Sir Albert continued,
"In the long past, there existed a mighty empire called Kiburg Empire. In the Northeast of the Empire, there was a great forest which the Empire named Silva Forest. The forest was well known for its ferocious monsters, and the monster mist (miasma) completely covered the forest like a fog. Then one day, a hero with unbelievably strong magic and great swordsmanship appeared and warded off the monsters on a red moon night. He had golden eyes, which shone like Amber and silver hair, a blessing from the Goddess and proof of his divine powers. He was hailed as a Saint and was given the Silva forest to rule over it as his Kingdom. He was the First king of Visden, Edgar the Great. As the Emperor of Kiburg was forced to give his land to the hero due to heavy pressure from the Citizens and some Aristocrats, he used the forest's history of dangerous miasma as an excuse to not send the Adventurers to the Silva forest. With no other choice, the King turned to the Mercenaries, who were, at that time, known to accept any requests if proper pay was given, thus their status was even lower than Adventurers. At first, they were reluctant, But when the King announced that the Mercenaries would be regarded in similar status to an Adventurer in his Kingdom, and if they were exceptional, they would not only receive knighthood but also a title, Mercenaries flooded the Kingdom of Visden. The Empire, which considered Mercenaries as Ruffians, laughed at the 'foolish' King. But the Mercenaries turned out to be a lot more loyal than the Empire had expected them to be, as none of them agreed to leave the Kingdom, though the Empire offered triple what the Kingdom was paying them."
Alicia interrupted,
"Uncle, if the King had that much power to clear the miasma of the whole forest, then why did he need to hire mercenaries? Couldn't he do the same thing again?"
Sir Albert replied,
"The King was able to do it because of the Goddess Serania's blessings. Princess, you do remember that imperial family members are born with massive Divine Power and are revered as Saints, right?
Little Alicia nodded.
Sir Albert continued,
"The First King, Edgar, was revered as the Great due to his divine power. His divine power was the Divine Purification. Using his powers usually required converging hundreds of Saints' powers into one. But its drawback was that he could only use this power once a decade. If he tried to use it even twice a decade, he would die instantly. "
Little Alicia nodded with a small hint of understanding.