Learning About the Situation in Silce

Leon looked at the people who all looked pensive and sad about leaving, but he eventually found someone who was willing to speak with him. It was an old lady who seemed to be traveling with her grandchild, but luckily she seemed rather kind so Leon could easily talk to her.

"Sorry to bother you, but is there a reason so many people are leaving Silce?"

The old lady held her grandchild's hand but replied nevertheless as she slowly moved along with the other people.

"You don't know what happening in Silce at the moment?"

When Leon shook his head, the old lady looked shocked but continued to speak.

"What do you know about the ruling family in Silce?"

Leon replied.

"Well, I know that the king is old and that he has three sons…"

The old lady's mouth almost dropped to the floor when she heard Leon's response.

"That's really all you know? Well, I'll be damned. I didn't think anyone could know so little. You were correct about the king and his three sons."

Suddenly, Leon interjected.

"Wait, wait, wait… were? Not are?"

The old lady rolled her eyes.

"Well if you'd let me finish, I would explain. There originally were three sons. The eldest was the archduke and the two younger sons each held the title of grand duke. However, a few days ago the archduke passed away suddenly and now there is a vacuum of power between the remaining sons."

Although Leon wasn't knowledgeable about the current events in Silce, he read enough to know the significance of the Archduke dying. In most coalition states, including silce, the archduke was the next in line for the throne and commanded huge influence.

Even if two grand dukes opposed the archduke, they would still be easily swept aside, but if the archduke had died the two grand dukes would surely fight tooth and nail for the title of archduke. However, there was one thing bothering Leon, so he asked the old lady.

"Did the king not intervene and assign a new archduke?"

The old lady looked regretful as she spoke.

"Normally the king would, so the two grand dukes didn't shed blood in a struggle for power. However, the current king is rather...militant. He believes that the weak should be weeded out for important positions like the future king, so he would rather have the two remaining grand dukes fight it out unless the entire thing escalates too much."

Leon glanced towards the stream of people who were traveling down the road and tried to imply.

"Soooo, these people are fleeing from the conflict?"

Being reminded of the conflict, the old lady almost winced.

"Yes, the mini civil war hasn't escalated to the point that the king has to step in, but buildings and civilians are being neglected each day. Some civilians even die in the conflict between the two grand dukes by accident, so many of us are seeking accommodation in other states until the conflict resolves itself."

Still, Leon was still confused.

"Why are y'all using this road? I assume there are other roads that would be much faster than this roundabout way?"

The old lady looked back towards the direction of slice and could only nod her head in disappointment.

"You are correct, unfortunately, anything near the capital is currently in chaos due to the mini civil war going on. A piece of advice for you. I don't know why you want to go into Silce as of now, as you can see not a lot of people are like you."

Leon looked around and saw that pretty much no one else was traveling into Silce, besides some greedy merchants looking to make a profit off the civil war. The old lady continued.

"I can't force you not to go, but if you really are entering Silce for whatever reason. I suggest you go to a frontier town, as the capital is extremely volatile. No one's life is guaranteed but the king's."

Leon was already going to the frontier town, but he still gave his thanks and gave a little bow.

"Thank you for the information and advice! Safe travels!"

The old lady waved goodbye as she led her grandchild with the group as they headed down the road.

Hopping onto his horse and trotting down the road, Leon could only curse at his luck.

'To think such a thing is happening, when I try to enter...well I guess I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope for the best. Hopefully, there will be plenty of jobs and quests in the frontier cities.'

Although a frontier city would normally be barren of jobs, the frontier cities in the Coalition often refer to cities that border the barbarian lands. The barbarian land was a barren land that contained many tribes of barbarians who stuck to themselves. There was no clue kingdom or king and the tribes were usually nomadic as they roamed the barbarian land.

A person would think that the Coalition would have easily crushed such a thing, so they could take the land themselves. However, something Leon came to learn while doing research in Mifis was startling, the Coalition did in fact attempt to take the barbarian lands many times.

However, every attempt made by the Coalition resulted in failure. The book Leon read explained that each time the Coalition invaded. The barbarians would do something similar to what the Coalition did back in the day and they would put away their squabbles to form a giant horde of barbarians to resist the invaders.

Even though the Coalition had many advantages like more troops, modern strategy, and importing mercenaries from other countries. Surprisingly, the barbarians always held the invaders off, since their warriors were less in numbers but superior in quality.

Since frontier cities were the closest thing to the border between the Coalition and the barbarians, the cities were usually quite active and for an adventurer like Leon. It often held a surprising amount of work, as people were always in need of protection.

With this in mind, Leon rushed his horse forward as they made their way down the road and stuck to the left as they set off towards the frontier part of Silce.