But only one of these villages had its reward. The Hero's father and his neighbors passed the test, and they and their families were forced to move to the Palace to live as princes and nobles. Their village was turned into a "free city", bringing in the dreaded wave of merchants and guildsmen to settle somewhere away from the manor, enough to be an annoyance for the locals.
The Hero, Juste, who was raised by the sneering Crown Prince Dukebox, forgot his father's heritage. Raised to believe that he will become an effective commander loved by the commoners (something most Princes were indoctrinated into before engaging military service or royal tenure), he became very arrogant and foolish.
Sickened of the King's ridiculous drama and flamboyance, one duke in the Fertile Eastern Volcanic Land of Hemlock (just close to the Wild Forests beyond the seashores) decided to revolt. He used his isolation to rally a motley group of ex-bandits, rogue princes-and-paladins, and civilized barbarians to help him defend his borders against the decadent royal forces.
Duke Grenadier Wolfgang Nauticulus was his name.
Despite his "evil" appearance (which the red-and-white robes were actually his regional costume), he is a better ruler, if not the best ruler of the twisted land of failed politics and dukely drama. He actually wanted to help his people, rather than wait for orders from a distant tyrant, or serve the wallowing nobles' class. Or even the disliked Royal Academy of "Proper" Conduct for Princes, Princesses, and Nobles.
Envious of his popularity, and using his "treason" as their main excuse, the nearby nobles fabricated his records to say that he was innately evil. When their account(s) came to the ears of the fat old King, he spat out his tea, and ragingly sent his best knights (Hero Sir Juste and the 56 Knights of the Rose Garden and Ancient Shiny Sword) on esquired horseback to suppress the revolt.
After a year and a day of mad adventures, from plundering other nobles to fighting barbarians and outlaws for buried treasure, Sir Juste was banished by his own group, who afterwards wasted their wealth on pleasures, and sent a false message to the King that they were fighting the Hemlockians for all this while.
Now, Sir Juste was all alone.
After he was nursed back to health from his wounds by an old herb-seller in the woods, he followed the elder's instructions for the way to Hemlock.
He finally faced Duke Wolfgang in a cave, where the latter discusses battle strategies and politics with his public associates and officials.
Rather than the expected monologue, Wolfgang silently reached for his crossbow, loaded it with poisonous arrows, and pointed it at Sir Juste.
Sir Juste then finished his monologue, slew several guards in a "heroic" frenzy, and got immobilized by the others, who inflicted serious wounds against him. Despite this, Sir Juste used the last of his strength to deflect his enemy's shots, but was shot after a few power-blinded oversights. As he knelt, writhed, and screamed in pain, Duke Wolfgang walked out of the wooden briefing platform, grabbed his sword, and finished his enemy.
He then sent Sir Juste's head to the King.
But afterwards, another guard came to Duke Wolfgang, and reported that the wicked Crown Princess Amelia's jail cell being empty, along with those of most of the other criminals. Then the Duke and his men searched for the Crown Princess, defeated her, sent her back alive (under guard) to the King, and used her new slaves to be conscripted into his army to atone for their past crimes.
After all this has happened, the King angrily sent his Knights again to Hemlock, suspending their death penalties should they succeed in killing the Duke, and exterminating anyone caught in rebellion.
They almost had a pyrrhic victory by slaying the beloved Duke and most of his supporters (mostly his townspeople and peasants), before being destroyed by the last bands of his renegade armies.
The King then died of anger, plunging his Kingdom into another civil or feudal war. Meanwhile, the Duchy of Hemlock rebuilds itself, fending off waves of angry, greedy nobles and their private armies for survival ...
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