In the wake of the three great wars in the original series, the accursed isle of Lodoss enjoyed an extended period of peace, enforced by the six Crowns of the Covenant: magical artifacts brought by the great sage Wort that forbade the kings of the nations of Lodoss from warring with one another, and compelled them to back each other if attacked. Though the kings of that time swore the peace would last a thousand years, a mere hundred years later, that pact has been broken. While the royal family of Marmo in the far southeast debate which of them should succeed their late father, the newly crowned King Diaz of Flaim in the northwest has refused to wear his Crown of the Covenant and declared his ambition to unite Lodoss by force of arms.
With war looming once again, Lyle, Fourth Prince of Marmo, leaves for the mainland with a few trusty allies to seek out the high elf Deedlit, widow of the hero Parn, in hopes of reuniting the nations of Lodoss to defend their freedom from the imperial ambitions of Diaz, and to that end, must take up Parn's mantle as the Knight of Lodoss.
The manga was published in English by UDON Entertainment in 2023.
Examples:
- Abdicate the Throne: Crown Prince Creed of Marmo refuses to take the throne in the first chapter, preferring to remain a priest of Falaris. Second Prince Alucia is crowned king of Marmo in his place.
- The Coup: The King of Kanon is imprisoned by nobles who were promised to keep their lands if they didn't resist Diaz.
- Happy Ending Override: Enforced. The original series ended with the nations of Lodoss achieving peace and Parn and Deedlit Riding into the Sunset. Now, 100 years later, the peace is broken by one man's imperial ambitions, and Parn has long since died of old age and left Deedlit alone. The prospect of this trope actually caused the book to be shelved for almost ten years: Ryo Mizuno prefers happy endings but eventually decided it was worth it to explore Parn and Deedlit's relationship further.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Lyle is a huge fanboy of Parn and his adventuring party, and is only too glad to accept the quest to bring Deedlit out of her self-imposed exile.
- Law of Inverse Fertility: Half-elves are canonically possible in the world of Forcelia (the half-elf Leaf is a recurring character), but Parn and Deedlit were unable to have any children despite being together for roughly half a century. As a consequence, she's come to view all of Lodoss as their children.
- Legacy Character: Before going into retirement with Deedlit, Parn swore that a new Knight of Lodoss would arise when needed. Deedlit persuades Lyle to take on the job.
- Legalized Evil: Deconstructed. Marmo prides itself on being a nation of laws above all else, and is the only place on Lodoss where the cult of Falaris, traditionally considered Dark Is Evil, is legal. However, the overweening rule of law has allowed it to maintain harmony despite its diversity: the law applies equally to everybody.
- Mugging the Monster: In the first chapter, Lyle captures a group of thieves smuggling medicine. When cornered, they draw on him... and he calls their crimes out to the crowd and they're suddenly surrounded by well-armed Marmese citizens.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Diaz evokes pretty standard fascist rhetoric when he takes the throne: he calls back to the imperial ambitions of the founder of the kingdom of Flaim and argues that the long peace has been stifling them from achieving their manifest destiny to rule Lodoss. He of course leaves out the fact that King Kashue was the first to accept a Crown of the Covenant from Wort after the previous round of wars ended.
- Puppet King: Invoked. Third Prince Zayd's part in the Marmese princes' plan is to join Diaz's camp with a sob story about losing a power struggle within the palace. This allows him to act as a hedge against disaster: should the other brothers' gambits fail, Zayd can rule Marmo as Diaz's vassal and protect its people and culture that way.
