Stiles appeared in his room, struggling to gain his obstructed sight faster by shaking his head.
Due to the force, he felt an intangible substance over his eyes as if to prevent him from seeing the pathway used to transport him.
'From the smell, I can tell I'm back in my room…' Stiles sighed, as his sight slowly adjusted to the change in environment.
Immediately his vision was cleared, Stiles adjusted his red coat, dusting it with his palm to appear modest.
"How was the meeting?" Alexia's soft voice came from behind.
"You knew I was going to get transported in that manner?" Stiles inquired with a raised brow.
'I would have appreciated it if you told me beforehand, Alexia… What kind of caretaker are you…?' Stiles lampooned in his heart.
"I felt you would prefer the adventure—experiencing the transportation firsthand," Alexia shrugged.
'You are right, but the situation was critical. Anyway, I will take it as a goodwill sign from you…' Stiles sighed, deciding to forget the matter.
"You have not replied to my inquiry," Alexia asked again, sizing Stiles up.
"You don't have to give me such a look, I just had to accept a task from the old man."
Stiles didn't want to go into the details of the situation, so he decided to use a generalized description.
"Anyway, how long have I been out?"
"Few hours, approximately three hours."
'Haa… it's not compared to my sleeping beauty period. I thought time would be affected strangely. Still, I don't think I was in that place for up to three hours, it seems time was affected in the end, but not severely…'
Stiles concluded, an impeccable smile forming on his facial features.
'I would have loved to inquire about Alexia's origin. Anyway, there is a reason for everything…'
"Alexia, what do you know of the alliance—formed against us."
The 'us' Stiles used made Alexia come to a sudden realization. 'So he has decided to truly become the ruler of Kynburgh~ how fantastic…!'
Alexia celebrated Stiles's action of referring to himself as part of Kynburgh, it was a sign that represented his will to rule over the fortress.
"As you will, My Lord."
'Hey, girl. Why the sudden change? Though she had shown respect for me, not to this level…' With squinted eyes, Stiles thought of his caretaker's sudden change.
"As you might already be aware, we are surrounded by three communities(civilizations/countries/states).
They have distinct cultures, practices, and beliefs, but got interested in our resources after receiving Intel of the newly discovered ruins."
Alexia said, utilizing her hand to make explaining easier. At times she would draw straight lines, draw circles, and other patterns that kept Stiles' attention.
'So something interesting was discovered—interesting enough to make three distinct communities join hands…'
"Did you not offer to share your findings with them?" Stiles inquired curiously.
'If there was a way to avoid the fight, wouldn't the people of Kynburgh have chosen that?'
"We could, if there was anything in the first place," Alexia sighed. "All we found in that ruin were old records, written in a language even we could not decipher."
Ruins were public knowledge of the world of Archon. Even Stiles had read about them in books.
It was described as an archeological site, holding information left by ancient civilizations.
"And we could not hand over records that likely held crucial information about our fortress," Alexia said in a pride-filled tone.
She felt they didn't make a mistake by refusing to share such things with their neighbors. What if they discovered a way to decipher the language?
"Anyway, we couldn't share it, leading to them making threats to attack Kynburgh.
At first, we saw it as baseless threats, but Kynburgh kept getting attacked. Our food supply was cut off, and we had to rely on the resources in and around Kynburgh.
We tried to retaliate but instead fanned the flames of the situation. Outside Kynburgh walls became unsafe as they hunted our citizens down.
Then suddenly, 'boom!'.
A loud explosion occurred in a city to the west of Kynburgh, leaving it in ruins.
After investigation, we discovered it was a terrorist attack from our neighboring communities."
Alexia's voice trailed off as she recalled the agonizing incident, how many people lost their lives—both old and young.
'I would love to empathize with you, Alexia. But I have no sense of attachment toward these people…'
Stiles shook his head, feeling bad for not being able to console his caretaker.
'The least I can do is to avenge the dead, maybe it would bring solace to your aching heart…'
"Seems I went off-topic. Instead of telling you about the communities, I'm talking of the wrong they did to Kynburgh and its people."
"No no no!" Stiles chuckled dryly, scratching his cheek. "I believe every little piece of information available is an undeniable asset."
Stiles had tacitly replied to her comment, not having the feeling to lie he had an interest in the matter and also not to tell the truth that he had no interest in the matter. So a neutral answer would do.
"Alright. If you say so, My Lord~" she said with enthusiasm.
'That's nice, she does not seem offended by my attitude…' Stiles sighed deep inside his heart.
"So, we have the Locuria dynasty to the west of Kynburgh and it's ruled by the Edward family.
They are a bunch of money-minded individuals, who believe money is the key to everything—wealth is their greatest strength, then money is their greatest weapon."
Alexia gave a summary of the Locuria family and the nature of its rulers.
"To the south of Kynburgh, we have the Xadora kingdom which is ruled by the Fedore family.
Among the three communities, their machinery is the most refined. Their family has an inclination toward machinery, so they invested all their resources in developing that aspect.
How foolish, though they are the most developed community among us four in terms of technology, they lack other necessary factors."
Alexia was unwilling to let the Xadora kingdom and its ruling family, Fedore, take credit for their love of machinery.
"Last but not least is the Bura civilization to the east of Kynburgh.
It is ruled by the notorious Bhagwant family also known as savages.
They only care about the strong and utilize the law of the jungle in their everyday life.
'The strong shall prey on the weak'; what a weak mindset."
Alexia hissed as she recalled details of the Bura civilization.
'It's truly fascinating how distinct communities like theirs can cooperate…'
Stiles knew how much a little difference in people's mindset can cause conflict from the history books he read, so he found the alliance amusing.
"What of the north?" He inquired.
Since she had mentioned only three communities surrounding Kynburgh, it meant there was no immediate civilization to the north of Kynburgh.
"Sea—the Mist Sea in particular."