Hope and Despair in the Frozen Hell
Because despair exists, one learns to believe in hope. And because hope exists, one fears despair. They always coexist. As if to prove it, the Creator planted hope in the land of death.
The frozen tundra was a snow-white hell teeming with savage barbarians and starving monsters, and at the same time, a heavenly treasure trove filled with mines of high-purity magic crystals.
Magic crystals. Natural products concentrating vast magical power. Especially the top-grade ones mined from the tundra served as fuel packed with immense energy and as the power source driving machines born from magitech, earning them the status of the Eisenreich Colonial Empire's very essence.
"The magic stones from the tundra boast a flawless pure white, like perennial snow. The countless magic crystals mined across the continent come in all sorts of colors because they're mixed with impurities."
"Magic crystals... They're like the universal ore, huh."
With a clatter, the silver-haired beauty scattered stones across the table. A pure white glow spread out. Every magic crystal shone with pristine white light.
Leonora picked up a fist-sized magic crystal and began her explanation.
"The tundra is a precarious frontline holding back savage barbarians and monsters, and at the same time, a natural treasure trove yielding magic crystals more precious than pure gold. That's why the Colonial Empire spares no support for our Edelgard family, who oversee the tundra."
"It's a gold mine they absolutely can't lose, for the Colonial Empire."
Have you ever seen America give up oil? Even a superpower like the Colonial Empire was the same. Magic crystals. An indispensable resource for sustaining civilization. If Rome conquered the petty states around the Mediterranean to monopolize salt, the Eisenreich Colonial Empire waged ruthless wars of conquest to monopolize magic crystals.
"Heh, have you grasped even a fraction of the tundra's and our Edelgard family's glorious greatness? It's a remote backwater surrounded by barren snowfields, but our wealth doesn't fall short compared to any of the Empire's provinces."
"Did I ever tell you I secretly admire you, Lady Leonora?"
"That's a joke where your intentions are plain as day, Vice Captain."
"It means I respect you that much."
The fellow heir of the same age with mountains of money. Could there be a more attractive bride?
I proposed half-jokingly. Leonora offered me a mint latte with a faint smile.
"Your Highness graces our humble village with her presence... What boundless honor!"
"We'll continue mining magic crystals with all our might from here on!"
The administrators dispatched to Hiemalis welcomed the tundra's Executor. It was a sudden visit without any prior notice, so they eyed Leonora nervously, gauging her mood.
Magic crystal mining logs and tribute inventories. Hiemalis's winter stockpiles of food and fuel. Security maintenance reports.
The hideous cafe selling mint lattes had been commandeered as Leonora's office. She reviewed Hiemalis's mountains of documents to grasp the situation.
And then, "Whaaat! Auntie!"
"Sob... Sob... Mint Auntie, please forgive us just this once!"
The boy and girl who had dared call the maidenly beauty in her prime "auntie" tearfully apologized. Leonora's red eyes flashed at their pitiful wails, still oblivious to their mistake.
"Sis! Sorry, sis!"
"Pretty Mint Sis! We'll call you pretty sis from now on!"
Pretty sis. A warm glow spread across Leonora's icy face. Shameless kids.
At twenty-five, the old maid. Leonora petted the children's heads with a gentle smile.
"Your Highness!"
As she handled business right there in the cafe, an elderly man with flowing white whiskers stepped inside.
Ericsen von Galtbaren. The old knight of Nilfheim and the Edelgard family's steward.
Probably some major urgent news had arrived the moment Leonora left Nilfheim.
"Urgent dispatch from the War Council! You must return to the castle at once."
"Understood. Then I'll leave encouraging Hiemalis's citizens to the Guard Captain and..."
"Regrettably, it directly concerns Vice Captain Valtenstein."
"......"
The countless love letters exchanged between the Steel Lorelei and the heirs of prestigious families had been exposed. As expected of the intelligence unit's deputy commander, Bellesra had used spies embedded in the Hanzerbalt City Union to spread the reverse harem's sordid drama.
The queen bee devoted to her fish pond management. The water buffaloes who had sworn unchanging love and loyalty to her.
The Theodor Holy Empire's authority and sanctity plummeting to rock bottom was inevitable. And that wasn't all. The Sword Duke and the Red Tower were implicated in the scandal too. Every leader on the continent except the Holy Empire's Emperor mocked and condemned them.
Who had spread those love letters? The answer was simple.
The scandal involving Zigrinde von Levanfalt—the Holy Empire's war heroine and protector—and the young masters from prestigious families was an open secret. But when the scandal hushed up by the imperial family and high nobles exploded across the continent, the situation shifted dramatically.
Mockery, condemnation. And contempt. Countless malice battered the Holy Empire.
All this time, Zigrinde had birthed scorn and hatred by attacking the Holy Empire's many enemies in the name of her war heroine fame. Led by the Hanzerbalt City Union that spread the scandal, countless nations on the continent tore into Zigrinde, branding her the slut of the era.
"Kailun, you damn bastard! I'll rip your body to shreds and feed you to the beasts!"
"Taking your life alone won't be enough...! We'll torment you thoroughly with every torture spell from the Red Tower until you realize death itself is the bare minimum mercy!"
Zikfried von Kreuz, heir to the Sword Duke, and Kasian von Eternar, the Red Tower's young master, faced the crisis of losing their status and fame as heirs at once. They'd suffered the ultimate humiliation of having their families' symbols—the White Night Sword Albrus and the Black Star Sword Morion—stolen by a third-rate noble.
The higher the tower, the faster it crumbles, they say? It fit Zikfried and Kasian perfectly.
The Sword Duke had countless bastards. The Red Tower had plenty of young geniuses fit to be heirs. Zikfried and Kasian, who had taken their noble blood and status for granted, now harbored venomous killing intent toward the third-rate noble who had plunged them into the abyss.
"What about Linde?"
"She kept trying to talk, but... silence was all we got."
A young man with navy-blue hair appeared. Sturts von Baldemar. The strategist handling schemes and tactics.
The androgynous beauty in a monocle shook his head, reporting Zigrinde's condition.
Unlike Zikfried and Kasian, facing life-or-death crises, Sturts had only received light confinement. So he could deploy the Baldemar family's Special Forces to track Kailun von Valtenstein, who had defected to the Colonial Empire.
"According to Colonial Empire nobles we've bought off in the Special Forces... after passing through Mortrak, Kailun was sent to the Empire's northernmost reaches. A hellhole swarming with barbarians and monsters."
"That damn mongrel...! Scheming to cut off pursuit in the boonies?"
"Leonora Elua Edelgard—the one who recruited Kailun. She's a War Council judge representing the Colonial Empire and a great noble overseeing the tundra. In our Holy Empire terms... comparable to the Sword Duke or a Tower Master."
"What tricks could a mongrel like him have?! It's just luck from repeated flukes letting him rack up wins!!"
If he were just a Colonial Empire's worthless noble hanger-on, they'd have snapped his neck in an instant. But Kailun had been recruited by a great noble of the Colonial Empire. The situation was getting complicated.
Zikfried slammed the table and bellowed. He'd busied himself belittling and scorning Kailun—a third-rate noble of mongrel birth—while stealing all his achievements.
"Deploy the Baldemar Special Forces to eliminate Kailun and recover the artifacts: the hardline option. Or offer the Kreuz family and Red Tower's treasures to demand Kailun and the artifacts from the Colonial Empire: the moderate option. Which will it be?"
What a foolish question. There was really only one choice.
Retrieve the White Night Sword and Black Star Sword. And bring the head of Kailun von Valtenstein.
Fail to atone for your blunders, and you'll be stripped of heir status.
The Holy Empire's nobles, led by the Kreuz family and Red Tower, were all in a frenzy. Zigrinde and the princes at the scandal's center faced interrogation by the Holy Tribunal, while Kailun's father, Count Valtenstein, and his brothers were sentenced to death alongside him.