Allen usually jokingly called the third scenario he had unlocked the Fantasy Continent. Its full name, however, should have been "Calradia's Fantasy Continent: The Age of Dark Invasion."
That rather lengthy name actually summed up everything about the scenario: a land imbued with magical powers, and a turbulent age in which darkness was either about to invade or had already done so.
War was already a constant on this continent, also known as Calradia. Five mutually hostile kingdoms waged war against one another to fulfill their kings' ambitions, leaving commoners who had once enjoyed brief spells of peace displaced and homeless.
The clearest sign was that the once reasonably safe roads had grown increasingly dangerous in recent years as outlaws multiplied. Along the You River near Zendar in particular, the river bandits who robbed caravans were like chives beneath a sickle: cut down one crop, and another soon sprang up.
A battle near the You River, already approaching its end, blocked Allen's route to Zendar. Dozens of outlaws in shabby clothes lay sprawled across the broad, rough dirt road, the grassy slope to its east, and the pebble-strewn riverbank to its west.
Some could still manage faint groans, while others had fallen silent, their lives of suffering without a moment's peace ending forever in that year's early autumn.
The victors were a band of fully armed Bounty Hunters mounted on fine horses. In Zendar, any registered band that hunted down outlaws could be called Bounty Hunters.
Whether such a band had originally been mercenaries, deserters, or some other peculiar armed outfit was something no one generally cared about.
All that mattered was that they stayed out of trouble.
But the victorious band before him was somewhat different. Even after only a brief look, Allen could tell that it consisted of