Guest, the Royal Architect who single-handedly maintained the capital's fortifications, was exiled under the pretext that his work was "just stacking stones." He drifts to a remote frontier village where he meets Clarisse, a knight princess of a fallen kingdom. Clutching a set of blueprints, she bows before Guest, desperate to build a fortress to protect her people. She has no gold to offer—only her eternal fealty. Meanwhile, back in the capital, the city walls have begun to crack.