Arathuk Caskarm."
"A man who never stopped looking for his sister's son."
"The at the time rumoured Railius Aurellion who was said to have survived against all odds.
"A boy thought lost to the intrigues of Chavarian politics."
"But then he found him."
"And got a new lease on life."
"A new cause to serve."
"And the last living gift of his sister to protect."
Publius Pollius a Chavarian Historian.
….
Arathuk Caskarm had been a shell of his former self for nearly 10 years, now almost unrecognisable even to those who were closest to him.
Ever since he failed to protect her.
His beloved sister who had always been there for him, yet in her hour of greatest need…
He had failed her.
The memory still haunted him to this day, a nightmare he saw every night tormenting him, a constant reminder of those he had failed to protect.
It always started on a night filled with blood.
They were surrounded by enemies outnumbered over 5-1 while also facing the legendary imperial guard, a military force that would put fear into the heart of any army it faced.
He was the leader of the forces House Caskarm had secretly sent to keep Thorilsia and her children safe.
But they were not enough.
They were nowhere near enough.
Before that night, Arathuk would have put his men against anyone and betted in favour of their victory.
But not anymore.
He knew better now.
He had seen the terrifying power that unique units held.
He had watched them butcher his men like they were nothing but defenceless livestock.
And it had cost him the life of the person he cared for the most.
Arathuk would have killed for her.
Arathuk would have committed treason for her.
Arathuk would have died for her.
All for her, his beloved older sister.
His men fell left and right, no match for their opponents, who were far more numerous and skilled than they were.
But what was more surprising were the Pelican Guard, how, against all odds and all convention, those loyal fanatics somehow managed to hold the line, taking at least one imperial guard with them to the grave, heroically fighting to the last man in the protection of their lady regent.
They seemed to dance through the battlefield, cutting down one soldier after another before finally succumbing to their wounds, sacrificing their lives without hesitation.
To say it was a terrifying sight was an understatement, seeing men unafraid of death on the battlefield, and he understood why the entire southern continent feared them.
Any other force, even knights known for their loyalty, would likely have thrown down their arms against such dreadful odds.
But not them.
Not the Pelican Guard.
He had heard the tales about them, of course, and heard like everyone else how the Pelican Guards never surrendered and fought to the last, only laying down their arms at the command of their lord and potentially his regent. However, their loyalty would always remain with the rightful lord or lady of House Aurellion, whether he was an old man with gaps in his teeth or a babe still in his swaddling clothes.
It did not matter to them if you wanted to usurp House Aurellion of its power or just tried to assassinate its lord.
Either way, you would have to fight your way through every single one of them before you so much as laid a hand on their lord.
A daunting prospect for even the strongest army to undertake.
It was a headache for any regent without the purest and most loyal of intentions, as it was not uncommon for regents to try to maintain their power or even usurp their young liege at times.
Arathuk couldn't remember how many he killed, but by the end of the battle, his blade was a deep crimson from all the blood he had spilt with the bodies of tens of enemies surrounding him. But he did remember the excruciating pain from the blade that cut through both armour and skin, the blood flowing out through the cut created in his armour to drip slowly to the dirt below.
He was struck down as he and his men tried to save her from the imperial guard, still bearing the scar from where the blade of that damnable vice commander cut him from shoulder to waist to this day.
Despite both him and that imperial guard vice commander being master fighters, he was no match for the veteran knight's experience and training.
Falling to the ground, blood pouring from the seams of his cut armour, he only saw his sister fighting to the last before darkness took him.
He expected to reunite with her in the underworld only to survive.
He had no idea how, whether it was by divine intervention or a generous passerby, but he woke up to find his scar no longer bleeding, surrounded by the dead from the previous battle.
Looking around at what remained of the previous night's carnage, he saw thousands of bodies strewn about of both man and horse alike.
From the amount of dead, he knew that, once again, the Pelican Guards had lived up to their legendary reputation.
Each had fought to their last breath while dealing a heavy toll on their would-be killers.
A toll the Chavarians would never forget.
That was why, when he heard the news from his informants, men he had scattered throughout the Kingdom of Norbohr in an effort to find his lost nephew, he could hardly believe it. The last ember of hope so tiny that it was nearly extinct that had kept him alive until now sparked into a raging fire, and Arathuk finally felt for the time in a decade that he was the same man from ten years ago who had risked it all to save his sister.
He had heard that her son had survived and had been spirited away to gods know where by the grandmaster of loyalty, Leon Mantalon, and what little remained of the Pelican Guards.
Due to this knowledge, he had searched the entire world for her son, but after 10 years of no news, he had almost given up thinking like many others that the young child lord had met his death somewhere at the far fringes of the world. Only that once tiny ember of hope kept him from sinking further towards a depressed death, more than likely a result of excessive drinking.
That is, if such a thing was even possible for dwarves as, apart from perhaps certain elves, most dwarves could confidently drink anyone else under the table due to their love of both drinking and crafting.
But now the impossible happened. After nearly a decade, he finally had news of his sister's son.
He was alive.
He was well.
He was all grown up being the best of both his father and mother.
And if the information he had was anything to go by, his nephew was thriving even in exile with no lands from which to draw income.
Something that seemed absurd.
Yet Arathuk knew that the absurd or impossible is what House Aurellion specialised in accomplishing, much to the chagrin of their enemies, both new and old.
His hand shook slightly, the rain beating down on his black cloak as he turned the door nob to the tavern his sister's son was supposedly staying in and, after entering, quickly found the boy he was looking for.
He looked just like her.
Many said that Railius looked just like his father, Lucius, and while they were right, there were features that he could see that many would overlook, which showed off his dwarven heritage.
Arms that looked slightly stockier than was typical for a human, though he managed to at least inherit his father's height somewhat, but it was his eyes that made Arathuk stop in his tracks, locked in memories of the past. Any doubt he had of the young man's identity died when they briefly locked gazes.
His eyes looked just like his mother's, caring, compassionate, yet glinting with a ruthlessness that was oh so typical of his house.
It was odd to many people how a noble house could be so benevolent and loyal to their friends and yet so uncompromising and ruthless to their enemies.
How, on the one hand, they are willing to forgive an enemy and turn them into a friend and, on the other, kill entire families without hesitation should they cross one of House Aurellion's 'lines.'
This is because many noble houses tend to lean towards one side or the other.
He approached the table as calmly as he could and was relieved when he saw how vigilant his friends seemed to be, each quickly reaching for their weapons, showing that even after a decade, House Aurellion had never forgotten just how much danger they were in.
There was also an older man he recognised.
He also happened to be the only man that Leon would trust to guard his lord, who was not himself.
A man who had learnt directly from Lucius Aurellion himself and who was far more intelligent and careful than Leon ever could be.
Aldorus Belerion the First Commander of the Pelican Guards.
After the shock of his arrival had subsided, the pleasantries were over with, and Arathuk had a full mug of ale for him to wet his pallet with.
They got down to business.
"Why are you here, Arathuk?"
Aldorus asked. While his voice held no warmth, it held no hostility either, as he was well aware that his lord had little to fear from his uncle.
"My greatest regret was failing to save Thorilsia 10 years ago."
"I have come to serve my sister's son if he will have me".
The dwarf said quietly and sadly, aware that shouting out such things was dangerous for his nephew while trying to restrain his grief, as even after a decade, he had not gotten over the death of his sister.
If the Chavarians even got a whiff of Railius' location, then they would send countless assassins to end his life, as the only thing that has stopped them and the many assassins guilds who would love to cash in that particular contract was the fact they could not find him.
After all, until House Aurellion had found a new home and backer, their best option was to lay low as much as possible, as many people and nations would love to turn him in for the Chavarian Emperor's reward and favour.
Not that the ageing dwarf knew that Railius had already secured a backer in the Nathian crown prince, while everyone at the table seemed surprised, except for Aldorus, who seemed to have been expecting this sort of outcome.
All that Arathuk could do now was hope.
Hope that his nephew would accept his fealty so that he could make up for his past failures.
….
Railius analysed his uncle, who was sincere in his wish, especially after receiving a sudden system notification.
[Your uncle Arathuk Caskarm wishes to pledge fealty to you. Would you like to accept?]
[Y/N]
Railius was surprised as, until now, he had almost nothing to do with the maternal side of his family. In fact, he had basically forgotten about them due to his travels and the many problems that were constantly sent his way.
Could the game not give him a break?
Since the game had officially started nearly three years ago, he had been ambushed and schemed god knows how many times, had to fight off mercenaries, assassins and brigands, and negotiate with a crown prince who at any time could take his head while also having to tiptoe around new player allies and NPC nobility alike.
While many other players complained about how repetitive the game could be and how they had to train day after day, Railius had been on a rollercoaster ride every week, and there seemed to be another fire for him to douse.
And some of the problems weren't even his fault!
Yes, most were. He would be the first to admit that he was a magnet for trouble, but he thought at least his subordinates would stay quiet in his absence.
Only for them to kill a landed noble and his children!
They even made a bloody song about it to the tune of the Rains of Castermere.
Admittedly, he could imagine why they did it, and it had turned out beneficial for them, but it was still a massive risk considering that House Aurellion's foundation was in Nathia.
He imagined they only dared to do so because Leon was a grandmaster. Otherwise, they would have been lucky if the entirety of the Nathian nobility hadn't hunted them down like dogs for what they did!
Many people, when they look at the medieval era, see the noble class as nothing more than stupid oppressors who have done nothing to earn the wealth and privilege that they enjoy.
While that is true, they are perfectly capable of uniting when their interests align or are threatened, as King Jon of England experienced when his tyranny became too much for the barons to handle.
Worse, thanks to him being on the other side of the game world, he had found this out from the bloody player forums of all places.
It just reinforced in Railius' mind that he needed to have an intelligence network that spanned every country in the world so that he could get reliable information no matter where he was in the world.
But that was a problem for another day. Now, he had to decide what to do about his uncle, who had suddenly shown up and decided to swear fealty, though it wasn't much of a decision in the first place.
Pressing the 'Y' option to accept his uncle's fealty as only a fool would reject such a loyal master fighter, Railius now needed to decide what to order him to do now that he was serving him.
"I accept, uncle. How well known around here are you?"
"Pretty well, I may not be the current lord of House Caskarm or its dukedom. I am still the duke's younger brother, so even if I were a useless nobody, I would still be well known throughout the kingdom."
"An unfortunate perk of being a Caskarm."
"My mother's family are dukes here?"
Railius asked, surprised he did not think he would have such a powerful maternal family, though it did make sense in a certain sense.
'The game system is fair. If I chose to have an empire as my enemy, I would need to at least have some backing as compensation, and it seemed part of that was having a powerful maternal family to go to for protection or help if needed.'
Railius mused as it was the only explanation he could think of for why the game would make him related by blood to a powerful duke or work so hard to integrate him well into the game world.
'Just another boon from the Dynasty History System.'
Railius thought while Arathuk nodded, surprised that Railius would not know this.
"Yes, House Caskarm are among the most powerful landed nobles in the Kingdom of Norbohr. We can raise at least 50,000 men. My older brother Thorgrim Caskarm, another one of your uncles, is the current Duke of Emberstone, and he was quite angry when he heard what happened to your mother and siblings."
"However, even though the death of Lucius hit the imperial army hard, leading to over 50,000 elite soldiers resigning, Chavaria was still far too strong for us to be able to take on even if we managed to get the entire kingdom behind it."
"Not to mention that if Chavaria is ever in danger, that old monster would appear…."
Arathuk said, not needing to elaborate on who that old monster was, as everyone in the older generation knew just how terrifying the Chavarian minister of war was.
The man who had never lost a war or even a battle in his life.
However, despite Railius' interest in his maternal family's history, as it seemed that they would make for excellent allies, he wanted to stay on topic.
"Your reputation is a problem, uncle, so for now, you cannot accompany me, but I do have other important tasks for you to do, and once my identity is revealed to the world, you are more than welcome to protect me then."
Arathuk looked at his nephew in confusion, not seeing the issue with his reputation.
'Another musclehead. Great! As if I don't have enough of them to deal with already.'
Railius thought idly, sighing audibly. It was much easier to work with Malwin, who had a good brain on him than those who swung swords for a living.
"Uncle, please think about it for a second. You have been searching for me for 10 years, not accepting any work from anyone else, only to suddenly accompany a mercenary captain you met once around the world, protecting him like he is the greatest treasure in the world."
"Do you think people won't notice? Because I can guarantee you, uncle, that such a thing won't happen, and it won't take them long to make the connection to my true identity as the lord of House Aurellion."
"Are you trying to tell the world my identity?"
Arathuk was stumped for a second as he never considered such things.
"So what am I to do, just sit here and do nothing?"
The white-haired dwarf growled like a petulant child.
He had searched for nearly 10 years to be able to serve and protect his sister's son, only to be told to wait longer.
This was not something that Arathuk would accept easily.
"No, you are to do something very important, as important as protecting my life, which you would not be doing if you were to accompany me as Chavaria will send grandmasters after me and if you hadn't noticed, I left Leon behind in Nathia to help me avoid detection as I see the world."
"I want you to help set up a spy network for me here. Malwin will give you all the funding you require."
Railius said, which piqued his uncle's interest. While he could not have Arathuk accompany him, for now, he can use the man's contacts and knowledge of Norbohr to help him do something equally important.
"You plan to join Nathia?"
Arathuk asked.
"Yes, I have an understanding with the crown prince, who would likely be one of the few lieges who would be able to both protect and put up with my house."
"So, uncle, will you help me?"