When Renith effortlessly dissected and summarized the meaning behind Antina’s words, Antina suddenly stood up and bowed deeply to Renith, her tone sincere and resolute:
“Please, you must lend me your strength.”
Without a doubt, the Transmigrators were Renith’s enemies. If what Antina said was true, then even before the conflict with the Transmigrators had officially begun, a significant number of people and resources were already aligned with Renith.
Recalling the village where Lance and Shubert lived, back then there were only three people, completely unarmed. Renith was the only one truly capable of facing the Transmigrators head-on.
However, overall, the previous encounter with the Transmigrators was far simpler than this one. Last time, there were only six Transmigrators: one fled in panic, Nothasc chose to surrender, and the remaining four were all killed by Renith.
But this time was completely different. This time, she faced Transmigrators whose numbers were unknown, whose strength was a mystery, and whose methods were unpredictable. Could the combined forces of the various corporations and factories of Mobius City truly defeat them?
Moreover, Renith was suspicious of these people, just as she hadn’t trusted the villagers in the previous settlement.
The war three hundred years ago had made Renith see through too many things. Humans, especially those from different factions, often harbored their own ulterior motives. Given sufficient temptation of benefits, they could fracture instantly.
Barubalun was once a general possessing both strength and talent. He commanded Ungrad City, located in the far west of the continent. At that time, Ungrad City served as the border defense between humans and the Demon Tribe, bearing the heavy responsibility of blocking the Demon Army’s invasion.
Thanks to Barubalun’s exceptional leadership, he tightly united the military, nobility, and citizens within the city, successfully repelling numerous fierce assaults by the Demon Army. He was hailed as “The Iron Wall of the Empire.”
In people’s hearts, as long as he was there, the Demon Army could never break through the defense line; as long as he was there, they would be invincible; as long as he was there, humanity could triumph over the Demon Tribe.
Yet, that one time, he suffered a crushing defeat. The Demon Tribe secretly sent agents to manipulate and bribe those nobles with selfish desires.
These nobles, while Barubalun was fighting valiantly on the front lines, wantonly corrupted the hearts and minds of the non-combatant citizens within the city. They extensively promoted the ideas of the Demon Tribe’s invincibility and overwhelming strength, using money and food to gradually erode everything within the city.
By the time Barubalun returned from the front lines, the situation inside the city had been turned upside down. The citizens were split into factions, and the nobles openly accepted the Demon Tribe.
A significant portion of the surrender faction consisted of family members of the citizens who had gone to fight. These were the ones left behind in the city due to their inability to fight. It was these very citizens, deceived and blinded, who began instilling surrenderist ideology into citizens of other factions. From then on, the seed of resistance that Barubalun had planted in their hearts gradually rotted away, ultimately vanishing completely.
During one defensive battle, due to low morale, Barubalun’s line was breached. The nobles opened the city gates, welcoming the Demon Tribe inside. The surrender faction hung wreaths all over the city, as if they were not the defeated, but the victors.
How utterly absurd it all was!
But just then, Herthees led the Imperial soldiers, descending like divine intervention. Alegia and Anlude (Renith) each led their teams, successfully breaking the Demon Tribe’s action squads and driving the majority of the demons out of the city.
Seizing this opportunity, Barubalun cleansed these nobles and most of the surrenderist citizens with swift and decisive action. It must be said, Barubalun’s methods were masterful. He made an example of some to warn others, while simultaneously increasing the rewards for military service. Using short-term benefits and iron-fisted tactics, he pulled Ungrad City back from the brink of collapse onto the right track.
If not for Herthees, the “Chosen by Fate,” arriving just in time, Ungrad City would likely have been reduced to ruins under the Demon Tribe’s “coercion and inducement.”
Thinking about it carefully now, the Transmigrators sent by the Empire were so similar to the Demon Tribe back then… No, they even held more advantages—first, they were human; second, they answered to the Empire, possessing a certain legitimacy.
The number of Transmigrators had increased dramatically over the past few decades. They brought with them an ideology “named freedom”… No, perhaps it’s more accurate to say this ideology already existed in the world, and the arrival of the Transmigrators merely ignited and amplified it.
Precisely because of this, individuals like Lance, Shubert—who were influenced by this ideology and had witnessed the true injustices and dangers of the world—and Antina, who now pleaded for assistance before Renith, realized the need to resist, to break the chains binding them.
However, this was far from enough.
The Empire still existed, the nobility still held power, the legitimate Transmigrators had arrived in Mobius City, and the nobles were bound to split into two factions.
As long as the Transmigrators demonstrated a degree of legitimacy and offered sufficient benefits, those nobles, corporations, and factories would inevitably fall in line behind the Transmigrators.
By then, any talk of resistance would be nothing but nonsense.
“Miss Antina, you must be aware, can they truly unite? Isn’t it more likely they are just putting on a show, only to switch sides when the time comes?”
Antina couldn’t possibly not know. Even if she hadn’t experienced war, her decades of life experience would have surely exposed her to “betrayal” in other matters.
Antina recalled the incident of jointly publishing a paper with a friend. But someone offered a high price, and the result was that person cast Antina aside and put their own name on it.
She wanted to appeal, but how could her ability and influence hope to topple a noble?
“I know. But whether they are united or not is something we have to see with our own eyes, isn’t it? I believe that those who seek wisdom will set aside their grievances when facing a common enemy.”
Such an idealist, though her words held some truth.
“I think your three students excel in certain aspects compared to you. But you are right, I should indeed go and see… You went out yesterday for this meeting, didn’t you?”
Antina nodded affirmatively.
“The meeting is held twice a week. I will take you there then. After you see for yourself, you can decide whether to join us in resisting the Empire’s «Chosen» who are about to arrive in Mobius City.”
Finally, Renith finished the juice in her cup. She thought it would take longer to drink, but the cup was empty after just a few sips.
Hmm, it was pretty good.
“If I have time, I’ll go take a look.”
Renith genuinely hoped to see for herself whether the city’s resistance was truly as strong and united as Antina believed it to be. But before that, she had a matter concerning the «Scholars» to deal with.
Nothasc had told her that once she reached Mobius City, the «Scholars»’ contact would naturally appear and find her.
But now, two nights had passed, and she hadn’t caught a glimpse of any «Scholar», nor even heard a whisper related to them.
Could it be that Nothasc had deceived her?
Forget it, for now, she would assume Nothasc hadn’t lied. Renith planned to stay right here at this law firm, waiting for the «Scholars» to seek her out. If, by the time the meeting happened a few days later, she still hadn’t encountered any sign of the «Scholars»’ contact, then she would turn her attention to dealing with the Transmigrators in the city.
Renith bid Antina goodnight. When she stepped out again, she noticed the lights outside were already off. Vistah, having finished his letter, was lying on the sofa, staring somewhat vacantly into space.
Indeed, keeping watch was truly both troublesome and boring.
Because Alegia was a woman and less suited for combat at night, the watch duty fell to Herthees and Anlude (Renith).
Anlude’s (Renith’s) physical stamina couldn’t compare to Herthees’s, so usually he took the first watch, and Herthees took the second.
Of course, in times of peace, things were much better. Like now, Vistah could gaze blankly at the grayish sky, or read by an oil lamp, or even doze off without much consequence, as long as nothing unexpected happened.
But it was different during wartime. Back then, everyone was fully armed and constantly on edge. If you spaced out or fell asleep, you could lose your head. Even if you were unbearably tired, you couldn’t sleep, because the unexpected could happen at any moment.
Before every rest, Anlude (Renith) had to set up numerous arrays around the camp, which was both troublesome and draining. And during watch, you had to find time to concoct potions, repair equipment, leaving little time for personal interests.
This world had been at peace for far too long, and it was about to face a violent upheaval.
Better to enjoy this hard-won tranquility while it lasts… after all, they were soon returning to the harsh, rootless existence of three hundred years ago.
Renith walked to the door and gently closed it.
The light returned to Vistah’s eyes as he looked towards the direction of Antina’s room.
“«Chosen»… meeting… resistance. What in the world is Teacher talking about?”
The soundproofing in the room wasn’t great, and Vistah’s hearing was fairly good. While writing his letter outside, he had occasionally overheard bits of the conversation inside. For a moment, Vistah scratched his head in frustration. He understood that Antina went out to attend meetings to resist the «Chosen», but he just couldn’t comprehend why.
Everything seemed to be developing for the better nowadays.
Life was good, the world was beautiful, the Empire was thriving. Sure, there were many shortcomings—like the many refugees without work, many places still lacking railway lines, conflicts still erupting in many areas…
But couldn’t these problems be solved by the Empire’s continuously improving laws and regulations?
That was also the reason he had carefully considered and chosen to study law.
There were so many paths to achieve fairness and justice, why must they choose resistance?
But why would Antina, and Lance, become resisters?
He truly couldn’t understand it.
Were they just inherently anti-social types?
No, Vistah had spent a long time with them; they definitely weren’t that kind of person.
So that meant… the problem lay with him.
He stared intently at his own hand, stretched out towards the empty air. Reading, studying, absorbing knowledge—this was how his first twenty-plus years had been spent.
Books had taught him much.
But it seemed he had failed to truly understand the shape of the world.
