"Do not ridicule my ancestor!" Princess Elice shouted in defiance. "He was a great man who saved us all!"
"At most, he was like your great-great-great- cousin or something. Or possible 5th or 6th cousin if family lines are that far apart." Hector gave her a disgusted look. "You would rather come to the defense of a fool and coward than your mother I just insulted, how sad, child. If Anri had any balls, he would have married Artemis despite being a commoner, as they put it. Allowing him to create a kingdom afterward is beyond stupid since if he was good enough to do that after helping save the world, then he was good enough to marry the last Princess of Archanea that he kept alive. Artemis was forced to marry Duke Cartas.. pft, Anri should have cut him down in a duel and asserted himself."
"Ugh.." Princess Elice stepped back as if she had been slapped. She looked apologetically to her mother but was waved off from apologizing. Ever the politician, she backpaddled quickly. "Anri would have created civil strife if he had done that."
"Then the Nobility and the Common folk of that time were trash and deserved to be cut down or eaten by the Earth Dragons gone crazy." Hector gave a dark laugh as he put his hand down and drew a bow to use. Letting loose some arrows immediately, he continued his conversation with the two royals. "I am good enough to save the world and band people together to stop a colossal threat but not good enough to assert my viewpoints and marry the woman I love? What a joke. Anri was a fool, and he was led by the nose of those pathetic Divine Dragons in the Ice Temple."
"You know a lot, Lord Hector." Queen Liza's gaze was firm as she looked at the man, fire arrow after arrow. 'How many wars has he fought in to become like this? What family does he truly hail from? Why does he speak with such certainty?'
With more questions than answers, the Queen, unlike her daughter, thought of more ways to keep this man around even after the war if she could.
Gra and Doluna had fallen back after the surge caused by Hector and those under him, cutting the troops down. What was worse was that their dead members could not be retrieved as the ground opened up with black magic and swallowed them into it. Not even the mounts were spared as the magic seemed to erase any trace of them left.
The remaining Altean soldiers and knights rallied under the command of the strange Lordling they were convinced was related to the family somehow. Queen Liza and Princess Elice were quiet on the matter, using political deflection. The two were mostly trying to keep control of their people and doing what they could to secure the Kingdom with scouts and conscripted runners to notify all strongholds that the castle had not fallen, and they were fighting back.
Hector had spent days reading through book after book in the Archives. Every duplicate he found, he stashed into his Internal Space for personal use later. He didn't have the time to copy every book with his magic as he was just to preoccupied. the number of available personnel was just to low to have that requested as well.
From reading a book, thinking about how to understand the magic, getting rid of conflicting theories, observing the bodies when they are dropped into the Primordial Sea, and helping deal with the attacks that kept coming.
"Ah, such a good time." Hector closed a tome that spoke of the crafting of Falchion. "Some traces of magic the same as the Legendary Weapons of Elibe. Which means I need to check into that more when I get back."
In the room with Hector was a maid who tended to his meals and clothing needs. About 5 scouts that went around passing messages along back in forth involving security matters, and two Historians who were tasked with finding linking texts for him.
He looked over at the map, which caused great discomfort. The continent Valentia and all that it held. So much power for the taking, and not to mention the dragons to deal with. Well, descendants of Dragons, anyway.
'Thabes Labyrinth is the final dungeon in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia.' Hector leaned over the table, trying to commit the map to memory. Recalling information he read online before and stuff he talked over with his friends only helped a little. 'Located in the Mamorthod Desert in Archanea, it has multiple floors. The alchemist Forneus, as well as housing the being he created, should help the Primordial Sea greatly, as well as Tiamat. At least five floors are much more darker and contain more of Forneus's experiments; the Risen as well as Deimos, stronger variants of Bonewalkers are there as well.'
"Most do not go to the desert, my lord" One of the Historians stated helpfully. "their are.. troubling individuals there."
"Duly noted." Hector understood, but for his own plans and his own future, he would have to do so. 'I need that Research the same as I need Nergal's and those Sphere items here. I need to close the gap in intellect to move forward as a Champion to always have the means to push and conquer.'
*Thunk!* A messenger of the princess arrived with a slam of the door. The young woman honed in on Hector quickly and made her report. Unlike most of the others, she didn't waste time with a procedure that was useless to this man. It didn't take long to understand the peculiarities of this lordling.
"Marth, prince of Altea, was lucky. Marth still lives and made it to the eastern isle of Talys. As you know, Talys is a small border kingdom, with no grand order of knights to boast of, but its king selflessly gave Marth use of the isle's eastern fortress." The Scout took a few breaths before speaking again. "Gra has reformed their troops and has bolstered the border. Several of the towns, however, need liberation. The Princess requests your assistance... at your earliest convenience."
"Hmm, that is troublesome." Hector thought on the timetable and what he wanted to do. "I was just about to take a flight to the Desert to challenge the Labrynth. I need the resources there, then I plan to go to the continent of Valentia to cause some trouble."
The messenger kept her head down, thinking the situation over, and couldn't think of anything to say just yet. But she didn't have to as someone else spoke up first.
"No!" A historian shouted in protest. "Please, my lord, we need you here! Not wasting your life in the desert or even going overseas!" The older man pleaded as he didn't like the idea of losing what looked to be a Warrior Scholar. "Please listen to this old elder, young man!"
"Bah, age means nothing to me!" Hector slammed his hands on the table after thinking it over. "If she wants me to defend her town and kingdom, then she must make clear the payment! The archives so far are scarce on what I am looking for! Not to mention these symbols I do not understand yet!"
The documents were either damaged, or the real good stuff was scripted in such a way that he would need to understand the ancient language.
"I will report at once, my lord!" The young scout responded immediately and darted off. 'I hope the princess and queen know what to do to keep this man! It may have been only a few days, yet we know nothing of who he truly is! The royals have to be playing some sick game, they have to know who he is!'
So deep in thought, the Scout passed by a few people.
"Hector." A young woman who could be Hector's younger sibling stepped in before the door closed. "The Royal Treasurer requested you return some of the funds taken when the castle was defended." Having been recruited a day ago the young noble had never stopped to question much, considering what she fought through to arrive to this place.
This was one of the Kris characters that appeared in Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem. Raised by her Grandfather, a now reinstated Knight named Maclear, whom Hector helped heal to gain information, had a few benefits. Not only did the male Kris exist as well and had ended up with Marth at one point based of the reports from the other Kingdom, but they both had different background stories.
The half-siblings, since their father was a bit of a cad, according to female Kris, anyway, both were named Kris as they were born only a single hour apart, it was very weird if you asked Heector.
A noble's child who left the castle due to family circumstances is female Kris's background. She came back to make sure her mother, a noblewoman, was okay. The woman was fine and served as a lady of the reforming court under the Queen. As for male Kris, his mother was a peddler who divorced his father. The man, of course, was killed during the fighting with only the mothers living, imagine that.
Something good that happened during Hector caused the army to keep attacking the castle.
"Oh, how much?" Hector made some marks on the map and notes. The swath of land that should have the ruins and everything else he planned on dropping into the Primordial Sea would be a monumental task. "I have less than two years on both accounts. Must make it work for me. I can give back some of the gold, just means fewer survivors for the kingdom, I guess."
"I hope that is a cruel jerk, sir." Kris passed over the document and then moved to look over the map. "There is so much sand.. this will be awful." She was not looking forward to the future excursions with this man in the least.
"Yeah, for some, but it is a good place to train and raise one s forces." Hector looked it over, then waved his hands. Out popped a few bags of gold coins he had raided from the various troops and the castle treasury. "He won't get a single dime from me again, that is a promise."
The scouts in the room took the gold and moved to deliver it immediately. The maid moved to grab a meal for the two as she could tell it would be a late evening before the stranger departed.
.
Promotion-
.
Hector, Kris, and the first soldiers he enthralled were in the Royal Hall. The gathered advisors looked uneasy as the exploits and movements of Hector had grown quickly in these few short days. Some wanted to expel him from the castle even if it led to their death, as he just didn't follow any decorum of the court. He also spoke freely at any time and criticized them as cowards every other moment for the state of the Kingdom.
It didn't help that the soldiers were on his side greatly with his influence growing every time he made a move out of the castle to push back the enemy and recruit some soldiers or heal the refugees that arrived.
"Lord Hector," Queen Liza sat on the ruler's throne with the bearing of a sovereign. It actually suited her compared to the chair that she usually sat in as the Queen. "I will not pretend the matter is under our control. But for the sake of the people, I must do this."
"What are you offering?" Truly he was intrigued but thought it may be monetary gains of some sort. Or maybe some swat of land to help entice him toward staying. 'Maybe I can find away to sell the land for people to migrate back with me to Elibe?'
"My daughter's hand in marriage." Queen Liza didn't move her gaze away from him. Studying for his reaction that only carried a look of disapproval before fixing to neutrality. "Through marriage, legitimacy is possible in future attempts to rule without conflict. In return, you help defend us against our former allies."