Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

In addition, there are some more ordinary things, such as mattresses and quilts made of some animal fur, and clothes piled in the ice closet that look very rough and original in color.

"Wizards actually live in such a terrible place? The things they use don't look that good either... So the Hyperborean civilization actually has a spirit of asceticism?"

Before this, based on the impression she got from storybooks, Lunisia had always believed that the Hyperboreans had accumulated countless wealth with their wizarding skills and lived an extravagant life. What she saw now was somewhat shocking to her nerves.

"So it's not actually like that. This isn't where wizards live."

Ella picked up the lantern and looked inside, as if she was looking for something, but to no avail. She stepped out of the house again, and then led her two companions to another ice house that looked much larger. She repeated her previous actions, casually cutting the sealed ice door in half and using the lantern in her hand to illuminate the inside - but the area of ​​this house was much larger than the previous one, and this lantern alone was obviously not enough, so Ella placed her palm on a wall at the door and cast "light magic" on it to expand the lighting range.

Unlike the previous house, which was easily seen as a residential house, this one looked a little confusing. It looked like a severely damaged hall, similar to a chapel or a meeting room, with only some scattered ice sculptures and no signs of life. However, there was one thing that was quite eye-catching: a staircase leading directly to the underground was located in the middle of the hall. I don't know what its function was.

"That is?"

"...slaves. These are probably the buildings used by slaves."

"Slave, slave..."

Lunicia was stunned by the overly explicit term.

For Lunicia, the class of slaves is too far away - Zerhal has never experienced slavery since its founding. Even for most countries in the Western Continent, slavery does not exist in their history. Going back further, perhaps to the ancient times of the Fourth Calendar, many intelligent races were still subordinate races of dragons and giants. The so-called "subordinate races" are no different from slaves in the eyes of modern intelligent species.

This does not mean that Lunisia knew nothing about slaves and slavery. The magic kingdom of Nasaran was a country that pursued a policy of slavery and class segregation. The history of Mu Continent - and even the history of magic and mankind - has always been inseparable from this overly glorious magic country. They established a civilization at the pinnacle of magic based on a system that seemed extremely backward to the world. This contradiction is still talked about by historians today.

It now seems that although one is located in the ice field of the far north and the other is located in the rich land of the continent, there is some unspeakable commonality between the two magical civilizations.

"The wizard tower in the middle should be the residence of the wizards. The houses around it are built by the slaves of the wizard in the wizard tower for themselves. Perhaps because of this, the scale seems to be neither too large nor too small. This may prove that there are not many wizards in the wizard tower... maybe even only one."

"Slaves, are they the private property of wizards?"

"Well, almost."

Ella answered Ashlee's question nonchalantly.

"Nasaran divides slaves and citizens based on their magical talents, with magicians and non-magicians as the upper and lower levels. So how does Hyperion distinguish between slaves and non-slaves?"

This question didn't sound very relevant to the current exploration. It seemed that it was only to satisfy Ashetherin's own curiosity, and it was somewhat tricky. After all, the content of the question directly touched on something little known about Hyperborean society. Even so, Ella didn't seem to have any resistance to it. She just led the two into the illuminated room and said:

"Most of the time, by bloodline. Sometimes, by the will of the great wizard."

"Huh? Just based on bloodline?"

This answer surprised Lunicia.

Although she scoffed at Nasaran's slavery, in comparison, at least in her opinion, even Nasaran's magic-only theory sounded more reliable than determining whether one was a citizen or a slave by bloodline.

"Yes, Lady Luna. Children of citizens are citizens, children of slaves are slaves, children of citizens and citizens are citizens, children of slaves and slaves are slaves, and children of citizens and slaves are also slaves. Children of citizens can become slaves, but conversely, it is almost impossible for children of slaves to become citizens. Of course, the only citizens are wizards."

This sounds somewhat incredible.

According to Lunicia's understanding, magical talent is not necessarily hereditary - the children of magicians are not magicians, but families without magical talent have children with high magical affinity. Both situations are not uncommon. It is precisely because of this that the magicians of Nasaran finally chose to pursue the supremacy of magical ability. Without magical talent, even biological children will not have any citizen rights. Conversely, magicians who are looking for heirs will often go to the slaves to screen undiscovered seedlings and promote them to citizens, that is, magic apprentices.

In this case, how can the Hyperboreans ensure smooth inheritance if their descendants are incapable?

"After all, a magician is a profession, not a race, right? Like centaurs or dragons... they should rely on a combination of talent and training, right? It really won't work without talent, right?"

“It should be like this.”

Ella did not comment, but then said:

"However, the wizards of the Northern Territory can turn non-wizards...people without magical talent...into 'gifted' people at will. So they don't need to think about anything too complicated. If their offspring don't have talent, they can force them to have talent. It's no big deal for them."

"..."

For a moment, both Ashlee and Lunisia fell into silence.

Ashlee satisfied her curiosity - Lunicia was simply speechless, and she didn't know how to comment on it.

"However, I heard that some slaves can be promoted from slaves to citizens through 'special achievements'... I don't know the details, maybe it's just a rumor. And if there are no special circumstances, no matter how strong a slave's talent is, he will only be a slave..."

Ella paused.

"Unless he is strong enough to destroy the entire Hyperborean nation by himself? Probably."

Then he paused again.

"But these are not my rules. They are probably stipulated by Hyperborean...laws? Traditions?

"Uh, I know?"

After all, she was just a girl who looked almost an adult.

"There is still a problem with this machine."

"You have so many questions. What are they?"

"What's down here?"

Moving down the steps carved out of ice, the light of the lantern gradually illuminated the dark space below. Fortunately, there were some things that looked like torches and candles fixed on the ice shelves on both sides. Ella only needed to touch them lightly with a flint or shoot a "flame arrow" to light them up, so that the group would not be left behind by the re-spreading darkness. However, as they moved downwards, the humidity seemed to increase, and the surroundings became colder, and with it came a smell that was really not pleasant - this time it was a real smell, not some messy "atmosphere".

As Ashetherin asked, the stairs extended downwards and reached a relay station-like surface that was also carved out of ice. No, it should be said that this was a cave dug out between ice blocks, but it was divided into more than one layer, and Lunisia and her group were now at the entrance of one of the layers.

Continuing to walk inside, we came to a strange area: it was divided into several compartments by solid ice fences. Most of the compartments were empty now, with only the increasingly clear strange smell remaining. In a few compartments, one could see some daily necessities made of the same material as those seen in the previous ice house... fragments, or residues?

"The ranch—maybe."

"Can't be sure?"

"I just have a general understanding, but I don't know everything."

If the person asking the question was not Lunicia but Ashtherin, Ella's attitude would be visibly worse - of course, this slightly impatient attitude was better than the coldness and fake business smile she showed to real strangers.

And Lunicia's attention was drawn to the fragments.

"A ranch? It looks like they're raising... um... some kind of insects?"

"That's probably it. I heard that the slaves in Zhongbei would collect shells from some giant insects as materials."

The group continued going down. This floor also seemed to be made up of several fences. However, the difference was that the smell here was a little different from the one above, and the things left in the fences were no longer broken shells, but some kind of hair. Of course, it should not be human hair.

"Let me guess, there's some kind of animal here."

"For skinning? For collecting hair? These things are indeed indispensable to the people of the frigid zone."

Carved out of ice and built underground, such a building seemed to have nothing to do with exquisiteness, but Lunisia was surprised to find that not only was the air not polluted, as if there was some kind of good ventilation system in operation, but the ice above their heads also emitted a bright blue light, like some special fluorescence, which kept the underground "pasture" illuminated at all times. These seemed to be the reasons why Hyperborean slaves could open pastures underground without worrying about factors such as epidemics.

And at the next level down, Lunisia figured out the source of that light.

Grooves were dug on the ice, and then dark black soil was laid in the grooves. A variety of plants grew on the soil, including lush mosses like meadows, mushrooms growing on mycelium, and primitive ferns. The most eye-catching of them was a blue fungus with a huge plant and a broad cap, the tallest of which looked almost two people tall. Some kind of translucent blue resin-like substance grew above and below the cap of this mushroom, emitting a light blue light.

"Let me guess—this is a farm?"

"An Austrian fern, some unidentified fungi, and—a giant flamingo? This machine should collect some samples for analysis."

"Well, just as Lady Luna judged, this should be an underground farm, used to produce what these slaves need..."

While Ella was explaining, Ashatherine had already entered the farms and started collecting samples of the things inside, including vegetation, fungi, soil, and fungal mats - cutting off a small part with her fingertips and throwing it into the small lid that opened on her wrist. Then, a buzzing sound came from inside the body made of the mechanism, and no one knew what magical process was going on.

"Let me guess. These ferns are edible. And those giant fluorescent mushrooms...the light emitted from the ice wall should be collected from here. What's the use of these mosses?"

"Hmm... to create oxygen? ... as feed?"

"The test results are out."

"So fast!"

"What kind of test did you use, you..."

"That kind of machine can be easily reproduced. Ferns and mosses are common, and giant phosphorus fire pot neck mushrooms are also common. There are non-toxic edible species of fungi, and some categories with other benefits. Individual Ashtherin speculated that they might be used for medicine or poison making. Overall, there is nothing special."

"Although he is a slave, he is also the slave of the Hyperborean wizard. But it seems that there is nothing special about him?"

"It won't be anything special. After all, they are just slaves."

As she said these words, Ella's face showed an expression that was somewhat relaxed and a bit dazed.

"So, why did Ella come here? From the perspective of this machine, there is nothing special here. There are no clues or items of unique value."

While asking this question, Ashlee picked a few clumps of mushrooms from the farm and dug out a large piece of luminous organ from a phosphorescent pot neck mushroom. No one knew how she managed to store all these things.

Walking out of the underground farm and back to the ground, the cold wind blowing in from outside made Lunicia shrink her neck - although there were no heating facilities underground, the relatively closed environment was better than the completely exposed outside world. But looking at Ella beside her, she seemed to be completely unaware of the temperature difference. Even though she was wearing leather armor that was definitely not very warm, the surroundings did not seem to be the extreme cold of the north, but the pleasant sea breeze of the south of Mu Continent.

"On the one hand, since this is a pasture, we might be able to find some living creatures. If there are still survivors in Hyperborean, they will probably only appear in areas with abundant resources, except for places like the Mage Tower..."

The result was naturally nothing. Perhaps plants could be considered life, but animals, whether fur animals or insects raised in the pastures, or the humans who were originally responsible for raising them, those slaves of the North, had long disappeared, leaving only a few traces of them here.

"What about the other side?"

Lunicia looked over curiously.

"on the other hand……"

Ella narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the Mage Tower not far away. However, what she saw was not the giant tower made of solid ice, just like her mind drifted to an unknown distance, instead of staying here, staying in this seemingly ambiguous land.

"I want to verify... whether the knowledge I have learned is true..."

Chapter 24: Cold Pavilion (Part 1)

Nothing false.

The touch of ice crystals, the weight of snowflakes, the whistling of the cold wind, the temperature of death, this dead world - and the wizard tower, it's like a maze with no end, nightmares will not be used for awakening moments, just like night after night is still night, dawn is just a word that exists in fantasy, yes, everything is so real. It's not an illusion, not a dream scene, this is Hyperborean, the land of death abandoned by the god of death, just like it appears in every nightmare.

They all corresponded to what he knew, the ice field, the wizard tower, and the slaves' huts.

These are only a small part of what this long-destroyed country has revealed. There are many secrets that are still unknown to the public, and also unknown to these lost travelers, buried deep in the ice field, such as the way for them to return to the southern continent smoothly, and the unknown truth of the End of the Northern War.

Its cause, its process, and its end.

Even if it seems that nothing is left on this land, those abominable marks will remain forever like bones.

As for Ella Hepper, there is one thing she still hasn't figured out.

He met the savior he had longed for, and was accepted by a girl named Lunesia, who he had never expected. Together with another travel companion he didn't like so much, the three of them set out on a journey together - until now, with the crash of the "Restraint Ship Gleipnir", they came to this ice country that seemed to appear only in nightmares.

Was he struggling to escape from the nightmare, or was he just standing still in the center of the vortex?

This was exactly the question her subconscious mind asked, and her conscious mind kept telling her to stop and never think about such things. After all, this was tantamount to a sin of disrespect, a crime she feared the most, could not accept the most, and could not tolerate the most, which meant her disloyalty and questioning of the "Savior".

After all, in her cognition, in those memories that were equivalent to the cursed knowledge, she knew that as long as she was by the side of the Savior, as long as she became her property, she would be redeemed...

From that deep nightmare... from the bottom of the valley... from the bloody quagmire...

From the memories that belonged only to her.

So it should not be questioned.

Wandering in the same place was just an illusion... Yes... It was like this... I was indeed moving forward, following the words of promise, moving towards the deserved ending, at the side of the savior... Using the key given by the curse to open the lock set by the curse... It had to be like this.

"Ella...?"

But, she was worried.

Lunicia, who was called "Savior-sama", was now looking at her with a slightly worried look.

Every time Ella looked absent-minded, Lunicia would show her concern and worry like now. She didn't like to put on a show, and pretending to care was always not detailed enough, but Ella seemed to prefer that she was putting on a show. Her subconscious mind hoped so, but her sober mind decisively denied this idea. After all, it meant denying the will of the savior. However, if she didn't deny it -

Every time Lunicia showed such emotions, Ella couldn't help but feel disgusted and hate herself.

Why did you make her look like that?

Isn’t this the worst kind of dereliction of duty – Miss Possession?

"No, it's nothing, Master Luna."

So, she put on a fake smile and pretended that she was fine, which at least made Lunisia feel at ease. The change in her expression was too natural, as if she was just absent-minded for a moment and there was no other problem. So although she instinctively sensed that something was wrong, Lunisia could not hear Ella Hepper's heartbeat.

Heart sound... the sound of the heart... the most sincere emotion. Sometimes Ella would doubt whether she really had such a thing, but because it was insignificant, she would always put this question aside until the next time such an opportunity came.

Would it be easier if not?

Sometimes, I even have such thoughts.

"I was just thinking, since there is no deviation in the knowledge about slaves, then there should be no problem with the possible methods of returning to Mu Continent."

"Hmm? I don't think there will be any problem. After all, there is no good plan anyway. Ella knows more about Hyperborean, so it is better to listen to Ella's advice."

However, every time this happened, Ella always tended to overlook one thing.

Off to the side, in a corner that she seldom paid attention to, a pair of golden pupils were staring at her quietly.

"But unfortunately, this is not a city, but just an independent wizard tower and its ancillary buildings. What is Lady Luna's plan?"

"Me? It might be dangerous, but since there is a wizard tower here..."

"I want to explore. Is this machine's judgment correct?"

Ashlee took over the second half of the sentence. Not from a utilitarian point of view, but trying to judge where Lunisia's interests lie. She considers herself a machine, but it seems that sometimes she can't help but try to guess other people's "thoughts", something she doesn't think she has.