Age of Heroes (Age of Heroes Chronicles)

Chapter 586: Wandering minds

The Thirteen Tribes were sometimes like Elves and Orcs, where they live in peace with nature. 

There is no tax collector coming to ask them for taxes and their economy while existents is very barebones

Their land is secluded and not many dare sails the seas to come here. Those who did usually were exiles or dangerous people running from authorities.

It is a land where only the strong could live. But this did not mean that they were barbaric in nature.

They very much honor the law of hospitality. Those who break bread with them would be given safe passage. 

Even if they were enemies, if the host had promises him safety, he is expected to honor. The same for the guest. 

As the is etiquette for the host, there is etiquette for the guest.

They follow the creed of their Gods and even when they fought against each other, they would honor their dead enemies if they prove themselves worthy in the battlefield. 

Arial could not help but feel that they have the same sentiment as Orcs when they go to battle and yet when they put down their arms and return to their home, they were as peaceful with nature as elves are.

The land provides them food with abundance. It provides them water and life. There is gems and minerals they could trade with the outside world

Most of the tribes that is living in their ancestral lands trade with each other using barter system. 

It is only when they trade with outsiders that they would use currency. Arial is still trying to wrap up his mind on the economy of the Thirteen tribes.

The conclusion that he gets was that it is very chaotic.

And in the Novus Gaia, there are no such scholars that recite poems and lament the political corruption of the day. 

Instead, they have scholars of the lore, the one they called Pancadongeng who told the stories of the tribes and the Old Gods.

A different kind of administration need to be established here. 

Maybe someday, if he won the battle that he somehow was destined to fight, one of his successor could claim the land and bring about a different kind of rule.

If he were to believe the words of the Goddess, if he won the battle, the world would usher in a new age of prosperity and abundance

But for now, he knew that to impose bureaucracy upon them with all kinds of position would only introduce chaos and upset the natural order.

There is no need for him to do such a thing right now. His task is quite simple. 

Conquer. 

It is something that he is very good at. One could even say he is a genius at it.

It is almost funny when he thinks about it 

From the moment he was born, knowing that the Human Continent would fall into a calamity, he had trained himself with all kinds of fighting techniques, sword skills, warfare and strategy.

He immerses himself on the studies of politics, of power and all kinds of discipline. All of them had made him a stalwart defender, an unstoppable conquering force.

It is almost like there is a hand of the divine behind all of it. 

When he asks what he needs to do, the simple answer comes from the Goddess in the form of winds and the sound of the leaves.

Conquer, she said. 

He almost laughed. 

The judge is still out whether he is truly Asrana. 

Amara believes him to be so. But, he however did not believe it that much

From what he understood about this deity that the Thirteen tribe believes, is that he would be a beacon of light that would bring peace and prosperity to the world 

and in His victory, He would bring the Thirteen Tribe to a life of abundance and of happiness where they would no longer fear the Darkness and peace would last

Arial knows himself. 

If he is really this deity, he could not live up to the expectation and faith that the Thirteen tribe have for him.

He did not feel especially holy, and he did not felt that he is some kind of beacon of light or bringer of peace and happiness. He had grown up

And while he had protected many people, he also had hurt many people. He had lost people he loves and he had felt the coldness of life.

How could such a man be a deity so loved and revered by the people?

He sighed inwardly.

'This is not the time to brood' he thought to herself. Amara seems to also reminded him to not wander his mind too much.

He focused back his thought on the matter at hand. 

He gestured with his hand and the servants standing beside the pillar of the Grand hall come forward and gives each of the person a parchment

They unfurl it and they read it. Inside the parchment is the report of the scouts about the movement of the other states bordering Balhae.

As his subordinate reading the report, Arial is taking his time on how best to broach the subject of administration

What he needs is a simple method of ruling while at the same time allowing him unlimited power and freedom to wage war all over the land.

And he had one. 

'I think it could work' he thought to himself inwardly

Last night when he was beside Ana bed, while he thinks a lot about some personal stuff, or as the Goddess affectionately said, brooding, he also had think of a way on how to administer the land he would conquer 

The one thing that he could praise the people of Thirteen tribe was that they took the concept of loyalty very seriously. 

This is very important for him to maintain stability. 

In the Empire, there are noble houses that truly echoes the word of their House but most noble houses move according to benefit

It is not like during the Age where Levitia and his Companion roamed the land and slay monsters and demons

It was an age of great chaos. 

But it also highlighted the heroes. 

As there is darkness, there is light. The darker the place, the brighter the light

In that Age there were nobles who were honorable and virtuous, who fought for their people and fought for justice regardless of the benefits.

They were humble and they listen to the words of their people. 

And history remembered them for it, living eternally in the memories of their descendant, a story of posterity to be inherited to the next generation.

The people of Novus Gaia, at least the people who mostly lives in the ancestral land of their tribes, they possess this virtuous trait like the men and women that live during the era of Levitia.

Unless the one they follow did not disappoint them too much, they would be loyal to the death. 

As long as you could have the same mind and pursue the same dream as them, they would not hesitate to be loyal and fight with you till the death

They could swear brotherhood with you and go to seas of fires and mountain of knives together to honor this brotherhood

They take oaths and promises very seriously. 

They did not promise things that they could not do, and once they promise they will exert all of their effort to fulfil it. Oaths are sacred to them for they believe it is a covenant between souls.

It is ironic when Arial think about it. He saw more Knight here than in Human Continent. To him, the warrior of the tribes is like Knights of Old.

He could say this very confidently. Because Arial himself had studied in the Knight Academy when he was young.

He himself had created a Knight Academy in Acro after the Knight Academy in Aetherland was destroyed by the church in the early years of the rise of Arrandy

Most of the teachers that he was familiar with has disappeared. So, he recruits new teachers.

Though, he does get letters from them sometimes. 

Arial had invited them but most of them seems to have found their own adventure across the sea

And since there is already a new Knight Academy, some of the teachers that still in contact with him said, it is fine as it is.

Maybe someday they will return or maybe they would find a home in some other lands. After all, Arial knows that not all of his teacher come from the Human Continent. 

The Church might label his teacher as some kind of heretic to the religion but Arial did not care about it that much and the Church couldn't do anything about his protection toward the members of the staff of that Academy that still stay in the Human Continent

Most of his study had rarely touched upon the matter of religion and as for the Church ban, Arial had even purge their Bishops and Priest when they step out of line.

Arial relationship with religion is quite complicated 

He then shook his head. 

This is not the time to wander again, he thought to himself.

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