Temperamental

Chapter 6

The human kingdoms were stirring.

Recently, Gaia Forest had become increasingly volatile towards human lives. Adventurers had found that the magical herbs were growing at a much faster rate and the animals had become stronger. This was especially the case with the southern most borders to the Gaia Forest. The death rate had steadily increased for three years.

The evolution occurring in the forest attracted the attention of elite adventurers searching for the magical resources, but eventually even they would not dare to enter Gaia Forest. This was because the important guilds had held a meeting and concluded to place a ban on the forest. This was because Human Resources were far too precious and it was a period of war.

Every adventurer lost to the Forest meant one less fighter on the frontlines. So irregardless of which country it was, very few would enter Gaia Forest and none would enter the southern most part.

The ones at the center of the conflict were the Li empire and the Auroralis kingdom. After three years of constant fighting neither of the sides remembered the cause of the conflict.

Li empire claimed that Auroralis kingdom sent mages to destroy the governor hall of the capital- a terrorism attack that killed twenty officials as well as approximately thirty innocent bystanders and staff. Li empire was an Eastern feudal type country similar to what Roan would recognize as China if it were his previous life. Of course the culture was only slightly similar and the geography was completely different. The only true similarity was the architecture and clothing styles. They were an arrogant people that had the most pride in their nationality.

In contrast Auroralis was a country to the North of the Li empire. It was closer to early history Europe, during the Roman reign. They were well known for their neighbors; the druids and the elves, as well as their haughty etiquette requirements. They were a people that paid most attention to social customs and etiquette. According to Auroralis the Li empire had attacked their ships and caused the death of their fourth prince who was traveling south in order to visit relatives.

However no matter which country had been the cause of the war, many other subsidiaries and kingdoms/empires ended up being involved in the aftermath. Some of them profited off of weapon mongering while others were forced into the fray from binding alliance agreements. Be they elf, Druid or beast-man other non-humans or demi-humans were unilaterally involved. This was due to slavery.

The demi-humans generally had a closer bond to nature and magic making them stronger then humans in a normal one versus one situation. However their fatal flaw was their slow rate of reproduction- at least when compared to a species like humans. This led to humans mostly dominating the lands and, especially among the nobility, using them for slave labour. Humans had developed contracting magic which utilized blood to form an unwavering shackle. There were different forms of bonds and humans weren't the only ones who could utilize this "contracting magic".

The so called "slave magic" gave demi-humans a fear towards humans and made most withdraw into their isolated kingdoms and allow the human nations to wage war. Most demi-humans watched eagerly in the hopes that humans would destroy each other while the rest were fighting on the frontlines bound by contracting magic and unable to escape.

Amongst this turmoil, one country stood out as different. That was the kingdom of Tuathal. Tuathal bordered near Gaia Forest. What made Tuathal unique was that they didn't alley with either of the warring countries, nor did they profiteer off the war. Instead, like an isolated paradise the country thrived. There were two reasons that Tuathal survived for so long: the first was the protection of an ancient magic array and the second was the ruling of a progressive thinking king. The King of Tuathal was unconventional in the eyes of others. Not only did he place a ban on using contract magic to gain slaves, but he had done so successfully.