Hoelscher Empire

The Hoelscher Empire (ヘルシャー), or simply known as the "Empire", is a country in Tortus.

Layout
The Hoelscher Empire lies in the east of the Heiligh Kingdom in the northern continent, and sandwiched between them was the Independent Merchant Republic of Fuhren.

The core of the capital had an organized layout with unadorned buildings lining the streets at regular intervals. As the city continued to grow, however, houses and buildings had cropped up haphazardly, leaving the outer fringes a disorganized maze. As a result, the streets were a jumbled mess. Numerous back alleys and side streets mixed together and connected with the main thoroughfares in unique and confusing ways. The entire city appeared like a sized-up version of Horaud with open-air stalls littered the streets.

The empire also held the largest coliseum in the continent, and tournaments of all kinds were held there multiple times a year. It was the symbol of the empire’s ideals.

Ideology
The Hoelscher Empire was a strength-based meritocratic autocracy, where its philosophy was to use any means at their disposal to further their own goal. That doctorate lead them to have a very profitable slave trade. The empire was very popular among adventurers and mercenaries because they could make a name for themselves with their strength and skills. As a result of this mindset, the Emperor's successor was determined through a right of combat.

Although the empire's citizens were not as devout followers of the Holy Church as some of the other nations, they shared its philosophy of beastmen being inferior to humans, and even went beyond that by frequently using them as slaves (which was frowned upon by the Holy Church).

In the empire, the color "white" represents innocence and purity. As such, it is typically children that would wear white dresses during formal events. In contrast, the color "red" represents strife and the fundamental ideals of the empire. Woman who wear red dresses would only do so for their wedding day.

History
The Hoelscher Empire was a relatively new nation in Tortus, as compared with most nations of its era. It ws founded by a famous mercenary group that was instrumental in humanity winning the last great war against the demons.

At some point, the empire's first ruler discovered the scythe artifact "Egxess" at the bottom of Urdea Lake in Ur, and has been in possession of the Imperial Family ever since.

Over 300 years after the empire founding, the Demons had acquired Ancient Magic from one of the Great Labyrinths, and used this power to control monsters in their war against humanity. In response, Tortus' god, Ehit, summoned a group of heroes from another world to help the humanity to overcome this threat. As news spread of the heroes' arrival, the empire sent representatives to the kingdom in order to ascertain their abilities as humanity's saviors. In the end, they had a less-than favorable impression of them after the Emperor Gahard (who was in disguise) fought their leader Kouki in a one-on-one battle.

Months later, the Demons attacked the empire, as well as the Heiligh Kingdom and the Beastmen nation Verbergen. They used their newfound power to transform the Monsters that had been kept locked up in the imperial coliseum into powerful beasts, and rampaged through the city. They had destroyed entire sections of the capital, and slaughtered the squads sent out to eliminate them. The Demons then took advantage of the Monsters' rampage to assault the imperial palace in an attempt to kill Emperor Gahard. However, this assassination attempt had been thwarted due to the emperor's combat prowess, and were killed instead. After which the emperor had personally led a charge into the city and annihilated all the Monsters.

In a desperate bid to quickly restore the capital after the attack, the empire raided the Sea of Trees by burning much of it and captured many Beastmen to be used as slave labor for their reconstruction efforts. Among those captured were members of the Haulia Tribe, including its leader Cam, which was later rescued by Hajime. During this rescue mission, Kouki together with Shizuku, Ryutarou and Suzu created a diversion in front of the imperial palace, while keeping their identities hidden using masks that Hajime provided them and claiming that they were the demon kingdom's elite soldiers, "The Masked Rangers". Their antics would later become well-known throughout the empire and lead to many stories of them (particularly Shizuku's alter ego "Ranger Pink").

The Haulia Tribe retaliated against the empire by infiltrating the palace during the engagement party of Prince Baius and Princess Liliana. The Haulia Tribe killed many of the guests, as well as Prince Baius, until they managed to convince Emperor to dissolve the enslavement of Beastmen in the empire. They also forced him and his entire family was forced to wear cursed necklaces that would kill them if he broke his vow or if they tried to remove them. This event became known as the "The Haulia Rebellion" and "The Crimson Ball".

When Ehit was preparing to whip out all life on Tortus in order to travel to Earth with the energy obtain from such an act, the Hoelscher Empire allied itself with all the nations that had banded together to fight back. during the battle, Emperor Gahard was given the role of commanding his forces from the front lines. Ultimately, Ehit was killed by Hajime and Tortus was saved. For their role in saving the world, the imperial family had their cursed necklaces removed, but members of the Haulia Tribe went sent to the empire to act as emissaries Verbergen and ensure the empire continued offering equitable treatment of beastmen.

Known Locations

 * Imperial Palace
 * Coliseum
 * Adventurer's Guild

Imperial Family

 * Gahard D. Hoelscher (Emperor)
 * Amandora (Mistress)
 * Baius D. Hoelscher (Crown Prince)†
 * Trek D. Hoelscher (Second Prince)†
 * Tracy D. Hoelscher (First Princess)
 * Handler D. Hoelscher (Third Prince)
 * Miara D. Hoelscher (Second Princess)
 * Ariel D. Hoelscher (Third Princess)
 * Raymond D. Hoelscher (Crown Prince's son)

Knights

 * Grid Half (Imperial Guard’s Third Squad Captain)†

Others

 * Johan (Prison Guard)
 * Dibel (Originally Nedil; Former Prison Guard)
 * Logue (imperial Magic Caster)
 * Ted (Imperial Magic Caster)
 * Vesta (Noble)†

Note: †; deceased

Trivia

 * Hoelscher is an English language surname derivative, primarily used in the United States. Its origins are from the North German "Hölscher", the occupational name for a maker of clogs (wooden shoes), which in turn comes from the Middle Low German "holsche" (prefix holt- meaning "wood"; suffix -scho meaning "shoe"; with the agent noun suffix "-er"). The name is strongly associated with in Germany, although it is also associated with the Netherlands. Bearers of the name almost universally descend from individuals originally from the Paderborn region of Westphalia or the Netherlands.
 * After the Haulia Tribe's attack on the imperial palace during Liliana's engagement party, which resulted in the beheading of many guests, it has become customary to wear metal collars during formal events.
 * When Hajime's family attends a party the empire hosts in their honor while they are visiting Tortus during the holidays, the dresses that his wives wear are based on their designs from "Arifureta Live & Act" (with the only difference being that they are all red in the story, as a symbol of their betrothal to Hajime).