Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

[Taniria Islands]

[Golden Harbor]

At dusk, a sea eagle swept across Golden Harbor. It hovered leisurely above the anchorage and sandbanks beyond the harbor, as if pulled by invisible threads.

From its lofty position, the sea eagle surveyed Golden Harbor with a serene and commanding gaze: dock workers sweating profusely on the piers and gangways, cargo ships scattered across the entire anchorage waiting to enter port, fishing boats and dinghies weaving in and out of the harbor like schools of sardines...

Golden Harbor, the most dazzling diamond of the Inner Sea, the most radiant pearl of the Alliance. The chaos and upheaval in distant lands had not sullied her brilliance—instead, they had made her shine even brighter.

In the bustling trading houses, ship brokers loudly boasted of entire cargo deliveries;

In the taverns at the ends of shadowy alleys, smugglers bartered using hand signals decipherable only to insiders.

Wealth is timid as a mouse-rabbit, yet sharp-eyed as a hawk.

As the rivalry between the Federated Provinces and Vineta escalated to a feverish pitch, more and more businesses began using Golden Harbor as a transit hub and warehouse, driven by increasingly stringent trade embargoes and unbearable exorbitant tariffs.

Gold, silver, and all kinds of people flowed into Golden Harbor in a rush, turning the city—already infamous across the Inner Sea for its indulgence and debauchery—into an even more depraved and glittering haven.

In the flickering lights of the fires that burned all night long, it wasn't oil and wax melting away—it was flesh and souls; in the shimmering waves of the Liujin River, it wasn't sunlight and freshwater rippling—it was opportunity and wealth coursing through.

The sea eagle coldly observed the twilight scene of Golden Harbor. Though the sun had already tilted westward, the sky remained strikingly pure and intoxicating.

Looking far into the distance, save for a few faint streaks of white high in the heavens, there were no clouds to be seen.

Another rare day of fine weather—but the howling winds told the sea eagle of things unknown to mankind.

To the east of Golden Harbor, across the tumultuous seas, beyond the reach of even the eagle's sharp eyes, the wind direction had already shifted.

The cold currents blowing from land to sea throughout the entire winter were weakening, while the currents pushing from sea to land were steadily strengthening.

A massive cyclone was forming over the surface of the Storm Ocean.

"The monsoon is coming."

...

[Van Republic]

[Champagne]

[Alliance Delegation Hall]

News may not have legs, but it travels faster than a galloping horse.

The upheaval at the Empire's reception had spread throughout Champagne overnight.

Though the specific events were constantly distorted and iterated upon in people's animated retellings, there was one thing beyond doubt:

United Provinces soldiers had barged into the Empire's consulate and forcibly taken away the United Provinces' Chief Secretary Lionel;

And leading the soldiers was none other than Lionel's most trusted deputy, the Chief Secretary's assistant—[Richard Mayerhaus], who should have been stationed in Guidao City.

Power, betrayal, conspiracy... The conflicts and drama contained within this upheaval were enough for an imaginative author to pen three plays and a five-thousand-line novel.

Now, in Champagne, every citizen who fancied themselves well-informed had transformed into a bard and storyteller, eagerly recounting what happened that night to anyone willing to listen.

History had thus unwittingly morphed into stories and legends.

And the man who should have been at the heart of the tempest—Richard Mayerhaus—was now hiding in a small dressing room.

This man, deemed a grand schemer and traitor, and adorned with countless nicknames, was stiffly staring at his reflection in the mirror, his shoulders and fingers trembling uncontrollably.

According to the procedures of the Alliance Delegation Hall, the Federated Provinces' Supreme Executor was supposed to deliver the opening address before the assembly commenced.

But on the very night the soldiers had forcibly taken Chief Secretary Lionel, consulates of Various Republics in Champagne, as well as the Speaker of the Van Republic, had simultaneously received a document delivered in the name of the "United Provinces Interim Supreme Assembly."

In this document, the "Interim Supreme Assembly" announced that Johann Lionel had been officially removed from his position as Chief Secretary, and all domestic and foreign authority granted to Lionel by the United Provinces National Assembly had been revoked simultaneously.

The abrupt upheaval left all parties unsure of how to react, so most consuls and representatives in Champagne chose to do nothing.

On one hand, they silently observed the actions of the United Provincials; on the other, they voraciously gathered intelligence about the "Interim Supreme Assembly" and dispatched their fastest riders to relay the news.

The situation was like a stone cast into a lake: first stirring waves before the surface soon settled into apparent calm. Yet, beneath the waters, mud and filth had already been churned up.

Regardless, the Alliance Delegation Hall proceeded strictly according to its established protocols.

The man who was originally supposed to deliver the opening address—Johann Lionel—was now a captive.

The so-called "United Provinces Interim Supreme Assembly" had seamlessly assumed control of the United Provinces Consulate, along with all its associated symbols and powers.

The person poised to stand before the representatives of Various Republics, dukedoms, and envoys from distant lands in place of the former Chief Secretary was none other than Lionel's erstwhile assistant, now Interim Supreme Assembly Speaker—Richard Mayerhaus.

Mayerhaus stared at himself in the mirror. The reflection gazing back at him was that of a gloomy, expressionless middle-aged man.

Though every wrinkle had been meticulously smoothed out, though every stray gray hair had been patiently plucked away, it still couldn't erase the unpleasant aura he had borne since birth. In fact, with age, his unlikable presence had only grown more pronounced.