After the several weeks long trip to the territory of the former allied kingdoms, they make it to the town of Sakudern. They just have to wait here, this is supposed to be his brother's group rallying point. They wait for days before he finally arrives.

  Abbarang, brother, I was getting worried I'd never see you again. Kilian runs towards his brother and hugs him.

  What happened to your arm? He's missing his left arm.

  Well I have a lot to tell you. As you know I was on a scouting mission. However in the former Serpensius empire I got recruited to join a group of assassins, looking to defeat the Arcana empire from within. They wanted to kill the king. To make a long story short, turns out the rumors are true, the king is just a puppet, he has no real power. The real leader is a bird-like demon named Karawan, or so we thought. We prepared for weeks to fight this demon and ambush him, which is also how I lost my arm. The elite guards of the Arcana kingdom use a special poison called ricin, if a single drop of it enters your bloodstream you will die within minutes. They used it to poison entire rivers, committing genocide to entire regions. It seeps into the rainwater and poisons the wells too. The western parts of the former allied kingdoms are completely desolated because of it. Nothing will live there for centuries to come. Believe me, we walked there. Midst of summer and we didn't even see a single bug. All the trees are dead. Whilst we were making our way to fight Karawan I got hit in my arm by a ricin laced arrow. We had no choice, my friend saved my life and instantly cut off my arm, then sealed the wound with fire. They all died fighting Karawan however, and the worst of it is, Karawan isn't the real leader either. He's another puppet. The real head of the Arcana kingdom is a small demon girl called Misanthria. Rumor has it that she carries an amulet which grants her immense power, enough to rule over others. It's said to provide a direct connection to the god of death. She must be incredibly powerful, considering the strength of Karawan. This is also why nobody has ever killed the king, he's completely useless. I think if you manage to get rid of Misanthria the entire thing crumbles apart, because below her are groups of powerful demons, many of whom don't get along. I suggest against fighting her however, we should wait for the empires and alliances to train significantly powerful mages that can stand up to them.

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  That's incredible information. How do you know all this?

  We infiltrated the Arcana kingdom and lived as servants at times we pretended to be merchants or farmers from a different part of the lands, trying to gather intel. We wrote a lot of information on scrolls we hid all over the deserted towns we found, knowing that if we sent messenger birds back they'd just intercept them and figure out that there were spies. Life's pretty bad out there for the average citizens of the Arcana kingdom by the way, but strangely enough, they have a lot less crime than we do in their large cities.

  What about demons? Do they have any of those? Amaru asks.

  Yeah there's lots of demons, various sorts even. There's too much to explain, here you can read this. He hands them a set of scrolls with more information.

  We have to defeat Misanthria then. That will bring peace to us all.

  They’re preparing for a war with the northern kingdoms, there’s been reports of troops massing near Snayport city.

  Well if you are intent on fighting her, she is supposedly in the midst of making a trip to the southern kingdoms, and she will pass a choke point known as Pinella pass. It is a narrow path that goes through a thick forest, surrounded by mountains. You could intercept her along the way. But I need to remind you again, she is extremely powerful.

  We can do it. It’s six to one! We’re experienced adventurers.