In a fortress on the eastern border of the Drezar Kingdom

A knock sounds from my office door as I finish signing a document.

"You may enter," I call out while reaching for another document.

The door to my office opens as I begin reading through another document.

Whoever enters waits patiently for me as I read through the document before signing it.

As soon as I finish signing the document, I put it on the pile with the others and raise my head to look at my visitor.

Next to the door standing at alert is a soldier.

"What is it?" I ask the soldier.

The soldier salutes and says, "I'm sorry to disturb you my lord, but we recieved news from our spies across the border."

I turn from the soldier to look out the window of my office before motioning for him to continue.

"The spies informed us that the Orcs plan to attack by the year's end," the soldier tells me.

As expected.

Xurek is predictable as always.

I reach over my desk and grab a glass of wine sitting on it.

"Is there anything else?" I ask the soldier before taking a small sip of wine.

The soldier audibly shifts around a little bit before he answers, "Yes, my lord. There is one other thing."

There's more?

"It's about the new Dungeon City," the soldier hesitantly says.

I lower my glass a little and ask, "Oh?"

The new Dungeon City.

I had first heard about it around a week ago.

A Dungeon City whose owner is just a simple mercenary. Where the dungeon is unique in both its focused monster, and its mysterious element.

A dungeon that is completely independent of any kingdom.

"It... It appears that the Orcs have learned about it..." The soldier says.

My hand freezes with the glass inches from my lips.

"And?" I prompt the soldier to elaborate.

He stutters out of fear as he continues, "A-Apparently t-the Orc Lord f-from the City of Brim is planning on s-sending delegates to the Dungeon City of Wolfdenn."

The wine glass in my hand explodes into shards of glass.

"Did the spies find out why?" I calmly ask the soldier.

"Y-y-yes t-they did," the soldier barely manages to stutter out before taking a deep breath and saying, "It appears that they learned that Wolfdenn is an independent city with a dungeon and not a part of the Drezar Kingdom, so they are going there to talk to the City Lord about making a trade agreement, as well as allowing their mercenaries and soldiers to go to the dungeon once it becomes stronger for training."

I thought so.

This is not good, but it's to be expected.

"Is that all?" I ask the soldier, still without turning to look at him.

"Yes, Lord Frost," the soldier says.

I should warn Lord Gray about this.

I finally turn around towards the soldier and see him frozen in fear.

"You may go," I coldly tell him.

He bows low to the ground and says, "Yes, my lord."

The soldier then turns around and leaves my office.

I look down at the shattered remnants of my glass.

A pity. That was good wine.

The Forgotten Marsh

Within a small cabin located in The Forgotten Marsh which acts as the border between the Drezar Kingdom and the Raizel Empire, a Dryad is calmly reading a letter sent to her from the capital of the Drezar Kingdom.

The Dryad can be seen smiling as she reads the letter from beginning to end.

"So that's where he is," she mutters to no one in particular.

The Dryad folds the letter back up and places it back in its envelope.

She then places the envelope on a table with a circular pattern enscribed upon it and begins chanting.

The circle begins to glow as she chants while infusing her mana into the circle before the envelope disappears along with the letter inside it.

The Dryad laughs before saying, "I'll bet that those two will be extremely happy with this news. Especially Ari."

The smile slips from her face for a second and is replaced with a slight grimace as she mutters, "Although Ari can be a little bit too protective when it comes to Leon sometimes."

She then leaves her cabin and looks up at the trees of the marsh.

"He actually managed to get a dungeon and land," she whispers to herself, "I am glad he is doing well."

Leon

"The next matter we need to discuss is the request for a permit to build a personal alchemy shop by a member of the Crafters Guild known by the name of Elaith Reytris," my personal assistant says while looking at his clipboard.

I send an inquisitive look his way before asking, "What's with all of these personal shop requests anyways?"

Aidan Gale, my assistant whom I hired from the Employers Market a few weeks ago, soon after leaving the dungeon, sends me an amused look and says, "It's a new Dungeon City. Of course there will be a lot of personal shop requests."

"True, I guess that makes sense," I admit before glancing at his clipboard and seeing just how many more requests there are.

I put my head in my hands and rest my arms on the desk.

"So many personal requests," I complain with a groan.

Aidan pulls out an envelope from his bag and places it on my desk before saying, "Not just personal requests."

I groan again before taking a look at the envelope.

"The heck?" I mutter at the sight of the crest on the top right corner of the envelope.

The instant I open it up and see the contents of the letter I freeze up completely.

My office stays absolutely silent with neither me nor Aidan saying anything for a few minutes as I read the letter and take in the contents.

I eventually look up at Aidan and ask, "Is this real?"

Aidan nods his head.

I look back at the letter and mutter, "I can't believe the Orcs are asking for permission to do something."

Aidan's eyes widen as he says, "They don't normally do that."

I slowly nod my head before putting the letter back into the envelope.

Most Orcs would be fighting any Angelic Race and not politely asking to work with them.

"What are you going to say in response?" Aidan asks with curiosity written all over his face.

"I am going to let them in as long as they don't cause too much trouble," I answer Aidan without a single doubt on my face.

"I see," Aidan says without a hint of surprise, "Some of the nobles from the Drezar Kingdom won't be happy about this."

A smirk emerges on my face as I say, "Well too bad for them. Wolfdenn is independent and does not answer to the Drezar Kingdom."

Aidan smiles and says with a laugh, "You really aren't afraid of the nobles, are you?"

"It's not that I am not afraid of them, it's more that they can't do anything to hurt me as of now," I answer with a shrug.

"Well that's true," Aidan says before looking at his accursed clipboard again and saying, "You never did say your response to that alchemist's personal request."

I close my eyes and sigh.

This is going to be a long night.