Chapter 187

Era of Change
Draconia led the army in triumphal return to the royal capital. The citizens stopped their tasks and burst into cheers.

Draconia, who had known nothing but victory in every battle. Defeat had no place in his life. Today, once again, he returned from liberating yet another area overrun by monsters.

The people celebrated this. Humanity’s living space had expanded, and the threat of monsters had been reduced.

Still, the soldiers marching behind Draconia wore expressions like the dead. They had been invading monster territory day after day, fighting for their lives against fearsome creatures. The military was severely worn out. And yet, even in their exhaustion, their expressions were ones of satisfaction. Like old men content with life as they approached death. Either way, they looked like corpses.

Draconia had returned to the royal capital for one reason: to rotate the troops. To maintain high mobility, only about a thousand soldiers moved at a time. The reserve forces were either undergoing training and helping with the construction of barracks in the capital, or they were passed out like the dead in their lodgings, resting both body and mind.

"All units dismissed!"

Upon entering the royal castle amidst cheers, Draconia’s adjutant announced the dismissal. At that moment, most of the soldiers collapsed where they stood. Those who remained upright were Draconia’s royal guard, the kingdom’s elite beastkin unit, and the Magic Corps.

“Behold, my biceps! Don’t you think they’ve gotten a bit thicker and more impressive?”

“Wonderful. But my abs are nothing to sneeze at either!”

With HAHAHA laughter and striking poses, the members of the Magic Corps earned looks of horror from the fallen soldiers and knights—like they were witnessing monsters.

The Magic Corps had lost their minds. They had become possessed by muscles.

Originally, their role had been to launch spells from the rear or defend the frontlines with protective magic. But now, they had started doing that on the very frontlines. They fought shoulder to shoulder with knights, using staves remodeled into maces to crush monsters, all while casting support magic. They had transformed into versatile soldiers.

While the knights, soldiers, part of the beastkin unit, and the royal guard were rotated out, the Magic Corps would head straight to the next battlefield. All for the sake of becoming stronger. You people don’t even deserve to call yourselves magicians anymore!

The next deployment was scheduled for tomorrow. Still energetic, Draconia checked in on Sylvia, then jumped on the napping Alicetia and got thoroughly beaten up. After receiving a triple combo and being kicked up to the second floor, he headed out into the royal capital.

Draconia never drank alcohol on the battlefield. So, naturally, he was starting to crave some. He ended up at an ordinary tavern—his recent favorite.

“Well, if it isn’t His Majesty!”

“Why the hell are you drinking like a regular here?”

As he drank for a while, citizens started noticing Draconia and talking to him.

“Sylvia got mad at me for being too clingy… and I never drink on the battlefield.”

“Let me guess—you hugged Her Majesty again, didn’t you? She’s pregnant, you know. You gotta hold her gently. I got clobbered by my wife for the same thing. Besides, the castle’s got better booze, doesn’t it?”

The drunkards roared with laughter.

“Sure, the castle has better stuff, but this kind suits me more.”

Draconia was, after all, born a noble. Though the federation he hailed from had been destroyed by royal betrayal, he came from a lineage of something like a warrior nobility, and had never lived a noble’s life until he married Sylvia.

Draconia’s family home was gone. All of his relatives had been killed by the Empire. He alone had fought and survived to the end. Because of that, his homeland remained a scorched wasteland to this day. The story of his entire domain turning into a suicide unit to fight the Imperial Army was a well-known tale.

Afterward, Draconia made a name for himself as an adventurer—not exactly the life of a noble. He did enjoy good liquor, but he was just as used to drinking what commoners drank, and he loved it. Moreover, as king, the voices of the people didn’t always reach him. So he made a point of regularly visiting the royal capital directly to grasp the kingdom’s current state.

“Still, business seems to be booming.”

Draconia looked around the tavern and muttered.

“We owe it all to the princess… There’s too much work, sure, but at least we can drink our fill.”

“And you blew your whole paycheck on booze and got thrown out by your wife, didn’t you?”

The drunkards cheerfully agreed. Thanks to Alicetia pouring massive funds into the market, both the wealthy and the middle class had grown, and the number of poor was rapidly declining. Poverty hadn’t been eliminated entirely, but even those classified as poor were seeing rising incomes, to the point it was unclear if they should even be called “poor” anymore.

Magic tools flooded the market, and even the storage bags that merchants initially hoarded began to circulate among the common people.

Asphalt was laid on the roads, preventing them from turning into mud even when it rained. Recently, craftsmen who built carriages were gathered to create ones equipped with suspensions and rubber tires. It was a temporary measure until magic vehicles became widespread, but those who rode the carriages were overjoyed to the point of tears.

There was, however, one major problem—or rather, a question that many people were starting to ask. With so many magic tools in circulation, would the supply of mana really be okay? Naturally, that question ended up being directed at Draconia, who was right in front of them.

“Hey, Your Majesty. I appreciate that magic tools are getting cheaper, but what about mana?”

“Huh?”

Draconia looked over, slightly drunk, with a questioning look as if to ask what nonsense was being brought up.

“You know, magic tools need mana, right? There's talk that everyone’s going to run out. We don’t have that many magic users in this country either.”

Once he understood the question, Draconia took a few seconds to think.

The matter of the magic furnace was still a state secret. But it wasn’t something that could be hidden forever. Anyone would wonder where all this mana was coming from.

The kingdom had already decided that it was time to make an announcement. If the truth would eventually come out, they might as well present it as a point of pride.

However, this would undoubtedly deepen the conflict with the central nations. The magic furnace was the very definition of a magical item that many nations dreamed of. Once it was revealed that Arland could mass-produce them, the central nations would surely throw a fit.

Draconia didn’t mind. The kingdom had reached the same conclusion. They had already broken ties. It was the Central Alliance that had driven people who once lived there to seek refuge in Arland. There was no need to consider their feelings now.

“Well, you see... my daughter went and built a magic furnace. And she’s mass-producing them. The mana for the new royal capital is being covered by those.”

In reality, mana was overflowing, with seven large-scale furnaces installed for the city.

The drunkard who had asked the question, and the other citizens who had been eavesdropping, were momentarily dumbfounded by Draconia’s statement.

“Well, it’s the Princess, after all.”

That single muttered comment from someone in the crowd summed everything up.

Airships, resurrection magic, and now the magic furnace. People simply accepted it as another one of Alicetia’s many achievements. Any one of them would be enough to secure a place in history, yet Alicetia kept producing them one after another. The fact that Arland could accept such a bizarre person so readily spoke volumes about the country’s tolerance—though it might be more accurate to say they had a hole in that tolerance.

Draconia had revealed the existence of the magic furnace to the public. But there was one thing he hadn’t expected: a reporter from Ostland had been in the crowd.

The reporter rushed back home and immediately published a front-page article stating that Arland had completed the magic furnace, had already entered mass production, and was installing them in the royal capital.

As a result, ambassadors from Arland’s allied nations began requesting confirmation. It wasn’t something that could be ignored—this was a breakthrough that could solve the world’s energy crisis. It was the kind of shock akin to Japan discovering the steam engine during the Edo period.

The Arland government hadn’t expected the news to reach the rest of the continent before they could make a formal announcement. With a wry smile, they confirmed the report and officially declared the beginning of a new era.

The announcement spread like wildfire across the continent. Airships and now magic furnaces. The fact that Arland could mass-produce magic tools stirred the central nations, and the already strained relationship between them and Arland worsened further. After all, Arland disliked the central nations so much that it refused to engage with any country that wasn’t an ally. No—it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they outright hated them.

Amid all this, two major powers finally began to act: the Magic Kingdom and the Imperial State.

The Magic Kingdom sought to recruit Alicetia and the magicians she led, while the Imperial State, as if it were only natural, officially recognized her as a Holy Maiden and demanded her extradition.

What do you think about this chapter?