Ancient Empire Calendar Year 1804
After the Ashbrum Dynasty's policies to strengthen its influence over the Great Dynasties, Geovric Kislavein was heading to Ashterah, the center of the Ashbrums, with a large embassy delegation.
Their goals were to make the Ashbrums abandon their policies, place spies within the Dynasty, and draw the Great Dynasties affiliated with the Ashbrums to their side.
Geovric Kislavein, who was at the head of the delegation, was deep in thought.
"Haaa, if I fail this mission, my head will be gone. What was I thinking? If only I had kept my mouth shut. Is it that hard to wish for a war not to break out?"
The delegation consisted of 1000 people.
Among them were 100 Kislavein Diplomats who were mid-tier warriors, 600 high-tier warriors, and the remaining 300 were assassins and spies trained by assassination and espionage organizations.
Geovric had been on the road for nearly a year. Normally, it would take a person 5 years to travel from the Western Lands to the Eastern Lands of the continent; even if they did not sleep day and night, it would take 3 years.
Thanks to the Kislavein blood flowing through the delegation's veins and the horses and pack animals they trained with special techniques, this journey was completed in just one year.
"Warrior Julien, how much further do we have to go?"
Julien pulled his horse closer to the Leader of the Delegation, Geovric, then said,
"My Lord, if we continue at this pace, we will reach Ashterah in a week."
Geovric took a deep breath and wiped his sweat. His stress increased as he approached the city.
"A year has passed so quickly."
He continued breathing, calmed himself, and fixed his eyes on his target.
"Alright, we got ourselves into this. We will get ourselves out of it."
One week later. The magnificent golden city of Ashterah astonished those who saw it with its beauty and orderly city structure.
It was very different from Kislavein's Central City, Kislathor. Ashterah was a city as old as its owners, the Ashbrums.
The history of this city dated back to the Founding Emperor of the Ancient Empire, I Harloumen.
Carl, who was the half-brother of I Harloumen on his mother's side, had helped his brother establish the Ancient Empire and, as a reward, was given permission to establish his own Dynasty.
Carl built the city of Ashterah and named his Dynasty Ashbrum to harmonize with the city.
When Geovric arrived at the Ashbrum Palace, the delegation was welcomed by Malcolm Ashbrum, the brother of the Dynasty Lord.
"Welcome, and welcome again, dear relatives. You have brought honor to our Dynasty. You have come from a long journey. Rest for a week. The servants will escort you to your rooms. Please, rest."
Geovric was astonished by this hospitality. He had expected a bad reception; perhaps the possibility of war was very distant.
Geovric's mood lifted; he relaxed. He decided to rest for a while and then move on to the negotiations.
"We are grateful for your hospitality."
The delegation settled into their rooms under the guidance of the servants.
Geovric ordered his bodyguard and third cousin, Julius Kislavein, to summon a few members of the Kislavein Dynasty and prepare for a meeting.
That evening, Geovric and his entourage began making plans for what they would do in Ashterah.
"Gentlemen, I will keep it short. Let's finish the meeting quickly in case we are being watched. We must contact the Great Houses within a week, win them over to our side, and infiltrate the palace with as many spies as we can."
Julius began to speak.
"Leave the placement of spies to me, my Lord."
The members of the meeting began choosing tasks in turn.
"My Lord, I will contact the Great Houses."
"I will also gather information about the current Lord of Ashbrum. Any information will be useful during the meeting."
Once everyone had their tasks set, Geovric decided to end the meeting.
"Gentlemen, we may lose our heads at the end of this. Everyone must do their jobs perfectly."
Everyone nodded in agreement. The meeting was over. Everyone got up from the table and secretly retreated to their rooms.
Over the next six days, everyone worked on completing their tasks, and after the one week of rest, the Kislavein embassy met with the Ashbrum Dynasty Lord, XXI Carl.
Geovric and his delegation stood up and bowed their heads respectfully to the Dynasty Lord. Dynasty Lord XXI Carl began the negotiations.
"After a very long journey of a year, you have come to Ashterah. I hope the reason for this visit is not to break the 300-year peace."
Geovric asked permission to answer the Dynasty Lord's question and began to speak.
"Dynasty Lord XXI Carl, do you truly not know the reason for our visit, or are you pretending not to know?"
Carl began to grin, as if he was mocking the Kislaveins.
When the delegation saw Carl laughing, their blood rushed to their heads, but they suppressed their anger. This was not a place where they could openly show their anger.
Carl spoke with a disgusting grin and a contemptuous tone.
"Of course not. How would I know? Or did you come to learn the art of aura shaping? Oh, you already know that, don't you?"
The grin on Carl's face had been replaced by an expression of anger.
It had been 500 years since the Great Kislavein-Ashbrum War ended and 300 years since the blood feud ended, but the grudge inside them was as fresh as the first day.
Geovric stopped speaking in thinly veiled terms, glared directly into Carl's eyes, and spoke in a clear and harsh tone.
"Did you think we wouldn't notice the diplomatic moves you made with the Dynasties under our control? Come to your senses. If we hadn't shown mercy 300 years ago, today you would be a Dynasty on the verge of extinction."
Carl got angry and started shouting.
"You insolent dogs; we should never have treated you like men. Did you think we wouldn't watch what you did after you came here? Come in, Malcolm."
The doors opened. Malcolm Ashbrum had gathered the Kislaveins who had attended the meeting a week earlier.
Seeing this, Geovric swallowed and began to sweat. His heart was beating so fast that his body screamed that everything was over.
Geovric took a deep breath and calmed himself down.
He straightened his back and had a confident expression on his face. He spoke in a calm tone.
"What do you mean, Dynasty Lord? How dare you arrest my Dynasty members?"
Carl no longer hid his laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Look at that expression on your face. I can't stop laughing! Ahahahaha! If you look out the window, you'll probably lose heart, ahaha!"
Geovric approached the window with cowardly steps and could more or less guess what he was about to encounter.
When he looked out the window, he was terrified and nearly lost his mind.
His legs gave way, and he fell to his knees.
The lifeless bodies of hundreds of Kislavein Dynasty members who had come with him lay covered in blood in the Palace courtyard.
Geovric turned his head toward Carl and began cursing in a voice full of anger.
"FUCKING SON OF A BITCH! MOTHERFUCKER! BASTARD! HOW DARE YOU! DID YOU THINK OUR LORD WOULD LEAVE THIS TO YOU?"
When Geovric finished his curses, Carl began to strangle him with his magic. Geovric noticed his feet lifting off the ground.
"W-what? What did... what did you... cough... what..."
Carl held him in the air and watched him die with pleasure, then took him to the palace balcony. Geovric had almost stopped breathing at that moment. Carl released the spell so that Geovric wouldn't die.
"Cough, cough... haa... haa..."
Before Geovric could even catch his breath, the Ashbrum Warriors grabbed Geovric's arms and dragged him to the balcony.
Geovric looked once more at the slain Kislaveins. He turned his eyes to Carl. He couldn't understand what he wanted.
"What do you want, Carl? If you expect me to have a heart attack, you'll have to wait a long time."
Carl had a disgusting grin on his face. Suddenly, he jumped down from the balcony and rose with his flying spell. Then, he raised one hand into the air and created a massive fireball.
"Watch closely, Geovric. I will burn these corpses. They will be the first of millions of Kislavein corpses."
Geovric understood what this madman was trying to do.
Carl threw the massive fireball in his hand at the Kislavein corpses. The corpses caught fire and quickly burned to ashes. Then, Carl went down to the balcony and touched Geovric's shoulder.
"Did you have fun? Don't worry. You will join them very soon."
Geovric's shoulders began to catch fire. The fire quickly spread throughout his body.
Before he could even react, Carl kicked Geovric hard and fast. Geovric was falling toward the ground on one side, and on the other, he was engulfed in flames.
He fell hard to the ground and died in agony. Carl entered the hall from the balcony, sat on his throne, and gave orders to his vassals.
"Prepare for war. Take everyone who can hold a weapon into the army. There will be a great war, and the thousand-year-old Kislavein will become history."
The Ashbrum subjects, all in unison, said,
"Yes, Dynasty Lord."
The Ashbrums prepared for war. When news of this event reached the Kislavein palace, everyone screamed for revenge.
The Ashbrums were grinding their teeth. It was time to put them in their place.
After 500 years, the Second Great Kislavein-Ashbrum War began.
This war would be even more violent and longer than the first.