Chapter 9

The World Ahead

“The Friah’s Cult is the Shadow cast by Light -- why deny it, Lightbearer?”

Mind of the Heretic, Vol. X

Olivia was currently stacking parchments together on the side of the table, her hawk-like eyes scouring through the mass of documents rapidly, picking up the ones she felt were most important while leaving the rest aside. The young day’s sun barely made its way through the curtained windows, splitting into slits of light that spilled over the ornamental carpets on the floor, painting a rather serene scene.

She wore a nightgown, her golden hair trounced into a hastily-made bun, strands fluttering around like a wildbush. There was a trace of anxiety in her countenance, overshadowed only by the visible excitement and anticipation.

Settling down only after a whole hour of high-octane scrying, she stretched lazily in her chair and yawned, walking over to the basin sticking out of the wall and washing her face before quickly changing her clothes into more casual wear, as to not repeat the yesterday's blunder.

Gathering her bearings, at last, she took one last, deep breath and picked up the stack of documents. Just as she was about to depart, a knock on her doors alarmed her and caused her to awkwardly shuffle the papers underneath the nearby sofa, hiding them haphazardly before walking over to the adorned chair, sitting down and calling out.

“Come in.” she crossed one of her legs over the other and leaned back, straightening her spine. A notch of surprise crossed her eyes as a figure flashed in her point of view – it was her Eldest Brother, Evon O’vorell. Despite having just turned fifty a few months ago, his appearance would hardly support the claim; he had a fresh, handsome face enclosed within long and slick golden hair, and a pair of deep, sky-blue eyes shining like the gems on top of the crown.

Though her relationships with her siblings were rather amicable, it was a rarity for them to meet her in person, individually, as she had little to offer for their current aspirations. This was especially the case for her Eldest Brother, Evon, whom she would only see during the meals. Otherwise, he rarely spent time within the Royal Grounds, often even traveling outside the city and through the Kingdom.

“Good morning, Olivia.” Evon smiled lightly as walked up to her and sat across from her, on a sofa. He was a rather tall man, nearing two meters, even shooting past Noah, yet even he fell short of the latter’s robust build.

“Good morning, Eldest Brother,” Olivia nodded gently, smiling back. “This is quite a surprise, I must say.”

“Speaks a great deal of what kind of a brother I am, no?” Evon chuckled, crossing one of his legs over the other as well, placing his arms over his lap, interlocking his fingers and leaning to the side.

“… you jest, Eldest Brother.” Olivia chuckled back. “If anything, it speaks a great deal of what kind of a little sister I am, to have neglected you for so long.”

“… you have learned well,” Evon nodded faintly. “I heard from a few maids that Ludwig came to visit you yesterday. Is everything alright?” Olivia’s worked quickly and figured out the reason behind the visit, setting her heart at ease.

“He indeed has,” she nodded. “And, yes, everything is quite right, Eldest Brother. Young Lord Ludwig came to ask for my seal for a charity organization he and several other young Lords and Ladies wish to found.”

“… charity organization?” Evon asked, arching his brows, not bothering to hide his disbelief.

“That is what he said.” Olivia maintained her words, smiling still.

"… about a week ago," Evon spoke out after a short silence. "Duke Godwind moved a part of his army from the Kingdom's border over to Revvor's Dukedom."

“Hm?” Olivia frowned, her ears perking up.

“Be careful with Ludwig,” Evon said, slowly getting up. “Maintain a certain distance. I have to go now; but, if you would humor me, do you mind sharing a midday cup of tea tomorrow with me?”

"It would be my pleasure, Eldest Brother," Olivia said with a smile, getting up and escorting him to the doors. "I will prepare some exquisite leaves."

“I am looking forward to them, then.”

Closing the doors behind him, Olivia slowly retreated to the chair and sat down, a frown plastered on her face. Though the relationship between Duke Godwind and Duke Ikov Revvor was an ongoing problem, as far as Olivia was in the known, it never crossed into outright hostile. However, if the Duke is willing to forgo guarding the Kingdom's borders in order to put pressure on the rival House, things were heating up.

What bothered her, however, was Ludwig's timing; she was almost certain whatever organization he wanted to start had little to do with doing actual charity, and was connected entirely to his family's recent moves. However, no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't quite pinpoint the possible prospects of such an organization in terms of helping his Father's goals. As her Brother said, she would have to be a bit careful in the coming weeks with him, maintaining a certain distance.

In the end, with no avenues of finding the answers, she dismissed the worries and picked up the papers and documents she hid, once again taking a deep breath and heading out, making her way through the spacious halls of her villa, and down through the narrow corridors toward the Outlander’s room. Pausing for a moment, she remembered to knock first and wait for a second before a reply from the inside sounded out.

“Come in.”

The room was the same as it was yesterday, and the day before, and all the way back to when he first arrived. This time around, however, he wasn’t plastered against the floor, half-naked and sweating. Instead, he was sitting upright on the bed and was putting a book away onto the table next to it. His eyes quickly found their way over to the stack of papers, though remained expressionless.

“Good morning.” She greeted cheerily.

“Good morning, Your Highness.” Noah replied, smiling ever-so-faintly. “Thank You for sending those bandages yesterday.”

“Something I should have done weeks ago,” Olivia smiled embarrassingly, putting the stack of documents onto the table. “Apologies, again, for that mishap.”

“No worries.” Noah said. “That’s a lot of papers.” He added, pointing at the stack.

“… it’s a lot of ideas I feel I should share with you,” Olivia explained. “These are just a backdrop to that.”

“… would you like some wine?” seemingly having noticed her restless state, he reached into the table’s cupboard and took out a bottle and a couple of glasses.

“Thank you.” She accepted the wine easily, taking a mouthful, though it hardly eased her fast-beating heart. “I’m sorry; what I’m about to discuss… is something nary a soul knows. It has to do with secrets I’ve been keeping since early childhood.”

“…” she noticed a visible, though quickly fading, change in his expression, realizing that Synthia was right – he picked up on the underlying clues of his future. She, however, opted out of humoring him, instead choosing to simply lay her cards on the table.

"Lumina Kingdom, as you may have learned from the books, is one of the three Kingdoms situated on the Ethernon Peninsula, sharing it with the Folkfar Kingdom and the Kingdom of Freemen."

“…” Noah remained silent, paying apt attention.

“However, I don’t think you’ve realized that… besides this Peninsula, we – all of us on it – don’t know anything about the outside world.”

“… hm?” Noah frowned for a moment. “But… the maps?”

“The maps are a lie,” Olivia said. “A story we tell to the people when we need to inspire them. We know there is a world outside, as we’ve made contact several times with people from across the Ocean, as well as from across the Misty Deeps, but we have never explored them.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Light’s Doctrine.” She explained. “One of the founding cornerstones of Light, and part of the covenant that allows us to temporarily use it, is that we never look outside the Peninsula’s borders. It is considered heresy to suggest otherwise, and the few people throughout the history that publicly stated their desires to explore were lynched and hanged, regardless of their status.”

“…” Noah fell silent for a moment, processing. “I heard you refer to me as an Outlander a few times. That got something to do with it?”

"… yes," Olivia nodded. "Every language and dialect, every single distinct feature of individuals that originate from within the Peninsula is well-documented. The language you spoke when you first came here is nothing like the ones we have here. This led me to believe that you might be an Outlander."

“… correct me if I’m wrong,” Noah probed carefully. “But, judging by your choice of words, you don’t seem to agree with the Light’s Doctrine.”

“…” Olivia also paused for a moment, biting her lower lip. “It’s… it’s not as though I disagree with all its tenets. But… this one seems outdated. It’s been hundreds of years since the First Outlander gave us Light and its Doctrine; for whatever reason that single part was instituted, I don’t know, but I think it’s time… we changed the way we see things.”

“You don’t seem that confident.” Noah said.

“How could I be?” Olivia sighed. “If a single word of this were to get out, I’d be stripped of all my titles and publicly lynched and hanged tomorrow, no trial, no anything.”

“—may I ask a question without having my own head hanged?” Noah asked, smiling faintly.

“Of course.” Olivia nodded, her expression serious.

“… is Light – or however the nature of it is called – a religion? From what I read, it gave me that impression.”

“… hm,” Olivia frowned for a moment before replying. “Officially we do not call it a religion, but it’s merely due to the semantics of things. Religion implies the reliance of faith within its code; the Principality of Light has no reason to rely on faith, per se, due to the Light itself. But, if I’m being honest, in all but the name itself, it does behave like a religion.”

“… hm, I understand.” Noah nodded lightly, stroking his slightly overgrown beard. “So… in all of this, what is it that you want me to do?” rather than dancing around the bush any longer, he decided to strike at the heart of the problem: what was his role in all of this?

“—all the previous Outlanders, one way or another, were endowed with certain things that we did not have. From the bottom of my heart, I hope you have something that can help me break the chains binding us down, and set us out into the open waters to see the world.”

“…” Noah didn’t avoid her piercing gaze as it studied him; though he didn’t show it on the surface, he was currently having a moment of absolute bliss – after all, he was effectively saved. Moreover, he might have been genuinely blessed in a way as the thing she wanted him to do was the exact thing he’s been doing his entire life. “I don’t have anything akin to Light to share with you,” he spoke out after a little while, breaking down the tense atmosphere. “But, I can help you with what you want.”

“… how?” she asked, the shimmer in her eyes boiling.

“I don’t know how you call it, but in my part of the world, your current structure of governance is called Absolute Theocratic Monarchy,” Noah said – he specifically searched for those words throughout the dictionaries which was rather hard as they were extremely uncommon. “It is defined within the confines of a single ruler through the secular and spiritual segments of the society, and is most often upheld by a singular belief.”

“… hm,” Olivia nodded after a short thought. “We do not call it that, but yes, that’s the core of it.”

“The problem with the system, however, is that the underlying, upheld belief is stronger than any other facet – even the King’s authority, if you’d excuse my transgression,” Olivia remained silent, merely nodding faintly. “That is to say, even if you become a Queen, you’d still be equally lynched and hanged if you come out with it, no?”

“… yes.”

“—in your case, the underlying belief, the Light’s Doctrine, is propagated through the Principality, yes?”

“Hm.” She nodded.

“Then make the people doubt the Principality.”

“Ye—eh?” Olivia stuttered, her eyes widening into saucers.

“Not the Light itself,” Noah quickly explained as what he said was the equivalent of cursing out the Church during the first millennium back on Earth. “Or even the Doctrine, per se, but its representatives. The best way to change the mindsets of people is to shift the hand of authority from the Principality onto either you or someone of your choosing.”

“But—that…”

“And I can help you with that,” Noah smiled faintly, pushing without giving her a break. “I can help you with everything. All I ask of you is that you are willing… and that your dream matters more to you than the elusive teachings of the past…”