The Martial Unity

“Your Highness, the first wave of people will soon arrive at Metropolita.”

At a large storage house, Raul stacked a large bag of rice on top of another, helping his men stock supplies in a warehouse for the returning refugees of East Kandria. He wore a simple tank top and trousers, along with a helmet for safety.

“Your Highness…” the man’s voice returned once more with a hint of dissatisfaction. “You don’t have to do heavy labor anymore. You’re still a member of the royal family. Please think about your status.”

Raul simply smiled as he wiped some sweat from his face with a towel handed to him, gazing at the bright light of the morning sun. “It’s hot today.”

“All the more reason for you to rest.” His subordinate walked over to him with a concerned expression. “You don’t have to lower yourself to this kind of work, Raul.”

“…It’s not about that, Jack,” Raul replied softly, gazing at his hands with a knowing expression. “It’s just that I’m now immortal and eternally young. Age is no longer a hampering factor.”

When Rui had told him that he would become immortal by drinking a drop of his blood, Raul didn’t believe him at first. He knew that his brother was extraordinary, of course, but becoming immortal with just a drop of blood? That made him sound like a creature of myth; it was too absurd.

But then his skin started unwrinkling and becoming firm.

His hair returned and ungrayed. His muscles and flesh toned up, regaining their vigor of youth. His back pain was gone, and he no longer hunched.

He found himself actually de-aging, just like Rui told him.

Yet, he wasn’t entirely pleased by this outcome. He did not fear death; he never had. He had accepted Rui’s offer because of his insistence that he needed someone to help him remain connected to the people.

However, Raul couldn’t help but feel that just by becoming immortal and eternally young, he was disconnected from the people. He had become inhuman and was now disconnected from the common experience of aging that people used to have.

“That is why I no longer wish to elevate myself above my people,” Raul remarked with a solemn tone. “It is very easy for me to become someone who no longer understands or cares about people in my current state. That is why I partake in labor and dedicate myself to my people to be as close to them as possible. And…”

He directed a pointed gaze at Jack. “…that is why I keep telling you to stop using honorifics. I’m not even a prince anymore ever since Rui became Emperor. I am simply Raul.”

His subordinate had been concerned about the leader of the Kandrian Ruffians engaging in manual labor at his age, but resigned himself with a smile at Raul’s words. “That selflessness is why we follow you, Raul.”

Raul simply smiled gently at his friend before another one of his subordinates entered the warehouse.

“Raul, the first wave of refugees has arrived. It’s time.”

Raul nodded with a serious expression, quickly donning a simple, but formal shirt, before making his way out of the warehouse and to the temporary refugee camp in the Metropolita.

More than ten thousand people had gathered in a large open camp at the outskirts of Metropolita, their view of the city blocked by a purposely placed blinder. Their appearances were weary; disheveled hair, dark bags under their eyes. Their clothes weren’t the cleanest, having lived in a shelter for eight months since the destruction of East Kandria

They were the residents of East Kandria evacuated to the west shortly before it was destroyed, along with their lives within it. The complete reconstruction of the destroyed east coast of the Kandrian Empire had taken its time, but considering the sheer scale of the reconstruction, even eight months were a miracle. And now, the people of East Kandria were finally returning to their new homes. And yet, when Raul gazed into their eyes, he found himself lamenting the darkness within them.

The refugees had been scarred and traumatized. Almost all of them had lost somebody in a death toll that reached a million, and all of them, without exception, had lost the lives they had built in East Kandria prior. His heart ached when he sensed the pain they had gone through, causing his expression to crumple with sadness even as he addressed them.

“I know you have suffered.”

He began his speech to them abruptly.

“I know you have lost more than words could even begin to describe.”

His eyes were filled with empathy and melancholy.

“More than could ever be brought back, but…” His tone grew uplifting. “I came here to tell you that all is not lost.”

The crowd of refugees stirred at those words.

His voice grew more encouraging. “You have an opportunity. An opportunity to build a new life. New communities. New families. Over the past eight months, you have been educated and trained in the industries of the new age while the Kandrian Empire reconstructed your old cities with modern high technologies.”

He raised his hands. “Behold your new home, Metropolita.”

The blinder blocking their view of the city was released, allowing them to behold the modern biotechnological metropolis in all of its glory, illuminated by the light of the morning sun.

Gasps spread through the refugees as they gazed at the extraordinary city in all of its glory. Their eyes widened with shock as they beheld the sheer magnitude and scale of the city that stretched for nearly a hundred kilometers in diameter.

The many botanical and wood skyscrapers lived up to their name in a literal sense, reaching such great heights that they struggled to even see the top. The sense of order and technological wonder that the city evoked in all of them was ineffable. They had been told that the Kandrian Empire was reconstructing their homes and cities, but not even they could have ever imagined that the end result would be this extraordinarily glorious.

Their new homes were a fantasy of the future, and yet a reality of the present.

All of a sudden, the darkness in their eyes began disappearing as the light of hope emerged. The suffering and tribulations they had gone through over the past eight months had been vindicated. The education and training that they had worked hard to go through now made sense.

Raul smiled at them warmly. “Welcome to your new home, my brothers and sisters.”