Queen kaida alongside her men were standing in front of Darius' Castle.
The western federation was the smallest and least developed of the four major nations and Darius was the king of the west.
The west had a system of government which involved the voting of lords by the public to help in the governing of official matters.
Lord Hiroki had been voted to become one of the lords after supposedly retiring from the thunder guild.
Kaida had asked for Hiroki to be handed over but obviously,he was not.
She had so opted to come down to the west to search for him herself.
Darius accompanied by his own soldiers came out of his castle after being informed of the visit by Kaida.
"Aaah Queen kaida of the north,you didn't say you were coming " spoke Darius
"I sent a messenger to inform you that if Hiroki was not delivered to be in stuffs that I would be taking matters into my own hands,did I not ?." Replied Kaida
"You did ,but you see Lord Hiroki is not in the west ,or atleast not in the federation "
" Hiw do I know you are not just hiding him from me"
"Trust me ,I know better than to defy the crown of the North"
"I don't know,this could be some convoluted plan of yours"
"Come on you can't possibly think that,I mean I have nothing to gain"
"The thing is ,i can't think of anyone who had something to gain,I believe something was stolen but I can't even be sure about it as no one has stepped into the temple."
"Well if there is anyway I could aid your search for Hiroki please let me know."
"Thank you but your help will not be needed,my men will begin their search immediately,they will all be dispersing to different parts of your nation,the only thing I'll be needing from you is complete access to every location in the federation ."
"But I can't just give you total access,you are not in your country anymore,you can't just make demands like that"
"I believe I can ,remember a member of your country trespassed into sacred grounds and had a landmark destroyed,that sounds like understandable basis for the beginning ofa war ,unless of course the rulers can reach an agreement,so I'm sure you understand ."
"Yes I understand."
"Great ,Now that's how a wise king speaks "
Queen kaida is provided a special guest room for her to spend her time in the west .It was a nice change of scenery for her as she did not get to leave the North to often.
Word of Queen Kaida settling in Donghilu spread like rapid fire.
It was something that king Darius knew was inevitable but he did not expect it to happen as quickly as it did.
********************
Ren and Earn had been sparring,it was Earn's way of training Earn in battle sense.
Earn had noticed that Ren was slightly better than he should be at this stage.
Earn whilst sparring with Ren was reminded about how he moved against Bloodfist,Teb had more experience than he was letting on.
When Ren was confronted by Earn about it ,Ren explained that his father had actually been training Earn in martial arts from time to time.
"Any particular reasons why he was training you "
"Well I was bullied quite a bit while growing up so I guess he just wanted me to be able to defend myself" Ren said smiling .
They were both sparring in a judo arena which Earn had rented.
From what Ren had seen so far ,Money was not a problem for Earn as he had been spending a lot of money.
"You gonna teach me how to use one of those superpowers you were using in Valer" asked Ren
"First of all they are called killing techniques and it takes months just to use one and years to perfect it",
Earn took a deep breath before continuing
"It's why most people would have one or a maximum of three"
"So you do not have more than three" asked Ren
"I'm a special case ,I have mastered eight different techniques "
"What about the legendary assassin "
"You know about him"
"Back at Valer ,one of the soldiers said something about him,they said he wore a mask with the Scribble of the full moon on it ,with first crescent on the mask painted white and other in black"
"Well the legendary Assassin is a legend ,whether or not he is real is yet to be truly revealed but from the stories about his assassinations I've heard ,if he were real ,he'd probably have a lot more than three ".
Earn squatted ,staring into the eyes of Ren realizing that Ren wanted to ask questions he said;
"If you don't understand something,you know you can just ask right?"
"No it's just that I really wanted to learn some killing techniques,so I could be ready for Bloodfist ."
Earn was disheartened at the disappointed look on Ren's face .
Earn ,in an attempt unto cheer the boy up said;
"Fine,I"ll try and teach you but don't expect to learn anything immediately,some people don't even show signs of development until after a year."
"Yes thank you so much ." Squealed Ren in excitement.
"Okay let's start with the basics,there are two types of killing techniques,and they are;Plain and Elemental."
********************
Queen Kaida was the guest room together with one of her soldiers.
The soldier was a black,dark-haired man with broad shoulders and a large-muscular upper body.
The soldier had been explaining to his Queen ,about the areas which had been searched by the scouts.
This man ,though he wore an ordinary Moon guardian's fit,he was not like any other soldier .
He was the Queen's right hand man and he went by the name of Docilius.
Although Queen Kadia only just publicly revealed her presence in the city of Donghilu.
She had secretly had her men dispatched ,four days prior to her arrival.
The men dispatched were to act as scouts watching door any discrepancies and strange happenings in general within the west.
The men chosen to be scouts were members of "the Night Watch".
The Night watch was an assassin guild established by Kaida when she was only ten years of age.
It was a guild established by her not only to protect her Nation,but also as a way to be directly involved in the assassin industry.
There was no doubt that assassins were powerful and with the number of guilds constantly increasing,She knew that she had to establish a guild of her own to keep the North safe.
That move of hers was almost immediately copied by the Southern Empire ,who were the biggest rivals to the Northern Regions.
They were not only rivals in terms of power and control but were also rivals in beliefs.
The people of the North believed that Erydnor was their god and that he once defended them from his main adversary Helios,a being that they believed once attempted to destroy the world.
The people of the south on the underhand believed in the opposite.
They believed that Helios was an all powerful beign who resided in the son and that Erydnor was a beign of darkness and corruption.
The contrast in beliefs is what began the numerous conflicts between these two nations.
As the thrones changed hands and the nations became larger ,the rivalry between the two was only getting bigger and bigger.
When the time for Kaida to take the throne as Queen first came,The Northern Regions had already been very powerful.
It was up to Kaida to keep up the glorious legacy of the nation,and she did not disappoint.
The locations of the nation in the world were used to name the four nations.
Like how the Eastern Circle was named such because of the fact that it could be found in the Eastern parts of the world.
When Kaida took the throne ,she spent the next Five years uniting the entirety of the North.
The Northern Regions were the only nation which succeeded in doing such.
Though the Southern Empire was large ,there were still a lot of smaller parts of the south that were not allied with the Empire.
Towns or cities that were not allied with any of the Four main Nations were referred to as Independent Nations.
The most impressive part of Kaida's achievement was the fact that she had achieved all this without the use of violence.
The entirety of the North was united with the use of just dialogue.
The ability to negotiate with people and give them what they want was what set Kaida apart from other past rulers.
******************
"Damn,how could I be so foolish "
Darius was on his bed ,shirtless but wore green trousers that covered his lower area.
He was cursing at himself wondering how he could allow a fifteen year old get the better of him.
His wife was also in the room.
She had long beautiful dark hair and glistening brown eyes.
She was attempting to read a book but the sound of her husband complaining did not allow her.
"Why do you scream so loud Darius?"
"You wouldn't understand ."
"Then make me understand " she said while staring intently at Darius.
Like as if he were compelled by her gaze,he began to rattle on about Kaida's visit and how she was going to begin her search for tomorrow.
"I do not see the problem here" said Darius' wife before adding.
"She has come to locate an offender to the Northern throne ,who happened to be a western Lord,what is wrong with that?."
"I knew you wouldn't get it"
"Get what."
"She is gonna pressure me with huge demands and I would have to listen unless I wanted a war and she is well within rights to wage a war on us according to the Peace declaration ."
Darius then laid on his bed worriedly before his wife lays her head on his chest then says
"Do not worry ,we will get through it together"
"Thanks babe"