The Loyal Pendragon Knight Dragoons

["Byran! Byran! Where and what is that trouble maker up to now?!"] Byran remembered his old teacher calling out to him back when he was still but a young Knight's Squire, staring at the neglected outer walls of Maine as he sighed in regret.

Byran was once one of the orphans adopted by the Pendragon's private Knights Order: The Pendragon Knight Dragoons.

At first, he was but a lowly stable boy, but as he saw the Knights train every day he started to dream of becoming one.

With his unwavering hard work and diligent training he eventually became a Knight's Squire, then was eventually Knighted by The Wych Ddraig (The Great Dragon), Gwaine himself, experiencing firsthand the greatness of Maine's Knight Dragoons.

It was the golden age for Knights in Maine.

No, to be specific it was the golden age of the Pendragon's Dragoner Knights, better known for their name as the Order of the Pendragon Knight Dragoons.

There was no Emperor, King, nor Noble who did not know of their legendary Order.

The Pendragon Dragoner Knights wore shiny black armor with golden designs as they rode on their war-bred pitch-black horses.

And in front of them was a man who wore an almost identical piece of armor but with a much more intricate and fierce design that symbolized his noble and regal identity.

This man would come to lead them into every battle and each time into glorious victory!

"Sir Gwaine…" Byran tried to hold back his tears as he remembered their glorious commander.

When they charged, Armies collapsed, great Generals retreated, and Castles fell from the sheer intensity of their charge.

Everybody feared their Pendragon Dragoners.

While other Knight and their horses galloped, their steeds soared.

Some of their traumatized enemies would even say they rode on black Dragons disguised as hoses, rationalizing that no horses would be that ferocious.

But to Byran, the best part of that golden era wasn't the glory nor the fear they received from defeated foes, no, it was the admiration and cheers of the people as they victoriously paraded through the once glorious streets of the once glorious Great City of Maine as flowers petals thrown and scattered to signify their victorious return.

But now, Byran, no longer a young boy, but a grizzled old drunkard could only sigh as he looked at Maine's outer area of disrepair.

The forests had already begun to reclaim the abandoned houses as the ounce mighty and unbreachable walls were now being eaten away by moss and overgrowth.

Byran sighed as he remembered the once crowded streets when you had to wait an hour or three just to get inside the gates due to the traffic.

But now it was empty and desolate.

Byran's face began to distort as he remembered the horrific decline of Maine as it crept overnight.

The previous Emperor suddenly passed an edict that made trading with Maine illegal, surrounding the City in a hypothetical yet all too real wall that starved it to death.

Traffic suddenly stopped as new roads were erected that went around Maine so that Merchants and their trade routes couldn't pass through but instead around it.

The people didn't understand the heartless Emperor's decree as he let a city with a population of over a million people starve and descend into poverty.

After all, no one except for a few close members of the Alastor Imperial Family knew of the secret Shadow War that was being waged against them. And so to the people outside, the previous Emperor was just being his usual erratic and tyrannical self.

But Byran knew it must have had something to do with the opposing political agendas of the Pendragons and the Alastors.

Sadly, it seems that the other Nobles took the Emperor's side as nobody challenged the decree, not even The Great Dragon Gwaine fought against the Emperor's proclamation.

Many people including Byran think this is the reason why Wael died. Although he was an incompetent buffoon, he at least still cared for the people's well-being and died from the stress of having his city blockaded.

Byran was only a low-level Knight back then and like most of the people at that time, was gravely unaware of the secret civil war that Wael waged against the Empire, many of them at the time didn't really know what happened as Wael simply disappeared one day.

And so they simply assumed he had died…

After his son's presumed 'death', Sir Gwaine was never the same again.

He suddenly stopped training, gained a lot of weight, and lost all the will to fight back as he just let the previous Emperor abuse his power as Maine swiftly declined from a once Great City to a now minor Town.

The only one to keep Maine from truly disappearing was Duke's mother, The Countess of Maine, but even she died sometime after her husband passed away.

At first, Maine's downfall was hot news to everyone as everybody talked and gossiped about the embargo and about the abuse of power the previous Emperor committed.

But as 10, 20, then finally 30 years passed, Maine eventually had been completely forgotten by everyone.

The Great City that had once boasted a population of more than a million people had now become 9000 or less and only the Inner Walls were still operating.

The area Byran was currently in had already become a neglected ghost city that encompassed more than three-fourths of Maine and surrounded the Inner-City area which had become the new town of Maine.

Maine was now just a forgotten town surrounded by its once glorious abandoned past.

The fiercely loyal knights stayed with Gwaine at first, but as the older generations began to retire due to old age, Byran's generation, the less talented but still fiercely loyal middle generation held the reigns within the Knights Order.

Sadly for them, however, none of the talented younger generations came to stay with the now empty husk of the Pendragon Knight Dragoons.

Most of these talented youths even began to entice some of his generations to find work elsewhere.

Slowly the Knights began to leave one by one. And the talentless captain, Byran, could do nothing but watch as the Order eroded under his incompetent watch.

Byran began to slowly hate the Knights that left, seeing them as ungrateful cowards who neglected their duties in favor of money.

Until...

["Stay with you in obscurity?! I am sorry master... But I cannot give up my future for a neglected town... Whether we like it or not, Maine is finished! I don't know why you old folks still cling to it! It's better to… just let go! Let's rebuild elsewhere, Come with me master! I am sure you would be able to get a position at the capital with your long experience!"] Byran remembered his talented apprentice who had served as his squire for 7 years.

The young boy had already surpassed his talentless teacher in swordsmanship years ago but had still stayed with him for two years in an effort to persuade him to leave Maine.

Byran knew that he could no longer hinder the boy's destiny and wished him farewell as he would only be a burden to the young talent…

And so started the days of Byran drowning himself in alcohol… sad disgusting alcohol that Byran didn't even like.

Sadly, Byran liked its disgusting taste more than the helpless feeling he had towards his hometown.

But right now, it wasn't helplessness he was feeling.

No.

It was hope.

As the negative emotions once again started to take hold of his heart, he suddenly remembered the words of a certain fat Count.

"Let's go subjugate the bandits!" A fat count blatantly ordered him as if Byran didn't try to do so already, but instead of anger, it was exhilaration he felt, as he saw those were the same eyes and conviction Gwaine once had.

"K-Kahkakakaka!"

Byran couldn't help but laugh at the young turd's words as tears suddenly formed from Byran's eyes.

"Maybe the Pendragon legacy isn't over yet… Kuk-hahaha. It isn't over yet!" Byran shouted as tears of hope cried out towards the empty city.

"Hmmm…" Duke who was inside a carriage was thinking about the events that had happened that day inside the Knight's barracks.

Duke always felt that the Barracks was too large and amazing for a small town like Maine, but he was soon told by his grandpa that the abandoned buildings outside Maine were actually once part of the small town and that Maine was once a great city.

But what Duke was thinking of right now wasn't the barracks itself but what had happened inside it that day…

That day when Duke 'courageously' (Shamelessly) ordered: "Let's go subjugate the bandits!" to the group of old men inside the barracks…

After saying his blatantly disrespectful request to the old Knights inside the room, as expected they suddenly began laughing their asses off just at Duke.

He already knew this would be their reactions and was almost about to babble about being the 'Lord of Maine' and about his (non-existent) authority as Maine's lord and whatnot, but what he didn't expect was their next reaction after having a big laugh...

After laughing for some time, some of the old Knights suddenly began to cry, even Byran, the old Knight's captain who was drinking in a corner came up to him and started to pat him on the shoulder.

Byran looked like he wanted to say something but couldn't due to the tears clogging up his words. Byran tried his best to hold back his tears as he ran to the Barrack's armory, shouting:

"Clean up the training grounds! We have work to do men!" as the other Knights got up from their asses and also started to run around the place.

Weirdly enough, it was surprisingly easy for Duke to get them to do what he wanted…

[Huh, and I thought commanding Knights was hard... Tsk tsk tsk, silly old grampa... they seemed pretty enthusiastic to me! Wait… no! Maybe it's because 'I'm' just REALLY talented ey? Kukuku, I guess being a commander just goes naturally for me] Duke thought as he remembered his grandfather's incessant babbling about the hardships of being a commander.

That day, Duke was forced to follow them in their training as he was set up with other soldiers to train without a word coming from the senior Knights.

Duke couldn't even deny or complain about the sudden training session as the Knights didn't seem to hear a single word of complaint coming from him due to the weirdly extreme enthusiasm they were exuding.

And so, overpowered Duke had simply given up on complaining and silently followed the training regiment they had set up for him.

This was why he returned home late that day and was a little bit more tired than usual when he got back.

Duke didn't know that the Knights that stayed in Maine, were, like Byran, some of the loyal orphans adopted by the order.

These Knights knew they weren't talented enough to look for jobs in other places, and even if they were, their extreme loyalty towards Maine prevented them from doing so.

These Knights were as hopeless as Byran and when they saw the newly found dedication Duke had in his eyes a spark of hope started to ignite from their once washed out spirits as they remembered their past glorious leader.

Yes, those eyes full of spirit that Duke had were the same eyes Gwaine once had.

And at that moment all the Knights that saw Duke had one thought: It was the words Gwaine always used to say whenever they had encountered something hard.

They all thought:

[For as long as I (We) stand, nothing is over yet!]