KING'S FIELD
Story
Once there was a small country named Verdite which was surrounded on all sides by a thick forest. In ancient days, there was a great war here; many people died and there was great destruction but finally a hero arose and saved Verdite.
Whether this savior was a person, a fairy or a monster, it quickly disappeared into the fog which drifts through the forest. The being came to be known as the Dragon of the Forest and a sanctuary was built to honor it and the builders passed on the story. Eventually, only the legend remained, the sanctuary was turned into the royal family’s graveyard and all was quiet.
The legend says ‘One day, the Dragon of the Forest will return, bringing magical artifacts’ although for now the sanctuary remains silent.
Once, a certain clan and its leader visited the sanctuary, and used magic power to take rule over the country making their leader King. They started to build the royal cemetery in the sanctuary. As the graveyard became bigger and bigger, it seemed that the king might be searching for the magic artifacts of legend. In fact, that may have been why he and his people came in the first place.
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Jean Alfred Forrester was born the eldest son of Hauser, Commander of this country’s Royal Guard. He became interested in the art of sword-fighting and started training, until he came to have a skill that seemed it might even surpass his father’s. Aiming toward the goal of exceeding his father, Jean set off for a neighboring country to study under a friend of his father's. And so one day, while working on his technique, Jean came to hear a rumor about his home.
The king was constantly sending soldiers to search for the magic artifacts, but no matter how hard they searched, they never found it. Finally the soldiers didn’t come back at all. So he sent a force to investigate, and it turned out that monsters had appeared in the graveyard and were attacking the soldiers.
The king ordered Commander Hauser to bring a large force of soldiers and regain control of the graveyard, but they were massacred and almost completely destroyed. So the king spread word across his kingdom and neighboring countries offering a bounty for exterminating the monsters and trying to recruit mercenaries.
Concerned for his father's safety, Jean returned home and found out that Commander Forrester had come home after leading the attack, but then went back to the graveyard to rescue his men. Jean decided to enlist as a mercenary and go to the mausoleum to search for his father.
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The Japanese version of this text is taken from the KING'S FIELD instruction manual. All other versions are translations of the original Japanese text arranged to the best of the contributors’ ability. If you believe you can improve upon a translation you should not hesitate to offer to do so.
Translation reproduction © Wolf
