Six Years

Spring gave way to autumn, and time flew by.

Six years had passed since the civil war among the six human kingdoms of the North Continent. Though every nation harbored growing ambitions in secret, the prolonged war had reduced their strength to the lowest point in history.

Under such circumstances, none of them dared make another rash move. They could only restrain one another and maintain a fragile balance.

Of course, no matter how fragile that balance was, it had ultimately dispersed the clouds of war that had shrouded the entire Saint Nor Continent for nearly thirty years, ushering in a long-lost sliver of peace.

Over the next few years, every nation governed diligently, silently licking its wounds and doing everything possible to recover its strength.

Because they had gained greatly from the battle against the demons and obtained massive spoils of war, their strength recovered rapidly. This was especially true for Cardina and Ribela, the two kingdoms that had suffered the greatest losses during the Demon Disaster.

After plundering nearly half of the Autran Kingdom's reserves, they had recovered eighty percent of their former peak strength in less than six years.

This dazzling achievement immediately drew the attention—and envy—of the nations across the continent. Yes, envy. Because of a single war, two kingdoms that had nearly collapsed had risen once more.

With those two examples before them, what nation on the continent could still be content with peaceful development? Even Storm and Autran, which had been severely wounded in the previous war, constantly burned with the flames of war, intending to reclaim everything they had lost.

Not only that, the conflict between humans and other races was gradually intensifying. Though the upper echelons of both sides remained highly restrained by the peace agreement, swelling ambition had turned humanity's gaze