Houvan

Houvan is a town within the Rhoden Kingdom.

Background
A town located on the route between the Anetto and Telnassos mountain ranges. And was located along the road that connected the Rhoden Kingdom and Grand Duchy of Limbult. Due to the lucrative trade of Magic Tools, Houvan to the north and Tiocera to the south served as convenient lodgings for the many caravans that traveled along the trade route, bringing items to the kingdom’s northern border.

Light Novel Volume 02
Princess Yuriarna made plans to slip by the city on her way to the Grand Duchy of Limbult in her diplomatic mission to appeal to the Great Canada Forest. Her half-brothers, Prince Sekt and Prince Dakares also made arrangements to head to the city under the pretense to attend an evening ball and to inspect the royal lands. Though in reality, Sekt wanted to be in the vicinity in preparation for his plot to eliminate his half-sister, while Dakares wanted to reopen some connections to recuperate his losses he taken when the slave market at Diento collapsed.

Fulish du Houvan the ruling lord of the town, having heard of the fate of the Marquis in Diento, feared for his life. In order to protect himself, the noble began to fortify the town and hire mercenaries. Travel through Houvan was restricted, with travelers screened to locate any elves. In order to fund the additional defenses, Fulish drained his territory of all its monetary resources so much so that the people in his territory began to suffer and fermented a rebellion against him.

Arc and Ariane having arrived found the town to be fortified but easily bypassed the defenses using teleportation magic. Once inside they made contact with the leader of the rebellion via a contact. The pair participated in the attack on the lord's castle, afterwards they split objectives from the rebellion, and prioritized rescuing the captive elf.

Layout
Houvan was located in the mountains, at the mouth of a valley at the base of the Anetto Mountains. The Telnassos Mountains were located to its south and provided a beautiful backdrop. Meanwhile, the count’s castle sat in the middle of the town. Since Houvan was located on a strategic route that ran north to south across the Rhoden Kingdom, rather than having a typical circular wall surrounding it, its walls were squared off, giving it the appearance of a fortress.

Its walls were fifteen-meter-high and surrounded by a water-filled moat. While towers stood on either side of the main gate, manned by guards. A stone bridge extended across the moat to the gate to allow inspections. While it had four gates that were open, the town’s northern gate was only barely wide enough to fit two horse-drawn carts side-by-side as the east to west trade route were more widely used, and much larger.

All of the houses near the gates were rather decrepit, compared to the rich dwellings located elsewhere near the Houvan estate.

Trivia

 * The plot in Houvan and rescuing the elf slave held captive there was omitted from the Anime adaption.
 * Later in the novel series, its revealed that Houvan's downfall was arranged by Sekt Rondahl Karlon Rhoden Sahdiay and Yuriarna Merol Melissa Rhoden Olav to weaken Dakares's powerbase.