"Yo Arvcan your wife might just be running away" Alex said as he walked into the room.
Arvcan and Darian who were tied up in a serious deliberation looked at him with an incredulous look. The idiot was sent to go find out something important yet he was coming back with such a useless news.
"Are you that less busy?" Arvcan chided.
Alex shook his head "no I'm serious, I saw Princess Guinevere rushing into her carriage with her maid. She looked to be in a hurry" he explained and added "you can look through the window, I'm sure you can still see her carriage pulling out of the Palace Premises"
Arvcan ignored him and so did Darian. They went back to looking at the large map sprawled on the table. The guy that was ignored shrugged and joined them.
"What are your findings?" Arvcan asked without even looking up.
The playful expression in Alex face disappeared and was replaced with a serious look. This was probably the first his face would ever show such an expression.
"The rebels seems to be coming most from the Bandlands. Prussia, Mavka, Bhor and other surrounding kingdoms have all complained and had experience of Rogue but surprisingly Bavarak whose boundary is one with the Bandlands had spoken of no accidents with rogues. They are awfully quiet these days too unlike the usual barbarians they used to be" He reported in a breath.
Darian's brow creased "Arvcan you're assumptions may just be right. The Rogues might just be from Bavarak"
"it might or might not, let's not forget the attack from the Chaldeans years ago. The Bandlands became band for that reason, but if the Bavaraks are truly responsible for the rogues, there must be a route they used to get to these Kingdoms. The only possible route I see here is this" he pointed at a spot on the map.
"Arvcan are you serious? Rylica?" Alex asked surprised.
"That's not possible. Our defences are strong, there is no way they'll pass through Rylica without being noticed"
"See for yourselves" he motioned to the map "Rylica is the best shot they have got to get to all these Kingdoms."
Rylica was really the best and way to get to other Western Kingdoms. The Plain was divided into four; The North, South, East and West. Rylica as well as Greecia and a couple other Kingdoms were at the West Plains. In order to get to other Western Kingdoms one would have to pass through Bavaraks and pass through Rylica or else they could go through the Bandlands, but Nobody ever goes through the Bandlands due to its history so Rylica was the best bet to travel through.
He added "Plus do you really think our defences are impenetrable?"
"You don't mean_"
"There is a cankerworm in this kingdom." He completed Darian's words "i might be wrong but the best time to sneak in as many rogues as they want is during this times"
Because of the New year that was fast approaching, there was just too many events were guest from Kingdoms all over the Plains would be invited. Although they tightened security at the kingdom borders and tried to monitor foreign guest entry and exit, they couldn't totally boast of having everything checked. There would definitely be ways to sneak a bunch of people stealthily.
"You're right, there are just too many events to let our guard down. First the Magic Guild assessments and then the New year celebration and the many others. There are just too many events this period, should we perhaps cut down on some?" Alex suggested.
Arvcan shook his head. That was out of Question, they didn't have the power to shut down the events but even if they did, shutting down the programs would only be another way to start a crisis. People would ask questions, what were they supposed to tell them? That they closed the Kingdom borders because their kingdom was infested with rogues?
"I would talk to father, we will find a way to confirm this. We need to be sure our Kingdom is the leeway then we can take actions".
Though Rylica was the normal passage to follow to the Western Kingdoms. Someone people with ulterior motives would ditch their fear and go through the Bandlands, pass through the Great Divide, a vast land of mountains that cuts through the Western Kingdom, encompassing Greecia and simultaneously cutting the Bandlands out. Once the Great Divide is passed, next is passing through Greecia and from there you could head to other Kingdoms.
Darian and Alex understood Arvcan's words.
"I hope we settle this soon. That last thing I want to witness is another Uprising. The last at Chaldea years ago got me haunted for nights especially after the battle at Valkyria." Alex complained, Darian didn't say anything but the expression on his face showed he probably supported Alex words.
No one wants to recount the Battle they had fought at that little town Valkyria in Chaldea. It was more than the stories people told when they discussed about it, also was it more than the stories people told of Arvcan.
Even Arvcan frowned.
He never wanted to be in that situation again. To see something so beautiful destroy a whole Kingdom was frightening. He just hoped it never got to the same situation for Rylica.
...
With a sigh of relief. Gwendolyn could finally rest when the Carriage pulled out of the palace. The Magic Guild Academy was in the Western Plain. It was on the far outskirts of Rylica still it would take at least two hours to get there is there was no problem on the road.
Thank Goodness she had remembered on time or else she would been in big trouble. Now that she was on her way, she had to busy herself with learning the Basics of Magic.
Not only was she supposed to give a speech to the accepted students but she was also expected to supervise the Admission Examination, act as a judge and a referee and also pick a best admitting student. To do all this she had to have a vast knowledge on use of Mana and prospects of magic, but she knew none of these... Sigh!
How was Queen Eleen able to perfectly accomplish this in the past when she didn't have magic herself?.
It must have been challenging to act as a judge to something you were ignorant of, plus get to pick the promising best admitting student who actually ends up being more than promising. Did she have a foresight to see who had a chance of becoming a great mage in future or perhaps was she helped by someone else?
As she studied the multiple books in her hand, the only thing she was attaining was a headache. The words written on the pages seemed to be like floating figures dancing before her eyes. The peculiar magic inscription were translated into a language she could understand still the intertwined words and parabled explanations weren't one her feeble mind could decipher in a hurry.
Good lord, she sure was going to embarrass herself at the academy. She could forsee it already.
Even then she stuffed as many of the explanations as she could in her head, if there was anything she had and took pride in, it was her photographic memory. Perhaps appearing to know some of the gibberish would save her some face.