Parthevia Empire

[Bloodedge]

"Thanks," he said as he slipped the fingers of his right hand underneath the locket. He separated it from the girl's skin to bring it closer to himself as he inspected it thoroughly, and true enough, it was exactly what he thought it was. "I was right. You're a Dungeon Capturer. I am as well. That is why I am interested in abolishing slavery here. When I am king, I plan to have slavery and poverty be things of the past. You seem to be a very rational person, Shadiya, so I hope you'll understand that this isn't a situation in which I can easily take no for an answer."

[Apollymi]

Shadiya was exceedingly still as this man inspected her locket. When he subsequently came to the conclusion that she was Dungeon Capturer she blushed. After all, most didn't think her capable of such a thing and to be fair she might have had a very easy go of her Dungeon given how she'd gone about it. Beyond this the man revealed he was also a Dungeon Capturer and had set his sights on something much higher than she'd dreamed. It seemed he wanted to rid the world of poverty and slavery among other things, this righteousness was rather interesting to her, and she was inclined to agree with him, she was also a very rational person and with this in mind she began speaking. "Those are noble goals but surely you realize that those are things which can't be undertaken lightly." she said seeming to think about it more. "To be fair, I never cared to have slaves in the first place." she said, "But have you thought about what is going to happen if we free them all. A sudden influx of people that large into a country this size would be draining on its economy. It would create a class of poverty which you spoke about wanting to abolish as well." she said. Her points valid of course. The very quiet Yasmin had taken a book from the shelves and was reading while following along with the conversation at present. She'd also been thinking about this for quite some time, and since it'd been her idea to free this place, she'd also done a great deal of thinking about what should be done with it. More so, than one would think a former slave capable of. With this in mind a knowing smile crept up to her face as she finished reading the passage she'd been looking for and closed the book placing it back on the shelf.

[Bloodedge]

"Forgive me, but I must disagree." Fudo released his hold on Shadiya's locket by gently placing it against her skin, as to not let it merely fall back into place. Now that he had no reason to be in such close proximity, he seated himself again, crossing his right leg over his left and placing both hands in his lap. "You and the rest of your family... you're all Lords of this place, right? Because there is one way to actually improve the economy by freeing the slaves. Renounce your lordship, both of you. If the slaves are freed under the right circumstance, there won't be a need for a following revolt. Then what? They will join society, and they will do so as harder working members than anyone else in the country. Give them proper citizenship, and they will be left to fend for themselves. I'm sure you know where that leads. Each one will work for their own profit, and every man, woman and child will eventually turn a place like Parthevia into a prosperous nation the likes of Sindria."

[Apollymi]

Shadiya looked at this man oddly, and listened to the entirety of his speech. She hadn't considered that there was a way to free everyone without there being violence involved. In fact, it was one of her main reasons for not doing so herself, as she was only a child when these people were captured and she was never directly mean to them, she didn't want any of their ill feelings directed at her. But it wasn't until the mention of the country of Sindria that her eyes went wide. Actually it was at this moment that she remembered where she'd heard this man's name before, and the recognition of him in this moment made her voice come out in an excited and girlish squeal. "YOU'RE FUDO SHAKIR! CROWNED PRINCE OF SINDRIA!~" she finally managed nearly falling out of her chair as this man was probably the last she expected to visit her just to talk politics. Her earlier shyness immediately returned as she averted her gaze and began speaking again in a normal tone but there was a bit of a blush on her face that lingered as she thought long and hard about it. "I uh..." she said thinking about it. "I have no problem freeing the ones left to me. I never cared for nobility or anything of the sort to begin with... so I'd renounce my own lordship without a problem but..." she thought about it before speaking once more. "I am not sure my brother would agree. Especially in light of our visitors. If he is convinced though... I'd do as you ask." she finished with a nod.

[Bloodedge]

Fudo's eyes widened as well, specifically due to the purple-haired lass' outburst upon realizing his status. Nonchalantly rubbing a few fingers of his right hand along his forehead, he paused, searching his brain for a proper response. "Well... yes, I am, but that is a matter for a later time. I'm glad we're on the same page about the slaves, but..." He paused again, taking a moment to think things through. The southern base of this family had been virtually cleared out, but if Shadiya's words could be taken as any sort of clue about her position in this matter, the north was under the control of this brother she spoke of. "The south is free of slaves as we speak. It was our intention to liberate the area previously run by Shaqeeq Harron, but I believe the resistance we encountered instead was a pair of your Household Members? I would like to believe the south was his area of control, but I feel like you're going to say that is not the case. Wait..." One thing this girl said stood out from the rest of her speech, and in fact, it contradicted everything he understood up to this point. "Visitors? My information says the two of you were meeting here to speak with each other. Who might these visitors be?"

Bakura, who followed behind Fudo and Yasmin at a distance in case of emergency, peered into the open doorway for just a moment. He had his body pressed against the outside wall to eavesdrop on this conversation, and was equally confused as to the matter of these 'visitors' so to speak. "That doesn't sound right," he spoke under his breath.

[Apollymi]

Shadiya was stunned to find out the slaves under her control had already been freed. As it was a matter she had nothing to do with, she was a bit relieved by this information though it did cause her to worry for her Household Member who'd been left behind to watch the place. "I am sorry if you experienced any hardship going down there. It wasn't my idea to leave them behind... also are they okay? They are a bit gruff but it would be sad if either of them were dead." she said seeming to care a bit more about her subordinates and friends than any others in her family would have been seen to. This gave Yasmin a great deal of hope about the girl at least, her brother had already shown a bit more restraint than most, not taking her life when he'd crossed her path originally. "As for our visitors." she said thinking about it only briefly before continuing on, as they were bound to find out this information eventually and she liked the man before her, she had no reason to conceal anything going on here. "We have guests from the Ko Empire. They wish to annex this place and looked to the nobility as an easy way in. To do so without any unnecessary bloodshed. My brother thought it a good idea to meet with them on our terms, and I only agree to come up here because... he has a library Shaqeeq didn't I wanted to read a bit and my brother thought it a good idea to not be in the south for a while, at least for the two of us." she said. Apparently making it more than obvious that she'd rather busy herself with books than any of the politics going on around her, though she seemed to have a thorough enough understanding of all things going on regardless of the point that she seemed apathetic about it.

Meanwhile outside the door a small black haired girl crept up beside Bakura. She'd followed him, after he'd followed Fudo and Yasmin. Obviously this group didn't like to leave each other to their own devices too much. With this in mind she had but one thing to say. "It isn't polite to eavesdrop." she mentioned only to go on and smirk wondering what had caused the young man's previous utterance. "But what doesn't sound right?" she questioned.

[Bloodedge]

"No one is dead. They were a bit resilient, but that was no reason to kill them. Rest easy," he said, waiting thereafter for Shadiya's explanation. When he received it, Fudo was a bit perturbed by the information. "The Kou Empire, huh. They've been trying to make foothold in Sindria for a few years now. Everyone thought they'd given up on us, but it looks like they just decided to move elsewhere. We should move; this closed-in room is not the best place to be if the Kou are around." With that said, Fudo stood, preparing to make his exit from the room. However, he paused at the door, looking over his shoulder to let his gaze fall upon Shadiya once more. "It's been a lovely chat, Shadiya, but I have to say you're on the wrong side of things, considering what type of person you are. You're one of us at the end of the day."

"It's not polite to sneak up behind somebody either, but ya' don't see me complainin'," was Bakura's response to the black-haired lass next to him. "The guys we came looking for aren't the only ones here. That chick says there's some Kou Empire or something here too."

[Apollymi]

Shadiya heard out what the man had to say and she could understand his apprehension about the Ko Empire. For a solid nation like Sindria the Ko Empire would be nothing but a hindrance and likely considered a military threat. But for the country they were currently inhabiting it would be more like a docile overlord someone to add financial backing to a struggling country. Though if Fudo's economic policy were introduced it might make a difference in how things worked here, she doubted she'd have any real say in the matter. At the last of this man's statements the purple haired girl looked wide eyed and confused. Yasmin having heard the bit about the Ko Empire and them not needing to be in a closed in space made her way for the door and rolled her eyes. "I don't know anything about the Ko Empire... why are we worried?" she asked giving a passing wave to the girl as she too headed for the door.

Meanwhile outside the door, Nasira smiled just a little. "Well you wouldn't given you are the person normally doing the sneaking." she said her tone a tad snarky. When he mentioned what had made him speak though she lost all sense of jest to her tone becoming utterly serious. "That isn't good at all... Ko Empire is bad news." she whispered. "We should move." she finished.

[Bloodedge]

"We're worried because the Kou Empire is the largest military force around, and their goal is to essentially take over the world country by country. They wanted to use Sindria as a source to gain unstoppable power to fuel their efforts, but apparently they've found another way to push forward without worry."

Bakura was also, for obvious reasons, without any knowledge of this Kou Empire, but he trusted Nasia on her word that they should get moving. When he turned around and began to move, though, he rammed right into the front end of the black-haired man that previously stood upon the roof. "Oh?" the man said while looking down at Bakura. "And who might this be? One of your slaves inside the house?" he asked. From behind him, the purple-haired man called Kaarim emerged. "Definitely not. Shadi! Is this one of your..." he took pause when looking into the room, as the first thing this man noticed was the very same woman he had broken the Metal Vessel of in days prior. "You..."

[Apollymi]

Yasmin took in that information and nodded. "Oh... so they are a conquering kind of nation." she said in summation. She obviously had a problem with this, as nations that conquered others by force generally didn't care about the people found within. With this in mind she found herself soon confronted by a group of people with mixed faces some she knew and others she didn't. The man known as Kassim seemed to find her without any issue though and she knew he was speaking to her and as such she was rather friendly in her reply. "Hello again." she mentioned in the most casual way.

Nasira looked to Fudo and then to Yasmin, she was mapping the space in case of an outbreak and figuring out how to best place herself to be useful. She hoped it wouldn't come to blows in such a small space but she was prepared in case it did. The last person to speak would be Shadiya who finally pulled herself away from her desk to see the commotion of the people leaving encountering her brother and the representative from the Ko Empire. "Kaarim do you two know each other?" she asked apparently missing something about the interaction between all of these people. She seemed to be aware of the apparent tension in the room though and she wasn't fond of it.

[Bloodedge]

"You're still around here? How is it that you haven't been thrown back into slavery yet?" he asked, though he cared not for an answer. Kaarim's eye fell upon Fudo, who still seemed quite relaxed in the midst of all this potential chaos. "So, you're the one breaking Metal Vessels. Sorry, Yasmin. I thought I could talk us out of this, but I can already tell this one isn't the cooperating type. It'd be a waste of time to even try."

Meanwhile, Bakura backed away from the man he'd bumped into. The raven-haired male didn't seem to be too bothered by this encounter. In fact, he appeared entirely apathetic until he caught sight of Nasira. When he did, his eyes widened ever so slightly. "And who... are you...?"

[Apollymi]

At this point Shadiya began piecing things together, based on her brother's attitude and the young woman standing before them she gave the girl a quick look over and noticed that underneath the random assortment of gold jewelry worn about her wrists and ankles there were bruises... no that was the wrong word. There were scars, the kind slaves had if they ever managed to remove their shackles, ones that came from years of wearing a tight fitted metal item around a limb. "Oh, she's the one who captured the dungeon that Shaqeeq died in." she stated now fully understanding all of the tension in this room. In answer to this Yasmin simply nodded. "Yes, I am that person, your brother here also broke my metal vessel as soon as I emerged from said dungeon." she said only to hear what Fudo had to say to go along with the questions asked by Kaarim and she also seemed to understand what he was getting at. "Hmm, it's fine. I expected this wouldn't go well. I didn't expect her to be as nice as she is." she said referencing Shadiya. Still her blue eyes were rather concentrated upon the purple haired man in this group she was waiting to see what he would do. "I am not a slave and no one else should be, it's why I am still here."

Meanwhile, Nasira was waiting for something to start and as such she began bouncing on her left foot. Concentration on what was being said waiting on the trigger so she could be at the side of whichever of her comrades would have the most use of her at a moment's notice. But as she got comfortable in this, her concentration was altered by the black haired man that Bakura had previously bumped into asking who she was. She glanced in this man's direction and gave an answer, partly because as she was a basically raised with Fudo she had no desire to be rude if it wasn't necessary and partly because up to this point he'd done nothing to deserve her abject disregard. "My name is Nasira." she mentioned as the rhythm of her hopping returned.

[Bloodedge]

"You heard the lady. We're here to abolish slavery by means of your family renouncing lordship in this country. We've already liberated the south during the absence of you two. Diplomacy remains an option, but we've come prepared to do the same thing here, if necessary." When Fudo made his point known, Kaarim stood motionless for a few moments, staring the man down. "You're all idiots if you think I'm going to get rid of one of my tickets to the top. These slaves will save me labor and valuable time as I take my Metal Vessel on to become king. If you want me to get rid of them, try and kill me."

In the meantime, the chat between the girl named Nasira and this representative from the Kou Empire continued with an expression of confusion spreading across the latter's face. "Nasira...? What house are you from?"

[Apollymi]

Fudo and Kaarim were staring each other down and the words uttered by both men seemed to take their places within the mind of the young woman. She sighed then because she already knew that this was a moment of decision making. It would seem that Kaarim didn't really get the point of this whole thing, and he didn't understand that he was already on top and that the people beneath him would be his downfall if they weren't released. "You've got it wrong, you're already on top and those people would be your downfall. Freeing them would bring more good than harm and ultimately save you from building a nation atop bloodshed and angst. Or haven't you realized yet, that if you justified your continued oppression of these people, they would justify doing worse to you to gain just their physical freedom. This doesn't even begin to cover the horrible things they'd had to experience just for your sake or the sake of your family. You're already rich you could let them all go and it would do you no great disservice." this was all Yasmin had to say, but she'd already resigned herself to fighting if she needed to.

The conversation between Nasira and the Ko Empire representative continued and as it did her eyes narrowed and she looked at him. It would seem that he thought her to belong to some group she didn't know of, and she was unsure of how to properly answer this question. "Sorry, but I don't understand the question." she mentioned.

[Bloodedge]

"Be silent, girl. Do you think I would be satisfied with this little system of hierarchy? No," Kaarim stated, grabbing his poleaxe and raising it above his head. "This thing? This means I'm going to be king of everything! And when I am, I'm going to make sure you and everyone like you is enslaved for the rest of your days, like the maggots you are."

"You don't?" asked the black-haired male. He couldn't fathom why this girl would not understand his question, but at the same time, her name alone was confusing to him. There was only one thing that came to mind as a rational explanation for these qualms, but he could not be too sure. "You're a Genshi Ryu, aren't you?"