Sian went straight for the cafeteria at Gron-Pilah once he reached the city. As he devoured the food, he talked with Ron and Mirian to share information.

  “So, why are you guys here? I thought academy was on vacation.”

  “We…… had some business.”

  Ron couldn’t say they waited for the vacation where the number of people at Gron-Pilah decreased to check on the pillar.

  “I see. But this place is great!”

  “It’s plain school food…… is it really that good?”

  “Of course. It’s been so long.”

  Sian felt so good eating real food after a long time. He did eat the husk, but he didn’t really eat it with his mouth so he always longed for something in his mouth. The real taste of food after five years was so good.

  “Hey, Sian.”

  “Yeah.”

  Sian turned to Mirian.

  “Those letters at the pillar. Are those all for you?”

  “I haven’t read them yet, but probably.”

  “Are all those people your friends then?”

  Sian gave some thought to it and answered.

  “Friends? Hmm, no.”

  “Oh, I see……”

  Mirian nodded understandingly. Those people were too famous for some mountain dweller to know about them. She was shocked by what Sian said afterward.

  “We are family.”

  “!!!”

  Mirian then realized where she had heard the name Sian. It was the name Instructor Rian spoke about a countless number of times.

  Sian von Roman.

  The missing second son of the Roman family.

  He had gone missing when Sky Mountain was destroyed and all of Granines had gone missing back five years ago. There had been rumors surrounding Sian, but none of rumors seemed to be true. Even if only half of them were true, it would make Sian inhuman.

  Even the incident itself was suspicious. There were some who claimed they saw a giant beast within the mountain, but there was no evidence of such a thing and all the Granines going missing wasn’t explained either. The other big issues that arose afterward overshadowed the incident as the Kingdom grew busier.

  \r \r \r

  “Gods…… we heard the incident was five years ago. Have you been somewhere?”

  “Oh, it was nothing. I was…… just locked up somewhere.”

  Sian smiled bitterly. He had to spend five years fighting against the husk of the monster that tried to destroy and absorb him. It wasn’t a good feeling to be locked up inside a monster. It was powerful, but it had no will of its own, and that allowed Sian to win.

  “So…… the rumor was true then?”

  “What rumor?”

  “Did the Granines really kidnap you to do human experiments on you? This one is most popular.”

  “.……No, not at all.”

  “Uh…… then did you run away with a Granine princess?”

  “I don’t think they even have a princess.”

  “What! So those rumors were all a hoax then.”

  Mirian looked disappointed.

  “Well…… rumors are rumors. So, what are you going to do now?” Ron asked.

  “I guess I should go home first. Oh, is my brother still an instructor there?”

  “No. He’s back at Dragona.”

  “Curse that old man. I told him to put my brother in the Third Knight Guard.”

  “Is that ‘old man’ some high-ranking official?” Ron asked carefully. A man who could place Rian von Roman must have some rank.

  “Uh, I guess?”

  Sian nodded as he knew no one higher than a king.

  “But he probably didn’t have a choice. The Third Knight Guard has disbanded.”

  “Huh? How did that happen?”

  The Capital always had forces to keep the peace. Sian couldn’t understand the reasoning behind such a move and questioned it. Ron answered bitterly.

  “We are lacking in manpower.”

  “Huh?…… is there a war?”

  “No. No country dares to attack us anymore,” Ron answered proudly. Tian was at its peak after King Narasha was enthroned. All the talented individuals who graduated from Gron-Pilah were dispatched to all parts of Tian and the nation was flourishing.

  “Then what?”

  “There’s no country that dares to attack us, but the Harijans don’t care about that.” Mirian answered instead.

  “Harijans? Was the Wall broken?” Sian asked.

  “No…… but after five years ago when Sky Mountain was destroyed…… there was a change.”

  Ron began explaining.

  “Ugh…… I’m getting a headache.”

  “You should get some rest, Your Majesty.”

  “Look at all the work that needs to be done…… haha.”

  King Narasha was speaking to Viscount Talin. The King was really tired after all the meetings and paperwork that needed to be done. He then thought about what happened five years ago.

  He was so shocked when he heard a huge tremor detected from the Lagran Region. The King asked if Gron-Pilah was okay. The place had all of the talented individuals from around the country. If that place was destroyed, it would mean war.

  The King was worried when he heard Sian going to the place. Luckily, Gron-Pilah was unharmed. After that, King asked if the Granines were okay. There was good and bad news. The bad was that all the Granines were missing. The good news was that they were gone entirely, so there was no problem.

  It was good up to that point. But the real problem came next.

  “Why are those Harijans coming from beyond Sky Mountain?”

  Sky Mountain. A sacred place.

  No living beings lived there and no one dared to set foot there.

  No humans, no Harijans, nothing.

  The peace of the Ra-Sian Continent was due to Sky Mountain blocking off the entire northern side of the continent. It allowed humans to only protect the east side. But things changed starting five years ago. It was only a part of it, but Harijans began coming out from a corner of Sky Mountain.

  The damage was devastating at first. None of the countries were prepared to fight against the Harijans that had been lurking for 400 years. It was after a few estates were left in ruins that Tian barely managed to take control.

  They sent all available forces to the north of Tian, to block the Harijans from coming over. It wasn’t a lot, but the range was too wide.

  The King then asked for the other countries to help. Just like the Great North Wall, this problem wasn’t something Tian could take on alone. All the countries agreed to help, but they did not send anyone.

  “Bastards……”

  The King cursed at those countries. They were becoming weary of Tian for growing powerful so they did not send help. Taran and Usharan then began to fight as soon as Tian was busy protecting the border at Sky Mountain.

  Usharan had finished conquering Con Kingdom and had grown into powerful country, so it was in a good fight with Taran who had been weakened by losing the Lagran Region.

  Kharan, Kiara, and Broshan grew closer after losing Lagaopora. They felt their power growing weaker compared to the other countries, so they began building an alliance.

  Tian became more busy with all of this going on. They were building walls on the north border, but it would take years for it to be finished.

  ‘What went wrong…… I thought I would at least conquer Taran in ten years……’

  Sian moved around without putting much thought into it, but every place he went to caused a huge power shift in the world. The five years without Sian was at least easier in the fact that it was predictable.

  Yet the King couldn’t say this out loud in fear of Stantahl the First who might be lurking around. It was why he had been writing letters every year.

  “Hm…… it’s been a while since I wrote a letter. Maybe I should write one now.”

  The King did send a letter once every year that included how the world had changed. Sian’s return was unpredictable, but he hoped Sian would see the letter and understand the situation and tread carefully afterwards.

  However, the King knew that Sian would not care. He would not even understand.

  “Please…… stay there for a little longer……”

  The King almost wrote this in the letter, but he barely held it back before he began writing.