An adventurer to be

In the dark halls of the castle, a rather young woman was walking at a brisk pace. She wore a long, green dress with golden embroideries, blond hair, tucked in a bun on the side of her head, and a little white flower sticking out of the bun. She seemed to be between 23 and 28 years old. While not a world-class beauty, she was not lacking in any aspect.

The torches, unable to keep the warmth in the hallways, did not help very much as she was shivering in the cold morning air, hoping to get as fast as possible to her destination. She now remembered why she hated winter. So cold, so white, so uninteresting!

Noticing the sun starting the rise, she walked up to a balcony, and let the sun heat her up through the large window. Her body slowly but surely getting to a comfortable temperature, she looked down the castle to the city below her.

Riyal, the shield city, keeper of the last seventh sanctum, the fortress city, the city of the last hope, or simply the city in the mountains, ruled by the Electra family for generations.

The castle itself was built on the side of a mountain, the city was laid down the wall, and large fields currently empty with a few peasants already working them.

Not as strong as the beastmen, not as swift as the agile elves, not as experienced as the dwarves in their crafts, not as powerful as the mighty dragons, Nature didn't give any advantage to humans. All their hope was in unification. And they did. Because of all their enemies, the 10 original human countries merged into a single one, ruled by a council of the 10 former kings and emperors.

By their sheer numerical advantage, they crushed the enemy races, and made good relations with the ones they couldn't beat, such as dragons. From this golden age, strong men came. From the strong men, came good times. From good times, came weak men. And from weak men, came hard times.

Blinded by their greed, their selfishness, they did not acknowledge the danger. After all, what could possibly harm the 10 sanctuaries? They had wealth, they had huge armies, and no immediate danger.

600 years ago, hell awakened. The earth shaked, the volcanos spewed their magma, the skies turned dark, the winds howled their hatred, demons were walking where peasants were farming the day before... Nobody could have predicted this calamity. Nobody, except the Electra family. The astromancer at that time kept saying to anybody who listened to him that the world as we know will disappear. Sadly, nobody except the sanctuary of Rida listened to him. It was a small region, formerly known as the Rida kingdom.

A rather small land, encased in a mountain range, and faced with a rude climate, a small but very tough kingdom persisted through the ages.

They recalled all their people, mobilized all the population. The 2 sanctuaries boarding the Rida sanctuary noticed their behavior, but who would acknowledge the ruckus created by a child? Was what they thought.

When chaos erupted, only the Rida sanctuary was prepared. Hundreds of magicians were dying each day, just to keep the huge magic shields fed. Thanks to their sacrifice, the volcanic smoke didn't fall on the cities, and the demons could only watch from behind the protection, helpless.

When all was lost, survivors from the other sanctuaries came, in search of a safe heaven. From there came the name. The sanctuary of the last hope. The sanctuary of the shield.

But in face of all this chaos, some beautiful things appeared. The Stargazers. First, they were called like that because they kept watching the sky, admiring the destructive sight of nature. People called them crazy, some even proposed to burn them at stakes, as they were the ones preparing the arrival of some evil god. But quickly, their gazes went from scornful to admiring, when they saw what they could do. They received an insight on magic no one had, and protected the land.

No one could explain how they received their abilities. Not even the stargazers themselves. The most commonly accepted theory was that Mother Nature rewarded them for their calm among the most destructive chaos she could muster.

The Rida sanctuary became a kingdom once again after the great chaotic period, as there was no sense for the sanctuaries to be. However, as the only human nation surrounded by other races, survival was difficult. It was only because of the fact that the kingdom was enclaved in a mountain range, guarded by Jodal, the fortress guarding the entrance to it, that the kingdom was kept safe. Thanks to the sturdy walls, and the knighthood of the stargazers inside it, no foreign army ever went past Jodal in the past 600 years.

As she remembered her history lessons, the lady was interrupted by a voice.

"Lady Erina, what are you doing this early in the morning? Should I order a breakfast for you?"

Turning to the side, Erina saw a maid, talking to her. Vaguely remembering her, she responded with a small voice, not yet fully awakened:

"No, thank you. Father has summoned me, so I should get going now."

The maid changed completely when she heard it. She twisted nervously a curl of her hair, bowed quickly before leaving. Erina sighed.

'Can't really blame her… We're talking about him after all.'

Merick Electra was a good king. The population loved him, along with the Queen Arlette Electra. Thanks to his policies, all the small villages in the countryside were fortified. It was only a 3-meter-tall wall for most of the villages, but thanks to this the farmers were much safer, and the crop yields in the kingdom doubled in the least.

But that was only on the surface. The sacrifices he had to commit to keep the kingdom united were horrible. Some villages were abandoned, their inhabitants forcibly relocated. And of course, the rest of the population was never told.

Erina strayed away from the window, and approached the double-door leading to her father's office. Sighing one last time, she knocked on the door, and entered when she heard her father's voice.

The king was an old, bearded man. Despite his age, he still had deep, green eyes, as if his gaze could see the very soul of a person. The room was filled with bookshelves, an imposing desk where he was working, and magical lights on the ceiling.

"I called you a while ago now, Erina."

He said, still writing on whatever document.

"You're the only one who insists on working all night long, father"

She still she remembered how he slammed the door shut out of anger last night when everybody was telling him to rest.

"Erina, I hope you realize that the fact that I'm still working while you all are sleeping is one of the reasons my reign is such successful."

"Sorry father. I always forget how hard you work…"

Shame made her blush, when she remembered how she was… enjoying herself last night while her father was working hard to keep the country safe.

"Anyway, I haven't called you for that. I'm getting old, Erina. I might not look like it, but that's only thanks to your mother's support that I'm still able to walk straight in front of everybody each day. Her potions are truly astounding."

Arlette Electra was known as the alchemist fairy. She earned that title because she frequently gave away potions and alchemical products to orphanages and poor villages to help them.

"But father…"

Erina didn't know what she wanted to say. All her rebuttal was rendered null even before she could say it, because it was true. Even if he didn't want people to notice it, she saw that he sighed more and more, and went away from meetings with his councillors and nobles for "private reasons" more frequently.

"No buts. You're smart, Erina, but sadly you're a woman. I would gladly put you in charge of the country, but the nobles would grow restless, and the possibility of a revolution would be high. And your brother is still too young. It might sound like a selfish request, but I would like to see my son get on the throne. As a father, I want to pledge allegiance to him proudly. But he needs experience. Both of you have already brilliant results in academic studies, but you need field experience. You will leave for one year with him. As you're proficient in magic, you will act as a bodyguard. I will also send a Stargazer knight, you all will act as a small adventuring party."

The amount of responsibilities was enormous. Her voice wavering a little, she answered.

« Yes, father. »

Hello, author here!

I hope you liked what you read. I also hope that you will tell me what you think about this story. I've been thinking about a similar plot for a long time now, and as I'm addicted to overlord (I think we all are), I decided to put them together.

You have probably noticed that for now, there is no connection whatsoever to the overlord serie, but I assure you it will come

Also, there is a lot of explanation on the context of this kingdom and the sanctuaries I created. While it may look boring to you, I assure you this will be necessary as I plan to the 2 countries to interact. How? Well, you'll see later.

English not being my first language (I'm a baguette), I hope you will forgive some errors or rather weird expressions.

About the magic now. It may break the Overlord lore, but Ridans wizard are able to use wild magic (or soul magic). For the explanation, soul magic uses the power of the souls to directly alter reality, while tier magic uses the medium of mana to produce an effect.

See you next publication!

Edit (20/01/2018) : some errors corrected, and overall revision.