"I heard the pay's triple if you join the auxiliary force," says a goblin scout, eyes wide. "They're hiring anyone who can fight. Even mercs!"
A tall, antlered monster leans against the counter, scoffing. "Triple? I heard five times. And loot rights are shared. You imagine what the humans in Ereborn are hiding? New weapons, enchanted armor, vaults full of relics."
A female ogress slams her gauntlet on the job board, eyes burning.
"Doesn't matter. I've been waiting for this day. We're finally going to fight a human. I heard humans are satisfying to flatten."
------
In the Kingdom of Moryos, the kingdom that guards the natural portal connecting continents, the sky hangs thick with haze, tinged violet by the strange energy that pulses from the rift. The fortress built around the anomaly, towers high with black-stone walls and endless arrays of siege weapons. At the very top of the eastern watchtower, two guards peer through telescopic lenses at the distant distortion.