If the east had the Kingdom of Zefir then the west had the Dragnail Empire. Both of them were a coalition of several nations that housed several races from various sources be it from mythical realm or from neighboring nations. The Kingdom of Zefir was blessed with abundance of mana, the location of the planet veins were centered around its capital. The nature of mana made the Kingdom of Zefir favored by fate and so in every generation an anomaly known as hero would be born under the kingdom's wing and that anomaly is strong enough to turn the tides of battle by its presence alone. Meanwhile, the Dragnail Empire was not blessed with mana and so a magician is a rarity in the empire, much less a hero, the appearance of heroes borned in the Dragnail Empire were none. The Dragnail Empire made up for its weakness by using their vast amount of territories strategically. Nurturing numerous civilians into obedient soldiers, using all their natural resources to make war supplies, and most importantly making a trade blockade for the Kingdom of Zefir. Abundant human resources, territories that almost enveloped the continent, and the obscene amount of natural resources were enough for the Dragnail Empire to establish an economic hegemony.
In the year of 490 LS (Labores Solis), exactly 100 years since the war between the two colossal coalitions began, a mysterious disease appeared that wipes out 60% of known civilization. No one knows the origin of the disease nor the remedy for it. The victim’s skins would turn purple followed by severe cold sensation that was so unbearable most would jump themselves to their death to the nearest volcano. Some of the victims even poured boiling water on their own skin and some even drank it directly. Most torturing symptom of it was the effect on the mind, the disease would induce an insomnia that prevented the victims from sleeping their whole life. After one year, the disease suddenly disappeared and the ones afflicted by it were suddenly cured. It was a mysterious time and so to remind the younger generation of the horror, the mysterious disease was given the name GW or “God’s Wrath”. While the Kingdom of Zefir was affected severely by the GW, it was not as bad as the effect of GW on the Dragnail Empire. GW had crippled their territory which resulted in the Dragnail Empire losing their economic hegemony status. Even now in the year of 458 LS, the economy of the empire still hasn't recovered and the streets that were once filled with merchants are now filled with beggars.
Amidst the territory of the empire, there existed a peculiar city. It was an ordinary city filled with many people who had unfortunate circumstances. Among them there lived a boy of young age inside one of the old wooden houses that always creaked, a gust of powerful wind might be enough to topple it. As of now, he could be seen doing his daily routine.
“426… . 427… 429… and finally 500!”
He wiped out the sweats from obstructing his eyes before continuing to the next training.
“My arms are sore enough after that push up so it's a good sign. Now for the magic training.”
He sat on the floor with crossed leg position, palm open as if there was something on his hand. With smooth and fast expertise he cited:
“Flame of mana, show your might
Inferno dance! “
With that a sudden typhoon of fire appeared on his hand spinning mercilessly. The boy who could endure the harsh physical training was seen straining everything he had just to maintain the mini fire disaster. The flame kept spinning and spinning with more speed and the palm that it sat upon was trembling for it had to manually stabilize the cyclone.
“Magic training is torture. I can't even think straight right now. Whelp, guess it's time for recovery breakfast.”
The boy walked out from his house into the bustling street of Treiv. As unfortunate as the economic situation has been, people still need to live, and so although it's not as much as the golden age, various establishments were still erected on the ground of the empire. Not to mention, for the merchant who was poor, selling their oddities by the carpet was common practice.
A kid of below adolescence age was humming happily as she finally got a pudding after lining up for so long. She was deep into her own happiness that she went straight to the obstacle in front of her, her pudding splattered with most of them sticking to the obstacle.
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“I'm sorry, “ said she as she looked up and the obstacle in front of her was a horror upon her.
A man built of muscles that even put nost soldier into shame. His race was clearly human but his body height rivalled those of elves. He was so high up that from her perspective his face was covered in a shade of shadow, further increasing her fear. He had said something in a low voice but she couldn't listen to it. She couldn't see his face clearly but he was agitated and so his hand that was akin to a huge python launched directly to her. She closed her eyes preparing to take the punch yet there was no pain involved.
“Huh? Why am I still alive? “ Perplexed, she asked that question as she finally opened her eyes. In front of her views were a big knuckle suspended in the air.
“Look sorry kid, I was in a hurry and I couldn't see properly,” he opened his knuckle and inside it were some bronze coins “It's not much but you can buy new pudding again with this.”
Without waiting for the answer, the man gave those coins to the little girl, leaving her perplexed by the phenomenon. As he walked past her, she gathered her guts so she could say ‘thank you’, but the gentle giant could not be seen anymore after she turned back.
Far off the distances, the so-called gentle giant was actually running toward one place called “Captain” a seafood themed restaurant that he frequented.
“What an unlucky day. I just lose half of my meal budget because of that carelessness, “ the boy felt the remainder of the coins with disappointment. “Can this day get any worse?”
As he walked inside Captain, he expected to be greeted by the disgruntled owner, Old Peter. However, what he saw was Old Peter with his collar lifted by a ruffian who by the look of it also brought some of his friends with him.
“Oy old man, what happened here? You lose a gamble or something?”
“N-no… Get away Uther, this piece of shit is… Urgh. “ He felt a sharp pain from a body blow.
“Piss off, it's none of your business. This old man has not paid his protection fee for 3 months and he expected us to give him leniency? Such pretentiousness.”
“P-please.I swear that I would give you double of what I owe you if you give me just one more month!”
“Think I'm stupid?” The ruffian tapped his head in a mocking gesture. “Give your land deed and shop permit now or I will skin you alive.”
Uther was used to this sight as someone who survived in the slum but his favorite restaurant being closed is out of question. “Well I can't have that, “ he said. “I'm short of money here. If I can make these ruffians go away, would you give me half price for the set meal?”
“Bah! I will even give it to you for free if you can do it.”
“Alright! Don't take back your promise.”
The ruffians, who were four men each carrying a machete, were cycling Uther, making sure he had no room to flee.
“You sure talk big punk,” said the one who looked like the ruffian leader, he was of orc race. “Let's see if you can back it up!”
With that the ruffians all swung their machete simultaneously from both low and high angles.
Uther was only standing, observing. “Too slow, “ as he uttered that word, he started a magic chant.
“Flame of mana, torment them
Inferno pillar!"
With that a pillar of flame suddenly materialized. With no time to react, all of the ruffians hands were burned making them drop all their machetes.
“D-don't panic, “ said the leader in stuttering voices. “Magician has a cooldown of one minute before they can use the next spell so we just need to kill him now!”
“I'm surprised. A ruffian like you turned out to be a learned man, however you are mistaken,” as the words launched from his mouth, Uther dashed and with his mighty fist and speed, knocking out each of the ruffians with one hit, leaving only the leader.
“Impossible! For a magician to have the physique of a warrior.. “
“It's not that impossible if you are willing to torture your body. That aside,” Uther took one of the machetes. “Better tell me who you are working for if you still value your life.”
“I-I don't know! We've only got a letter of instruction which detailed the money we could get if we followed the instruction.”
“Give me that letter,” as he read the content of the letter, he realized something of great importance. A blue seal with dragon visage on it. “This is the military seal. So the military is that desperate for money,” his anger couldn.t be contained. Uther tore the letter as he made his declaration. “This country is too rotten that the military who should protect others is now exploiting innocent people, unforgivable! Right now I swear by my family name that I will tear apart the corruption that plague this country!”
