Chapter 0: Prologue

Once upon a time, the continent was at war.

A war for the ages.

A war that would forever go down in the history books.

An immense, long, drawn out war.

The entire continent of Vastonia turned into a battleground, prey to a war that had no end in sight, a war of attrition that dragged the fighters through the mud.

No one remembers how the war started – what ignited its flames.

According to old Elven lore, it began when a Daemon prince kidnapped a Human kingdom’s princess.

Or, according to Dwarven tales, it was when a Human king attacked and destroyed a Daemon village.

History agrees without a doubt that either the Humans or the Daemons began the war, but anyone that believed that either party was guiltier than the other was long dead.

All anyone knew at this point was that the war lasted more than five thousand years.

All twelve races of Vastonia were involved.

Everyone thought that this war was going to last forever and ever.

Everyone alive today was born during the ongoing conflict.

Just like how their fathers, mothers, grandfathers, and grandmothers were.

Everyone alive had a similar circumstance. Nobody had lived through or could even remember what peace was like.

Even the Elves, with their 500-year lifespan, couldn’t even remember when the war started.

All anyone knew was how to fight – conflict was simply a fact, an immutable aspect of life.

They believed their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren would be fighting too.

No one knew how the war began, and no one knew how it would end.

One day, however, the war ended abruptly.

No one remembers how the war started, but everyone remembers how it ended.

Gediguz, the Daemon king.

His appearance changed the course of the war.

Daemon King Gediguz was an outstanding individual.

He was the most charismatic of all the Daemon Kings. During his 100-year reign, he united seven races: the Ogres, Faeries, Harpies, Succubi, Lizardmen, and Orcs, into a Federation, with the Daemons at its head. He came up with a new joint military organization that included all the coalition’s different species and created new, never before seen, strategies and battle doctrines. The Federation overwhelmed the Human led Four Tribe Alliance and greatly expanded their territorial influence.

It was a nightmare for the Four Tribe Alliance.

Up until that point, the seven races of the Federation had only fought alongside each other – they had never truly cooperated.

However, this was also an opportunity for the Alliance.

The army assembled by the Demon King Gediguz was a monolithic force in a way that the Alliance had never been before.

Because of his leadership, strength, and charisma, he had become both the pillar that held up the Federation – and its biggest weakness. Without Gediguz, everything would crumble.

Of course, this was not something that the Four Tribe Alliance knew about.

But they could easily conclude that if they did not defeat Gediguz first, they would be beaten.

And so, Gediguz was defeated.

In the decisive battle of the Lemium Highlands, a death squad led by the Human prince Nazar, the Elven Archmage Sonia, the Dwarven Warlord Dorado Banga, and the Beastkin Hero Leto penetrated deep into the Daemon-led army and vaquished Daemon King Gediguz.

The operation was a bloodbath for both sides.

The Dwarven Warlord Dorado Banga and the Beastkin Hero Leto lost their lives in the final battle against Gediguz, and more than half of the death squad’s soldiers were slain by Daemonic forces.

During the retreat after slaying the Daemon King, the Human Prince Nazar also sustained serious injuries.

Drastic changes occurred after Gediguz’s death.

After losing their King, the Seven Race Federation rapidly spun out of control.

They became incredibly fragmented.

No one had been prepared to take Gediguz’s seat.

Their organization was so centralized that there was no one to issue even rough instructions, and the chain of command of the Seven Race Federation was left in tatters.

The Seven Race Federation’s armies had no choice but to wander aimlessly across the battlefield, waiting for orders that never came, and were swept away by the Alliance’s forces.

If the Kings of each race had not taken command themselves, entire nations of the Federation might have disappeared.

The Seven Race Federation, previously led by the Daemons, scattered, and began to fight each other as they had before Gediguz’s reign.

The Ogres allied with the Harpies, the Succubi with the Lizardmen, and the Orcs with the Faeries. There was cooperation, but only on a tactical level. They suffered defeat after defeat.

Five years after Daemon King Gediguz’s death.

In only five short years, the Seven Race Federation had lost all its land.

All the territory they had acquired over the past 100 years.

From the Seven Race Federation’s perspective, these were circumstances where they could be face complete annihilation.

That was how much stronger the Four Tribe Alliance was at this point in time.

However, they came up with a proposal – a peace treaty.

The Prince of the Humans, Nazar, brought up this idea at a meeting of the Four Tribes.

Let us give them one last chance. Let us offer them peace.

Nazar spoke for the people. He gave them a voice – the voice of the people who had been exhausted and fatigued by the endless war, particularly after the last 100 years of fierce conflict.

The people of the Four Tribe Alliance had reached their limits.

Over the past 100 years, the Human, Elven, Dwarven, and Beastkin populations had dwindled.

The average life expectancy had dropped so much that even their ability to properly raise children was fading.

Everyone wanted to rest.

Everyone wanted a break.

What would happen if the cornered Seven Tribes Coalition were to unite again for a final showdown?

Sure, the Four Tribe Alliance would win.

But what then? What comes next?

Or perhaps a new leader would rise in the nick of time, and they would just fall together? Would it be mutual destruction?

[Let us steer the ship toward peace while we still have a chance to do so.]

That is what Nazar proposed.

The leaders of the Four Tribe Alliance were convinced that their enemies would never agree to a peace treaty, but much to their surprise, none of the Seven Races of the Federation turned down the offer.

Even the Ogres, with whom the Alliance was not sure they could even communicate, and the Orcs, who thought that combat and rape were sacred, accepted the disadvantageous conditions and readily agreed to make peace.

And thus, the war was over.

The long, drawn-out war had finally come to an end.

Three years later.

Three years have gone by.

Three years have passed since then – the third year of the new calendar, aptly named “Anno Pax”.

As the towns that had been destroyed during the war began to recover, merchants began to trade with other races, children were born, and the population began to increase. Everyone gradually became aware of the peace and began new endeavors. As the towns and cities grew, the populace came to terms with the newly acquired peace and the endless opportunities it brought.

Education, art, commerce, and entertainment, all the disciplines that had been neglected in the past were brought to the limelight, and the common sense of every race began to change.

A new era had just begun, and a new act was about to commence.

This story begins in such an era, in the land of a certain race.

In the land of the Orcs.