Chapter 151: Polarization
The lush forest swayed in a gentle breeze, fallen leaves drifting softly down the river's current.
The Elves frolicked beneath the verdant canopy, their laughter echoing between the trees as they enjoyed themselves upon the vibrant, living earth.
But in the next instant, every Elf froze in place.
Each of their faces bore an expression of profound shock, their minds going completely blank.
An extraordinarily dense surge of Natural Energy seed to emanate from sowhere not far within the forest, rapidly washing over all of them.
The thick, sturdy trees bent—when, no one could say—swaying unsteadily, while the Elves standing atop them hadn't even noticed that the branches beneath their feet had already cracked open.
Under the weight of an absolutely terrifying pressure, hundreds of Elves turned in unison to look toward where Viktor stood.
The entrance to the Forest Paradise was entirely surrounded by a ferocious sea of flas, crackling as it burned.
Yet those flas, which had appeared from nowhere, looked impossibly strange.
They clung to the forest as though possessed of their own will, yet refused to spread even an inch outward.
Auréliane glanced back and forth between Cassana and Viktor, her expression visibly flustered.
The 2 people before her—one was her teacher, the other was her aunt.
Cassana stood engulfed in the sea of flas, her gaze vacant and hollow.
Auréliane still rembered: Professor Viktor had only said a single word.
In the blink of an eye, her aunt had already been plunged into that terrifying predicant.
Auréliane hurriedly turned to Viktor to explain:
"Professor! This must be a misunderstanding!"
"Aunt Cassana and the others haven't hard the Elves at all....."
Viktor simply stood where he was, doing nothing at all. The jet-black Crow perched on his shoulder had its single eye flickering with an azure-blue light.
As though it were preparing sothing.
He turned to face Auréliane and said quietly:
"I taught you how to use your own power, but I never taught you how to judge the nature of things."
"That is my failure."
Auréliane was montarily taken aback.
She couldn't quite understand what her teacher's words were supposed to an.
"Let ask you—why does the Rether Family need Elves?"
Auréliane answered imdiately, because Aunt Cassana had just told her.
"For energy. To make life more convenient for ordinary people."
"And then? Did they actually make life more convenient for ordinary people?"
Auréliane heard Viktor's follow-up question and stopped mid-step, opening her mouth wordlessly.
"But... Aunt Cassana said it was only a matter of insufficient energy."
"Insufficient energy is nothing but an excuse—a fact Cassana refuses to acknowledge."
Viktor looked down at Auréliane and posed the question to her:
"If this technology were made available across the entire Empire—even to its most remote villages—what do you think would happen?"
"That would..."
Images flickered through Auréliane's mind, one after another.
The tedious, dangerous work would be replaced by puppets capable of moving on their own. Carriages would vanish from the streets, replaced by those magical vehicles that could float through the air.
"...Wouldn't that be better?"
Viktor said calmly:
"It would only make the poor poorer and the rich richer. It would drive the Empire to beco Polarized."
When machines replaced manual labor, it ant the landlords would no longer need to pay their workers' wages.
All they needed to do was spend money—to purchase these puppets that could do their work for them.
Because the nobility would no longer need laborers, they would only need to pay the Rether Family a modest annual maintenance fee for the machinery.
The laborers' jobs would be replaced, and the wages that had once been paid to them would instead beco a steady stream of inco flowing into the Rether Family.
Yet in the end, the landlords would find themselves growing poorer as well.
The grain they produced would have no one to buy it. The clothing from the garnt factories would pile up, rack after rack, with nowhere to go.
Because no common person could afford to buy them anymore.
Without work, the commoners would struggle even to feed themselves.
80% of the world's wealth would flow toward the Rether Family, and toward the nobles who had entered into partnerships with them early on.
And this transformation would co about almost imperceptibly.
Through Viktor's words, Auréliane pictured that bleak and desolate scene.
She found herself unable to accept it at once. A look of dread appeared on her face, and she turned toward Cassana.
"How could..."
Vast numbers of commoners would have no food, no inco—and in the end, even their last shelter would be mortgaged away just to survive. They would be left holess, with nowhere to go.
Once their last coin was spent, they could only wait, slowly, for death to take them.
"Of course, you need not concern yourself with all of this."
"For quite a long period of ti, this sort of situation won't co to pass."
Because the Rether Family lacked sufficient energy; they were still in the trial phase, working steadily toward that goal.
"You should also have seen the 'people' who live in Tieyebo."
Viktor's voice drifted out, quiet and even.
"This place is called the 'City of the Vanguard,' and with that cos advanced dical treatnt."
"But those residents you saw—the ones with various chanical prosthetics on their bodies—the majority of them are wealthy individuals from other kingdoms or other cities."
"They sustained physical disabilities through various causes, yet longed to live as ordinary people do. So they must reside in Tieyebo, undergo annual physical examinations, and continuously replace whatever prosthetics remain functional."
"Do you know the minimum daily expenditure for each one of them?"
It was a figure Auréliane could not have imagined.
"10,000 Geo."
In the Royal Capital, 10,000 Geo could buy 10,000 loaves of bread.
Yet in this chanical city of Tieyebo, that was rely the minimum daily cost of living for every single person within it.
"So every person you see here—not a single one is a commoner. Because commoners are simply unworthy of entering this city."
"Now, do you still believe that everything here exists to serve ordinary people?"
Within the brief span of Viktor's words, Auréliane felt a chill run down her spine.
She had only glimpsed the surface—through the scattered words of Aunt Cassana, and through the dazzling prosperity of this city—seeing only the beauty on the outside.
And had entirely overlooked the cruel reality lurking behind that beauty.
Tieyebo was not so carefree utopia of technology.
It was rely a gold-devouring beast, dressed up in an exquisite exterior.
"I will never deny that your aunt Cassana may well have thought of the ordinary people of the Empire—for she was once an Imperial Princess herself."
"But the Rether Family is not Cassana's family alone."
Viktor pushed both hands into his pockets, his detached gaze drifting toward the depths of the distant forest.
Several Elves had been peeking out from between the trees, tracking his presence through the traces of Natural Energy, watching Viktor from afar.
The mont each one caught sight of Viktor, they would be startled sharply and shrink back, curling up once more among the dense foliage.
"So you must understand why they go to such lengths to win the favor of the Elves."
"The Elves can bring them wealth that rivals an entire nation's treasury, so they use the Elves' power to extract even greater value for themselves."
And when the Elves were drained of their Natural Energy, it was like a tiger having every fang and claw completely torn out.
Their wildness was ground down entirely. No longer possessing any ability to protect themselves, they numbed themselves within this "paradise" built for them, living out their carefree days.
Continuing to supply the Rether Family with fresh energy, and still believing that the humans truly treated them well.
"Of course, I will not condemn this behavior, because these Elves have co of their own accord. Though they were lured here under false pretenses, they have indeed not resisted the Rether Family's actions."
Viktor's words, each one precise, carried into Auréliane's ears.
Her body trembled faintly. She lowered her head, a look of confusion crossing her face.
By now, she could no longer tell who was right and who was wrong.
Aunt Cassana had indeed painted a beautiful future for Auréliane.
Seen alongside this City of the Vanguard, it had genuinely filled her with a asure of hope for what lay ahead.
But that beautiful hope had been torn to shreds by Professor Viktor.
The reality hidden behind it was laid bare before Auréliane, raw and unsparing.
"But... why does the Rether Family need so much money."
Viktor looked at the confused Auréliane, just about to say sothing—
Suddenly, Weija's voice drifted softly beside his ear.
"Viktor, we can go now."
Its single eye no longer shimred with light, while Cassana looked as though all strength had been drained from her, sinking to her knees on the ground.
Viktor glanced at Cassana only briefly, taking in her utterly lost and defeated appearance.
At last, his gaze moved to the entrance of the facility's gate.
"Although I'd very much like to tell you a little more, still..."
The doors of the Research Facility burst open with a thunderous crash as Elsa led a large group of warriors surging in.
The mont the guards entered, they spotted Cassana kneeling on the ground. Elsa's face went pale with shock.
She raised her head and looked up—and at that precise mont, her eyes landed on Viktor.
Elsa's expression turned dark and grim. She placed her hand on the hilt of the blade at her waist and shouted sharply:
"Notify every high-level combatant in the Family."
"Designate the intruder Viktor as the highest-level threat."
"Launch an imdiate attack. Capture is not required."
The warriors instantly drew their weapons, their expressions gravely serious, encircling Viktor in a tight ring.
Yet Viktor simply stood where he was, still and quiet, making no move at all.
Seeing this, Auréliane gathered her skirt in her hands and stepped forward in front of Viktor with fierce determination.
She stared down every warrior before her.
"I am Auréliane Sorel. You should know who I am."
"Now, I want you to tell —what exactly do you intend to do to my teacher?"
Elsa looked at Auréliane, her eyes narrowing. The hand resting at her waist did not loosen its grip.
"Your Highness the Princess, please do not make this difficult for us."
"What—you intend to attack as well?!"
Auréliane's voice rang out sharply. She looked directly at Elsa, her eyes carrying a maturity and authority far beyond her years.
Several of the warriors couldn't help but feel a flicker of trepidation, stepping back a few paces.
The act of attacking an Imperial Princess was an extraordinarily grave offense—no one present could bear such a consequence.
All at once, a green fluorescent glow began to seep forth, and countless vines surged in from all directions, wrapping around every one of the warriors and binding them completely.
The vines held them suspended in mid-air. No matter how they struggled, it was utterly futile.
The nearby Auréliane, seeing this, startled in fright.
She had just begun to turn her head when she felt a large, warm hand settle atop her head, gently shifting her body slightly to one side.
A slow and unhurried voice, filled with quiet confidence, drifted out from behind her.
"Auréliane."
"I'm not so fragile that I need a student to protect her teacher."
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