Chapter 8: The Distant West

While Old Charles and Jiang Zhe were discussing the great mage Veston, the royal chief mage in their conversation was on his way toward the west.

Veston did not possess the space magic of legend, and he was accompanied by two attendants. Thus, the three of them rode their horses steadily along the road—almost always traveling this way.

In the empire’s major cities, so-called magic teleportation arrays existed. However, these arrays were not accessible to commoners due to their inherent dangers.

Magic teleportation arrays were generally used to transport goods. Of course, in times of emergency, soldiers could also be sent to the front lines through these arrays. But as mentioned earlier, this method carried risks, as space magic had not yet been fully understood by mages.

Moreover, the further one went toward the edge of the empire, the fewer major cities there were. Sometimes, no towns could be seen for days—so where could magic arrays come from?

Fortunately, Veston was a great mage. Though he was skilled in the water and fire elements of blue magic, he also knew some basic wind magic. By using the “Power of Wind” to increase speed, the horses ran at a fairly fast pace.

What about the horses’ stamina? That was even simpler—the “Restoration” spell from water magic could almost completely offset the exhaustion from running.

The further west they went, the more barren the land became. There was sand and rock everywhere, but fewer and fewer plants. Strong winds carried sand and stones, blocking the sight of the three travelers.

This was already the western border of the empire. Beyond it, aside from the sole imperial fortress, Bird, there was no human settlement for hundreds of miles. Even mercenaries would not venture to such desolate places.

“Let’s rest here!” Veston pulled back on the reins and looked up at the scorching sun in the sky.

“Huh!” Letting out a long sigh, the knight among them removed his helmet and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his cloak. It was unbearably hot, even for a knight in full armor.

His lips were chapped from dryness—he hadn’t had time to drink water during their rapid journey. As he reached for the horse’s neck, his expression suddenly froze. The water he had obtained in the town of Sait seemed to have been lost along the way…

Looking at the great mage Veston, the knight’s face showed embarrassment.

Veston shook his head helplessly, raised his right hand, and moved his lips slightly.

A discordant breeze blew by, and the scarce moisture in the air gradually condensed into droplets, which then rose toward Weston’s right hand. In the blink of an eye, a water ball appeared in his palm and grew at an astonishing speed. Drawing moisture from the air in such a hot environment required exceptional control skills.

“We can only rest for ten minutes!” said Weston as he divided the water ball into three equal parts.

Although Weston took this mission seriously, he wasn’t in a hurry. So, he accepted Old Charles’s invitation and had the worst dinner of his life in that dilapidated chapel. After dinner, he even enthusiastically “persuaded” Nina to become his apprentice, as he had sent two other guards ahead to Fort Bird.

By nightfall, there was no sign from the two guards who were supposed to send magical messages at that time. After all, those were communication stones reserved for royal magicians—disruptions were virtually impossible. The only explanation was that those two guards might no longer be able to communicate…

One of those guards was a royal knight, and the other was a summoning magician skilled in earth magic—both quite capable. Yet such a strong combination couldn’t even send a simple message, which worried Weston.

“Keep moving!”

“Yes!”

As a human nation, the Empire was extremely powerful. Hundreds of years ago, King Saxon used black magic to defeat his enemies. After conquering several countries, he laid the foundation for the Empire. Over the centuries, successive emperors ruled wisely, using their armies and royal magicians to gradually expand their territory and build a mighty empire.

Once, the Empire was in conflict with the Church founded by white magicians. But this was a civil war among humans. Besides the Church, the Empire had another formidable enemy—well, actually, humanity had one!

To the west of the Empire, far away, lay the territory of the orcs! In ancient times, the orcs were among the oldest inhabitants of this continent. Their contemporaries included the elves, dwarves, and even giants. But in the end, humans seized the most fertile lands and drove the orcs to the distant west. That history was glorious for humans, but it wasn’t honorable…

After defeating the orcs, the human kings betrayed the alliance. The elves were forced to leave their homes first and hide in dense forests to avoid persecution by alchemists…

Next were the dwarves and barbarians, who were driven to the cold north…
There was a time when the humans and the other races of the alliance had very tense relations, until the emergence of King Sasan.
King Sasan first eased the conflict with the dwarves and then helped them and the barbarians defeat the giants in the north. Many barbarians had joined the enemy armies before, and the same is true now.
Only the relationship with the elves remained unresolved; many elves still called humans “traitors” and “deceivers.”
Through King Sasan’s mediation, the dwarves first gave up on revenge. For them, green lands and snowy fields made little difference. The barbarians eventually also gave up on revenge, as they, after all, were also humans—only differing in height, strength, and beliefs.
As for the elves, they lost their strength to retaliate against humans due to their internal strife. After the efforts of successive Kings Sasan, the elves and humans maintained a principle of non-aggression.
Only the orcs never forgot their desire for revenge or their aim to reclaim their ancestors’ homeland. As early as in the time of King Sasan I, the orcs had attacked human territories. At that time, King Sasan halted the war with the white mages of Salonia and united the dwarves and barbarians to resist the orcs. Later, the white mages of Salonia and a small group of elves also joined the battle, helping King Sasan drive the orcs back to the distant west.
A decade or so ago, the empire and the church ceased their wars because they discovered that the orcs in the distant west were becoming restless. Thus, they set aside their prejudices and maintained a hostile yet cooperative attitude, giving rise to the powerful faction of the Holy Knights.
(This is a brief introduction for now… well, just a brief one…)
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Fortress Bird was a military stronghold established by the empire on the western border. Successive Kings Sasan never neglected this fortress. In addition to annual repairs, King Sasan VII even built a magic teleportation array in this ancient fortress—one that was even more precise and stable than those in the imperial capital.
However, a year ago, this magic array suddenly stopped working. King Sasan XII, a wise 56-year-old ruler of this era, quickly dispatched an army of 2,000 men to the fortress, including three royal archmages and 30 mages.
But half a year ago, as this army was approaching Fortress Bird, communication was suddenly cut off, and no news has been heard since…

As the Royal Chief Archmage, Wiston Malagigi Hastings sensed that the situation was serious, so he gathered four powerful individuals as escorts to investigate the situation in the western borders of the empire. However, Wiston didn’t think this had anything to do with orcs, as after the empire and the Church reconciled over a decade ago, they had sent a 500-strong army to check the situation beyond the borders and found nothing unusual. Perhaps the orcs were still staying in the distant west… Perhaps it was just nonsense spoken by some drunk mercenary… But now, Wiston felt things might not be that simple! He keenly noticed that his magical power was being suppressed—though only slightly, he could sense it. From ancient magic history, Wiston had learned that only the orcish shaman leaders could suppress magical fluctuations on such a large scale… Could it be that Fort Bird had already… Forced to push aside his ominous forebodings, Wiston sped up once again. Finally, in the early hours of the third day, Wiston and his two companions reached Mount Giras. Beyond this mountain range lay Fort Bird, the empire’s distant western fortress. By then, the magical suppression Wiston endured had reached a level where this holy magic-level Royal Chief Archmage could no longer cast forbidden spells… Perhaps this was their true goal… Abandoning their horses, Wiston and his companions climbed Mount Giras on foot and gazed from the summit at Fort Bird, towering not far away… “Oh, heavens…” The old archmage’s face was filled with shock. Before him lay the ruined fortress walls; below them was a dark red wasteland, on which a totem made of skulls stood… Fort Bird no longer existed…