The Baron gravely nodded his head.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Atlas lowered his head and grimly ordered, “Explain.”

“It started three months ago, my liege. The frontlines bordering the Conlis Kingdom suddenly came under attack and in just a single night, it collapsed!”

“Conlis Kingdom? That’s the kingdom northeast to us, right? They have the Copper Hills to their back,” Atlas asked.

Nodding his head, the Baron confirmed, “Indeed. We have the Conlis Kingdom to our northeast, behind which lies the Copper Hills; the natural wall that keeps us separated from the rest of the continent.”

“The Conlixions have always been hostile to the two other nations within this plateau; us and the Kingdom of Morros which shares its lands with the Brooding Dark Forest. It’s just that…no one ever thought that the Conlixions would actually go through with their threats. They have always been all bark and no bite after all.”

“You must never doubt the biting nature of a dog, Baron Helm. It might’ve become old, but it never once lost its teeth.” Atlas sighed and shook his head.

Piecing together the bits of information that he had received from the Baron, Atlas could see the big picture to some small extent.

The 245,000 sq. km. of unnamed, abandoned land which the Shadow Monarch had spoken of now housed three kingdoms upon its stretches. These kingdoms, ranked in the order of their territory sizes, were the Kingdom of Morros, the Conlis Kingdom, and the Constantine Kingdom.

However, if one were to rank these kingdoms according to their livable land and population it would be the Conlis Kingdom, followed by the Constatine Kingdom, and finally the Kingdom of Morros. This was because the Kingdom of Morros shared its lands with the Brooding Dark Forest and its denizens.

The Baron did not know the exact time period of when the three Kingdoms were founded or by whom. Atlas wasn’t aware of it either. However, the two of them could agree that the three kingdoms had occupied these lands for at least three hundred years; six or seven human generations were you to calculate by the average lifespan.

In short, the three kingdoms were relatively new in their founding. However, this does not mean that the times have been peaceful.

The Kingdom of Morros was always at war with the monstrous inhabitants of the Brooding Dark Forest. Life for its citizens was a constant struggle between protecting their current livable lands while contesting for more to house their growing population. It was a matter of survival for them.

Unfortunately, the monsters of the forest weren’t very compliant.

With the majority of their attention taken away by the Brooding Dark Forest, they generally left its two neighbouring kingdoms to their own devices.

The neighbours were also sensible enough to not attack them, after all, attacking the Kingdom of Morros was akin to throwing away the free shield which kept the monsters at bay.

Of course, with the Kingdom of Morros out of the picture, it didn’t mean that the two other kingdoms; Constatine Kingdom and the Conlis Kingdom, broke bread and shared wine single-handedly.

It was the opposite as the two kingdoms annually engaged in wars for their borders, each one trying to take away more land from the other.

Within this abandoned plateau that saw darkness, eight months out of a total of thirteen (That’s correct, there are thirteen months in this world.), the land was a precious commodity.

Food was never enough while the human population continued to grow. The lands were barely fertile enough to grow the bare minimum of necessities and there hadn’t been any revolutionary invention or discovery to change this fact.

As such, there was only one answer to this question of food production; more land. And the more land that one possessed, the lesser would be the number of citizens starving.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

That being said, things had been going quite well for the Constantine Kingdom so far. They haven’t lost any sizable portions of their territory in the past and have even won some minor victories in the present.

Unfortunately, the Conlis Kingdom seemed to have been hiding its strength and biding its time. All for that one sharp counter-attack which would deal fatal damage to their enemy.

And that time did come.

The counterattack was made in a time that the Constatinte Kingdom did not expect. So sharp and fatal had been that attack, that frontline after frontline had collapsed, leading to the Constatinte Kingdom losing an enormous portion of its land.

However, this didn’t seem to quell the greed of the Conlins Kingdom as they continued onwards with their attack, reaching the Kingdom’s Capital.

And then, they attacked it.

Men and boulders rushed towards the tall walls and laid siege to the capital. Their maddened charge saw no rest and was even vitalized by the presence of magic.

Victory had been a matter of course.

“Wait a second! Magic? How was that the turning point for victory? Do we not have magic users of our own?” Atlas asked, baffled.

According to the Shadow Monarch almost everyone, even if not skilled in it, used magic. Why then, was he hearing the Baron tell that ‘magic’ was something legendary that single-handedly turned the tides of battle.

Hearing Atlas’ baffling question, the Baron looked at the young prince oddly. He then took a deep breath and explained.

“My liege, I do not know what you’ve heard or read in your adventure books but magic is something of a legend. After all, there hasn’t been a single magic-user in the history of the three kingdoms!”

“And if there had ever been such a person, there wouldn’t have been three kingdoms!”

Atlas felt his mind explode.

‘Not a single magic-user in the history of the three kingdoms, excepting the most recent one within the Conlins Kingdom. How is this possible? Didn’t that old thing say that only ‘I’ was affected with this magic-less affliction?’

The light of hope appeared within Atlas’ heart. If there were more people with similar affliction, then his original prognosis would be correct.

He might have talent after all! It was the Shadow Monarch who was wrong!

Unfortunately, Atlas’ hopes were almost immediately dashed.

“I’ve heard our wise king tell us that beyond the Copper Hills where the large continent lies, everyone, be he/she a peasant or a king, could use magic! That, the only reason that we and the other two kingdoms sharing these lands are unable to use magic is because we lack the knowledge required for it.”

The large Baron spoke with desire and reminisce within his eyes.

‘Motherfu*ker!’ Atlas cursed inwardly. ‘Why would you present me with hope only to ruthlessly snatch it away from me!?!’

One could not do math without learning how to count. Similarly, even the most talented human could not use magic without learning the requisite knowledge.

Taking multiple breaths to calm himself, Atlas then asked. “How do people fight wars then?”

“With swords and shields and bows, of course,” the Baron spoke with a tone that said, ‘why are you asking me this? Isn’t that obvious?’

Thankfully, Atlas was sharp enough to note these cues leading him to immediately change the topic. After all the lying and acting that he had done, it would suck to lose the Baron’s trust and draw suspicion onto himself.

“Anyway, where was I? Ah! Now I understand why father and mother were in such a hurry to leave our home and why I saw the grim expression on all the soldiers’ faces.”

He then clenched his fists and continued, “Those Conlixion bastards dared to attack my homeland! How dare they!? I will never rest until I have my revenge!”

He passionately declared while raising his fists to the sky.

Seeing this scene, tears of joy and pride fell from the Baron’s eyes. An expression of profound happiness appeared on his face. He looked at the young prince with a smile and thought to himself. ‘Your majesty, you can rest easy. Your spawn looks to have inherited the Constantine spirit; the spirit to fight for the people.’

He then clenched his fists and vowed to himself.

‘I shall also not rest until the young prince seeks his revenge. I shall assist him with every fiber of my being until that moment!’

The loyal, warm-hearted Baron thought that Atlas vowed to seek revenge in order to reclaim the honor of the Constantine Kingdom and its people.

This was a grave misunderstanding.

‘Those Conlixion bastards! How dare they steal MY transmigration benefits and enjoy it themselves! I was meant to enjoy that luxury you know!? You shall all dearly pay for this!~’

‘A kingdom! Yeah, that would suffice. Only by giving me YOUR kingdom will this debt be repaid! That is fair.’

Atlas wasn’t honorable in the least. He WAS, however, incredibly possessive and greedy.

What belonged to him, belonged only to him.

What belonged to others, also belonged to him.

Atlas wouldn’t stop until the entire world belonged to him.