"Who are you?"
Geralt's eyes narrowed slightly as he studied the man before him.
Ivan's heart sank.
'Sure enough… Sir Geralt doesn't recognize a nobody like me?'
"I was sent by Lord Lucien!" Ivan said quickly.
The moment Lucien's name left his lips, Geralt's entire demeanor changed. His expression hardened, then settled into sharp focus.
"Where is Lord Lucien now? Is he safe?" Geralt asked, his tone low and urgent.
Ivan glanced nervously at the fearsome monster beside Geralt, the steel-scaled dragon whose axe-like tusks gleamed even in the fading light, before launching into an explanation.
He described how Lucien had led their people to safety after the blizzard: how they'd discovered a valley surrounded by plains, how they'd felled trees and built wooden houses, how Lucien had even tamed a powerful monster to catch fish and feed everyone through the harsh winter.
Geralt listened without interruption, frowning as he took it all in.
When Ivan finally finished, Geralt let out a long, weary sigh of relief.
"Thank god… he's alive."
As Ivan spoke of Lucien guiding the people, tending the wounded, and building a home from nothing, a faint smile tugged at the corners of Geralt's mouth.
'His Highness has truly grown.'
Compared to the two princes in Aindok's royal city, Lucien possessed something neither of them did, compassion.
As Grand Master of the Twin Dragon Knights, Geralt understood better than anyone the state of the kingdom.
With the princes' clashing ambitions, it was only a matter of time before Unova was torn apart by civil war.
And when that day came, it would not be the nobles who suffered, but the common folk, children sent to the front, families turned against each other, neighbors forced to fight.
Geralt, once a commoner himself, felt the weight of that sorrow.
He knew both princes well, their paranoia, their pride, their thirst for power.
'What a pity…'
Still, as long as Lucien lived, there was hope.
Geralt exhaled slowly, the decision already made in his heart.
Even if it cost him his life, he would protect Lucien.
He turned toward Martha and the others, who were already preparing to move, packs slung over their shoulders.
"It's time to set off," he said simply.
Back in the territory, construction had reached a bottleneck.
The shortage of manpower made progress agonizingly slow.
Lucien had to set aside several of his more ambitious plans for now.
After long deliberation, he finally decided to prioritize one thing above all else, housing.
"Your Highness," said Elif, entering the hall with a woman in her thirties. "This is Ms. Elena, once an urban designer in the royal city. I believe she can assist us."
Lucien looked up, intrigued. "Welcome, Ms. Elena."
Elena bowed politely. Though she had seen the Third Prince before, it was her first time meeting him this closely.
"It's an honor to meet you, Your Highness."
Lucien slid the hand-drawn map, Christina's carefully charted survey of the area, across the table.
"Tell me," he said, "what are your thoughts on developing this land into a proper settlement?"
Elena leaned over the parchment.
The contours of hills, rivers, and forests were clearly marked, along with mineral deposits and farmland zones.
Almost instantly, ideas began to form in her mind, but she didn't speak them aloud just yet.
Instead, she asked softly, "Your Highness, may I ask a question first?"
Lucien nodded. "Go ahead."
"I remember His Majesty granted you a much richer fief. The land here seems far less prosperous. Are you truly planning to stay here and build anew?"
Lucien didn't answer directly. Instead, he looked up at her and asked, "Tell me, Ms. Elena, what do you think of my two brothers?"
"Your two brothers…?" Elena hesitated, realizing who he meant.
The First Prince. The Second Prince.
She had met both during her years serving the palace, and knew well how opposite they were in every possible way.
Even now, she could sense the storm gathering within the royal court, and she had chosen to leave before it struck.
She had even heard faint rumors, whispers that several barons and viscounts in the knightly territories had already begun taking sides. Those who refused to pledge allegiance were swiftly… and ruthlessly… "dealt with."
Given the personalities of the two princes, it was only a matter of time before things reached a breaking point.
When that day came, they would purge all who stood in their way, then turn their blades upon one another.
And the location of the territory… if His Highness Lucien were to go there…
Elena suddenly understood.
He wouldn't be able to escape the struggle for the throne.
Whether he wanted it or not, the storm would drag him in.
Moreover, the territory was among the kingdom's richest fiefs, fertile, well-defended, and strategically vital. If war broke out, it would undoubtedly become a major battlefield between the First and Second Princes.
Their forces were vast and disciplined. Against them, His Highness Lucien would stand no chance.
Lucien noticed the flicker of realization on Elena's face and smiled faintly.
"So, you've realized it too," he said lightly, spreading his hands. "We don't have that much time to waste. Are you ready, Elena?"
Elena blinked, momentarily stunned. The young prince before her still looked barely of age, yet his gaze held the calm certainty of someone who had already seen the path ahead.
She had only just escaped the lion's den of the royal court… and now she was walking into the tiger's jaws again.
"Your Highness," Elena said softly, trembling, "the armies under the First and Second Princes would crush us with ease…"
Lucien only smiled, his eyes glinting with quiet confidence.
"Elena, have you ever heard this saying?"
"What saying, Your Highness?"
"It's not the number of soldiers that matters," Lucien said, "but their quality."
That calm statement sent a ripple of awe through her.
This was not the same world she had once known; this was a world where magical beasts existed.
Lucien's brothers commanded armies of knights and tamed beasts, but even so, humans of this era still knew almost nothing about magical beasts tactics. They treated them as living weapons, relying solely on armored monsters like Aggron to clash with one another head-on.
They never understood the true potential of move coordination, of what could happen if a powerful monster was properly trained and commanded.
Lucien did.
He imagined the battlefield, a single Tyranitar, its tail striking the earth as it unleashed a devastating Earthquake…
Or a Dragonite soaring above the clouds, spreading its wings and calling forth a Draco Meteor or a wide-range Hurricane that could devastate an entire regiment.
One Pokémon could face a thousand, if properly trained.
But… there was one obstacle that weighed on Lucien's mind.
His elder brothers, each bonded with a legendary dragon: Zekrom and Reshiram.
Their rivalry had already begun to shake the balance of Unova.
Lucien clenched his fist slightly, a single thought echoing in his mind:
'We must find Kyurem.'
'Lacunosa Town… the Giant Chasm…' he murmured to himself. 'If those places already exist in this era, then the key might lie there.'
Elena watched him in silence.
For a long moment, she said nothing, then exhaled, her expression softening with resolve.
"Understood, Your Highness. Leave it to me."
Once, she had designed the mountain city of Aindok, a masterpiece of architecture built upon sheer cliffs.
If she could make that thriving city rise from stone and wind…
Then here, in this untamed land, nothing could stand in her way.
...
Bonu @600
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