Chapter 6

"So, it was because of stress?" Brian asked as to confirm the diagnostic of miss Cheadele.

The dog demihuman nodded her head heavily, her expression stern as she explained.

"Yes. From what it seems he pushed his body and mind too much, he worked too hard and stress build up. He is still a small child, after all, his imunologic system isn't that strong and the stress made it even worse. Honestly, it is a miracle he lasted this long considering how much he pushed his mind and body, he must have quite the will and stamina." Chedale explained, feeling helpless as she too hasn't seen this comming even if she met him almost every day or two for classes and helping in the accumulated paperwork. "With the medication I gave him his fever should last for a few more days before it fully subsides and there won't be any further issues as long as he rests properly and drinks his medicine in time."

Hearing this Brian heavily nodded his head, taking to heart the instructions. Regret could be seen clear as day in his face, feeling guilty that he hasn't realized how hard his lord was pushing himself before it being pointed out and him literally passing out in front of him.

Not that this could be truly blamed on Brian. There was simply an aura of Charisma around Omar due to his multiple aspects that made him have this aura of trustworthiness, all of it coupled with the innate sense of Conqueror's Haki and the power of the Sky Flame, it was inevitable that others in a subordinate position would easily trust Omar and agree with him if what he says seems reasonable.

If Omar insisted on saying he was alright, then others would not instantly disagree with him unless there was undeniable proof against what he said. It was as simple as that.

However, Omar himself didn't realize what state he was in. His Dying Will Essence gave him unparalleled will, after he decided on an objective nothing would stop him from reaching it. Add in the infinite stamina, he just couldn't stop after he put his mind on an objective even if his body couldn't handle it any further.

Only now that he finally reached the completion of his objective, even if only partially, that his will finally weakened enough for his body's conditions to catch up to him.

Seeing his lord in this state Brian felt that he failed his lord. He was absurdly capable for someone this young, so much so that it was hard to truly see any problems, but he was still a child after all. He was limited by his own body and he pushed himself well beyond his limits while Brian hasn't seen it.

Clenching his fists Brian looked at Chedale and spoke.

"Miss Chedale, you can return to your normal duties. If any changes come up I will make sure to call for you."

"Very well, I will be going then." Chedale said and gave a bow before moving along. She was quite busy, having to take care of teaching the medical staff as well as in her own research in some medicine she was trying to figure out. She, who was once a noble, became a slave after some troubles and didn't expect to be able to ever return to work on her passion, but as she now had this chance of course she would grab it with both hands.

As for Brian, after Chedale left he thought about what to do next and came to a decision.

He went straight towards the Mirage Fox tribe that lived near the mansion.

As he approached the old butler was quickly intercepted by the current leader of the Mirage Foxes and tutor of Omar, Kohaku. Her beautiful golden hair flowed behind her back to her hips that, despite her young age, were already starting to flare up. As she stood there her small kimono danced in the wind, her two fluffy fox ears, and tail swishing side to side behind her back as she looked curiously at the old butler who came to over so suddenly.

"Mister butler, do you or our lord needs anything?" She asks in a bit of doubt.

She was quite curious about the reason for this visit since, truthfully speaking, during this time she stayed in this place she had little interaction with Omar who had not started any formal classes with her yet having only learned from her what sort of physical conditions he would need for formal training.

It wasn't a bad approach, his physical stats were not yet up to standards to learn most of the skills of the Mirage Fox clan so he only learned what basic matters he needed to know before he was to truly learn from her. After all, the techniques of a clan that prospered in spycraft for a thousand years, how could any level 1 small kid manage to learn? No matter how talented, there would still be base requirements for his stats and body to learn what she could teach.

"There has been a situation." Brian said with a serious expression, his mind reaffirming his decision before explaining. "Lord Omar has fallen ill with a fever. It is nothing too serious and he should recover in a few days time, but he needs proper rest. Knowing his personality, it is doubtful if he would actually rest even if explained the necessity of it, most likely he would just continue to work if given even the smallest of chances and I can't watch him all the time. I need to deal with running the household as to not give him more work after he recovers and the more I manage to take care of the less he would have to oversee when he returns to work."

As Brian said this Kohaku nodded her head in understanding, having already seen during her spying how hard Omar was always working. The kid really needed a break.

"So," Brian continued. "I would like you and the members of your tribe to help in this regard, watch over him and help make sure that he rests properly."

If Omar heard what Brian said he would have felt quite wronged, it was not like he enjoyed working and studying, but he felt he had to do it if he intended to survive what was to come.

In the end of the day, one could say that Brian truly was a shrewd person. Don't look down on him for being an old butler, he had managed to keep this entire Dukedom intact for six years despite the previous duke seemingly doing his best to ruin the family legacy.

Brian's objective in getting Kohaku to deal with this matter was twofold, the first was precisely due to what he said. Regardless of his personal desires, he couldn't spend day and night watching over his master as he still have much daily work that needed to be done. And besides this reason, there was another, not as grandiose but important all the same. Testing the mirage fox tribe.

Brian was not comfortable with many of the decisions of the young Duke during this time, being naturally quite conservative and wanting the dukedom to return more or less to normal. Amongst the things Brian did not fully agree, there was the accepting the Mirage Fox tribe in his territory so easily. Omar accepted them so easily because his hyper instincts told him it would be beneficial and no disaster would be related to them for the time being, but Brian didn't have that ability.

He only trusted what he knew for a fact and the mirage foxes were a troublesome existence. They have too many enemies inside and outside Melromark and Brian was not yet sure of their loyalty moving forward. Brian, he couldn't deny that, if they became truly loyal, they would be an amazing assets that would have little equals in this entire world, but the dangers involved were high and they would only be worth it if they were truly loyal to the Dukedom.

Untrustworthy spies were worst than not having a spy at all.

One could say that guarding lord Omar was a test of sorts. Brian knew that the mirage foxes wouldn't dare touch his lord now, especially with their tribe all just beside the Duke's mansion and with most being young children and the noncombatant, however, if they were able to work properly and execute this work without issues, it would be a sign they were not without some worth and they could at least watch over the lord moving forward to make sure that he didn't work himself into an early grave.

As for Kohaku, she quickly acquiesced to the request. It wasn't that hard a job and it would be a good chance for her to interact with her target, after all, she was still one of the Queen's Shadows and was assigned to watch over the Duke and make sure of his safety as well as inform the Queen of any developments regarding the Dukedom.

With that settled she went back to the settlement of the Mirage foxes, in her mind she wondered who to send first. It was not like she herself could just spend entire days without sleep to watch over the duke either, much like Brian she was busy dealing with the affairs of her race that has only started to truly acclimatize to this new land since it only has been a few weeks since they got there and there was a lot of matters to take care of, and that was without counting Kohaku's own baby brother that she had to take care of and act almost as if she was his mother.

Sitting in her house for a bit she put a finger under her chin and thought about what the best choice should be.

"I wish mother was around." She muttered with some sadness before shaking her head. Her mother perished not long ago and Kohaku, despite not being yet an adult, had to follow through with her responsibility as the tribe leader of the Mirage Fox tribe as well as Melromark Queen's shadow, she couldn't just stay lamenting the past.

"Guh," A small sound could be heard from a rather crude and simple wooden crib, after hearing the sound Kohaku quickly went to take a look. A fond smile appeared on her cherry red lips as she saw her baby brother there, a smile on his face when he saw her as she did some cooing noises to the happiness and giggles to the baby.

"... I have to do my best, then." She said with a slightly sad smile after a while of playing with her baby brother. She perfectly knows how her position was not enviable by any means. If she did things wrong she might accidentally provoke the rage and vengeance of the Duke which would cause her entire race to perish, but if she stopped her work for the Queen she would also likely be assassinated by the other Shadows together with the rest of her clan ending up killed off as either retaliation or just to cut off loose ends.

She was one of the greatest geniuses her race has ever produced, but she was still in a tight spot due to circumstances.

After some thinking, she selected four of the mirage foxes in training to take care of the matter of watching over the Duke. They were honestly quite weak by comparison with Kohaku herself, mostly because they were still too young, but they were the most talented of the younger generation and, if they managed to get close to the young duke and onto his confidence, that would be for the best.

Kohaku knew that, if a conflict happened between the Duke and the Queen, she would have to stand with the Royal family, it was just the sort of deal and contract she signed with the Queen when she came under her services.

However, she also understands that it would be best if her race continued in this land even if she herself couldn't as it would be much more suitable for the Mirage Foxes than Melromark's royal territory that heavily discriminated against demihumans. If some Mirage foxes became the duke's shadows, then if needed Kohaku could just abdicate and expel herself from the tribe and let the others stay in this land under the Duke's protection.

As for these four Mirage foxes, they were just kids and didn't know the thoughts of their leader at all. They simply decided that this would be a simple mission and would give them a breather from their usual hell training under Kohaku. Of course, as members of the Mirage Fox tribe, they would report everything to Kohaku anyway, but what happened afterwards had nothing to do with these four.

This was the arrangement that Kohaku decided upon in the end, and meanwhile, she would also send a message to the Queen about the Duke's condition and prepare just in case any assassin showed up after the Duke's life when he was weak. She had the mission given by the Queen of protecting the Duke, and she would fulfill her mission no matter what.

///---///

"Boring." Omar muttered as he kept trying to decypher a poneglyphs in front of him. "So, so boring." He complained again to himself.

After passing out Omar's mind went straight into this place. It was a special location, a huge island with several hundred, if not thousands of poneglyphs.

That was part of the Grand Line Essence, a special island he went to whenever he was asleep. Inside, there would be several poneglyphs with all the mysteries, techniques, and knowledge of the world of One Piece.

Amazing, right?

WRONG!

Sure, Omar could read these poneglyphs, but understanding what it means is something else. It was like if there was a text in one language, it was machine translated in Japanese, and then translated into English for him to read. It was a terrible mess of words with many making little to no sense. Understanding this it was by no means easy or fast.

This, however, would be possible to deal with, if not for...

"Seriously, why do I have to learn about this shit?" Omar complained as he kept reading.

Yes, there was ALL the knowledge from the world of One Piece here. The useful things, including advanced scientific concepts and production methods for things like Germa Suits and Pacifistas, as well as trash things like the knowledge on how to style your hair in the form of a number three.

Omar felt that, if he could at least change poneglyphs after identifying if they are useful or not, it would be more or less acceptable. However, after he started actually trying to learn any of them he found out that he had read the whole thing before moving along for the next poneglyphs.

Right now the poneglyph he was learning was about how to grow and maintain an afro just like Brook's majestic work of art.

It was headache-inducing, he has been in this one poneglyph for over two hours now and he was still not done. Part was because it was the first time he was reading a poneglyph, but, but-

"WHY DOES THAT DAMN SKELETON HAS A TWENTY FIVE STEPS PROGRAM TO MAKE AN AFRO?!" Omar shouted in anger and began to flail in the ground just to vent.

With almost dead eyes he spoke.

"Give me a cool skill or something, anything. Why do I need to know how to make my hair become an afro?" he complained before sitting back in position and continuing to read with great difficulty what was written in the poneglyph.

After a good hour, he was finally done and Omar had a new appreciation for dogs, if only because they enjoyed gnarling and snacking on bones. A delightful thought of a pack of dogs attacking Brook being one of the things that supported Omar during the end there.

If the said skeleton musician knew this, he would be half horrified that someone he never met hated him this much, and partially happy that a new disciple in the way of great hairstyle showed up.

Standing up Omar went for another poneglyph. The poneglyphs around had different sizes, after all, the one showing Brook's hairstyle techniques was one of the smaller ones, but Omar figured that the smaller poneglyphs should be those on the weaker side of things. If he could get something useful, then all the better.

Looking at the next poneglyph Omar's eyes twitched in sheer hatred at what it was described in it.

This one wasn't exactly weak per say, if anything it was a tech-centered poneglyph which the tech could greatly increase the combat power of the weak and somewhat improve those mid-level personal in a fight, which should be a good bonus for his army. War machines, weapons, vehicles, and other things were all present in this tech's ideas and ways to do it.

However-

"Why?" Omar said, his eyes's twitching growing worse by the second. "Why? Why did I get carbonated water based tech?"

Yes, it was the carbonated water based tech of the pirate hunter Cidre. It was not necessarily that bad a tech overall, however, this was a world that lacked carbonated water, to begin with.

This was yet another useless piece of tech and information for Omar, and since the poneglyph was even larger he would need even more time to understand what was written in it and he could not move to another poneglyph until he read the whole thing and understood it, as were the rules.

Joy.

///---///

Siltvelt - Hakuko territory main city, White Hall.

White Hall, the center of power of the Hakoku territory. Located 150 miles from the border with Melromark this city was the stage of many battles of the last war. This land was once extremely prosperous, with tens of thousands of soldiers and demihumans of all races, being comparable with the capital city of Siltvelt.

Its pristine white walls were unmarked even by the flames of battle and war, the whole region being prosperous... or that was how it was before.

Since the war ended things went from bad to worse continuously for White Hall and its citizens. Food shortages started happening, trade stopped almost entirely, and their power in the government was almost all taken by the other three main races and some senators that coveted more power and prestige.

But the worse was the instability of the current rulership of White Hall.

During the war the one leading the tribe was Tyran, the strongest demihuman. The man was charismatic, strong, and capable beyond almost anyone's expectations and he dominated the tribe with an iron fist as he led the tribe to war and expansion. However, with his passing in the hands of Altcray Melromark, the Hakoku were mostly leaderless and suppressed by all sides.

There was still Tyran's son, Honn Ga Feyon, who was previously banished for being vocally against the war his father craved. Honn was quite capable, but, as he lacked the prestige his father had and there were no more wars to fight, even after he returned to the tribe and took the position of leader, many doubted him in White Hall.

Sitting in his desk as he looked at another document showing how bad things were going, Honn sighed and spoke.

"What you think we should do next, dear?"

On a chair by the window, a beautiful and heavily pregnant woman with long black hair and a gentle expression sat there caressing her belly where her second child currently was. The most noticeable feature of hers was her closed eyes, having lost her sight so long ago that proper vision was more a memory than anything else. Her name was Lucia Fayon, the wife of Honn and a former princess of Fabley.

After a while of thinking, Lucia spoke.

"I think we could try and talk with the duke Centurion. He did send an invitation for talks about business between our two sides." She thought it would be a good deal and a viable solution for both sides.

Honn, however, shook his head in exasperation.

"That is out of the question. If I enter talks with Melromark to save the dukedom, what little support I have would vanish and we would be killed for sure." Honn said tiredly.

Deep down he also fully agreed that this idea could be good, if not the best solution they could have.

He might have been kicked out of the family for a time by his father due to not agreeing with the whole 'war of expansion' ideology his father loved so much, but Honn was smart enough to understand his own predicament. As someone who was once kicked out, as well as someone who didn't participate on the war due to having been kicked out, he lacked support amongst his race in general. He was only the chief because he was still, after all, Fayon's son and his own strength being the highest amongst all Hakoku currently alive.

And yet, despite his strength that could shut up any person in the dukedom in combat, he could not and would not enter in talks with the dukedom even if the situation was as dire as it was.

Melromark's king had simply hurt the Hakoku race too much and too indiscriminately, his parade with the heads of 100 children and babies of the Hakoku through the land together with the mass decapitation of a surrendered army of twenty thousand as well as the sacking of an entire city as well as the rape of over thirty thousand females from said city with only girls below the age of 7 being spared from the pain that the king of Melromark and his army joyfully inflicted on the demihumans of Siltvelt. Altcray being called 'wise king' in Melromark is just a joke to Siltvelt since his nickname 'mad dog' was seen as much more appropriate. Honn himself hated Altcray immensely from all the pain he caused his people as well as from making Lucia cry many times as she blamed herself for her brother's crimes and sins that piled as high as a mountain.

She even blamed herself for running away from Altcray with Honn, not wanting to be around her brother who was so overprotective of her to the point he would routinely lock her in a small room to make sure she was safe and would always change any guards or servants who got anywhere close to her for fear they might harm her, many times telling her that she could only trust him in this life, that she was his everything and that he would always, always, always, always be by her side no matter what. Lucia feared that his mind had fully gone completely insane after she managed to escape from his hands and Honn took a long time to make her no longer blame herself for her brother's actions in an act of pointless revenge.

These and more actions just cemented the hatred of the whole Siltvelt, especially the Hakoku, had towards the king of Melromark. This hatred was currently far too intense for any room for negotiations of any sort to happen right now.

Truthfully, if not for neither nation having the power to keep battling without risking being swallowed by a third party, they would have fought non-stop to this day. The most Honn could do now was to protect his own wife from the hatred of the race, and even then she had to stay in the castle at all times otherwise she might be attacked by the grieving members of the race.

As such, he could not go for a meeting with the duke now, even if he knew that, depending on the talks, it could mean the salvation of the entire territory and race. And they needed saving, with them producing almost exclusively luxury goods and the territories around refusing to buy and putting high taxes in passing through their lands as well as 'bandit' attacks happening all the time, if not for their army not being strong enough and Honn not wanting to cause internal strife in the country, he would have long since declared war on those nobles.

"Still, if we could use his port for trade it could save us." Lucia pointed out this fact since they were not with many other options right now and if nothing is done they would likely completely fall.

"... *SIGH*, I know, trust me, dear, I do. However, this is still well beyond my control. I can't just take the risk, we both know how the mood of the territory is regarding Melromark. If we go there I can't guarantee that no one would try anything against the Duke, which would spark a whole new war for sure. Even if it doesn't happen, no one in the territory would accept this deal now and they would rather fight me than accept any deal between us and anyone from Melromark." Honn said resignedly, his expression heavy and slightly sad at the state things were now.

Lucia stood up and approached him, sharing a tender kiss to help her husband's mood improve even if just a tiny bit.

"That is okay then. I am sure you can do it, you are my dear husband after all." Lucia said with a smile before she put a hand on her big belly. "Hehe, I guess the little one wants to show she is here after all and doesn't like us ignoring her."

Honn smiled fondly at his wife as he put a hand on her belly, the baby inside kicking animatedly inside. Even if it caused some discomfort for Lucia, it also made her whole body warm from the love she felt for the little one inside her and to her loving husband in front of her.

"This will be my second son, just as handsome and strong as his older brother no doubt." Honn said only for Lucia to shake her head.

"No, this will be our daughter, not our son."

"How would you know that?" Honn asked to which Lucia chuckled.

"A mother knows this sort of things."

Honn looks unconvinced and spoke.

"Want to bet? The one right will decide the name of this child."

"Very well, you say it is a boy and I say it will be a girl. So the name of our daughter will be Atla."

"Hey, hey, shouldn't it be Fon? After all, it will be a boy."

"Nope. I am quite sure this one will be named Atla. But if it makes you feel any better, she will be just as pretty as me and even stronger than you." Lucia said causing Honn to laugh openly.

"Very well, regardless if it is Fon or Atla we will love this child with all we have. I won't let anything happen to either Fon or Fohl, I swear it." Honn said with Lucia shaking her head.

"The more you speak the more I fear for the territory with a lord this dumb. It will be Atla and Fohl, dear, don't mess the names." Lucia teased before hugging him tightly. "You are my dumb dear husband, and I am your intelligent capable wife."

"Forever." Honn said as he hugged her back.

Thankfully, little Fohl was in his room right now, otherwise, he might see this scene that was so sweet that he might get carries from it, after all.

Thus continued on the lives of the Hakoku territory, the proposal for a meeting between them and the Hakoku ignored as of the moment.

///---///

AN:

So, smaller chapter today. It turned out like this because I figured it was an ideal time to finish and I have worked on a chapter for a rewrite fic I am doing as well as working on the next chapter of some fics.

Anyway, what do you guys think of the reason for Omar passing out? It was not that his body got exhausted, but that he pushed his mind too hard and even if stamina is infinite the body still has a limit before it needs to rest and recuperate. That Omar could push himself for over a month non-stop is a testament to just how overpowered his stamina and will are, but there is still some limitations to what he can do.

Hope you guys also enjoyed a small peek into the family of Fohl and Atla, they were never shown and we only know they loved one another and that Lucia ran away from Altcray as well as how Altcray decimated so many strongholds and cities of the Hakoku that in CANON he can't even know if he accidentally killed his sister or not.

There IS a reason why his hero weapon refused to accept him whatsoever by CANON, and if a hero weapon can accept someone like the three idiots and Takt then Altcray was REALLY not well in the head by then and committed so many sins that even his hero weapon felt he was no longer worthy.

We also see how Omar's original plan of using the Hakoku failed as he couldn't understand properly the state of the Hakoku. Their anger is too high, their situation is not yet so desperate, and the leader is not secure in his position enough to force a decision. It is a mistake of intelligence reports that will help make him improve moving forward. Having setbacks in any sort of more realistic approach to things is a positive in my books, anyway.

Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, until next time. Peace