Nira nodded her head adding further.
"Things like rebellion are just like a wildfire, Eren.
It takes courage to chop down an entire forest to stop the fire - getting rid of critical resources to prevent further damage. The party tricks to quell the fire are only meant to delay the inevitable and make matters even more complicated in the long run.
Anyway, the kingdom of Silvermoon understood the truth very well. It just couldn't implement countermeasures the right way. After all, the rebellion was backed by rankers like us.
As a result, the Silvermoon kingdom suffered through a rough patch when the rebellion was becoming increasingly violent. One side wanted humans to stop demanding more than they could chew. The other side wanted to have an uprising against their oppressors. And both sides were joined by prominent figures of their time.
Things kept getting heated even after the Anfang Alliance's intervention. Then one fine day, the kingdom of Silvermoon was split into two smaller kingdoms– the kingdom of Layos and the kingdom of Edinburgh.
Even after they failed to squash the rebellion, the elves were still a powerful force. They managed to keep the most fertile lands of that time. The kingdom of Layos was established by uniting those lands under one jurisdiction.
Thanks to us four Sages as well as others who shared our vision, Emil also managed to keep a large part of the land for himself. Compared to the lands of current Layos, Edinburgh didn't have many resources to cultivate right after its partition.
Edinburgh at that time was much like the barren land you had bought from House Remus. Or more correctly, that land was the original state of the Edinburgh kingdom until we intervened and started using the Water of Leith more extensively than before."
Eren was stopped in his tracks when he heard Nira talk about his city. It seemed that the Sage was in touch with the current happenings outside. The kingdom of Edinburgh must have kept her in the loop, he thought. Or the Sage had her own means to get information about the outside world– just like Eliza.
Eren immediately followed Nira as she continued.
"The rulers of the previous kingdom became the royalty of the Layos. And the face of the rebel army became the first king of the newly established kingdom of Edinburgh.
This is how Edinburgh started having royalty from thin air. Just like every other royal family anywhere on the land of Anfang.
Hehe.
I pity these so-called royal scions who think they are entitled to barge into my place and demand some form of reward. And for what? Just because they have Renar as their surname?
They don't know that the first king of Edinburgh was nothing but a puppet in our hands."
Eren sighed as he thought about what Nira must have done to the royal participants who thought they deserved something from this place-- just because Nira Nightshade was seen as the follower of the first king Emil Edinburgh von Renar. If his guess was correct, there would be fewer royal participants remaining in the event after the first legacy's trial is over.
Nira supposedly didn't care that she had gotten rid of a few nuisances. She climbed the stairs and stopped at the first gallery. A throne-like chair was summoned out of nowhere before the night elf sat on it.
Nira reclined in her chair and tucked her off-golden hair behind her ears. She looked at Eren pensively and took a long breath before continuing.
"The Layos' royalty thought that it had banished all the forces of rebellion into the barren lands. Which was true for the most part. Edinburgh at that time was relatively small, restricted to the land that is now the Duchy of Lionheart.
It was us Sages who settled the disputes with the Anfang alliance and other kingdoms. It was us who cultivated the lands by re-harnessing the Water of Leith.
It was us Sages who penetrated deep into the Badlands and claimed the parts for ourselves. We liberated huge plots of land from monsters' control and stretched Edinburgh's borders to its current standards.
That's why three out of four duchies are always in constant conflict with monsters more than anywhere else on the land of Anfang. The monsters feel that it's their land that we stole from them.
The region I wrestled away from the monsters is now called the Nightshade Duchy. Lin and Yuffie pursued their own ways and freed some more lands, which became Edinburgh's remaining duchies and were named after them.
We had decided that Ivar would deal with the elven forces that belonged to the newly established Layos. So he stayed on the original piece of land that was freed from the kingdom of Silvermoon. As a result, it was named after his title– the Lionheart duchy."
Eren had stayed at the bottom of the stairs. He smiled at Nira before commenting.
"We were told it was the first king Emil Edinburgh von Renar that gave you those pieces of land to govern. He turned you into four archdukes.
It was said that he gifted you those duchies to honor the contribution you had made towards him."
Nira shrugged her shoulders before answering with a simple word.
"A classic case of whitewashing.
It was us who told Emil to run with that story.
After all, it's fine for history books to have a few bloody pages. But you need some sort of emotional angle to invoke a sense of belonging in the hearts of the common populace. A rebel hero and his loyal followers. That kind of story always sells well.
Emil wasn't much of a fighter. But he was a very capable leader. He was smart enough to know his limits and never disrespected our wishes in any way. For public consumption, we agreed to be seen as the benefactor under his control. And I have to say it worked out well for all of us in the long run."
Eren smiled mirthlessly at the cunning with which the four Sages had carved a piece of land for themselves in the past. It could be said that they had taken the same route as him. However, the scales on which they operated were much larger.
