Does the mechanical girl dream of the Messiah?

The Kingdom of Hyperborea completely disappeared from the world after this battle.

All the wizard towers, research institutes and observatories built overseas sank into the ground in the continuous earthquakes or turned into ruins for other bizarre reasons. Those wizards who were unable to return to Hyperborean during the war also disappeared overnight. Some people tried to find the traces they left before their disappearance, but the results were either tragic, death or madness, or nothing, and they could only conclude that they had disappeared from the world out of thin air.

The Hyperborean continent completely lost its original appearance after the war. Only about two-thirds of the land could barely maintain its original outline, and the remaining one-third had only two fates: completely evaporated or completely shattered. The largest shattering even involved the northern part of the Eden continent. The originally intact coastline was affected and gradually collapsed into completely inaccessible ice and snow cliffs, eventually forming a strange circular bay.

This sea area is covered with abnormal ice, terrifying twisted ghosts and deformed monsters roaming on the sea, and coupled with the abnormal weather, ships cannot pass at all. It is called the "Fist of Ithaca".

From then on, no one could set foot on the land called Hyperborean continent.

This is the origin of the second "abandoned land" in the world after the Southern Antarctic.

Sounds like the end, doesn't it?

In fact, this is just the beginning.

The end of the Hyperberian War, the disappearance of the Hyperberian Kingdom, and the shattering of the Hyperberian continent, all of this did not just happen in that abandoned land.

The impact of the war immediately swept the entire world after the Storm Wall disappeared. Not only did a terrifyingly strong cold wave directly hit the northern part of the world, but more completely bizarre and incomprehensible disasters were also occurring. For those countries located in the south, inland, or with sufficient national strength, the situation was still acceptable. However, for those small coastal countries in the north, the scale of the disaster had reached a point where it was completely unstoppable.

The Principality of Lanmen is one of those countries that cannot afford the disaster.

The tornado and the extremely cold air directly attacked the Principality of Lanmen. Even though the ruling Grand Duke Helding joined forces with the local Church of the Goddess of Death to resist, they could not avoid the end of destruction.

Wherever the tornado brought with it the cold current, heavy snow fluttered, and the streets and buildings were completely frozen in an instant. The living had no room to resist this completely unreasonable terror, and could only flee with all their might under the guidance of the survivors of the church. Even so, in the Duchy of Lanmen, a duchy with a population of millions, only a few thousand people managed to escape.

The displaced victims had nowhere to go and could only wander aimlessly on the land of the Lamenesian Peninsula in the cold wind. Ernest Logolides led one of them.

"Mr. Ernest and Ms. Elida didn't abandon them..."

After listening to Ernest's narration, Lunicia couldn't even think of what to say for a moment.

They tried their best to do everything they could. They could have abandoned these refugees and taken the initiative to seek refuge with the Church of the Goddess of Death in other places, but they did not do so in the end. Even so, no one could give them the "goodwill they deserved", and even just having enough to eat became a huge problem.

"We are the lambs of the goddess of death and ice... The goddess taught us that we cannot let others die. This is a cowardly act. We cannot provide them with food and shelter. We can only guide them like we are now... and take them forward until one day they find their home."

"I saw people from other countries here." Ashlee blinked. "Judging from their physical characteristics, and the testimony of the bakery owner, there should be people from the Principality of Prossi and the Huiloni region here. What's going on with them?"

Hearing this, Ernest smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Plosi was hit by a major earthquake, and the earthquake caused a tsunami, which directly submerged the Principality of Prosi and the Principality of Huiloni. Their situation... is not much better than Lanmen."

"But why are they in the same team? When food is scarce, an increase in population will not bring more benefits, but will become a burden instead."

"This is also the teaching of the goddess." Elida did not blame Ashetherin, but explained softly, "Everyone is equal in the face of death. Since they asked for help, according to the doctrine, we cannot ignore it. What we should do is to find a way to let them live together, instead of giving up on them."

These were undoubtedly correct arguments, but the more she listened, the more uncomfortable Lunicia felt.

If there is no way to change the current situation, everyone will just starve to death.

"This isn't going to work. Even if I spend all the money I have left on buying bread, the bakeries in the city probably won't have that much..."

"We are also trying to find a solution..." Ernest nodded. "If we were allowed to leave here, we could organize our compatriots to reclaim the wasteland, or go to the city to work. But unfortunately, the city hall does not allow us to leave this ruin."

"Well... I have an idea."

After pondering for a long time, Lunicia slammed her palm.

"I wonder what method is used?"

"I went to bang on the door of City Hall and demanded a reasonable solution."

"……well?"

Chapter 16 Relief (Part 6)

Even with the example of the high-end residential area of ​​Pars, Lunicia still felt that the Town Hall was undoubtedly the most imposing building in the entire Nosavi, without a doubt.

Although it can be vaguely seen that the architectural styles of the two buildings were created by the same designer, it is obvious that one has an elegant charm while the other has a majestic physique, and the final experience it brings to the viewer is naturally completely different.

The five-story building gradually decreases from the first floor to the top, forming a spire-like image, and the area of ​​the bottom floor is large enough to give the viewer the most direct visual momentum. The entire building is obviously not carved out of marble, but the exterior is covered with a layer of marble walls with reliefs, which are not traditional religious sculptures, but historical sculptures about the history of Muirand, which try to render a sense of solemnity.

The entire town hall uses transparent glass as the window material. In addition, the front of the town hall is inlaid with a huge stained glass panel with the national emblem of Muirand: raspberry rose, oleander, iris and purple pansy are distributed in the four corners, and the middle is divided by a cross made of gold lines. Below the national emblem of Muirand is the national emblem of the Principality of Mariai, or the coat of arms of the Ivanov family: a red eagle with a single wing and a single claw.

There are towers at the four corners of the building for monitoring the area below. The towers are shaped like guns. Together with the armed guards standing guard on the towers and the crossbows, it is easy to make people think that no strangers are allowed in. It is naturally very effective in deterring villains.

Of course, these things undoubtedly couldn't scare Lunicia.

She just held Ashlee's hand and walked towards the main entrance of the city hall openly, completely ignoring the surprised looks of others on the road.

However, this advance did not last long.

"Wait, the road ahead is closed. If you continue forward, you will be detained."

Two iron spears suddenly crossed in front of Lunicia, and the soldiers standing guard at the gate of the city hall stopped Lunicia without hesitation - they were completely different from the garrison Lunicia had seen in Shuichequ. If those were just scoundrels wearing shabby equipment and doing the job just for another salary, then the ones in front of them were serious soldiers, and from their equipment, spirit and physique, it could be seen that they were undoubtedly good hands in the barracks.

The soldier who spoke had no expression on his face, and was as cold as the wind blowing in the snow. He held his gun and pointed to the other side of the road: "If you need to handle business, go to the office over there. This is the city government office, and outsiders are not allowed to enter."

"Idle people are waiting..."

As Lunicia muttered this word, her expression turned even uglier.

Ashlee reminded quietly: "Don't be impulsive."

"Well, don't be impulsive - we are not here to handle business, let us go in."

Of course, the guard didn't seem to have any intention of letting her go, and just kept holding his spear in front of Lunicia: "No matter what the reason, you are not allowed to enter without a pass. Whatever you are here for, please go back."

"What if I want to see the city lord?"

The expressionless guard did not respond. However, another guard answered Lunicia: "You can also go to the office across the street to make an appointment. Just say you want to meet the mayor."

"Appointment..." Lunicia was stunned. She didn't expect there was such a thing. "If I make an appointment, how long will it take to see the city lord?"

Upon hearing this question, the guard who had answered earlier couldn't help but sneer.

"Who knows? The city lord hasn't accepted a request for an interview for a long time. Maybe in three to five years, when your Excellency is in a better mood, he might pick one out of the hundreds of petitions and take a look at it?"

"what?!"

Lunicia was so angry that she almost jumped up from the ground.

"Alright, no matter what the reason is, we can't let you pass." The guard snorted coldly, and waved the tip of his gun forward with the expressionless guard. "If you don't leave, you will be imprisoned in the dungeon in the name of obstructing public affairs. Why don't you leave now?"

Just when he thought that the girl in front of him, who seemed to be playing a knight game, would definitely give up and go back to her parents to complain and not cause them any more trouble, he saw an incredible scene.

The girl in front of him was only about 170 cm tall, not strong, and even a little thin by adventurer's standards. The giant sword on her back looked more like a work of art and fitness equipment than a weapon. She was actually holding two iron spears in each hand.

The guards' expressions changed immediately. They were preparing to pull the spears out of the opponent's hands and fight back to subdue him, but they were shocked to find that even though they pulled with all their strength, the spears did not move at all in the opponent's hands.

This is not the end yet - right in front of the two guards, the seemingly frail girl actually began to use both hands to forcibly bend the iron-cast spear barrels, and then twisted them hard, turning the two shiny silver spears into two spirally bent iron twists.

"Sorry, this is a matter of life and death."

Although Lunicia explained this softly, the two guards, who felt they had hit a wall, didn't care about that. In their minds, they had already defined the other party as an extremely dangerous terrorist who wanted to break into the city hall and kill people. They immediately entered combat mode, preparing to ring the alarm to ask for help from the security team, while reaching for the hilt of the sword, ready to draw the sword and engage in close combat with the other party.

Seeing that the two people in front of her were not going to retreat, Lunicia gave up the idea of ​​using words to convince them, clenched her fists, and prepared to subdue them with fighting - she did not intend to draw out the "Avenger". After all, the current situation did not require her to kill the other party. Lunicia still adhered to the concept of committing less killing.

As for Ashatherine, she couldn't say a word from beginning to end. She could only step back silently, looking at the strange situation with a subtle expression.

Just when the two sides were on the verge of fighting at any time, a slightly hoarse male voice squeezed in.

"What are you guys...doing here?"

Both Lunicia and the guards turned their gazes away involuntarily.

He was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man with short black hair, a short beard, and indigo eyes.

Of course, his appearance was not worthy of attention to Lunicia. The key point was his dress: a fur windbreaker made of dragon lizard leather and fire rat fur, with patterns of lions and eagles embroidered with gold thread, and gold thorn edges. He wore a cat's eye necklace with a silver base around his neck, a large luminous stone brooch on his clothes, and an exquisitely shaped leather belt around his waist, with a gold-plated dagger in a sheath hanging on it. His whole body was full of luxury.

"Lord City Lord! Please don't——"

Lunisia quickly pinched the guard's face with one hand, making him unable to speak: "Excuse me, Mr. City Lord, I hope to talk to you about the refugees in the North District."

“…That’s possible.”

Count Nikita Kuridel was not afraid. He just looked at Lunitia in confusion, then asked the guards to retreat with one hand and gave an affirmative gesture with the other.

Chapter 17 There is only one request that cannot be met

Nikita didn't seem to care much about Lunicia's opinion. After leading her into the mayor's office on the top floor of the city hall, he sat down on the sofa by himself. He didn't intend to invite Lunicia and Ashatherine to sit down together, nor did he intend to treat them with tea and snacks. He looked quite casual and unfocused.

Lunicia looked around the office - of course, the official term was the office, after all, compared to a "room", the scale of this place was undoubtedly more appropriately described as a "hall" - but everything here did not bring much impression to Lunicia. After all, to her, these seemingly magnificent arrangements, with tables and chairs made of precious wood inlaid with gold, huge crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, and transparent glass that almost replaced the front wall, were completely incomparable to the place where she used to live, the hall called the Central Cathedral.

Except for not being able to see the outside world, for Lunicia, that place was a truly magnificent residence like the Kingdom of God. Everything before her was too vulgar and boring, making her feel unbearable.

"You just said... you wanted to talk about... the refugee issue, right?"

"Yes." Lunixia nodded seriously, "They can hardly even eat now. As the mayor of the city, shouldn't you say something?"

"What do you mean... um..." Nikita tapped his temple with his index finger, then raised his head and glanced at Lunicia. "Before that, let me ask you, um, who are you? You can't say anything to someone whose origins are unknown. This is also natural."

"The holy warrior of the Radiant Temple, Lunicia Agris."

This was one of the reasons why Lunicia came here on her own initiative - as an official member of the church, she had the power to question the local government's inaction on issues such as refugee relief, and report the situation to the higher church.

In the refugee policy implemented by the Gods' Court, people from destroyed countries are assigned to local governments by the refugee bureaus of each country, and then resettled in cities by local governments. Local towns such as Shuichequ cannot be used as refugee resettlement sites in principle, because the Gods' Court has no trust in the security environment and level of xenophobia in rural areas around the world. In order to ensure the most basic personal safety of refugees, they will in principle be resettled near cities, and supplies will follow a similar distribution process.

Since the Divine Court provides a certain degree of assistance to countries willing to accept refugees, the priests, pastors, and holy warriors under the Divine Court have the right to supervise the entire process. If they find problems in the process, they can question them and ask the person in charge to respond. If the question is reasonable and the person in charge cannot give a suitable answer, they can report it to the responsible department of the higher-level government, or report it in writing to the Divine Court to apply for intervention.

"Yeah, yeah, that's how it is."

Nikita nodded casually and continued, "You said it's a problem of not having enough food. You mean, um, you can't eat, right?"

"Yes." Although the other party was just repeating Lunicia's question, she still replied patiently, "The refugees don't have enough food, and they don't have reliable shelter from the wind and cold in this weather. There are also young children and the elderly among them. They won't be able to bear it if things continue like this."

Hearing this, Nikita nodded seriously, as if he was listening carefully to Lunicia's opinion.

"The city hall has set up a special refugee workroom and is transporting enough food to the dangerous northern area every day."

He emphasized the words "enough" and "dangerous", but it was obvious that this answer did not satisfy Lunicia. She questioned: "But there is only one portion of food for five of them."

"The City Hall has provided them with as much food as possible." Nikita snorted coldly, "Since they are from the Glorious Court, they are probably not native to Mariai. It is normal that they do not understand the situation. Mariai is not suitable for grain production after all, and Nosavi is even more so. The arable land here cannot support the entire population you see, so a large part of the agricultural products rely on imports from other cities in Mariai, and even other countries.

The land tax paid by farmers does not bring much surplus to the government granary. If you want to provide food for the refugees, you must use the existing Ir... that is, the government budget... to purchase food, and then subsidize the shortfall. This is a pure and unrewarding expenditure. Considering that the refugees are not only staying here for a short time, we must be responsible for their food for as long as possible. Isn't this also what your church says? So in order to ensure that they have food to eat every day, the final amount calculated is only that much. You should understand the government's difficulties. "

“Can’t we increase the budget in this area?”

Nikita glanced at Lunitia and couldn't help but laugh. "How can the budget be increased just like that? The city hall budget must be used carefully. Only after removing the part that is originally needed for various purposes can the part for refugees be left. In addition to this, the budget itself must leave some for emergencies. How can it be used casually?"

"But you haven't considered any solutions other than direct assistance, have you?" Lunicia was already very dissatisfied with Nikita's attitude. When she heard that he insisted that "there's nothing we can do", her dissatisfaction increased, and her tone of accountability became even stronger. "If we give refugees job opportunities, they won't need assistance from the city hall to survive. Providing them with tools to develop wasteland and build public works is also a strategy. Even if it doesn't bring benefits in the short term, it can be effective in the long run as long as we provide wages. But you haven't considered these plans at all?"

These are of course not ideas that Lunisia could come up with on her own.

For Lunicia, who has no interest in subjects such as economics, history, and politics, but excels in divine arts, swordsmanship, and physical fitness, it is not easy to come up with these ideas - after all, these are ideas that she came up with after discussing with the Logorides couple and Ashtherin. They are all feasible operations that have been demonstrated in the past, and they are also the practices that Count Kuridel should adopt.

"That is impossible."

Seeing the change in the other party's attitude, Nikita was no longer completely relaxed and indifferent. He rested his elbows on his knees, held his chin with both hands, stared at the corner of the room seriously and said, "In the past, the 'Joint Communiqué on the Refugee Issue of Mu Continent' initiated by the Divine Court was actually beneficial to Mariai... or Nosavi. At that time, we could absorb refugees as citizens to meet the population problem, supplement the labor force, and stimulate the market. In fact, about 60% of the residents of Nosavi are refugees who migrated from outside in the past."

"If that's the case, why hasn't this approach been continued?"

"The city's carrying capacity is limited, and the population will be saturated. In this case, even if we continue to accept refugees, they cannot be converted into citizens and become the labor force. The existing labor market is only so large. If we continue to introduce refugees, they will certainly have a way to get jobs by lowering their labor prices, but what about the locals?" Nikita raised his eyebrows, but still did not look at Lunisia. "This will take away the job opportunities of the locals. Should we sacrifice the interests of the locals for the refugees?"

Indeed, there were a lot of people on the streets of Nosavi, which was what Lunisia saw with her own eyes. But Lunisia actually had great doubts about Nikita's words. She didn't think that those were all locals, and it was even possible that most of them were just passers-by. Even so, for her who came here without any investigation and just with enthusiasm, she could only believe what he said.

"But there won't be such concerns for public works, developing wasteland and reclaiming farmland, and capacity can even be increased accordingly, right?"

"That's impossible."

"what?"

Lunicia didn't think there was anything wrong with these plans. If the previous ones had the possibility of being rejected, then it was simply unbelievable that these ones would be rejected again.

"Public works... sounds good, but this city doesn't need to build anything. Tear down the old houses and rebuild them? Add another wall behind the existing dam? Or double the number of street lights? New things are either unnecessary or the investment is too big to be balanced."

Nikita leaned back on the sofa, still looking straight ahead. "Develop wasteland? I guess you mean rebuilding the North District or something like that. Well, after all, you're not from here, so you don't know what the North District is. It's a ruin now, and the people living in the underground tunnel network there are not good men and women, but vicious criminals, rats. If we want to let the refugees deal with it, we can either send them to death, or let the garrison protect them forever?"

Lunisia also understood that this was impossible.

The number of defenders in Nosawi does not seem to be large, which is enough to maintain daily public order. However, if they are to be mobilized to clear out the evildoers entrenched in the northern district, it would seem that they are unable to do so. It is impossible for them to put aside their daily public security work to protect the refugees.

"What about land reclamation? There are still many undeveloped areas outside Nosavi. If we want to cultivate fields in these places, we only need to provide tools, seeds, livestock and food loans in the early stage, and finally we can harvest a stable farming area, right? At worst, we can just organize them to cut down trees. Wood should also be profitable, right? Why is this not feasible?"

"The forest outside is an important factor in resisting cold waves. Cutting down existing trees and increasing wind speed is also sacrificing the interests of indigenous people to help refugees. If you tell others about this, no one will agree."

Nikita snorted at last and raised a crystal glass from the coffee table. "Since you can't come up with a feasible solution, either you pay for them yourself or ask the church to increase the share of relief subsidies. Otherwise, don't make big talk like you did today and cause trouble for the staff of the city hall. Please go back."

Chapter 18 After Midnight

Naturally, when Lunicia walked out of the city hall, she had a gloomy expression on her face.

Well, the word gloomy is not actually accurate. It is quite appropriate to use it to describe her mood - if she had acted in her previous impulsive, reckless and bold way, she would probably have kicked the door of the City Hall as a farewell gift and scared the two guards who were laughing behind her back. But for some reason, when she was really angry and disappointed to the extreme, her heart calmed down, along with her expression.

This made her look even closer to Ashlee.