Eight hundred years before Grado’s invasion of Renais, the Lagdou Empire dominates the continent. Powerful mages rule with technology beyond the ken of mortal man. Condemned by the gods, the empire drowns in blood and fire. A curse of the flesh, cast with fear and greed upon the innocent, births a single entity known as the Demon King.
A half-century before Grado’s invasion, the merchant republic of Carcino won its independence from Frelia. The Taylor Textile Merchant Company is one of many born out of the ensuing mercantile revolution. Its founder, the enigmatic Master Taylor, is a “great man” – seemingly destined to write the next chapter of Magvel’s history. The company’s young heiress, Isabelle, is an ambitious ray of sunshine, eager to forge her own legacy. She bears witness to the opening salvos of Grado’s attack, and seizes the opportunity to cozy up with royalty. Meanwhile, the plucky Jeanne ekes out an existence in the company’s sharecropping village. She is a young, quiet girl, full of thoughts and incapable of dreams. Building an unlikely friendship with an ancient spirit, she discovers the pain of guilt and the unknowable beauty of love. A deadly plague of unknown origin sweeps across the countryside. Renais’s bandits are not what they seem. Powerful artifacts are dredged in secret from deep beneath the earth. Before the Demon King, there was Lagdou. What crimes did the leaders of this ancient empire commit, and how must Magvel change so that these crimes may be put to rest?