After his enemies vanished into thin air and the chaos around his sister’s birthday party finally settled, Ludger does not waste time pretending the danger is over.

If the Empire insists on creating problems, then he will deal with them before they grow large enough to reach his home.

What begins as a practical decision soon turns into something far bigger. Instead of waiting behind walls, Ludger starts moving first, chasing down threats before they can take root. His path takes him far beyond the frontier, from political schemes and hidden tensions to the open sea itself, where pirates have been growing bold enough to think distance can protect them. Ludger disagrees. And if crushing pirates happens to leave behind ships full of stolen loot, well… stealing from pirates is not a crime.

But brute force is only part of the journey.

As Ludger pushes deeper into the world’s growing unrest, he finds himself drawn toward truths older than the Empire, older than many kingdoms, and possibly older than the conflicts now spreading across the land. There, among ancient beastkin who have watched generations rise and collapse, he may finally get answers about the world’s real state, the forces moving beneath its surface, and why so many disasters seem ready to collide at once.

What starts as cleanup after surviving one attack becomes the beginning of something much larger.