Alice in the Land of Steam

Is Chapter 267 the darkest period for the Extraordinary?

"How much do you know about the history of magicians, Mr. Ling?" Although she was telling the story, Rochelle asked Ling a question first.

The young man thought for a moment and then answered, "The person who taught me magic once mentioned part of it to me, but not in detail. So I only know that the magic system is a new magic application system created by the great wizard Merlin Ambrosius. After a war, it completely replaced the original magic potion system and became the mainstream choice for humans to step into the mysterious world. The period when that war took place seems to be the period of the Hundred Years' War in the Kingdom of Brittany."

Two wars, one for magicians and extraordinary beings, the other for mortals. They were fought in different worlds, close yet distant; but they happened to happen in the same time period, like a shadow following each other. This made Lingge, who first learned about this history, sigh with emotion and realized that the distance between the mysterious world and the secular world might not be that far.

The relationship between them is closer than most people imagine.

Rochelle listened to his answer in silence, nodded slightly, and said in a voice as deep as a rock: "It's basically correct, but it overlooks a crucial point. Mr. Ling, I need to remind you that when studying the history of the secular and the mysterious, never treat them separately. In fact, the relationship between them is much closer than you think."

"More closely?"

Ling Ge was puzzled. He thought he had imagined the relationship between the two to be close enough. If it could be even closer, to what extent would it be?

Rochelle did not answer the question directly, but instead began to tell the history: "In 556 AD, Marshal Napoleon supported Queen Victoria I to ascend the throne, and established the Second Kingdom of Brittany with only part of the southern territory, which accounted for about one eighth of the kingdom's territory. At this time, facing the aggressive offensive of the Kingdom of Zoroaster, the newly born Second Kingdom was undoubtedly in an absolutely weak position. But in the end, it was able to defeat the strong with the weak. What did it rely on?"

Ling hesitated for a moment, then expressed a view that most historians agree with: "Marshal Napoleon fought bravely and resisted the pressure of external wars; and Queen Victoria I worked hard to govern the country, which rapidly strengthened the Second Kingdom and laid the foundation for the counterattack."

Lingge remained silent, but he vaguely caught something.

Ling Ge said: "Because the internal situation of the Kingdom of Zoroaster is also turbulent and unstable."

The Second Kingdom only occupied one eighth of the territory of the original kingdom. No matter how hard Queen Victoria I worked, it was difficult to make up for this absolute gap.

His expression changed slightly, and Rochelle had already spoken the answer: "You are right. These two wars are actually the same war. It is the war in which magicians defeated extraordinary people, and it is also the Hundred Years War in which the Second Kingdom of Brittany defeated the Kingdom of Zoroaster."

"..." Lingge stopped talking.

Rochelle didn't care about Ling's silence and continued, "In 571 AD, the founder of magic, Merlin Ambrosius, made public the magic system he created and founded the 'Modern Magic Seminar Society' in an attempt to promote it, which led to a war between magicians and extraordinary people. Due to innate limitations, the individual strength of magicians is not as good as that of extraordinary people, and there are few extraordinary people who are willing to accept this limitation and devote themselves to magic. However, in the end, magicians were able to defeat the strong with the weak and win the war. What did they rely on? If it were just the great wizard Merlin, it might not be enough."

The two wars took place in the same era, and both were examples of the weak defeating the strong. However, the reasons behind them seemed to be buried in the fog, and no one knew... Could it be?

"Is that enough?" Rochelle said in a deep voice, "The Kingdom of Zoroaster was in an absolutely dominant position at the time, with a million-strong army, ready to sweep the enemy country away. With such a huge gap, could Marshal Napoleon alone turn the tide? How could he leave time for the Queen to develop peacefully?"

Obviously, young people have also realized that the reasons mentioned in textbooks such as "political corruption", "economic chaos" and "strong anti-war sentiment among the people" are not enough to summarize the core factors for the sudden collapse and decline of an old military power. What's more, the Kingdom of Zoroaster had just won a war, swallowed up a large piece of land, and was in a state of rapid development.

"What level of unrest would be needed to stop their aggression?"

It turned out to be the case.

Although his guess was confirmed, Lingge was not happy, but even more confused. It was hard for him to imagine how to connect the two wars together, or in other words, how were they connected together?

The young man listened quietly to Rochelle's voice and continued: "When the great wizard Merlin Ambrosius founded the Modern Magic Seminar Society, he tried to promote the magic system among the extraordinary people, but with little success; therefore, some members thought that perhaps they had to find another way, starting from the secular world, to let the magic system subtly replace the potion system. With this idea in mind, they found Queen Victoria I and Marshal Napoleon and successfully reached a cooperative relationship." "So, Marshal Napoleon began to prepare to establish a special army, and Queen Victoria I began to reform the education system, committed to improving the knowledge and literacy of ordinary citizens, but in fact, she selected qualified people from them to become a member of this army. In the end, the result of the reform was a magician army of up to 5,000 people. These new magicians are generally not of high rank and not strong, but they are loyal to the kingdom, well-trained, and have no risk of losing control. They can skillfully use magic to cooperate with each other. They can be said to be the most stable extraordinary force, called the 'Magic Vanguard'."

At this point, Rochelle glanced at Linger and said, "If I use another name, perhaps you will be more familiar with it: the Magic Vanguard, which is the predecessor of the current Night's Watch and the Balance of Order."

Ling Ge was stunned, then subconsciously retorted: "During the Hundred Years' War, the religious union had not yet been established."

There is no sign of even the Steam Cult.

"Yes." Rochelle said, "But this army has always had a history, and the inheritance has never been cut off until it was finally taken over by the church and transformed into the Night Watch, which is responsible for the internal security of the city, and the Balance of Order, which is responsible for carrying out external trials. In essence, the two actually have the same origin."

The young man was speechless.

Rochelle continued, "While the magic advance army was preparing, the Modern Magic Research Society sent seven powerful magicians to sneak into the Kingdom of Zoroaster to sabotage and harass, and even assassinated many official and demigod-level extraordinary people. This made everyone in Zoroaster feel insecure, and they fearfully called them the Seven Crowned Magicians, believing that they might have terrifying power comparable to that of the great wizard Merlin."

Ling Ge realized: "In other words, the reason why the Kingdom of Zoroaster was unable to continue the invasion after winning the war was because the magician of the Seven Crowns was secretly intimidating it?"

Rochelle nodded, then shook her head. "It wasn't that exaggerated. They just exerted pressure, magnified the internal conflicts of the Kingdom of Zoroaster, and ultimately delayed the war. But for the Second Kingdom at that time, this was undoubtedly a big relief, giving it extremely precious breathing time."

"In the summer of 578 AD, the Second Kingdom of Great Brittany launched a full-scale counterattack. Marshal Napoleon suppressed the front battlefield with his superb command art, while the extraordinary people from the Kingdom of Zoroaster who participated in the war were completely suppressed by the magic advance army. The commander of the advance army at that time was named Ursula. Although he was not well-known, he was a very powerful magician. He once fought against many enemies alone without being at a disadvantage, and even killed a true god in the end."

"In this way, in just ten years, the land seized by the invaders fell at a speed several times faster than when they occupied it, and returned to the hands of the original owners. The morale of the Kingdom's army was high, and they became more and more courageous as the battle went on, while the invaders were defeated step by step. Finally, in 590 AD, the last Zoroastrian army withdrew from the border of the former Kingdom of Brittaya, announcing the victory of the "Restoration War."

"But the Modern Magic Research Society at that time was not satisfied with this result, because they had realized from the extraordinary people's rejection of the magic system that it was difficult to try to make conservatives accept a new power system in a subtle way. They had to use coercive means to promote the new system in order to subvert the old system. To do this, they needed a country that was powerful enough to surpass the entire Western Continent as support."

"The Second Kingdom of Great Brittany, which has experienced the Renaissance and ideological reforms and successfully transformed from a feudal monarchy to a constitutional democracy, is the most suitable choice. In this case, it is necessary to make it stronger and acquire more territory. Only in this way can the influence of the Second Kingdom radiate to the entire Western Continent, and then the power of the magic system can also expand to every corner of the Western Continent."

"In this way, under the secret promotion of the Modern Magic Research Society, the allied forces, with high morale, crossed the border and brazenly launched an offensive against the Kingdom of Zoroaster, starting the third war after the War of National Salvation and the War of Restoration: the War of National Establishment. In the 'War of Separation', three Sequence 1 True Gods besieged Ursula, the commander of the Magic Vanguard. They represented the royal family, the nobility, and the largest sect in the Kingdom of Zoroaster, the 'Holy Son Church'. However, the final result was a complete defeat, and they were destroyed by Ursula herself. Along with this tragic fact, the Kingdom of Zoroaster was also declared extinct and annexed by the Second Kingdom of Brittania."

"And so, the Hundred Years' War ended, and the Second Kingdom was renamed the Kingdom of Great Brittany. Ursula, the commander of the Magic Vanguard, accepted the royal appointment and became the Minister of Magic of the Kingdom. In 616 AD, she promulgated the Magic Management Regulations with the permission of Queen Victoria I."

"According to the regulations, all the extraordinary people in the Great Brittany Kingdom, whether they belong to the royal family, the nobility, the church, the secret society, the extraordinary organization or even the military, must give up the magic potion system within the specified time, receive magic education, and become controlled magicians. Sequence 4 and above demigod-level extraordinary people who cannot change their power system must be registered and supervised, and their personal freedom and other rights must be appropriately restricted. Extraordinary people who do not make changes within the deadline will be regarded as potential threats to the kingdom and will be eliminated."

"This decree is more stringent than the supernatural order during the reign of the four great empires in ancient times, so it is naturally impossible to get a positive response. Some supernaturals fled to the United Kingdom of White Cities and the Kingdom of Minsuria, which is still in the midst of a division and war, to seek protection, while others stayed because they did not believe that Ursula had the courage and strength to take action against all the supernaturals in Greater Brittany."

"However, the facts eventually proved that this regulation was not just a joke. After the five-year deadline, Minister of Magic Ursula once again led her magic advance army - which was renamed the Ministry of Magic at this time - to go to war. Facing the 30,000 magician army trained in five years, the extraordinary people in the kingdom had no chance of winning."

"In 621 AD, the second dark age of supernatural beings arrived. The Ministry of Magic launched an indiscriminate purge against all supernatural beings. With the well-trained cooperation of the magic army, religious forces, secret societies, supernatural organizations, and aristocratic military were unable to resist. Thousands of supernatural beings died in this purge. In the history of occultism, it is called—"

"The Darkest Ten Days."

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)