The Seventy-First Act: The Convergence of a Thousand Years

The vast starry sky hung at an angle above the highlands, its starlight illuminating the gray-brown rocks, the sparse withered grass across the plateau, and the bare branches. This scene seemed never to have changed since the Age of Chaos. Over the centuries, although old constellations in the ancient sky had continually dimmed, brilliant new stars would ignite once more. The old and new alternated without end until the Gods departed from the world. Yet the starry wilderness remained as splendid as ever.

The cold wind swept and howled across the plateau. The grass and trees bowed low, and the sound of hoofbeats approached from afar. Soon, the riders on the highland warhorses came into view. They wore gray battle robes, with magic orbs floating a short distance above their shoulders. Border-fortress cavalry were not uncommon in this region. Ever since Toquenin's lionfolk had launched their large-scale invasion, routine patrols had become more frequent. Yet on the Empire's side of the Roccozi Highlands–Broken Sword Mountains fortress chain, these patrols carried more or less an air of busywork.

The knights sent the magic orbs flying one circuit around the main road before calling them back to their sides. The grass swept by the rapidly passing light revealed nothing unusual, nor was anything unusual likely to appear. This was Imperial territory, after all, and the lionfolk were still on the other side of the Broken Sword Mountains.

"Nothing unusual."

"Nothing on my side either."

"All right, to be honest, I still don't understand what the point of our work is. Those stinking lions are still far away from here, yet we have to brave this freezing weather just to look at these rocks. This damned place has nothing but rocks. Sometimes I even wonder whether a single lizard would be willing to