PROLOGUE
What Alice Desires
“Founder.”
“You intend to burn down the Empire, do you not?”
She had been too late—for everything.
Alice felt dizzy, panting heavily as she cut through the first-floor hall of the Nebulis palace and dashed into the courtyard.
“Shuvalts!”
“Lady Alice, this way!”
Waiting for her was the palatial custom-made car, Cadillac One.
Shuvalts, an attendant dressed in a formal suit, held the door open for Alice as she arrived. He had served both the House of Lou and Alice’s younger sister, Sisbell, for many years.
Though at present, he was temporarily waiting on Alice instead.
Alice had no attendant.
And Shuvalts had no lady to serve.
Both Rin and Sisbell, the people who normally fulfilled those roles, were in the Imperial capital, Yunmelngen.
Alice was leaving the Sovereignty with the sole goal of saving the two.
However…
This time she was not rescuing them from the clutches of Imperial soldiers. But she was rushing to their aid to save them from the Founder Nebulis herself before the Empire was razed to the ground.
“I’ve informed Her Majesty. Quickly, now!”
“Yes, without delay,” Shuvalts replied.
No sooner was Alice seated in the vehicle than it whisked her out of the courtyard at breakneck speed.
“I shall take you to Zahl International Airport,” the attendant informed her. “A private plane will bring you to a country neighboring the Empire, after which you will travel by railway to the border.”
“Yes, thank you. Any method of travel will do, so long as it gets me there the fastest.”
“That is what I had hoped to arrange…however…,” Shuvalts spoke to her from the driver’s seat. His stifled voice was filled with deep concern and worry. “…it seems the Revered Founder has awakened.”
“Yes, some hours ago. She disappeared right before my very eyes.”
She reclined deep into her seat, her hands clenched tightly into fists over her lap.
“The Grand Witch plans to burn the Empire to the ground,” Alice continued. “She doesn’t care who stands in her way. Even her own kindred.”
“Are you planning on destroying the Empire…?”
“What else is there for me to do?”
She planned to leave a scorched trail behind her as she mercilessly approached the Empire.
…This is serious.
…Rin is imprisoned in the Imperial capital and Iska is there, too!
And other Sovereign people. They had many spies within the Empire collecting intelligence. The Founder would likely spare them no mercy as she burned the entire city to the ground.
“You do not need to call her ‘revered’ anymore,” Alice said. “We shouldn’t worship that Grand Witch any longer. She’s a calamity, a being that only wishes for destruction.”
“I can hardly believe it,” Shuvalts said, his voice sounding heavy—which of course it would.
To all the Sovereignty’s mages, the Founder Nebulis was the symbol of hope who guided them. Alice hadn’t so much as questioned the dogma herself in the past, and she could hardly think the queen had, either. But it seemed that their beliefs were far off the mark.
The witch was willing to sacrifice her own people solely for the sake of destroying the Empire.
“If she attacks them, Rin and Sisbell will be caught in the crossfire. And that’s not all. Though the Empire has done their fair share of damage, we would end up in an all-out war with them as well.”
The Heavenly Empire and Nebulis Sovereignty.
Though the two superpowers had clashed in proxy skirmishes around the world, they had historically been able to avoid a full-scale war. If that were to happen, the countries bordering them would be dragged into the mire as well. It would lead to total world destruction. Alice needed to avoid that at all costs.
“We must be careful, Shuvalts. The steps we take now will create large ripples throughout the world. If we can’t stop the Founder, it’s the end of everything.”
“…I will bear that in mind,” the attendant replied.
“According to Her Majesty, the Founder disappeared after floating above the palace. She left for the Empire using some type of space-time astral power.”
And the two of them were pursuing her now.
…She can teleport. She’s faster than any plane.
…No matter how much I hurry, it’ll take me a full day to arrive at the Empire’s border.
Ironically, she could only hope that the Imperial forces would be able to hold back the Founder during that time. To make matters worse, Alice could not dedicate herself entirely to stopping the Founder. Much to her consternation, there was another issue she had to attend to as well.
“It seems the Hydra have yet to mobilize.”
Shuvalts stole a glance, staring into her eyes through the rearview mirror.
“They are under Her Majesty’s watchful gaze. Her elite guards are keeping a close eye on them, as they were behind Lady Sisbell’s kidnapping,” Shuvalts said. “Not a single one of them has left the Sun Spire. Not their leader, Talisman, or even Princess Mizerhyby.”
“…I do wonder if they simply do not care.”
The Hydra’s goal was to win the conclave. Their primary objective was to obtain the throne and choose the next queen, so the chaos the Founder or the Imperial forces caused was likely of little concern to them. In fact, they probably hoped the Founder and the Empire would annihilate each other.
“We can leave the Hydra to Her Majesty,” Alice said. “Our real trouble will be the Zoa.”
Yes. Lord Mask and the entire Zoa family, who had Kissing on their side, would cause the most trouble.
…The Zoa’s greatest wish is to destroy the Empire.
…The Founder’s awakening is the opportunity of a lifetime for them.
And they had taken the initiative with that.
“Her Majesty just informed me that Lord Mask and Kissing did not appear at the meeting, even though they were supposedly in the Moon Spire.”
They must have left the palace to follow the Founder.
The Zoa had departed to take advantage of the Grand Witch’s thirst for revenge, apparently to save their head of house Growley, who had been captured by the Imperial forces—but that was only a pretense to start an all-out war.
“Do you wish for an all-out war with the Empire?”
“Of course. That is the greatest desire of all mages for the last century.”
They would be arriving at the Empire in the order in which they left. The Revered Founder would likely be the fastest, then Lord Mask and Kissing would probably follow, and Alice would be there last.
“We must hurry, Shuvalts,” she urged.
She wasn’t trying to remind him. Instead, Alice was saying that for herself, repeating it to herself again.
“We don’t have a moment to spare.”
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