The sun rose up, as it usually does, very slowly. It began as golden rays filled the horizon, and then followed by a golden sphere rising up in the same horizon. A wave of heat dispelled the chilly wind that was causing everyone not wearing a coat to shiver. And of course, this horizon was not the one where trouble was brewing.
Reeve woke up early, as he prepared to do his early morning jog. From the time he was traveling, he had not jogged once. One of the excuses was his fear of getting lost. Currently, he had forgotten about it. Convenient, isn't it? Well, who could fathom the wonders of the undead mind?
As he was stretching his legs in front of the apartment, Rizaneth came up behind him and then asked, "When are you going to teach me how to fight like you?"
Reeve pretended to ignore her, which didn't seem to help since she ended up yelling in his ear.
"Hey! Was that necessary?" he asked, rubbing his sore ear.
"I'm asking you a question. Wouldn't it be good to answer?"
"Why do you want to learn karate?" he stopped stretching and looked at her intently.
Riza scratched her head, seemingly trying to come up with an excuse. Finally, it seemed as if a light bulb lit up in her mind, as she said, "When I was in the military academy, there was one person who used to beat us all up. In terms of combat, he had no equal. One day, there was a tournament in which we were supposed to fight against each other. The top five would be made commanders."
She paused, and then continued, "The person who would have won the tournament would be mentored by an army general. In a few years, that person will have the chance to become a general as well."
"So, what happened?" asked Reeve, when he realized that she had paused for too long.
"Participating in the tournament was mandatory. In the beginning, I didn't really care much about being mentored by a general. The only reason why I had joined the army, despite being a girl, was so that I could get revenge on the Skycrawlers for my brother's murder", she paused again.
"Wait, but they didn't kill him … not directly anyway…" Reeve objected.
"My father once went to Lord Skycrawler, and begged him to call off the expedition. However, Lord Skycrawler simply ignored my father. I think I understood why my father ended up joining up with Lord Severin to revolt against the Skycrawler family", Riza answered, absent-mindedly.
"Umm, okay? So, why did you quit?"
"I ended up changing my mind when I realized I had the chance to become a general. With that much power, I could completely crush Sky City, and no one would say anything. However, in order to get this chance, I had to win the tournament", she replied, before pausing again.
She then continued, "When the tournament began, I was sure I would at least become a commander. However, I didn't really expect for him to thoroughly crush all competition, leaving only me. It seemed as if he was challenging me. By crushing everyone else, he was trying to put me under pressure, so that when we fought, he would crush me mentally as well."
"Who's he?" asked Reeve. This mysterious person sounded like a typical movie villain. From what he had heard so far, this person might probably be a general of the army by now, so why was she desperately trying to learn karate? Did she think this could change anything?
"He's the nephew of the king, Vitalis Volo", she replied, with a cold tone.
"Eh? Did you just say the nephew of the KING? As in Pectus whatshisname? King of the something alliance?" asked Reeve, not even apologetic about the fact that he had said something wrong. Well, it wasn't his fault … actually, it was partly his fault, but then again, no one explained things clearly.
"If anyone heard you saying out his name like that, you'd be executed", Riza chuckled.
"Someone once tried to execute me. I'm still here, alive and well", Reeve replied, with a sigh.
"Wait, that actually happened?"
"Of course, and you're welcome to try and kill me too. However, each attempt costs ten gold coins!"
"Ha! Go and die!"
"Anyway, what happened during the tournament?"
"We fought, and I lost dismally. In terms of combat, I fear he might be stronger than all the commanders of the Three Kingdoms Alliance combined!"
"Speaking of that, what kingdoms are in the funny kingdoms alliance?"
"Funny kingdoms Alliance?"
"You get what I mean!"
"I do?"
Reeve face-palmed himself, before telling himself to calm down. She was probably trying to be antagonistic for no good reason.
"Well, at first, there were four kingdoms which warred against each other. However, they later realized that their wars benefitted …" before she continued, she looked sideways.
"Benefitted who?" asked Reeve, impatiently.
"Well, I can't tell you more about this. Anyway, the three Kingdoms are Brevaria, Taresien and Grifinia. At first, they were ruled by separate kings. But then they ended up forming an alliance to take down an empire. Once they realized that they were stronger enough to take over the surrounding countries, they kept absorbing the other countries", replied Riza.
"You said they were four countries, but why then is it called the Three kingdoms alliance?"
"Well, the fourth Kingdom is called Alvarlon. When the other three started their negotiations for the alliance, Alvarlon refused to join the alliance. In the end, the other three banded together and took over it, forcing it to become part of the alliance."
'Eh? Alvarlon? Isn't that the place where Eskaria said they came from?' he thought. However, he asked, "so, why does the alliance have one king?"
"Well, that's because the agreement between the kingdoms was that they would choose someone to rule over the entire alliance. As for the other kings, they would become part of the High Council. In fact, they make most of the decisions, and the 'king' only executes their wishes."
"Oh, is that so?"