Chapter 7 — Those Ancient Matters
Blade of Dawn · Page 3 of 3
"Of course I know," Rebecca said at once with a nod—this history was practically required study for a noble's child. "Over seven hundred years ago, the continent of Loren had only one human nation: the Gondor Empire, at the center of the continent. Historical records say it was the mightiest empire of its day—even the Silver Empire the elves built in the south dared not make an enemy of it lightly. But later, the Aether Sea surrounding this world fell into turmoil, triggering a catastrophe upon the continent of Loren known as the 'Dark Tide.' It broke out in the heartland of the Gondor Empire—almost overnight, the imperial capital and a third of its territory were swallowed by the Tide, broken down by the surging elemental forces..."
"Not overnight—in fact, the process lasted nearly a month. Gondor's court mages were not idle in the face of the Tide," Gao Yang interjected, then gestured for her to continue. "But the result was about the same. Go on."
"Oh... oh," Rebecca blushed, and went on more cautiously, as if having her homework inspected by a parent. "After that, the Tide in the heartland of Gondor continued to spread outward, ultimately destroying the entire nation—that was the collapse of the Gondor Empire. In the aftermath, as the Aether Sea gradually calmed, the Tide's power began to wane, and the surviving people of Gondor set about rebuilding civilization. Since the central region of the continent was left in utter ruin and no longer fit for human habitation, they left the empire-turned-wasteland under the guidance of a group of pioneers and expanded toward the four directions—east, south, west, and north—a chapter of history known as the Second Expansion. Ancestor, you were one of the most famous pioneer knights of that era."
"Mm, you've studied your history well," Gao Yang praised her. "Then you've probably heard this too: even after the Tide ended, vast numbers of monsters born from it still haunted the ruins of the Gondor Empire. Those monsters were one of the greatest threats humanity faced during the Second Expansion."
Heidi's eyes went wide: "You mean..."
"That's right. The things we fought back then were exactly those," Gao Yang sighed. "They were born from the Tide, with outlines that resemble humans, yet they are absolutely not human. After the Gondor Empire collapsed, great hordes of such monsters poured out from the ruined heartland, spreading in all directions and hunting down the survivors of that time. So the first half of the Second Expansion was less a journey of exploration than a journey of flight. And even after we escaped the empire's wasteland and founded new nations at the continent's edges, the monsters did not quiet down—they kept surging out from the direction of the imperial wasteland, hammering at the defenses of the civilized world time and again... In the first ten years after Ansul was founded, I was dealing with them almost every single day."
Rebecca's eyes grew wide, seemingly utterly captivated by these ancient, legendary tales: "Ah—so after Ansul's first ten years, those monsters stopped appearing?"
Gao Yang laughed, reached out to stroke the girl's hair, and wore the look of someone regarding a particularly dim-witted fawn: "Silly child, after that, your Ancestor went and died..."
Rebecca: "..."