The Conqueror from a Dying Kingdom (Manga)

After a life seemingly devoid of meaning, a man reincarnates in a new world as Yuri Ho. Immersed in novel experiences and embraced by parents who shower him with unprecedented affection, his will to live grows like never before. The future that lies before him is a peaceful existence on his father’s ranch, breeding and raising birds to be ridden by warriors fighting distant wars. His new home, the Shiyalta Kingdom, has enjoyed peace and prosperity for centuries, shielded by friendly nations that, like Shiyalta itself, were established following the collapse of a once-great empire. It seems no threat can compromise this idyllic lifestyle. However, when the effects of a neighboring kingdom’s war throw Yuri’s family into crisis, he finds himself unable to stand by and watch.

A power struggle emerges to control the Ho family and its army, throwing Yuri Ho’s peaceful life of raising birds in another world into disarray. Before dying in battle, the former head of the family wrote a will naming Yuri’s father as successor, but the treacherous retainer Rakunu presents a forged will to seize power for himself. Feeling no choice but to act immediately, Yuri must somehow prove that Rakunu’s will is a fake. Until then, Yuri and his new parents must walk along a knife’s edge, knowing this usurper can assassinate them at any moment.

Yuri Ho wanted nothing but a peaceful life, but now a future as a military commander and provincial ruler seems unavoidable. Following his humiliation of a political rival to ensure his father would become the head of the Ho family, it’s assumed that the father is merely keeping the seat warm for his son. Now at just ten years old, Yuri has to prepare himself for his impending great responsibilities by attending the Knight Academy—a prestigious school where anyone seeking to serve as a military officer in the Shiyalta Kingdom must train. As Yuri attempts to navigate the academy’s odd systems and strange traditions, he soon encounters the kingdom’s first princess, Carol Flue Shaltl. Strong-willed and principled, she takes offense to Yuri’s apathy and makes herself his rival, much to his dismay. But when Yuri is center of attention in a school of would-be warriors, his run-in with Princess Carol is far from his last violent encounter.

As a student of the Knight Academy, Yuri Ho will be spending the next decade of his life in the royal capital. Eager to explore the streets of his new home, he soon finds himself in trouble when the kingdom’s first princess, Carol Flue Shaltl, follows him into the city slums and attracts the attention of a gang of kidnappers. Unable to abandon her to her fate, Yuri will have to rely on his wits to save the princess—and himself—from harm at the hands of desperate criminals. As they head into the deepest recesses of the city, the pair are about to discover a side of the kingdom that their privileged upbringings had shielded them from—a dark side that Carol, as the future queen, refuses to ignore.

Yuri continues his training at the Knight Academy where his rapid completion of each course leaves him with more free time than he knows what to do with. However, a meeting with the nation’s queen leads to an agreement that opens up new possibilities within the world of commerce and an end to Yuri’s monotony. Aided by his past-life knowledge, Yuri begins developing a method of making paper with grand ambitions of rendering parchment obsolete. But running a business amid the corruption that plagues Shiyalta’s royal capital is fraught with risk, even for the son of a chieftain. As Yuri prepares to take on the witch-controlled parchment guild, powerful new enemies do not hesitate to reveal themselves.

Yuri has greater ambitions than winning board games, but as one of the best togi players at the Knight Academy, he finds himself forced to compete in an annual tournament that sees knights and witches compare intellect. The competition is supposedly friendly fun and entertainment for the nation’s queen, yet Yuri is quickly trapped in a high-stakes game against Jula Lacramanus—an influential witch whose mother controls the parchment guild. Against a powerful adversary seeking to humiliate him publicly, one wrong move could cost Yuri not just the tournament, but his fledgling papermaking enterprise.