In a small room lay Black and Alice in her Autonomous Seat. The room was rather small and seemed to have no point for its existence except for the large rectangular sheet of mirror that was attached in front of the wall. 

Next to the couch where Black took up three people’s space by herself was a tray of snacks and various other delicacies which Black was currently sampling. There was also a tray next to Alice as well, but she had not even glanced upon the tray of snacks as her whole attention was focused on the rectangular mirror.

The rectangular mirror that took up almost all the wall’s space was not reflecting the room that it was placed in but rather a brightly lit room with a total of nine people sitting on a large rectangular table, three one side and six on the other. This was precisely the meeting room where the Farmosa Kingdom envoy and decision makers of Alestra were discussing talks of cooperation against the demons.

“It only took seven years for the demons to threaten a large kingdom. Truthfully I expected it to take a shorter amount of time, after all the people here do not have a systemic use of mana. Even those so-called martial schools are simple body strengthening using mana and unleashing sword slashes via mana.” Black said.

“What are the chances of the Farmosa Kingdom surviving without Alestra’s aid?” Alice finally asked, her eyes never leaving the scene of the negotiation. 

“Don’t you already know?” Black countered.

Alice stayed silent. Indeed back when she was locked up in the tower, she had already noticed the abrupt changes of the land. The beasts abruptly underwent abnormal changes, becoming larger and even fiercer. Not only that the power in the air, mana, began to be absorbed through them. Although Alice only observed this fact when the beasts began to siege her tower, she couldn’t see mana with her eyes but she was extremely sensitive to it, like an extremely fine tuned sense of touch. 

She saw how the Farmosa Kingdom’s army was defeated by the demons, and even the victories were paved with the blood of Farmosa army. Even if the Farmosa Kingdom could overcome all the demons, Alice estimated that casualties would at least be fifty percent and that was a generous estimate. There was also a high chance that the army failed and the kingdom would be wiped out as the demon horde was endless. 

And that was nearly two years ago when she exited Alestra to observe the test of the first Overknight in action.

“The Farmosa Kingdom stands no chance, especially alone.” There was a complicated tone in her voice, that Alice herself did not realize.

“Do you want the Farmosa Kingdom to survive?” Black asked nonchalantly like the lives of tens of thousands of people of the Farmosa Kingdom were inconsequential. 

“I don’t know.” Alice said. “I can feel a sense of exhilaration seeing my brother here, begging for aid. If the Farmosa Kingdom falls, then the Farmosa Royal Family will fall and lose their royal privilege.”

“If the Farmosa Royal Family falls, what next? Would you perhaps lend aid to the remnants if you could?” Black asked.

“I do not. As long as the Farmosa Royal Family falls and the Farmosa Kingdom no longer exists, perhaps I might.” Alice said.

“Then what is a kingdom? What is a nation?” Black asked, a playful smile on her face.

“Kingdom, nation?” Alice repeated. “A gathering of people of similar origin led by a king?”

Black raised an eyebrow. “Then what if the Farmosa Kingdom moved to a completely different land, is it still the Farmosa Kingdom?”

“No...the people won’t think so…” Alice said uncertainty. 

“But the nobles and the royal family will still have power if they choose to flee the demon invasion, they will naturally try to rebuild their noble societal system and the Farmosa Kingdom.” Black said.

“The royal family’s power will be greatly diminished, whether the other noble families will allow them to retain their royal status is uncertain. If another family becomes the royal family then it will no longer be the Farmosa Kingdom.” Alice said.

“You sound like you don’t want the royal family to have a good end.” Black said.

Alice stilted. Her brows furrowed as her eyes left the scene of the negotiation. Alice closed her eyes as she retreated deep into her own thoughts. 

Black didn’t mind as she continued to eat on the snacks. Today she particularly enjoyed the figs wrapped in prosciutto.

The raw pork was thinly sliced so that it was translucent and Black could make out the design of the plate under the prosciutto. The meat itself had a smooth and buttery texture that almost melted in her mouth, especially the fat. The acidic balsamic vinegar contrasted nicely against the smoked and salty prosciutto and the texture of the figs combined with the sweetness was perfect.

If it was only a pity that there was nothing crunchy to offset all the soft components. There should be some tortilla chips or crackers next time.

Alice finally spoke once more after deliberating her thoughts. “In my heart I probably hate the Farmosa Royal Family. They sent me away to be locked in a tower that wasn’t even a gilded cage for the majority of my life.”

“It was done all because of an old fairy tale of a devil with black hair and black eyes with strange powers. I cannot remember my time in the capital, perhaps I was immediately sent away once I was born. I lived days that were worse than death, almost starving to death several times. My body will be forever damaged because of my early years and my legs will never be able to walk again.”

“To say that I hate Farmosa Royal Family is too weak a word and cannot encompass all my feelings towards them. I abhor the King and Queen of the Farmosa Kingdom for heartlessly casting me aside and hiding my existence like a smudge on their clean white slate. I loathe my siblings to be able to bask in the attention and love of the King and Queen of the Farmosa Kingdom and living healthily. I detest the nobles for using my existence to attack the Formosa Royal Kingdom as if my birth was a mistake and a great sin. If I can, I would happily watch all of them die.”

At the end of all those words, Alice was a bit short on breath after her outburst and her chest heaved as she greedily sucked in air.

“But aside from your eldest brother, none of your other siblings should be aware of your existence. Your elder sister  and second elder brother should be too young to know of your birth and your father should have told your older brother of your existence as something he needs to be informed about when he takes over the kingdom.” Black said. “Are you going to hate your innocent siblings who had no say in your banishment simply because they live a better life?”

Alice looked at Black. “Yes, I loathe because while they were fed with a silver spoon I suffered for years before I even met my first friend. They had servants to cater to their every need while I starved. Should I not hate them because they do not know of my existence?” Alice calmly said, none of her previous emotional state apparent. “Lady Adam, haven’t you said that we living beings are hypocrites only thinking from our own point of view in order to justify our actions and selfishness? So I will be a hypocrite and hate my innocent siblings because they lived better than me and my detestable parents who abandoned me without care. Not once have they sent concern and love to me. I must hate them, otherwise where would all my hatred be directed to?”

“But they are your family, can you simply decide to cut the connection because you want to?” Black shrugged as she asked, popping a juicy grape into her mouth.

“Blood isn’t the only connection that makes family. If I continued to live such a life back in the prison tower I would have rather not been born. It’d even be better to have been killed should I lived my whole life in that tower. The moment they chose to sacrifice me, that man and woman were no longer my parents.” Alice said. “Should I be forced to return to that tower, I would sooner end my life. I have tasted freedom, I would rather die than lose it.”

“I see.” Black said. “In this world weakness is a sin, and strength is right. If you want to lower your chance of returning to that tower you should grow stronger.”

Alice gave Black a confused look.

“I’m powerful in this world. But I cannot guarantee that I am the strongest, there is always someone stronger even if they are not of this world. Should you be weak, your freedom is in the mercy and whims of those stronger than you. Even the citizens of Alestra, no the Elysius Theocracy are not completely. They give up certain freedoms in order to gain safety. To them it is a fair price to pay to live in peace.”

Black lazily twirled a wafer roll with a sweet filling inside, before eating it. “But we’re getting off track. The main point is that the Farmosa Kingdom will not survive without the aid of Alestra. Do you want Alestra to aid the Farmosa Kingdom?”

Alice blinked at Black’s question. “I do not have the capabilities to influence a decision on the national level.”

“But I do.” Black sat upright on the sofa as she looked straight at Alice. “And I will take your considerations into account. If you want to watch the Farmosa Kingdom fall I can order it to be done. If you want the Farmosa Kingdom to survive, that too is within my power.”

Alice was silent. She had always known that Black was powerful and influential, but to the point where she could decide the fate of a nation taking into the account of a person without any influence like her.

Did she want the Farmosa Kingdom to fall? No, her hatred and grudge didn’t exist because of the Farmosa Kingdom itself. What she hated the most was the heartlessness of the King and Queen. In order to secure their influence, they heartlessly exiled her to a life of misery without even attempting to fight for her future.

And now in her hands were the power to decide the future of the royal family.

Alice stayed silent until the end of the meeting where the envoy of the Farmosa Kingdom and her elder brother left to recuperate for the rest day.

“You can think about it. You can even give some conditions that will make the royal family lose a great amount of power so they can only cling onto a husk of their former power. Make it so they will live the rest of their life in torment trying to preserve what little power they have lft. It’s all up to you. It’s not like the negotiation will conclude in one or two days. You can even take a month to decide.” Black carelessly said.

For the next few days Alice didn’t return to that room to spy on the meeting and instead she roamed the streets. Although a few of them stared at her Autonomous Seat for a while, most of them simply shrugged it off as they got used to the chair or they were no longer surprised by the many new inventions that came out with the existence of magic gems.

Alice observed the life of the citizen unlike when she first came into Alestra, locking herself away in Black’s estate afraid of the outside world. It was ironic, she was locked in the tower but once she was free she locked herself in a gilded cage of her own violation refusing to leave the mansion.

Alice laughed at her cowardice. 

She continued to roam the streets while a knight in civilian attire with a sheathed sword at his waist followed her. She made her way to the market square where she could see the citizens bargain for the best price for various products.

It was unlike the villages and cities of the Farmosa Kingdom. The majority of the people of the Farmosa Kingdom were serfs and all they did was till the land and tended to their crops living in the moment day after day. The free citizens such as the artisans were not much better, only thinking about how to make money and go through life. They seemed to have little pleasure in their lives and all they knew was to live for the sake of living.

If Alice were to compare the two, the difference would be the spirit of life in their eyes. The citizens of Alestra looked forward to the next day, the next week, the next month, the next year, the future. While the people of the Farmosa Kingdom were at their happiest when they managed to survive at the end of the day.

But even back then, even the serfs of the Farmosa Kingdom had more life in their eyes than hers when she was locked in the tower. Alice remembered when she was young, she would greedily watch the serfs as they lived together and relied on each other to support them every possible moment. Those scenes were like a tiny hearth that warmed her heart and gave her hope to live on in her colorless tower.

Alice would fantasize every night about the possibility of escaping the tower and becoming a simple villager. She would help her family tend the fields and toil away hours at an end before she would be married to the neighbor’s son. Then she would laboriously birth a child before being forced to toil away once more and raising her children, all eight of them.

It would be a grueling work that she might not even be able to do with her fragile body and chained legs. But at least she would have the warmth of another person, even if that person would mistreat or abuse her. At the very least she wouldn’t be alone. 

And now she was lively constantly in the company of various people even if she only spoke to a sparse few like Black and Myrddin. 

Alice found herself craving some ice cream so bought some from a vendor at five silvers. Five silvers was still quite an expensive price for ice cream, but with the stipend given by Black, Alice was able to occasionally indulge herself.

Five silvers, that would be the amount of money that the average free people of Farmosa would never be able to accumulate unless they saved for years. 

Alice eyed the art like pieces of copper, silver and gold coins in her pouch. All of them were individually minted with uniformity that it was hard to believe that they could be produced in large quantities. But they were and the citizens of Alestra used them like common coins of the Farmosa Kingdom, hardly giving a thought to the sheer complexity and work involved in creating a single Elysium coin.

If a person in the Farmosa Kingdom were to discover a single gold coin, it could become a family heirloom. Or perhaps sold for a hundred times in its weight in gold.

In the Farmosa Kingdom the currency was minted coins of copper, silver and gold. They didn’t have the fancy sculpted seven star symbol on one side or the six winged, six horned dragon on the other. They were just balls of metal hammered into the shape of coins.

Alice ate her ice cream at a leisurely pace, although it would eventually melt if she did not eat fast enough. Drinking the cream was a delight in it of itself. 

She was much happier than the people of the Farmosa Kingdom, right?

Alice continued to roam the streets for several days until she finally decided to meet Black once more. “Lady Adam.”

Black had a pair of golden frames on her eyes as she was sitting in her office going through some papers. “Have you decided?” Black asked as she took off her glasses to wipe off the smudge on them.

“This may be impetuous for me, but would I be able to visit the Farmosa Kingdom before I make my decision?” Alice asked.

“Well, it won’t be that hard. We can still show up at Farmosa City to have an audience with their King. It would just show we are interested, nothing permanent. We could still back off when we want to.” Black said.

Alice frowned. “But if you decided to back out, would the rage of the king let Alestra off us lightly?”

Black chuckled. “So what if he is wrathful, what can he do? He fears what he cannot control and thus cannot harness the power of magic. I can easily wipe out the capital off the map even without my staff. But why do you want to see the Farmosa Kingdom first. Is it to see what the person the king is or is to look at the people of the Farmosa Kingdom?”

“Although they are not related to you. But deep in your heart you must subconsciously acknowledge that you hold control over the lives of the people of Farmosa Kingdom that you have observed all your life. They are now in your hands.” Black said.

“I do not know. Perhaps I can make a decision after I see the king or perhaps how the people are. I said before I was afraid of death when we met all those years ago. That means I am a selfish person, maybe I will sacrifice all those lives just to see the king in despair.” Alice said, her chest full of complicated emotions.

“Alright then. I’m also quite interested in the kingdom. I wonder what their reactions will be once they see our envoy full of various races of mortals?” Black allowed an excited expression on her face. “Would they unsheath their swords and treat us with hostility and even attempt to lock us up or harm us?”

Alice was speechless. “What good would it do, you said you could wipe Farmosa City off of the map didn’t you?”

“Of course it makes the difference. If they give me a just cause I can righteously attack in defense. And then watch the king’s face twist in regret and fear for ever daring to even harbor evil intent to me.”

Alice found herself speechless at Black’s words full of expectation.

-line break-

Rickerd duc Farmosa’s world view has changed numerous times since he had arrived at Alestra.

He had seen the people openly use the devil’s power, in fact it was frightful how commonly it was used. Even the common people could use it, although not to the extent of the Black Devil from the fairy tails that was told throughout the Farmosa Kingdom. 

He heard of legends of their ruler, the Holy Sovereign. The Black God, the existence that the Black Pillar Faith worships who was also the ruler of the Elysius Theocracy since the founding with a history of more than twenty thousand years.

It was absurd and Rickerd was sure he didn’t fully believe in such words as that history dwarfed the Farmosa Kingdom’s history of a scant few hundred years. What Rickerd placed even more emphasis were the Four Cardinals and the Senate of the Elysius Theocracy.

They were elected from the officials with enough clout and political power and not from their family lines. It was a ridiculous process that did not account for one’s pedigree. It was absurd to think about a person in power who did not come from a noble line with the appropriate education.

But Rickerd was further flabbergasted when he heard that education was mandatory to all citizens of the Elysius Theocracy, and should they wish to pursue higher education it was also possible. 

Rickerd didn’t suspect it was a lie, because he had seen the educational institute at Alestra as well, knowledge that was only available to nobles was taught freely to even non humans. And some subjects even he as a prince had never been taught.

Rickerd felt a sense of fear to the unknown that he had never experienced before, even greater than his fright when he first heard the tales of the Black Devil.

And now his world view had changed once more. Rickerd had ridden ships before, as the Farmosa Kingdom was an inland nation, most of the ships were built smaller than seafaring ships that the smaller nations such as the Okea Duchy had. But Rickerd still knew of the general shape and design.

But what was before him, destroyed all that knowledge. Because in front of him were five ships that soared in the sky, designed far differently than water trapped ships. The basic shape still bore a resemblance but there were no sails and all of them were connected to strange crates that were larger than the ship themselves. 

Rickerd, two officials, and a squad of knights boarded the grandest airship while the other members of the envoy boarded another airship. When Rickerd bored the Vimana he was shocked at the sheer opulence of the vessel, it wasn’t gaudy filled with gold but each component was shocking to his heart.

The vessel seemed to be made of wood that was smooth to the touch and resembled dark brown marble than wood. The luxurious rug in the hallways was extremely soft to the point that it felt like walking on air. Even his room, although simple at a glance, brought comfort that he had never experienced before in his life.

Rickerd didn’t feel elation at this but rather cold sweat. “Would a nation capable of producing such exceptional wonders be willing to aid the Farmosa Kingdom. If it was Rickerd himself, he would likely just invade the Farmosa Kingdom and replace their rule. 

“Luckily I already sent messengers back to the capital of all that I discovered. The only worries are the demon that might kill the messengers, Alestra does not seem too interested in the content of the messages.” Rickerd gave a small depreciating smile. “Of course, if my nation was this powerful would I worry about a weak nation?”

The only worry of Rickerd was if the latest message would be able to arrive at the capital before the ship arrived. But this was out of Rickerd’s control, so he just enjoyed the luxurious treatment afforded to him. After all he was used to being treated with luxury as a leisurely prince.

It took far shorter than Rickerd expected to arrive at the capital of the Farmosa Kingdom. Rickerd showed a complicated expression as he watched the city that seemed so small high up from the sky and stone walls that protected the edge of the city. 

“So we’ve finally arrived.” 

Rickerd turned his sight towards the black haired beauty that was also looking off the side of the ship. Although Rickerd only had passing greetings, from what he observed of how Knight Captain Richard Lionel and Sage Phoebe addressed the adolescent woman next to him, he was sure she had a strong background and perhaps even more power.

The other black haired beauty was seated upon a flying chair that baffled Rickerd. He had seen her multiple times, but he would always be greeted by emotionless eyes. But as a prince, Rickerd had long ago learned the skill to detect hidden emotions and he felt the black beauty’s, known as Alice, dislike of him behind the hidden icy gaze of hers.

But this time she wasn’t giving him her icy look but rather had her full attention at the capital of the Farmosa Kingdom, her eyes giving away a faraway look that seemed to be gazing at something else.

“I’ve finally come to Farmosa…”

It was a whisper so low that Rickerd almost missed it.