The Pioneers
In the wake of the Ika Empire's deadly collapse, the world has been left to deal with the massive power vacuum left. The United Army that has kept the Monsters on the other side of the Great Forest dissolved. Soon, monsters of all types and size, unmatched in their brutality and disregard for humanity, begin to ravage into the human world. Countries fell one by one from invasion. The political atmosphere from the Empire's collapse have left the surviving nations unwilling to fight in a united front against the armies. Many conveniently use the Monster Invasion for their own political gains against their neighboring nations. Hundreds of thousands die, ranging from the monsters, to mass starvation and diseases, and sometimes from each other in petty wars.
Now, deadly monsters are left to raid roam the open country side of Oppenest. Being a small country with a small military, Oppenestian nobility came up with the idea of the Pioneers. To those who are brave enough to explore the monster territory, to fight and kill them for bounties, and eventually eradicate their presence from the land for fame and fortune. It would be wildly successful, being adopted by all surviving nations. The Pioneer system would attract large swaths of men and women with the skill and grit to take on hard and often deadly jobs in protecting villages from goblin raids, or to go on a mission to clear and map out a region. It also attracts those overconfident in their fighting and exploring abilities, or those who have been pushed on the verge of starvation.
Makiv and Alies is part of this latter group. The siblings travel to the capital city of Oberlangd to fight as a Pioneer as a last option. They bank on their late father's early swordsmanship, and their mothers magician tutoring to provide them the necessary skills needed to become a Pioneer.
CossackCrabs · Fantasy
