Greed. This is a sin that everyone does. Those who do not have something covet what they lack. And those who have something covet it even more. The king of Paharu was one such individual. Born as the first prince of Paharu kingdom, he had a desire to achieve what he was lacking. The kingdom of Paharu was a place of struggle. On one side, it was surrounded by ocean, and the rest of it was encompassed by tall cliffs which house precious minerals such as limestone, iron, gold, copper, coal etc. There was a group of mountains in the middle of all these cliffs and ocean. Their people were known to be strong, and their minerals abundant and of high quality. If looked at from outside, the kingdom of Paharu was a blessed land. After all, it was provided with a natural fortress, strong workforce, and minerals to build perhaps the most destructive weapons of the world. But that was only when it was looked at from outside.
The people of Paharu were known to be strong, but that was all. There were not many of them. Compared to other kingdoms of which had a landmass equal to the Paharu kingdom, their population was only a quarter of theirs. The people were not able to efficiently maintain their lands.Since the kingdom was covered with tall cliffs with a mountain in between, there were random snowfalls and rainfalls. It was difficult to cultivate or traverse this land. This resulted in a considerable area of the landmass turning into monster habitats. The ocean which could be called a source of food for people had monster that were stronger than those present on lands. The population was barely sustainable. The capital built around the central mountains was very large and the villages were the size of towns and the towns the size of cities. But that was so that people could respond to a monster swarm quickly with their strength of numbers. The only city was capital because the mountain lands could be used to gather and grow food. And the cliffs holding minerals. They were houses to monster that were stealthy and strong. They had tough hides that could make even the sharpest of weapons chip and were stealthy enough to make professional hunters tremble.
This continued for centuries until a great child was born. The child was grief stricken to see other countries enjoying benefits while his own people were suffering. He started his struggle against the world at a young age. While his brothers and sisters were being taught etiquette to behave in front of others, he learned arts, magics and war strategies. When he came of age, he rallied his people to fight against the monsters and take back the land. With his strength that he had trained since childhood, he opened the path to the mines for people. When people got metals, they began to make weapons and tools to develop their lands. In the leadership of their charismatic prince, the took back their lands from monsters and cultivated it. Everything went well at first but people soon found despair. Their rocky land was not suitable for farming. The prince did not give up and once again rallied people. This time to take their happiness from others.
He encouraged his people to work hard so that they could step outside these desolate lands which do not produce foods. The result was amazing. Three fourth of the population of the kingdom became soldiers. Men, women, youths, all picked up a weapon to open a path towards the happiness that lied beyond the cliffs. This army supported by the mind boggling hard work of the rest of the population stepped foot outside their kingdom for the first time. And when they did, everyone in their path had to either kneel down or die. In just a few years, the kingdom of Paharu, spread to five times its original size. And now the people who had gained a taste of life outside that cold place were greedy for more. They tried to grow bigger and threatened the Raian and Seiren Kingdom. The two kingdoms, in hopes of stopping the Paharu kingdom joined forces, sealing the deal with the marriage of crown prince of Raian kingdom and first princess of Seiren Kingdom. But Paharu King did not stop. He tried to strike the weak nerve connecting the two kingdoms, the Border town.
Border town was a special place. It was the place which had been recently pioneered and thus did not have enough strength to defend against the onslaught of Paharu kingdom. Moreover, it was a place surrounded by extremely fertile land. Though it was called a town, it had the size of the capital city. But the place was not pioneered because many varieties of monster were prevalent in the area, making it difficult for people of Raian to pioneer. Then what about people of Paharu? The original inhabitants could clear it with somewhat difficulty but not the people who they had conquered. They waited for the monsters in the area to be killed by the Raian kingdom and then attacked, conquering the most fertile land available to Raian Kingdom.
(??? POV)
Some time after the dawn, in a room with all of its curtain closed, there was the sound of someone tapping on something. Since the sun had already moved well above the horizon, it wouldn't be strange at all if all of the curtains and gates were open to let fresh air and light in, but they were still kept closed as if to prevent something from leaking outside. In such a room a man with a beautiful androgynous face was sitting on a chair. From the small light of candle illuminating his clothes and the furniture around him, it was clear that he was quite wealthy. After tapping the at the table for quite a while, the man muttered to himself,
⌈What is the status?⌋ (Red haired man)
And what was supposed to be a mumbling to himself was replied by a muffled voice out of nowhere. The voice was small enough to only be barely audible, yet still clear to be perfectly understood.
⌈It is progressing favourably. All of the areas in which the plan was implemented have shown desired results.⌋
Hearing this, the red haired man went into deep thought with an expression of sorrow on his face. After some time he made a determined expression and asked,
⌈Is there something out of our expectations?⌋ (Red haired man)
The voice replied to him,
⌈No, everything is well within calculated range. Just...⌋
The man patiently waited for the voice to continue what it was going to say. And after some time, the voice broke the silence and continued,
⌈In Border town, the deaths of the attackers were much lower than expected.⌋
The Border town. In Raian Kingdom, it was the land found to be most fertile after pioneering in monsters' den for the first time. Naturally since the place was a monsters' den before, its' soldiers were much stronger than any other place in the kingdom. But that was all the more reason for the man to take precautionary measures to make his plan come true. And he did so, alas, hearing the result, he felt betrayed that the people were not as strong as he thought.
⌈What's the cause?⌋ (Red haired man)
At the question of the red haired man, the voice replied in an even smaller voice,
⌈It is said that the lord of that area, having gained a land with size comparable to capital and more fertile than it had gotten drunk on power, thus forcing the people to migrate. It might result in some delay of the completion of plan.⌋
Hearing this, the face of the red haired man scrunched up, and he said,
⌈Reduce the number of attackers, and distribute them to some other areas so that the plan is completed before deadline. We do not know when the Paharu kingdom will move. If the plan gets delayed, it is possible that the contract with that dragon will be annulled. If that happens, we cannot guarantee the future of Raian.⌋ (Red haired man)
Saying so, the red haired man, crown prince of Raian kingdom, Aletis von Raian started moving to fulfill his contract with a dragon.
As Ray was lying with his eyes closed, waiting for the sword to kill him, he heard a sound. It was as if someone was cut and stabbed but he did not feel and pain. Thinking this to be due to his tiredness, he did not open eyes. At least until he heard Klan's voice.
⌈Get moving you dumbass!⌋ (Klan)
When he opened his eyes, he saw Klan standing there with a sword in his hand. There was blood on him and the sword. When he looked around, he saw the soldier who was going to kill him dead at the side. He had been killed by Klan. He was relieved. Even when he thought he had accepted death, there was a deep fear of it in his heart somewhere. Now that the danger has been evaded for the time being, he felt fatigue was over his body. His heartbeat was so fast it felt like his heart would burst. His breath was ragged, and the repeated use of flash two times continuously had put a very severe strain on his body. However, he knew that it was not a place to rest. With sheer willpower, he moved his aching body in order to survive. He pulled out the spear from the soldier, and called out to Klan who was looking around in fear,
⌈Let's go⌋ (Ray)
From his voice alone one could tell how fatigued he was. Yet they had to move, therefore, Ray and Klan started moving again. This time towards the dumping site, which had lots of monster entrails, dead bodies and garbage gathered over the years.
