The Northern Empire of Norta

North of the Grandeur Continent is dominated by the most powerful human nation in the world, the Northern Empire of Narto. It began as a small nation, the Schoval Kingdom, nothing more than a puppet state for the Hendrian Alliance, taxed mercilessly to fund the Alliance's treasury.

That was until the early Epanastaseōs era, when the kingdom, alongside four other nations that later on came to be known as the Five Great Nations. Narto to the north, Sempi to the south, Fewes to the west, Forth to the south-central, and Ranzia to the center.

They left some of the other major nations as vassal states to extend their influence, since they couldn't dominate them outright. Our main focus here, however, is on Narto, as they will play a major role in our hero's journey.

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Sitting on a sofa on the balcony of a huge platinum castle was the First Imperial Princess, Everest Layna Diamas von Norta; fluttering behind her was her long, straight lapis blue hair, complemented by her emerald eyes. Behind her stood her bodyguard and leader of the Fourth Imperial Regiment, Rose Harald of the Ducal House of Harald. A woman who wore white armour with gold designs, with silver hair and icy blue eyes, hailed as the third strongest in the Imperial Army.

"I hate my life at times..." began the princess, her face etched with obvious stress.

"But two weeks from now, the announcement of you as the Crowned Princess, isn't it a good thing?" replied her guard

"It settles most of the succession battle, but it still doesn't stop the others from attempting assassinations."

Everest was indeed the First Princess of the empire, but was in fact the third child of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor Edward Diego Diamas von Norta; her elder brothers Fredrick and Alfred were both in fact given birth to by the concubines of the emperor, eliminating them from the succession battle as stated in the Imperial Codex, “...any child begotten by the Emperor upon a concubine or mistress shall be barred from the succession and shall possess no claim to the Imperial Throne...”

However, a few centuries down the line, an emperor had no child with the empress; either the child died in the womb, at childbirth, or died young, and those who didn't die were diagnosed with an illness or defect that affected their brain or made them bedridden. Thus the law in the Imperial Codex was edited to add the following: “...should the Emperor have no surviving child born of the Empress, or should such child die in youth, or be found unfit by reason of defect, the eldest child born of a concubine or mistress may be permitted to succeed to the Imperial Throne...”

This led to a lot of complicated issues concerning the succession to the throne, and the present was no different. Of the ten children born to the Emperor, Everest was the only one born of Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Marisa Irene Diamas von Norta; all the other nine of her siblings, including her two elder brothers, were children of either concubines or mistresses.

"This year alone, the assassination attempts were more than fifteen," Everest continued, " that is two more than the combined total of the last three years."

"I guess His Majesty is just too lenient with them."

"That's the problem, if Dad had not had th-" Rose clapped her hands over Everest's mouth to stop her from continuing her sentence.

"That's not something you should say, remember."

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"But you know, Rose, I just hope Yvonne and Quincy don't get caught up in this again." The two girls mentioned were the princess's nieces, her elder brother Frederick's daughters. They were once caught up in an assassination attempt with Everest in a carriage heading to an orphanage.

"As long as things stay low, I doubt anything can happen...hmm?"

A bald eagle flew towards them, with a rolled piece of paper attached to its leg. Rose extended her left hand, and the eagle perched itself on it. She removed the paper and read its contents, then rolled it back and put it on the eagle's leg again and released it back to where it came.

"What was that?" Everest asked, tilting her head.

"A letter from my squad sent to watch things over at Ranzia," she said in a serious tone, "... the hero, Shinta Irashime, has been summoned. He also teamed up with Typhoon Trace, the third strongest party of the present age."

"I see... so he has finally been summoned," replied Everest dejectedly.

"Everest..."

"Don't worry, Rose, I will see it through."

The air between the two suddenly became tense; Shinta was connected to something he knew nothing about at the time, a fate that held even the princess down.