The destruction of the Pendor Royal Family over a hundred years ago had split the continent into five countries of roughly equal strength. Clashes between nations inevitably brought endless slaughter and hatred. The Lion Kingdom and the Empire, for instance, had already been fighting for over a century.
Years of warfare between nations, invasions by outside forces, uprisings by impoverished natives, conflicting ideals among the knightly orders, and endless rogue knights and bandits made the wilderness here far more dangerous than on the Calradia Continent.
You either knew the terrain or had the strength to survive. Otherwise, you could easily be captured by any number of wilderness factions. With exceptionally bad luck, you might even become a prisoner of the evil god's envoy, Aeldarian the Devourer. Your likely fate after that would be transformation into something neither human nor monster-a fate worse than death.
To avoid such horrors, Allen set out from Elaraclay, the royal city of the elves, with a squad of elven nobles during the simulation. Leading that squad was Risadilan, an elven noble with a passion for combat.
Risadilan was nowhere near Hollimion's level, but that did not stop him from seeking suitable opponents to duel, and he never held back in a fight. Recently, for some reason, he had challenged Israndir's nephew and had even agreed on a time for their duel.
Upon learning that Allen was preparing for a lengthy journey, Israndir helped him arrange everything as quickly as possible. Before Allen left, he forcibly foisted Risadilan on him to prevent the tragedy of his nephew dying under a sword.
Allen did not actually want to bring along an elf as conspicuous and arrogant as Risadilan. He would draw the attention of slave hunters far too easily.
His original plan had been to take an