Four Split Personalities

Fernan Family, one of the founding legacies of the Violet Empire, one of the eight most noble families; primarily composed of dwarven family members, their territory located in the northern part of the Empire, with the Black Vulture Emblem Shield as their family crest; lauded in the first few centuries of the founding of the Empire as—the Iron Gate of the Empire.

Of course, that was a very, very long time ago. Now, including those families of equal status to the Fernans, the people of Violet, have all but forgotten this age-old title. In their eyes, the Fernan Family is nothing more than a noble family of honor, whose economic and influential power is rather unremarkable, despite the fact that every heir becomes one of the most powerful Dukes of the Empire, they lack any corresponding influence, and without influence, naturally, means having no say.

Since twenty-odd generations ago, the ’Duke Fernan’ has been nothing but a decoration in the highest council of the Violet Empire. Nobody cares about their opinions, nobody wishes to seek their thoughts, and they themselves enjoyed their peaceful living.

Of course, there are not many as unsuccessful as Mercury Core Fernan. Most of the historical Duke Fernans still had quite the noble air about them, sitting in meetings as if they were sitting on pins and needles. It’s probably only Mercury Core alone who’s like this.

But if you set aside their temperament, eloquence, mental quality, and other factors, the performance of these Duke Fernans is actually not much different. Open disputes, covert conflicts, negotiations, restraints, collaborations, forming factions have nothing to do with them. Those that engage in these actions may include the Marshall Family, the Hussein Family, Dundis, Baroka, the Crystal Wolf, Violet, Simon, but never Fernan.

This family simply manages their own territory in an ordinary way, barely fulfills their noble duties, and contentedly enjoys the power and benefits that come with it, without showing a hint of ambition.

In fact, the Fernan Family genuinely lacks any ounce of ambition. For them, the ability to eat and dress well without worry is already more than enough to be content with; if on top of that they can engage in some engineering studies when there’s nothing else to do, or have some spare money to open a chamber of commerce to earn some Gold Coins, then that would just be a heavenly life.

Other lords couldn’t be bothered with laying designs on Fernan Family territory either; even cooperation would be limited to some common business dealings, after all their northern territory in the Empire indeed lacked wealth, even the Fire Claw Territory in the Southern Territory was richer than the Fernan’s.’

But this is only a relative matter. For the common people, the Fernan territory is still a rather nice place. After all, it’s a part of the great Violet Empire, and it can’t be said to be backward. At most, the land is not so fertile, the area not so vast, the commerce not so developed, and there are not so many special products. Living life there is certainly no problem.

At least, that’s the situation now...

But nearly a thousand years ago, living in the Fernan territory would have been quite problematic.

Unlike today, back then, the Fernan territory in the North Territory of the Empire faced far too many threats.

The ephemeral Dark Empire, the rash emergence of various heretics, the ferociously evil bandit groups, the lawless dark mercenaries, and the dark forests teeming with Demon Beasts; the Fernan territory situated between the Northeast and the Southeast Continent had many aggressive and ruthless "good neighbors" who would kill without burying the bodies.

And at that time, the just-reborn Violet Empire, rising from the ruins of the previous dynasty, was far from as powerful as it is now. Those people who had finally escaped the shadows and saw the Dawn, in dire need of a significant period of recovery and recuperation.

Completely contrary to the continuous turmoil of the present, the Violet Empire, young in its founding, was very united. Despite still being divided into nine territories, those families that established a strong camaraderie were as close as one family, mutual assistance being the norm, far from the current cutthroat scheming.

In fact, all the complicated rules came about later. As for the Violet Empire at the beginning of its founding, they simply did not have the luxury to entertain such trivial matters, they were just single-mindedly determined to stand firm.

The ruling Violet Family exhausted all their tricks and negotiated with all the powerful factions, persuaded the Holy Church Union to establish churches amidst the ruins of Violet, gaining a wide following of believers, embarked on extensive cooperation with the equally weak Slanka Principality, had to soothe the hearts of the people, promising many beautiful futures that they themselves did not believe in. The first Emperor even set a record for the most trivial matters of staying awake for seven days and seven nights consecutively.

The exceedingly wealthy Hussein Family nearly emptied their coffers, in addition to helping the Royal Family manage relationships in all aspects, many of the early development funds for the territories were provided by the Hussein Family. The contemporary Duke Hussein provided a huge, interest-free loan to all the lords, the due date column was left blank; in his own words: "You fill in the date yourself when you have the money to pay back."

The Marshall Family, having accumulated a large stockpile of food, frantically won over the hearts of the Empire’s citizens. In simple terms, they extended a helping hand to the war refugees in the name of the Violet Empire, not only preventing the deaths of hundreds of thousands, but even strived to arrange means of livelihood for them, leading the public to cultivate wastelands, open shops, and workshops, and desperately established the most basic self-sufficient system for the Empire.

Not just these few houses... At that time, all the ’great Nobles’ were like this...

The valiant Baroca Family turned into an armament factory, training the common people who enlisted day and night, transporting them to families in need of armed forces, and frequented the only two Adventurer’s Guilds and Mercenary Guilds in the entire Empire to scout for people...