The Martial Unity

”Become stronger…” Ria muttered. ”I’m sure I can do that. I just need to keep training. But how strong do I need to be in the frontier?”

”I dunno,” Runark scratched his head. ”Maybe your dad won’t let you go anywhere until you’re as strong as him.”

”No way, papa is too strong!” Ria groaned.

”I don’t think your parents will be alright about you leaving Gaia otherwise.”

”I’m still not sure about leaving Gaia myself.” She turned back to stare at the bright blue sky. ”I’ve lived with my parents all this time.”

”We’ll figure it out,” Runark smirked. ”It’s not that hard. Trillions of people live outside Gaia; if they can do it, then so can we. We’ll just have to get used to it. I’m thinking…”

He pointed into the sky. ”We can go live in the furthest edges of human civilization. We can go live in the frontier.”

”The frontier?!” Her eyes widened with surprise and intrigue. ”Isn’t that the most chaotic and lawless part of humanity? I’ve heard it’s really scary.”

”It’s freedom, Ria,” Runark told her with a confident smile. ”It’s what maneuverers like myself love the most. Out there, we can be whatever we want to be. It’s so far away from home that nobody will even know that you’re the Royal Princess of Kandria!”

Her eyes lit up at those words. The notion of nobody knowing who she was one that seemed like a dream, at this point.

”Is that really true?” she asked him with a stunned tone of voice. ”Nobody will know who I am in the frontier?”

He nodded. ”The frontier is super-isolated. Once you grow up and look a little different from how you look now, nobody will recognize you with some basic disguise tactics.”

She grew more and more attracted the more Runark described what life was supposedly like in the frontier. The notion of being completely free from responsibility, from the shackles of her status and identity. To go back to simply being another person. All of it sounded too good to be true.

He nodded. ”The frontier is super-isolated. Once you grow up and look a little different from how you look now, nobody will recognize you with some basic disguise tactics.”

She grew more and more attracted the more Runark described what life was supposedly like in the frontier. The notion of being completely free from responsibility, from the shackles of her status and identity. To go back to simply being another person. All of it sounded too good to be true.

”…Then let’s do it,” Ria decided as her expression was one of resolve. ”I’m going to go tell papa right away.”

”That was quick.”

”There’s no time to waste,” Ria had insisted.

Later that day, she waited for her father to come back from work in the evening so that she could speak to him with her mother there as well. Only when she had the two of them in front of her in the living room did she finally reveal her new ambition.

”I want to go to the frontier by myself and Runark,” Ria insisted with a serious expression, her hand balled into fists that she pressed into her lap. ”I’m tired of being a princess. I want to go back to being a normal person.”

Rui and Amare had been seated opposite her on the couch. They exchanged a brief glance with each other before turning back to her.

”The frontier is dangerous, my precious child,” Amare began with a coaxing tone. ”It’s not safe for you to live in the frontier by yourself.”

”I won’t be alone,” Ria replied. ”I will have Runark with me.”

12:40

”It’s not safe for both of you, Ria. You’re both very young,” Amare told her with a firm tone. ”The frontier of humanity is an unstable place where many great powers compete. It’s an inherently dangerous region of space.”

”We’ll be fine,” Ria insisted. ”We’re strong.”

”No,” Amare pushed back. ”I will not be sending my twelve-year-old daughter to such a dangerous place by herself. If you want, we can arrange a safe and well-protected trip to the frontier so you can see what it’s like.”

”No, no trip, I want to go there by myself and live there; I don’t want to come back,” Ria blurted out. ”I’m going to spend the rest of my life in the frontier, ok?”

Rui stared at Ria with a calm expression.

”Do you dislike your life here that much, Ria?”

Ria’s expression flared with anger. ”I hate it here! I wish you were never the Emperor!”

She immediately felt guilty the moment those words escaped her mouth, even though she meant all of it. She was mature enough to tell that her parents cared deeply for her, but at the same time she didn’t want to keep her feelings on the matter hidden.

”I’m truly sorry to hear that, Ria,” Rui heaved a sigh. ”Maybe I’ll tell your aunt to lay off you for some time.”

”It’s not just Aunt Ru; I hate my life ever since I became a princess,” she insisted. ”I don’t want to live this life any longer. So I’m going to go away to the frontier where no one knows where I am.”

”You’ll be leaving your family behind,” Rui reminded her. ”You’ll be leaving your mother behind, me behind, your cousins and your aunts and uncles behind. Are you truly alright with that?”

Ria’s expression tightened. She did like many of her aunts and uncles, like Uncle Julian and Aunt Arastia, but at the same time, she didn’t intend to let her relationship with them become a shackle. Even at the age of twelve, she understood that her decision would undoubtedly forgo some things in order for her to lead the kind of life that she wanted to.

Her father heaved a deep breath as a tinge of regret emerged on his expression. ”If you want to leave, you can leave.”

Her expression lit up with delight while Amare turned towards Rui with an expression of surprise.

”But only when you’re strong enough,” Rui added with a smile, deflating her enthusiasm.

”Runark said you’d say that,” Ria muttered.

”Clever boy. He’s right,” Rui replied with a composed tone. ”That’s because he understands what your mother is trying to tell you: the frontier is very dangerous. Law and order there tends to be sketchy at best. And there are many dangerous and powerful people who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals. It’s often a breeding ground for those who operate in the dark.”