There was once a village, located at the borders of two kingdoms.
Two rivalling kingdoms, that have been at each other's throats for many decades, though not openly. Two large kingdoms, with sizes and power both larger and stronger than others.
Veldonia and Mazino. The giants of the southern and the eastern of the continent.
The village lies at the south east of Mazino, and it is still technically inside the territory of Mazino.
However, tension began to rise.
And tragedy, stormed the village.
It was evening, and the harshest days of winter are currently happening. It is merciless with the temperature, and drops heavy snowstorms nearly every single night.
A young girl is running under the heavy snow, and she is hugging her brown bear doll really hard as she moves. Her height is barely one hundred fifty centimetres, and her foot is basically drowned in the thick layer of snow in the ground as she steps. But, she doesn't let her fragile and small body bother her from moving.
The wind was extremely cold, but she kept on running. The girl is only ten years old. But, she has the courage and will to run as fast as she could within all this cold hell.
Tears on her eyes are being swelled up by the minus temperature and freezes as she runs. But it kept on flowing, and the frozen tears rolled down her already cold cheeks.
She finally arrives at a large house, and she slammed the door open. Her eyes turned wide as the view in front of her became clear. Her mouth opened wide, and did not make a single noise.
Until finally, she muttered.
"D-Dad...?"
In front of her is a single man, wearing a black hood and a face mask. He had a bloody knife in his hand, and he turned his gaze at the young girl.
But the girl isn't looking at the man at all. She is glaring at the two corpses lying down on the floor, powerless on the ground with their throats open.
Her parents.
"N-No..."
Tears fell even more as the girl fell to her knees. Her tearful eyes stared deeply into the horrified faces of her dead parents, all while her hands slowly lost its grip to her brown bear doll.
Seeing the girl's arrival, the assassin became interested.
"Oh? The daughter."
The assassin walked towards the girl, and the little one did not move one bit.
He was about to lay his hands on the girl, but then footsteps can be heard coming from outside.
"Lury!!!!!"
It was the shout of a man. And from the sound of it, it doesn't seem like he came alone.
"Tch!!"
The assassin can only make a decision now, and he has decided to escape.
The steps outside became louder, and a group of men with torches entered the house. Their eyes turned wider seeing the corpse of their chief, along with his wife.
The large man in the front quickly turned to the crying girl below him. He gave the torch to his friend and quickly kneeled down to cheer the little girl.
But the girl has already entered into shock. Tears were falling heavily, but her eyes were wide open. They tried talking to her, but she did not pay a single attention.
Seeing that it was pointless, the man then grabbed the girl forcibly and lifted her body. His body is big enough that he can lift the ten year old girl with one hand, while holding a torch on the other. The girl did not retaliate as she was lifted, so carrying her was not a difficulty.
The man then walked out from the house and went to the church. The snow is still falling heavily, and the torch was barely enough to warm the two of them.
After they arrived, the man knocked on the church's front door, and the nuns welcomed him inside.
"Take care of her… please."
The large man said to the church's nuns, and the eldest nun nodded grimly while the other nuns were trying to talk to the girl.
After leaving the girl to the church's nuns, he turned around to face the other men from the village who had just arrived in front of the church. They have fully investigated the house, and the looks on their faces shows nothing but anger and worry.
After all, they just had their chief murdered.
"What should we do? With the chief dead, you are our next option."
One of the angry villagers said. The man who previously delivered the girl to the church placed his hand on his chin and gave it a thought.
"... I get it. My brother was a fool to trust the Veldonians, and now he is dead. For now, let's try to get help from the kingdom. We can't face an entire mad empire by ourselves…"
The brother of the dead chief said to the other men from the village, and everyone nodded.
They all know what this means, and there is only one way to resolve this issue.
"… We have to get the adventurers."
The torch that will light the burning civil war, has been ignited.
.
.
.