Chapter 9 - Kingsglaive (Patreon)

"God of War. The Draconian's bonds to the Orlais run deepest among the Six. At the end of the Astral War, when Ifrit had fallen and civilization lay in ruins, the Bladekeeper alone held vigil, awaiting the coming of the Chosen King while the other Gods lay dormant.

At the edges of the ancients, when the Chosen King appeared, it was the Bladekeeper who gave the Blessing to him in the name of Maker and in the Order; his position is the second highest after the All-Father."

- The Cosmogony of Holy Fundamentalism Order

***

"You know that my parents want us to get married as soon as possible?"

Since Ciri had achieved the partial awakening of her Elder Blood and obtained partial Elven Heritage, as she looked like an Elf right now, Kordillus's parents insisted on a fast marriage so they could leverage this against the Elves.

Everyone with even half political acumen could see that if the future Queen of the Orlais was an Elf, then the Elves all around the Thedas would be really accepting of the rule of Orlais, much less being said about the mass migration of the Elves to Orlais.

Since the fall of the ancient Elven Empire many millennia ago, the Elves have lived all around the Thedas in various Tribes and clans, but never under a unified nation.

"I am aware of that..."

She answered with a slight blush on her cheeks, but overall, she wasn't really against the motion itself. When she was a little girl, she was already subject to many arranged marriages by her grandmother, Queen Calanthe of Cintra.

Yet, she vowed to herself that she wouldn't marry against her will, and she found a way to get out of the situations that she didn't want to experience. 

Much to the dismay of her grandmother.

"Well, that is still in the future, but I wanted to let you know in case my mother starts speaking about that."

Kordillus was aware that it wouldn't take long for his mother to speak about it, because it was soon enough time for his ascendance to the Royal Throne of the Orlais. At that time, he was expected to have a Queen and progeny that would continue their lineage.

Obviously, he was also aware that his mother wanted to negotiate another marriage with the House Valmont of Val Chevin. The House Valmont was one of the biggest Ciriane Clans that controlled the city of the Val Chevin, one of the largest cities in the Cirianes territory.

In the Thedas, polygamy wasn't really something new, and many nobles often had several concubines but only one main wife. It was said that the only daughter of Lord Leonidas Valmont was quite a beauty and was even more dangerous a politician than her father.

The union between Kordillus Drakon and Marika Valmont would be practically the unification of the two strongest Ciriane factions in the region, and would make the unification much easier. 

Though with the foundation of the Orlais Kingdom several years ago, the national power of the Orlais Kingdom was far above that of the Val Chevin, yet what the daughter of Lord Leonidas Valmetn did was somewhat surprising.

She began adopting reforms and practices implemented in the Orlais for the Valmont Territories.

And it was paying off greatly.

Though this thing with another possible marriage was something that Kordillus decided to leave his mother dearest in explanation to Ciri.

"I now... she already had some hints, but I pretended not to hear anything..."

Ciri grinned as she said that, because Castana was already giving hints to Ciri that she should prepare for the wedding. Meanwhile, Ciri was skillfully dodging the topic as she wasn't in the mood or even ready to talk about such a thing.

"Well, the coronation ceremony is in a few weeks, so you don't really have a lot of time to keep dodging."

In a few weeks, Orlais would welcome a new King.

"You won't make me do some paperwork or actual ruling, don't you?"

If there was one thing that she dreaded, it was the fact that she would need to do actual ruling, which was something that she wanted to stay away from as far as possible. She wasn't really fit for it, nor did she like the idea of doing some boring paperwork or anything similar.

"Come on... we have been over this already several times, Ciri."

Kordillus said with a sigh because Ciri was adamant about avoiding the responsibility.

"We will find you something that you would actually thrive in, don't worry..."

He said as the woman in question gave him a very questioning look, like she didn't believe him entirely because it felt like a trap. 

"We will see that..."

Ciri uttered quietly as her suspicion didn't really leave her entirely. In fact, Kordillus wanted to find her a position within the Military or something like that, because Ciri actually liked fighting and exploration. 

Obviously, she didn't have any patience for the art of governing, but there were many uses where she could apply her talent.

***

Training Grounds of the Kingslaive, Two Hours Later

Kingsglaive

An elite group of soldiers that was established by Kordillus Drakon three years ago.

They were made from the Mages, who either left Tevinter or escaped from the persecution of the Cult of Andraste and its variants that were killing and persecuting any and all Mages that they saw.

In the proportion, most of the members were from the Tevinter, because many Mages of the lower social standing were leaving Tevinter due to various reasons. Many Mages of the Tevinter origin were from destroyed houses, or many wanted to try their chances at the Orlais compared to the Tevinter.

The Glaives were small in number, as there were only around fifty of them, but each of them was the best of the best. They were carefully selected among the Mages of the Royal Magic Corps for their power, talent, aptitude, and results.

Among the Kingsglaive's members are warriors and mages who participate in military operations. The Glaive receives its orders from both Prince Kordillus and its Commander Titus Drautos, but it otherwise lacks a ranking system. No soldier within the group is subservient to another.

Each member wears a uniform that consists of a black frock coat, black pants, black fingerless gloves, and black, knee-high boots. In combat, the Glaives don black hoods with ornate visors, and some choose to cover their faces with pieces of black cloth.

Many members customize their uniforms; a leather chest plate protects their vitals.

The female mages wear leather, hooded bodysuits, thigh-high, heeled boots, and small capes with red interiors.

The uniforms of the Kingsglaives were made from the most durable hides of draconic species found on the Thedas, and it required rather significant investment from the side of the Orlais Kingdom into the creation of the Kingsglaives.

"Attention Glaives!"

Suddenly, all of the Kingsglaives stopped what they were doing, as they straightened themself into the perfect posture and looked at the silhouette of their Commander, Titus Drautos.

Commander Titus Drautos was a middle-aged man with brown hair, blue eyes, and a scarred face. He wore a jacket made of red leather, black gloves, black pants, and black boots.

"Salute to the Royal Highness!"

Immediately afterwards, he said as everyone readied their weapons in salute as they saw Prince Kordillus entering the training yard of the Kingsglaives. 

"At ease."

Kordillus said as he came to the training grounds of the Kingsglaives. Everyone stood totally unmoving as they all awaited the next words of the Prince of Orlais and founder of the Kingsglaive.

"I will keep things short. In the city of Val Forent, a revolt is instigated by the Cult of Andraste and their forces. As we are speaking right now, they have taken over large parts of the city, and the fight is still continuing. Queen gave authorization to send in the Glaives through the portal. Our mission is clear: we are to carry out a decapitation operation and kill the leadership of rebel forces and anyone connected to them before the 2nd Legion, the Golden Lions, arrives and takes over."

Kordllus Drakon gave a very short speech, but everyone knew where they would be going and what they would be doing. The current Royal Military was divided into four Legions, each numbering ten thousand troops, ranging from the Infantry, Cavalry, and other specialized units.

1st Legion - Royal Sentinels

2nd Legion - Golden Lions

3rd Legion - Luna Wolves

4th Legion - Sun Heralds

There was even the fifth Legion, the Doom Legion, that was currently being trained, but it would take another five months until they finished their basic training. Kordillus was bringing standards of the professional soldiery and modern training to this world.

Most soldiers in Thedas were weird. The vast majority lacked standardized training, because, as far as he knew, only Tevinter had anything similar, and they trained their troops for only two weeks before being named to the Imperial Army.

The rest of the factions acorss the Thedas, with the exception of Dwarves, didn't have anything like professional soldiery.

Each Orlesian trooper underwent very extensive training, a combination of physical training, weapon training, and basic education, such as learning to read and write for those who didn't, as well as other useful skills on the battlefield.

Initially, many thought that a six-month-long training course was unnecessarily long, but the results proved otherwise.

"We will be using Portals to get into the Val Chevin as soon as possible. Commander Drautos will brief you on the rest of the information about the mission. Thank you for your attention."

With that being said, Kordillus proceeded to leave the training yard as Commander Drautos, who was the leader of the Kingsglaives, proceeded to explain the battle plan.

Kordillus, meanwhile, returned to Ciri and to meet with his grandfather, who wanted to speak with both of them about something. Both he and Ciri were at the Complete Silver-Tier, meaning that they were ready to try to reach the Gold-Tier.

For both of them, it would be an important step forward, especially for Kordillus.

[Mission: True Expert

Description: Reach the Gold-Tier before initiating the Great Crusade

Reward: Runefang

Status: Pending]

From time to time, his System would assign him a mission. Some missions were totally useless as they barely contained any rewards, while some contained rewards that were not even suitable for him that much, actually.

Like this one that would reward him with a Sword, even though he was a Mage. 

But then again, at least he would have a sword of superb quality that he could use in combat. 

For the last mission, he got Primeval Titanite Liquid.

Which he gifted Ciri to use on her sword, Zirael, which then elevated her weapon to the Artifact-like standards, and it became a truly extraordinary weapon. This time, he would at least get something that he could use for himself.

Nevertheless, despite this mission or not, he was rather eager to advance to the Gold-Tier because it would give him far more confidence during the events of the unification wars.

Not like the Ciriane Tribes and Clans actually had many strong people. 

Because of the spread of Andrastianism among their population, many Mages were killed or fled the lands, which caused their collective strength to drop considerably. And for the Knights and Warriors, it was pretty hard to reach the higher Tiers, as they lacked Magic, which made the advancement a hundred times harder.

There were only around three notable threats in his palsn.

1st was the Cult of Andraste, which may or may not have some powerful warriors among its ranks, which was a big unknown. If there were any and nobody knew, the public knowledge was that most perished during or after the Exalted March against the Tevinter Imperium.

2nd was a possible intervention from the side of Tevinter, but the chances of that happening were relatively low.

3rd was the solid chance that some of the Clans had powerful Mages amid those ranks, because not all converted to the Andrastianism.