A Little Story About Traynor

Age 0: You were born in the capital of the Intis Kingdom.

You were royalty, a natural-born Sequence 9 Hunter. You had not inherited your father's characteristic, which secretly relieved your elders.

Age 5: Someone mocked you. Children who were only Sequence 9 could generally be considered ineligible for future cultivation, especially those from a collateral branch.

You did not care. You were learning music from your father.

Age 6: You made your first friend. But he had a very mean older sister who always stole your snacks.

Age 7: You did not know that your mother was always worrying about your future. But even royalty with poor talent could live comfortably all their lives. Your family was rich, after all.

Age 8: Your mother devised a strict advancement plan for you, and you began the physical training required of a Hunter.

Age 9: Training. You sparred with your mother and got beaten by her.

Age 10: You got beaten by your mother.

Age 11: You got beaten by your mother.

Age 12: Why couldn't Mother be as gentle as Dad! You got beaten by your mother.

Age 13: Through the necessary beatings and training, you learned the basic skills of a Hunter, finished digesting your potion, and advanced to Sequence 8. Your mother was finally a little happier and, as a special exception, let your father make you a delicious cake for dinner.

Age 14: You tried to avenge your childhood humiliation, but your friend's mean older sister had grown even stronger. You could not beat her.

Yet somehow, this helped you digest a little of the Provoker potion. You were deeply astonished.

Age 15: You were good at this. You finished digesting your potion, probably because you had provoked your dad's friend, Uncle Gustav. Your mother thought you were very talented, and you advanced to Sequence 7 on your sixteenth birthday.

Age 16: You went around looking for places to set on fire. After an accident in which you burned your friend's younger brother's hair, you actually digested some of your potion. You were deeply astonished.

Age 17: Uncle Gustav began declaring war on other countries. Your family's elders were all eager for war. You were the right age, and your mother also intended for you to earn merits and obtain a noble title of your own, so you were dragged into the Sauron Family's army.

Dad would also take part in the war. You were a little disappointed that you had not been assigned to serve under Him.

Age 18: You witnessed a city fall silent after summoning Abyss. You witnessed His servants ravaging the land, leaving rivers of blood in their wake.

You came to understand terror, catastrophe, and cold-bloodedness. You finally understood what your mother had meant when she said, "His warmth toward us is a gift."

Age 25: The war had dragged on intermittently for many years, and the more the country fought, the more excited it became. You survived by luck and advanced to Sequence 5. The Hunter's path was the path of war. You began to accept and grow accustomed to wiping out your enemies root and branch, but even that could not erase the fear of your father in your heart.

Age 28: Your military achievements were illustrious, but given your bloodline and status, you probably had no chance of becoming a demigod. That was a good thing, too, and you gladly accepted it.

Age 29: His Excellency Gustav seemed to have come into conflict with the Church of Steam and Machinery, which had also caused a rift between him and the royal family. You did not know why.

Age 30: Your mother kept pressing you to marry, but being single meant you could flirt with girls. Being single for a while felt great; staying single felt great forever.

Besides, the situation had seemed rather unstable in recent years. It was no time to get married.

Age 32: Intis descended into utter chaos. The royal family lost the people's support, as well as its control over the nobility. Roselle declared war on the royal family.

...Why? Had the Sauron Family been abandoned by the gods? Great Eternal Blazing Sun, why? Why?

Your mother remained very calm.

But you suddenly felt terrified, because your father's attitude was-

Age xx: The Sauron Family was almost wiped out. You did not understand, nor did you want to, because all you felt was fear.

You could not escape. Roselle had spared you and your mother, two remnants of the former dynasty, only out of consideration for your father. Your mother had been prepared to perish with her family, but your father actually pleaded with Roselle for mercy-then hunted down your maternal grandparents and every relative you could think of.

And so your mother was deprived even of the right to die with her family.

Age xx: ...Unable to endure the pain, your mother quietly took her own life.

Your father was puzzled, just as he would have been puzzled by a pet starving itself to death.

Age xx: Roselle proclaimed himself emperor.

By chance, you ran into your old friend Ciel again, along with his sister Bernadette. Bornova was at... Bornova was at the Church of Steam and Machinery.

The three of you looked at one another, speechless, with nothing but sorrow and bitterness between you.

That was the last time you saw Bernadette.

Age xx: Emperor Roselle died.

Your father was also expelled and left Intis. You were free, but you had to face the wrath of Sauron, the Eternal Blazing Sun, and Steam.

Age xx: Fortunately, the church and the family were now both as full of holes as sieves. You still had a chance to prove your worth.

You quickly added Sauron to your surname and advanced to Sequence 4 using a characteristic your mother had secretly stashed away. Then you let them put you on trial again and again, find fault with you and frame you, and divide up your wealth under various pretexts. In the end, the Sauron Family, whose high-sequence members had all but died out, reluctantly accepted you, leaving you a nominal noble title and the final fifth of your family fortune.

Age xx: The Sauron Family wanted you to fight and risk your life for them, and make money for them as well. You finally breathed a sigh of relief. This meant you would not die.

Traynor. Edward's only son, and one of the Sauron Family's current leaders, though he remained on the fringes because he belonged to a collateral branch. A Sequence 3 War Bishop, he fought far and wide in his youth. Arrogant, cruel, and afraid of his dad, he was ruthless in war and command. His words and actions bore such a striking resemblance to Edward's that he earned the title "War Maniac."

He was not particularly happy to be called the Son of the Devil, or to be told he resembled his own father. By now, however, he had been retired for several decades. The main branch did not want him to become an Angel, and he was happy to enjoy his leisure: salons, balls, hunts, banquets... He focused on socializing and did no real work. The enemy's Fors.