Triumphal Palace of Lionheart City

The capital of Stibium was called Lionheart City.

At the very heart of Lionheart City stood Stibium's greatest monarch's castle—the Triumphal Palace, built by Valentine I, "Bashir Valentine," with his own hands.

According to the customs of Avalon, Iris, and the Herasul Empire, such a monarch should have been called "Bashir I," and any monarch who later shared his name could then be called "Bashir II," just like Avalon's Hanging King, "Tudor III."

But Stibium alone in the entire world followed different rules.

Because Bashir Valentine had once been a common-born alchemist, and this romantic, free-spirited man had a special idea—

The surname "Valentine" meant "strong and mighty." That was what Bashir's grandfather had told him. It was also his blessing for him.

For commoners, surnames were not important. They could even change or replace them at any time. For example, Bashir's father and grandfather had borne the surname "Faber," which indicated that their ancestors had once been blacksmiths. His grandfather hoped that Bashir would not inherit the family trade in the future, but instead gain another possibility, so he had changed Bashir's surname for him.

His family began here.

—In other words, the first "Valentine" in this world really was Valentine I.

It was precisely because this surname itself had given Bashir some divine inspiration that he had been able to write the esoteric work Triumph Chariot of Stibium.

This book pointed alchemists toward another path—the possibility that even the wildest stibium could be sublimated into the most sacred Stibium.

With the right method, any mortal could become a god.

And if this theory were extended further, it could lead to another possibility.

That was: "Anyone could become king."

Bashir himself had been born a commoner. He had led a group of followers out of the chaotic late Herasul