Chapter 706 — Long Time No See
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 4
Bard Wendell had no idea where he had been taken, but not because he was blindfolded or had been moved while unconscious; in fact, the soldiers and officials escorting him never once forbade him from looking around. That he could not figure out his own position or destination was purely because everything he saw along the way exceeded his knowledge and imagination.
Such a prosperous and orderly city, so distinctive in style and so full of life—he had once thought Rockstone City, near the Holy Spirit Plains, was already an astonishingly grand metropolis, but only now did he realize why that warden had kept saying Rockstone was merely a border market that had sprung up quickly, and that the true prosperity of the Southern Region lay farther south still.
Xuanyao City, the miracle capital at the foot of the Dark Mountains—no wonder the arcanist who shared his quarters had advised him, once sober, to come see it for himself if he ever had the chance.
It was hard for Bard to imagine how a frontier territory that had been barren wasteland just four years ago could have developed into this. Perhaps, judging by historical depth and the number of complex classical buildings (such structures took far longer to raise, and the older the city, the more of them it possessed), Xuanyao still seemed too young—yet its prosperity and vitality were unlike anything this former Typhon general had seen in all his life.
He recalled the Southern Region as it had been when he fled in haste after his mission failed. It had not looked like this then.
Mana-driven mechanical vehicles glided smoothly along broad, clean roads. Along the roadside one could glimpse, here and there, crystals floating in midair to power the city's facilities, and holographic projections flickering at intersections and plazas. The content of those projections changed constantly, news and scenery from distant regions brought close in an instant. Energetic pedestrians greeted one another on the street, showing not the slightest sign of listlessness or hardship despite the weather's steady turn toward cold.
The fully armed escort soldiers sat beside him, but they merely monitored Bard's movements and did not stop this particular "extraordinary criminal" from gazing about the whole way. Only as they neared the city center did he hear his prisoner suddenly break the silence: "...I hear that during the Holy Spirit Plains war, Xuanyao City turned out in a single month as much steel made into weapons as the entire old kingdom used to consume in a year, and sent it to the front..."
The soldier glanced at Bard. He did not know why the prisoner had suddenly brought this up, but he nodded with pride nonetheless. "That's right, but that's only the part the newspapers mentioned. The fighting on the Holy Spirit Plains lasted a good deal longer than a month, and steel wasn't the only thing the factories converted."
"...Yes. So there was another way after all..."
The prisoner let out a vague sigh, inexplicable in content, and then fell silent again, continuing to stare abstractedly at the scenery outside. He did not speak again.
The soldier shook his head. This really was an odd fellow.
The vehicle drove down the avenue, crossed Pioneer Plaza, and finally, guided by another squad of soldiers, was led to the front of a large building.
Bard got out of the vehicle silently and obediently.
Ever since he had been suddenly taken from his cell and put into a strange, armored, mana-powered vehicle escorted by soldiers, he had vaguely realized who wished to see him—and to this arrangement of fate, he had long since felt not the slightest inclination to resist.