Kardui

**Kardui** is the current king of Laphines. He is rather friendly to visiting Midgardians and periodically shows up in Eclage's plaza to activate the magical orb for 10 minutes at a time. He seems to want peace with the Saphas, insisting that the war will end on the merits of diplomacy.

## Story

**SPOILER WARNING:** Plot and/or ending details follow.
Kardui is informed by his chief of staff of an adventurer who seems to have classified information about Jotunheim. He agrees to meet the adventurer and sends for him/her with Minuel's help. Upon meeting Kardui, the adventurer is quick to ask about the ongoing war between the Laphines and the Saphas. Kardui stops the adventurer and reveals that because of his connection to Yggdrasil, he is well-aware of something going on within Jotunheim. However, he cannot take the adventurer's word for it as it would look bad on him to readily believe the stories of a foreigner. He suggests that the adventurer works to earn a good reputation with the Laphines before trying to make him/herself heard by the major. Although the adventurer is frustrated by the situation, he/she reluctantly agrees and goes to perform community service in Eclage.

The next day, after hearing about all the good that the adventurer has done in Eclage, Kardui sends a guard to go fetch the Midgardian. When the adventurer arrives, Kardui asks how he/she is doing and receives a rather sarcastic response. Kardui assures the adventurer that all this is for his/her own good and that he is only looking out for the adventurer's best interests. He tries to freshen the mood between them by continuing the story he began the other day about how he was able to know about the conflicts going on in Jotunheim.

Kardui explains that Yggdrasil and its protector has a connection and it is through this connection that the tree is able to communicate to its protector. It is with this connection that Kardui was able to know that what was going on with Yggdrasil had nothing to do with the Sapha's mining. It was because they detected something inside Yggdrasil that cut off its communication with its protector. That was when Kardui dispatched the Splendide expedition to investigate what was going on. The expedition insisted that the disruption in Yggdrasil's communication was due to the Sapha's excessive mining, but Kardui knows that it wasn't the case. However, after the war broke out between the Splendide expedition and the Manuk Saphas, Kardui was able to communicate with Yggdrasil again.

From what Kardui could understand, some sort of evil spirit that he's never seen before disrupted the previous king's communication with Yggdrasil. At the same time, Yggdrasil's protector failed in its duty and betrayed Yggdrasil, causing chaos to break out. The previous king became obsolete because he was unable to communicate with Yggdrasil. That was when Kardui took over the position of kingship from the previous monarch.

Kardui goes on to say that even though everything is fine now, the servants of the Holy Sekos have concluded that it is too late to stop the war and it will never end so long as each side is too proud to give up. However, that was before the appearance of the Normans from Midgard. With the Splendide expedition and the Manuk Saphas distracted by the Normans, Kardui hopes to use this opportunity to change the Laphines' minds. He assures the adventurer that the Saphas know that Laphines are not their enemy.

After the long explanation, Kardui hopes that the adventurer would consider visiting him from time to time. He bades the adventurer farewell for now and instructs him/her to go see his chief of staff Shinaim for a parting gift.

Some time later, the adventurer visits Kardui to ask him about the lingering rumors about him and why the Laphines seem to distrust him so. Kardui answers that he already knows about the doubts of the Laphines, but warns against future communications like this as it looks as if the adventurer is trying to cause dissension between Kardui and the Laphines.

With that said and done, Kardui goes on to explain that the reason why the Laphines feel so nervous about him is because he is half Donas Laphine and half Papang Laphine. Only one other king, name Seneth, had a mixed heritage like him and he was a tyrant during his rule. So the Laphines fear that Kardui would become a tyrant like that king because of his mixed blood. He confidently declares to the adventurer that he would strive to do what is best for his people regardless of his heritage.

After some time, Kardui asks the adventurer to deliver a personal letter to his older brother Hisie at the Bifrost Tower. The adventurer returns later, this time with Kardui's brother in tow. The adventurer was also surprised to see Hisie there and wonders how he managed to get into the palace undetected. Kardui wonders if the lax security means he'll be able to see his brother face to face more often. He wishes his brother didn't have to go back to the Bifrost Tower, but Hisie insists that him living in the palace will cause trouble for Kardui so he agrees to sneak in from time to time to visit. The adventurer feels sick from all the brotherly love, to which Kardui jokingly responds that he'll treat the poor adventurer.

With all the formalities out of the way, Kardui asks the both of them if they've made any progress on Avant's whereabouts. Hisie reports that he's found out that Avant is currently living in Eclage and still carrying out experiments. Kardui wishes to interrupt the Laphine's experiements and Hisie agrees. Kardui notes that Avant hates it when something exceptional happens out of routine so he suggests they should cause a lot of exceptional things to happen by messing up Avant's laboratory. Hisie goes along with the plan and tells the adventurer to get ready. Kardui asks the adventurer to take care of his brother and off they went.

Hisie and the adventurer meet back with Kardui after arresting Avant and Kardui is impressed that the adventurer went after Avant with his/her bare hands. Although it's bad that Avant is researching into the Orb, Kardui admits that this gave him and Hisie a reason to meet after so long, which irritates Kardui. Hisie asks Kardui if he had known what Avant was up to and Kardui responds that he didn't, but he felt compelled to look for Avant when he sensed unease coming from Yggdrasil. He explains to the adventurer of what would happen if Avant got his hands on the Orb's power and that it was good that the three of them found out before anything bad happened. Kardui decides to ramp up security around the Orb as a precaution until they can figure out why Avant was interested in researching the Orb. With that done, Hisie heads back to the Bifrost Tower.

Kardui later meets up with his brother at the palace who tells him about the Chief of Staff Shinaim's involvement with Avant. Hisie doesn't think there's any doubt as Shinaim met and sponsored a magic scholar by chance. Kardui is disappointed that Avant was alone in his latest scheme. The adventurer brings up that Shinaim was more interested in the Orb than Avant. Kardui explains that is nothing new as every Laphine is naturally interested in the Orb. However, the adventurer continues saying that Shinaim tried to get him/her involved, which shocks Hisie. The adventurer goes on to explain how Shinaim doesn't trust Kardui and is just waiting for the next Mayor Jun to come along. Kardui becomes really upset because he thought he could trust Shinaim. Hisie tells him to not worry about it too much and just focus on being a good Mayor Jun. Hearing that, Kardui calms down and tells the adventurer that he's glad that he/she is on his side. He then asks the adventurer to continue communicating with Shinaim to find out what she's up to.

The adventurer returns to tell them that Shinaim has been explaining the functions of the fixtures above the Orb and Kardui is anxious as to why Shinaim is sharing such information. Hisie tells him to calm down and Kardui decides to add more security around the Orb as there's nothing more he could do without making himself look bad. He tells the adventurer that it's all in his/her hands now. The adventurer acknowledges the severity of the situation and goes back to Shinaim.

Unfortunately, Shinaim manages to steal the core of the Eclage Orb, which forces Kardui to try to find a way to cover up the loss. Because of this, he is unable to visit the adventurer in the clinic. He meets the adventurer back at the palace after he/she recovered from what happened in the light room. He apologizes profusely for dragging the adventurer into all this. He explains that luckily he and Hisie have been able to provide enough magic to the Orb for no one to notice the missing core. However, the cover up has been causing Kardui to become very tired.

Kardui tells the adventurer that he heard everything from Nidhoggr and is still shocked that Shinaim was being manipulated by an incarnation of Surt and feels terrible that he's been so clueless about it. The adventurer goes on to explain his/her conversation with Avant and Kardui is unsure of what to think knowing that Shinaim has tricked them all. Unfortunately, the issue with the adventurer attacking the soldiers is a problem as he/she allowed Shinaim to take the orb in doing so. Although Kardui managed to convince the Elder Assembly that the Orb was fine, they still needed to get back the core. He places the responsibility upon the adventurer to find Shinaim and bring back the core while he and Hisie continue to power the Orb with their magic.

## References

1. ↑ Encounter in a Strange Land
2. ↑ A Rumor About the King
3. ↑ Kardui's Big Brother
4. ↑ Avant's Back