The seeds of Corruption arc episode one
![[IMG]](https://i.imgur.com/ZaeUAr4.jpg)
3-4
Location: The Duchy of Ivalice, Southern Astorea
Description: With the dawning of Ivalice and the construction of Dawngrave, the Duke and a few others leave Dawngrave in search of suitable land for a keep or castle to be built there in the future.
With his legs crossed, sitting on a tatami floor cushion at his wooden table within Dawngrave's Honden main hall, Seto took one last good look at his detailed notes set before him on the table that gave him an outline of southern Ivalice. Although Dawngrave was far from being completed in the sense of it being a complete town, Seto decided it was time to begin prepartions immediately to construct a place of centeral power in Ivalice or rather to those who couldn't understand, a Keep or castle eventually. Clearly such an undertaking will take a considerable amount of resources, manpower and wealth, that much Seto knew and of course at this very moment, he didn't have enough of any of the three things he needed right now to start construction. Today however marked the day he decided he would head into southern Ivalice and find such a suitable place for the centeral power of Ivalice or rather where he and Alia would be living while they were on Terrasphere ruling Ivalice. The thought of constructing such a place near Dawngrave did run through his mind but that thought was quickly put out of his mind due to Dawngrave's location. Unlike the majority of Ivalice, Dawngrave's location was at the doorstep of Ivalice near the ending of Astorea's flatland and lush forests. Construction such a place in this region would make it incrediably difficult to defend unless it was extensively fortified, something Seto didn't want to do right off the back and you couldn't forget it wouldn't take long for Astor's armies to reach Dawngrave and this building due to it's close proximity. Now everyone that actually knew Seto well enough knew he had no intentions of betraying King Astor the first but they would also know how paranoid Seto could be, he needed to prepare Ivalice for anything and he couldn't remove the possibility that perhaps one day, The King could sought to remove him from his power, something Seto wouldn't tolerate under any means. If he was to be removed than he would leae it to Alia or his people, no one else.
Considering the majority of Ivalice was within a mountain ridge valley with rivers and forests at the base of such mountains, constructing such a building such as keep or castle on one of thse mountains was ideal since the mountain on it's own would provide an excellent fortification. With it's steep sloops and only a handiful of climbing points, it would prove impossible to siege such a place, especially with the cold as well playing it's role. Now the hard part was of course picking what mountain or ridge to built it on, after all he nor anyone else has really explored southern Ivalice. He had been planning on doing it for some time now but with the recent Felderan invasion, the construction of Dawngrave and having to deal with some rebel elements in his house, the chance flew over his head but now it was different. Well no matter, such a trip into southern Ivalice would take weeks to complete, walking through the forest and the rivers at the base and treverising the mountain ridges could and would prove difficult so they would need to prepare. Luckily for him, he had a few servants prepare the necessary equipment and attaire required for the trip such as two tents, hunting equipment, warm clothes and blankets etc along with the horses needed. He was initially going to go himself but after some thought, Seto thought it would be best to bring a few people with him, not to mention If he didn't invite Alia to come with him, she would probably kill him when he came back and he really didn't feel like getting killed by her. Besides for Alia, he wasn't sure whom else would join him, he would have liked If Aalam could have join him since he would prove extremely useful in such endeavor but with his beterayal, he couldn't be trusted. He wasn't sure with Vartock however since he would view such a trip as boring or uninteresting and Ayame well....she wouldcertainly go If he or Alia ordered to but he couldn't say If she go using her own free will. While he only told Alia about this trip, one way or another, everyone else in Dawngrave found out about his trip from his retainers to the citizens of Dawngrave.
Many of the citizens questions his decision to go, arguing he should stay in Dawngrave until it's completion but that wasn't something he could do. Even If Seto took his role as a noble and protector of Ivalice far too seriously than any player should, he still couldn't sit around doing nothing since there was so much to do for the sake of Ivalice. Taking one last sip out of his tea cup that housed green tea, Seto grabbed the many documents of Ivalice's future off the tea table before him and pulled himself up from the tatami floor cushion. He than excused himself from his makeshift work room within the Honden main hall and made his way through a series of corridors until he found himself in his and Alia's personal quaters. Following his entry into their room, Seto closed the door and laid the important documents on top of their dressor before turning his attention to the closest whom he opened, revealing his ebony armor. For a moment, he simply stared at his armor sitting in the closest, it was hard to imangine that armor that sat in that closet had been with him since the beginning of his time on Terrasphere, such a sight reminded him of countless memories where he was in amist of battle to where he almost died countless times. Even the blood and dents within it's very plates told their very own tale of Seto's many battles, many whom he rather forget altogether and it would be best if Alia never found or else she would never forgive him for Kurama did. Seto removed his kimono and folded it neatly before putting it in their shared dresser than he turned his attention to his ebony armor in the closest. First he pulled his legs through his greaves sockets and pulled it up to his waist than he donned his boots after putting some thick leather socks on his feet than lastly after he was done with that, he lifted his cuirass over his head through the opening for one's head and pulled down until it was firmly in place. For a moment afterwards he struggled for a moment to get accustomed to his amor, he had forgotten what it felt like to wear armor but than again he hadn't worn heavy armor in such a long time. After a few moments of walking around the room in his armor, it became normal yet again as it usually did when he wore his armor in the past. Feeling a little warm, Seto walked over to the wall and opened a window, allowing a breeze to come n, cooling down the Duke and forcing his ponytail to flicker in the breeze.
