(IN) Chapter 08 - A Letter From Duke, To Vivian

10th of Craving, Year 09-435, Evening. After the Eclair brothers introduced themselves and convinced Duke with their talking, Duke was once again left alone to himself as Byran and Bran were too busy in training themselves well into the night.

Even as the other soldiers were already about to head to bed, the old Knights, not wanting to waste any time, made sure to train with the manual Duke had given them.

Thanks to this, Duke was left alone with enough time to write a letter back home. Under Byran's coercion of course...

"I better return now Duke, the men would need someone to guide their training... Especially now since you're too preoccupied with your injuries..." Byran disappointedly stared at Duke, as if telling him [I told ya' to listen to Bran, now look at you! You look like a damned mummy!]

Feeling Byran's stares at him, Duke responded: "It's not MY fault! I thought my body could still handle it!... Plus I already feel better thanks to the remedy Sir Caleb applied! Can't I continue training with you guys? Pweees?" Duke tried to act cute.

Sadly Byran was not convinced, and he was met with the response:

"Please take the night to rest your injuries! And write back home too! So they won't worry for you at least! Ok?" Byran stared Duke down like an angry father scolding his mischievous son.

*Che!* "Finee... I'll go write home, now get outta here" Duke finally relented as he shoved Byran away, back to the training grounds where he was needed, as a table was set up for Duke, with a pen a piece of parchment.

As Duke couldn't really move his body thanks to the bandages covering him from head to toe, the table was set comfortably enough for Duke to be able to write.

Duke finally began writing the letter...

"Dear Vivian... and friends..."

5 days later, an angry Vivian, visibly tired and lacking sleep, was stressing over the mountains of paperwork that was dumped on her, when a shout from Benjamin came from outside...

"Milady! Milady! Duke's been found! Apparently, the Count's currently leading the Army we've sent to help the war effort!" Benjamin blurted out in surprise. And who could blame him, it has been a little over two weeks now since Duke's disappearance.

At first, the people just thought Duke was currently lost in some forest somewhere dead drunk after the feast.

But as a few days began to pass with no news of Duke, Vivian and Benjamin's worries only continued to escalate even further as the whole of Maine went into chaos.

And now, suddenly, Benjamin was greeted with the news that Duke, the same Duke who had been complaining about not wanting to go to war due to his shocking and eye-opening experience with bandit subjugation, had volunteered to lead the Army to fight some barbarians... Voluntarily.

Not only Benjamin, but even Vivian couldn't believe what she was hearing, thinking to himself: [Did Duke lose his mind?! Why is he wasting his time joining a war for goodness sakes?!]

"Milady! A letter from the Count has arrived! And it's addressed to you!" Anna hurriedly ran into the room holding the letter Duke had written for Vivian.

"Huh, everyone, we still have a lot to do... So let's take a little break for now... Before we overwork ourselves..." Vivian ordered as she then stared into the mountain of documents next to her.

Benjamin and Anna happily complied as their tired gazes met each other, and saw each other's worn out stature whilst leaving the Study-cum-office room, thinking to themselves [Before we overwork ourselves, huh... I think it's a little too late for that milady Vivian...]

*Clack* As the door closed and Vivian was left alone in the Study room, all the fatigue she had accumulated over the days suddenly lightened for a little while as she slumped on her desk, slowly opening Duke's letter.

[Stupid Duke... Was it that hard to say goodbye or something before you left?...] Vivian sleepily thought to herself as all the worry in her heart eased up a bit.

Even though Vivian outwardly denies it, she was incredibly worried when Duke suddenly disappeared. Afraid that she might just be left alone again, just like the time before she met Duke.

Vivian slowly opened the letter and read out its contents:

"Dear Vivian, and friends, I have written this letter to inform you just how much I miss home... But nevertheless, I have a duty to one's home and country, bla bla bla..." Duke's myriad of excuses began pouring out and even continued for a while as he tried to justify his sudden disappearance in the letter.

Vivian read the letter, angrily thinking: [If you miss home so much, why'd you even leave in the first place?!] Vivian reacted, visibly annoyed.

"And so I've decided to join the war effort, to drive back the away barbarians who dare challenge our way of LIFE, our way of Freedom..." Vivian read the letter, shouting to herself: "Who the FUCK is this person?! When did Duke ever care about Brune's 'wAy oF LiFe' or 'fReEdOm'?!" Vivian asked her self as she massaged her forehead.

As Vivian continued to read the letter, overtime Duke's letter slowly reflected his real thought too...

"... Besides, you'd probably be happier without me there to constantly annoy you, right? I bet you're sadder that Bran also volunteered for the army, rigghhhtt?" [Huh, why did Bran suddenly come up?] Vivian obliviously wondered.

[And what does 'rigghhhtt' even mean?!] Vivian grieved over the fact that it was quite hard to read Duke's over the top colorful writing.

But maybe it was also because of his colorful and vivid way of writing that Vivian didn't feel too lonely.

It was as if she was just talking to Duke, [But instead of hearing his words, I'm reading them through a letter] Vivian thought to herself as she continued reading the letter:

"You don't need to worry about your little boy Bran, he's safe here, in fact, he's actually flourishing! Just yesterday, Bran awakened his Aura! In just a timespan of THREE days! Can you believe it?! I bet you're pretty proud boy~ huh?... Of course, it was under MY tutelage.

Oh yeah, and another thing!

This morning I saw a wild pack of Flat-Faced Bulls, and they were freakishly huge I tell ya! The ground and even the whole forest was scarred by their feet! Their stampede was more akin to a natural disaster than a pack of wild animals! Imagine bulls you see back in Maine, but twice the size, and aggressive as hell.

The army had to rest for a while because of them. I also met the Eclair brothers during the wait..."

Through the letter, Duke began telling Vivian about his day and all the weird encounters and experiences on the road.

"Oh yeah, I, not to brag, managed to make a new Aura Training manual for the Knights! Pretty impressive, eh? I even made one for myself!... Though the training didn't end so well..."

Vivian happily continued reading Duke's letter, her fatigue visibly gone from the wild to mundane things Duke wrote on the letter.

"Hahaha, a mummy?!" Vivian giggled as she read the part where Duke was 'bandaged' (mummified) by the old Knights whose every remedy for any injury was bandaging it.

As Vivian finished reading the incredibly long letter, Vivian's worries began to fade, as she quietly fell asleep on her desk.

Seeing Vivian resting happily, Benjamin and Anna put a blanket on her, so as not to wake her up, they couldn't carry her to her bedroom, knowing she'd immediately go back to work if she does wake up.

Never in her life did Vivian thought a simple letter could bring about so many emotions in her: Relief, worry, confusion, annoyance, intrigue, and even laughter and adventure.

The next day, after sleeping properly on her bed, Vivian immediately wrote a reply letter to Duke. And so began Duke and Vivian's correspondence, where the two continued sharing every little detail about the things that happened in their lives while Duke was away at war.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but thanks to the letters Duke and Vivian sent to each other, it never really felt like they were absent from each other's lives.

Six days later, Duke received Vivian's first reply letter, stating:

{RETURN IMMEDIATELY! OR ELSE!}

Suffice to say the two's letter-correspondence started off to a rough start...