Leopold The Second was a lover, not a fighter. He loved the arts, music, the beauty of this magical world. He also loved the wrong person, someone well below his station. His father dealt with that slight against his family’s honor brutally, then forced his son into a military academy.

All of that passion was crushed. Pushed down deep under the weight of his father’s military ambitionFortunately, he did not inherit his father’s "talent" for war, who romanticized it despite being a massive coward and hypocrite. Leopold drilled in personal and magical combat until he was the top spellsword duelist in his class. He absorbed every lesson on tactics, even studying the tactics of rival and ancient nations to glean lessons from the past. He even showed remarkable bravery when the kingdom of Inon came marching, electing to spend his last year of academy leading his own company on the field to ‘learn abroad’ in the field.

Of course, he was not doing this for his father. This was in spite of the bastard, to become greater than he ever was, to leave Leopold the First as nothing more than his predecessor in the annals of history.

But that passion, that love of life, was not destroyed. With the war over, his reputation as the youngest and fastest rising colonel, and time to finally reflect on what he wanted, he found himself looking at the city of Blackvale. Its historic architecture mostly intact after a brief occupation. The sensory bliss of the ocean. The people free to pursue their own path in life rather than the one paved in contempt.

It was enough to give him pause. To make him find a place to drink, have a seat, and actually think about his future over a bottle of wine.

(And yes, this is kinda based on Frederick the Great)

Part of the Blackvale series (Been a bit since I had a new entry)

Art source is geno28