"Arata, can you sit in one place for a second?" The little monster had been troubling her mother since morning, and now she had enough of her.

The stick was in her mother's hand, and soon enough, it would rain down on her if she didn't stop running around.

"Mother, I did nothing wrong. I don't want to wear this bodice. I can't breathe in that thing. I want to wear the other side of my heritage."

She lept, grabbed the soft yet heavy white kimono lying on the table, and showed it to her mother. 

Her mother, Kriska Sakaguchi, was standing in front of her, holding a wooden stick in her hands.

She and her mother were most similar in appearance, at least. Their shared short white hair and red eyes were the most famous looks in the five kingdoms.

The only difference in their faces was that she had her father's sharp chin instead of her mother's round chin, and her mother's height was greater than any other woman she saw.

"Arata, I understand that is your heritage, but consider how a high noble lady must dress tomorrow. You are the daughter of a commander and the granddaughter of the kingdom's leader. What will my father think of me when I bring you up like an old nanny?" Kriska clutched her stick.

She was not asking; it was a threat. Arata thought to herself.

"Mother, why don't we both try it? Believe me, Father told me that a white kimono looks very beautiful on you. I think we should both dress in kimono and surprise Father at the dinner."

"Tch?!" Her mother bit her lip in anger, which was unacceptable for a highborn lady, Arata thought.

"Yuuka won't be coming to the dinner. There had been an attack at the Lynx border; he had gone there to handle the situation." Her mother spoke in a low tone; she often used it when she was sad and most often when talking about her husband. Gloom shrouded her as her grip on the stick was loosened.

Four months before, Arata had seen her father, and two months before, his last letter came.

"The distance between me and you is so vast sometimes. So, it takes me months to crossover. If I could fly like an eagle, I would come home every night, but remember, no matter how far I travel, I will return home."

Her father told her once, and Arata trusted that he would return soon, but her mother worried too much.

"Mother, tell me a story about the past of the five kingdoms, and I will wear any dress you want. Do you want to trade with me?" Arata used the first of three methods her father gave her to help her mother when she was sad.

Surprisingly, eating delicious food was not one of them.

As expected, Kriska's expression changed from gloomy to a bit happy. Kriska smiled and caressed Arata's hair, then she pinched her cheeks.

"Mo.. it.. huts!!..a..aeeee," Arata said whatever her mouth pronounced, and her mother's cheek pinching was fearsome among royal kids.

"Be in bed with your night dress, and bring a jug of water. I'll take a bath, meanwhile. The story will be long."

"I just want the short version."

Kriska turned around, and Arata received a wave of acceptance with her hand. And the stick was dropped on the ground."

Soon, in the small room on the upper floor of their small wooden house, Arata lay on her bed wearing a night jacket, while her mother wore a nightgown-coloured purple silk. She was reading a book to refresh all her memories.

"So, how should we begin?" Kriska closed the book for good and asked her daughter. Arata nodded, and then the story began.

"The five kingdoms are all on a large island. One of the largest in the world, we are between the sea channels of the Esbark Ocean; the world outside calls it the Atlantic Ocean."

"Once, the five kingdoms were one. It was a big, prosperous land filled with people of all kingdoms; men and women of all places came to Ethereo and kept refuge in it, for the land was filled with trees, gold and silver, coal, and iron.

Although the land was not gifted with fertile soil for food, trade was our everything. The people came together, and our great, great, great grandfathers, or maybe even older, named it Ethereo, a land free of rulers for people to rule themselves.

But the great ambition did not last long." Kriska took a glass of water before continuing, and Arata gripped her pillow.

"The Gold family, once simple fish sellers, rose to power. They bought armies from lands far away and used them to make an army of their own. Alyka Gold became the first to be crowned king of all the lands of Ethereo.

His family ruled the nation for years to come, each worse than the last. The longer their rule lasted, the worse the people got. Soon, their people revolted and brought the civil war to Ethereo."

"The civil war lasted 26 years and took away the everyday lives of the people. Many died—way too many. Our numbers sank from the millions to less than a million.

The rebels won at long last and threw away the people who ruled them, but the struggle didn't end there, and the hunger for their power broke one kingdom into five kingdoms. Tell me their names, would you?"

Arata said them as smoothly as a poem.

"The kingdom of Lynx, ruled by Milize Asina. The kingdom of Britannia, ruled by Foal Zestus. The kingdom of Axum is ruled by Nayla Lynch. The kingdom of Saxony, ruled by none, and the kingdom of Asphodel, ruled by my grandfather Frey Ken."

"Impressive, but remember that each one besides Milize Asina had an apprentice of their own. Foal Zestus fostered Lucius Artroius and Milize Asina; Nayla Lynch fostered Diksha Lynch; and Frey Ken fostered. "

"-My father, commander of the forces of Asphodel, Yuuka Sakaguchi." Arata rose enthusiastically.

The tale ended right there, as the story of the five kingdoms was yet to be written.

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More comprehensive detail in volume zero.