Lesson Two - Part 1

𝑳𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝑻𝒘𝒐: 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏. 𝑼𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒆.

The Kingdom of Domhnall, according to Lyonel, is considered as the smallest out of the Seven Grand Kingdoms in Aleggria. Not only that, it's also the weakest one in military power and the poorest in economy due to the fact that more than 95% of its citizens are humans without magic.

"Have other Kingdoms tried to invade you?" I ask him as he descends from his horse and gave its reins to one of the men.

We stopped in front of a small house with a sign on its front door saying "Healer". He helped me get down from his horse before the other knights proceeded to the castle to report to their superiors.

I used the opportunity to cast a little bit of mind control to Lyonel to stop him from questioning anything from me. I'll know everything that I want to know in no time.

"They can't invade us, mostly because we're under the protection of Lithelle, the second most powerful kingdom after Aesira. But then again, it would seem like they're controlling the kingdom rather than protecting it." He answered diligently as we walked up the steps.

He opened the door without knocking and I hear a small bell ring on top of the door frame. I see a small empty counter on the right side and three wooden chairs on the left.

There's a small hallway that leads to two doors, one on the center and one on the right. I could sense someone inside the room in the middle, someone powerful.

"Please, wait over here. I'll check if Cassandra's present." Lyonel pointed to one of the chairs and I promptly nodded.

I took a deep breath and expanded my senses. I could feel my power flooding everywhere, touching every bit of life within the walls of Domhnall.

Lyonel was right. I could only feel a handful of people who have magic within their systems and all of them aren't even human. Three of them are currently inside of the castle, one is roaming around the kingdom and the last is the person inside the very same room where Lyonel entered.

I opened my eyes when I heard a door open and I turned to see a tall Elf woman behind Lyonel. She has long platinum white hair that's tied to her back, bright violet eyes and elongated ears. She has a soft smile on her face and her aura is just brimming with light magic.

If kindness could kill, I'd definitely die with just her presence alone. Compared to magicless humans like Lyonel and the other knights, you could easily tell that she has powerful magic just by standing close to her.

"Hello, my name is Cassandra. I'm the only Healer in Domhnall. Come, I'll check up on you." She gestured for me to come with her and I did, leaving behind Lyonel.

We entered the same room and saw a small bed on the corner along with different types of herbs, medical tools and different types of books.

I sat down on the bed and watched as she pulled over a small chair so she could sit right in front of me. She was about to say something but the moment she stared into my eyes, she fell right into my trance.

"Tell me something about you, Cassandra." I said, crossing my legs and putting my hands above my knee.

"My name is Cassandra Li Ashkalia and I'm 426 years old. I've been living here in Domhnall for almost 250 years. The place where I originally live, the kingdom of Aesira, use magical beings as their main source of power to the point of abuse, which caused many of their citizens to leave." She starts as she continued to stare into my eyes.

"Why did you choose Domhnall? Do you have any relatives?" I ask, leaning closer to her.

"I have a son named Clima who's the Captain of the King's Royal Guards. We chose to live here because, at first, there were totally no magical beings in this kingdom and we figured that they needed our help. We were right, of course. When we arrived, I had to heal 300 people in a single day because it was a tragic time of constant invasion from other countries and attacks from strong creatures living in the forest." I spot a small hint of sadness behind her voice as if he remembers that day all too clearly.

"Domhnall is just a small nation with no magical citizens. Why are other kingdoms fighting over it?" I was eager to learn more about this world.

"Even without magic, Domhnall is the center of magical resources such as crystals and stones used for spells and alchemy. It's the main reason why the first human king of Domhnall claimed the land as his own and quickly made a country with other human refugees from different parts of the world. Invading and conquering Domhnall is supposed to be easy for other countries, of course, but they have discovered that mining and handling magic crystals and stones can be dangerous to a magical being since its raw state can alter their power permanently and could cause it to lose control. That's why other countries can't simply eradicate the entirety of this kingdom and its citizens." She answers diligently.

I see. But it doesn't make sense if what Lyonel said was correct. Domhnall should be a rich bustling country and not some sort of trash heap for humans. The other kingdoms should be fighting one another to gain this country's favor and not the other way around.

"Then why is this kingdom so poor? What's the history behind Lithelle's protection?" I ask again.

"The former king, Fabien Rorik, wanted Domhnall to be wealthy and engage in different businesses throughout the world. But his son, Sirius Rorik, our current king, was afraid and thought that his father was losing his mind. He thought that sharing our resources would mean the doom of their people because opening the borders to different races would gain potential troublemakers of powerful magical beings. In short, he doesn't trust people with magic powers except for those who have lived in Domhnall for so long like me and my son. So in order to stop his father from executing his plans, he secretly made deals with Lithelle's current king, who tricked him into thinking that he was also a human." She sighed deeply and I wanted to smack their king myself for being ultimately stupid.

"What deal? What kind of person is Lithelle's king?" I pressed further.

"Caldor Darwyvin Evnus, Lithelle's king for almost 150 years, is a male Siren, a very rare sex for their species. Sirens' innate charm and appeal could appear as hypnotizing to anyone, thus the reason why he was able to trick Sirius into easily believing his words. The two of them made a deal; send an assassin to kill King Fabien to stop him from opening the borders and, when Sirius finally becomes the king, Domhnall would focus all of their resources on Lithelle as payment. Sadly, their plans were a success. King Fabien was killed by an unknown assassin and as soon as Sirius was crowned, our resources were shared with Lithelle. Their country gets more powerful and rich by the day while ours only gets more impoverished and oppressed by their authority over us." She has a deep frown on her face and I could feel her anger.

"How did you know all of this?" I raised an eyebrow.

"King Sirius spilled the entire story to my son when he got horribly drunk as he was celebrating his coronation. As of now, only my son and I know of this. We've thought about sharing it with the other citizens, but there are so many people in this kingdom who hate magical beings. Most of them tolerate us only because we help them and that we've been living here longer than them. They would surely accuse us of trying to frame the King and we'd be branded as criminals." She sighed again, this time sounding as if she's conflicted.

I leaned back, placing my hands behind me on the soft bed as support. A plan is already formulating inside of my head, causing me to smirk.