The North Now (1)
The North Now (1)
The North had a peculiar environment.
It was the only place in this world where beings called demonic beasts spawned naturally. And the demonic beasts that poured out of the gates scattered across the North every day were entities that could justifiably be called a cataclysm. But the North did not consider them a cataclysm.
Because the magic crystals that dropped when you killed demonic beasts—ores that served as catalysts for storing magic—were sold to various nations like the Magic Kingdom, creating a kind of monopoly market. The northern warriors simply treated those demonic beasts, which spat out irreplaceable ore every single day, as a sort of walking gold.
After all, in harsh environments, only the strong survive, and only those who survive look toward what comes after. In the North, which had thus become a land of warriors, demonic beasts were merely a type of animal—just slightly more valuable ones. However, those beasts were not weak. It was simply that those who hunted them were stronger. And such an environment had persisted for a very long time.
As a result, the North had come to harbor countless powerful beings who touched upon the truth. Moreover, due to the influence of that unique environment, many existences who had firmly established their own personal worlds had emerged. Because the region was split into three kingdoms without a single unified great nation, and because they regularly suffered civil wars, those who survived had already become beings who operated on a completely different level from the people of other nations.
That was why even Canaria could not simply head north on a whim. The harsh environment, the people who had overcome it, the three fractured nations, and the swarming demonic beasts. Though, to be fair, it did allow Canaria to postpone the subjugation of the North. After all, in that harsh land, rather than combining their strength into one, they split into three factions and spent their time thrusting blades at one another.
Furthermore, in its long history, the North had never once broken its silence. They merely filled their hungry bellies by exporting magic stones, never using that formidable power they possessed for conquest. The reason was simple: no one had ever touched the North, so they had no grudges.
The land was barren, and monsters swarmed across it. And they were strong to boot. There was even a rumor that if there were a hundred Sword Masters in the world, seven-tenths of them were northerners, and one-tenth had learned the sword in the North—so well-known was the northerners' strength.
So other nations had no reason to go out of their way to conquer the North. Of course, it was not as though it had never happened. The Magic Kingdom had once attempted conquest because they disliked the monopoly trade on magic crystals... but what returned to them was the severed heads of countless mages. As the price for that, the trading price of magic crystals went up for a long time specifically for the Magic Kingdom, so they did not touch them.
And the North, for its part, simply had no room for conquest. An excessively barren environment, demonic beasts teeming everywhere, never-ending civil war... at any rate, to conquer another nation, it would be right to unify the North first before making the attempt.
"...So there's no reason to subjugate them, is there?"
Rosaria had no desire to poke a hornets' nest. So she was of a mind to dissuade Canaria.
"...Subjugation is just a name. It was named with the worst-case scenario in mind."
And Canaria had the exact same thought. The North was a hornets' nest. A hornets' nest filled with the honey called magic crystals—that was the North. But from the Holy Kingdom's perspective, magic crystals were not honey, so it was no different from just a hornets' nest. So she hoped to end things with a peace alliance and did not wish to proceed all the way to subjugation. Still, well, they might not know, so they had merely named it subjugation. The direction they aimed for was merely to place shackles on them and leave it at that.
"And the North has started to change a little."
They say a butterfly's wingbeat can cause a typhoon—the well-known saying that a small change can spark a great transformation. And whatever wind had blown, the North had begun to change little by little from the moment Canaria touched the world's memories.
The balance of the civil war, which had taken the form of a three-way battle, had shattered.
"...Well, it's not as if I can't guess."
She did not particularly want to explain it.
It was not the sort of reason worth telling someone.
But since stopping mid-sentence only made someone more curious...
"...What is the reason?"
Rosaria could not hold back and asked.
"...Because the Imperial Princess is an oddity."
Canaria evaded answering.
But Rosaria kept asking.
...And in the end, Canaria told her the absurd cause.
"...I heard she's making an effort because she wants to win love."
*
There were three royal houses in the North.
The house of the white snow, Snow White.
The house of red blood, Crimson Bloodia.
The house of the rusted sword, Rust Blade.
However, only Snow White among them used their full name; the other two houses simply went by Crimson and Rust.
And those three houses had continued their war for a very long time.
A fight so old that by now, they could no longer even remember the reason for it.
It was a war that did not stop even when the houses became nations, a war of the three houses that would be both the beginning and the end of the North.
And then, a being who would break that long-standing balance was born into the Snow White house.
That being was the current Imperial Princess.
Karen Snow White.
She was a being praised from the moment she was born.
The greatest talent in all of the North's history.
The sword of snow flowers, bloomed to end the long war.
A peerless prodigy born with the talent of a demon.
Another star's hero born in the land of warriors, and so on...
Countless epithets extolled her talent and strength.
And Karen proved it.
She was the one who, purely through innate talent, shattered the record for youngest Sword Master set by Zeke the Hero. She became a Sword Master in just two years after picking up the sword—half as a hobby, to learn it for self-defense. Then, before even reaching adulthood, she placed her own name among the standard of the world's Ten Great Powers.
But they say there is no perfect person in the world...
Even for a genius beyond compare, a weakness existed.
Just as she was called a peerless prodigy, her weakness was an unbearably lazy nature. She was never serious about anything, constantly muttered that she was bored every single day, and chose sleep over effort—that was the human portrait of Karen Snow White.
Yet even with such a nature, she shook the North and became a powerhouse counted within the ten fingers... so there was no one who could fix her. There was no one in the Snow White house stronger than her at the time, after all. That was also why Karen could become the Imperial Princess of the North.
But even Karen had moments when she put in effort.
In her own words: the conquest of love.
If her ideal type was stronger than her, she would put in effort.
Because being weaker than her ideal type wounded her pride.
...But tragically, once she became stronger than her ideal type, that ideal type ceased to be her ideal type. And along with that, Karen would also lose her purpose and simply revert to being the peerless Imperial Princess.
And so, somehow, the balance of power in the North was maintained. The lazy Karen did not particularly wage war aggressively, nor did she train much, so she never became an absolute powerhouse to the point where her talent felt wasted. In the end, Karen had lived her life being called the Sleeping Dragon rather than the Star of the North, treated as a dragon who simply slept.
However, one turning point arose that changed Karen.
From the world's common sense, which had flipped entirely starting one day, to the spine-chilling instinctive sensation she had felt even before that... Karen began to feel an incomparable interest in the existence that had planted within her an emotion she was experiencing for the first time in her life.
After all, it was an existence that toyed with the world's memories just because it wanted to. And moreover, because she had felt 'fear' toward that existence for the first time... was it not safe to regard it as a powerhouse of a completely different standard from the norm?
Thanks to that, a fire was lit in her heart for the first time in a long while.
So Karen put in effort to uncover that existence.
Pinpointing the change was not difficult. The North had more variables than any other continent, after all. Compared to other nations, relatively fewer large-scale alterations had occurred.
Moreover, since there was no one among them who had not read the scriptures... Karen found out that the figure who had brought about that change was the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom.
At the same time, she exerted effort in all directions to gain an opportunity to see the Saintess from afar, and at last, Karen was able to gaze upon her from a great distance when she participated in the Holy War.
At first, she saw her performing miracles in the cursed land. The sight of a girl with white hair and silver eyes wielding divine authority as she healed the dying warriors of the crusade. Karen's heart was stolen by that benevolent light and, even more, by that beautiful form.
...After all, she was a person who liked anyone, regardless of gender, as long as they were strong.
But it did not stop there. There was one more moment that completely stole Karen's heart... and that was when she saw Canaria become the Demon King and slaughter everyone on the battlefield.
She watched that form with her blue eyes sparkling. The figure of the Demon King dealing death to everything her hands touched. The blooming black wings and the scattering authority of decay. And that face, beautiful beyond compare.
From that day on, Karen tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
Then, gazing at that ideal type that had appeared for the first time in ages, she made a vow.
She would absolutely become stronger than that existence... and so, to reach that being who was beyond her, Karen put in effort without distinguishing night from day for the first time in her life. The moment she realized the need for practical experience, she headed to the northern battlefields. Karen unleashed her martial arts, recalling the attacks of that Demon King who had ground everything in sight to dust and dealt death.
Karen cut down everything, from monsters to enemies. The Sleeping Dragon of the North had finally awakened from her long slumber, and at the same time, the balance of the three-way battle that had continued for ages began to collapse in an instant.
The North had changed for a rather preposterous reason.
But it was not a change that could be overlooked.