Chapter 203: The Empire's Hero
Ignoring the scattered islands, the continent as a whole looked like a bloated cross.
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.
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.
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.
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, they were always able to hold their ground.
The mountains there were like spears driven upside-down into the earth. Proper roads were almost impossible to find. Only the orcs, who had evolved to move almost like mountain goats, could live freely in such terrain.
So when Lyon suddenly launched a surprise attack on the Orc Kingdom, it caught everyone completely off guard.
Setting aside economic strength, the Orc Kingdom's military power was likely second only to Lyon itself. In other kingdoms, the phrase "every citizen a soldier" might be an exaggeration, but in the Orc Kingdom it was simply reality.
Any orc over the age of ten was stronger than a human militia fighter. They were born with powerful bodies, fearless courage, and became competent warriors with but a little training. Orc legends, tempered by their harsh environment, never turned out half-baked.