The Thronheim Empire.
One of the three most powerful nations upon the Continent of Vanaheimr, renowned for both its economic prosperity and military might.
Beyond the existence of the Holy Kingdom of Himmelreich, a realm that remained largely isolated from the outside world and preferred to distance itself from the political struggles of foreign nations, few powers could stand alongside the illustrious name of Thronheim.
Nearly five centuries ago, however, the land now known as the Thronheim Empire had been nothing more than a collection of fractured territories.
Endless wars had shattered the old order following the collapse of the kingdom that once ruled those lands.
Nobles raised their banners against one another.
Regional lords fought relentlessly for power.
The flames of war never truly faded.
The region lay far from the great centers of power that dominated Vanaheimr.
So distant that many who lived in the heart of the continent regarded it as a land of barbarians.
A realm consumed by unending conflict.
A wild frontier compared to the prosperous kingdoms that had enjoyed centuries of stability.
Yet history often changes because of the appearance of a single individual.
And for Thronheim, that individual was Kaiserdrake.
Following the founding of the Holy Kingdom of Himmelreich seven centuries ago, the two great empires that had long dominated the continent gradually reduced their open military expansion.
Not because they lacked ambition.
Rather, Himmelreich's existence served as a counterbalance that forced them to exercise restraint.
Wars were no longer waged openly.
Instead, diplomacy, economic pressure, political intrigue, and countless games of influence became the preferred weapons of powerful rulers.
Conflict still existed.
But now it wore the mask of legitimacy.
The fact that the Holy Kingdom of Himmelreich could suppress the ambitions of the continent's greatest powers brought hope to countless smaller kingdoms.
For the first time in Vanaheimr's long history, weaker nations were given room to breathe.
According to numerous historical records circulated throughout Thronheim, records that had never been prohibited by the imperial government, the founder of the nation was a half-dragon.
A man known as Kaiserdrake.
His personal strength was said to exist beyond the limits of ordinary reason.
Some tales even described him as a living calamity capable of annihilating entire armies single-handedly.
Yet no one truly knew where he came from.
He simply appeared.
Without a family name.
Without a lineage.
Without a recorded past.
As though a mysterious figure had stepped directly out of the mists of history.
No document explained his origins.
No record spoke of his family.
Or perhaps...
Such records had long since vanished.
Whether erased by time itself or by Thronheim's own hand.
The truth was known only to a select few.
Or perhaps it had already been lost forever.
What remained undeniable was the fact that Kaiserdrake accomplished what many believed impossible.
He united feuding nobles.
Subjugated those who refused to bend the knee.
And embraced those willing to cooperate.
From that man's hands, the Kingdom of Thronheim was born.
Time marched onward.
Years became decades.
Decades became centuries.
And the Kingdom of Thronheim grew far beyond anything its contemporaries could have imagined.
Its abundant natural resources fueled economic expansion.
Trade flourished.
New cities rose across the land.
Meanwhile, the legendary legacy left behind by Kaiserdrake became the cornerstone of its military strength.
Within only a few centuries, Thronheim transformed into one of the greatest powers on the continent.
Ian narrowed his eyes.
The further he read, the greater his fascination became.
He had always loved books.
Regardless of their subject.
History.
Biography.
Travel journals.
Even romantic literature that many boys his age considered unbearably dull.
To Ian, reading was far more than a pastime.
Through books, he could understand the world from perspectives beyond his own.
Visit distant lands he had never seen.
Study the thoughts of people long departed from the world.
And sometimes...
Find a quiet sense of peace among aged pages stained with ink and time.
His hand slowly turned the next page.
Once more, his eyes followed each carefully written line.
More than two centuries ago, the political landscape of the continent changed once again.
By that era, the influence of the Kingdom of Thronheim had expanded to such a degree that it began drawing the concern of the continent's two largest empires.
Its economic reach stretched across vast regions of Vanaheimr.
The kingdom possessed the wealth necessary to aid neighboring nations.
To fund large-scale construction projects.
To dispatch supplies wherever they were needed.
Even to support foreign kingdoms that formally sought political or economic assistance.
Yet what troubled many nations most was not Thronheim's wealth.
It was its military power.
A military force that continued to grow stronger with each passing generation.
A military built upon the legacy of a man whom history remembered as a half-dragon.
And for many rulers across the continent, that was a far more frightening prospect than gold, trade, or influence could ever be.
When the Demon Invasion shook the Continent of Vanaheimr and dragged countless nations and races into chaos, Thronheim became one of the great pillars that upheld the defensive line of humanity and its allies.
Their armies fought across innumerable battlefields.
Their supplies sustained territories on the verge of collapse.
Their gold kept the machinery of war turning.
Without Thronheim's support, even the Holy Kingdom of Himmelreich, which stood at the forefront of the war against the Demons, might have struggled beneath the sheer scale of the threat.
And if that had happened...
The balance of power across the continent would have crumbled.
The two ancient empires might once again have risen to dominate Vanaheimr as they had in ages past.
When the Demon Invasion finally came to an end, Thronheim found itself in a difficult position.
It had become too powerful.
Too influential.
And far too important to ignore.
Diplomatic pressure began arriving from every direction.
Not only from rivals.
But also from allies.
Many rulers desired stability above all else.
They did not wish to see the emergence of a new great power capable of disrupting the delicate balance that had taken centuries to establish.
Meanwhile, the Holy Kingdom of Himmelreich maintained its customary isolation.
Its rulers rarely intervened directly in continental affairs.
As a result, several powerful nations seized the opportunity to exert pressure upon weaker kingdoms.
Years passed before the King of Thronheim at that time finally made a decision that would alter the course of history.
The decision to elevate his kingdom into an empire.
A declaration that sent shockwaves throughout the entirety of Vanaheimr.
Many were gripped by anxiety.
Many looked toward the future with apprehension.
For everyone understood one simple truth.
The Adlerkrone Empire and the Stahlreich Empire would not welcome such a decision with smiles.
The rise of a new empire meant a shift in the balance of power.
And such changes were often paid for with blood.
The continent had only recently begun recovering from the scars left behind by the Demon Invasion.
Cities were still being rebuilt.
Families were still mourning their dead.
And a new generation had only just begun to understand the meaning of peace.
No one wished to see another great war erupt.
Because everyone understood one thing.
If war returned to Vanaheimr, the continent would not be cloaked in glory.
It would be swallowed by the same darkness that had defined the bleakest chapters of its history.
"A strange omission..."
Ian murmured softly.
There was a note of dissatisfaction in his voice.
The history book resting in his hands came from the Handler family's library, one of many volumes that chronicled the rise of the Thronheim Empire.
Ordinarily, he preferred reading within the library itself.
The atmosphere there was peaceful.
Comfortable.
Filled with the distinctive scent of aged books that always seemed to calm his mind.
Today, however, was different.
He desired a more absolute form of solitude.
A solitude free from Lucas's interruptions.
Ian released a faint sigh as the image of his cousin surfaced in his thoughts.
In many ways, the two of them got along remarkably well.
Lucas was intelligent.
Easy to converse with.
And possessed interests broad enough to discuss almost any topic.
Yet there were times when Ian found himself thoroughly overwhelmed.
Especially whenever Lucas began talking about matters Ian considered utterly unimportant.
Girls.
His cousin possessed an extraordinary talent for speaking about girls for hours on end without showing the slightest hint of boredom.
One day it would be a beautiful young lady.
The next, a nobleman's daughter.
The day after that, the heiress of some influential family.
And somehow, Lucas always had a new story to tell.
It was almost as though every unmarried girl in Brandenburg City had decided to compete for his attention.
Of course, that was hardly surprising.
As the son of the Handler family, Lucas was considered one of the most desirable future husbands in the region.
The wealth of House Handler was simply too vast to ignore.
Their trade networks stretched across numerous territories.
Their influence was significant enough to make even certain nobles reconsider their decisions.
For many noble families, marrying a daughter into House Handler was an extraordinarily profitable investment.
A firm foundation for gaining influence within Brandenburg.
Or perhaps even beyond it.
Yet none of those matters interested Ian.
His attention belonged elsewhere.
To the aged pages before him.
To history.
To knowledge.
To the secrets of the world hidden between ink and parchment.
His gaze returned to the book.
Slowly, his brow furrowed.
"There hasn't been a single mention of magicians."
"Is this history book deliberately avoiding the subject?"
Ian lightly tapped the book's cover with his fingertips.
A thoughtful silence settled over him.
The omission felt increasingly peculiar the more he considered it.
Magicians were not some obscure group hidden from history.
They had shaped nations.
Influenced wars.
And left their marks upon countless eras throughout the continent.
Even if their role had diminished over time, it seemed impossible that a historical account discussing the rise of empires would fail to mention them even once.
Unless...
The absence itself carried meaning.
Ian's fingers remained resting against the cover.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
Sometimes, what a book refused to say was just as important as the words written upon its pages.
His mind worked swiftly.
The Demon Invasion had been one of the greatest catastrophes in the history of the continent.
There was no conceivable way the Magic Tower had remained idle throughout such a calamity.
Especially when the Holy Kingdom of Himmelreich itself had stood at the forefront of the war against the Demons.
Ignoring the contribution of the Holy Kingdom alone already felt strange.
Ignoring the magicians was even stranger.
The Magic Tower wielded influence great enough that nobles and rulers could not afford to treat it carelessly.
His father had explained as much to him before.
The identity of a magician was an extraordinarily exclusive one.
Not unlike the status of nobility itself.
In certain circumstances, their influence even surpassed that of an ordinary noble.
Yet it was precisely because of that fact that Ian's curiosity continued to grow.
The more information that seemed absent...
The stronger his desire became to uncover the truth.
Deep within him existed a thirst that could never be fully satisfied.
A thirst for knowledge.
A thirst for understanding.
A thirst for the countless mysteries of the world that remained hidden beyond reach.
He wanted more.
And then more still.
"Perhaps it's mentioned on the next page."
With renewed determination, Ian turned another page.
The aged parchment released a soft rustling sound beneath his fingertips.
His eyes immediately swept across the lines of text before him.
Then, little by little, his expression changed.
At last.
The Magic Tower had finally been mentioned.
According to the records written within the book, the greatest turning point came when the King of Thronheim at that time executed a political maneuver that shook the entire continent.
Based on anonymous accounts that had spread widely and were never prohibited by the imperial government, the king had successfully established a mutually beneficial relationship with a renowned magician from the Magic Tower.
At first glance, the partnership appeared ordinary.
Nothing more than cooperation between a ruler and an influential magician.
Yet to nobles and diplomats who understood the intricacies of high politics, its significance was far greater.
The alliance conveyed an unmistakable message.
The Magic Tower supported Thronheim's ascension from a kingdom to an empire.
And that support carried tremendous weight.
For the Magic Tower was far more than a mere organization.
It was a symbol of knowledge.
A symbol of power.
And a symbol of neutrality respected throughout nearly every nation of Vanaheimr.
Not long afterward, the Kingdom of Thronheim officially became the Thronheim Empire.
A transformation that sent tremors through the continent's political landscape.
The Magic Tower's support became even more evident when the first Emperor, Maximilian von Kaiserdrake, announced a formal alliance with them.
The Imperial Academy began incorporating the study of magic into its primary curriculum.
Professors and instructors were supplied directly by the Magic Tower itself.
Veteran magicians arrived to educate future generations of imperial scholars.
The policy became a powerful symbol of the new relationship between the Empire and the world of magic.
Although political tensions briefly reached a boiling point following the imperial declaration, the presence of the Magic Tower gradually eased the situation.
Many nations chose restraint.
Few desired the prospect of antagonizing both a newly risen empire and the Magic Tower simultaneously.
What had nearly escalated into a great continental war slowly began to calm.
Even the King of Himmelreich intervened personally.
Through official diplomatic correspondence, he urged the major powers of the continent to exercise restraint for the sake of preserving peace.
Humans were not the only ones watching the situation unfold.
The other races observed as well.
Particularly the Elves.
Among all peoples, they had suffered some of the greatest losses during the Demon Invasion alongside humanity.
When the possibility of another massive conflict between human nations emerged, many Elven leaders openly expressed support for the Thronheim Empire.
Not merely out of friendship.
But because a war among human nations would inevitably affect the entire continent.
Remaining neutral carried its own dangers.
Choosing a side, at the very least, provided an opportunity to restrain rulers driven by excessive ambition.
Among all the great powers of that era, Thronheim was considered the most acceptable choice.
Its diplomatic relations with other races remained relatively stable.
Its laws were also far more consistent than those of many neighboring kingdoms.
Especially in one matter highly valued by non-human races.
Slavery.
Since the era of Kaiserdrake, the enslavement of non-human races had been forbidden by imperial law.
That prohibition had never been revoked.
Each successive generation preserved it.
And over the centuries, that policy became one of the primary reasons many races viewed Thronheim far more favorably than most human nations.
Ian closed the book for a moment.
His gaze drifted forward into empty space.
Slowly, his mind organized everything he had just learned.
The more he discovered about Thronheim...
The more he realized that history was never as simple as the words written upon a page.
Behind every kingdom.
Behind every war.
And behind every crown.
There were always unseen hands guiding the world toward a desired future.
The landscape of politics was difficult to predict, and those who truly moved the world were the rulers who stood behind the curtains of power.
Ian drew a slow breath.
"It's already time for supper. Grandmother specifically told us not to be late."
"Charlotte has probably arrived in the dining hall already."
He leaned back in his chair for a brief moment, allowing his thoughts to settle.
Then he rose to his feet and carefully placed the history book upon the table before him.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ian turned away from his room.
Leaving the lingering scent of old parchment behind, he made his way toward the Handler family's dining hall.