A monster hating huntress, a walking nightmare, a wayward prince and a monkey might be a bad start to a joke, but it was reality for Valerie at the moment. They had been travelling for several days now, the scenery barely shifting bar the painfully slow uptick in monsters. The huntress was thankful to any and all gods above whenever they encountered a new beast that needed gutting. Dancing with death was preferable to listening to the prince’s stories especially when he started repeating them. The Battleboon also continued to get on her nerves, playing pranks, mocking her in its gibberish tongue and worst of all stealing her well-deserved kills just to spite her. The only thing standing in the way of Valerie and an all-out rematch was a begrudging acceptance their group needed one another and sometimes Samantha quite literally standing between them. The shadow user didn’t exactly mind if the monkey got what’s coming to him but absolutely refused to let their titanic clash go on for another three hours or longer. Once was more than enough for her. Sikandar was completely oblivious to his attendant’s contentious relationship; he was far too busy talking about everything and anything he could think of.
While resting on an outcropping of rocks that lead to a steep cliff, the prince breathed deeply filling his lungs with the refreshing air and felt it brush lightly against his exposed chest.
“Wondrous, is it not my friends? The Kingdom of Gentile is a most magical place, of all the lands I have visited and learned of it is most definitely my favourite. After my home ofcourse, you cannot help but always hold home close to your heart, no?”
Although he asked it as a question, he expected no answer believing unequivocally that he was correct, and all would share his views. In reality however half the party had mixed feelings about their home and the last member was too asleep to listen to his student’s ramblings. Seeing an opportunity to finally get onto a topic that wasn’t drivel of the highest magnitude, Valerie asked earnestly.
“You’ve visited a lot of places? Like where?”
The whimsical prince beamed opening his arms wide as if trying to grasp the vista before him.
“How could I possibly name them all? It would be easier to list the short few I haven’t graced with my presence!”
Valerie gave the prince a flat look, not amused at his roundabout way to avoid the question and turn it into more self-gratification.
“Okay, not what I asked. Can you tell us anything about the other countries? With as little meandering as possible.”
She tried to put it as plainly as she could but still felt like she failed to get the point across. Samantha perked up at the question as well, rising from where she lay on the hot rock trying and failing to nap as Maji was. While her friend was antagonistic to the monster, she had formed an unspoken truce with the Battleboon that boiled down to; you do you and I’ll do me. With his audience’s full attention, Sikandar could not help but boast once again.
“You mean you don’t know? Oh my, oh my! Were you both born in a barn? I shudder to imagine what else you have lacked for in life. Allow me, Sikandar Reynaldo of the house Reynaldo, to become your teacher and educate you wayward wandering miscreants.”
If the prince had any situational awareness instead a penchant for turning his back to pose dramatically he may have caught the rude gesture his student aimed his way.
“Where to begin? Hmmmm we must save the best for last! So, I will discuss instead the birthplace of the mightiest hero to have ever graced our world.”
Drawn in by the outrageous proclamation both Valerie and Samantha were quickly disappointed upon the prince pointing to himself.
“To the south of these lands there is the beautiful, the astounding, the rich and flourishing Maroch empire. A sand swept nation with far less green than you have here but though fewer in number our oases are of much higher quality. There is also the illustrious Nokhes Ruins, although they have seen better days, they are a marvel to behold and tell the tragic story of our home. If you two are to call yourselves true travellers, you must visit my homeland where you will be welcomed as honoured guests.”
A kind if untrue gesture, while the Maroch Empire has opened its doors to many travelling dignitaries and merchants within recent years, tourists were still widely frowned upon. As Sikandar was fully aware, his home was once a militaristic and highly contentious country that rivalled the Gentile Kingdom not just in terms military might but land mass too. That was until The Ruination many centuries ago that brought down great cities including the collapse of the previous capital of Nokhes. It was a cataclysm so great it brought the country to its knees wiping out more than half the population and forcing the nation’s infrastructure to change overnight. Where once they were a powerhouse ruthlessly consuming other regions in an ever-expanding conquest, they now relied on the aid of their closest neighbour and longtime rival for assistance. A situation the ruling class of Gentile used to their advantage extorting vast tolls as well as reclaiming a sizable chunk of land from the suffering country. Sikandar briefly touched on this while focusing more on his homes more aesthetically pleasing scenery’s.
“But what caused the Ruination?”
Valerie interrupted just as Sikandar was about to re-enact a famous belly dance from one of his peoples most popular festivals.
“What do you think? Monsters ofcourse! Every great tragedy can be traced back to those loathsome creatures.”
A sentiment the huntress completely agreed with though wasn’t exactly happy with the provided answer. Monsters could group up or form large hoards if a particularly smart or cunning one appeared amongst their ranks. Sundering a whole country however was completely outside the realm of possibility for a bunch of selfish, despicable, unsightly, disgusting, downright rotten beasts. In Valerie’s humble opinion ofcourse. She was most assuredly correct, simple monsters couldn’t accomplish such a feat, but demons could. Believed to be the origins to all curses and deadly monsters was the plane of existence known as the the infernal realm. It was a dimension no living creature had ever travelled to, but many had left. Demons were the most common inhabitant, numbering in the millions, and they sought an exit from the Infernal realm at every opportunity. Their invasions always resulted in a calamity that would take centuries to recover from if at all. Every nation had its fair share of horror stories when it came to demons and the curses they would poison the land with. Maroch suffered greatly from a previous invasion attempt which resulted in the nation’s current economic crisis from which it had only recently begun to recover from. It was not the most recent country to suffer such an attack however.
“Then there is the Shurle States to the north, a desert in its own right but where my home has sand they have frost.”
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The prince explained after spending far too long describing the many delicacies his home offered much to the hungry girl’s chagrin. The Shurle States were a collection of frozen tundra’s that covered an area far bigger than the monolith that was the Gentile Kingdom though their actual land mass was significantly smaller. Cold, desolate and an awful holiday destination, the States was a country no sane human would call home, which is why the majority of the population wasn’t human.
“Dwarves!”
Sikandar exclaimed; his enthusiasm evident not just in his voice but the way his whole body visibly shook with excitement.
“Such a spectacular people, always hard at work no matter if that work is in the mines, the smiths or the tavern. You have not been to a feast until you have sat at the Dwarven long tables.”
Neither monster hunter had been to any feast let alone a Dwarven one, a fact the prince wilfully ignored. Short in stature but vast in hardiness, the Dwarves of the Shurle States were renowned the world over for their tenacity no matter the environment or circumstances. They were naturally resistant to extreme temperatures whether they be in the high hundreds or low negatives thus their home was little more than an inconvenience even during a blizzard. The Shurle Dwarves had worked their land turning it into an efficient and finely tuned machine churning out base resources, smithing them into everyday objects, and then selling them to their neighbouring countries. It was on paper an idyllic territory if not for the years of civil war that plagued the states prior to their current peaceful period. Dwarves were a family orientated bunch who would sooner sell out their entire country than betray their kin. Their neighbours however, they would sooner sacrifice to a lesser-known deity for the chance to win a soggy scone.
“I assume neither of you have ever met a Beast man?”
The two monster hunters shook their heads, they could accurately count the number of people they had met on a single pair of heads, especially if they did not count the monkey which unsurprisingly they did not.
“Shame, they are a sight to behold. I once visited the Shurle States as a boy with my father and was present to witness a Beast man of the avian variety as they danced a dance I will never truly forget.”
For the first time, the prince paused not for dramatic effect but to truly reflect on that age old memory. His audience, having never seen the performance, were not stuck in a trance and given a reprieve to comment on the new piece of information.
“Pssst, Val what’s an avian?”
Samantha enquired, her knowledge or lack thereof on animal classifications yet another failure on the part of her teacher.
“It’s like a bird. Are you saying there are intelligent monsters out there?”
The question brought Sikandar out of his revery as he peered at his audience and then to the clearly intelligent monster who slept not five feet away from them.
“Monsters? No, no, no, they aren’t monsters, they’re like you and me except animalistic… and sometimes scary.”
An understatement if ever there was one. Beast men were not in fact monsters even if centuries of prejudice, smear campaigns and a possibly excessive number of attempted culling’s would say otherwise. The Beast men were simply another race that inhabited their world, though it may be more accurate to say they were a collection of races all falling under the Beast man banner. From avians to mammals, reptiles to amphibians, if there was an animal to exist a Beast man with similar features would as well. Except for insects, that was a dark past for the Beast man people and one they did not like to bring up around the dinner table.
“Once the Beast men held their own kingdom, unfortunately it was lost to the ages. A province that once known as Nahmar Island.”
It was still called Nahmar Island on most world maps however the former inhabitants had come to refer to their homeland as the Lost Isles. It was an expansive peninsula that sat to the west of the Gentile Kingdom seperated by the Kraking Sea, so called because of the vicious waves and literal Kraken who circled the island. Filled to the brim with dense jungles, incredible fauna and an unwieldly amount of natural mana, the island was paradise to its current owners: dragons. The titanic creatures of myth and legend were once thought to be just so, a dream conjured up by an artist too adventurous for his own craft. Everything changed when the demons of the Infernal realm invaded the island bringing with them the savage reptiles and plunging the island into chaos. It is considered the first and most devastatingly successful campaigns enacted by demons although they did not escape unscathed. The abundance of mana corrupted the dragons granting them free will and the chance to rebel which they did with ruthless severity. Now the island remains demon free and a draconian homeland where visitors are treated with the kindest and most welcoming torrent of flames. Every crusade to retake the island has been met with failure but thankfully no retaliation, so far that is. It was widely agreed, if the dragons ever chose to bite back not a force on Natar could stop them.
“Which is why the Beast men and the Dwarves were forced into the same region. Trust me it was not an easy alliance, and tensions still abound to this day.”
The prince was never going to be a true emperor, but he was definitely a king of understatements. After being ousted from their home, the Beast men travelled to all corners of the map, most settling in the Shurle region. The occupying Dwarves were understandably not happy with the seemingly invading force and every few centuries the two races would knock heads with one another until civil war eventually broke out. While the Dwarves were hardy and more numerous, the Beast men were stronger, faster, had natural animalistic advantages and the drive to fight for a new home. During the last country wide war, the combatting factions were a few skirmishes away from ending each other in mutual destruction. Thankfully they were interrupted by the timely intervention of the one group all peace loving races hated equally: demons. The last demonic invasion only took place a hundred years ago, however their arrival sparked the need for cooperation from the divided peoples.
“It was Sir McCulloch of clan McCulloch, whose rousing speeches and desire for peace won out joining the two forces to combat true evil. His legacy is one all Dwarves and Beast men respect so much so that after the formation of the United States of Shurle, or the Shurle States for short, they named their capital city after the man. A hero if ever there was one.”
Sikandar concluded his brief, wildly opiniated and incredibly tangential lesson on the countries within the continent of Natar. He honestly expected to receive raucous applause for his expertise on the matter yet was met with silence. Samantha, though she was still sat upright, fell asleep somewhere during the explanation, her snoring drowned out by the prince’s ramblings. Valerie’s hands meanwhile were preoccupied rubbing at her temples as she tried desperately to remove all the nonsense she had just heard. If she never heard about cuisine, dancing, festivals, fruity drinks, the names of plays, actor drama, and far, far too many facts about fashion it would be too soon. She asked about the surrounding countries to learn about their monsters, not the random drama of celebrities. At least she found out about demons and their retched kind, which did spark a question.
“So where was the last invasion?”
The prince deflated, after all his juicy trivia, the first question he’s asked is in regard to life’s one true enemy. Sighing disappointedly, he answered much of his enthusiasm gone from his voice.
“It was the Shurle States, who fended off the demonic hoard a century ago through their combined efforts. Unfortunately, the… effects of the invasion are still being combated to this day. Should either of you find yourself travelling north you will see for yourself the blight that stains their lands.”
So, it was the like that, Valerie concluded. Although his explanation lacked details or any form of coherent thought, Sikandar did fulfil his due diligence as a teacher and allowed his students to think for themselves. Valerie picked up on the pattern that the Infernal realm invaded savagely and ruthlessly but only one country at a time for some reason. From the description first it was Nahmar, then Maroch and lastly Shurle which meant Gentile was up next if the invasion had not already started. Surely, she wasn’t the only one who realized such a sequence existed which begged another question.
“What is the Gentile’s ruling party doing to combat a potential invasion?”
She asked the taken aback prince. Formal questions on military might, strategic planning, resources and other matters of state were just the sort of topics a prince should be knowledgeable on. Sikandar was not.
“W-well they, that is um… Ah! You need not worry for you will see for yourself. The capital of the Gentile kingdom has defences in place that could combat just such an invasion.”
He managed to bluff his way out of answering the query however he was in fact correct the capital did have just such a defence and their party would be able to see it for themselves very soon. Though it was never out right stated, Valerie had the sneaking suspicion they were steadily angling themselves towards the capital after all where else was a prince to go to do… whatever it is princes do. She also was not worried about the potential for an invasion, rather she was interested to know if there was a conscription available for the general populace. Fighting and killing monsters was fun for sure but having the opportunity to commit wholesale justified slaughter against a demonic hoard sounded absolutely stupendous in the huntress’s opinion.
“Alright, enough lazing around, lets head off.”
She announced gently shaking her friend awake and roughly kicking the monkey who was already completely conscious. Learning about the various neighbouring countries was nice and all but lessons could wait until after they reached their destination. Maybe then she could learn some actual useful information or perhaps about the countries beyond the Diamond Mist Sea to the east. While Sikandar’s knowledge lacked any beneficial lessons it did paint a pretty and accurate picture of the state of the world. Shattered and with dark histories, the countries that made up Natar were in a state of relative peace for the first time in ages. A tenuous peace however, one that could be torn asunder easily by the right person in the wrong place. This person could be anyone perhaps a mysterious figure with a dark power, whose origins were anything but pleasant, showed little to no regard for the sanctity of life and held knowledge of their own preordained untimely death. Ofcourse that is a one in a million possibility and even if such a person existed what were the chances they would also be making their way to the capital of the current most powerful country? A country that was far overdue for a calamity.