But you were confident until now? You've barely explained anything properly?
"C-cough. Why don't you do it? You seem to know it well too."
"It's been a while since we had a class. Trainee Shei, make sure to learn well."
"I-I know it too! Just explain it for me!"
"There's a saying that if you can't explain it with your own mouth, you don't really know it. Ah, um, Mr. Shei."
"Hey, you!"
"Shei. How long must I wait?"
"...Ugh, fine."
I should have a blackboard and a pointer, but they aren't suitable up here. Unfortunately, I'll have to explain with words alone. Sitting back-to-back, I began my explanation.
"I'll put it simply. The Golden Mirror's ability is alchemy. The most powerful and extensive alchemy in the world, almost like creation."
"You mean that ability you lot were playing around with like scrap iron?"
"Our alchemy is like child's play compared to the Golden Mirror's. That castle, it's cut off in the middle, right? At first glance, it looks like there was a huge castle and something destructive smashed through it... But it's actually the exact opposite."
The reason why the people of the Ten Nations each ride around on their own mounts. The most fundamental reason why, despite being a nation of alchemy, everyone lives a nomadic life.
"Upon a wasteland where there was originally nothing, the Golden Mirror passed by and 'transmuted' a castle."
It is because of the Golden Mirror's authority to create a nation's territory.
The Golden Mirror turns everything in the world upside down. No, it goes beyond that and creates something new. Creation is the destruction of the existing order. Therefore, to avoid the procession of that destruction, the people of the Ten Nations became wanderers.
Swallowing nervously for a moment, I continued the explanation.
"Thinking about it again, it's weird, right? Why was the Great Wall built below the hill? Despite being a castle of such scale, why is it severed without any context? Alchemy explains that doubt. It was built below the hill because the soil and rocks here were used as materials. The reason the castle is cut off in the middle without a trace... is not because something destroyed it, but simply because it was only built up to that point."
Therefore, in the Ten Nations, no matter what terrain appears or what structure emerges, it is not strange. Because the reason is clear.
Because the Golden Mirror made it, it exists. No further explanation is necessary.
However, Tir, whose knowledge stopped 300 years ago, expressed a doubt.
"Why did the one called the Golden Mirror stop building the castle?"
"No one except the Golden Mirror knows that. It's been ages since the theory of the uselessness of castle walls emerged, yet they still make things like the Great Wall. Why the Golden Mirror wanders the Ten Nations and fills empty lands with something. There are only rampant speculations."
"What a bizarre person."
"Well, until you met Tir in person, you were a suspiciously sleepy vampire. We won't know until we meet the Golden Mirror in person either. Right now, I'm just saying what I've heard."
Anyone who has studied properly can answer this much. You roughly know the history of your neighboring countries, right? Especially if they are a hypothetical enemy nation.
'For something you just heard, your understanding is quite deep... Didn't you say this guy is from the Military Nation? He talks as if he's actually lived in the Ten Nations.'
It's called indirect experience. While the Regressor grumbled inwardly, Tir, remembering something, smacked his fist into his palm.
"Ah, I remember. Hoo, you said in the Abyss that a nation collapsed because someone transmuted countless amounts of gold. Could that person be the Golden Mirror?"
"Oh, you remembered that. My education wasn't in vain."
"Hehe. Isn't that the basics? I've taken all your words to heart."
"That's right. The very person who threw the Golden Nation, which enjoyed all sorts of wealth and glory, into chaos and destroyed it, is the Golden Mirror, Demokrias. Just his existence alone caused all the gold and weapons of the Golden Nation to lose their value, and in a world flooded with fakes more brilliant than the real thing, the people of the Golden Nation could no longer believe in anything.
Trust collapsed, and the economy was ruined. Those with wealth fell to ruin, and the poor were reduced to nothing. Amidst the endlessly repeating chaos, all resentment was directed at the Golden Mirror and the alchemists who received his teachings. The King of the Golden Nation tried to execute all the alchemists, but..."
What's the point of saying it from here? The result is already unfolding before our eyes. I shrugged and continued.
"Seeing as the Golden Nation fell and the Ten Nations ended up in this state, it seems they failed, right?"
As for what happened... I'll probably find out once I meet the Golden Mirror, but since I haven't faced him directly yet. I'll probably learn this time.
The King of the Golden Nation, one of the Five Monarchs. The Steel King, called a monster of understanding, who possessed the authority to understand and analyze all human technology... Why was he 'eaten' by a mere human? And why does the one who killed the King call himself the Golden Mirror?
It's a chance to find out.
"So in the Ten Nations, they can't farm unless it's a very blessed land. It wasn't originally good land for farming anyway, but even if they prepared such a foundation, if the Golden Mirror passes by once... the golden fields they painstakingly cultivated would turn into a palace covered in carpets."
That is also the reason why the Ten Nations treat gold like stones. They are not deceived by appearances. Food, rides, clothes. They create what they need at the time, or if that's not possible, they take it by force to make up for it. There is no logic other than survival there.
Though they are with the most tools in the world, their way of life is the land closest to the wild.
The Cataphract passed the unfinished Great Wall. Failing to fulfill its role, the Great Wall showed its interior to the wanderers.
The scenery visible starting from the Great Wall changed distinctly.
Artificial structures began to appear sporadically. Just as the surroundings seemed to gradually become more complex, the Cataphract was already in the middle of a city.
On one side of the field of vision, neat brick houses lined up. In the distance, a four-story pavilion looked down upon the world. The long, stretching road was heavily paved with smooth stones. It looked like a flourishing city where even a single brick was planned and made.
However, this too was the Golden Mirror's work. There was a city, but not a single human shadow could be found within it.
Because there was neither the manpower to run the city nor the food inside it.
"How amazing. Despite being a mere human, he created a city all by himself..."
Tir's eyes sparkled like a child's. It seemed that for a vampire who fell asleep 300 years ago, even a ghost city was fascinating.
Actually, it wasn't just Tir. I was feeling a similar way. Though in a slightly different direction from Tir.
"Hey, Mr. Shei. I'm just thinking about this now."
"What is it, all of a sudden?"
"The armistice agreement, we're delivering it to the Golden Mirror, right?"
"Probably? It'll come to that, right?"
"But will there be a ceasefire? Seeing the Golden Mirror's ability in person, it's even more monstrous?"
The Golden Mirror's authority, an alchemy extremely close to creation. Powerful enough to whip up a large-scale castle and city in an instant, and precise enough that the shape of every brick is different. Truly an alchemist of genesis.
Then a question arises here.
The Regressor said the Military Nation wins against the Ten Nations. Probably against the Golden Mirror.
How did the Military Nation become a powerful nation? Just with an army?
"What if the Golden Mirror doesn't accept the armistice agreement? Saying we're arrogant, he turns us all into gold, then majestically marches out and attacks the Military Nation?"
This is an important problem.
The Regressor was confident that the Ten Nations would accept the ceasefire. I, having read the Regressor's memories, was indirectly influenced and impulsively joined this journey.
However, confirming the Golden Mirror's authority with my own eyes, I started to feel a bit skeptical.
No matter how I look at it, he's terrifyingly strong. If he creates a castle above my head and drops it, I'd instantly become a crushed bug.
"The Military Nation, with its short history, lacked the mystery to protect itself... but the Ten Nations have alchemy and the Golden Mirror. Mr. Shei, can you win against the Golden Mirror?"
"...Well, if I do my best."
The Regressor's attitude is completely lukewarm. Let's read his thoughts.
'The Golden Mirror isn't a being to be won or lost against. It is more alien than even Tirkanjak. But I'm not confident in explaining that, and if I say it carelessly and she gets scared, it'll be troublesome...'
See. You're not confident either!
As can be seen in the case of Tir or Lia, when facing a power I cannot oppose, I prefer to keep it on my side.
What's the easiest way to win a 17-to-1 fight? The answer is for me to become one of the 17. How could I alone beat 17 people?
Anyway. I have business with the Golden Mirror, but I don't necessarily need to approach it the same way as the Regressor. The armistice agreement inevitably carries the embers of a fight. If I fight the displeased Golden Mirror and a castle collapses on my head, I'll disappear without even a chance to use my abilities.
"Tell me honestly. I'm prepared for it."
But, the Regressor must know something. Otherwise, he wouldn't step forward so confidently.
As I pressed him, the Regressor made up his mind and spoke.
'Right. This kid may whine with her mouth, but she's the type to casually step into a minefield without a care. She won't run away just because she's not confident.'
The Regressor, who came to his own conclusion, recalled the Golden Mirror from the previous iteration and answered honestly.
"Probably can't win. The Golden Mirror's authority is not just alien, but bizarre. Even with Jizan, I probably wouldn't be able to touch his body."
"I see."
I expected it, but it really is so. You had no confidence in winning.
Nodding my head for a long enough time, I ordered Hilde.
"Hilde, turn the car around. I want to go back."
"Yes! We'll go back just like this! Yay! It's war right away!!"
"No, we can't! Wait!"
The Regressor hurriedly grabbed my collar and shouted.
"Hey! You said you were prepared!"
"I'm prepared to run away! Prepared to throw away trivial honor and save my noble life!"
"That's not when you use the word 'prepared'! Besides, what are you going to do if you go back now?"
"That's what I should be saying! What are you going to do going there without even the confidence to win?! It's just dying!"
I tried to shake off my captured arms... but he was too strong to shake off. Eventually, looking a bit like I was throwing a tantrum, I shouted.
"You seem fully arrogant because we succeeded in attacking the Military Nation, but actually the Military Nation is a pseudo-state that doesn't even seem like a country! Without a mystery to protect the nation or a king with authority, it's a deformed nation with a uselessly complex and fragile structure! It's thanks to that we were able to strip the Military Nation bare!"
"Heeh~. It's true, but as a Military Nation citizen listening, I feel weird~."
Actually, the reason the Military Nation didn't fall was all thanks to the Saintess's protection...
Ah, let's drop the expression "protection." If it were "hypocrisy" maybe, but "protection" sounds too sacred.
Anyway, it was barely maintained only because the Saintess found and negated all the "possibilities of the Military Nation's destruction" she saw in the future.
It wouldn't have been strange if the Military Nation fell at any time or in any way. Even the Saintess had weakened to the point of creating a substitute, the signal soldier. If someone set their mind to it, it would have collapsed in an instant.
In fact, just three people conspired and it almost fell.
But the Ten Nations are different. Even if we overlook the size or scale of the nation, the roots making up the Ten Nations are solid.
The Golden Mirror, Demokrias. He is the Ten Nations, and the Ten Nations are him. Even if every human in the Ten Nations is killed, as long as the Golden Mirror is there, the exact same nation will be built again someday.
And as long as we can't defeat the Golden Mirror, shoving the armistice agreement in front of him is the same as leaving my life in his hands. If the Golden Mirror refuses the ceasefire, I'll just be dismantled right there on the spot.
"I won't fight! I'm leaving! I don't want to die!"
"Listen to the end! There's no need to fight the Golden Mirror directly!"
"Ah, really? Reseating."
Good grief. You should have said that first. I knew I could count on you, Regressor!
"Your attitude changes way too easily without any backbone!"
"Could you call it flexible response?"
Isn't that obvious? If the situation changes, the attitude should change too.
Still, the Regressor has a plan. I thought I'd have to fight the Golden Mirror. No matter how many times he regresses, he wouldn't smash his head in without a plan.
"The reason we won't have to fight? Is the Golden Mirror the type to quickly sign the armistice agreement?"
The Regressor shook his head and reluctantly revealed what he knew.
"No, the Golden Mirror won't cooperate with us. But he won't attack us either. Probably... he'll be indifferent."
'When I visited the Ten Nations right before the destruction of the world in the past... I couldn't even have a conversation with the Golden Mirror.'