A few minutes had passed until both of us landed. The strange windy breezes that were much more intense than usual complicated our flight, and I had to spend extra mana to balance myself mid-air. At long last, we entered the sentry room located on the very top of the tower. I could see the light bounced off its floor-to-ceiling glass panels as we landed on a small balcony connected to the observatory.

The mana I burned during flight was substantial and almost exhausted my mana pool. As soon as our feet touched the floor, my whole weight crashed under my legs, prompting me to tightly grip the nearby iron railings for support. 

Wasting no time, Sistia pushed open the glass door separating the balcony and the sentry room. I quickly followed suit.

Perhaps the wide glass panels played a part, the room was well-lit inside. Observatory equipment was laid neatly in their place, an oak-wood table placed in the middle, flanked by chairs of the same material. Its design was certainly well thought over, with a focus on general tidiness.

In contrast, the soldiers manning this station were anything else but orderly. They ran around, scribing and measuring, all in a frantic and desperate manner. Shouts were passed around, very frequently did they have swear words mixed in.

Seeing us arrive, the guards inside immediately reacted. They dropped all they were doing and stood in an upright posture, their palms facing outwards. 

“All hail Her Majesty Anastasia!”

The room was filled with vigorous voices.

Customs dictated that soldiers in 《 Altria 》must always salute their superior. At first I found it a bit embarrassing, but by now I had, for the most part, got used to the scene of people showing this gesture.

The men saluting, in contrast with the wyvern riders who were of warrior class, mostly came from elf and human families with an academic background. They were well-trained in the art of astronomy, astrology, and cosmology. Even the most academically inclined students from the Royal University struggled to get a low-ranking job within the royal palace, so to qualify as a person in this room, the men here were, without a doubt, the cream of the crop. Most of them still looked very young, though. A few I was certain, based on their features could not have exceeded twenty years of age. 

The wyvern riders were also fond of their battle gears, iron helmet, metal tunic and the likes, while men working here wore more inconspicuous clothes, white button-down shirt being the more popular choice. It did give them a well-learned vibe, compared to the burly wyvern riders in their oversized metal parts.

“You may rest.”

I lightly waved my hand.

“Thank you, Anastasia-sama.”

The man dropped their salute, but the atmosphere remained tense.

One of the men stepped forward. His eyes under the thick white-rimmed glasses were filled with nervousness. He had the long pointy ears that were indicative of his elvish blood, half-hidden by his curls of blond hair.

His name …. I did not remember it very clearly. I knew the leader of this Treis watchtower was an elf from a lower noble family in the Capital. If that was indeed the case then...

“Megrez Wysara?”

The blond elf before me lowered his head.

“Anastasia-sama, your lowly servant is here.”

Breathing an imaginary sigh of relief, I went on and asked.

“What was happening? Why are you all in such a state of panic?”

Perhaps recalling their chaotic shenanigans from before, Megrez’s face went red.

“I’m sorry for our shameful display, Anastasia-sama. As the leader of this great Treis watchtower, I ought to shoulder responsibility for my poor management. However, pardon our incompetence, Anastasia-sama, the situation we are dealing with truly exceeded our capability.”

Hearing his words, I turned to Sistia on my side, and was met with a light nod.

“When he reported to me this morning, I thought he was going insane,” she paused, “I planned to go up here and throw him down to knock some sense into his mud head, but believe it or not, what he showed me was real, Anastasia-sama. You need to take a look for yourself.”

Sisitia then pointed at Megrez.

“Hey, mud head, present to Her Majesty what you found.”

Poor Megrez was not in any means pleased with that new name of his, but after a frigid stare from Sistia, he coughed and signaled his men to make a passage for me. There, near one of the window panels, they quickly set up a telescope-like device with a large magnifying glass on the other end. Here they called it a “looking-lens”.

“Please, Anastasia-sama.”

I nodded to Megrez, who had done pointing the scope outward. Bringing my eyes near the lens, I could see the light magic working its way, as the image reflected in the lens violently adjusted itself, from blurry to sharp and then back to being blurry again. After a small pause, an image of stable quality was transmitted back. It was mostly a vivid shade of blue on a white background, but the white-crested waves and block of foams following their crash made it hard to not notice.

“Is this … the sea?”

I could hear my heart pounding.

Impossible.

No, this could not be real. 

《 Altria 》was a landlocked nation. The closest ocean to her was in the direction of the royal palace, and even then it was a formidable distance. There should only be landmass and neighboring kingdoms when looked in this way. I myself, despite being royalty, had never got to the sea in this world, let alone the common people of 《 Altria 》.

Yet, the image I saw was clearly a snapshot of mother ocean, folding her little waves very gently under the clear morning sky, while deep down in my heart, a stormy night started to descend.

“Megrez Wysara, could it be that this device is damaged? It must be, right? You know there is no ocean this near to《 Altria 》.”

I clung to a faint hope.

“‘I’m very sorry, Mistress Anastasia. We desperately hoped that to be the case, but all of the looking-lens returned the same result. We searched wide and far, and our neighboring kingdoms were no more, only 《 Altria 》and ocean in all of her four corners.”

Megrez continued speaking, his voice ragged and hoarse.

“Anastasia-sama, we believe, by a force we yet to know about, our whole kingdom has been relocated.”

My mind went blank.

Megrez’s words did not make sense to me. It went in one ear and out the other.

As I just stood there in shock, a loud rumble sound echoed above us.