The upheaval in the Seven Kingdoms surrounding the desert always began with the Mage Association lurking in the background. The orc Twenty-Eighth Prince was not the only one who had discovered this through investigation.
An Kai, who had remained in the Mage Tower all this time, had also noticed it through his daily side stories.
He had even worked out a pattern.
First, a duchy's Mage Association descended into chaos. Then its king died under mysterious circumstances.
Finally, the Mage Association called on the nation's mages to fight for a prince or princess seeking the throne. Just as victory was within reach, something inexplicable happened to that prince or princess.
The standard outcome was that they were drugged and lost their mana.
Right, there was another thing they had in common: they were all apprentices of their country's Mage Association president.
And they all had exceptional talent for magic.
In the end, with their mana suddenly gone and the Mage Association suddenly failing them, these princes and princesses could only flee to the lawless desert.
They had considered fleeing to other countries, or even leaving the Wasteland Region altogether, but some force always blocked their way.
Meanwhile, their duchies plunged into turmoil, with the people struggling to survive and other races running rampant.
Based on the patterns he had identified, An Kai strongly suspected that the source of all this unrest was that old bastard Dong Lin!
Whenever the Town of the Dead appeared somewhere, that country began following the exact sequence he had outlined...
Looking back now, the Nameless Town had appeared in the Bukelin Duchy for a few years before the duchy fell apart...
"That old bastard really deserves to die!"
Inside the Mage Tower, An Kai quietly sent Dong Lin his heartfelt blessings.
As citizens and class