In the great family of short folk, dwarves were usually described as tough and valiant, while gnomes were called clever and elusive—because compared with the other short folk, there were simply too few of them.
Halflings, meanwhile, were often known for their agility and luck.
It was as though they had received a gift from the gods. Few halflings died young or met untimely deaths.
The stories passed down about them in this world were mostly about their miraculous survivals in dangerous situations.
But someone once said that luck in this world was conserved.
Whenever a halfling marveled at how lucky life was, some other unfortunate person somewhere would suffer misfortune.
Or whenever you felt that everything had been going smoothly lately, a huge wave would often crash down the very next second, smashing you straight into the depths.
As the head of House Hal and its de facto leader, Toto Hal stroked his gray-white curls, bleached by age, and felt this deeply—
Perhaps because the Hal family had enjoyed too much peace over the previous few centuries, trouble had come one after another ever since he took charge of the family.
First, the beast tide in the Wasteland had made life in Wilderness Village impossible.
Then the Lionheart Lord of Dragon Gold City was driven from his position, allowing the family to spend a wonderful period celebrating.
Their joy had barely begun when a sudden Red Dragon burned away all their laughter.
Fortunately, the Spell Storing Ring left behind by their ancestors, filled with the Seventh-Ring Mansion Spell, had helped them escape disaster.
But the Tide of Chaos triggered by the magic explosion had forced the surrounding terrain to change. New, nutritious wild fruit grew everywhere around them.
For the natural ecosystem, this was a good thing.
For House