Clay

Clay is a retainer of Roan. He is a Druid.

Appearance
Clay has eyes so thin it makes people wonder whether he can even see anything from them.

Background
Clay, along with a few other young men, was taught by an unnamed master strategist. His elder disciple-brothers were from other kingdoms and had already started achieving great things before Clay met Roan.

Before Clay met Roan, he worked for Viscount Tio Ruin. However, he was soon dismissed due to his excessive narcissism and suspicious acts.

Previous Timeline
Clay most likely didn't become any noble's retainer since he didn't find anyone worthy to serve.

Current Timeline
Clay approached Roan while he was busy cleaning the slums of Aran Valley. He then gave him a piece of advice, "When the owl brings branch, there will be great danger to your body." Later, Roan realized that this was referring to Viscount Anthony Holten. He was impressed that Clay was aware of something that even the Tenebra Troop had only recently discovered.

Before Roan left to subjugate the Janis Agency, Clay appeared and told him the location of its HQ. Once again, Roan was surprised since Clay's information was the same as what the Tenebra Troop discovered. During the subjugation of Janis Agency, Clay revealed his abilities as a Druid which allowed them to capture the escaping Janis Agency executives and find the trail of the missing Head of the agency, Hooke. The hole Hooke escaped through led to Aran Valley where he did. Unfortunately for him, the residents of the slum immediately reported his location to Roan, whom they greatly respected for helping them despite being a noble.

Following this, Clay was officially appointed as an administrator of Tale Barony by Roan. Due to his excellent performance, he was soon promoted to the post of head administrator of the barony.

Clay also played a pivotal role in the suppression of the rebel Baron Elton Coat as he suggested the use of the Tale Navy to quickly reach the Coat Barony and catch Elton Coat unaware. This strategy allowed the Tale Legion to gain a much greater lead than the competition Mills Voisa and Chester Kowan's armies.

Afterwards, Clay invited many hidden druids to come serve Roan with him and remind the world of the druids' forgotten might. Soon, Bureau of Druids was established in the Tale Barony where the druids focused on training small animals to become spies or messengers and provided them to Agens and Tenebra Troop.

The Bureau of Druids and Clay also played a great part during the fief war. Clay, especially, was able to predict that Kali Owells would choose Arslan Valley as the location of the decisive battle which allowed Roan and Walter Owells to plan in advance. However, during this time, Roan began to suspect that Clay was spying on him. Later, when he was escorting Walter Owells to Theturn Village, he became sure of this suspicion.

After returning to Lancephil County, he ordered Clay to explain himself. Clay over confidently believed that Roan would never dismiss him so he arrogantly stated nonsensical reasons. However, to his shock, Roan immediately dismissed him while stating that he was useless if he couldn't be trusted. Despite being shocked, Clay realized that no other noble in Rinse Kingdom matched Roan's potential and realized that in fact it was he who couldn't leave Roan's side, not the other way around. He decided that he would bide his time and grow his position to one where Roan truly couldn't dismiss him. However, Roan was aware of his feelings due to Aily Rinse's mind's eye. As Aily Rinse - Piscis of the Elves - and he decided to form an alliance, his dependence on the druids suddenly fell. He decided that he would only leave Clay alive for three years before the Great Warring Era began in the earnest.

One year later, Roan ordered Clay to take charge of the fief's administration while he led the Crimson Legion to destroy the invading Istel Kingdom and Byron Kingdom's allied army. During that time, Clay sent two druid cats to Duke Bradley Webster in an attempt to backstab Roan. However, Roan predicted this and had Aily Rinse send a few elves to intercept the cats without Clay knowing. According to Roan's prediction, Clay betrayed him and went to Webster Duchy. However, due to the death of Bradley Webster, he easily seized control of the duchy's military and formed a faction under Barry Webster, the eldest son of Bradley Webster. Through the support of the nobles supporting the House of Webster, he launched an attack on the approaching Estia army led by Mills Voisa and defeated them. He then established the North Rinse Kingdom with most of the northern land of Rinse Kingdom and crowned Barry Webster as the nominal king. Upon the order of Veldrica, the Head of Devesis Church, the armies of North Rinse Kingdom and Estia Empire allied and created the Rinse Liberation Army to fight against the Lancephil Fief Regiment which was climbing north after having defeated the southern Ka-Lu Army.

Soon, the first division of the Rinse Liberation Army consisting of 30,000 elite soldiers headed by Bear Viscount Heder Myers of Estia Empire fought against Lancephil Fief Regiment. However, unlike expectations, the Rinse Liberation Army suffered a disastrous defeat, losing over 20,000 soldiers and the commander Heder Myers as well. This was possible due to Ian Philips' clever strategy that made use of commander Heder Myers' bull-headed personality and thick head.

Afterwards, Clay himself led the second division of the Rinse Liberation Army consisting of 70,000 soldiers, however, more than half of them were conscripted serfs. However, through the use of a moving watchtower where Clay himself was situated, he was able to effectively command the entire army. Clay also cleverly led Roan into the thick of enemy territory to kill him. Roan used his powerful Flamdor Mana Technique which had significantly strengthened since he absorbed Flamdor. However, Clay had already planned countermeasures. He had the Druids use a spell to create a giant tree which absorbed all the fire-essence in the air of the surrounding area which significantly weakened Roan's fire mana and curbed it from refilling. Thus, Roan was forced to use his weaker water mana, however, he was unable to deal with the Druids that transformed into beasts to harass him. Through a last ditch effort, Roan used up all his water mana to cut off the fire-essence absorbing tree. However, before he could regain his fire mana, Clay appeared and used the druid spell to summon another, even bigger fire-essence absorbing tree. Convinced of his victory, he began to mock Roan. Just when all hope seemed lost, Kinis appeared and unleashed a rain of fire which annihilated the fire-essence absorbing tree. At the sudden turn of events, Clay was flabbergasted. Roan didn't let go of this opportunity and grabbed Clay by the neck. Clay begged Roan to let him live, however, Roan simply turned him to ash.