Hellhounds of Providence

Your Light in the Dark

***One month into the war.***

Dear Lucina,

I hope this letter finds you well. I've never written to someone at war and the amount of drafts I've thrown away only seems to increase as I fail to find the right words to use. Mary's told me to just start writing and not overthink it, though I'm pretty sure she's just tired of throwing away the failed drafts.

To start this off, I'll tell you what I've been up to since you and my father left. With most of the kingdom's knights and a large number of conscripted soldiers off to war, it seems that quite a few criminals have gotten the idea in their heads to start causing issues. Roadside bandit attacks have increased across Holst, Sevette, and Relsh, and Margaret tells me they're even starting to use boats to attack merchant ships traveling along the Helker. Where did bandits get boats!? Just outfitting the Trent merchant fleet was costly enough but now I have to worry about all that investment being stolen for piracy? Not to mention the lives of the crew lost during these attacks! There are also reports of increased demon incursions that the local militias are struggling to repel. To counter the increased bandit and demon activity, and to increase my reputation among the nobles who are still neutral toward me I've decided to personally intervene.

While there are a lot of people here in the capital who don't seem to care what happens outside Gorinville's walls, I've managed to find a few among the royal knights who agree with me that something needs to be done. James tried talking me out of it saying I should just send the knights out alone and worry about my own safety, but how am I supposed to look myself in the mirror knowing I didn't do all I could? I'm an Ordrin and an Aurister! Plus, if I'm to be the next queen then I want to be a queen that the people can rely on! As I send this letter, I've received permission from His Majesty to take the knights I recruited and begin traveling across the kingdom to secure Urldrusk's safety. We plan on traveling along the Helker into Relsh to secure the supply routes east for the war effort first before moving down into Sevette and finally swinging up into Holst. I don't know how long it will take so I might not receive your reply to this letter in a timely manner, but I've hired plenty of logistics runners for this trip and I've told Mary to send any letters addressed to me with them when they make their rounds. There are also a few Wizards in our group under James' suggestion. While I don't mind the extra firepower, I hope no incidents occur because of their presence in Holst since our duchy isn't friendly with the Wizard's Tower.

I plan on sending you plenty of letters while on my journey. Even if you don't or can't reply to each one I'll still send them so that you know I'm praying for your safety, but I hope you can let me know how you're doing, too. I never knew how quiet the palace was without you around. That's not to say James doesn't keep me company, but I feel uncomfortable with him. His smiles always look forced and his sincerity toward me no longer seems real ever since you left. Looking back, he was probably just doing it to 'steal' me from you, and now that you're not here he doesn't need to try as hard. Once again hindsight shows me my terrible luck with guys and my own blind foolishness only after it causes an incident. They say one who chases two rabbits catches neither, so I'm also going to use my travels to distance myself from James for a while and focus solely on my reputation among the people and nobility.

I underestimated how much our casual talks meant to me so I hope to hear from you soon.

Please return safely,

Olivia

***

Dear Olivia,

Your letter made my night and I'm glad to hear you're doing well. I've also never written to someone waiting back home for me from the front so this will be a first for both of us. I also wish you the best in your upcoming campaign around Urldrusk! Clearing out the lands will definitely strengthen your position among the nobles already on your side, the neutral nobles will be in your debt, and this might even convince some of the ones hostile to you to have a change of mind. The wizards shouldn't cause you much trouble, but I'd recommend keeping an eye on them just to be safe. As you've probably already figured out, they are there to watch you while lending a hand. I wish I could give you nothing but good news from my end, but that isn't the case.