The first rays of morning sunlight spilled onto the streets of the Imperial Capital, draping the entire city in a thin veil of gold.
After nearly half a month of reconstruction, the Imperial Capital had not only been fully restored to its former state, but, with the Roman Merchant Guild's generous support, many of its streets had received a complete makeover.
The stone-paved roads damaged in the fighting had been replaced with smoother bluestone bricks. Newly planted Chinese parasol trees swayed gently in the morning breeze along both sides, and most of the shops lining the streets had reopened. There were even new kinds of shops that the Imperial Capital had never had before.
And since the Empire's celebration was taking place today, colorful flags and floral garlands hung from the buildings on either side of the streets, fluttering in the breeze.
The entire Imperial Capital basked in a lively, cheerful atmosphere, as though the disaster had never happened.
Yet a small group of people was excluded from these festivities: the students participating in the Final Defense.
According to the Exchange Meeting's usual practice in previous years, although most students could not personally participate in the Final Defense, they would still be seated in the defense rooms used for the Second Defense. There, they would wait for the answers from each round to be recorded and passed along, then study and analyze the material together.
This year was different, however. Since this year's students had worked so hard on rebuilding the Imperial Capital, the Academy had decided to relax its requirements. Instead of forcing them to sit in the defense rooms and follow the discussions, it allowed them to head into the Imperial Capital early and enjoy the celebration.
As a result, only a handful of students who were about