Chapter 102 - The Triumvirate

For a moment, silence reigned, as Kane internalized all this new information with a thoughtful frown. The five women in the room with him remained quiet and waited for him to speak again. 

Luna, in particular, was simply checking her nails, rather than pay attention to the conversation. She didn't much care about all this, and preferred to just sit with her beloved master until he needed her for something. 

Finally, Kane mentally sighed, and turned to the doll-sized Ella on his shoulder, "So, basically what you're saying is that this world is impossible?" 

Ella pouted as her rational mind balked against that statement. "Clearly it's not impossible, Master… But it is weird, and doesn't match with what I know about it. You really should ask Lady Mána." 

He nodded understandingly, and put this down on his list of things to ask Mána about as soon as he had a moment to himself. 

Meanwhile, he was about to move on, when Ella spoke up again. "I could attempt to figure out how this technology works, however," she muttered thoughtfully. "I don't know how strict these universal phase restrictions are, because I still have all my knowledge from Alfheim." 

Kane raised a curious eyebrow. The chance to get another leg up in this world certainly intrigued him. It might take a while, but if she could figure something out, that would surely be helpful. So, he nodded, "Do it. But be careful." 

After getting a smiling confirmation from Ella, he finally addressed the four women in front of him. "Alright, let's put a pin in that for now. We've had ancient history, now how about something more recent? What are the most powerful factions on Primaterra, and where are we right now in relation to them?" 

Once again, the women glanced at each other, before Aelia took the word. "Several smaller factions, organizations, and kingdoms are spread throughout the continent, but the triumvirate are the three largest and most powerful. Not counting the fourth, unofficial power." 

Seeing Kane's questioning look, Aelia continued, "The triumvirate has been around in one form or another since the end of the dark ages. It represents the three races of Primaterra, and consists of the most powerful faction for each race." 

She raised her thumb and counted with her fingers, raising another finger with each mention. "Right now, those are the Kingdom of Feralis, representing beastlings, the Imperium Aeterna, representing humans, and the Nox Dominion, representing demons." 

"Demons?" Kane questioned with a strange look. 

Aelia and the others didn't quite understand Kane's strange look. Only Luna did, who was naturally familiar with Earth's history. 

"Yeah, they're the third race. Why?" Aelia questioned with a hint of confusion. 

Kane took control of his expression and calmed down, before shaking his head. "Nothing, I just haven't seen anything but beastlings and humans here. Is there anything wrong with demons?" 

Aelia seemed satisfied by that, and simply shrugged her shoulders, "Well, you'll always find people willing to hate demons, but it's the same with humans and beastlings. I don't think Demons are better or worse than either of the other races. We just don't have any because the Nox Dominion is located in the south, and not many demons come this far north." 

Kane gained a thoughtful expression for a moment, but then shook his head. 'Whatever. I guess it's no surprise some demons came to Earth, just like Volfar and other races did at some point.' 

Meanwhile, Aelia suddenly seemed to remember something. "Actually," she continued, while tapping her chin. "I think one of our prisoners might be a demon?" She turned to the ramling, "Mira? Weren't you recently part of a raid that included the capture of a demon?" 

"Sure," Mira nodded in response, but then shrugged. "Didn't notice anything particularly interesting about her, though." 

Kane narrowed his eyes as he thought back to the room he was previously imprisoned in. He could really only picture one of his fellow prisoners being this demon. 

But then he shook his head, "Well, no matter. We'll get back to the matter of those prisoners." He turned to Aelia with a frown, "You've mentioned the triumvirate powers now, but you also mentioned a fourth, unofficial power?" 

The blue-haired woman nodded slowly with a somewhat wry smile, "Yeah… to be honest, we're not a hundred percent sure they actually exist. But supposedly, there's a bandit king who leads a loosely aligned cabal of powerful outlaws and their crews which, together, can rival any one of the three major powers in the triumvirate." 

Kane raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? Interesting… How strong do you suppose we have to be to get noticed by this bandit king?" 

He had no interest in truly aligning himself with anyone, but to him, honour was a luxury, not a virtue. If he could live under the protection of the bandit king for a while, only to eventually betray them, that would be fine with him. 

Unless, of course, this bandit king was a reasonable fellow, who would gracefully step aside if Kane challenged his position and proved himself stronger... But that wasn't very likely. 

Aelia shook her head, "Not sure. Although, if I had to guess, I'd say we'd need a Core Linking stage leader, at the least." 

"Alright, guess we'll deal with that later than, assuming they exist," Kane nodded thoughtfully. "Any other factions I should be aware off?" 

Aelia named a few more significant, though not necessarily powerful factions, and then Kane asked his next question. "So now I know the factions and some of the past, but how large is Primaterra, give or take, and where are we? Do you have a map or something?" 

Suddenly, the table lit up, and a holographic display opened up, on which a large landmass was visible. "I found this in the mainframe's data," the holographic Ella explained. "It doesn't have any of the factions you described, obviously, but if you tell me where they are, I can add them. Assuming the general size and form is still correct?" 

Everyone looked at the map in wonder, although Kane was mostly focused on its size. There was a scaling measure, and with some quick calculations, he realized Primaterra was about twice the size of Eurasia, which was a significant chunk of land. 

Although, he had to imagine Primaterra was a pretty violent place, if it hadn't been overpopulated to death after so many years, especially with the generally longer lifespan of Mystics. 

Meanwhile, Aelia nodded slowly. "Yeah, that seems about right. Maps aren't common enough for any first ranker to be able to access, though, but I did see one once." 

She pointed to a forested region in the north, "We should be about here. Then, she drew two large circles, which Ella quickly created on the map itself. "These are Feralis and The Imperium, give or take." Finally, she drew another circle a little further south, "And that would be The Dominion." 

Aelia was pleasantly helpful, which Kane made note off, while she pointed out a few more areas of general interest. Her knowledge wasn't very precise, but it was better than nothing, at least until they found an up-to-date map somewhere. 

Anna, Mira, and Lyra also threw their geographical knowledge in the mix, until they eventually ended up with a raw draft of what Primaterra should look like. 

Now armed with more knowledge, Kane was ready to move on. This time, he specifically turned to Anna and Mira. "Now then, with that out of the way, I'd like you two to tell me everything you know about Feralis and why my status as a lord is such a big deal to you."