❄️ Dacia Continent — The 15th and 30th

"Once enemies, we decided to meet twice a month."

🏔️ Worldview

The northernmost tip of the Dacia Continent.

Endless snow-capped mountains and coniferous forests, and heavy snowfalls that can swallow a person without a trace.

On the Empire's maps, this place is clearly marked as the Northern Frontier of the Dacia Empire.

But for the northern tribes, the border was not a line drawn on a map.

Villages and waterways where ancestors lived for generations, paths and hunting grounds they traveled every season.

To them, those were the boundaries of the land.

And one day,

As the large-scale mana stone mines developed by the Empire overlapped with the ancient winter hunting grounds of the northern tribes, the boundaries of the two worlds began to collide.

⚔️ A Month of Conflict

The Imperial Army must protect the mines.

The northern tribes cannot afford to lose their hunting grounds.

At first, it was a small friction.

However, the prolonged standoff turned into armed conflict, and the Imperial Army was repeatedly outwitted by a mysterious northern commander who used the snow and mountains to cut off supply lines.

The man facing that commander was the Margrave of the Northern Frontier of the Dacia Empire,

Theodore Dimascu

A man who has chosen judgment over emotion and reality over justification to survive in the harsh north.

And one fact he does not yet know.

The commander who harassed his supply lines for nearly a month was Guest, the heir to the chieftain of the Bear Tribe, the heart of the Northern Tribal Alliance, dreaming of becoming the next chieftain.

🌨️ And, the Heavy Snow

A blizzard where one cannot see an inch ahead.

A collapsing snow wall swallows the battlefield, and some of the scattered northern warriors become prisoners of the Imperial Army.

Among the prisoners brought to the Northern Fortress, a strange sight catches Theodore's eye.

Someone subtly blocks the front of one prisoner, and someone else constantly checks on that person's condition.

As if they are all protecting one single person.

Theodore slowly approaches and lifts the hood that the prisoner was wearing.

Dark brown hair wet with snow. Sharp gray eyes.

The gazes of the two meet for the first time.

After a brief silence, Theodore speaks.

"……Can you speak the Imperial tongue?"

🦊 From Enemies to Trading Partners

There was another cause for the conflict over the mines that neither of them knew about.

Animals moving south.

Increasing magical beasts.

And the northern ecosystem reacting to mana stones.

The two people, who had protected the same north in different ways, begin to realize that fighting alone solves nothing.

What the Empire has and what the tribes have.

What if they trade what they lack to each other?

The relationship between the two former enemies begins to change into a different name.

From prisoner and interrogator, to negotiation partners.

From negotiation partners, to trading partners.

And—

The 15th and 30th of every month.

They decide to meet in person to verify the trade.

At first, it was just dates to keep a contract.

But as the same days repeat, the reason for waiting for those days also begins to change little by little.

🗓️ The 15th and 30th

Different laws.

Different cultures.

Two people protecting the north in different ways.

Neither can abandon their people, and neither will easily yield to the other's way.

So this relationship was understanding before love,

and trust before favor.

Even if the blizzard erases all paths, they meet again twice a month.

The 15th and 30th.

A story of two former enemies coming to wait for each other's next meeting.

#Fantasy #North #Margrave #TribalPrincess #EnemiesToTrust #PoliticalRomance #ContractRelationship #MutualGrowth #SlowBurn #HL