Quietly Ntaj listened to the princess, speaking, watching how she carried himself. Admittedly he was bias already; she seemed the soft type. Sniveling women who'd differ to a man's word. They had their uses, but not by Ntaj's side. He needed someone who could point out his flaws, but also one who could help him fix them. Women who feared speaking out of turn were about as useful as traitors. When she did spoke, she spoke about her father and uncle; red signs at first. But then she mentioned her uncle's treachery, how he intends to close her kingdom from the outside world. Despicable. Ntaj hated those kind of close-minded people. But then again he was a conqueror. He never gave most people the choice.

That's when a young child ran between them. Ntaj checked his pockets to ensure the urchin didn't snatch his purse, but when he notice he did something surprised Ntaj more. The princess gave the child some money and sent him back home to his father. This brought back memories of Ntaj's own childhood as a naive, foolish youth. He remembered meeting a child in the streets, some dirty vagrant orphaned form his father's war. Ntaj wore fine silk and padded velvet, while that child had nothing but a hemp shirt two sizes too large. Ntaj had given the boy some money to buy himself better clothes, only for Ntaj to get yelled at by his own father. Royalty shouldn't stoop so low to give charity to worthless vagrants. His words were harsh, and since than Ntaj had only been able to watch as the poor and unfortunate struggle through their lot in life. But that's why Ntaj fought for them. That's why he blooded his blade, set up these arenas. If he could not give them charity, than the least he could do was raise a blade in their protection. That's all he could do.

[color=firebrick]"That's... Surprising. You know that boy?"[/color] Ntaj knew the names of many prominent individuals in his country, but he didn't know every peasant and child there. He didn't even know all the servants in his castle. Hell, he didn't know most of them here. When the princess asked him his purpose here Ntaj quirkly composed himself. [color=firebrick]"But of course. The Empire of Keratia has just opened their borders to the outside world, and we're eager to test the meddle of our neighbors. And of course, see the world outside our walls. I'll admit, I'm surprised how how similar, yet how unique these lands are. It's not easy to describe..."[/color]