Gerard Martein.
Tiger Viscount, Warrior.
Although no hero had died in nearly a decade, Viscount Martein perished due to a sudden, unprecedented monster wave.
Thus began an era of turbulence.
Martein, who had terrified the empire with a single sun spear, met an end befitting his name.
He slew the leader of the monster wave but fell in the process.
That monster had led the wave with its cries.
With the leader dead, the cohesion of the monster wave weakened.
The flow of a fluid becomes faster and stronger when concentrated in one place.
The monster wave, having lost its focal point, spread out like a river gradually widening.
Battles raged for days.
As a result, Martein’s domain was devastated.
Countless people were killed by monsters, and beasts that once preyed on each other in primeval forests now developed a taste for humans.
Farmlands and houses burned.
Nevertheless, the Viscount’s struggle was meaningful.
Martein’s warriors managed to defend the lord’s castle and the most important cities in the territory.
The monster wave continued to flow unabated.
The monsters eventually crossed the border and reached the empire.
Now it fell to the empire to deal with the countless monsters.
The survivors in Martein’s domain began to pick up the pieces.
This included investigating the Eindol Plains, where they first clashed with the monsters.
They had to collect the corpse of the Twin Head Chimera that took the Viscount’s life and recover the bodies of the soldiers.
When the soldiers arrived at their destination, they found a carriage in the center.
A carriage entangled in tree trunks.
After dispatching some dog-like monsters lurking nearby, they used axes to peel away the tree trunks covering the carriage.
Inside were people.
Upon discovering their identities, the soldiers immediately took them to the lord’s castle.
Lady Mary Martein, the Viscount’s wife, greeted them.
“Oliver, the hunter of Greyrim.”
Oliver introduced himself, kneeling on one knee.
As Zain beside him was about to introduce himself…
“Next to him is Sir Zarein, the knight of Greyrim.”
“…It’s Zain.”
Instead of introducing himself as Zain of the Iron Lion Knights, he went along with Oliver’s introduction.
Zain immediately understood that this was Oliver’s consideration.
“I’m Rania Greyrim.”
Rania introduced herself, extremely nervous.
Her current appearance was so disheveled that it was hard to believe she was a noble lady.
Her face and clothes were dirty from not being able to wash, and her cheeks were gaunt from lack of sleep.
“May I ask… what circumstances brought you there?”
It was the castle’s steward who asked this, not the Viscountess.
The sharp-featured Viscountess simply stood still with an unreadable expression.
Although monsters had swept through Martein, the lord’s castle was still magnificent.
Much more so than Greyrim.
Rania’s body trembled.
“We were fleeing to Martein… But that giant chimera snake kidnapped us…”
Stuttering, Rania explained their situation so far.
However, she completely omitted any mention of the white snake, as previously agreed with Oliver and Zain.
“How terrible…”
“You’ve been through a great ordeal.”
Martein’s retainers murmured.
Rania felt dizzy.
Her grandfather was dead, they said. That indomitable hero.
Originally, Rania had headed to Martein to seek his help.
In the meantime, Greyrim had fallen, and even Martein’s domain had been devastated.
What would become of Rania’s fate now?
Her grandmother, whom she was meeting for the first time, looked terrifying.
She might be driven out like this.
If so, she would have to return to the burned Greyrim.
Steel Gunter might still be there.
The next to speak was the Viscountess.
“Rania.”
The Viscountess slowly descended the stairs.
Given the current situation, she wasn’t wearing extravagant clothes, but the nobility’s dignity was evident in her graceful steps.
She was also very tall.
Rania somehow wanted to run away.
Her ragged appearance seemed out of place here.
That’s when it happened.
The Viscountess suddenly embraced Rania.
“I’m so glad you’re alive. Sob.”
She collapsed in front of Rania, as if crumbling.
Rania, with a bewildered expression, was enveloped in the Viscountess’s embrace.
“Grandmother…”
“You, you…”
The Viscountess revealed a surprising fact.
“You’re the only surviving direct descendant of the Viscount.”
“Ah.”
Oliver and Zain’s expressions froze in surprise.
The Viscount had children.
There should have been a son to inherit the title, and grandchildren too.
“They’re all dead.”
The spirit of Martein, always at the forefront.
That ultimately killed Martein.
What this meant was…
“You’re now the Viscount’s successor.”
Her grandmother, whom she was meeting for the first time, was embracing her and crying.
Rania couldn’t immediately comprehend the current situation.
However, she had a feeling…
That she would now live as Rania ‘Martein’, not Rania Greyrim.
==
The Gray Mountains.
One of the continent’s five great magic realms.
However, one shouldn’t think of the Gray Mountains as just a cluster of a few mountains.
Although its area is smaller compared to the great forests or ‘deserts’, its length is immense.
It’s not for nothing that the Gray Mountains are called the backbone of the continent.
The Orilate Great Trunk, stretching across kingdoms to the continent, is the spine of the mountain range.
And naturally, a spine has ribs.
From the towering Orilate Great Trunk, smaller mountain ranges spread out like ribs.
Between the mountain ranges, there are people living and cities as well.
Even though monsters occasionally surge down, the mountains’ abundant resources inevitably attracted humans and dwarves.
The city of Calea, famous as a mining city, is also located there.
At the entrance of the road leading to Calea City, there’s an intermediate trading post.
It’s a place where goods and merchant groups gather.
Today, too, there were wagon merchants heading to Calea City.
The trading post’s wholesaler quoted the price of goods to a wagon merchant.
“There’s a 50 silver deposit per oak barrel. You’ll get it back when you return it.”
“Don’t I know that? It used to be 30 silver, why has it suddenly gone up to 50?”
“We’ve lost many oak barrels to bandits, you see.”
The wholesaler said nonchalantly while picking his ear.
“How can you suddenly say this?”
“Take it or leave it. It’s not like there aren’t other wagon merchants who’ll buy ale.”
Beer is a popular item in Calea City that sells out as soon as it’s brought in.
As the wholesaler said, there were plenty of wagon merchants looking to buy ale.
The merchant sighed, looking troubled.
“Oh, well.”
Wagon merchants are those who do itinerant business with a single freight wagon.
Except for owning a horse and wagon, they’re no different from peddlers.
The merchant who just received notice of the price increase from the wholesaler doesn’t look particularly wealthy either.
With a gentle-looking face and a stubbly chin from not shaving properly.
His tired, sunken eyes don’t seem to have the qualities of a great merchant at all.
“Roil. Decide quickly. If you buy the ale now, I’ll throw in an extra box of jerky.”
When the wholesaler spoke as if doing him a favor, the merchant called Roil nodded reluctantly.
“Alright, good thinking. Pay for it over there. I’ll have my boys load it onto your wagon.”
“Thanks, thank you.”
“And make sure to move with the other wagons. You know there are a lot of bandits these days, right? You should be especially careful since you travel with your son.”
“I should…”
Roil trudged away.
Behind him, the wholesaler, who had been smiling and expressing concern just moments ago, suddenly hardened his expression.
“Miserable bastard. Always trying to haggle even though he’s going to buy anyway.”
If you take ale to Calea City and sell it, you have to come back next time to collect the oak barrels you sold.
If you entrust that to someone else, you’ll be heavily charged in fees, and if you lose the oak barrels, the loss is severe.
Knowing this, wholesalers could be tough on wagon merchants.
A porter from the trading post chimed in with a snicker.
“Roil’s a widower who takes his son along on business trips, isn’t he? I heard he needs a lot of money. Wants to send his son to the academy.”
“Academy, my foot. The ignorant fool.”
“Right? Haha.”
“Stop being lazy and load this onto that guy’s wagon.”
The wholesaler said, kicking a wooden box at his feet.
It was jerky with a short shelf life remaining.
The very item he had offered to give to Roil as if doing him a favor.
The porter lifted the box with a grunt.
“Oh, it’s a bit heavier than usual today? Did you put in a bit more?”
“Stop talking nonsense and go.”
The porter left carrying the jerky box with an embarrassed smile.
Contrary to the wholesaler’s misunderstanding, he wasn’t talking nonsense.
He should have been praised for his sharp senses.
The jerky box loaded onto merchant Roil’s wagon was exactly one snake heavier.