Chapter 27 Jozia Continent
The sun shines through the window, illuminating the library on the second floor of the mansion.
The library is quiet as always, coupled with the freshness of the morning time, it is a very suitable period to study.
Riz is there roaming in the library trying to find a book that can pique his interest.
'It is the first day of new year, shouldn't today be public holiday and starts tomorrow instead. Why am I here waiting for my tutor to come?', he's grumble as he picked up several book that caught his eyes.
*Creak*
The door to the library was opened by someone. Riz turned around and saw an old man entering the library.
Both his hair and beard are white. His height is probably around 1.65 meters, shorter than most of the men Riz ever met.
"Good morning, it's a pleasure to meet you, young master Riz. My name is Stuart Steven, you may call me 'teacher'. I will be your tutor for a few years from now on. Our class is five days a week, from Monday to Friday.", Stuart greeted Riz with a smile on his face.
He has done some background checks on Riz. The paper Riz invented is revolutionary in the academic world. When Richard contacts him to be Riz's tutor, he immediately agrees.
"Nice to meet you too, you can just call me 'Riz'. I hope I can learn a lot of things from you", Riz was pleased by Stuart's attitude. He doesn't look like an arrogant person who looks down on people stupider than him.
Riz is sick with that kind of person. He has met a lot of them on Earth. An educator who thinks they're always right and hard to accept new ideas.
"Great!! Let's get started right away. There are a lot of things you need to learn. I will start with the geography first", Stuart starts his lesson.
Riz listens with a great interest.
This continent is called the Jozia Continent. Although it is called a continent, it is made up of three main parts; the mainland, the northern island and the southeast island.
The mainland part located in the middle, spans from northeast to the west.
From the west, there is Sidgean Empire followed by Bishopric of Turtevekesia on its east side. East of Bishopric is the Kingdom of Bagyarosia.
The Kingdom of Bagyarosia shares its border with two other kingdoms in the south.
It is connected with the Kingdom of Inver on its southwest and Inverloch Empire in its southeast.
Both the Kingdom of Inver and Inverloch Empire are bordering the Grand Duchy of Caberia on their west.
The Kingdom of Inver was also connected with Thearchy of Harkadia in its west by a small strip of land
(A/N: Just like how Qatar was connected to the Arabian Peninsula.)
There is a nation called the Grand Duchy of Roligny of east of Inverloch Empire.
On the east of Bagyarosia is Republic of Cerdeauxia and Eikadir Territory which originally belonged to Cerdeauxia but was conquered by the Principality of Barlia.
Cerdeauxia was connected with the Kingdom of Ingnynes in its southeast.
In the middle between Cerdeauxia, Ingnynes and Inverloch is a forest where many people believe phoenix reside.
To the east of Ingnynes is the Kingdom of Lepsaria.
There are two kingdoms on the northern side of Lepsaria. The Kingdom of Tormia is located in the north of Lepsaria and the Protectorate of Vakia is located northeast of Lepsaria.
Protectorate of Vakia also has an island territory that their control far to their east.
Further to the north of Tormia is Ruotsavmaan Marches and east of the Marches is the Grand Duchy of Ajaia.
"That's all for the nation on the mainland, do you have any questions?", Stuart turned around facing Riz.
Riz on the other hand clutched his head due to a vast amount of information he received. He never thought that there were so many nations on the mainland alone.
Seeing Riz have no questions, Stuart continues his lesson.
For the southeast part, there is only one nation, Piteretia Empire. The empire is made of three islands, the main island and two smaller islands.
For the northern part, there are only three nations. The Principality of Barlia in the east, United Republic of Blandge in the middle and Duchy of Camble is the east.
"That's all for Jozia Continent. Any questions?", asked Stuart again.
"Is there another continent aside from Jozia?", Riz asked since it's kind of weird for the world only to have one continent.
"There are rumors about it in historical records but the truth has yet to be confirmed. There are many people that set on a voyage to find a new continent but they never come back", explains Stuart.
"How long has the present border stayed unchanged?", this is not Earth where the border remains the same for decades, war does happen frequently.
"It has been unchanged and in peace for decades but everything started to change when the Principality of Barlia attacked the mainland", Stuart stopped for a moment before continuing.
"Around 200 years ago, they invaded Eikadir Territory and successfully gained control over it. Using Eikadir as a foothold, Barlia pushed forward into Bagyarosia territory, capturing Hajdu County and Vofors County.
Barlia was only one step away from capturing the capital. The Kingdom of Bagyarosia was completely at the mercy of Barlia.
Your ancestor, Rayleigh at that time only led a small team to recapture Szazki Town and he succeeded. He then, moved to recapture the neighboring town. Later, many people start to rally behind him.
A small team ends up becoming a large army. People see Rayleigh as a hope, as a hero.
He then successfully recovered the lost territory for the kingdom.
Due to his astounding accomplishment, the king awarded it with the title of 'viscount' and married him with one of his daughters", Stuart stopped explaining, he let Riz digest the story he just told first.
"So I'm related to the royal family?", Riz sought confirmation.
"Yes, any other questions?"
"Did the surrounding nation just watch Bagyarosia and Cerdeauxia get attacked?"
"Not all, but most of them are. They didn't want to put themselves in trouble. There are also some nations who take advantage of the situation like Blandge and Sidgean.
Seeing the success of Barlia, Blandge also joined the fold by conquering Macheapton Island that originally belonged to Bagyarosia.
As a result, Bagyarosia lost its only access to the north sea. Since then, our merchants need to go to Cerdeauxia if they want to access the sea trade route.
As for Sidgean Empire, they are the only nation on the mainland that invaded the northern island. They invade and conquer sixty percent of Camble's territory.
Feeling the danger that Sidgean might attack their territory as well, Blandge, Barlia and Sidgean make a treaty to cease their attack and end the war.
This treaty ended the war that we called The North-South War", Stuart ended his storytelling.
"So the relation between Bagyarosia and other nations is not good?", Riz asked.
"Except for Cerdeauxia, the relation between Bagyarosia and other nations is neutral at best. Things are not as they used to be, our reputation was tarnished so badly during Barlia invasion. Other nations classified us as a weak nation", Stuart explained.
He then added, "But the relation between Bagyarosia and Cerdeauxia has started to turn sour in the past few months"
"Why? Didn't both of them were the victims of Barlia invasion? I thought they needed each other."
"Well....it's because of you"
"Me?"
"Yes, you are the last survivor of Cerdeaux royal family. Apparently, Cerdeauxia has sent an envoy to demand the king to hand you over to them. The king of course wants to refuse but Cerdeauxia threatens to close their port to our merchant. He can only delay them."
"What are they afraid of? Me claiming the throne?", Riz made a joke. It has been years since they became a republic. The people there must have gotten used to the democracy system.
"Actually, there are still a lot of royalists in Cerdeauxia that want to restore monarchy"
"They probably want me to be their puppet"
"Exactly", Stuart agreed with Riz.
"Then why doesn't the king hand me over yet?"
"Initially the king delayed because he wanted to irritate them for threatening him but now it's different."
"Different? How?", Riz asked again.
"Your technology."
"I see, there's no wonder that the king was so eager to get his hand on my trebuchets technology"
"Yes, the king wants to increase military power and restore the glory of the kingdom. In addition, the king probably wants to keep you as long as possible and wait for you to make another invention."
"So he wants to milk me dry before throwing me away, huh?"
"Correct"
"By the way, how do you know all of this?"
"I have my way", said Stuart while smiling at Riz before changing the topic, "Anyway, let's take a break and continue this after noon"