Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 711 Remembrance and Inspiration

About a week later, the main force stationed at the Ice Sea front began to return to the capital. Soon after, more soldiers accepted the order to rotate and take on the task of guarding the Ice Sea and resolutely went to distant places.

News of the Northern Army's victory over the alien race in the counter-offensive quickly spread throughout Starfire City.

For the vast majority of people living here, few have actually faced these rumored terrifying enemies. No matter how brutal and cruel the war is, it still cannot bring them much shock and fear compared to the struggles and conflicts that often broke out in the surrounding areas and within Saint Valencia in the past.

The Northern army remained invincible, and the capital city, isolated north of the Godridge Mountains, was a paradise that would never fall.

Only the families of soldiers who returned from the war could piece together, from the fragments of words spoken by those who had endured the bloodshed and hardship, the difficulty of their victory... The enemy's cruelty and ruthlessness, their fearless charges, and their sheer number of tens of thousands were simply incomparable to the Southern nobles and the Papal Inquisition Army. Even though the vast majority of the capital's citizens no longer chose to follow the Church, some would still associate these northern barbarians with the devils from hell in their minds, and regard them as the most powerful enemy the kingdom would face in the next hundred years.

The people neither fear them nor despise them... This is exactly what Harvey and his government most wanted to see.

As for the great battle in which high-level spellcasters besieged the alien evolved humans, it was exaggerated into an unprecedented legendary battle under the deliberate propaganda of the emperor and the military propaganda department... The evolved humans were depicted as prehistoric monsters as huge as mountains, wielding destructive lightning, and able to spew out highly poisonous and foul-smelling black water with a wave of their hand or mouth, making it impossible for ordinary soldiers to fight against them.

Fortunately, there were still the mage warbands who always stood at the forefront of humanity's resistance against the alien races. It was because of the spellcasters' fearless fighting and their willingness to sacrifice themselves that even such a powerful enemy was defeated and annihilated.

This battle quickly became the hottest topic of discussion among the people of the capital. Everyone realized that... relying solely on ordinary soldiers or a small number of spellcasters would not be enough to win against the alien enemy. Only by uniting as one, and only by uniting as one, could they truly defeat their opponents and protect their hard-won good life!
……

The Propaganda Department's Spark Weekly published three consecutive supplementary editions, vigorously promoting the entire process of the battle with a prominent front-page headline. The newspaper's inner pages also contained a large number of battlefield logs written by frontline soldiers, restoring the details of the entire battle from various perspectives.

Although the traditional victory parade has not yet been held, and many soldiers and officers who have won merits in the battle have not yet had time to receive their awards, Ash, the propaganda minister with his keen sense of smell, has already obtained a document from Harvey in advance, ordering his "penmen" to conduct interviews and collect information, and to publicize and establish the heroes of this battle.

Whether it was an ordinary soldier of humble origins, a battle mage of noble status, or even a logistics personnel who had always been obscure in the Northern Army, they were all brought to life and presented as valuable figures through their writings. This propaganda method, officially endorsed by the government, undoubtedly greatly aroused the public's enthusiasm and brought the prestige of the New Union and the military to an unprecedented height.

Within just a few days, public opinion had been stirred up, leading to an explosive surge in young men in the capital joining the army. The slogan, "Defend the country from the enemy, serve His Majesty the Emperor, and fight for the people's peaceful life," quickly became popular throughout the country thanks to the efforts of those who were interested.

Meanwhile, teenagers who are not yet of enlistment age quickly shift their future development goals to becoming spellcasters. A large number of students attending public colleges began to seek the path of applying to spellcaster colleges, catching the spellcaster college admissions offices, which were already somewhat deserted due to their strict selection criteria, off guard.

……

At almost the same time, a group of high-ranking government and military officials in Xinghuo City held a solemn ceremony to commemorate the fallen in an unusually low-key manner.

Although many mid-to-high-level mages who followed the three leaders of the Federation to Starfire City privately expressed before their departure that if they were to die in battle, they hoped to be buried in the Martyrs' Cemetery in the southern suburbs of the capital, just like ordinary soldiers, and that having their names engraved on the Heroes' Monument in front of the new Federation building would be an extra honor, many of them hadn't even left a will before their departure. It was only through the efforts of Andri Weiss, the commander of the Blackrock City Legion who led them to the North, that they were able to compile old versions of their wills from their time in the Evilmoon Mountains, which were then used as eulogies for today's funeral ceremony... Many of their speeches were the same old clichés from years ago, and their public recitation made the originally somber atmosphere somewhat humorous and comical.

Ultimately, with the unanimous approval of Emperor Harvey and the three chiefs... the spellcasters who died in the battle were not given the same treatment as those buried in the martyrs' cemetery. Instead, they were buried in a small, tree-lined, flower-filled cemetery in a semi-open park behind the new Federation building.

This "differential treatment" did not provoke dissatisfaction among the other spellcasters; on the contrary, they expressed gratitude and approval for the extra attention and respect shown by His Majesty the Emperor and the kingdom's high-ranking officials.

The public will spontaneously go to the monument to pay their respects and observe a moment of silence, and as colleagues... they also need a quiet place to remember their former comrades who fought side by side without being disturbed.

However, neither the Martyrs' Cemetery in the southern suburbs nor the current Garden Cemetery buried the remains of the fallen in the soil below... Due to the limited transport capacity of airships and teleportation arrays, the remains of most of the victims were cremated on the spot, and their ashes were collected and sent back to the capital. If interested people wanted to learn about their life stories, they could only go to the exhibition hall under the Heroes' Monument and find the contents recording their honors and achievements in a thick stack of sealed documents.

"Attention, all! Salute!" The frontline commander in charge of the ceremony, Vaughn, dressed in a brand-new all-black military uniform with a snow-white frost flower pinned to his chest, led the funeral proceedings in a loud and methodical manner.

After the military ceremony was completed, Fran McCauley, the head of affairs for the New Union, stepped forward and began another set of memorial rituals for his fallen comrades, following the ancient traditions of the spellcasters.

"May the souls of our loyal companions find peace under the glory of truth and wisdom..."

"May your magic circle return to the magic net, illuminating the path for those who follow..."

"May your oath of protection endure forever, and may the brilliance of mystery and the elements never fade!"

In silence, the spellcasters raised their hands, and under the watchful eyes of the other mortal high-ranking officials and officers, they alternately clasped them together at their chests... Clusters of pure white light, representing pure magic, gathered in front of each of them, paused for a moment, and then rose into the sky, eventually disappearing into the bright summer sun.

After the ceremony, Fa Dun glanced at the calm-looking emperor and asked in a low voice, "Does Your Majesty have any further instructions?"

This was Harvey's first time participating in a spellcaster's funeral ceremony, but he didn't find it novel. He simply nodded silently and slowly said, "Today, those who bravely died fighting for humanity against the alien race, your names will be forever engraved on the monument to heroes, and your achievements will live on forever... Humanity will never forget you!"

Everyone was jolted, and they echoed in unison, "Humanity will never forget!"

(End of this chapter)