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Those victories had given Parson some much needed encouragement after the Breaking of Korgum, which was what they had begun calling Dozer’s first invasion into the once prosperous nation. That was fifteen years ago now, though it hardly seemed like it, Parson thought. And despite the fact that the invasion itself had ultimately failed, the Breaking had not.

Korgum was a perpetual battleground now.

Tensions between the two nations had been high since the beginning--since Dozer had taken over the now defunct nation of Olotes, renamed it after himself, and begun implementing all manner of aggressive foreign policy with regard to the country’s neighbors.

Despite the Vanguard’s best efforts over the last century, the NRD--the Nualist Republic of Dozer--had steadily been gaining in power, even after its “defeat” at the hands of Korgum and the Vanguard.

Even now, it seemed as though Dozer might decide to launch another full scale invasion at any time. Smaller skirmishes were frequent occurrences, and the Korgumites were constantly struggling to maintain a hold on their resources and supply lines.

Perhaps Dozer preferred it this way. For several years now, he was keeping the Vanguard quite busy without actually investing all that much in the war effort himself. Overra was of the opinion that this left him free to conduct other, stealthier operations elsewhere in the world, unmolested by the notoriously interventionist Vanguard. This would also explain why the NRD’s strength appeared to be growing especially quickly in recent years.

Parson bought into Overra’s theory as well, but thus far, Germal and Nerovoy had been unable to confirm it for them.

More and more, as he’d grown older, Parson had begun to see his reaper’s perspective of things more clearly. She was always concerned first and foremost about the bigger picture. That was something that she had been trying to drill into his thick head for quite a long time now, and he’d often resisted her efforts.

Even now, he was doing so. His marriage to Erisa had not been met with approval from Overra. Instead, the reaper had tried to warn about the dangers of getting attached to non-servants, the weight of the responsibility he would be taking on, and the fleetingness of love.

And yet, Overra hadn’t tried to outright forbid him from marrying Erisa, either. Which, quite frankly, Parson had found surprising. The reaper hadn’t been shy about forbidding him from doing other things in the past, like drinking and visiting brothels, so he wondered why she hadn’t pulled that trigger this time.

Perhaps she’d considered it an unwinnable battle. Perhaps she could tell that he genuinely did love this woman and that no “rule” was going to stand in his way.

Whatever the case, Parson was now just trying to be grateful for the time that he had with Erisa. He’d lived long enough as a servant to know that it wouldn’t last forever.

He knew that Overra’s warnings were not without their merit. As was frequently the case.