Joan Eccelsara Jeanne Behdad Clermont Montreal, imperial princess and ambassador of Free City.
Everything after "Joan" could be ignored.
The young traveling merchant Annan had met in Betar City had spent years roaming from the Northern Frontier to Middle Earth with him. At last, she had the life she'd dreamed of: a shop of her own, with herself as the boss.
Then, just as she was growing tired of that peaceful life, Annan urgently needed someone and sent her to the Dimon Kingdom.
After all, someone from the Northern Frontier who had worked as a traveling merchant understood the Northland and its people better.
"Why do you think I'd want to go freeze up north? What's wrong with staying here, being my own boss, and collecting money all day?" Joan had protested.
"Do you want to be an official?" Annan had asked.
And so Joan had been sent to the Dimon Kingdom to manage a commercial street in its capital.
Now that she oversaw an entire street, Joan was a person of real importance. She attended nobles' banquets and chatted easily with mages. Her way of doing things had even earned her the nickname "Cunning Joan."
When a liaison brought word that Free City would supply a shipment of grain, Cunning Joan immediately saw the opportunity in it.
News of the Kingdom's grain shortage had spread across the entire Unfallen Territory. Though the King and the Royal Family repeatedly promised there would be enough food, panic still took hold. Nobles fled to the safer High Mountain City farther from the front, and commoners began migrating south as well.
Those who remained in the capital were reluctant to spend money. The Theater drew fewer than a hundred patrons in an entire day. Who was in the mood to watch a Magic