Sights and Impressions

The steel behemoth hurtled across the vast wasteland, its steam pistons pumping relentlessly in a rhythmic, muffled thrum. Several hours slipped by. Joseph gazed at the shifting scenery outside the window, listening to Heya recount imperial history laden with words like "loyalty" and "grace." Yet those accounts had clearly been embellished beyond reason, and listening to them grated on his nerves. *She's beyond saving.* *She has fallen under the red dragon's spell, reduced to a mental slave of that vile dragon emperor.* Joseph thought to himself. "Look! A city!" Before long, a sharp-eyed guard spotted black city walls gradually emerging in the distance. Joseph looked over. The city was far taller and sturdier than he had imagined, exuding an invisible sense of oppression. Up in the sky, what seemed to be wyverns wheeled about on patrol. *This must be the so-called Isdalia, the imperial capital of the Cinder Empire.* He thought. Far inferior to the Holy City of Teotihuacan from Fadlan's prime, to be frank. Even the poorest, most lowly citizen of Fadlan would puff out their chest with pride at the thought of that majestic holy city—for it was truly the most magnificent place humanity could ever conceive. Alas, after years of warfare, the once-flawless white holy city had become riddled with scars, choked everywhere with smoke. The corpses of soldiers from the Three Kingdoms had filled the trenches outside its walls, their blood forming a flowing moat. *The war in the south...* Reflecting on this, Joseph felt a pang of melancholy. He sighed deeply, then offered his assessment: "A fine city, but for the capital of an empire, it is still a bit..." Pointing toward the ramparts, Heya introduced it: "This is the southern Empire's largest fortress city, Blackstone Keep." Joseph's expression froze. He shut his mouth, speaking no further, and merely watched in silence as the city drew nearer and nearer. "Arriving at Blackstone Keep Station." The conductor's clear voice echoed through the carriage, seemingly amplified by some sort of device. The train pulled in and came to a stop before the city gate. Imperial subjects who had waited long on the platform surged into the cars. Among the passengers were not only humans, but also hobgoblins, tieflings, half-orcs, and even ogres, making the caravan guards rather tense. Seeing humans living peacefully alongside these monsters—even chatting casually now and then—struck these well-traveled men, who had slain plenty of beasts in their day, with sheer disbelief. "Pardon me." "Don't block the aisle." "Baron, you're heading to Isdalia as well?" The car quickly grew noisy. Fortunately, Joseph had booked a VIP compartment, and large creatures like ogres had dedicated carriages of their own. After a brief moment of surprise, Joseph turned his attention toward Blackstone Keep. Though tall ramparts obstructed the view, he could still see through the open gates the clean, wide, paved streets and the rows of masonry houses that looked as if they had been stamped out from a single mold. Truly a remarkable city, whether from a commercial or military standpoint. As a merchant, he would gladly do business in such a handsome city; as a military commander, those tall, thick ramparts with projecting towers would serve as a formidable barrier against foreign foes. *If even an ordinary city is built like this, what must the imperial capital look like?* Joseph wondered. Watching the crowd hurrying aboard, he suddenly asked, "Why are so many people rushing toward Isdalia? What are they going there for?" Heya answered, "Isdalia is the sacred place of His Majesty's coronation and the heart of the Empire. It has the most jobs and the highest wages in the entire realm. "In return, however, land there is worth its weight in gold. Ordinary citizens can hardly afford a home in Isdalia; even a basement can fetch an exorbitant price of over a hundred gold dinars. "Therefore, some choose to live in other cities and take the steam locomotive to commute to Isdalia every day." "Is that so..." Joseph was taken aback. He had never encountered such a novel way of life—living in one city and working in another. Heya gave a rueful smile and sighed helplessly. "If I could afford a house in Isdalia, I wouldn't have gone to Tahan to work as a guide." The steam locomotive sped along, traversing several more rolling mountain ridges and several more cities. "Amaunator above..." Sitting at the very front, a guard stared with wide eyes and an open mouth, letting out an involuntary exclamation. Joseph could not help looking out the window. Though he had mentally prepared himself, the sight before him left him deeply shaken. "Gods above..." he murmured. In the distance stood towering city walls that seemed to stretch without end, an array of magnificent buildings with a distinct architectural style, and towering chimneys rising from the earth, billowing gray smoke. Most astounding of all was the colossal stone pillar at the city's center, rising hundreds of meters into the air, bearing atop it a magnificent white altar shrouded in mist and clouds—like a divine realm descended upon the mortal world. —The Grand Altar of Isdalia. For reasons unknown, Joseph suddenly recalled the time he had made his first pilgrimage to the Holy City at the age of six, looking up in awe at the Tower of the Eternal Sun God. Isdalia gave him that very same feeling now. "A true... miracle." He could not help uttering what he truly felt. "Indeed. To us Anzetans, it is a miracle." Heya also looked up beside him, gazing devoutly at the altar held aloft into the heavens. "Mr. Joseph, that is the place of His Majesty Cassius's coronation. "No matter where you stand in Isdalia, as long as you raise your head, you can see that sacred place." "Arriving at Isdalia South Gate Station. Passengers, please remember His Majesty's grace and disembark in an orderly fashion..." "Finally here." "Hurry up! Do you want to be late and get docked pay?" Passengers streamed off the train. After composing himself with a few deep breaths, Joseph led his caravan onto the platform as well. He had the guards unload their cargo from the freight cars and gather their gear. The retinue advanced into the city in grand fashion. The avenues here were wider than he had imagined; the main thoroughfare was even broader than those in the Holy City, ample enough for over a dozen carriages to run abreast. They were also far cleaner and smoother than any he had seen before. Paved with what appeared to be some kind of black crushed stone, they lacked any uneven roughness whatsoever, leaving him marveling in wonder. Along both flanks of the street lay tracks on which smaller steam engines traveled, while city residents gathered, waited, and came and went at designated platforms. A single glance took in a kaleidoscope of races: humans, tieflings, hobgoblins, half-orcs, satyrs, ogres... No matter the race, everyone seemed exceedingly busy, hurrying on their way. The populace had long grown accustomed to it all, taking peaceful coexistence with different species entirely for granted. "Citizens, please observe the public order regulations!" Knights astride wyverns patrolled midair, while squads of rifle-bearing tieflings marched in orderly ranks along the right side of the street. Set against such a backdrop, his caravan was thoroughly unremarkable. A hulking ogre strode toward them from the opposite direction, frightening one of the caravan guards so badly that he raised his shield, breaking out in cold sweat. "Wh-what do you want?" The guard had once encountered ogres in the wild, where his companions had been eaten alive. Well aware of these monsters' savage nature, he was terrified to his core. Yet the ogre merely cast him a contemptuous glance and snorted. "What a jumpy country bumpkin. First-timers to the capital are always like this..." "Indeed. Foolish, puny humans." Another ogre beside him, clad in a suit, chimed in. The two ogres walked off, grumbling curses, while sweat drenched the guard's back. He had truly thought he was about to be devoured. And yet they had just let him off? Witnessing this, Joseph could not resist asking, "Miss Heya, there is something I have wanted to ask. "How on earth do they suppress their nature? Those ogres, those wyverns—they are clearly the most brutal of monsters... "Yet now they act like this, even abiding by order?" Heya looked as though it were the most natural thing in the world. She raised her head once more toward the pristine white altar in the sky. Pressing her hands together, she whispered softly, "It is all His Majesty's doing, of course. His wisdom is as profound as the boundless sea. He enlightened these ignorant creatures, bestowing upon them the light of civilization..." "..." Joseph fell silent. Before arriving in the Empire, he had always imagined it as a living hell ruled by an evil dragon. He had pictured people imprisoned in colossal mines, toiling endlessly in heavy shackles to produce lethal firearms just to feed the red dragon's insatiable greed for treasure. Yet reality could not have been further from his imagination. From this guide's lips, the dragon emperor was depicted as a radiant, towering figure akin to a sun god, revered and worshipped by countless imperial subjects. Looking at those magnificent, uniquely styled buildings, Joseph genuinely began to wonder whether that red dragon truly possessed divine power. How else could he have transformed the barren, desolate Anzeta into something like this in a mere decade or so? "Let all people worship together, the great red dragon in the heavens!" "How can such grace ever be repaid? His Majesty makes mountain springs flow down across the plains, bringing sweet rain to moisten every land..." "His Majesty is like the sun in the sky, and we are like seeds in the soil; his boundless radiance illuminates the earth, nurturing sprouts to thrive and grow..." Suddenly, melodious chanting drifted from afar, resonating through the city without end. Joseph frowned. "What is this..." Listening to the familiar melody, Heya said in pleasant surprise, "It's the Hymn of Cassius! What an auspicious song!" "By the way, Mr. Joseph, today is February twenty-ninth. Coronation Day is right around the corner—it's an annual grand celebration." Heya's voice bubbled with excitement. "..." Hearing the strains of "How can such grace ever be repaid?" in his ears, Joseph lapsed into silence once more, even beginning to second-guess himself. If the people of this realm were all in such a fanatic, self-assured state, then the threat posed by the Cinder Empire was on a whole other level.