Side Story 3. The Eastern Expedition (3)
Karen had lightly said it was a trip, but it was not as easy as it sounded.
One was the Empress and Saint of the Empire.
The other was the founding queen of a kingdom.
The weight of the responsibility they carried was too great for them to just up and leave.
“Hoho, Your Majesty the Empress……”
Even Archbishop Walter, one of the twelve archbishops and a powerful figure who oversaw all church affairs in the Imperial Capital of Wolfskrig, had no choice but to show reluctance at the 'vacation request.'
In fact, it was closer to a notification, or a consideration, rather than a request.
Who would stop Alina, the Empress and Saint, if she said she was leaving.
Without even touching the precious wine offered for the guest, the archbishop nervously fiddled with his red nose and said.
“Although the occupied territories in the west are relatively stable, the Eastern Empire is still an enemy nation at war.”
“It is to be a source of strength to His Majesty the Emperor, who is leading that war at the forefront. Please. Grant your permission.”
“Hoho…. You are the one and only Empress and Saint of the Empire, so who am I to grant permission or not. I just….”
“Just?”
“...I can only implore you to preserve your esteed self.”
The Empress politely thanked him and left.
The archbishop, uncharacteristically, moistened his parched lips with water instead of wine.
Yes, she must have her reasons.
Both of them had risen to this point from the bottom of the rcenary band, through nurous battlefields.
If it were truly dangerous, wouldn't Luark have stopped Saint Alina himself?
Hoping to receive any revelation she might have missed, the archbishop put the wine bottle in the cupboard and went down to the prayer room.
***
A queen's empty seat would be more difficult to fill than an empress'.
At least, that's what Alina thought.
Nevertheless, surprisingly, no one showed reluctance or felt burdened by Karen's vacation plans.
“I've divided the power in advance. To the Senate and the Court of Justice. I've also appointed a regent in case I'm gone.”
“You're the queen, but you're dividing the power?”
“Yes. Since the days of the Paradise, the fairies have been centered on the Senate, not the king. In the end, that Senate beca corrupt and the Paradise ended up in that state, but……”
Alina nodded her head.
Co to think of it, she rembered reading about it in a book when she was young.
Because fairies are a long-lived race, they had judged that it was safer to distribute power to many rather than concentrating it on one person.
“If you live according to the decisions of one king for too long, the judgnt of the vassals who actually have to carry out the work also becos dull. The king gets tired too. Imagine having to decide everything by yourself for a thousand years. Isn't that terrible?”
“Oh, I think so.”
“I received a lot of help from His Majesty Ash. He told to separate the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. Then, even if one side becos corrupt like the Senate of the Paradise, the other sides can keep it in check.”
“It's a system where the three powers keep each other in check. That's amazing. How did he co up with that idea?”
Thus, the Empress of the Empire and the Queen of the Fairy Kingdom set off on their journey.
Since they were going for a so-called surprise event, they didn't have many companions or luggage.
The journey was also simple.
Go east.
It was a route similar to the one they had taken long ago to support the Everlasting Mountains Hold.
However, the journey itself was much more comfortable than that ti.
The Eastern Wastelands had changed since the founding of Emperor Ash.
First, the nine fallen dwarf holds had been rebuilt.
In that process, even though they had lost their Great Chieftain, the scattered orc tribes were subjugated.
The newly paved imperial highway already passed through the eastern wastelands and led to each hold of the Dwarven Federation.
The isolation of dwarven society was well known.
Scholars evaluated this large-scale road opening as a result of the relationship between the Empire and the Dwarven Federation becoming practically a blood alliance after the invasion of the Eastern Empire.
Anyway, a well-paved road is an essential item for a comfortable journey.
Therefore, this journey was quite different from their expedition days.
The fact that they did not travel on horseback as before, given their status, must have also played a part.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-
The mana car developed by William. The comfortable interior of the passenger cabin, separate from the driver's seat.
With the characteristic rattling sound of the mana engine as background music, Alina quietly gazed at the scenery outside the window.
This was the main daily routine of the trip.
Looking at the scenery outside.
If she was bored, she would chat a bit, pick out a book or two from the bookshelf to read, sleep at an inn built at every half-day's distance, and start again in the morning.
The wasteland, which had been a battlefield just a decade ago, had now been transford into a peaceful trade route.
Although there were occasional disappearances, that was sothing that happened everywhere.
Looking out at the gradually reddening wasteland, Alina suddenly thought.
“It's amazing……”
“Hmm? What is?”
“Ah, ahaha. It's nothing, sister.”
“What is it? You're making curious.”
“I feel like I've beco a bit of a country bumpkin, I'm just amazed at how the world is changing.”
“I feel the sa way.”
“Really?”
“Yes. More has changed in the last 10 years than in the last 100 years.”
“That's right, you're an elf, sister.”
“Yes. Your sister is old.”
Karen smiled playfully.
Alina smiled back and suddenly thought.
The past hundred years.
What will it be like a hundred years from now.
Perhaps she would be in her grave by then.
Unlike knights who trained their bodies, priests, even high priests or even saints, did not live particularly long.
A hundred years from now would be the era of her children, no, their children.
What would the world they rule be like?
“Alina, look over there.”
“Yes?”
“I see the hold.”
The journey continues with her flowing thoughts as a traveling companion.
Beyond the front window, a mountain range that seed to divide the wasteland in two rose high, and a huge fortress built at the entrance of that mountain range was visible.
The capital of the Dwarven Federation, the Everlasting Mountains Hold.
It was a stopover where the party, consisting of the two won, one mana car, a driver, and a small number of guards, would stay for a while.
***
“Oh, I received the ssage. You're going to see the emperor, aren't you?”
Around the ti the Empire welcod a new emperor, the dwarves also welcod a new king.
Of course, it wasn't a case of the country splitting into five like the Empire, but rather the Sande King-of-Kings, Ungol, announcing his retirent, and his son Balkan naturally inheriting the position.
“A surprise visit. That's a fresh idea. I should prepare sothing to surprise my wife too.”
“Is your anniversary coming up soon?”
“In three years, it will be our two-hundredth anniversary.”
“That's soon! You should prepare quickly so you're not late.”
Listening to the conversation between the dwarf and the elf, Karen tilted her head.
Isn't three years a long ti away?
The sense of ti of a long-lived species.
Balkan guided the party into the Everlasting Mountains Hold.
This was the third visit for the two of them.
The first was the eastern expedition during Ash's days as the Viscount of Wolfskrig.
The second was when they visited once each as needed during the reconstruction process of the hold.
And now.
Clang! Clang!
Chiiiiik…!
The city was full of heat.
Both physically and atmospherically.
Steam and hot air, hotter than the sunlight of the wasteland, spewed from all over, and the sweat-drenched dwarves bustled around the work sites, building a new city.
“Most of the facilities are still under restoration. The exterior and defense facilities are almost finished, but the interior will take so ti.”
“Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves.”
“Hahaha! You have a good eye. It's as if we've regained our broken ho.”
The dwarf, who had been laughing heartily, leaned in slightly and whispered.
“Just between us, I'm personally glad it was broken once. Maintaining a crumbling building is one thing, but completely demolishing a building that's thousands of years old feels like a weight has been lifted off my chest.”
“Oh, I know that feeling.”
“Really? Ah, I suppose so. The Paradise has fallen, and a new fairy kingdom has been born. Uhaha!”
Balkan guided the party to a large mansion near the palace.
From the garden, which spread out wide along the mountainside, there was a panoramic view of the hold.
“I'm sorry I couldn't host you in person. The palace is in a terrible state because we've scheduled it for restoration last.”
“It's alright. This place is also very nice.”
“That's a relief. First, rest from your journey. You said you would be leaving tomorrow morning….”
After Balkan left, the dwarf servants brought out refreshnts.
It was steaming hot stone-bread, dark beer, and crackers.
“Oh, isn't this what you made, sister?”
“That's right. I can't believe I'm seeing this here.”
Karen picked up a cracker, looking amazed.
It was a Karen-brand cracker made from the rice they had started cultivating when Wolfskrig was a pioneer city.
Karen, fidgeting with the cracker, suddenly opened her mouth.
“Alina”
“Yes?”
“What was the most delicious dish I've ever made for you?”
“Hmm… all of them?”
“Then what's the most morable?”
At those words, a sll and a taste that had passed by like a flash ca to mind.
Over a campfire.
The sound of stew bubbling.
A sll that stimulated her hunger and the warmth felt from the bowl of stew.
The campfire stew was a simple dish that Alina would co over and make for them during their camps on the eastern expedition of the Wolfskrig Viscount's army.
“……”
No.
It was even earlier than that.
The first ti she had eaten Alina's stew was right after she was rescued from the necromancer's den.
The first warm al she had eaten in weeks.
“The campfire stew?”
“Right?”
“Is it because it's a food with mories?”
“To so extent, yes. The taste of food is more than half determined by the situation. Whether it's a battlefield or a refugee path, anything tastes delicious in a difficult situation, right?”
Alina's expression beca one of understanding.
Karen smiled.
“That's why we're going to the battlefield where His Majesty is fighting.”
***
“A tunnel was opened recently, so you'll be able to cross the mountain range quickly.”
The next morning, Balkan said so and handed her a guide sheet.
“I contacted the tunnel side last night. They will escort you safely until you reach the East.”
In addition to the imperial highway being connected to the nine holds of the Dwarven Federation like a spiderweb, the highway connected to the Everlasting Mountains Hold went a little further.
The stone-paved road passed through the red wasteland and the hold, and led to the World's Wall mountain range, which divided the continent into east and west.
Creating a huge passage through the World's Wall mountain range.
This was a project that Ash had promoted with Balkan from around the ti the dwarf holds began to be rebuilt, before he left for the expedition to the Eastern Empire.
It seed that even with the dwarves' excavation technology that surpassed common sense, it was expected to take decades, but the construction was finished much earlier than planned.
“Ah, I have received the ssage. You are the distinguished guests of the Empire that the King-of-Kings ntioned.”
When they arrived at the entrance of the mountain range and followed the guide, they could see the true picture.
The construction was not finished.
The originally planned passage was on a huge scale, large enough for the Empire's tank corps to pass through comfortably.
Compared to that, the current passage felt like a decent road from a small or dium-sized city had been moved.
“You can think of it as a temporary passage for now. It's still difficult to use it as a trade route for armies or rchant guilds to pass through, but it's sufficient for distinguished guests with urgent business like you, or for ssengers to co and go.”
After familiarizing themselves with so safety procedures, the party entered the tunnel with a dwarf guide as a companion.
It was four days before they saw sunlight again.
“Welco. This is the Eastern Empire… no, the Imperial Territory of the Eastern Cloud Nation. I believe that is the na His Majesty your Emperor has given it.”
Their destination was now a fortnight away.
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