Diversion Tactics.

Under king Alexander continuous victories, the sorhian army constantly retreated, just in the last 2 weeks the Karg Kingdom captured more than 6 cities in the northeast province of Gestares of the Sorh Dynasty, including its capital, the city of widyja[1], dealing a heavy blow to the Dynasty army while also crushing the morale of their troops, forcing the Dynasty to call a temporary retreat, by doing so they've leaved the province completely exposed. Without an army to defens themselves from the Karg Kingdom army, King Alexander seized the opportunity to take over Gestares in one fell swoop, after that in less than 2 days, the whole region of Gestares was anexed by the karg kingdom.

Prince Felix was inmensely distraught, the overwhelming victory of his father in the battlefield had tipped the scales in favor of the Karg Kingdom, meaning that in the next month or so the war could end. As a royal the end of the conflict should've brought relief over the prince mind, but instead, a somber aura seemed to have covered his visage as a feeling of loss and impotence filled his chest.

(An opportunity, that was all i ask for, but at last...) *Sigh*

Was all that Felix thought as a sigh escaped from his mouth. Now that the war was ending, his chances to obtain merits were currently out of reach. In order to compete for the right to inherit the throne, Felix had fought with tooth and nail to prove himself to be worthy from among his siblings, but all he had tried for years have been for naught, he didn't have the qualities of a true leader like his older brother, nor was he as skilled as his 3 brother when it came to military tactics and strategies in the battlefield, he also lacked the social skills of his 4th brother, and even his younger 5th sister far surpassed his and the talents of all of his brothers combined when it came to magical gifts.

With the sight of the crown getting more and more blurry in the mind of Felix, he became self concious of his own weaknesses. With no real allies among the nobles and the royal court thanks to his 1st and 4th brothers, and no real faction of his own, the political power of the 2nd prince was pitifully low in comparison to his siblings, with the exception of some close friends in the academies and the army, prince Felix was pratically alone.

With no support among the nobles and the ministers of the court, Felix has focused all of his efforts into the military and the 6 academies, but even so hes been overshadowed by both the 3rd prince who has become famous in the army, and the 5th princess which awed the mages from all the corners of the Kingdom with her talent gaining the unconditional support of the 6 academies.

Of course, that isn't to say that Felix didn't possess any good quality on his own though, his current lack of allies is the direct consequence of his political views, being the only one from amongst his siblings who shared the same ideals as that of his father, the King.

King Alexander V Vellamar Vista has always been a controversial figure, even before sitting on the throne. Achieving a meteoric rise in the war against the "Thunder Legion" of the Dawn Kingdom, he fought valiantly, leading the troops under his command to fight for the naval supremacy of the country in the sea of storms north of the Saman region, where he emerged victorious, cementing his position as the royal heir with the full support from the army. Later after being crowned King, demonstrating his superiority in naval warfare once again, this time however was against the Sorh Dynasty, in the war from 10 years ago where it was fought the right to control the fjords in the Anzoth region.

But Alexander wasn't only a bloodthirsty warmonger. Inspired by his experiences in past conflicts, and the difficilties he faced, he created a series of political reforms with the intent to strengthen the Kingdom.

The most famous ones were the following:

-The merit system of classes.

-Free public education and the central ministry of education.

-The central chamber of comerce.

-The new law of taxes.

-The registry of mages.

-The reform of the 6.

-The new rights of the common people.

Among many others, the reforms were directed mostly towards the commoners, for Alexander belived in their potential to bring positive change and improve the country with their inclusion. Obviously backlash ensued as the noble households saw these reforms as a naked threat, they belived their status was at risk, for the reforms were striping them of, in their own words, "their god given rights to govern over those in lower position". What was undeniable, is that, King Alexander indeed was also thinking of the nobles when he designed these, and once put into use, the authority and power of nobles was at least halved through the Kingdom.

The reforms were created with the thought of tye development of the country as a whole, benefiting the commoners as he diminished the influence of the nobles. By doing so Alexander dealed a vicious blow to nobility, affecting all the ancient noble families that ruled the Kingdom in conjuction with the crown since its stablishment.

He, like his predecesors, was aware of the attitude of the nobles, as they, since the era of the first king had viewed the royals as competitors.

While appearing subservient in the open, most nobles were slowly chipping away the royal authority from tye shadows, taking control of the territories under them, and turning them into pseudo nations within the Kingdom, were the royals didn't have any real power. After centuries, the royals only really governed over the Karg region, but Alexander wasn't willing to allow this kind of situation any longer.

Having been in power for more than 700 years, although the royals weren't as powerful as they used to be, there were still many allies of the royals within the kingdom, and even though they were behemently opposed, the reforms still went through, mostly due to the fear of the nobles of this being a ruse of the royals to use the excuse of rebelion to get rid of them.

In less than 10 years since they took effect, the reforms brought a significant increase in the living conditions of the Kingdom citizens, while also bringing new blood into the army, the academies and noble circle, effectivelly rising the national strenght as he originally planned.

The people of the Kingdom appreciated deeply the efforts of King Alexander and his kindness, while the army and the academies belived him to be an excellent commander and wise ruler who could see beyond the current sitiation. In the 16 years he's been sitting on the throne, Alexander has revitalized the Kingdom to its current shape.

The great exploits of the king, instead, had been reflected upon his children in the form of equally great expectatives, this produced an extremely harsh enviroment in the competition among the 5 heirs.

Felix predicament was also a product of it, because of the schemes of his 1st and 3rd brothers while his father was out of the capital, he who originally wished to go to war like his father, was instead sent to the rear, achieving nothing but being a bech player, without a possibility to directly participate.

The letter he recibed, was only the icing on the cake, probably sent directly to him by one of his siblings to make him feel worse. But there was nothing he could do, attempting to leave his post without order or a reasonable excuse, was only going to get him labeled as a traitor and a deserter, so he could only wait. Once the war ended if hes is lucky enough, maybe his father would have yet to settle for a heir, and the opportunity to fight for the throne would still be up.

(Only one opportunity..... Ahhh!) In his melancholy, the young prince, waited in his office the inevitable while looking outside his window in direction to the dusk.

[1] I gotta be honest, i don't even remember how i came with that name, it was more than a month ago, and my memories of that day are fuzzy, i do recall though that i wanted it to be different from the names of the cities of the karg Kingdom.