This is a mountain range located in the middle of the Vanome continent.
The mountain ranges are spread out and there is no vegetation on the mountain surface.
And the country was built facing the mountains as if the foot of the mountains had been carved away.

--And that is the Durmscales Empire.

An elliptical defensive wall was built in a semicircle facing the mountain range, and on the inside were countless pillars and bridges built on top of them in the same manner as the defensive wall.
In other words, it is protected by the double wall and pillars.

And a dimly lit town spreading out right below the bulwark.
Dirty people.
The alleyway where all kinds of filth is lying around and a strange smell is wafting in the air.
A person walks aimlessly with a bottle of liquor in one hand.
People leaning against a flower bed without flowers, sucking on a pipe and drinking.
There is no sunshine here.

Then you follow the road straight down a winding alleyway to a grand staircase so long and white that it seems to go all the way to heaven.
The grand staircase, flanked by warped walls, leads to the royal castle where the king lives.

And inside the castle.

--This is the throne room.

In this room, the Emperor Uranos Durmskale was in sight.

'My son Raje--'

Yes, Father.

The Emperor sits on his throne with a glass of wine in hand.
In front of him is Lage Durmscales.
He is also known as Lage Cottes.

The lavishly decorated ceiling, walls, and windows....
And on either side of the room stand guards as many as there are pillars.
They are dressed in red robes and hide their faces.

'Did you say that the one who is Nito has one red eye?

Yes ... I saw ... his eyes were red and ... glowing.

Lage spoke as he remembered and then with trepidation.

'Are you scared?'

Yes.

Lage speaks with a beat.

'....I see.

I'm not a match for him.

Hmmm, I see....................integrity is important. I'm not going to leave everything to you. If you don't, the other two will, and if that doesn't work, then I'll do it myself in the end, that's all.

But, Father!　He's different!　You can't even feel the magic, and you're treating life like an object...

Raje shivered and spoke with concern for his father.

Nito treated life "as if it were a thing.
But it was the same for Raje.
The only difference is that Raje acknowledges life as life, and enjoys killing.
In other words, in response to Nito at that point in time, Lage felt as if he understood life as a true meaning, as an 'object'.

''Hmmm ... I won't know until I see it in person.

At that moment, the great door of the hall opened boldly.

'Long time no see, father!　You Jade Gyges!　We have just returned from destroying the Arctic City of Modherne!

A man with a ridiculously loud voice appeared there, a man with two-blocks and a short green head of hair.

--Jade Durmscales.

He is one of the King's Shields, the guardians of the Emperor.

'Good to see you back!　My son Jade!

Jade greeted her father lightly as she missed him.
Then he looked at Raju kneeling beside him.

'It's been a long time, hasn't it, Lage?　How are you doing?

Jade!　Not in front of your father!　What's your attitude?

Jade is the third son.
And Lage is the second son.

'Hmm?　I don't see why not.　We're going to be together as a family, aren't we?

Both Raje and Uranos were taken aback by this.

''Jade you haven't changed, have you?

'Hahaha!　I'm me, Kanna!

Uranos put his head in his hands.

'Huh ... you were the third child born, but I guess I spoiled you a little too much ...'

Jade is laughing hysterically at her father's carelessness beside her.
But that nostalgic conversation naturally brought a smile to Lage's face.

'Twenty years is a short time,'

'Well it's been 20 years since... well, what was it?

--20 years.

Raj and Jade were only 12 years old, served their country as spies, and then 20 years later, destroyed it.

--just as planned.

'By the way, what happened to your brother?　I can't see you, but...

Not that one yet. We're letting him stay in the country a while longer.

Then the two of them look a little sad.

''Well you still can't see your brother?''

'See you in person. Thanks to your work, the world is slowly moving towards war. When the war begins, he will be sent back to the United States. Until then, you must be patient.

Well..... It's not easy to serve a country to which you have no loyalty or affection, isn't it, father?　I'm sure your brother must be bored, too, right?

'Ha-ha-ha but it's inevitable. This is all for the sake of our ambitions. It's what we need to do to lure him in and kill him.

Then the great door opened again.
And a large "lion" appeared.

"Your Majesty!　Ivan is back!

--Gazelle Crown.

Instantly, the gentle smile on the Emperor's face that had been directed at Lage and Jade disappeared.

''Rally the Commander in the country and bring Ivan here. We'll listen to what you have to say.

The expression on his face already belonged to the Emperor, not to Uranos.

Uranos could read from the gazelle's expression that there was some kind of problem regarding Ivan's condition upon his return.

''Ha!''

The gazelle then bowed and left the scene.

'What's Ivan?'

Jade asks.

'Yeah, I know...'

Then Uranos turned into his father's face again.
Then he began to speak with a bitter expression.

'The plan is fine. But things got a little tricky. An adventurer who called himself Nito interfered with an attack on Razhuisen. After that, I sent Raju to kill him, and here we are.

I'm sorry I couldn't do it myself.

Jade listened silently to Raju's weakness.
Then he heard the story and for the first time since he came here, he showed a grim expression.

''The Empire cannot afford to be defeated. Then I have decided to go after that Nito's people next. Vengeance. I needed to show him and the world that if he messes with us, he will get away with it.

It's all right. So you're saying you sent that Ivan?

Yes. I sent two people as assassins.

One dead.... what the f*ck is this thing?

Do you at least have the information?

"Nito the Adventurer, or was it?　But that's it. Other than that, there's no other information pertaining to the guy, what does that mean?

I don't know. That's why I sent them down there.

Then the great door opened again, and several knights appeared there.
And in the middle was the figure of Ivan, who was missing both arms.
As soon as he saw the figure, Raju shuddered as if he remembered his fear and looked away.
Jade narrowed her eyes and looked at him.
Uranos remained as grim as ever.

Then they each aligned themselves.

'Good to see you back, Ivan!

Yes Your Majesty, I'm back.

I can tell by the tone of voice.
He is not in a proper state of mind.

But Emperor Uranos doesn't hesitate to ask.

'What happened to your arm?'

He ... took it from me.

Ivan replied shakily.
And for some reason, he would not make eye contact with the Emperor.
But there is no reason for it.
You are one step closer to a mental breakdown.

Uranos was curious about the situation.

What's up?　Why are you frightened?　I don't see him here.　Don't worry.

Wha ... I ...

What about Cromell?

He's been killed by... him.

When Uranos heard that, his expression clouded over.

''Goho!　Whoa!　Oh, yeah!

Ivan suddenly coughed up blood.
A doctor sat Ivan down in a chair, rubbing his back.

So how did it go?　Did you kill his people?

Sorry..................... Not one.....

Well....

Ivan and Cromel are the rank of Commander, the same as Giddo Sydor and Gazelle Crown.
So what is a Commander?
To use an analogy, there is a group of knights called the White King's Knights in Radshausen.
And the commander who unites the group is Reinhard Rickman.
In other words, there are a number of Reinhardt-class commanders here.
And even that leader couldn't stand up to the adventurer Nito.

''Crom-El was played........and killed.

Hearing this, the group leaders all seemed to be in disbelief.

"Well~.........what exactly did you mean by being played with?

Bitz Cattler, the leader of the group, asked in a strange tone of voice.
A beast of a sheep sitting on a floating ball, moving in a fluffy manner.
The neck circumference and the white fuzzy fur that covers his head. And the short horns visible on its head.
And these sleepy eyes.

''That's ... ooohhhh!

As soon as Bitz asked, Ivan threw up again.

'Oh dear, I'm sorry. It wasn't really something you wanted to remember, was it?

The Emperor held his head in his hands.

'Father!　Let me go!

This was said by Jade, whose tone of voice was very different from that of earlier.
Contrary to her eccentric appearance, Jade had set up her father, the Emperor.

''-----''

But the emperor didn't give a straight answer.

"Let me take the enemy!

You can't do it. He'll probably just turn the tables.

At those words, Jade's nose twitched.
The faintest hint of irritation could be seen there.
But that's not surprising.
Jade doesn't know the person called 'Nito the Adventurer'.

''Then what do you intend to do?　Even Lage, the 'King's Shield', can't stand up to it. Our King's Shield is even higher than the Commander's rank.......If that's not enough, what do you plan to do next?

The emperor can't answer Jade's calm question.
And of course, there is no answer.
So will the emperor himself go to the office?
That's ridiculous.
That is a disgrace.
The face of the empire is nothing to be ashamed of.

''Gyaaahhhh!

-- then Ivan, who should have been quiet, suddenly began to writhe and suffer.

'What's the matter?'

Gazelle rushes over and restrains Ivan from going on a rampage.
The doctors say it's just a mild seizure, and they are trying to calm him down while pouring a wave of unfamiliar magic power over Ivan.

''Uhhhhhh my arm! .................My arm!

Ivan flails around, drooling and looking very pale.
She complained, "My arm hurts.

'Aaaaahhhhhh!

Get a grip!　Ivan!

The group leaders around Ivan, who was rampaging, desperately suppressed the rampaging Ivan.

''Ahhhh!　They're coming!　He's coming in!

At that moment, a red-black magic circle appeared at Ivan's feet.

''Move away!''

When the Commander and the others noticed this, they all stepped back.
Then Ivan's body emitted a red-black light.
Jade was alarmed like that.
Lage is frightened.

''He aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

In the next moment, the red-black magic circle and waves disappeared in an instant, as if they were sucked into Ivan.

''Gahaha! .....

At the same time, Ivan's screams stopped.

'----'

Ivan didn't even twitch.

'Y...Ivan? ...Are you okay?

Gazelle called out to him.
But there was no reply.

Then Ivan made a move and slowly looked up.

''Ohhhh!''

It was then that Lage screamed.
Then, astonished, he retreated behind a pillar.

--one red eye.

Ivan's left eye was glowing red.

''I see.......so this is the Empire.''

At that moment, a different voice, different from the one Ivan had spoken earlier, came out of his mouth.
Everyone was stunned and alarmed by this.
Everyone was puzzled and wondered what was going on, and they looked to Ivan for answers.

Then Ivan checked his surroundings.

'Are you the emperor?'

Then Uranos narrowed his eyes and looked at Ivan.
Those around him were still puzzled.
But Emperor Uranos was different.

''You ... are not Ivan, are you?''

''Huh........So you're the emperor of the empire. You made me come all the way over here because you made me do it so many times?

What did you say?

Don't you see?

At that time, Uranos did not show it on his face, but he was startled and realized with a start.

''No way........you........''

"Greetings, Emperor of the Empire.　

Then Ivan bowed and grinned.

"My name is Nito. You missed me.　The Emperor