William's Coronation Prelude

It was autumn. Dawn had just broken, and a fine, misty rain was falling.

Delicate threads of rain tapped softly against the maple leaves, playing a pleasant morning melody. The red leaves had been washed especially bright by the rain. Hill sat on the windowsill, listening to the pattering music and admiring the beautiful scenery.

Today was the day William would be crowned king.

Unlike the previous kings, who had held their coronation ceremonies at the Temple of Nobility and Sovereignty, William—whose own deity had yet to ascend to godhood—had decided to swear his accession in the square before the royal palace.

Hill had risen early to wait for Falan. Today, as Falan's junior, he would join the mages watching the ceremony in the square.

Noble mages could choose to stay with the nobles during celebrations. But aside from a handful of low-level mages who found it difficult to advance, no one chose to leave the mage faction.

This was Hill's first time attending a celebration. Once he chose the mage faction, people would no longer introduce him as Baron Bolanio.

This was the first time he would enter the mage community as Archmage Hill Bolanio.

Hill was still somewhat nervous.

It would be best to hide his identity as a Sorcerer until he became a Magus. Besides, mages generally assumed there were Sorcerers hidden among them. Even if they envied and resented one another, they were all spellcasters, and there were already too few of them. So even if Hill was exposed, no one would say anything.

Seeing Falan's carriage enter Maple Leaf Street from afar, Hill went downstairs and locked the door.

Last night, he had restored the shop to its initial settings and replaced the Shop Core with a new one.

After the coronation ceremony, Falan would take them back.

Hill watched Adrian open the carriage door, smiled faintly, and climbed in.

"Good morning, Grandfather. Uncle Adrian."

Falan nodded.

Adrian smiled. "Good morning, little Hill. Looking forward to it? There'll be quite a spectacle today!"

"The coronation ceremony?"

"The square before the royal palace can hold thirty thousand people at once. That's already a rarely seen large square.

"But William invited all the Undead. What terrifying power."

"Time and space!" Falan suddenly sighed. "What powerful forces. I wonder how much longer we'll be able to speak those two words directly."

Adrian said, "And who knows whether it's permanent? Such a massive expansion of space.

"Has the era when space could only be expanded with Spatial Crystals come to an end?

"Even Gods couldn't find Spatial Crystals that large, could they?"

Falan said calmly, "Neither of you examined the crystals His Majesty provided to the Undead carefully?

"How careless!

"Absolutely disgraceful!"

Hill hurriedly poured out some of the crystals from his ring and discovered in shock that, aside from a scattered few, the overwhelming majority were Attribute-less Crystals!

That was terrifying. The elements of this world filled every corner and every crack.

Attribute-less Crystals were almost impossible to find.

The rare ones that did appear were formed by chance near an exceptionally powerful elemental lord in the Elemental World, after the advancing lord had absorbed all the surrounding elements.

The entire world was filled with elements. Every breath people took carried elements with it.

The reason magical beasts were so terrifying in this world was that every breath strengthened their bodies.

If magical beasts had not been so scarce by nature, humans, elves, and dwarves could only have struggled to survive.

Yet the appearance of these Attribute-less Crystals was enough to warn everyone.

Adrian was nearly horrified. "A world without elements?"

"Didn't you find it strange that Salar submitted so quickly?"

Hill fell silent. He had always thought it was because William had become Legendary and because there were too many Undead.

Falan said irritably, "Legendary figures are the foundation of a nation. William has only just become Legendary, but Salar has five established Legendary figures! And that's only what they show openly. How could the Salar Royal Family, so powerful as it is, lack Legendary figures of its own?

"They agreed to William taking the throne without saying a word. I knew something was wrong.

"Once I got the crystals the Undead gave you, I understood!

"Either His Majesty's divine power is incomparably strong and he can condense crystals directly, or he can seize crystal mines straight from other worlds!

"One gigantic metal-element mine could support so many Legendary figures!

"What is there to fight over now?

"No matter which reason it is.

"Either way, he's too powerful to provoke, and there are limitless crystals right in front of them!

"Profit is why they all kept quiet."

Adrian said, "Don't be angry, Teacher. These past two days, we were too focused on making money. We'll definitely pay attention from now on."

Hill hurriedly nodded obediently.

Falan added, "If His Majesty truly can expel the elemental power in the air, the world will change."

Hill was speechless.

Why were the nations of this world almost all fixed in place?

The unimaginably vast distances were what maintained their stability.

Even Gods could not teleport people through solidified space.

The territory of every nation was the farthest distance its royal family could control.

Even an alchemist as wealthy as Falan could only use spatial boxes in his Mage Tower. An alchemical house that could transform into a small home was already unimaginably expensive, and Hill could not bear to use one.

Not to mention the sort of thing in other novels, where a Mage Tower could fold space and become a small plane. That was something no one here could even dream of.

That was because once space filled with elements experienced large-scale disturbances and severing, it would inevitably trigger elemental storms.

Spatial spells basically did not exist in this world. Only alchemists, using naturally occurring Spatial Crystals, could make alchemical rings.

When the Undead first appeared, their small spatial bags—one for each person—had long since been studied by countless mages. Unfortunately, they had achieved nothing and could only attribute them to divine power.

But now, William could directly expand a square into an enormous space capable of holding more than a hundred thousand people.

If it existed permanently, then what would happen to this solidified Elemental World?

Hill finally understood what that dreadful premonition he had felt after the Undead appeared had been: how could an online game possibly lack teleportation arrays?

Once William's armies could easily reach every corner of the world, what would come next?

Hill now understood why the God of Space-Time had been unwilling to compromise with the God of Nobility and Sovereignty.

William truly deserved to be called the chosen one! He was going to unify the world, ascend the throne, and become emperor!

That was why William let the players run wild. That was why he valued education even more. That was why he needed fair and impartial laws!

A unified human empire needed officials who could get things done, no longer nobles who ruled like kings over their own fiefs.

Hill remembered the nobles in his original world. Aside from their bloodlines, they had nothing left.

In the future, they would have to fight the professionals for a voice as well!

They had arrived at the square, and Hill swallowed the words on his lips.

Falan merely felt certain that William's throne would stand firm. Some of Salar's Legendary figures would participate in this matter.

Moreover, the God of Space-Time's power was so great that even if William could not withstand it, as the only deity remaining on the land, he would never fear the God of Nobles striking from afar.

Hill could not say anything. The more he saw, the quieter he became.

Hill now felt as though he had thought he was playing a standalone installment, only to discover it was merely a prequel.

The World Consciousness had likely approved the God of Space-Time's choice as well. It had made no move at all to stop the summoning of players through time and space.

The semi-slave society that had lasted tens of thousands of years was finally about to vanish.

When Hill stepped out of the carriage, the light rain suddenly stopped.

Sunlight abruptly poured down over the square before them.

Hill looked up at the cloudless sky over sunlit Obastian. He could not sense divine power, so had a Legendary mage made this happen?

Legendary mages, who proudly claimed never to participate in politics, had also stepped down from their altar.

Falan stood there for a while, his expression shifting. In the end, he said nothing. He adjusted his clothes and led Adrian and Hill toward a male mage who was hurrying over to greet them.

"Magus Falan, please come with me. Do you have only two companions?"

"Yes," Falan replied shortly.

Following the mage guiding them, Falan and the others entered the square.

The moment he stepped onto the square's ground, Hill stared in surprise at the abruptly transformed space.

From the outside, it had appeared to be only a flat square, but it had become an incomparably vast space.

The enormous circular square had been built into a stadium, aside from the outermost ring of shop-lined streets.

Following their guide, they entered and made their way step by step toward the seats on the second floor.

Falan and Adrian tried to remain composed as they sat down and looked around the gigantic venue, which had two hundred thousand seats.

Hill followed them to the seats almost blankly, filled with endless emotion. This was an enlarged Bird's Nest.

He had visited it several times before, gazing at the Bird's Nest with envy and jealousy, wishing that he too could take part in its construction.

Hill's eyes nearly reddened at once. Boundless sorrow overwhelmed him.

Never before had he missed his country and his homeland so deeply.

The emotions suppressed by reason surged chaotically within him. Hill clenched his teeth, determined not to lose his composure.

A vast yet ethereal bell suddenly rang out. Hill raised his head. A soothing power that calmed the heart and steadied emotions swept past.

The entire stadium fell silent.

Even the noisy, boisterous Undead seated on the highest level—whom Hill had not noticed until then—stopped speaking.

Hill watched Falan relax after glancing toward the upper levels, then belatedly realized that he had grown accustomed to the chaotic stadium before an opening ceremony and had not felt there was anything worth minding.

Old-fashioned noble mages like Falan had probably been driven mad by the noise.

No wonder no one had noticed Hill's emotional fluctuations.

As a resounding marching tune began, the Royal Guard entered the arena.

The knights in gold and white uniforms looked mighty and majestic. Their white horses were draped in golden tack.

The troops entered in rhythm with the rising and falling music, making the people of Salar cheer with excitement.

Hill, however, felt somewhat detached. This was the March of the Resolute Stride—the ceremonial song of the honor guard of the three armed forces.

After the knights stood in formation row by row, the music shifted again to an inspection march.

Hill silently thought, William is coming out.

Sure enough, William appeared astride a white unicorn, dressed in the formal robes of a king.

Hill felt embarrassed to his core and suddenly found himself unable to look directly at this fellow countryman.

What an incredible memory!

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