Samuel's piercing ocean blue eyes locked onto Xavier.
"Perhaps," Samuel replied, his tone deliberately vague.
"Perhaps? What do you mean by that?" Xavier asked.
"Master Xavier, I can't tell you the entire matter regarding your father yet."
"What? Why? Am I not your Master? Why won't you answer me?" Xavier's fists clenched, his frustration bubbling over.
After all these years, he finally found someone who knew about his father. But when this someone refused to answer, it made him feel frustrated. He wanted to know more about his father. He wanted to know: Why his father was declared a traitor, how did his father die, did his father love him and his mom etc. He wanted to know and felt he deserved to know.
"If I tell you, it will bring harm—to you and others," Samuel warned, his voice weighted with caution.
"..."
Xavier fell silent, his thoughts racing. A chill crept down his spine as the gravity of Samuel's words began to sink in.
"By bad things you mean, the Duke will interfere?" Xavier asked wanting to clarify whether the conclusion he came to was right or not.
"Half correct," Samuel said.
"Half correct? Why?" Xavier reiterated, confused.
"That is because, it won't be just the Duke of Comilla who'll be after you, but also, our neighboring planet Graxas will be involved in the matter." Samuel explained.
"What!?" Xavier's widened in horror as he screamed.
"Why would Graxas interfere? It makes no sense!" Xavier said.
"Master Xavier, breathe," Samuel instructed, his calm tone cutting through Xavier's panicked thoughts.
Xavier realized he got a bit too worked up. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths as Samuel advised. He did that for sometime. After a while, he regained his composure and opened his eyes. He looked at Samuel and nodded for him to answer.
Samuel understood and answered.
"Originally I was sent here by the Crissel Kingdom Of Graxas to 'help' Duke Cranbell in his affairs."
"By 'help' you mean?" Xavier asked.
"To unite Xenon under one ruler, turning it from Eight Duchies into a single Kingdom," Samuel explained.
"...!"
Xavier's eyes shot wide.
"You mean that, Graxas's Crissel Kingdom planned to make Xenon a puppet nation?" Xavier asked.
"That is half correct. It's not only the Crissel Kingdom but also the Nolmo Kingdom that wants Xenon as a puppet. Think of Xenon as a pawn in a much larger game. Graxas doesn't need allies—it needs puppets," Samuel said.
Gulp
Xavier gulped loudly.
'D-damn it. Just what kind of a situation is this. Graxas wants to make Xenon a puppet nation? But why?' Xavier thought.
"You're wondering why Graxas wants control of Xenon, aren't you?" Samuel asked.
"How did you know? Do you have some mind reading abilities?" Xavier asked.
"Just a hunch. Anyways, the third planet with life in our Plaros Solar System, Nixon has always been at odds with Graxas." Samuel replied.
"What? Even Nixon is involved?" Xavier asked.
"That is correct."
"Why? Why are Nixon and Graxas involved in a conflict?" Xavier asked.
"Nixon has always had huge ambitions. The King of Nixon of 2000 years ago had united the entire planet under his banner, and made Nixon the strongest out of all the planets in the Plaros Solar System."
"Since then, Nixon and Graxas have been locked in a bitter rivalry. Twelve centuries ago, this tension erupted into the First Great Plaros War, a conflict that shook the entire solar system. It was named that because, it was the first ever war between the planets of the Plaros Solar System." Samuel explained.
"I think I read something similar to that in school." Xavier placed his right hand under his chin as he thought.
"Oh! I remember! The war happened because Nixon assassinated two kings of Graxas. After finding out that Nixon was the one behind the assassination, the two kingdoms of Graxas came to a temporary truce and formed an alliance to thwart the threat that Nixon possessed." Xavier said.
'Hmm... it seems that Graxas has already gained considerable influence over Xenon seeing that even schools are painting Nixon as the villain.' Samuel thought.
"However, from what I've heard from you, it's all some propaganda being spread by Graxas. There must be another side of the story right?" Xavier asked.
A smile spread across Samuel's face.
'He saw through it. His insight for politics isn't half bad. I guess he inherited that from his father.' Samuel thought.
"That's right, Master Xavier." Samuel nodded.
"Desperate to curb Nixon's meteoric rise, Graxas resorted to subterfuge, hiring bands of marauders to sabotage Nixon's supply lines. But Nixon retaliated, exposing their schemes and plunging both worlds into chaos. Nixon killed both of the kings of the two Kingdoms of Graxas that sparked the First Great Plaros War. The war lasted for three decades and ended in a temporary truce."
"Now, you may be wondering why did Nixon not just settle the matter with Graxas by doing the same with them or killing lower ranking nobles. That's because, Nixon always wanted a war with Graxas and Graxas's attack on their supply convoys gave them the perfect Casus Belli they needed."
"Do you now understand Master Xavier?" Samuel asked.
"I do," Xavier nodded.
"Then do you also understand why Graxas wants Xenon's support?" Samuel asked.
"I do. It's because, Graxas wants the help of Xenon in the future conflict with Nixon." Xavier replied.
"Good. However, do you know why Graxas is aiming to make Xenon into a single Kingdom?"
"To stand a chance in the next war. Controlling Xenon would give them resources and manpower. But to do that, they need to unite the duchies under one ruler—a ruler they control."
"And they're using Duke Cranbell to do it," Xavier concluded.
"Exactly. An open alliance with Xenon's Eight Duchies would alert Nixon immediately, and Graxas wants to avoid that at all costs." Samuel replied.
"But what's the guarantee that using this method will prevent Nixon from finding out?" Xavier asked.
"Simple. They will find out. No matter how much Graxas tries to hide this plan of theirs, Nixon will find out." Samuel answered.
"What? Then why even do this in the first place?" Xavier asked, confused.
"Because by the time Nixon would find out, it'd already be too late. If everything went according to plan then before Nixon realizes, Graxas would already have helped Duke Cranbell conquer 70 percent of Xenon." Samuel explained.
"What? But what if Nixon found out before that? Then what'd happen?" Xavier asked, even more confused.
"Of course Nixon might find out. There is no guarantee that Graxas will be able to hide such a huge matter." Samuel replied.
"Then what's the point of doing this?" Xavier asked.
"It's..."
***