[Grand Chaos Empire]. It was a great empire that was without equal among the countries of the continent in terms of population, war strength, technology, and the prosperity of its people. Even compared to the second largest one in total area excepting the Demon Lord Territory, Elfrieden, it was a country that the Empire could blow away at will. If Elfrieden were to think of waging war against the Empire, it would require two to three times the national power it had even if it annexed the entirety of the Principality of Amidonia (as of now, it was only occupying the capital). Indeed, these figures only took into account the case of fighting the Empire on its own; if it were to make enemies of the Empire’s allies as well, it would no doubt lose its place in the continent.
Probably the only thing in which the Grand Chaos Empire was inferior to Elfrieden would be the length its history, for the Empire was a slight bit younger than Elfrieden. In the twilight hours of the [Chaotic Period] where the various races of the continent would fight each other, where countries would suddenly rise up to power, Elfrieden built up a united country of various races. On the other hand, the [Chaos Kingdom] of the time built up what is called a dictatorship, where rule was centralized under a single king and power was concentrated in the hands of humans.
In turbulent times, it was centralized countries like this that were the stronger. Because the decisions were made by one man and can be immediately applied, it was able to respond to situations more swiftly than other countries could. As the Chaotic Period came to a close, the Chaos Kingdom was a head above the rest of the countries, but was still only one of the forces competing for power, and nobody of the time would imagine that it would be the great empire that it was today. The great change is said to have begun about a hundred years ago, when a hero was born in the Chaos Kingdom.
Manus Chaos. The man who would later be called [Chaos Emperor]. Manus at the time was born as the second son of the King of Chaos Kingdom, but he inherited the throne when the King and first son was killed in action in a war with the Euphoria Kingdom to its northwest. When Manus took the throne, everyone expected a return match against the Euphoria Kingdom, but Manus did not do so. Far from it, he instead took a daughter of the King of Euphoria as his wife, and established familial relations with it. He even changed his name to Manus Euphoria, completely lowering their guard with regards to the Euphoria Kingdom.
Not a few rebellions occurred within the Chaos Kingdom due to this, but Manus was a prodigy in military matters and suppressed each and every one of them. Yes, the military prodigy Manus understood that there wasn’t a great difference in national power with the Euphoria Kingdom at the time. If they were to go into war, it would only serve to exhaust the country. Which means that the plan was to ‘first use Euphoria to swallow up the various small countries and once the country had a firm lead in power, turn around and swallow up Euphoria’.
In truth, Manus did turn and attack his wife’s parents’ home of Euphoria immediately after he swallowed up the small countries and gained a lead in power. However, he might have had a guilty conscience and even after the Euphoria Kingdom fell, he did not restore the Chaos family name and continued to use the Euphoria name¹. After the fall of the Euphoria Kingdom, Manus continued his aggressive wars and before long had become a large country controlling the western part of the continent. From this moment on, the Chaos Kingdom had been named [Grand Chaos Empire].
¹ The Royal Family of Grand Chaos continue to bear the name Euphoria even today