The Eve (3)
"Oath-flame of terror, burning salt-flower, passion-flower of dark night flowing from the abyss!"
"Praise be, Explo—SION!!"
Arshen Gillarus's arrival had reminded him of the Wind Stones, but his real purpose here was this.
KABOOM! A sky-blue flame erupted from the staff, streaking across the canyon before exploding massively in midair.
"Oh."
As someone sent by Carmen Queen—and one of the researchers who would develop Wind Stones in the future—his skills were undoubtedly exceptional.
"Young master."
"I know, so just let it be."
"Do you know what I was about to say?"
"Weren't you going to ask if all mages chant like that?"
"No, sir."
Robert turned serious.
"No, I've seen more mages than you have, young master. You think I'd ask you about how mages chant their spells?"
"I figured that's what you'd say, but was I wrong?"
"Not at all! However that guy chants his spells, that's just his personal flair."
Explosion spells were fundamentally the same for mid-level mages in execution, but the incantations varied wildly from one to another.
"What I'm worried about is that guy's blasting away at the canyon like he's trying to wreck it."
"It does look that way."
"Behold! Acclaim! The single bud of flame blooming from the darkness!!"
He kept flicking his staff dramatically, unleashing Explosion spells one after another.
"Just let him have his fun."
The man was doomed to die soon anyway. He ought to have at least one accomplishment to brag about to the reaper in the afterlife.
-I rained destruction magic all over Gibraltar Canyon!
Developing Wind Stones wasn't complete yet, so that was one thing, but unleashing Explosion spells in Gibraltar Canyon would be brag-worthy enough.
No damage done, though.
The canyon looked like sheer cliffs, but they weren't natural formations.
On the surface, just gray rock walls, but really, it's a massive fortress wall protected by magic.
Someone had told him that once. If the Gibraltar Gates were humanity's fortress against the Empire...
Then Gibraltar Canyon was the giants' magical bastion.
A 300-meter earthen wall built facing the Empire. The canyon between was said to be a sword slash by one of the giants, though Grey didn't know the details.
What mattered was the canyon's durability.
Only a Master-level being can even scratch it properly with magic.
Natural cliffs would erode over countless years, but this one never had.
"Explo—SION!!"
Arshen Gillarus was now pouring his pride into the explosive magic, scraping together every ounce of ego, but not even a scorch mark appeared on the canyon walls.
Only a Master could truly damage it. Without Sword Master or Archmage-level mana control, whether you stabbed it with a shovel, punched it, or hurled explosion spells, nothing worked.
"Sir Robert. You think this canyon might be some remnant of an ancient god's civilization?"
"Pardon?"
"Otherwise, how could it stay unchanged for centuries?"
"Not entirely."
Robert pointed toward the Gibraltar side.
"We can dig into ours, right?"
"True."
"But the Empire side is so hard you can't even get a shovel in."
"True."
"There's a rumor that Marquis Claydoll keeps swinging his axe at Gibraltar Canyon to test it."
"That's not a rumor—it's fact."
As if...
"Some call this canyon the 'Dragon's Nest.' Like a dragon cast defensive magic over its home."
"And the homeowner?"
"Maybe the house is empty, but the wards remain?"
Like someone had installed absolute defensive magic facing only the Empire.
"Or maybe it's a dwarf wall from ancient times."
"Dwarves are all dead."
"Same thing—their legacy endures."
Or like they'd erected an impossibly tough steel plate on the Empire side, then slathered mud and clay over it to form the earthen wall.
Even before the canyon existed, there must've been conflict between the kingdom and empire sides.
On the kingdom side, you could dig with enough muscle, but between the Empire and the canyon? Impossible.
Without magic or a god's miracle, no terrain defies nature like this.
Definitely not natural.
The kingdom didn't claim it as a heaven-sent fortress for nothing.
The leading theory among scholars was that the canyon was a mana stone bastion disguised as cliffs, with unbreakable defensive magic facing the Empire.
"Either way, no ordinary human can touch it easily. Unless you're digging from the Gibraltar side."
And so—
"Damn it!"
A mid-level mage like Baron Arshen Gillarus couldn't collapse even a single wall.
Our ancestors didn't carve the top of that canyon for nothing.
Without Master-level power, altering the terrain was impossible. Even Marquis Claydoll swinging his axe at the Empire-side cliffs yielded only sweat flying from his brow.
Well. Even without all that...
The Empire couldn't have dug through the canyon anyway.
Even on the kingdom side, it took serious manpower just to make a rabbit hole. If you tried digging from there...
Otherwise, no method worked easily. Even the Emperor had given up on tampering with the canyon itself.
"Heh."
"Uh, why are you laughing again?"
"Nothing, just..."
It struck him anew.
"I wonder what would've happened to the kingdom without this Gibraltar Canyon."
Baron Arshen Gillarus's skill test was over, and outside Gibraltar Castle, people bustled preparing for the festival.
And here, in the plaza.
"Move it!"
A hundred orphanage kids, including squires-in-training, were out digging with shovels.
"Young master."
"What is it, Ellie?"
Behind him, Eli—Astasia—held a thermos of warm Somnus tea and whispered softly.
"They're just kids... is it really okay to make them work like that?"
"Ellie."
He pointed at the orphanage children.
"The kingdom has no labor laws."
"...Pardon?"
"More precisely, no labor laws for orphans."
He alternated pointing between them and her.
"The Empire has many laws for 'everyone.' The kingdom does too. But the laws only protect nobles."
"Uh..."
"No—the laws shield nobles, and punish commoners and below."
Unlike the Empire, where the monarch existed within a constitutional framework...
"The kingdom has been a country for Nostrum and its nobles for 500 years."
The kingdom was one where Nostrum's every word was law.
"From the Empire's view, you'd wonder: how has it survived this long?"
More precisely: why haven't we destroyed it yet?
"Even if we mobilize orphanage kids with shovels to build a new stage in the central plaza for the festival, no one bats an eye."
"Er, um..."
"Unless they're from the Empire."
"......."
Astasia, as Ellie, chose silence. She knew shouting "This isn't right!" would echo into the void.
"Um, can I go help too?"
Instead, the girl wanted to lend a small hand.
"If I join in..."
"No. Ellie has to stay by my side as my maid."
"But..."
"If you go dig, the kids will feel even more awkward. Especially the other Whites helping from the back."
The digging orphanage kids and adults switched shifts again.
"With them helping from behind, if you dig, won't they have to dig too?"
"Eek..."
"Everyone has their role."
Adults took the sweat-soaked shovels, leveled the ground, while Whites handed wooden cups to kids in the shade and poured from large wooden pitchers.
"And the Empire has little to say about child labor either."
"That's..."
"It was in the papers. Until ten years ago, kids working in factories was commonplace."
"......No words for that."
Astasia smiled bitterly and bowed her head.
"He must've sent me here to experience this..."
"Something like that."
The canyon had divided the two nations for so long that people from different cultures couldn't blend easily.
"You never truly know until you experience it yourself."
Right after the kingdom fell and Morgania's governor took over Nostrum...
The Emperor's first official event was an Empire tour with Grey—the new Gibraltar Margrave—Carmen the Governor, and some kingdom figures.
If I hadn't seen the Empire firsthand, I'd have lived believing Nostrum was right forever.
A terrifying thought.
What the kingdom saw as noble privilege was trivial there. And the commoners the kingdom scorned lived like nobles thanks to magitech and laws.
That shock will accelerate now.
Soon.
When Gibraltar Canyon's gates opened years ahead of schedule.
Not just one or two Empire citizens will raise their voices against the kingdom's injustices.
Countless Empire citizens would learn Nostrum's reality.
And like Astasia, they'd step forward.
Leading them: Father's fans.
Women who saw his photobook would be horrified by kingdom life.
Seeing orphans forced to labor would remind them of their own past pains.
Child rights.
Not just children.
And—
"Hey! Where do you think you're going, you wench?!"
A man who'd just grabbed a shovel yelled at a middle-aged woman.
"Stay home and watch the kids instead of coming out here!"
"You think I want to be out? I came to bring food since you're gone!"
"Hmph! Fine, just go home quick! Have dinner ready!"
Judging a nation by one scene was narrow-minded.
But when such scenes repeated, becoming "daily life and common sense"...
Empire women will want to rip off their corsets at the sight of kingdom women's lives.
Child rights.
And women's rights.
Nonexistent in the kingdom, standard in the Empire.
So when the gates open, come in droves.
To the Empire, kingdom women were primitives, "unawakened."
They won't resist meddling. I'll lay the board wide open.
So they'd cross the canyon, spread through the kingdom, and raise their voices.
They won't hold back at this sight.
Many would end up imprisoned.
Yet more women would pour through Gibraltar into every corner of Nostrum.
In their arms: one man's photo album, dreams of Nostrum.
"Ellie. Someone I know once said..."
The Emperor had.
"Those who think their experiences are the whole world, believe their convictions infallible, and impose them on others—they're the most dangerous."
It was a scripted interview for Empire Daily to show his philosophical side, but the core rang true.
"Ellie."
"Yes."
"You want these people to live like Empire folk, right?"
"......."
Astasia nodded faintly, unseen by others.
"I think so too."
"Pardon...?"
"If that's what you want, I'll make it happen."
The crown prince would seethe.
"Nostrum has only nobles. No commoners, women, or children."
"......."
"So I'll start by changing. My mindset."
He'd admired the Empire's ideals from Astasia's tales, coming to see the kingdom as barbaric.
"But telling Nostrum folk this changes nothing."
The most action-oriented people weren't...
Those driven by money to act, or puppets forced by threats.
Humans imposing convictions after illusions shatter are the scariest.
Those acting on "I'm right" are the most terrifying.
"So I'll leave that to others."
Come.
Awakened women of the Empire.
Swell your dreams of Nostrum from Father's photos.
Bring his photobook and cross Gibraltar Canyon here.
"Empire folk will have plenty to say once they arrive."
Face Nostrum's reality head-on, and sow poison in this land.
"Then let them speak freely."
The plague called "enlightenment."
"If that's what you wish."