"The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth" - A man from the North-
In a hut full of thick dead animal fur, a puny child looks through the window with a very confused expression. He sees many peasants walking in line towards somewhere that his innocent mind will not know. The peasants are his villagers, and that is why every face is known to him. Not only that, some of them are carrying sheep, crops, and even tied-up blades for an unknown purpose. Maybe the intention is obvious, but the child is too young to understand it.
"Elei, come here you slumpy brat! we are going to be late for the throne speech, you got to run those small legs of yours or I will chop your fingers off"
A voice loud enough to be heard by his tiny ears was shouted. It came from Losefa, his older brother. Little that he knows those words are not just empty thread. His whole village including his family is walking to King Alfred's castle with gifts in their hands.
"After years of being raided by those barbarians, we finally got our protector. Those devils will suffer from the eternal wrath of god if they ever tried to touch our village again. Hanian Empire is the strongest kingdom in the north. Compared to them, Flakka barbarians are just gnats." said Afu, the father of Elei and Losefa."
it is not only one village that joined the journey, the whole Marduc gathered while some of them bring fancier offerings for the king and Hanian people.
To show how much they look up to the nation, handmade Hanian flags are also majestically waved by horse riders.
When they arrived in front of King Alfred's castle, a man with a big red beard covering his face walked slowly as the crowd cheers their lungs out. The man is King Alfred, he showed up with a red silk cape and a big silver crown sitting on his head.
"Greetings my friends" salute King Alfred to the crowd.
They exulted like that were strong words delivered by the king. Such a simple phrase is enough to make them hysteric.
"For those who are still in fear of the Flakka, be afraid no more. To me, none of you should be harmed by those devils. We as people of the north must protect and love each other unconditionally. Marducian, Klagic, Orndim, or even my people Hanian, the moment you join my empire, we are one!" said King Alfred while tears ran down his left cheek.
Marducian people seem very happy after the speech, they give all the gathering that they bring along to knights standing around them.
"Hail Hania! Hail Hania! Hail Hania!" cried the Marducian people.
For them, King Alfred is the savior, an entity of God, and the leader of angels. Some Marducian women even want to be his concubine. This shows how happy they are to be under the power of the Hanian Empire. the whole crowd is smiling except Elei, he can feel something unsettling, something horrible is about to happen. He feels a very sharp pain in his chest whenever he looks King Alfred in the eyes.
"I hereby Marducian state to be under the blessings of Hanian Empire, you shall now be called Hanian despite of having different skin color." declared King Alfred.
"Why aren't you happy brat? you seem like a stupid fawn being hunted." Losefa whispered cynically at Elei's ear after seeing him stiffen as a statue.
Elei refused to answer the question, he hates his narcissistic brother more than anything even though he is only 6.