Chapter 770 — The Start of the Year

The attendants, guards, maids, and officials traveling with her were the only passengers in this carriage. Behind it were two more special carriages equipped with rest rooms, also reserved by the Grand Administrator's party—but Count Barlin knew that beyond these, the train carried many other "ordinary" passengers. Even the carriages they occupied belonged to them only for the duration of this journey; once the journey ended, these carriages would welcome new travelers.

Because all of this belonged to the "public."

This left the Count, accustomed as he was to his own family carriage and private griffin, somewhat ill at ease.

"Your Grace, why did you choose to travel by 'train'?" he could not help asking. "A private arcane carriage or a griffin would be more fitting to your station..."

"Have you ever experienced a 'train'?" Victoria's gaze swept over Count Barlin as she asked calmly.

"I... have not," Count Barlin shook his head. "You know the North doesn't have such a thing yet."

"Neither have I, so I wanted to experience it," Victoria said mildly. "Every time I come here, there are many things worth... experiencing properly."

As she spoke, she turned her head and looked through the transparent crystal glass beside the carriage at the scene on the platform outside.

A large mechanical clock stood at the middle of the platform, and upon it the long iron-black hands were leaping forward, tick by tick.

Seeing Victoria's movement, Count Barlin could not help his curiosity. "What are you looking at?"

On the platform, some passengers waiting for the next train, along with several staff members, had at some point gathered near the mechanical clock. These people had all, as if by unspoken agreement, raised their heads to watch the leaping hands, and to watch the gears turning behind the transparent glass pane below the dial, a trace of anticipation and delight on their faces.

"Something about to spread across the entire Empire."

The second hand of the mechanical clock advanced tick by tick toward the top. On both sides of the platform, holographic projections indicating that boarding had closed had already risen, and from beneath the carriages came a faint,隐约 tremor.

"Something about to spread across the entire Empire?" Count Barlin was rather puzzled. "Clocks? But the North has those too—though at present mostly only in churches and noble houses..."

Before the Count could finish, the long hand had already aligned with the very top of the dial, and almost at the same instant, a long, resounding whistle suddenly came from the roof of the carriage, ringing out across the entire platform and giving Count Barlin quite a start.

The repulsion mechanisms on both sides of the train clicked and turned in unison, runes lighting up one after another, and this massive machine of steel, amid a resounding roar, began slowly to accelerate and to set off toward the open fields.

"It is punctuality, Count Barlin," Victoria said, withdrawing her gaze from the window. "And the pursuit of 'punctuality.' This is part of the new order."

On the platform, now receding into the distance, the passengers and staff who had been staring at the mechanical clock and waiting for the train to depart had already begun to clap happily, and some even gave a small cheer.

It was a bit of diversion for idle moments, and also a "Southern Region specialty" found on train platforms everywhere—a "waiting entertainment" that had only recently begun to catch on among train passengers and station staff.

Trains were not always punctual; "delay" was a frequent guest in the railway system. Even so, His Imperial Majesty had still ordered that mechanical clocks of uniform time be installed at every station and on every train, calibrated in unison through the arcane net communications that spanned the Southern Region, while also repeatedly optimizing and adjusting the procedures of train dispatching in every region.

Ever since the factories of Xuanyao City had begun operating one after another, the Supreme Administrative Council had been striving to introduce the "concept of time" into people's lives, and these mechanical clocks at the stations were plainly part of that effort.

Effort does bear fruit in the end. At the very least, people were already pursuing punctuality, and a train that departed on time was, in the eyes of Southerners, a matter of pride.

...

Victoria Wilde, Grand Administrator from the North, would soon come to the Southern Region to report on her duties.

In Xuan Yao City, in the mage district, inside a house in the southern block, Fendil Veld, a tall man with short silver-white hair, stood at the window facing the street, holding the newspaper he had bought that very morning, his gaze fixed on a headline on the front page.

The newspaper was heavy, the headline was heavy, and his heart was heavy too.

A knock suddenly came at the door. Fendil lifted his somewhat heavy head, adjusted his expression, and said politely, "Please come in."

The door opened, and Eliven Franklin appeared outside. This heir of the Western Province was also clutching a newspaper, and the moment he entered he waved it about: "Fendil, the Duchess Victoria seems to be coming to the Southern Province very soon!"

Fendil listlessly raised the newspaper in his hand: "I already know."

"Oh... right, you have a habit of reading the papers too," Eliven nodded in sudden understanding, then looked curiously at Fendil's face. "What's wrong, my friend? You seem to be in rather low spirits?"

Fendil could not help but glare at him: "About the same as how you'd feel if you suddenly learned your father was coming to see you tomorrow."

"Ah, then I should be delighted," Eliven said cheerfully. "After all, I just passed all the first-level examinations of four colleges. Mr. Santis said that among this batch of students I'm the only one who passed the exams of four colleges in one go - proof that staying up late every day to study and asking the instructors questions really paid off..."

Fendil could not help but cover his forehead.

He had actually forgotten that this fellow Eliven had such an astonishing talent for "studying and learning."

As for himself, what he excelled at was frost magic and other combat techniques.

Which was why he had only passed the first-level examination of the Military Branch, and... was severely lopsided in his subjects.

The other things he knew - aristocratic knowledge, heraldry, etiquette, and the arts - were not useless in the academy; it was just that... they all counted as electives.

Thinking of that always-strict aunt of his, the optimistic and cheerful Fendil could not help but feel his heart grow heavy once more, as though it were stuffed full of ice and frozen earth from the Northern Province.

Had he known, he really ought to have carefully looked into exactly what subjects the "Imperial Academy" taught before setting out. Though it would not have helped him raise his marks any faster, at least it would have prepared him mentally.

Watching the shifts in Fendil's expression, Eliven had no trouble guessing what was on his friend's mind. He patted him on the shoulder - which took some effort, since he was a full head and more shorter than Fendil: "Relax, my friend. Didn't you say so yourself? Coming to the south, the academy is only one part of our 'studies.' The 'shadow play' we made together with Film is finished now - isn't that something to be proud of too?"

"The shadow play..."

At that word, the irritation in Fendil's heart indeed faded considerably.

That was right. After so long an effort, after so many people had poured in vast amounts of thought and energy, the world's first "shadow play" was finally complete.

He could not help turning his head, his gaze falling beyond the window.