Marina City was located at the southeasternmost tip of the Hisui Continent.
Built along part of a coastal cape, it was connected to the mainland only by a route that was blocked by the Black Forest.
The limited land was unsuitable for large-scale farming, and the city constantly faced threats from the sea, resulting in a lack of prosperity.
(TN: Marina City might be Sunnyshore. Never really look up for the real names of Aspiration City and Meteorite City because I thought it be AU cities so if you guys know let me know.)
It wasn't until the current Lord of Marina City came into power—driving back the sea beast with his formidable strength—that the city finally found an opportunity to develop.
In the study of the castle, Lord Kale was silently studying the map of the Hisui.
He was an ambitious man. One day, he vowed, he would lead his people across the Black Forest to seize the fertile lands beyond it.
"Aspiration City..."
He muttered the name under his breath, his finger sliding across the map and stopping over Aspiration City, located beyond the Black Forest.
It was the closest city to Marina City—the city said to be blessed by Azelf—and it possessed the most fertile lands in the southeastern corner of Hisui.
However, due to Azelf's protection, this city had never been conquered throughout history.
"Do you really have a way to deal with the guardian of that city?"
Suddenly, Kale broke the silence in the study.
For a long time, no answer came.
"You've already seen it for yourself, haven't you?"
After a while, a low voice echoed through the room.
From a swirl of black mist, a shadowy figure emerged, its features obscured by the swirling fog.
Kale wasn't surprised by the sudden appearance; he simply gazed at the figure calmly and, after a moment, gave a slight nod.
"I think we need to have a deeper discussion."
Seeing the determined lord before him, the figure in the black mist nodded as well. The mist churned and then slowly dispersed.
At last, a person appeared—wearing a black hooded robe and holding a dark crystal in his hand, dressed like a sorcerer.
Kale's sharp eyes examined the figure, but when he tried to look at the man's face, it was still partly veiled by a faint black mist, making it impossible to clearly discern his features.
"According to our agreement, you only need to draw out Azelf. Leave the rest to me," said the sorcerer as he sat down across from the lord.
Kale nodded slightly, his gaze momentarily narrowing as he stared at the black crystal in the sorcerer's hand.
He knew that the terrifying beast had been released from that very crystal.
Without a doubt, that single creature alone could flatten Marina City.
He understood that cooperating with this man was extremely dangerous—the power disparity between them was vast.
However, if he wanted to capture Aspiration City, he first had to deal with Azelf—and perhaps only this man before him was capable of such a feat.
"I know what you're thinking."
"Relax. As I said, I am only interested in Azelf."
"After I capture Azelf, Aspiration City will hold no value for me," the sorcerer said with a chilling, raspy laugh.
If not for the mysterious connection between Azelf and Aspiration City, which could be exploited to increase his own strength, he wouldn't have needed Kale at all.
"Our forces in Marina City are still far weaker than those in Aspiration City."
"If we don't fix that gap, even if we wanted to lure out the guardian deity, we wouldn't be able to," Kale said, deftly steering the conversation back to the real issue.
He was well aware of the sorcerer's strength—if the man ever decided to seize Aspiration City for himself, there was nothing Kale could do to stop him.
Rather than worry about things he couldn't control, Kale felt it was more important to take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen Marina City's overall power.
"It's already winter..." the sorcerer reminded him.
"A mere winter beast tide wouldn't be enough to weaken Aspiration City's forces," Kale began to respond, but was cut off.
"What if it isn't just an ordinary beast tide?"
This time, Kale narrowed his eyes, pausing for a few moments before finally saying, "Still not enough."
The sorcerer stared at the lord for a while, then suddenly chuckled.
"Have you heard... of the Abyssal Cave?"
…
Meanwhile, back at the knight camp outside the Black Forest—
Sutter and Fessen dragged the corpse of an Arbok back to camp.
Their expressions were grim.
After an intense battle, they had determined that this Arbok had come from deep within the Black Forest.
Upon examining the Arbok's body, they noticed fresh wounds, evidence of a fierce recent battle.
Judging from the Arbok's movements, it was likely that it had been driven out of the Black Forest's outer edges after a violent fight with another beast.
A creature from deep inside the Black Forest being forcibly expelled all the way out into human territory—this was definitely not a good sign.
"Do you think... an overlord-class beast tribe might have appeared in the Black Forest this time?" Sutter said heavily to his companion.
(TN: The author adding another class)
Fessen nodded with a similarly serious expression.
This wasn't the first time such an event had happened.
They clearly remembered the story their captain had once told them about a massive war between humans and beast.
At the time, a powerful beast tribe had migrated down from Mt. Coronet and tried to claim the Black Forest as its new territory.
It took tremendous effort and countless resources for Aspiration City to drive those beast back to Mt. Coronet.
As Sutter and Fessen returned to camp, they noticed that other knights had also come back, many of them carrying beast corpses of their own.
It seemed the situation was the same across the patrols—this only deepened the sense of unease among the knights.
…
Elsewhere, Peter and his family hid quietly in their cellar, waiting for the chaos to pass.
Normally, the chaos of the Black Forest would begin when the beast started migrating from Mt. Coronet, and would only end after they left the area.
There wasn't a set timeframe for this, but once heavy snow began to fall, the beast would usually stop moving, and people would be safe again.
"Could it be that it's already snowing heavily outside?" Peter muttered to himself.
Normally during beast invasions, there would at least be some noise coming from the orchard outside.
This quiet, almost peaceful early winter was something he had never experienced before.
After hesitating for a while, Peter carefully climbed the wooden ladder to the cellar entrance and gently pushed open the heavy stone door covering it.
The outside was completely silent, which eased his mind somewhat.
He peered toward the front door—it was tightly shut with no signs of damage.
The warm air inside the house, undisturbed by any gusts of cold wind, reassured him: their home was still safe, and no beast had broken in.
(End of Chapter)