Alice in the Land of Steam

Across an endless sea of ​​salt, the two young women, Wang Quan, gaze at each other from afar.

In the distance lay the Axis army, ready for battle, their chilling aura inspiring fear. The young knight from the Gostaff family, however, seemed oblivious, her eyes fixed only on her true enemy: "I've been waiting for you here for a long time, but I never expected it to be you."

In Hino's mind, he should have seen either the Fear Witch Faur or the Conflict Witch Fafrona.

Unexpectedly, the visitor was the Plague Witch, Perec. Hino recognized her; she often appeared in newspapers as a saint, advocating for the public service of the Herb Garden and the development of Doctors Without Borders. In the public's mind, she was a gentle and approachable woman who, despite her high position, had compassion for the world and actively devoted herself to public medical care. She advocated for the construction of many inexpensive herbal markets, public hospitals, and charitable clinics. Among these, the most famous were the Red Cross and the Knights Hospitaller under the Herb Garden, making it one of the most popular of the seven major orthodox churches.

Hino—or rather, the Gostaff family—has quite a connection with this plague witch. Before she even knew her identity as a young queen, and having already lost many important things in her life due to a curse, she only wanted to spend the rest of her life peacefully at the Chateaubriand. In an attempt to cure her grandfather's illness, she used her family's connections to seek help from Sister Teresa of the Hospitallers. The latter, however, said she was powerless to help, suggesting that perhaps only a saint could cure such a stubborn ailment.
Hino had seriously considered this proposal. Given the Gostaff family's status and influence in the White City Republic, coupled with the relationship between their ancestor, the White Knight, and Joan of Arc, it wouldn't be too difficult to persuade the saint of the Garden of Plants to intervene. However, his grandfather displayed unusual stubbornness at the time, not only resolutely rejecting Mother Teresa's proposal but also refusing to stay at the Hospitallers' headquarters for recuperation. He insisted on returning to the ancestral manor to face the end of his life.

Just as the white thorn flower only blooms and withers on the land of Grangenia, returning to one's roots was Grandfather's last wish. Knowing he couldn't persuade the stubborn old man to change his mind, Shino, filled with apology, politely declined Mother Teresa's offer and returned to the White City Republic without ever seeing the saint of the garden. He never left Sumia City again.

If I had accepted Mother Teresa's offer back then, perhaps today wouldn't be my first meeting with the Plague Witch, Perec. But now, saying anything is meaningless. At this moment, in this place, the only meaning is to fight. She must feel the same way; otherwise, she wouldn't have the resolve to abandon everything and step onto the battlefield.

Abandoning what is important to us and striving with all our might for what we don't need at all... that's just how foolish mortals are.

"Did you know I was coming?" Pereira suddenly asked.

“It’s not that I knew you would come,” Hino replied calmly, “but that I knew that as long as I was here, you had no choice but to come.”

She possessed an unusual confidence, but Pereke knew she truly had the right to say it.

The young knight is like a mountain, blocking the path ahead. Anyone wishing to cross it must first demonstrate fearless courage and a resolute determination. But who can snatch what belongs to the victorious king from her grasp? Perhaps Fel and Fafrena would be willing to confront her, but Perec has no such desire. Her purpose in stepping onto the battlefield is singular: to fulfill her duty as an elder sister. As the eldest sister of the Chaos King, Caraboss is gone, but at least as long as she stands here, she will never allow her sisters to be drawn into the vortex of war before her.

Therefore, they are willing to resort to methods that outsiders would consider despicable.

“That is indeed the case.” Perec sighed softly, “But I did not come for you, Miss Hino.”

Hino found those words familiar and jarring, as if the Dark Witch Caraboss had said the same thing to her in the previous battle before being lured away from the main battlefield as a celestial calamity, leading to the subsequent tragedy. Although her choice at the time wasn't exactly wrong, and she had successfully destroyed one of the most powerful war machines in the Witch Society's arsenal, the Astral Apostle Alien Philosopher, inflicting losses on the enemy no less significant than the Dark Witch's demise, the knights of the Gostaff family still couldn't let it go.

She felt a pressing sense of responsibility. How could someone who held the key to victory relax so easily just because the outcome was predetermined? She had to do her best. If she were truly that powerful, or even more powerful, then Carapos's scheme wouldn't have succeeded, the battle for Suarez wouldn't have deteriorated, and Xia wouldn't have left everyone…

Ultimately, it all stems from one's own lack of ability.

Is the plague witch Perec now trying to repeat her old tricks?
However, there is no second Alien Philosopher...

The young knight narrowed her eyes slightly, a dangerous glint flashing in her wine-red pupils. Brandy seemed to sense her master's rising fighting spirit, exhaling a breath of excited heat from her nostrils, and also assumed a charging stance. On the salt-covered wasteland, the shadows of the man and his horse were stretched long, like knights from classic novels.

She wasn't the one who launched the first attack.

As the horse's breath gently swept across the scorching earth, the pure white salt crystals, unable to bear the weight, emitted a cracking sound—the first time in history—on the verge of shattering. The Plague Witch slowly spoke, silently uttering two words:

Do it.

As soon as she finished speaking, Xinuo felt a sudden chill on her ankles and wrists. Looking down, she saw four ethereal, misty gray-white chains silently coiling around her. The chains appeared gentle, yet they carried a bone-chilling cold, as if trying to tear away all her strength from her flesh and blood. The next moment, the salt sea, the distant legion, even Brandy's warm breath beside her—all vanished, and the scene before her abruptly changed.

She stood on a boundless wasteland.

The sky was a heavy, iron-gray, churning with ominous, thick clouds; the earth was cracked, littered with sand, gravel, and withered bones; the biting wind, sharp as a knife, slashed at her cheeks and neck with icy shards. Her magnificent knight's armor was gone, replaced by a rough, thin linen garment; the sacred lance, White Thorn, which had followed the knights of the Gostaff family through countless battles, had become a rusty, broken spear. All her strength vanished; her body felt heavy, her breath pungent with the stench of frozen earth, and her palms ached from gripping the rough spear shaft. Since regaining her memories and beginning to practice martial arts, Xino had never felt so weak, and her enemy was stronger than anyone had imagined. That was the storm and thunder brewing in the gray clouds, the relentless howling wind and cruel low temperatures on the wasteland, the gradually spreading winter and the snow slowly falling from above; even the earliest enemies of mortal life on this earth, those beasts and monsters that gained power long before they gained intelligence: the howls of wolves rose and fell in the wilderness, the arrogant roars of lions shook the earth, the barking of hawks and hounds echoed in the mountains, and above the sky, huge wings appeared and disappeared in the clouds...

Like the punishment of exile in ancient times, how do you face the cruel nature and the beasts that fight entirely on instinct, devouring their enemies for blood and flesh, when you are stripped of all your power?

The chill was biting, and hunger and weakness surged up like a tide.

Hino lowered her head, looking at her fingers that had turned white from the cold, and slowly tightened her grip on the ridiculous short spear.

—That's it?
A strange, almost absurd calm swept through her mind.

Do you want to display the majesty of nature before the knights of the Gostaff family? But don't forget that the history represented by this surname is a history of constant struggle against nature. The pioneer Vince Jean Gostaff was even the first person to conquer the unruly land of Grangenia. He brought agriculture and animal husbandry, handicrafts and workshops, as well as civilization and reason to this land. Afterwards, both humans and other races followed in the footsteps of the pioneers, gathered villages and built cities, and lived and multiplied on the land to this day.

So, if you ask a young girl what mortals should do when faced with the harshness of nature, she will definitely answer you like this—

Do as your ancestors did!
Facing the oncoming storm, rain, snow, and ferocious beasts, the young knight from the Gostaff family took a deep breath and threw forward without hesitation the only weapon she had left. Although it looked so simple and fragile that it seemed like it could break at any moment, it burst forth with an amazing aura in her hands, just like the ancient people who, even with stone axes and wooden bows, dared to challenge nature and successfully defeat and conquer it.

Courage, perseverance, and unwavering determination are the most powerful weapons for ordinary people.

The moment the short spear was thrown, it seemed as if branches of white thorn flowers twisted and coiled in the void, coalescing into the spearhead. The glory of the pioneers' surname and the inheritance of their bloodline made this spear disdainful of dodging, crashing headlong into the oncoming tidal wave. The confrontation between the two was indescribable; it was more like a beam of light tearing apart a frozen scroll. Before the spear of a mortal, the storm vanished, the frost melted away, and the wild beasts fled in panic, as if they had encountered their natural enemy, running towards the other side of wildness without looking back.

The knights of House Gostaff, like their ancestors, once again triumphed over the cruelty of nature.

A series of cracking sounds rang out, and the illusion shattered in an instant, as if a million pieces of glass had exploded simultaneously. A piercing shriek echoed at the boundary between reality and illusion. Above the salt sea, the space that had been forcibly torn apart rippled with a ghastly white light, and Xinuo's wrist, which was holding the gun, trembled slightly. The invisible chains binding it broke inch by inch, turning into dust and dissipating.

She opened her eyes.

The reflection in her wine-red pupils was no longer of Pereira's lonely figure, but of an unbelievable face.

"How is this possible? They broke free from the constraints of the 'original arbitration law' so easily..."

This burly man, draped in animal skins and wearing a wolf's head helmet, was the epitome of a traditional barbarian, much like Edwin, the bard from the land of burial. Yet, etched on his chest was an insignia of intersecting short blades. Hino's eyes narrowed slightly as he recognized it as the symbol of the Imperial Black Blade Legion.

It is said that during the war in which the Yalas Empire conquered the province of Atoliga, it not only encountered fierce resistance from the local forces, but also the participation of the barbarian tribes, who had always been resistant to civilized regimes. Their elusive tactics and fearless fighting style caused the empire considerable trouble. Moreover, the barbarians at that time possessed profound resources, including demigod-level combat power and a mysteriously effective relic, which led to the deaths of many powerful figures in the empire.

However, in terms of inherent strength, the Empire was second to none among the nations of this continent. Therefore, as the war progressed, the situation irreversibly deteriorated. Unexpectedly, the barbarian demigod seized the sacred relic passed down through generations of his tribe and shamelessly defected to the Empire. It is said that the Imperial army later, with a rather twisted sense of humor, dispatched him to the province of Atoliga to supervise and guard his former people—presumably the man before us. And the "primitive arbitration law" he mentioned—could it be that mysterious and eerie sacred relic of legend?
Hino noticed that the barbarian man's wrists and ankles were wrapped with rusty chains, exactly the same as the chains that had bound her earlier, and realized that it was probably the relic itself. In fact, she was right. This relic, called "Primitive Arbitration Law," came from an ancient and barbaric tradition in the barbarian tribe: for those who committed unforgivable crimes, after a vote by the tribe, all their possessions would be stripped away, leaving them only with a thin garment and a fragile short spear, and they would be exiled to the wilderness to face the cruel nature, wild beasts, other races, and even the malice of monsters. Those who suffered this punishment had no chance of survival.

This cruel punishment has not been abolished to this day. For thousands of years, sinners who suffered this punishment and died from storms, cold, or even from the jaws of wild beasts have contributed their resentment and anger to this sacred relic, giving it a similar effect: stripping those trapped in illusions of all power. If they cannot break free by their own will, they will fall into eternal slumber before the forces of nature, enduring eternal torment.

However, from now on, no one will ever die from such cruel punishment again.

The chains on the barbarian demigod's wrists and ankles crumbled inch by inch, turning into dust and scattering, signifying that this sacred relic born from ancient sin and punishment had been utterly destroyed, with no possibility of ever reappearing in the world. Upon realizing this, the other's first reaction was not anger, but terror; he looked at Xino as if he were looking at an indescribable monster.

With just one shot, a powerful relic was destroyed.

What on earth is going on with this guy?! (End of Chapter)