It might even be said that it’s to cover up so more significant ’changes’.
After all, being Carlos’s son, no matter how pure-hearted Aina might be, as long as he starts to think, he can quickly notice sothing’s amiss: "Ultimately, what kind of nation is the Steep Ridge Fortress? This hidden country behind the deep mountains and steep ridges... what has it transford into over these past decades?"
"Were it not for the Pioneer Space issuing this mission, perhaps I wouldn’t have even rembered it."
Thinking of this, Aina couldn’t help but feel sowhat ashad—despite not planning to return to the Western Empire to be the Crown Prince, he still cares about the Empire.
The enemy intelligence of the Empire so overlooked by its own people that the Pioneer Space has to pay attention—he, this runaway Prince, truly feels embarrassed.
However, this ti, his mission wasn’t ’to survey the state of Steep Ridge Fortress’.
His Pioneer Space mission is very simple.
[Deliver the ’mission target’ to the Duke of Steep Ridge Fortress]
The mission target is a silver tal ingot, very resilient, but nothing else is notable, at least not sothing Aina can discern with his power.
No need to worry about attacks or interceptions; the Duke of Steep Ridge Fortress has already permitted this action, not because of Aina’s identity, but because the Sunbird... is indeed fast.
Even if carrying this ’extra item’ prevents Complete Photomorphosis, the speed of the Sunbird remains unsurpassed.
A beam of light flickers intermittently; Aina shuttles between the mountains, soon arriving at the Gate of Steep Ridge Fortress.
The Alpine Gorge.
This is the only gap between two steep peaks, a dark canyon, with two peaks towering several kiloters high resembling an incredibly thick gate, silently opening a barely discernible crack, and that crack is the Alpine Gorge, the only route for ground forces to enter Steep Ridge Fortress, also the heavily guarded gate of Steep Ridge Fortress.
Aina transforms into a beam of light, traversing the twelve-kiloter-long Alpine Gorge—no one along the way obstructed him; those armor suits, cannons, and various laser weapons locked onto Aina but no one fired, neither warning nor welco.
No sound at all, everything is silent, puzzling Aina sowhat.
Upon passing through the Alpine Gorge, it’s the Military Array City. As the na suggests, this is another military city built on the mountainside; it was originally a cannon position for Steep Ridge Fortress to resist Imperial invaders—the Empire side terms themselves the Anti-rebellion Force. In short, centuries have passed, it is still a fortress but now also engages in comrce; a broad avenue resembling a white river winds toward this magnificent and solid city.
And after traversing the Military Array City, this pure white avenue will pass through several cities, finally directly reaching Steep Ridge Fortress, the front door of the Duke of Steep Ridge Fortress’s residence.
Aina has read these descriptions in books, but upon truly setting foot here, he neither feels excitent nor the joy of anticipated fulfillnt; on the contrary, when Aina stops on the empty pure white avenue, he tightly furrows his brow, a chilly doubt erging in his heart.
—Why are there no pedestrians, no vehicles?
—The pure white avenue is the lifeline of Steep Ridge Fortress, the major artery of material transport; during broad daylight, how could there be not a single vehicle, not a single pedestrian?
The mountain landscape is accompanied by both vastness and narrowness; standing high lets one overlook the mountains, partnered with the heavens, naturally broad and distant, while falling into the mountains naturally encloses one with forest surrounds, movent becoming difficult.
Aina transforms into light, occasionally racing across mountaintops, occasionally soaring above forests, everything he passes by flashes like lightning to his sides, allowing him to pass several cities at the fastest speed.
But all this intensifies Aina’s unease: those cities are still operating, furnaces roaring, factories ablaze, various machines continuously producing all sorts of creations, everything as the books described; Steep Ridge Fortress acquired the Dwarves’ craftsmanship and magnified its extres. Workers in Steep Ridge Fortress have an average lifespan unable to exceed forty years; the whole city is a scorching furnace, human life the embers stoking the furnace.
Indeed. Black smoke towers, smoke of alchemy materials wafts amidst the mountains, rendering the once lush-green mountains into barren, variously colored ’Five-Color Peak’; chemical wastewater streaming in the core territories of Steep Ridge Fortress, obtaining clean water requires venturing into the Dark Mountain Range or purifying seawater.
But even so...
"There should still be so living people?!"
The city is exquisite, factories towering, even if Steep Ridge Fortress represses Humans, their level of art is absolutely not low—the Imperial People deride that it’s the toxic gas mutating the brains of Steep Ridge Fortress people, leading to such odd inspirations, but Aina can perceive, from the intricate and elaborate reliefs on the tower buildings in the city, that these creations are undoubtedly the monuntal beauty flowing from human hearts.
Although Aina is at the Third Energy Level, his observation skills are very sharp; even skimming over one factory city after another, he can still keenly notice there are no pedestrians left in those rock cities, only giant steel structures like artificial mountains slowly wriggling and operating within the city.
No. There are still people.
Occasionally, Aina glimpses one or two shadows walking behind the thick smog-proof glass of factories and residential areas... yet this raises even greater questions.
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