In the Main World, at the Royal Palace of the Asgar Kingdom.
The door to the king's study was shut tight. Two stern guards stood outside, and a spell had been cast on the door to keep any sounds inside from escaping.
Inside the study, Bill III, king of the Asgar Kingdom, stared grimly at the figure seated across his desk, shrouded from head to toe in a black hooded robe.
Bill III was no foolish ruler. Quite the opposite: when he first became king, he had dreamed of governing wisely and restoring the Asgar Kingdom to greatness.
But once he took the throne and assumed its power and responsibilities, he discovered to his shock that things were nowhere near as simple as he had imagined. Nor could the Asgar Kingdom be changed the way he had envisioned.
The realization tormented Bill III. Then came the crushing defeat in the war against the Lorenzo Kingdom, and with it, a chance to cast off the burden.
If he could cede that region to the Lorenzo Kingdom through war, the Asgar Kingdom would be rid of the greatest weight on its shoulders. Then it would be the Lorenzo Kingdom's problem.
The Asgar Kingdom would lose more than 60% of its land and population, but after much painful reflection, Bill III still believed it would be worth it.
Things had not gone as he expected, however. The war had ended with vast tracts of land ceded and Alsa Province handed over, but the root of the problem remained in the Asgar Kingdom.
And lately, Bill III had noticed that the Lorenzo Kingdom seemed to have halted its advance. Despite its gains in the last war, it had not pressed for more.
That troubled Bill III greatly. Could that Bloody Queen of the Lorenzo