Percy kept his eyes on the road as he explained. Flynn had fully turned towards him and watched with bated breath like he was talking about something fun.

"There are five duchies and three margraviates in Crona. This is excluding the Hestia region that belongs to the royal family."

Flynn nodded, her red hair bobbing with her.

"That's a good division, I think. Perfect eight."

"How is eight a perfect number?" he wondered before continuing. "It was actually a messy division."

"There used to be fourteen ducal houses three hundred years ago. There were six just fifty years ago. They are constantly cannibalising and destroying each other. That's why a lot of counts often throw around claims to lands that their ancestors ruled."

Flynn shrugged, not really understanding what the big deal was.

"Well, the Hestia family is still here to keep things in check. They've been in charge since the beginning."

"That is true. The Hestia family has remained unchallenged for years," Percy muttered.

"They allow the smaller houses to fight for dominance and destroy themselves. Then they swoop in and impose authority and make sure the ducal houses stay weak enough. Kind of like what they want to happen between House Amphene and Eurides."

Flynn's eyes widened as things began to connect in her head.

"So they wanted to start a fight between you and Lord Sion? But what did you guys do? Sion was bad, at least my dad says so, but House Amphene is good."

Percy nodded; it was a childish depiction of things, but he had to agree.

"We didn't do anything other than be in the wrong place at the right time. And besides, we aren't the main House Amphene. My mom is essentially disowned, but they don't tell the common class that."

Flynn seemed to be finding it hard to follow their logic as he was leaving some things out. But this wasn't what they were supposed to be talking about.

"Just forget that, Flynn. Let's get back to the five duchies. We can start with the Duchy of Amphene that we were already talking about."

He showed her the emblem of the house—a heart surrounded by black thorns.

"House Amphene is in the central north of the kingdom. Lots of mountains and kind of cold. They have Fire spiritmancy for the cold. My mom's father, the Duke, has a great flying spirit that roams the region bringing warmth to the commoners and their fields."

"Spirit manifestation?" Flynn asked brightly. "Like with your scorpion and the minotaur from my dad's story."

"I was also there," Percy said, flicking her forehead. "But yes, a spirit manifestation. The Duke's manifestation is so powerful it's always active, and it can't stay in one place too long or its heat becomes dangerous, so it's always moving. Like the sun. They call him Chariot of Fire."

Flynn beamed, clapping excitedly. He rolled his eyes at the exaggerated excitement, but this info wasn't as available to the common class.

At least until he created a printing press.

But that was beside the point. He continued his explanation of the ducal houses.

"Next, let's talk about the duchy that we are currently in—Valtyros. As you can see, it's flat fields, lots of arable land, Demetria being the most fertile."

"They call this region the food basket of the kingdom. We aren't as strong as the Amphene region though, and the land is not very easily defendable. I think we're the smallest duchy."

Flynn raised an eyebrow, so he paused to let her ask a question.

"I thought you said the dukes were always cannibalising themselves. How can Valtyros still be a duchy? Wouldn't they just be absorbed by another duchy?"

"Wow, that's a strangely smart question for you to ask."

"Shut up," Flynn muttered back.

"Well, I think it's because of alliances and, I think, mutual interest," Percy said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I think a lot of land has been taken from them over the years, but House Valtyros keeps close ties to House Thalssar, another duchy we'll talk about soon. And we've been bailed out by the Hestia family a century ago. The entire House Valtyros was almost wiped out that time."

Flynn looked at Percy's face for a bit too long after he said that, then she just nodded, drained of her usual dramatic flair.

"Relax, kid. House Eurides can't eradicate us; in a straight fight we'll win every time," he reassured.

"Anyway," he said loudly to dispel the gloom.

"House Valtyros is well-versed in wind spiritmancy. They are said to hear everything that is said in the land and use that to preemptively deal with danger. No one knows the full history of why the Hestia family stepped in to save them, but I believe they offered the royal family something they couldn't resist."

He watched the rolling fields for a moment; they were nearing the forest that was close to Yarol. He listened to the wind and wondered if House Valtyros had been keeping tabs on the conflict in this area.

Flynn's amber eyes were bright with awe though, some of the things the Dukes could do made them seem unstoppable.

"How is that even possible?"

Percy shrugged. He was pretty sure it was through spells similar to how the whispers worked but that was another topic.

"Anything's possible here. Let's talk about the house with the most unique affinity. House Lysandra, rulers of the… you guessed it Duchy of Lysandra."

He let Flynn giggle a little before he continued.

"They are, if I remember correctly, South-East. Just go east of Yarol and you'll eventually get there. The Ducal lands of House Valtyros used to be closer to Lysandra, but… um, disagreements made them drift apart."

Basically war over someone's wife if he was thinking about the right story. Somewhat similar to Troy.

"House Lysandra is very close to the royal family and probably the wealthiest house. They live close to the sea border of the kingdom and share borders with House Dyrakis too."

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