[Vol. 8] Chapter 17: One Wave Just Passed, Another One Comes
Feeling a warm and hard-to-explain kind of comfort, Violet smiled and shook her head. She gently held the smooth, long, and strong jade-like hand of the dragon lady and placed it on her own thigh. With this simple touch, she shared her feelings more directly.
“Saying I’m not worried would be a lie. But I believe in Sethlin’s strength and ability. She is an old, experienced god, and handling an evil god like this shouldn’t be too hard for her. What I’m really worried about is what kind of bigger truth lies behind these two gods showing up one after another.”
“Is their appearance just a coincidence? Or is it just the tip of the iceberg, showing part of a bigger change coming? There’s a saying, when you see one cockroach at home, there are usually dozens or hundreds hiding in dark places. I think this idea is basically the same here.”
Feeling the warm and soft touch on her thigh, the dragon girl naturally leaned her head gently on Violet’s shoulder. Her unique dragon scent was soothing, and she comforted her without much worry.
“If there are cockroaches, then just squash as many as you see, no big deal. If you think they’re disgusting, I can help you get rid of them too. That’s why I accepted the invitation from the dragonkin people to get that ring from the cave before~”
“Hehe, I don’t doubt your skills at all…”
Violet laughed as she gently rubbed the head of her dragon, who was clearly smarter than before and better at understanding others’ feelings. At the same time, her worries about the evil god appearing near Sethlin began to ease.
Indeed, worrying about the whole country or world isn’t really Violet’s style. The future of this world isn’t something she or Sethlin alone can decide. No one can handle everything by themselves. Protecting the people around you, doing what you should, living happily and with a clear conscience, that’s enough.
With this thought clear, Violet suddenly felt much lighter. She removed the magic barrier inside the carriage that blocked outside eyes, patted her skirt, and stood up.
“We should be near the border soon. Let’s go out and have a look. I’m really curious about the border fortress of Austre Empire, the world’s top military power~”
The two women left the carriage and went outside. Leila and the others, who had been waiting nearby, immediately came forward to greet them. Violet nodded briefly in greeting but quickly turned her eyes toward the distant mountain road across from them. There, standing tall between two peaks, was a long and grand city wall and fortress nearly a thousand meters long. She raised her eyebrows.
“This should be [Iron Ridge] in the Valandia Province, right? I heard that most roads in the five western border provinces of the Austre Empire are blocked by huge walls made of steel and rock, as tall as mountains. These walls block almost every road connected to the buffer zone and are called the ‘Unpassable Steel Ridge.’ It must have taken a lot of effort to build this by hand…”
“But it’s kind of ironic. They built these iron walls to protect themselves at first, but now they are so ambitious they want to cross these walls to attack other countries.”
Not many people around could hear this, but Frederica, who walked beside Violet, didn’t hide her thoughts and immediately spoke up.
“More than a hundred years ago, during the early days when the empire was uniting, it really faced many problems. At that time, many powerful groups surrounded it. The northern snowland countries were united like a strong iron wall, watching the suddenly rising and expanding Austre Empire very carefully…”
“...On the western border, because of the empire’s big expansion, it was about to touch the land of my Holy Empire, which is in the center of the world and has deep faith. The strange tribes on the Eastern Sea, after being pushed off the land, kept attacking the coasts. So, the empire had enemies on three sides and was very busy and troubled…”
“...The south was quieter, but the [Eternal Night Forest] there also held hidden dangers. Because of this, for about a hundred years, the empire stayed defensive and grew steadily. It kept dealing with and fixing problems caused by fast expansion, until recent years…”
“Hmm...”
What the Saintess said was not a big secret. Violet had read about this in books and reports before. Although the empire would never say their problems came from inside and outside threats, but rather give some grand and noble reasons, history books were not only written by the Austre Empire.
Maybe most common people inside the empire only see what the royal family wants them to see. They might even forget the old pain and loss their ancestors suffered hundreds of years ago. But the true cause of things cannot be hidden from everyone forever.
The priestess felt a little helpless. From Frederica’s position, she didn’t have to explain these things to her. Even though they were quite close in many ways, Violet didn’t openly stand with the Holy Empire against Austre Empire. So, while she could complain, some things were hard to say clearly.
Shaking her head, the black-haired girl avoided political topics and asked casually while walking.
“By the way, Saintess, is that undead mage called Lorga still behaving? You told someone to secretly watch her. On the way here, did she try anything sneaky?”
When mentioning this unexpected “catch,” Frederica suddenly seemed to remember something. She frowned slightly and was about to speak.
“Right, I was planning to talk to you about this, Miss Violet, the undead…”
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!”
But before the two could say more, loud and shaking rumbles suddenly came from far away. The ground shook like an earthquake. Even the Holy Empire’s group traveling was shaken badly. People almost lost their balance, horses and magical beasts were frightened and screamed, and chaos broke out immediately!
“What’s going on!? Are enemies attacking again!?”
“Could it be the earth dragon rolling over?”
“Stay calm! Don’t run! Keep formation! Holy Knights, control the horses and beasts nearby to stop them from running scared! Don’t let the carts lose control!”
Without the Saintess’ order, the Holy Knight leaders quickly steadied their groups and shouted commands. Priests and elite students from the Holy Academy immediately cast holy magic to calm the frightened unicorns and beasts pulling the carts, and made basic shields to prepare for any more attacks.
Thanks to the team’s high skill, the shaking and noise were soon under control. Even Frederica, calm as she is, couldn’t help but look proudly at the black-haired girl next to her, watching her reaction. But instead of looking happy or approving, Violet frowned a little and whispered to herself.
“That’s not right... This shaking feels unusual. It’s not coming from below at all...”