It did not take long for Emp to learn more about Chinui. He wasn't the kind of man to hide what he thought so it was the easiest first encounter Emp could have made.

Chinui was a man who attached a lot of importance to honor and duty, in particular toward one's family. It was a skeptical man who never believed anything that was said to him unless it was proved true. He would often question the same thing over and over and verify every little details to make sure there was no mistake in the information he had. This was the main reason explaining why he often got annoyed at Emp since nothing he said could be proven without a doubt. Still, it didn't take long to Chinui to figure out that Emp was a very simple man, mostly because he didn't have the knowledge to act otherwise. He believed Emperor's story was the truth but never said it out loud since the proof never appeared.

Chinui was a practical man who saw value in everything and hated to waste anything. Maybe it was because of the wasted life of his brother, thought Emp. Or it was because he hated wasted things that the death of his brother affected him so much?

It was all those characteristics that had led him in those woods. His story deeply linked to the Steelwood empire.

Chinui explained to him how at first, a long time ago, a greatly greedy king decided to conquer all nearby kingdoms. Despite his greed, he was a master tactician and easily forced the other kings to bend the knee to him and swear him allegiance in exchange that they kept their realms. He became the first emperor, the king of kings, his kingdom made up of many conquered kingdoms.

The other nations bordering his new empire became nervous. Afraid of being swallowed as well, they made many an alliance. It didn't take long for the leader of each alliance to be declared emperor as well. This is how most of the empires present to that day had been made.

At that time, the kingdom of Grandbois was lead by a king of the same name. It was him that took the initiative to unite the nearby kingdoms. His own domain was large and rich and his army powerful but he wasn't talented in things related to war himself. He made the wise decision to entrust all his troops to the general Muracier instead of taking command himself. Once all the kingdoms where united, they both quickly understood that Grandbois would not be able to keep it together or protect it without Muracier and the general didn't want to lead an empire and did not have the qualities to do so.

They came to an agreement that pleased both of them and gave both of their name to the empire making it the Steelwood empire. Grandbois would grow the empire like the woods that covered his country and Muracier would protect it from all menace. For each generation of Grandbois emperor thereafter, there would be a general Muracier to help him keep the empire prosper and secure.

Chinui had been the most recent general of the empire. Like his ancestors, he had always been loyal and had done his very best to protect his homeland from all threats. But, in a large battle against hordes of savage creatures, said enemies managed to surprise his troops.

Before taking a decision that would influence all his armies, he sent out many scouts and waited for their returns to check twice and trice more the information he had received.

The emperor Billow Grandbois who had insisted on following him to the battlefield panicked at the idea of the bestial horde nearing them. Without asking for his opinion, he commanded the twelfth company to intercept the beasts behind Chinui's back. On the order of the emperor, the company marched and never came back.

If the beasts had managed to surprise them, it was because they were mounted by cursed-bloods hell-bent on driving out humans form their territory. When Chinui confirmed the news, he prepared his troops for the assault and with the appropriate strategy, his loss should have been minimal.

When the movement of the twelfth company was finally discovered and relayed to him, he barely had enough time to reorganize the troops before the attack could rush into the breach in his defense line. Counting the entire twelfth company, he lost a little more than two thousand men where he should not have lost two hundreds.

When he understood what had happened, he became furious. Not only had he bypassed him, he had told no one what he was doing which could have cost them the entire battle. So many good soldiers had lost their lives in their scramble to plug the breach and so many more had been sacrificed for the impulsive decision of an emperor who had absolutely no tactical knowledge. Why only one company and why the twelfth in particular? His anger was once again multiplied when the death of his blood brother, commander of the twelfth company, was confirmed.

Having lost all control of himself, he went and screamed of rage at the emperor. He, insulted by the behavior of his general towards one of the most powerful person on the continent, told him to calm down if he didn't want to lose his position as a general. Still mad with anger, he screamed at the emperor that if he thought he could keep his throne without the Muracier it was wishful thinking.

He threw his commanding badge at the feet of the emperor, told him he would not come back for as long as he would be emperor and left with the bloodied corpse of his brother in his arms.

After he had wandered for a while, he buried himself deeply in this forest and had not come back out for more than ten years. According to him, his ancestors were probably shriveling their roots (1) at the idea that he had given up the protection of the empire but he didn't care. Billow Grandbois didn't deserve the protection of the Muracier. Even if he feared what might happen to the citizens, he still did not have the intention of coming back and had not spoken to anyone since then, aside from Emperor of course.

In life, he had told Emp, you never know what might happen. Sometimes victory is the same as defeat. Sometimes, life just stabs you in the guts without warning. Nothing is ever certain unless you can read the future.

Even if he had said all this in a fit of anger, he could not take his words back and like his name, his words where made of steel. He could not go back however much he worried.

When Emp had showed up, he had decided that he should do his best to help him for it would probably be his last chance to help the empire. If Emp had told the truth, he felt compelled to make a better emperor than Billow out of him. If he had lied, Chinui would at least feel like he had made a better person out of him and even if he never came back, maybe a descent general would one day take his place.

He didn't have much time ahead of him but he was still determined to do his best to teach him as many things as he could in this short span of time. This was because of three things.

Firstly, there was of course the possibility that Emperor would make a difference. Even if tiny, he could not ignore it.

Secondly, he quickly saw that his guest was completely ignorant. He did know how to write and read but did not know anything about history, geography, the simple workings of society, the cursed-bloods, the beasts and monsters, the laws and so on. Whoever where is parents, they were particularly strange. They hadn't taught anything to their son. Even the shepherds and the farmers knew more than Emp and still, they also knew how to take care of animals and fields for which his guest was also clueless. How could he ever throw out that clueless kid? If he did, he would probably die of some obvious thing in the following week.

The third reason was that, even if he didn't want to admit it, he was feeling lonely. He had seen no one in ten years after all, speaking to someone was doing him some good. He never had a wife nor an heir and neither did his little brother. He had never been good with women and did not have the time for love to begin with. His brother had been much better but sadly, he had been the first to die. He still had some cousin born from branch families but they would probably never be as good a general as the main branch. He did not have the time to teach him the art of leading an army but teaching him simpler things was still enjoyable for Chinui.

(1) shriveling their roots: In the Steelwood empire, they do not dig traditional graves. They grow trees out of the corpses of the dead instead. It would not make sense for them to say that they turned in their graves. Instead, they say that if you displease one of your ancestors, the roots of his tree will shrivel up to express their anger.