Flames

The Duchy of Reny.

Situated at the foot of the San Pedro Mountains and neighboring the Dwarven Empire, it was a relatively well-known duchy among the Eastern Kingdoms led by the Rose Empire.

What made it so famous was not its national power, but its highly developed wine and spirits industry.

However, over two hundred years ago, the region where the Duchy of Reny now stood was a desolate, uninhabited wilderness. Though irrigated by the meltwater of the San Pedro Mountains, boasting fertile soil and teeming with all kinds of magical plants, it was completely devoid of human life.

This was because even earlier, the dwarves of the Eastern Continent had discovered that the San Pedro Mountains were a massive mineral reserve. Consequently, a vast number of dwarves gathered on one side of the mountain range, establishing what was called an empire, but was in truth merely an ultra-large dwarven settlement—the Dwarven Empire.

Due to their settlement, the magical beasts that originally inhabited the San Pedro Mountains were brutally driven away. Most of them fled into the adjacent forest, creating what was now the peril-filled Great Gana Forest.

A smaller portion of these magical beasts fled down the mountains into the wilderness at the foot of the range. As a result, this wilderness became known as the Beast Horde Plains.

Later, as humans landed on the Eastern Continent and began their continuous reclamation and expansion, nations rose one after another.

As a short-lived race with an incredibly strong capacity for reproduction, humans quickly spread to the vicinity of the San Pedro Mountains, becoming "good neighbors" to the magical beasts of the Beast Horde Plains.

As magical beasts, they welcomed these humans from afar with great enthusiasm, frequently paying "friendly" visits to the neighboring nations. It was just that their method of visitation was rather brutal, resulting in the annihilation of many villages that had attempted to reclaim land near the Beast Horde Plains.

Faced with this situation, the Eastern Kingdoms immediately convened a meeting to discuss how to dispatch troops to clear out the magical beasts on the Beast Horde Plains.

However, the discussions ultimately ended in a stalemate and concluded abruptly due to disagreements among the nations over how to divide the massive pie that was the Beast Horde Plains.

Not a single country was willing to deploy its troops, which temporarily turned the Beast Horde Plains and the surrounding hundreds of kilometers into a completely desolate, uninhabited no-man's-land.

It was not until three hundred years ago that things took a turn.

Duke Andrigo, who hailed from a family of mixologists but had somehow become a Legendary Grand Warrior, took a liking to this fertile land after landing on the Eastern Continent.

While the other nations were still deadlocked, he secretly led his family deep into the Beast Horde Plains to begin reclaiming the land.

After spending over a century slowly clearing out the plains' original inhabitants, and through the influence of various factors, Duke Andrigo completely established his ownership of this territory.

To make full use of this land, which was so fertile that magical plants grew in abundance, the far-sighted Duke established several small farms. After uprooting all the native magical plants, he sowed fluorescent wheat—the primary magical ingredient used to brew ale.

As it turned out, his decision was incredibly wise. The fluorescent wheat exhibited unprecedented vitality in this soil.

Whenever harvest season approached, the fields of fluorescent wheat would emit a firefly-like glow. This was especially striking at night, looking as if the Milky Way itself had cascaded down into the world.

Once the first batch of ale was brewed, Duke Andrigo took the initiative to approach the neighboring Dwarven Empire. After making numerous promises, he signed a century-long Wine Supply Agreement with them.

Afterward, with the substantial financial backing of these dwarves—who excelled in mining, forging, and construction—the small village at the foot of the San Pedro Mountains quickly developed into a town.

Ultimately, in the year 13721 of the Divine Calendar, it developed into a duchy.

Thus, the Duchy of Reny was born.

However, not long after, Duke Andrigo passed away due to numerous hidden ailments left behind from his early days of land reclamation.

His title of Duke was inherited by his eldest legitimate son, Edliman.

After taking power, Edliman began to ruthlessly suppress independent mixologists in an attempt to monopolize the surrounding market. To maximize profits, the quality of his wine plummeted. Yet, because he monopolized most of the market, people were forced to buy his products anyway.

This continued until seven years ago, when a mysterious mixologist suddenly emerged from the God-Forsaken Land, and a massive influx of a new kind of wine called red wine flooded the market...

Recalling the information provided by the dwarves, Irene looked up at the full moon in the sky, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“I wonder how much time I have left?”

...

“Three months.”

On the far side of the San Pedro Mountains.

Robo, the younger son of Duke Edliman and the current de facto ruler of the Duchy of Reny, pulled his gaze away from the full moon outside the window, turned around, and spoke.

“The dwarves claim they've run into some obstacles during the excavation. It will take at least three months to dig all the way through.”

“Three months...”

Not far away, a burly man in golden armor sitting on a leather sofa repeated Robo's words with interest. He shook his head slightly and poured himself a cup of raw ale.

“What a long time. I really just want to charge over there and kill that little bitch myself.”

Having said that, a cruel curve tugged at the corner of his lips, but his peripheral vision was locked onto Robo—his younger brother—who stood behind him.

Robo seemed completely oblivious. He remained leaning against the window sill as if nothing had happened, his gaze fixed on the tree branches swaying in the night breeze. He swirled the glass in his hand and took a sip.

“Renn, I advise you not to act rashly. Father places great importance on this matter.”

“If you mess this up, he will be absolutely furious.”

As he spoke, he looked down at the bright red liquid in his glass, the moonlight reflecting off its surface in his eyes. His tone gradually grew stiff and cold.

“When the time comes, if Father decides to pass the title of Duke to me instead of you, make sure you don't start crying... okay?”

The hand of the golden-armored man named Renn shook, spilling wine all over the floor. His expression instantly turned hideous. He leaped to his feet, bared his teeth, and pointed his bottle at Robo, roaring, “Fuck! Say that again, I dare you!”

“My foolish brother, I am merely stating a fact.”

Robo showed no sign of fear. He spread his hands innocently, though his eyes were filled with nothing but disdain.

“I wonder who it is that, despite having our grandfather's legacy, has been stuck as a Gold Rank Grand Warrior for twenty years without making a single shred of progress.”

Taking another sip of his red wine, his gaze drifted back outside. “Father asked me to convey a message to you: he is truly disappointed in you.”

The wine bottle suddenly hurtled toward Robo at breakneck speed, tearing through the air with a sharp screech, only to be stopped short less than half a meter away by an invisible magic shield.

The sheer force behind the throw made the bottle hit like a cannonball, denting the shield like rubber, but the kinetic energy was entirely absorbed. Deprived of its momentum, the bottle began to drop helplessly toward the floor.

Yet, before the bottle could even touch the ground, a fist the size of a sandbag came crashing right behind it, aimed directly at Robo's face.

Under the assault of the fist wrapped in golden battle qi, the solid shield instantly reached its limit. At this critical juncture, Robo merely raised an eyebrow.

“Brother, don't forget that Father is right downstairs.”

Only then did the bottle finally hit the floor and shatter. The sound of breaking glass seemed to act as a signal, freezing the unstoppable fist in mid-air.

The room fell so silent that only the crisp ticking of the clock could be heard.

Only after the second hand of the clock had moved five notches did the formidable fist reluctantly pull back.

“Dammit!”

With a harsh curse, Renn glared viciously at his younger brother before storming out of the room, his face a mask of resentment and frustration.

He remembered when he was the pride of his father—becoming a class-holder at age ten, promoting to the Silver Rank on his eighteenth birthday, and reaching the Gold Rank at thirty-eight.

But after that, he had stalled.

In contrast, his younger brother had grown increasingly favored by their father in recent years, to the point where even the affairs of the duchy were handed over to him...

Slamming the door shut, Renn gritted his teeth and stared back at the closed door, muttering to himself, “Just you wait. I will make Father look at me with respect once more.”

“Heh...”

Inside the room, Robo let out a soft chuckle by the window, as if he had just heard a hilarious joke.

He took a gentle sip of his red wine and glanced sideways. Instantly, the spilled wine on the floor caught fire, and the broken glass shards began to slowly melt under the heat of the flames...