Ignoring the scattered islands, the continent as a whole looked like a bloated cross.0

The Lyon Empire sat at the center of that cross, with the Court of the Silver Moon lying at its far end. The kingdoms along the vertical bar were, in order, the Emerald Dreamwood, the Lyon Empire, the Golden Kingdom, Alkhemia, and the Court of the Silver Moon. Along the horizontal bar were the tiflings' Unholy Kingdom, the Lyon Empire, and the Orc Kingdom.2

Lyon bordered four neighboring powers. Three belonged to non-human races, and the last, the Emerald Dreamwood, followed a completely different faith. In other words, Lyon was surrounded by enemies on all sides. Even so, its national strength sufficed to suppress all four neighbors so thoroughly that they could barely breathe.1

It was hardly unusual for Lyon to wage war against the orcs. Even a desolate wasteland like the desert had conflicts with Lyon, so it would be even stranger if a fiercely warlike race like the orcs didn't have a conflict with them.2

In fact, Lyon and the orcs had fought many small-scale wars over the past century. The orcs usually suffered losses, but thanks to their treacherous mountainous terrain,...0