They’re already reaching out to other countries like this?
To the north of the Kingdom of Boleno lay the Cassan Empire, and further northeast was the Kingdom of Erdi.
Yet, Princess Eva’s influence was spreading not only from Boleno but even into Cassan!
The Kingdom of Erdi also had quite a few automatons, so I had no idea when their reach might extend to where I was.
Princess Angela must be trembling in fear by now as well. In a way, I felt concerned for her.
As I anxiously listened to the news from Cassan, Raffaelo carefully explained the situation to me.
“Finding Aurora is important, but so is preparing for Princess Eva’s power. For now, we should focus on understanding the situation in Cassan.”
“Yes, that makes sense.”
And so, we decided to stay at the inn for a while longer. Raffaelo wrote a letter to Prince Allan, hoping to learn how Cassan was responding to the situation.
[My dear friend Allan,
This is Raffaelo. I am currently in the Kingdom of Erdi. My friend had come up this far, and, somehow, I ended up crossing the border as well.
I am writing to you because I’ve heard that automatons in Cassan have started malfunctioning.
These automatons, which were supposed to serve people, have reportedly begun attacking them instead.
Moreover, I’ve heard that the Kingdom of Boleno has shut itself off, making communication impossible. Tell me, as a prince, are you also unable to reach Boleno?
If you have any information, I would be grateful if you could share it with me.
— Raffaelo Nesta]
Letter from Allan Ophilettete to Raffaelo Nesta,
[Raffaelo, I’m surprised that you made it all the way to the Kingdom of Erdi. I also didn’t realize you were this quick with news.
Yes, the situation in the Cassan Empire is dire. It wasn’t long ago that we began commercializing automatons imported from Boleno, but they are gradually malfunctioning.
Now, not only in the southern part of the empire but even in the capital, automatons are breaking down, and everything is in chaos.
They have taken up weapons and started killing people—especially those they deem ‘useless humans.’
A significant number of the poor on the streets have already lost their lives. The nobles have locked themselves inside their estates to stay safe, but I worry about the common citizens.
The army has been deployed to suppress the automatons, but the automatons are overpowering the soldiers and using their own guns to fight back. They are much stronger than we expected.
Some of them even self-destruct when attacked. I have no idea who installed such a system in them.
And, as you suspected, we’ve lost all contact with Boleno. We plan to send a diplomatic envoy soon.
I will send another letter if I learn anything new.
— Allan Ophilettete]
Letter from Princess Alice Ophilettete to Seraphina Bibiana,
[Dear Miss Seraphina,
Hello! This is Princess Alice.
After seeing my brother send a letter to Sir Nesta, I was able to find out where you were! So, I decided to write to you as well.
To be honest, I doubt my brother gave you much useful information. He doesn’t know much! Well, neither do I…
But I do have some news that might interest you.
I’m not sure if you’ve been in touch with the Duchess of Lithman, but she and Duke Lithman have already fled the Cassan Empire. They boarded a ship and evacuated to the Kingdom of Stolland.
Honestly, it’s not the most honorable action for a Duke, but I heard the Duchess was absolutely terrified. Anyway, this means you won’t be able to reach her for a while, so keep that in mind.
Things are truly chaotic in the empire right now. Maybe we should have taken your advice and never distributed the automatons in the first place.
They seem to be changing, starting from the southern regions, and it’s only getting worse. Soon, the northern regions might be affected too.
People are trying to preemptively attack and isolate the automatons, but they are too strong. They retaliate against anyone who attacks them.
As a princess of Cassan, I need to find a solution to this crisis. If I discover anything useful, I’ll write to you again, my lady.
— Alice Ophilettete]
After reading Allan and Alice’s letters, we grew even more serious.
“Judging by how quickly this is spreading, it seems like Princess Eva is fully committed to her plan.”
“Yeah… What are we supposed to do about this?”
It was clear that we had to fight against Princess Eva for the sake of this world’s peace.
I was also worried about my father, who was still in the Kingdom of Boleno, but there was no way to contact him…
“Do you think the people of Boleno are safe?”
“Killing people based on her own criteria of usefulness…”
“Prioritizing efficiency… That definitely suits Princess Eva, who’s obsessed with science.”
There was no doubt that this was her doing.
The problem was how we were supposed to fight her! If we went in without any information, we were bound to lose. We had nothing that could help us defeat her.
If she had created artificial humans or some kind of superior lifeform, we wouldn’t stand a chance against them.
On top of that, we had no idea what was happening in Boleno.
If only we could reach Maria—it would ease my worries a little. But there was no way to know whether Maria had already fallen into Eva’s hands.
And in the middle of all this, Aurora wasn’t helping us at all—just provoking us instead. It was beyond frustrating.
“Sigh… Aurora…”
I let out a deep sigh, thinking of Aurora. Just when was she planning to get caught?
“If this were a story, this would be about the time for her to be captured…”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Oh, nothing… Never mind.”
For now, we remained in our inn in the Kingdom of Erdi, exchanging letters.
Letter from Allan Ophilettete to Raffaelo Nesta,
[Raffaelo, the situation is getting worse.
The southern region has been completely taken over by the automatons. They are slaughtering soldiers and managing people as if they were livestock.
There weren’t this many automatons in Cassan before, so they must have come from Boleno.
The mass-destruction automatons, the ones using weapons, are attacking our troops.
For now, we’ve issued an evacuation order for the south and are trying to relocate as many people as possible to the north.
The automatons’ way of thinking is bizarre. They present intelligence-based quizzes to people, and if someone fails to answer correctly, they execute them.
The country is in turmoil, but the bigger problem is that we don’t know how far their power will spread—northern regions might be next.
On top of that, magic doesn’t work on them. I really have no idea what to do.
As a prince of Cassan, I can’t leave my country, but you should head north as soon as possible. The automatons are advancing from the south.
— Allan Ophilettete]
[Dear Miss Seraphina,
I don’t even have time for formal greetings, so I’ll skip them.
I assume you’ve already heard from my brother about the evacuation order. Because of it, the northern region is in complete chaos…
I’ve been thinking about the cause of this whole situation.
I keep wondering if there might be a dangerous magic engineer in Boleno.
Unless someone deliberately altered the automatons’ systems, this wouldn’t be possible.
Of course, I’m not blaming Boleno for this.
If I learn anything new, I’ll send another letter.
— Alice Ophilette]
Letter from Seraphina Viviana to Princess Alice Ophilette,
[Your Highness, Princess Alice,
Thank you for keeping me informed with new updates. Your letters have been a great help.
However, I don’t think I’ll be able to send any more letters for a while. We’ve decided to leave this area.
Just as you and Prince Allan said, the automatons are advancing far too quickly. We need to escape north as soon as possible. And while we’re at it, we’ll make sure to capture our friend as well.
We’ll do everything we can to resolve this situation. Somehow, I have a feeling that our friend holds the key to solving this crisis…
Once this matter is settled, we shall meet again, Your Highness.
— Seraphina Viviana]
Just as we were deciding where to go next in our search for Aurora, shocking news arrived.
“Everyone, look at this.”
Ghieuspe held out a package, and our eyes widened at the sender’s name.
— Sent by Aurora Shae
To our surprise, Aurora had sent us a package!
