“Sadly, the main lesson for us to learn from our centuries of history was that the main reason royalty that does things were so rare, was mostly because actually trying to do something was what got them killed off in the end. Others saw their example and kept quiet instead.” - Ravannah Olesun, Historian and Scholar in the Kingdom of Posuin, circa 579 VA.

To Aideen’s surprise, when they crossed the border between the Duchy and the Royal Family’s personal territory - mostly the region around the capital city of Oleynuos - the situation of the local villages they passed had not turned for the better at all.

Rather, they seemed even worse off than the ones she saw and visited in her journey so far. The villages were full of poor, downtrodden people who seemed entirely neglected by their liege lords even while they tried what they could to eke out a living off the lands, other than when taxes were collected, that is.

Those same pitiful people eagerly welcomed the convoy, especially when they noticed the flag of the Duchy of Dvergarder that the convoy flew proudly. Apparently it had become a habit for the Duke - or whichever member of his family made the yearly pilgrimage to the capital - to share some aid to these unfortunate villagers.

Aideen saw the near-worshipful looks in the eyes of the villagers, as their convoy stopped and distributed rations and other long-lasting foodstuffs amongst them. She herself did what she always did, and quickly handled the ills and injuries of the poor folk, be they injuries from work or hunts, or ones caused by malice of others.

Some of the injuries on the prettier young women - rather unnoticeable and private ones due to their nature and location - painted an unpleasant picture about how these villagers were treated by others, likely ones too powerful for them to retaliate against.

Aideen could mend the flesh, heal the body, but she was rather powerless with the scars that riddled those abused girls’ minds, and could do little about it. She also knew she couldn’t make any long-term changes for them, since she was but a passerby, whereas these people lived their whole lives there.

When they packed up and departed the village the next morning though, she did ask some rather pointed questions to Pedro and Sandra in the carriage, although she was aware that they too, like her, were rather powerless to change how things were done so far out from their home ground.

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“I didn’t know your people so happily went around and abused women against their wills,” she said pointedly to them, as the conditions of those she healed, as well as a couple sob stories they shared, had pretty much confirmed what she had suspected.

“It… is rather a common practice for knights employed by the Centrals,” replied Sandra with a disgusted frown on her features as well. “Many of them are closer to bandits with a veneer of legitimacy than anything, to be honest, and often did whatever they pleased with local villages.”

“They would get scolded if they did it on their employer’s land, so they mostly hit those in the border regions of the royal territory instead, or their neighbors on the other side,” added Pedro to his sister’s explanation. “Needless to say, they were not exactly good examples of knights. One reason the centrals doesn’t dare to do a thing to us border Duchies. We’d run all over their arse in a real battle.”

“Some of their elites might match us, but they tend to be fewer in number,” said Sandra to continue the topic. “Their employers were the sort who’d rather buy a dress interlaced with gold threads than proper armor and weapons for their men anyway.”

“And the Royal family said nothing about it?” Aideen asked with a raised eyebrow. The practice wasn’t that foreign to her. She had seen it happen in conflicts in Ur-Teros as well, as many of the Jarldoms to the east followed similar traditions, as had the various little nations to the north. “I can get why their others neighbors just took the insult, since they’d be smaller and weaker than the central duchies.”

“Peh. The royals are just happy to collect their taxes without ever lifting a finger,” said Pedro as he spat out the open window of the carriage. “As it is, they’re likely too busy trying to cozy up to the powerful centrals so they could remain seated on the throne, rather than get removed to be replaced by a more pliable candidate from another branch family.”

“They’re just puppets on that throne of theirs these days, and as much as it shames me to admit it, we were not free of the guilt of pulling their strings to our tunes either,” admitted Sandra honestly. “Everyone does so, honestly, if only to prevent their own demise. It’s why things almost never get done here in this country.”

“Because none of your factions could ever agree on anything for long, and that leads to further indecision since the royals cannot issue a command without the nobles’ agreements,” said Aideen as she completed the thought. Puppet-kings like in Posuin was by no means a rare occurrence in history. It was rare that no one faction fully controlled them like here, though.

“Pretty much, yes,” replied Sandra with a nod. “Even during the last two wars, the centrals tried to obstruct reinforcement and supplies from heading our way, as they would have liked it if the enemies killed us all without them having to dirty their hands.”

“We were pretty used to that sort of shit though, and had long made preparations for fighting wars on our own. Our three border duchies are united partly because of this shared experience. We are the nation’s bulwarks against our neighbors,” added Pedro.

“Of course, when a monster outbreak happens in one of the untamed lands they cry over to us and demand we send our people to help them,” said Sandra with utter distaste. “They stopped doing so after we made them look real bad in front of their own people several times though.”