Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 269: Did Lingge disappear?

"Really!?"

Alice's eyes lit up again. If Olvera could decipher the contents of the Kresov brass scroll, wouldn't it mean that she would have the opportunity to unearth the royal treasure from six hundred years ago, thereby rising to the top in one step and achieving a class leap? She could even hire Lingge and have him wear a maid outfit... Ahem, forget about that.

In short, the world’s richest person, Alice, here I come!!!
But until then.

Alice suddenly thought of something and said to Avra ​​in a hurry, "Don't say it for now. There are so many people here. It will be terrible if someone hears it..."

For example, the museum director next to you.

Alice quietly raised her eyes and glanced at Professor David, only to find that he was just looking at her with a puzzled look, as if he suspected that she was suffering from irregular attacks of emotional anxiety. Then she remembered that due to the cover of the thread of fate, as a mortal, Professor David theoretically could neither see Olvera nor hear what she said, so there was no need to worry at all.

She heaved a sigh of relief, then raised her head and gave the confused curator a very standard fake smile: "It's nothing, Professor David, I just... had an attack, yes, I did. In fact, I suffer from irregular emotional anxiety, and sometimes I do things that you can't understand. Please be more tolerant."

For the sake of the illusory treasure, she even betrayed herself. This golden-haired maid is completely hopeless!
Feeling very embarrassed, Metien covered his cheeks and couldn't bear to look at it. Professor David's expression also became very complicated: Do you think I am so easy to fool?

Alice didn't care what he was thinking. She just found a random topic to fool him and deliberately made a scene. When he continued to patiently explain the history to them, she made perfunctory noises such as "hmm" and "ah". It was obvious from her attitude that she was not in the mood for a good conversation.

"Lingge is missing." The princess said in a daze, and suddenly her expression turned horrified: "Could it be that... he was abducted?"

She watched Professor David's back go away, and gradually blended into the crowd of people visiting the exhibition hall. Then she turned her head excitedly and said to Avella, "Hurry up, hurry up!"

Olvera breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh."

Saint Xia Liya spoke in time to interrupt her sister's wandering thoughts: "He went to meet a friend and will be back soon."

Olvera had no objection. As a literary girl, she was also very interested in the contents of the Brass Book of Kreisov. However, before she could act on her own, she had to consult someone. So she turned around and looked for someone, but she couldn't see him. She was stunned for a moment, and then she realized that he seemed to have disappeared for a long time.

It's a plot often seen in storybooks, where a child gets lost from his parents in a crowded place, and then is trafficked to an old witch's lair to work as a laborer, or to be used for human experiments or something. It's so scary.

Ovella tilted her head: "?"

But if Lingge is not here, who will make the decision?

The golden-haired maid knew that her credibility was close to zero, and no one would listen to her no matter what she said. She looked at Saint Shallia eagerly, blinking her eyes and trying to impress the shepherdess with her cuteness. Half of her big ruby ​​eyes were filled with flattery, and the other half was filled with expectation. This scene reminded Saint Shallia of when she was in Linwell City, when Alice seemed to be begging her to give her the destiny buff with this look.

"Oh, didn't you say you had a way to interpret it?" Alice waved her hand generously, with the demeanor and bearing of the richest man: "Let's go, find a secluded corner and talk in detail!"

Professor David is the curator of the Lubeon Museum after all. He is usually very busy and it is difficult for ordinary people to see him. Today is the World Expo, and he is very excited. He wants to popularize the glorious history of Leisenburg to international friends, but he did not expect to be treated so contemptuously. He must be really angry. After a brief chat, he left with an excuse to entertain other more distinguished guests.

Then she turned her eyes to her nominal sister and waited for her instructions obediently. Not only Ovira, but also Metien, Shemi, and the lamb, all made the same move. It seemed that when Lingge was away, the shepherdess became the backbone of everyone. As for Alice, who is she?

I won't play with you country bumpkins from Greater Brittany. You don't even have a noble Renwittin accent. Do you think you're worthy?
Alice said that once I become the richest man in the world, I will be worthy of her.

After many years... uh, many months, this shameless guy finally learned to call "Mom" again, and he still did it so easily and casually, it was really touching.

Saint Xia Liya was very pleased - at least in Alice's eyes, she was pleased - so she nodded slightly and said a wise saying: "As long as you are happy."

...Linger didn't know that the girls were doing something behind his back. He was shocked when he heard Rochelle's last words: "So, the so-called magic system was actually created by the Kingdom's War Affairs Department?"

Rochelle glanced at him: "What did you think at first?"

"I thought it was the combined cults," Linger replied, "because the person who taught me magic once told me that magic devices and related technologies are almost never leaked out, and are all in the hands of the combined cults. If it weren't the actual founder, it would be difficult to keep it secret to this extent, right?"

"What he said is quite right, and your guess is also reasonable, but unfortunately neither is true. Moreover, the question of who actually created the magic system has not been answered to this day. People only know that it first appeared on the stage of history in Clausewitz's military reform as the latest war machine. Later, the Steam Cult rose with steam engines, and seemed to have obtained magic technology in some way, and combined it with steam technology to develop a new magic device with more powerful power. When the Steam Cult was replaced by the United Cults, the latter inherited the relevant legacy from the ruins of the former, and spent a lot of time and money on research, so that it has the scale it has today."

This means that the history of the magic system is much longer than Lingge imagined. It first appeared in the 12th century AD, which is nearly years ago.

"Whether it was during the Clausewitz military reform period, the Steam Cult period, or the Cult Union period... from the beginning to the end, this technology was kept strictly confidential and unknown to outsiders." Rochelle said, "The Kingdom's War Affairs Department spent ten years and invested a huge amount of money to eventually establish an army composed entirely of magicians. They awakened the spirituality of each soldier and equipped them with standard magic equipment, allowing them to adapt to all-terrain combat. The mutual coordination between the arms also completely crushed the military armed forces of the old era. This legion is the famous 'Dragoon Regiment'."

At this point, he suddenly asked Linge a question: "Does this remind you of anything?"

Ling Ge was puzzled at first, but then an idea flashed in his mind and he blurted out: "Magic Vanguard!?"

"good."

Rochelle smiled in a low voice. "History is a chariot that is constantly moving forward on the road. It is always moving forward, but the plots on the wheels are all things that have happened in the past, as if humans never learn lessons and just repeat fixed memories. This is the truth that the saints warn us: everything that will happen in the world is what has already happened in the past, nothing more than this."

Lingge had never had such philosophical thoughts. He thought of a question: the original magic vanguard was an army established by magicians to fight against the extraordinary people; then, the dragoon regiment established today in imitation of their actions, who was it fighting against?
The answer is actually very simple.

"The establishment of the Dragoon Regiment is a prelude to the magic system's fight against the magic system, and perhaps it is also a signal," said Rochelle.

This answer was not unexpected to the young man. He exhaled lightly and asked him, "Because the magic system also wants to replace the magic system, just like magicians replaced extraordinary people in the past?"

"If that's the case, the creator of the magic system should have chosen to make it public to expand the influence of magicians, rather than guarding it tightly. Even if they cooperated with other countries, they only provided some finished magic devices or unimportant technical information. It would be fine if only the creator of the magic system was so stubborn, but the Steam Cult, which inherited this technology, and the Cult Alliance also held the same attitude, which is really puzzling."

"After much deliberation, people finally came up with a reasonable explanation." Rochelle's eyes were deep. "Whether it was the founder of the magic system, the Steam Cult, or the Cult Union, the reason they didn't promote this technology publicly was the same, that is, to maintain social order and stability."

"Maintaining the stability of social order?"

"Yes, in the past, both supernatural beings and magicians had very strict requirements on individual quality, and required a lot of resources to cultivate. This meant that no matter whether it was supernatural beings or magicians, the proportion of the total human population could not be too large, and naturally they could not forcibly interfere with the civilization process of the surface world. However, the magic system is different. It has lower requirements for spirituality, or rather, no requirements. As long as you can sense the existence of magic power, it is enough. Therefore, the cost of brewing potions has been further reduced, and even no supernatural materials are needed, and only ordinary herbs can be used to brew them."

Rochelle said, "This means that as long as they have the talent to awaken their spirituality, any mortal can easily master the power of magic devices and use them to kill a soldier, even if the latter has received training and the former was just an ordinary mortal before awakening his spirituality. The power of magic devices is enough to make up for this gap. Moreover, magic devices themselves have the attribute of convenient operation. It is like a more powerful revolver. Anyone who wants to use it only needs three steps: load, aim, and then pull the trigger."

"Can you imagine what kind of world it would be like if a magic system was openly promoted and everyone could master magic power?"

"Chaos." This was Ling'er's first reaction.

"And greater chaos," was Rochelle's bland addition.

It will even subvert the existing civilization system and social order, causing countless killings, wars, blood and death, and the number of mortal deaths will definitely be more than that in the war between the extraordinary people and magicians.

There is no other possibility besides this.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)