Ryan Clayton

Ryan Clayton

The Empire's Northwind Province lay in its far northeastern corner.

Far from the prosperity of the West Coast, it stood close to the fierce, icy cold of the Northlands.

Poor and cold—those were among the few descriptions of this place.

Were it not for the connection known as Winged Gorge, this place would almost have been an exclave on the map.

The radiance of the Lord of Dawn spilled over the lush Mountain Forest, driving away all cold and allowing the handsome young man, bedraggled and leaning against a great tree, to recover from the shock of crossing over.

Ryan Clayton. That was his name.

"This is my name."

The youth struggled to his feet and looked down at his chest. The splendid clothes there had been torn open, and at the corresponding spot on his back, he could feel something wetter through the fabric.

Those were the marks left by an assassin's rapier piercing through his chest and back.

His pale palm braced against the tree as the youth from Blue Star gradually accepted all the memories in his mind.

"This is my name."

In this fantastical world of gods, witchcraft, and mages, Ryan Clayton firmly accepted everything.

He had crossed over and become Ryan Clayton, a young Baron who had died beneath an assassin's blade and had been about to arrive at his territory.

Shaking his head, Ryan felt his limbs trembling. It seemed he had lost too much blood earlier.

And not far away, a pair of hungry eyes had already fixed on him.

"No way. I just crossed over, and I'm already going to die?"

Ryan felt that he might become the unluckiest transmigrator ever, because he had just sensed the existence of his cheat.

I crossed over. I even have a cheat, but I'm about to die.

Was there anything more despairing than having hope right before his eyes?

Fortunately, a call from deep within the Mountain Forest rekindled Ryan's hope.

"Young Master Ryan!"

"Young Master Ryan!!!"

"Beard, I'm here."

Ryan looked toward the source of the voice and saw an elderly man with loose, graying hair rushing toward him alongside eight Apprentice Knights stained with blood.

They were his Steward and knight guards.

When they saw that he was still unharmed, Ryan could clearly sense the old man's relief.

"Young Master Ryan, it's good that you're all right."

"If you had been hurt, we couldn't atone even if we died a hundred times." As Beard spoke, he reached toward Ryan, wanting to check whether he had any wounds.

"Beard, I'm fine."

Ryan brushed aside the Old Steward's rough hand without minding the gesture. After all, this man had cared for him for practically his entire life.

"By the way, did you run into those bandits?"

Ryan changed the subject.

At that, not only did Beard's face fill with anger, but the eight Apprentice Knights around them also went from shame to indignation.

"How dare those Mud Legs call themselves bandits? They actually dared to ambush Lord Baron."

Knight Commander Deren gritted his teeth, as though only this could conceal his failure in allowing Ryan to be separated from them.

Ryan fell silent. It seemed that the bandits formed from displaced refugees had also been a smokescreen, meant to cover up the real assassin sent to kill him.

If a noble died at the hands of an elite assassin, it would be no small matter for the entire Empire.

Because it meant that certain people had begun acting without restraint in the political arena.

Moreover, the reason he had appeared in this freezing, remote Northwind Province in the first place was itself the result of political maneuvering.

"It's fine. Didn't I survive?"

"Let's set out. We need to reach Frozen Earth Territory before noon."

Ryan was still young. At only fourteen, and with his limbs weak from blood loss, he had no choice but to be carried by one of the knights.

Walking through the Mountain Forest where there were not even roads, he felt exhausted in both body and mind, yet he still dared not fall asleep easily.

He was sorting through the more than ten years of memories and knowledge that had suddenly appeared in his mind.

The flashy magic and Knight Combat Techniques filled him with longing.

This world had gods, and one hundred and thirty years ago, many gods had met their Dusk, triggering a war across the Pan-Plane.

The War of the Gods lasted thirty years, and many gods either fell or fell into slumber.

But the disasters brought by that war went far beyond that. On the Norris Continent, where Ryan was located—a place some gods also called the main world—two-thirds of the land had fallen into eternal winter.

Since then, the cold northern region had been called the Northlands by those from the South.

Wind and snow covered the entire Northlands. The year-round cold winds and deep glaciers could even form True Ice that never melted.

The Northlands were no longer suitable for human habitation. The people of the Northlands who had survived the war had all fled south.

The previously obscure Florian Empire in the South became the ruler of the Norris Continent overnight, opening up vast new territories over the past few decades.

The Northwind Province where Ryan now was had been conquered more than ten years ago by Duke Mayers, one of the Florian Empire's four Grand Dukes, who had led tens of thousands of Nightmare Knights.

But Northwind Province was not currently under that Grand Duke's rule.

Clearly, this was another disgusting political struggle.

Northwind Province was far from the warm winds and prosperity of the West Coast and was the Empire's territory closest to the Northlands.

On top of that, after the various factions of the Empire had ruined Grand Duke Mayers's plans, this place had become an utter mess. The refugee bandits encountered by Ryan's predecessor were actually people driven to banditry because they could no longer endure their lord's limitless oppression and the occasional plundering of other lords.

That was Northwind Province. The Imperial Capital was even considering whether to abandon the entire province, as it cost the Empire more than a million Gold Coins every year.

And Frozen Earth Territory, the Baronial Territory Ryan was heading for, lay at the northernmost edge of Northwind Province.

If Northwind Province was practically an exclave of the Empire, then Frozen Earth Territory was an exclave of Northwind Province.

Crossing the Swampland and Mountain Forest, both harassed every year, would bring one to Frozen Earth Territory.

That was his territory. No one could interfere there, but it was certainly no good thing.

If Frozen Earth Territory had even the slightest bit of value, it would have long since been occupied. The only reason it remained was that no one could squeeze even a single silver coin's worth of value from it.

Too far from the West Coast, too close to the Northlands.

But he had to face all of it. And the earlier assassination attempt told him that what he faced was not merely the cold winds of the Northlands, but pressure from within the Empire as well.

Every Noble Title in the Empire was incomparably precious, yet his becoming a Baron was the result of a struggle among the Empire's upper ranks.

Ryan Clayton was the least noticeable among Count Clayton's many children.

There were many younger members of the Clayton Family more outstanding than him, all of whom yearned for a Noble Title, even if it was merely that of a Pioneer Knight.

It was easy to imagine what they thought of Ryan's barony.

However...

"Three months ago, Count Clayton led his thirty thousand Flamedragon Knights across twelve hundred li into the heartland of the Northern Orcs, slew the Mammoth-man High Priest atop Snow Mountain, and massacred more than a hundred orc tribes."

"More than three hundred thousand orcs were enslaved and are being transported back to the Empire."

"An income of tens of millions of Gold Coins—and that is only what is known. There are even rumors that Count Clayton obtained the strand of divine radiance treasured by the Mammoth-folk Tribe."

"Within the Empire, the Clayton Family maneuvered to try and make Count Clayton the Empire's fifth Grand Duke!"

"Thus, a silent political struggle erupted before that Count had even returned to the Empire."

"The cake is only so large. With someone else joining the royal family and four Grand Dukes to take a share, no one was willing."

"The result was that an insignificant Ryan Clayton became a Baron, and a Baron of Northwind Province at that."

"And so, a barony offset the Count's achievements in his expedition against the orcs."

From these few memories alone, Ryan could sense what a mountain of blades and sea of fire the Imperial Capital Rol, thousands of miles away, must be.

"If it had only been Ryan—uh, only Ryan—he would already have died on the road to his territory."

"If I were only an ordinary transmigrator, facing this world of rigid rules, I probably wouldn't be able to do anything."

"But I have a cheat." At that thought, Ryan's mood loosened slightly.

With a thought, a palm-sized translucent screen appeared before him.

Spirituality: 9