order the brutal deaths of several prisoners of war. An hour ago, she had seen him give a grand speech about the awful things soldiers would be forced to do under his will. And now here he was, trying to get in her pants like those events did not happen. It was just so normal to him he went about the smaller pleasures as if committing war crimes was simply an annoying daily chore.
"I said nothing but the facts, you are a very competent and very beautiful woman, Hannah. Is it a crime to admire such?" Roland asked.
"Oh I don't mind your…admiration, or that desire a bit more than that, I just wanted it to be clear what we were discussing" she said as she stood up and walked to one of the maps, inspecting it. She took another sip of her glass.
"Well then if that's clear now … .we have spent the last couple years as allies together, we've commanded our forces and been through many defeats and victories….It's been a stressful time, but doing it with a woman like you, makes it easier" Roland said.
"Is there any other reason?" She asked, curious to if he had any other intentions with a potential relationship.
"...Well, there is one thing" he admitted, she turned to him with a curious glance, wondering what this would be. He breathed in and began to explain.
"I am next in line for my kingdom's throne, and you are next in line for yours. Once we win this war we will already be celebrated as heroes to our kingdoms. But imagine, if we were to marry. All of Remnant would be united under a single, harmonious empire, the entire planet under our feet" he said. The proposal did seem to peak her interest, but she remained in a more casual tone.
"Oh so it's only the political ambitions you are interested in, rather then my 'beauty', a how sad" she said with faux-disappointment.
"Oh make no mistake, ambition is simply one factor. Your luxurious form is another" he said, Roland then got a bit too confident. He reached over and gave her backside a few pats, she grabbed his wrist and came dangerously close to breaking it.
"You're not at that level yet, Prince Roland" she warned.
"Yes yes, I understand" he said with gritted teeth. He sighed once she let go of his wrist, rubbing it a bit with his other hand.
"Back to the matters of the war….you say, 'once' we win, I would say it's too early for such certainty" princess Hannah claimed. Roland chuckled in response.
"Our technology is vastly superior, the alliance has superior military might, and said military are loyal enough to die if it helped the cause-" Roland began explaining.
"And despite all that, it has been 4 years and we have totally conquered either kingdom. They've managed to take back plenty of their towns, and the death toll for our forces is nothing to laugh at….we cannot underestimate this enemy. Even if we win, that will not be the end. We will need to break this kingdoms spirit" she said as she grabbed a knife, using it to stab a picture of Sanus on the map. It was going to take brutal measures, but if she did manage to bring Sanus under her mercy, she was prepared to bathe this kingdom in despair, she looked forward to it.
"I will raze the Sanus coalition, make them feel suffering they never dreamed was possible…however I feel once we've truly end this war, establish our territory here, they will be grateful to us" prince Roland said. Hannah looked over to him.
"You think so?" She asked
"Yes. For the most part, At Least. I'm sure they hate this war, once it's all over the will be begging us for peace and prosperity, and we will give it to them, the people will see us as heroes" Roland explained before he grabbed his own wine glass and took a sip of it.
The princess found her Mantle counterpart interesting. He had a rather strange view on the world. To her, war was simple, conquest for the sake of the glory of conquest. You are strong, they are weak. We're superior, your inferior, follow us or die. But men like Roland seemed so interested in moralizing the phenomenon. Of insisting your spreading peace to the people even as you set them on fire or shoot them dead in their own streets. It baffled her, she was interested in how the minds of men like Roland worked.
"You want to be the hero?" Princess Hannah asked.
"I don't want to be, I am. I just need them to understand that" he boasted.
"Well we need lots of work before getting our enemies to 'understand' anything. The knights of Vale alone are something to keep our eyes on…they are made up of only the most elite, fearless warriors in the kingdom"
The emerald forest
Rory was screaming at the top of his lungs as he came closer to the forest ground. He breathed a few times and did his best to try to collect his thoughts. He had an aura so he would die from this, that helped calm his thoughts, if only slightly. He then looked at the land itself, there was a very tall tree right he was soon to pass by, he motioned and forced himself through the air, just slightly to the left…there! Just right. He grabbed some of the branches, the fall obviously didn't stop there he broke through several more of the branches, hurt pretty bad. But eventually they seemed to slow things down, and near the bottom he was no longer falling. He sighed in relief….
He tried to steadily motion his way out of the tree….falling out the side of it, and falling soundly on the grass.
"Ow…" Rory said as he stood up. He looked up at the skies with a scorn
"Green-haired prick…." He cursed the king as he looked around, Rory was told he should find his teammates. Where should he look exactly?
It also occurred to him that he should try to stay away from any Grimm. He walked down the grassy area very slowly, looking around at the surroundings. He heard animals making sounds, he listened to any other type of animal….
He continued to very slowly make his move….and then he noticed something breathing.
He looked behind him, and there it was, a black and white monstrosity with beaming red eyes. It looked like a horrifying mimicry of a wolf. This, was a Beowulf.
He tried to avoid fear, and think positive emotions. Negativity is what the Grimm used to see people. It was difficult to control your emotions next to a giant monster who was obsessed with nothing but pain and death.
It growled some, making Rory bare his teeth in a nervous expression. He prepared to get in a fight with this thing…and then…
It Jumped!
He made a battle cry and prepared to fight the beast. He quickly noticed, however, that the beast did not jump. It was lifted up into the air, just moments ago he was viewing death straight in the face, and now it was quickly gone.
He looked upwards to see what happened, and quickly saw the Beowulf crashing down. Something…or rather someone, was on top of it. Once they were on the ground again he got a better look. It was a blonde young woman with knight armor just like his, except it had a more effeminate shape and more of a blue color to it.
The other notable part of her was the fact she had a sword through the chest of the Beowulf as she stood atop it.
She must have had a flight semblance. She picked it up, fought it in the air, then flew back down and impaled it with a sword.
It was….quite a way to become acquainted with a potential teammate.
The Grimm turned to dust and steadily she landed on the ground.
"Well….Hi there, I had that handled you know. But that was a neat, entrance…."
She looked at him now, and the 2 of them got a better look at each other. And suddenly they had a strange moment of recognition. He saw her pretty face, and her silver eyes.
"Chara?" Rory asked
"Rory?" The female knight-in-training asked in return.
They knew each other a few years back, they were quite young. Her parents were family friends of his parents, she was adopted from…somewhere. Her parents never said where they found her for whatever reason. They got along back then, she had some strange quirks, but that was part of what made her likeable.
She was clearly happy to see him, as she had the biggest smile and ran forward, wrapping her arms around him.
"Rory!" She said excitedly. She even began to kiss his right cheek, resulting in the boys cheeks becoming red as his hair. He gently shoved her away.
"Hey! Hey now…good to see ya too but let's not get too far there" he said. Her smile persisted.
"Sorry it's just…I've missed you so much my m'ahev!" She said happily.
That was another thing, when they were younger she asked him 'would you be my m'ahev?'. He didn't know what it meant, still didn't, but he thought it sounded nice and nowadays he thinks she just made it up. Still sounds sweet though.
"You're a knight too? I am so happy! I wouldn't have dreamed I would get to become a knight alongside you. But it will be my honor to fight alongside you my companion" she said with a slight bow.
"Alright alright let's not get dramatic here…yes, I am going to work to become a knight….it is a little nice to see you again Chara" he admitted. She smiled happily again.
They begun to walk again, he was a bit confident that her positivity could make any Grimm blind, so he felt safe. She begun to explain herself.
"This kingdom is my home, and I saw that it was being hurt by an enemy force. My parents were worried about me, but the king of Vale convinced them to let me do this! I will be happy to defend my new home against the invaders" she explained. "How did you end up becoming a recruit?" She asked curiously.
"Oh only the most heroic and exciting of Tales, let's see….got in trouble, it was either this or getting flogged…so I picked this. Then I got thrown off of a sky-boat and now I am here" he said.
"Hmmm….that sounds rather hapless, but it is great to hear you have a positive outlook of it! That burning optimism will come in handy" Chara said.
Rory noticed she was not great at picking up sarcasm. He wouldn't lie, it was kind of cute.
"So…anyone else hear?" He asked, he did hear he would meet team mates here. Implying multiple people he would meet.
"I did see one or 2 others I think…let us go find them!" She said.
The plot thickens! Longest chapter so far I think. It's great to have Rory meet the first of his companions, and to have both commanders of the alliance's forces now introduced. As always, hope for some reviews, and see ya next time!