Foundation

At seven in the morning, Duke Roy finished his workout.

Although the Magic Era had ended and the world no longer needed adventurers, Duke Roy still followed the secret training manual left by his great Hero ancestor every morning: he ran ten kilometers, did a hundred sit-ups, a hundred push-ups, swung his sword a thousand times, and used his Ultimate Skill until he ran out of mana.

Then, after bathing, changing, and relieving himself on schedule, he stepped onto the scale.

Five minutes later, Duke Roy entered the dining room with a dark expression.

The Roy House's young, handsome butler had already prepared a breakfast carefully planned by a nutritionist for his master.

But Duke Roy had no appetite for the steak, which came without a drop of sauce. The sweet smell drifting from the other side of the table, however, made him swallow despite himself.

Duke Roy couldn't help glancing over. His daughter, Leisiphia, was sitting there.

—That wasn't important.

What mattered was the dazzling spread of doughnuts, cream puffs, and macarons in front of Leisiphia. Most eye-catching of all was a six-layer crepe cake piled high with strawberries, blueberries, and cream. A maid was pouring golden honey from the top, forming a shimmering stream.

It looked delicious!

Duke Roy stared at it, nearly drooling.

It took all his effort to control his expression and maintain his dignity as a father. "Leia, you should start watching how many sweets you eat. Otherwise, it'll be very hard to quit later."

"But isn't it just as hard for someone like you, Father?" Leisiphia glanced disdainfully at Duke Roy's protruding beer belly and said mercilessly, "Our family's bloodline makes us gain weight once we turn thirty. It's about time you gave up on all that useless effort, isn't it?!"

"This cursed bloodline!" Duke Roy lamented.

Leisiphia ignored him. With the elegant posture she'd learned through strict etiquette training, she cut a piece of the crepe cake in front of her and put it in her little mouth.

Duke Roy lifted his chubby belly with a wounded look and settled into his chair. He cut off a large piece of steak, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed resentfully.

It was so bland.

"Add some salt and black pepper," Roy told the butler.

"Too much salt would be bad for your health," the butler replied, firmly refusing.

Duke Roy looked at the desserts in front of his daughter and felt even more jealous. "Leia, if you keep this up, His Highness will dislike you."

"His Highness knew about our family's tendency to gain weight and proposed the engagement anyway, didn't he?" After all, that weight-gaining gene had come from the royal family in the first place!

Leisiphia proudly lifted her little chin. "Besides, I'm a daughter of the Roy House. Who would dare not like me?!"

"Even if you were a gold coin, not everyone would love you," Duke Roy said.

The child had indeed been raised too innocently.

But there was still time. She had eight years before she turned twenty-one and married the Crown Prince. They could start exposing her to the less respectable side of things when she was fifteen.

Duke Roy's hopes for his daughter went beyond making her Crown Princess Consort or Queen. He had a complete plan for her upbringing. But like any ordinary father, he also wanted her carefree days to last a little longer—much longer.

Duke Roy sighed to himself.

He forced his gaze away from his daughter's... desserts and accepted the newspaper from the butler.

The paper was soft and warm. The butler had carefully pressed it to keep its sharp edges from cutting the delicate fingers of a noble.

Duke Roy had thick calluses from sword practice and didn't need such a service. But as a member of the nobility, what mattered most was often the ritual, not the purpose itself.

Duke Roy set the newspaper beside him without looking at it. As he cut his steak, he asked:

"Anything interesting in the news today?"

"The Royal Capital is still preparing for the Queen Mother's eightieth birthday celebration. A coal mine near Sensenata collapsed, and an investigation into the cause is underway. The railway between the City of Academies and Xiesse will be completed next month..."

As though he'd memorized them, the butler immediately summarized the news his master might find interesting.

Duke Roy listened closely, but Leisiphia was hardly interested.

It all seemed too far removed from a Young Lady like her—until she heard the last item:

"...Discussion of the Game Table is heating up. Magic Gear is on the verge of winning its lawsuit. Several newspapers, including Sunrise News, claim the authorities are deliberately suppressing it. They've jointly issued a statement in defense of press freedom."

"They mean freedom to make up news, don't they?" Leisiphia grumbled.

"Leia, you seem to have a problem with them!" Duke Roy raised an eyebrow. "Did their reporting embarrass you after you had a Game Table custom-made?"

"Not at all—"

"Or are you angry because they took money to sway public opinion? Isn't that just part of the unspoken rules of the game? You're a Player yourself, after all," Duke Roy said.

But you won't let me do it, will you?

Leisiphia gave a cold snort.

She had been unhappy ever since the first negative story appeared in the newspapers and had wanted to have the articles withdrawn, but her father had stopped her.

Duke Roy looked at his daughter's puffed-up cheeks and shook his head with a laugh. "Even the most celebrated Young Lady in the Eastern Territory couldn't win them over. No wonder they lost so badly!" He turned to the butler for confirmation. "They're joining together to issue a statement. There must be more to it than Magic Gear winning its lawsuit, right?"

"Everything has gone just as you predicted, Master," the butler flattered him.

Knowing his master would ask, he reported respectfully, "Magic Gear has always had a good reputation. Its recent reopening and promotional events also stirred up people's nostalgia, so they were skeptical of the negative stories about the Alchemy Workshop. Then, once those stories were proven to be rumors, public anger only grew.

"Several newspapers, including the Eastern Border Daily, took the lead in correcting the rumors. Organizations such as the 'Street Volunteers Committee' and the Library also refused to sell newspapers that carried negative stories about Magic Gear. Many residents even canceled their subscriptions.

"Data shows that subscriptions to several papers, led by the Sunrise Daily, have fallen sharply compared with last quarter. Newsstands in various places have also struggled to sell them, and their editorial offices have received a large number of letters of protest. By contrast, the Eastern Border Daily's sales have doubled since last month. The Game Table has grown even more popular, too. After the Eastern Border Daily published that article saying the Game Table could improve mana levels, queues at Game Tables around the city tripled. Residents are asking for more of them.

"Mayor Owen Simor seized the opportunity to announce that Magic Gear will launch a pilot project with the Charity School. The public is looking forward to it, and his approval rating has risen by thirty-six percent. Mayor Simor may be the biggest winner."

"Haah!"

Roy let out an exaggerated sigh.

He deliberately winked at his daughter. "If you'd stopped the reports from the beginning, all these entertaining things would never have happened, would they?"

"What's entertaining about this farce?" Leisiphia protested.

Duke Roy laughed twice.

"Still, I don't think Owen is the winner," Roy said to the butler. "His approval rating has only gone up locally. I imagine some important people are absolutely furious with him."

"You're absolutely right," the young butler said. He pulled a few papers from the large stack and placed them on top. "The Royal Capital disapproves of his education pilot project. Several official newspapers have been dropping hints. The Seyekin Post says he's grandstanding and wasting tax money. Fashion News calls him 'an old fossil's dying struggle.' Capital News claims he's neglecting his duties and ruining the children's future."

"How can they—" Leisiphia flared up.

She angrily protested, "This is our Eastern Territory's business! They haven't even seen a Game Table. How can they make such wild judgments?!"

"Because it's His Majesty the King who wants to abolish magic education—and even shut down old-fashioned shops like the Alchemy Workshop, which sells Magic Items to commoners!"

"The King—"

Leisiphia broke off.

She stared wide-eyed at her father, who had so casually revealed the biggest Black Curtain of all.

Duke Roy smiled as he enjoyed his daughter's stunned expression for two whole minutes. Then he asked, "Leisiphia, do you know how our family became a Grand Ducal house?"

Leisiphia immediately sat up straight.

By convention, when her father addressed her by her full name and asked her a question, he was testing her.

Leisiphia answered solemnly, "Because our ancestors defeated the Demon King and defended the kingdom's honor."

"That's right. Our ancestors defeated the Demon King," Duke Roy said with a nod. He continued, "But the Magic Era has ended, and the Demon King is sealed in the Abyss forever—at least, that's what the King announced, so let's say it's sealed forever. The King has Firearms to protect his Empire. He no longer needs a Hero. If another Hero like our ancestor appeared, who would his sword be pointed at?"

"Who would it be pointed at... If there's no Demon King, a Hero wouldn't have to raise his sword, right?"

"But the people's suffering hasn't disappeared! Look at them—they're poor and miserable, perhaps even more miserable than before. Who do you think a Hero would point his sword at then?"

At whom—

"...So the King wants to break every Magic Wand and cut off every path?" Leisiphia looked at her father with bright eyes. "He doesn't want another Roy House, does he?!"

He might not even want the first Roy.

The King had given their Hero ancestor far too much back then. Those prosperous Mines should have belonged to the King.

That was also why she had to marry the Crown Prince, wasn't it?

Leisiphia thought calmly.

As the eldest daughter of the Roy House, she had known from a young age that her marriage was political. She had to make it work and couldn't harbor any expectations.

"But we chose the King, didn't we?" The Hero of old had decided to become an Evil Dragon.

Leisiphia asked just as calmly, "So, when I bought a Game Table from Magic Gear, was I 'aiding the enemy'?"

"Hahaha!" Duke Roy burst into laughter, his beer belly making the entire table shake.

Roy was very pleased by his daughter's cleverness.

He explained, "It's not that serious. Keep playing if you want to. Even if the King wants to gather all magic into his own hands, it's still an open question whether he can do it. In fact, things are better for us as they are now, so the Roy House doesn't need to follow him all the way down the same path. Leisiphia, remember: this world isn't just black and white. Most things are gray!"

Leisiphia looked thoughtful.

"Master, you're so wise," the butler said, applauding.

Duke Roy glanced strangely at his butler.

Interrupting at a time like that was undeniably rude.

But the butler continued, "The situation is indeed quite ambiguous. Though the King's newspapers have criticized Mayor Simor, their coverage of the Game Table has made people curious. Many now want to see what kind of Magic Toy has captivated Cecilia. As a result, the number of visitors has risen by seventy-six percent compared with the same period in previous years, and tax revenue has increased substantially. Judging by those results, Mayor Simor is certain to be reelected. Not even the King's displeasure can stop it."

"Mayor Simor will therefore undoubtedly grant a series of preferential policies to Magic Gear and the other magic shops. Several of your businesses qualify."

The butler paused, then put on his handsome, professional smile.

"By the way, you said a few days ago that you didn't need to attend Mayor Simor and Magic Gear's launch ceremony for the pilot lessons at the Charity School. Are you sure about that?"

Roy stared at his butler for a long while, frowning, then finally said:

"Tatana, you're acting very strangely!"

*

Duke Roy ultimately decided to send his butler, Tatana, to attend the ceremony, in order to preserve what remained of his dignity.

The Duke had been overthinking it.

Even to Angell and Owen, the pilot project at the Charity School was no more than a "small matter."

They had never planned to invite anyone else.

The Mayor and the Magic Association had decided to wait and see how well the students took to it before settling the terms of their future cooperation. The pilot was only a prelude, hardly worth announcing with great fanfare.

But, thanks to the efforts of those with ulterior motives, the pilot project became a matter of concern throughout the city, the region, and even the whole country. So, on the day of Angell's Mana Base Station groundbreaking ceremony, almost everyone headed to the designated Charity School.

Reporter Henry was one of them.

Henry worked for the Royal Capital's Seyekin Post.

The Seyekin Post had the largest circulation in the Central Kingdom, which gave its reporting a certain authority.

But Henry had also come with a political assignment.

Officially, he was there to report on Cecilia City's magic education reforms. But judging by the attitude of his superiors lately, they clearly wanted him to investigate the dirt behind the reforms.

After all, magic education wasted a huge amount of money every year and had long since become unnecessary.

But Cecilia City's Mayor, Owen Simor, was a staunch defender of magic education. At the recent Royal Capital Education Conference, he had even flipped the table and left the place in shambles. Everyone thought the Mayor was simply taking a hard public stance and putting on a political show.

As a journalist with a sense of social responsibility, Henry naturally had to expose this pointless waste of taxpayers' money.

Still, from the moment Henry left the Royal Capital and boarded the train, something had felt off.

So many people!

The route from the Royal Capital to Cecilia had usually been quite quiet.

Cecilia might have been known as the Magic Capital, but it had been left behind by history once the modern age began. It was nothing like the up-and-coming Industrial City of Sensenata, with its rich resources and a steady stream of new technologies, nor was it like the fashionable City of Freedom, Xiesse, which set all kinds of trends. Once stripped of its magical luster, Cecilia was just a small border city, located near the dangerous Abyss. Naturally, it wasn't a place people wanted to visit.

But the people on the train were enthusiastically discussing Cecilia's new invention.

"Is that Game Table really that fun?"

"I heard people stay by them day and night. They'd rather go bankrupt than leave."

"Did they get hit with a charm spell?"

"Heh, even if it is a charm spell, it's worth it. If the quality inspectors can't detect it, then it doesn't count!"

Their conversation was mixed with strange, baseless rumors and unrealistic expectations.

Henry recognized that they were probably wandering merchants from various regions. Most of them gathered along the roads leading to Sensenata and Xiesse, making a living by selling new industrial products in areas with poor transport links.

This story seemed to have given them the wrong idea. They thought the Game Table was a fun new invention, just like an industrial product. In particular, the rumor that it could "make people go bankrupt" sounded like an irresistible selling point to merchants, drawing them toward Cecilia.

Henry felt that this trend was troubling, but he couldn't explain why the merchants' arrival was a bad thing.

Besides the merchants, Henry saw more of his fellow reporters than anyone else.

There were not only colleagues from newspapers in the Royal Capital, but also reporters from other regions who had caught wind of the story. Most outrageous of all, Henry noticed that even several Foreign Races had become interested in the news.

"It's been a long time since I heard anything about Alchemy Items."

"Magic Gear is still in business?"

"My old Magic Wand was made by that Workshop! Now that it's reopened, it might be nice to drop by and show them some support."

Henry heard several Elves discussing it.

He was a little alarmed to discover that the Alchemy Workshop he'd assumed was on the verge of being phased out had a good reputation among many Long-lived Races and Foreign Races. Some were even willing to spend "a small part of their lives" traveling there just to take a look.

Henry's unease only grew after he reached Cecilia City.

Cecilia wasn't nearly as run-down as he had expected.

Magic had one drawback: it lasted a long time. But that was also one of its strengths.

The city had been built to resist the Demon Race, and its defenses were impregnable. Even though changing times had plunged it into silence, its walls—preserved by magic and capable of standing for tens of thousands of years—showed no signs of decay.

Even when Henry tried to write an article about "Cecilia pining for its faded past" and take a few photos of walls overgrown with weeds, every angle showed buildings every bit as magnificent and splendid as those in the Royal Capital.

With the Game Tables set up in the busiest part of such a city, they didn't make it seem like people were neglecting their duties for entertainment. Instead, the miraculous projections gave the impression that this was "the kind of game people in a magical city would play."

The Magic Gear Workshop was even more impressive.

Forget its ridiculously ornate exterior—what was with all those fluffy creatures inside?!

As Henry walked through Magic Gear, he felt as though he'd stepped into a fairy tale. People played unfamiliar games with magic, adorable cats carried trays through the crowds, and even the drinks bubbled away with a glug-glug sound.

Henry spent half an hour inside before leaving. He was afraid he'd start wanting to defect if he stayed any longer!

In the end, Henry could only stay at his hotel and rest up for the "Mana Base Station pilot project groundbreaking ceremony" that day.

That was what the invitation sent to Henry called it. He didn't understand why a magic education pilot project had turned into a Mana Base Station groundbreaking ceremony. What even was a Mana Base Station?

Still, Henry thought it would be fine.

No matter how interesting the Game Table was, it was still just a game. Besides, he'd heard that the owner of Magic Gear was an Evil Dragon in a Black Robe. If he took enough pictures, even the most ordinary event would look like a dark ritual.

Henry couldn't help grinning to himself when someone suddenly called out from behind him.

"Isn't that Mr. Henry from the Seyekin Post?"

Oh no, had they recognized him?!

Henry turned around in a panic, only to be surprised to see that the person who'd called to him was a manager from the Iron Puppet Entertainment Company in Xiesse City.

Henry had once been in charge of the entertainment section of his newspaper, so he knew the manager well.

"...What are you doing here?" Henry asked in surprise. He couldn't see what a movie executive from fashionable Xiesse had to do with the backward Magic Capital.

"My boss wants to discuss some business with Magic Gear," the other man replied.

He was embarrassed to explain that Sir Mandela had gone to Magic Gear several times lately, only to meet the Workshop's Black Cat Secretary each time. The secretary had firmly refused to sell Magic Gear's signature technology and said the owner had no interest in visits from unrelated people. With no other option, the Sir had decided to come in person and wait for the owner.

"Sir Mandela is here too?!" Henry was even more surprised.

He instinctively realized this must be big news. He picked up his camera and tried to find the gentleman's figure, but then a commotion broke out in the crowd.

"Ah, the owner of the Magic Gear is here!" the manager said.

That Black Robe is here?!

Henry excitedly raised his camera, wanting to photograph the evil Black Robe. But through his lens, he saw a handsome young man, so strikingly beautiful he could have passed for a Divine Envoy. He was indeed wearing a black robe, but the alchemist's insignia of the Sun and Moon Gear hung upon it, looking no less impressive than a bishop's vestments.

This is Black Robe?!

Henry's values were shaken more than ever before.

He even felt that if he didn't take a few more pictures, he'd be doing the young man's good looks a disservice!

By the time Henry came to his senses, he had already snapped away two-thirds of the film in his camera, barely paying attention to Mayor Owen's speech.

What am I doing?! Henry finally calmed down after a long while.

He began to wonder if he'd been hit by Black Robe's Charm Spell.

There won't be enough film left after this. How am I supposed to expose Black Robe's evil plan to the public?! Henry thought.

By then, the ceremony had reached its most important moment. Henry heard someone on the platform announce, "And now, Angell Cecilia will give a speech and inaugurate the ceremony—"

Black Robe stepped to the center of the platform.

But he showed no intention of speaking. He merely raised the gleaming Magic Wand in his hand and swept it through the air.

With Black Robe's gesture, a crystalline beam of light shot upward. Then, as if striking the surface of water, it sent ripples spreading across the sky.

To Henry's astonishment, a small whirlpool appeared overhead, as if the sky had become a pool. It gathered into a cloud shaped like an upside-down fountain, and from the center of that cloudy fountain, a rainbow descended into the courtyard of the Charity School's central courtyard, then spread outward in every direction. The air itself shimmered with flecks of light.

Even those without talent could feel the presence of mana.

It felt as if they could simply wave a hand and cast magic.

"Is this what mana feels like?" the manager beside Henry murmured with a wry smile. "If I weren't past the age, I'd want to try learning magic too, given the chance!"

Everyone felt the same way.

Who in this Plane wouldn't want to use magic for themselves? People only claimed they didn't need it because they knew they lacked the talent and had given up.

Henry, however, said nothing.

He was clicking away at his camera, greedily capturing it all.

What about taking sides?

In the face of real magic, to hell with all that!