The Frostlands

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Angry shouts echoed within a grand room stripped bare of everything extravagant—only creaking wooden benches that lined a molding table remained in the freezing room. A fireplace vainly attempted to heat the enormous throne room with a few coals and scraps of wood, but it was doing a poor job.

A gruff dwarf hit the table with a balled fist and a deep-set scowl on his aged face. "Princess, I declare on behalf of the miners' guild of the Frostlands that we are on strike until this famine is sorted out. I can't send my comrades into the mines on a single potato and a slice of bread a day! It's preposterous—"

The enraged dwarf was ruthlessly cut off by a tall man with a crude monocle and a heavily worn suit. "Tymond, you may look stupid, but I know there's some brain mush floating around in that thick skull of yours. Look around. Do you see any sign of wealth left, any paintings or sculptures to sell to the high-born nobles of the Empire?"

The man gestured to the dull stone walls of the unimpressive throne room.

"There is no food in storage, and without the mines producing something," the man threw his hands up and yelled, "then we have nothing to sell for more food! So if you don't get your midget friends back to work, then we will all starve."

"Hugo, you racist bastard." Tymond spat, "Why don't you take that skinny body of yours and impale yourself on a pickaxe for all I care, you stuck-up beanstalk-looking prick—"

"Silence." A young woman's voice made the two men clench their fists and back down. "Now is not the time for infighting. We have bigger issues at hand, gentlemen."

"Yes, Princess Luna Cloudhell. My deepest apologies for speaking so rashfully in your presence." Hugo bowed slightly and then shot Tymond a glare before sitting back down.

Princess Luna slumped on the cushionless thone with a long sigh. The cold stone made her back numb—but the young princess persevered as she had no choice; her kingdom was on the brink of a revolt.

"Tell it to me straight, Hugo. My Father has worked tirelessly for four days since the [Demon Lord] descended so close to our borders, so I am not totally caught up on the situation. How bad is it?"

Hugo awkwardly adjusted his monocle. "Princess, excuse my language, but we are beyond fucked."

"Yea, no shit genius!" Tymond roared, "With you stuck-up fuckers running this failed state, it was only a matter of time!"

"Shut up." Princess Luna snapped, which made the dwarf cover his mouth in horror as if he had let his true thoughts slip out.

Princess Luna propped her sleepy head up with her hand. "Yes, we have problems, but we based almost a hundred percent of our economy on mining, which was working fine. Do enlighten me on how we should have planned ahead for the cursed forest becoming the home of a Demon Lord, Sir Tymond?"

"Well, um..." Tymond stroked his straggling beard, which looked like it hadn't been washed for weeks. "That was an unfortunate turn of events, I will admit."

Luna looked back at Hugo, "So Hugo, advise me. What am I to do?"

Hugo tugged on his collar as if he was suffocating under his monarch's gaze and chuckled, "Princess, the cursed forest has become a dangerous zone that merchants refuse to travel across. With our trade routes closed... we have no way to trade our ores for food and clothing. So we can do nothing other than sit here and starve."

Luna just frowned and looked at the far end of the throne room. She could almost envision hundreds of starving people lined up outside with flaming torches chanting, "Death to the royal family! Death to the Cloudhells!"

Life was so unfair. Why did she have to die for something outside of her control? Even with her death, nothing would change. The people believed she lived in her pristine castle surrounded by mountains of gold and was being waited on by servants with hot food.

But that couldn't be further from the truth. Luna couldn't even remember the last time she had a proper meal that hadn't been damp oats found in the corner of the storage room.

Luna tried to ignore the pang of hunger that gnawed at her stomach and kept the noise of her grumbling at a minimum as it was very unladylike. Now was a time of action. But what could she possibly do? Her Father, the man who was supposed to run the country, had collapsed in exhaustion after working for four days straight.

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"Say Hugo..." Princess Luna pushed her snow-white hair behind her ear and sat up, "Could we send our soldiers or Delvers into the cursed forest to acquire some food?"

"Oh, Princess, you must not have heard." Hugo shook his head with a grim look, "Our end draws near. A dungeon break is coming due to the arrival of the [Demon Lord]."

"Dungeon break?" Luna asked while tilting her head. What was that?

There was a moment of silence. Tymond and Hugo sat with their chin in their hands and stared at the molding table—neither wished to tell the Princess of the incoming calamity.

Eventually, Tymond licked his lips and looked at Luna Cloudhell with a grave expression, "Princess, when a [Demon Lord] appears, all the dungeons go berserk. Those monsters that happily roam the deep decide to escape their confides and storm into the upper world..."

Luna's eyes widened. Her people were on the brink of starvation. How could they face even the monsters from the first floor of the dungeon without casualties?

"No... No, how can such a thing be possible? The Goddess will protect us? Right?" Luna couldn't believe what she was hearing. Only the most seasoned Delvers could survive the lower floors, and they spent months in preparation—and even then, most didn't come back alive.

How can the common man face those monstrous fiends of the deep? What chance could they have? Luna massaged her temples, "And what is the situation at our Grand Dungeon?"

"Oh, terrible." Hugo said flatly, "The soldiers and Delvers will be overrun any day now. Without food, we never stood a chance in the first place."

"Should we try and evacuate?" The words died in Luna's throat—even she knew how ridiculous it was. Where could they even run to? There was nothing but mountains and the cursed forest surrounding them.

With a sigh, she added while murmuring under her breath. "Even if the chance of survival is one percent, it's better than being slaughtered like pigs."

"That I can agree on." Hugo pinched the bridge of his nose as he rolled his shoulders.

The poor man had been in this room for days without a wink of sleep.

"Shall I send out the evacuation order? Which, I might add, doesn't even exist. We never set one up..." Hugo shrugged and sarcastically added, "Let's just run down the single road from here and into the [Demon Lord]'s forest. What could possibly go wrong?"

Luna wearily pushed herself up from her throne, which was just a cold seat of stone now with empty holes where encrusted gems had once been fused back when her family had been wealthy from the mines.

"Hugo, I am tired of your bullshit. Today is as good as any day to die. Tell everyone to run for their lives. The Frostlands is no more."

The man bowed. "As you wish, my Princess."

***

Luna stood in the castle's entrance hall while gazing out of the gate, which was raised. In the distance, a beam of red light connected the heavens and the earth. It was so close—Luna felt like she could almost reach out and grab it.

Bells began to ring throughout the city, which briefly surprised the woman.

"Oh... must be the bell for the evacuation." Luna shook her head and looked over her shoulder at the castle built into the mountain face that had been her home since birth. There were some good memories, but those were from a distant past.

Ever since the famine ravaged the continent, the people of the Frostlands naturally struggled with no farmland. Due to starvation, Eshnar and the Empire's industry slowed, and the chance for war was low. Both were bad news for the Frostlands, which relied on selling mana stones and ores extracted from the Grand Dungeon to these power-hungry nations, ideally for weapons.

Luna's mother and younger brother had both perished in recent months due to the cold and famine, so it was just Luna and her elderly Father still in the castle. A lonely life filled with few prospects. I didn't even get to escape this place through marriage. Nobody wanted me. What foolish prince would like to move to a cold hellhole like this of their own volition just for a girl like me?

Luna turned to go back inside, but a knight's clinking armor made her freeze. Are they revolting already? All the guards had naturally gone to fight in the Grand Dungeon, and Luna had felt she would be safe with the bit of ice magic she knew.

"Princess! I bring an urgent report!" The man wore bulky armor that may have fit him perfectly many months ago, but now it was as if an undead resided in the suit. His eyes were sunken and dulled, and his cheekbones were poking through. Finally, with a grunt, the man stood at attention and saluted.

"Some good news?" Luna asked, half serious. She was still holding onto a slither of hope that there was salvation.

The helmet clinked against his suit as the knight shook his head. "I am afraid not, my Princess. In fact... it's over."

"Over?" Luna tilted her head. "Oh, you mean the evacuation?"

The knight looked confused. "Evacuation, my Princess? I haven't heard of such a thing. Rather, I come bearing news that the dungeon break has bested out soldiers. Monsters will arrive here in a few minutes."

"Are you sure? I was told they would hold one for another day—" A terrifying roar made Luna pause. The ground trembled, and in the distance, she saw a plume of smoke rising into the sky through the opened gate. Through the smoke, two red eyes accompanied a hulking form that towered over the city.

Luna just stood there, baffled at the monstrosity she was witnessing. "We need to evacuate! What is that useless bastard Hugo doing!" Luna clenched her fist and stormed back toward the castle, "I must escape with my Father."

"I am afraid that won't be possible, Princess." The knight commented half-heartedly while looking into the distance. "The Demon Lord's forces have us pincered. Our only route of escape has been cut off."

Princess Luna's eyes went wide. "The [Demon Lord] is here?"