A Noble Cause

It's evening. The sky is filled with flickering lights. Machiavelli stood in front of several tombstones. Morrigan with her now short cut hair stood beside him with a torch in her hand. Behind them the Castle of Lakefall. It seen better days, However looking at it still gave an intimidating feeling. It was like a scared warrior standing alone, proudly. Machiavelli then went closer to the biggest tombstone. With a paper in his hand.

On the tomb stone there were two names: Anton Machiavelli, Rosalie Machiavelli

"Father, Mother. I brought news that will affect our entire family. First I have to tell you about the most pressing matter. "He lowered his voice

"Our entire family was almost wiped out, by the command of one man, who seeks to gain the power beyond human limits. His name is Roland Wimbledon. Future King of Greycastle, but I fear that this is just the begging of his reign of tyranny, his actions proved me that he is willing to be merciless to whoever dares to criticise his actions. He seeks no cooperation or peaceful resolution if it means he has to give up his power."

"I also fear that his desire for power will overtake him even more, and no one will be able to stand in his way. I also fear other things that might happen to this person... He is clearly the enemy of not just the nobility but every person on the continent. There is no known limit to the destruction he can cause. If this person loses his sanity or overtaken by the temptation of power...The world will burn..."

"His actions in Readwater City proved that he is weak... Despite having the intelligence that cannot be rivalled by anyone on this world. He chose to take the most primitive and commonly used action of a tyrant...Unnecessary violence...I gathered all information I could, so I can say it without a doubt that he had more than four ways to resolve the situation...However he still chose violence...

He could have used his wealth to compensate them but he didn't.

He could have used intimidation but he didn't.

He could have divided the nobles but he didn't.

He could have given them new lands but he didn't.

And so much more...But he did use trickery and cruelty.

He didn't respect the rights of the nobility, therefore what would stop him doing that to anyone."

"I don't know if he was persuaded by someone or someone else did it for him. Witnessing the cruelty done by your subjects personally shows that he had no intension of stopping or taking any actions against it...actions speak more of a man than words ever will."

"For all of this and for the safety of our family. We will leave behind our ancient lands...and fight him in order to ensure the end of the Wimbledon's Reign..."

"The Wimbledon's must be removed from power."

He then went to Morrigan and grabbed the torch from her and lit up the paper in his hand.

"Roland Wimbledon. Future King of Greycastle. By the right bestowed upon my ancestors through their virtues in battles. I will judge your actions tyrannical. You endangered the lives of my family members. Openly disregarded the rights of the nobility, and used force to uphold your rule. Due to your actions I found you guilty of tyranny."

Then the flames completely engulfed the piece of paper, and it lit up all the tombstones nearby.

"From this day on. WE will no longer follow you, our obligations to you are no more...The Machiavellian family declares you as his enemy and I, Ermo Machiavelli Eldest son of the Machiavellian family, will lead the charge until you are removed from power and the Wimbledon's crown is shattered."

"Morrigan Machiavelli, are you willing to be my living witness? "He turned to Morrigan with a proud and dignified posture.

"I-I am!" Morrigan was startled for a second but she answered in a strong tone.

After a short period of silence Machiavelli spoke again. "However I will fight this war lurking in the shadows in order to ensure the safety of our family and because this is our only chance. For this reason, the Machiavelli family officially died on the Redwater City banquette, this way no one will suspect us, I even made tombstones for all three of us. This will guarantee that our war on the king will never be found out no matter how skilled the spy he sends after us or what kind of witch he has. He will never be able to find our trace. However I will defeat him from the shadows..." Machiavelli then leaned closer to the big tombstone.

"I told you many times but now it's truer than ever before. In nature very few things are brave. I hope you will understand. Fighting dishonourably does not mean being dishonourable. You always said that you hated me for being talented in the thing that you hate the most, but not hated me for who I am. I hope this still holds up."

He then stood up and gestured to Morrigan to follow him. Morrigan followed him out of the cemetery and then stopped.

"This might sound selfish but you said all the Machiavelli's died however you ordered just three tombstones. Am I..." Morrigan asked with a downcast voice.

"You are married so you will be 'put to rest' next to Totto within the same tombstone, but if you prefer you can put down the Machiavelli name from now on, because I am no longer a noble, I think. I heard Valencia has already fallen. Who knows what my legal rights are right now."

Machiavelli said it casually, then went into the castle.

"But what about your name then. That means you are no longer head of a noble family."

"I simply picked up my family name as my given name. So now I am just Machiavelli to anyone. There is no reason to be suspicious about it. It's just a 'coincidence' that my given name is the same as a 'wiped out' noble family's name." He shrugged and smiled." And about the looks, well I have already ordered the men to set the portraits on fire along with the archives. There will be no way for them no verify our existence. Only people who know us can recognise us, but I think we will be safe.

We were never the centre of attention, in terms of looks." Machiavelli grabbed the back of his head.

"People say that freckles are a curse, but being able to keep just the right amount of distance from others is surely helpful. Being beautiful means that everyone will want to keep you in his company. You are forced to choose and even if you don't, the invites will never stop coming."

"You speak like you learned that from experience, despite not being the charming prince in many

ways... "Morrigan grinned while saying that.

"I have a good eye." Machiavelli gave a meaningful look.

Morrigan quickly realised what this meant. "I-I am sorry I didn't meant to offend..."bowed her head

"No what you did is what things should look like. I am just a commoner from a while. If I carry any sort of pride that will be suspicious. Well as long as we are on road of a ship. "then something invisible hit Machiavelli like a lighting coming from the sky.

"By the way I forgot to tell father that we are on the edge of bankruptcy... We have 5 gold royals over all. It will take 4 to get to our destination. Then we will have only one..."

It seemed like that for the first time he has to worry about living costs...

"Why does it cost so much? Where are we going?" Morrigan said it with a surprised tone.

"We are going to the other side of the continent, to the Kingdom of Eternal Winter. We will travel by boat mostly. There we will prepare as much as we can against Roland Wimbledon. I don't say it's a guarantee that we will succeed. However I can still make his life miserable with enough preparations... "He smiled but kept his noble posture then he just stood, like he is waiting for something to happen.

"They should be here by now..."

Suddenly a wagon stopped in front of the castle. On it there were five people. Margherita, Spring were in front. Behind them sat Octavio and Boemund. All of them wore rags. Boemund also kept a sword towards the fifth man who had a bag on his face. After seeing they arrived Machiavelli rushed to them quickly. When they saw him come out of the castle everyone stood up except for the person with the bag on his head. Boemund hit him with the sword but he just answered.

"How dare you..."

"There is no point to it Boemund." Machiavelli said while he was moving into the wagon, and then went to the person with the bag on his head. He removed the bag and saw a young man with brown hair and green eyes. He looked pale and very weak from the days spent in prison, then he looked at Machiavelli and said.

"It's you again! Tell me what is going on! Where is my body? Answer me! Or I will..."Suddenly Boemund covered his mouth with his hands.

"My lord why should we carry him with us? Shouldn't we execute him instead?"

"Not this again... No we can't. He knows about the things that only Roland Wimbledon knows. I just have to reassure his loyalty. "Machiavelli leaned closer to the green eyed man.

"Tell what is name? You know what I mean..."

Boemund let go of his mouth. "Friedrich Hofmann."

"Friedrich Hofmann you are now in another world which is so many ways similar to yours but also very different. If you tell anyone the things you just said to me four days ago. They will think you are mad and hang you up. However I have all the evidence that you are indeed from another world.

I know your value and others will think that you are just a madman.

Do you want to follow me or stay here? The choice is yours."

"I want to find my way out of here, that's all I want. If I have to follow you, then fine...kids." Boemund wanted to hit him again but he was stopped by Machiavelli

"Boemund I want you to stay here and give the town up peacefully."

"B-But My lord how can I protect you if..."

"You protect me this way, you will tell the King's soldiers that the lord died with his family, and you took over the town. Understood?"

Boemund hesitated then kneeled and said "Yes my lord...I will abide your commands..."

"We are finished here...Let's move to Clearwater Port from there we will hire a boat and go to

the Kingdom of Eternal Winter.