The continent of Terra has an awful lot of nations. From the snowy peaks of Kjerag to the arenas of Kazimierz to the prisons of Columbia — where people live differs, and so does how they live.

But look closely at their stories, and you'll find they're all wishing for the same thing. A slightly better life. Just that.

Here are six stories that played out across the continent. There's a negotiating table, a prison, a riverside teahouse. Let's hear them one by one.

Shall I teach you how to use your cutlery? — That country bumpkin was one of the three great families

Sirius came to Victoria representing Browntail, one of Kjerag's three great families. She's a hot-tempered, fiercely competitive young lady, and her husband Yucatan stays at her side, fetching her water and snacks.

But a Victorian merchant magnate named Harrison looks down on Sirius with a smile. Offering to teach her how to use her cutlery, and repeatedly getting 'Kjerag' wrong by calling it 'Kjeragg.'

Sirius bites her tongue and endures it. This is the very first time Browntail is joining hands with the outside world. Instead, she blows up where no one can hear — 'Aaargh, so annoying!'

Still, Sirius knows the truth. Victoria has trains, has smooth roads, has electric lights instead of candles — things Kjerag doesn't have. We need these things too, she thinks, and we can just build them all ourselves.

Her elder sister and family head Ratatos comes up too. The one who took the family onto her shoulders at a young age when their grandfather fell ill, pushing herself alone. And how, at the news that Enciodes of the SilverAsh family had laid everything down and left for Victoria to study, Ratatos quietly grew wistful.

That's when the banquet hall starts to fall apart. A noble called Viscount Evans, having fallen out with Harrison, has stormed in with his men.

Sirius and Yucatan quietly cut down the Viscount's men. Once the Viscount withdraws, Sirius approaches Harrison. Now that you've fallen out with the nobility, she says, wouldn't you be needing a new partner?

About the cooperation between us…… won't you sit down and talk it over with me one more time?

— Sirius

The old friend who came for one last drink, and why he never stepped forward in the end

Shangshu, in Yan, is right in the thick of change. Yang Xian, the young magistrate, must set out for the capital tonight, following the Grand Tutor.

Before leaving, Yang Xian watches a play with Miss Ying halfway up the mountain. They share tea; he takes note of which candies suit her taste. In his pocket he clutches a case holding a knotwork ornament, unable to bring himself to take it out.

If you had answered back then that you'd go without a single moment's hesitation, perhaps I too would have been a little upset.

— Miss Ying

The innkeeper's daughter Miss Du is getting ready to leave for Yumen City. Her father, Boss Zheng, presses into her hands an itinerary marking out the hard road, and urges her: once you've taken the lead, don't turn back.

And there's someone watching this scene from afar. Yang Xian's old friend, Lee, come from Lungmen.

Lee only tips his teacup, saying now isn't the time to step forward. He'd wanted one last drink with his old friend, he says, but it seems that won't be happening after all.

The letter said to bury you — so I burned that letter

In Lungmen's back alleys are two mafiosi driven out of Siracusa. Capone and Gambino. These days they're stuck running errands under 'that crazy woman,' walking on eggshells.

Their job was just to fetch a single letter, but things went sideways. Chased by the Guard Department, they barely got away thanks to rubber arrowheads. The letter in their hands bore the seal of Madam Sicily.

'That crazy woman' was Lappland. The letter was written with instructions to bury these two sorry fools out in the wilderness.

Lappland burns that letter in the fire. The order's become ash, so there's no reason to follow it, she says — and tells the two there's still work left for them to do.

Meanwhile, Rat King takes tea with Cadedu, Madam Sicily's envoy. He has no intention of meddling in Siracusa's affairs, but he makes it plain: in Lungmen, you follow Lungmen's rules.

Once business is done, Rat King quietly tells his subordinate to book a table for two at the hotel this evening. He's just having a meal with an old friend, he says.

If I change my face, will a better life come?

Roy of Kazimierz is an assassin of the Armorless Union. He used to be a country hunter, but he threw himself into this line of work to earn bigger money.

Roy and his comrade Monique decide to leave the organization in exchange for helping a Blood Knight escape. Together they erase their identities by faking their deaths, and Roy even changes his face to become 'Joel Tyrell.'

The night before he changes his face, Roy happens to drink with two people on the street. A weary corporate employee who's played hooky from work, and an infected knight who lost his match today.

The three of them get drunk and talk. A world where knights are merchandise and employees are expendable — and yet everyone just wishes for a slightly better life.

As they part, Roy quietly tells the infected knight to stay somewhere crowded tonight.

But when day breaks, the knight heads home alone.

And in a deserted alley, the Armorless Union's blade was waiting for him.

Roy starts a new life with a new face. Wondering what it'd be like to become a salesman, where he should go on his vacation.

The negotiator who gave a watch, and the mayor who worries for his daughter

The seaside city of Siesta will soon become a mobile city. To arrange logistics cooperation, Mayor Hermann welcomes Euril, president of a Lungmen freight company, along with the son Bison he's brought along.

Euril gifts a wristwatch and starts playing hardball. Let's grow Siesta into a neutral trade hub, he says; let's found a freight company led by Mountaindash. His ambitions are formidable.

But as the conversation flows on, the two find themselves talking as fathers. Hermann of the days his daughter — who kept him worried — studied abroad in Victoria; Euril of the days his ailing wife would scold him by letter.

Watching the sea beneath the setting sun, the two raise their glasses.

This liquor you brought from Lungmen has a truly fine taste. …… I believe it will suit not only Siesta, but the palates of people from other nations as well.

— Hermann

The company will surely come to save me — stay tuned to this channel

In Columbia's Mansfield Prison there's a prisoner named Jesselton. He's an agent of the Parasol company who infiltrated disguised as a prison guard, got caught, and ended up locked away instead.

Jesselton writes a letter to 'Mr. K.' Firmly convinced that, as an important employee of the company, they'll surely come to save him soon.

He tries to use a naive prisoner named Rick. By forging a letter supposedly sent by Rick's wife, he means to stoke the flames of revenge.

But the plan goes completely off the rails. Rick's wife really did sell the house to raise bail, and Rick is set free. The guards had known this a full week in advance — and they'd simply sat back and watched Jesselton flail about, trying to buy connections with pocket change.

Even so, Jesselton picks his letter back up and keeps writing. Signing it, 'Your most faithful servant, Jesselton Williams.'

But when the shot pulls back, all of this turns out to have been *True Story*, a program on Channel 58. People on the street laugh, calling Jesselton an actor who plays his part well.

…… But what if he isn't an actor — what if he's a person who truly exists? To that question, no one gives an answer.

From snowy peaks to prison cells, the six stories end like this. Where they live, and how they live, are all different. But the one thing they all had in common was this: every one of them wished for a slightly better life.