☀️ Arselia and Akonia

-- I have some information for you to consider. Let's start with the good news: the Suzerain's coronation is scheduled for Monday. I don't know how it will be implemented, but please don't make any other plans for now, alright?

-- The second piece of good news is that there are only a few stones left to collect, just a couple. After that, Her Highness the Suzerain said she intends to complete her mission and secure Anuzish from all real and potential external threats. The Princess has learned very well how to use them; I am sure She will succeed.

-- Now for the news that I wouldn't call bad yet, but just is what it is: soon we will be attacked by Farellians and Nephirians, united in a coalition. Therefore, although Her Highness recommended Carneol to rest, I personally would not want to relax at such a moment ) You may have noticed that Welfern is going through times that far from everyone perceives with their head held high. It would seem this doesn't concern us; we are just a small mercenary squad for performing rare, precise surgical operations, but I must admit, at some point I stopped believing that.

-- Time and again you, my comrades, demonstrate qualities that are not typical for simple thugs. You can be entrusted with diplomacy involving quite unusual entities, -- a glance at Kilika. -- You willingly engage in self-education. You easily find common ground with half the city. You learn not only new skills, but sometimes professions. You temper your body, mind, and spirit. You use and develop your imagination almost daily. One can discuss philosophy with you. You defeat enemies that normal warriors wouldn't even dream of opposing. At some point, I realized that I could no longer look at you as mercenaries; you are all my loyal knights )

-- What do you think distinguishes a knight from a simple barbarian warrior? The fact that a knight rises to their ideals, while grounded warriors are accustomed, on the contrary, to bring their ideals down to the level of their flesh. Therefore, you are not the latter; by all signs, you are precisely the former. And you work for the Crown ) An absolute match; only a corresponding title is missing, but you know, purely formally, I don't have one either ) Though I am a knight by lineage, from a formal point of view it is not enough, so we are similar in our situation here.

-- The main thing I wanted to say through all this: I believe that we can do more, and it is time to show some initiative. We have the opportunities to do more for our country. Starting with the well-being of our squad, but not limited to it, if you have corresponding thoughts!

-- First and foremost, of course, is the squad. Let's put it this way: what gaps and weaknesses do we have at the moment, what are we lacking, and how can we work on this? We have already discovered one weakness: it's quite hard to live without a ranger. It risks dangerous losses of time... Alaria said she has an address for such a person; perhaps it's worth visiting him? I am not needed for this; if you decide to go, you are all worthy of enough autonomy so that together we can achieve more.

-- What else? At the moment, provided there are funds, I can provide us with any member of the squad regardless of profession, conviction, or origin. And if regarding origin I already suspect that we should replenish the pool of spellcasters thinned after Merel's passing, then what about the rest? I'm counting on a brainstorming session here.

-- People are not the only treasure we may be lacking. Perhaps our squad needs something else? Some specific equipment? Maybe someone is ready to train a dog? The scent of these animals can be useful for more than just tracking. How about devices that detect magic or similar? I haven't discussed financial matters with our Patroness yet, but everything points toward me wanting to reorganize things on a large scale so that we can be ready for literally anything. After all, it depends on our preparation whether we will be kicking ourselves later if we fail at something.

-- If you have ideas that could benefit the whole country or even just the city, and you are ready to pursue them... then that is the best possible outcome of this conversation I dare hope for. Now let's conduct this experiment and open our discussion )