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Arc Chronicles Euphema
Euphemia"According to the rumors, and that's all that I have to work with, your highness, but the rumors say that House Frey are criminals.""Criminals?""Indeed. If you've studied the history of House Frey, the very first Frey lord was born a mere commoner. He was a privateer in our war against Britannia three hundred years ago.""He worked for the throne as a privateer. Surely that doesn't brand him as a criminal?""If that was all, I would agree with you. Though the age of privates and privateers has since passed, in his time he was answering the thrones call. The war ended a few years after that first call was put out and the first Lord Frey couldn't bear to part with his new lifestyle. When the war came to an end, the first Lord Frey became a pirate."Had it not been but for a quirk of fate, he would have lived and died as one. He was close to being captured by the Britannian authorities. It was to his fortune that the pirate captain Frey preyed on more than merchant ships. He w
Arc Chronicles Euphemia
Euphemia"May I speak you to alone, Your Highness?" Damon Frey asked. He was polite enough to Dahlia, but there was a certain contempt for Elena Ordel that I hadn't seen before. Maybe there was something to the rumors that Dahlia told me about.The contempt was mirrored in Elena Ordel's eyes, but the two appeared to be civil. "I'm sure you won't mind me sitting in on these important matters, will you lord Damon? Since this does concern the three of us."Damon Frey's smile became frosty. "Not at all, Lady Elena. I have a penthouse ready for the three of us.""But of course. Your house owns this building, don't they? You will forgive me, Lord Frey, if I ask that we attend somewhere more neutral.""We are already here, Lady Elena. Where would you have us go?"There was an underlying current between them. These two were familiar with each other."I can arrange a car ride for us. A limousine-""Affiliated with your house?""There are a few limousine operators across the city," Elena snappe
Arc Chronicles Cal - Euph
Calixte ArcThe sun was setting on Nayoshi. The lights of the city illuminated the darkness and I felt like I was watching New York City as the sun set in the 1920s. Aquroya was an ancient city and while it had its charm, this city was of the modern world. Or as modern as this world had come.Metal skyscrapers dominated the skyline, shining like beacons against the darkened sky. From the window of my hotel, I had a view from far above as the street lights came to life. The people looked like ants below.It would be my last night here for a few weeks at least. The OSI had arranged for propagandists to swarm the base, ready to capture my heroic deeds for the propaganda reels and the radio. The OSI had informed me that I would need to return earlier than expected, though, after a few weeks of content, I would be allowed to return to my future wife.Of course, the propagandists on the other side had been demanding access to my life while I spent my free time with her. I knew there would b
Arc Chronicles Cal - Euph I
Calixte ArcThe Nayoshi airport was full of planes, both commercial and military. My plane was the only foreign one among the lot that wasn't commercial. Most of the planes were from North America, but I did see a few from overseas. There was an Egyptian plane down at the end of the long runway.The OSI officers were dressed in common Aquitese military uniforms. Karafuto, wisely, didn't allow the OSI to set foot on its soil. Not that it stopped the cloak and dagger organization, there were dozens of cells active in the colony, but it was still wise to ban them officially.The OSI soldier saluted me. I offered one back. Why were they here as my escorts?"She's pretty," Princess Kaya said, pointing at Mireille. My wife was dressed in the common uniform, bearing little resemblance to the woman from my wedding photos or the film real. Did Kaya recognize her and this was her way of telling me? Or was she just making an observation? Mireille was beautiful."I'm going to miss this place," I
Arc Chronicles Perview
Chapter VIIIf you've never been to Mardale, I doubt I can truly impose upon you the size of the city. Even calling it was city didn't do it justice. Every so-called city-state was smaller than Mardale. It was like ten or twenty cities in one. A mass of cities fused by some ancient, long-forgotten race. Maybe the gods gifted it to us when they brought us to Elysium, either way, it was so vast.Scattered throughout Mardale were dozens of smaller districts. Hillside, New Port, Waterside, Old Town, Millers Way, Farm Markets, Merchants Square, and hundreds more. The districts were large enough that each had its own dedicated City Watch. For a month, I had made my home in Old Town and Millers Way. Millers Way was good for begging and Old Town had kinder watchmen.I had not only assaulted watchmen but stolen from them. My face was covered in dirt like the rest of me, but I couldn't risk being discovered as the attacker. The City Watch stuck together like mortar and bricks. They wouldn't tol
Arc Chronicles Preview
Chapter VIIIThe room was a good place to hide. Hidden from the streets and the gangs and the blue-clad watchmen. If she hadn't brought me here, I never would have found this place. It was the perfect place to hide. No one would bother with a husk of a burned-out building. This city wasn't built by the Logresi, so this underground cellar might be completely hidden from the authorities. It was a place I wished I had found. It would be sleeping in an empty crate, worried about someone finding me.Not the Blues. They only cared if we were doing something illegal in the view of the fine, upstanding citizenry, or if the aristocracy or officials ordered them to care. The real danger was the gangs of roving thugs. Some of them would go out of their way to look through empty crates or other hideyholes for victims. Normally to robe them of any meager possessions, but I had heard horror stories about being pressed into one of the gangs. Or worse.Kanade wouldn't have to worry about that down he
Arc Chronicles Preview
Chapter IXThe man I was following was a tourist. He obviously wasn't a local, otherwise, he'd know to avoid certain back alleys, like this. The guy turned around and glared at me. "Why the devil are you following me, boy?"Huh. He spoke English very well, but I could hear the slight touches of a French accent. Not the tone of the Lyorenaise accent, but the Aquroyan one. This man was from the Republic. I almost felt bad for what I was about to do, but who cared if he was a fellow countryman. I had a hard knot of hunger tying in me and I needed coin, not national relationships.I pointed to the back of the butcher's shop, where rancid fat was rotting on the ground. "I work there," I told him.The man frowned. He was well dressed like a gentleman, but his lighter skin marked him for what he was: not an Ashford. He didn't have the mannerisms of the Logresi gentry. Sure, he wore fine close, but he looked out of place in them. He adjusted his shirt with a frown and I could tell his waistco
Arc Chronicles Preview
Chapter X"Here!" Kanade hissed, dropping one of those small round loaves of bread in front of me. It had been months since I found out my home had become an empire. Months since I had traded in the Aquroyan denari and sesterce and I was out of money and food. I didn't know how long it had been since the Dread Lord sent me to Mardale, but I hoped my thirteenth birthday would be coming soon. The cold knot of hungry twisting in my stomach was unbearable, but I didn't have a single ha'penny to my name.I stared at the loaf of bread, my mouth starting to water. At that moment, it looked better than anything I've ever had. The man who said hungry is the best spice was right.I wanted to take it... But Kanade was never one to share. I looked up at her, arms crossed, her crimson hair leaking down her hair like blood. Was this some kind of game? "You're not going to hit me if I take this, are you?"The last time I tried to take any of her food, she beat me again. I didn't have the Blues knife