The Pack Reunites

Chapter 8

Martius 1st, 2084.

The journey to Painted Plains from Blight Valley was thus far the longest as such Princeps Gromeo, Princepess Azura, and I had to leave much earlier than intended. We had originally planned to depart on the eve of the Regnum's annual flower festival however, we ultimately decided that if we had then we'd miss the celebration, so we opted to leave one week early.

Admittedly I had a harder time leaving Blight Valley, as by that point, I hadn't been home in over twenty-one years. "Fear not Fratello!" Il Mio Fratello said before our departure, in hopes that it would lift my spirits "I know we'll see each other again.". It worked and soon Meus Neptis Nepos, and I were on our way to our final stop. On the way I remembered several rumors I heard when I was out walking one day.

According to several locals visiting the imperial city, Mon Oncle had recently developed a new system where, the Regnum would be divided into three rings with walls separating the three social classes in order to prevent any discrimination and negative behaviors between them.

How did he come to this solution? At first, he attempted to teach and reeducate the rich about the harsh conditions of the poor, hoping that they'd eventually become more sympathetic towards them. Unfortunately, much like how he was as a pup, those lessons never stuck, and the class discriminations continued.

However, due to a lack of space in their prison to deal with all of them, Mon Oncle had to decide on an alternative solution to keep the rich under control, so he decided to separate them, and focus on fixing the mindset of the younger generation.

The innermost ring protected by Wall Aimee, was where the rich reside, and was simply a less militarized version of Blight Valley, filled with large agriculture-based businesses, the latest advancements in farming technology, and an abundance of natural resources.

On the other side of Wall Aimee, surrounded by Wall Revie was the home of the middle class, the creatively named middle ring. Witches living there weren't begging for scraps, but they weren't living in luxury either. While natural resources weren't usually a problem, natural resources were usually hard to find.

Finally, pass Wall Revie, and behind Wall Marie was the outermost ring where the poor resided. Within this ring, Mon Oncle opened multiple charities and nonprofit organizations to assist witches in need. He also opened multiple homeless shelters for the extra unlucky ones who were so impoverished that they couldn't afford any resources for themselves, or their families.

Aside from their financial standings and behaviors, the distinguishing factor between these classes was the amount of attention the Roi gave them. While Ma Tante Et Mon Oncle did ultimately care about their subjects equally, they never treated them equally.

For the rich and privileged population of the upper ring, Mon Oncle barely provided any assistance at all for he believed the rich already had enough to provide for their needs, and if they faced any hardships, he would simply use it as a means to teach them respect and humility.

Going into the middle ring, while there aren't many government – owned corporations as in the lower ring there are still much more numerous than in the upper ring. Since there were several witches living in that ring that were somewhat struggling, Roi Philippe and Reine Willa decided to provide at least some assistance.

As previously mentioned however, the ring they focused on helping was the lower ring. Most if not all companies found within its walls were and still are government owned providing almost everything for the witches living there though several of them still prefer to work and provide for their own families.

According to Painted Plains law, it's not considered illegal for people to travel between and live in a different ring from where they were born in fact, I've heard of many lucky individuals who were able to move from a lower ring to the higher rings after changing their financial situation and vice versa.

What is illegal however is discriminating against the newcomers when they did move. This was less common in the middle and lower rings as they tended to be more sympathetic and less narcissistic but when a witch from the middle, or lower rings moved to the upper ring the witches already living there would mock them, saying they got lucky, and they didn't belong there.

Of course, having behaved in that matter himself during his first life, Mon Oncle found this behavior unacceptable and punished the offenders accordingly. He did this by repossessing their fortunes and forcing them to work in the royal stables living, eating, sleeping amongst the animals his exotic pets.

As I explained this very detailed, and complicated legal system to Meus Neptis Et Nepos, I as per usual recounted the memories, I'd made while visiting the Regnum to them. Unfortunately, aside from spending time with my friends, I didn't remember anything else in terms of actually spending time with Ma Tante Et Mon Oncle. The only clear memories I did have were of several camping trips.

Upon entering the Regnum, the royal guards directed us to a train car that would transport us to the castle. Aside from a complicated legal system, Roi Philippe and Reine Willa also developed a new railroad transport system. The young imperials were understandably impressed by this as the railroad system we had in Hyperion Heights was nowhere this elaborate.

By the time the three of us made it to the main hall of the castle, it was clear we arrived at an inconvenient time for Mon Oncle was busy dealing with another pompous narcissistic rich delinquent and didn't notice our arrival.

"YOU DARE TO QUESTION YOUR ROI!" Roi Philippe yelled as he stood. "You're an embarrassment to your lineage and have made it so soothe your classmate's emotional pain before it turns into psychological disorder. Do you understand that boy!? Your bullying may have doomed your classmate to suffer from mental illness."

The teenager knew better to say anything that time. "You will spend your days and your nights in the stables, living and eating among the animals. And it's there you will remain until I've figured out what to do with you, or until you've learned some respect." Roi Philippe sat back in his throne and flicked his wrist. Before the boy could respond he was lifted by the guard and ushered to the stables.

After Mon Oncle managed to compose himself, he noticed the three of us standing by the door and apologized for what we saw. I nervously approached the throne and introduced him to Princeps Gromeo and Princepess Azura.

The next day, the three of us joined the Regnum's flower festival where the Roi would signal the arrival of spring by sprouting the first fruit of the season. I also got to meet my surrogate cousins Prince Philippe and Princesse Henrietta, the youngest members of our family.

Manipulating the earth was the hardest for the young imperials to learn, much for the same reason their Pater struggled with manipulating water. Not only is the composition of the element different but the mentality required to control it is vastly different from their own. Regardless of the adversities however the two of them are determined to complete their training.