Last time, Red and the Shepherds took a detour to the Farfort and enlisted Donnel into their ranks. With that distraction out of the way, the Shepherds can now focus on meeting with the khans of Regna Ferox in order to gain some reinforcements for Ylisse.
Chapter 4: Two Falchions
After that odd diversion, we travelled west from the Longfort and arrived at Arena Ferox. Raimi, the captain of the Feroxi guard we fought, summoned the khan for us. I was surprised to see that the ruler of Regna Ferox was away, but Chrom informed me that the khans preferred battle to politics.
Actually, at this point I allowed my imagination to get a little wild. I thought the khan would be "a giant of a man, unparalleled in thew, his broad chest covered in hair"...
That wasn't the case. The khan was a blonde woman with dark skin, who went by the name of Flavia. To be more specific, she was the East-Khan. She apologised for the trouble at the border, and welcomed us officially to Regna Ferox.
We discovered that Ylisse wasn't the only place under attack by the Plegians. It seemed that there were trying to raise tensions between Ylisse and Regna Ferox. Chrom damned them, then apologised for speaking indelicately. Fortunately, Flavia seemed to prefer plain speech.
Flavia was well aware of the reason behind our journey to Regna Ferox, but she told us she was unable to provide any troops. The reason for this was that she lacked the authority. Flavia explained that she was only one of the khans, and the East- and West-Khans held a tournament every few years to determine who would have sovereignty over both the east and west of Regna Ferox.
The West-Khan was the winner of the previous tournament, hence the reason why Flavia was unable to provide us with any troops.
Flavia suggested that the Shepherds act as her champions in the next tournament, which was due soon. If we were to win, we would be granted the alliance we sought. To avoid blood feuds and dead khans, the Feroxi khans would not participate in the tournaments themselves, instead being represented by a champion.
Chrom agreed to participate in the tournament, since the people of Ylisse were desperate. Flavia warned us that the West-Khan's champion was a fierce swordsman, but Chrom had no intention of losing.
We arrived at the arena, and prepared for a battle.
We discovered that the West-Khan's champion was Marth, who had helped us fight the Risen earlier. The sword that Marth used was identical to Chrom's Falchion. Marth displayed incredible skill with the sword, and claimed that his father was the one who provided the skills he possessed.
There was no doubt that Marth was a gifted swordsman, but it seemed his allies would be no pushovers either. Still, we entered that arena in order to win.
First we focused on wiping out Marth's allies, taking them out one at a time. Once we had done that, we focused our strength on defeating Marth. We were able to claim victory by working together.
After the battle, Flavia told us that we had earned her respect, and the alliance that we had originally been seeking. Flavia immediately decided to celebrate her gaining full sovereignty over Regna Ferox and dashed off. Before we could follow, we finally meet the West-Khan, Basilio.
Basilio was more what I had in mind when I first mentioned what I thought the khan would look like. Basilio knew very little about Marth, telling us that he just turned up one day and was able to defeat his old champion. He also told us that Marth disappeared the moment the tournament ended.
Lissa seemed quite fond of him, sighing and calling him dark and mysterious. Chrom snapped her out of it, and Frederick suggested that we returned to Ylisse. Chrom agreed.
Before we could leave, Basilio offered us what he called a "little present". The present was a swordsman named Lon'qu, and Basilio's former champion. He seemed to be the quiet type, but Basilio had faith in his swordsmanship. Apparently he was on par with Marth when it came to skills, yet Basilio was unable to fathom how he was defeated.
Lissa tried to approach Lon'qu, but he immediately drew back and told her to get away. Basilio then revealed that ladies put Lon'qu on edge. Basilio then told us that he was West Ferox's contribution to the Ylissean cause.
Lon'qu didn't seem to have any problems with it, so Chrom welcome him to the Shepherds.
My time with the Shepherds has not been dull, that I can say for certain. Also, it was a surprise to see Marth again, and then we fought against him. There's something about him that doesn't seem right, though I can't quite put my finger on it... still, I bet that won't be the last we'll see him.
Also, we managed to gain a new ally, which can only be good for us. Although Lon'qu isn't very good around women, if Basilio has that much faith in his sword, then I do as well. Who knows, maybe some time with the Shepherds will help him to get over that fear of his...
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