142 – [Side Story] Student from the East Continent – 01
This is a story from several years ago. The Church of the World Tree, which has influence throughout the world, was established in each country by order of the Pope. A tremendous fact was reported to the leaders of
For over a thousand years, the great World Tree has been responsible for the circulation of magical power and maintenance of the world. Yggdrasil reached the end of its lifespan and died.
Recently, each country where magical power abnormalities were gradually occurring had no choice but to believe that fact.
If the World Tree Yggdrasil had reached the end of its lifespan, the current situation would be immediately explained.
Even the head of any nation could not help but be embarrassed by the terrifying fact that Yggdrasil, the world tree that had maintained this world, had died.
But it wasn’t all bad news.
“The great World Tree, Yggdrasil, realized that his body was about to die and created his own successor. When the still young World Tree grows up and uses its power to protect this world, “I hope you can endure this short period of hardship.”
In the Eastern Continent, the Marcos Empire, a country boasting the strongest national power, guaranteed this fact, so all countries believed it and prepared in earnest.
In order to overcome that difficult time by stockpiling food and thoroughly implementing various policies and disaster response training in preparation for when something happens to the people.
But in the West Continent, what the church said was just empty talk.
The death of the World Tree itself sounds plausible considering the current situation where strange phenomena are occurring.
But the birth of a new world tree? Please endure the difficult times until then?
I wasn’t specifically asked for anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s a credible story.
Of course, some countries with deep religious beliefs and high trust in the church listened to this and made thorough preparations for the aftermath, just like the countries on the eastern continent.
Some countries that do not believe the church are only focused on responding to disasters that occur and do not make thorough preparations.
With this one thing, national relations in the West Continent changed dramatically over the years.
Aberrant phenomena are becoming more active than before, crop failures and food shortages occur as the land loses its power, etc.
In small countries that did not prepare in advance, all kinds of incidents occurred, such as citizens leaving due to food shortages or rebellions breaking out.
…Funny enough, even when a rebellion broke out and the leader stepped down and the warehouse was opened, there were many absurd situations where there was almost no food.
Among them, the Ardia Empire, a large country in the western continent with a very large land area and enormous wealth, was somehow holding on despite not preparing in advance.
Because they did not believe the words of the church, crops failed and many disasters occurred, but they did not collapse.
The reason is simple, the Ardia Empire is an empire with enormous wealth.
They were able to purchase food from the Eastern Continent using astronomical amounts of money.
Of course, the Eastern Continent was not that rich either, but the situation was better than the Western Continent.
They didn’t know it, but the new world tree was currently located on the East Continent in the first place.
As such, the circulation of magic power and the recovery of land were faster than in the Western Continent, and after about 5 years, the situation was almost normalizing.
Thanks to this, food became abundant again and more food could be sold to the Western Continent.
However, even if food is imported from the Eastern Continent, the situation on the Western Continent does not improve.
Money is limited, and it is not possible to import a large amount to cover the needs of the entire population.
I hope that the situation in the West Continent will progress quickly… That is what many heads of state in the West Continent hoped for.
Among them, the situation was the same in the Kingdom of Rudman, one of the military states.
They were already the country with the fewest believers in the World Tree Church among the countries on the Western Continent.
When messengers from the church came, they granted an audience as they were messengers from a major religion, but they did not even turn a snort to their words.
The result was a food shortage several years later.
At least, the king was able to survive to some extent because he emptied the food he had accumulated as military rations, but that did not last long.
In the end, they also had difficulty importing food from the East Continent, but the amount was ridiculously small.
Some people, especially commoners, were starving to death.
In the end, as befits a military nation, the king of the Kingdom of Rudman attempted to draw his sword.
“I can’t stand it any longer! Let’s invade the Eastern Continent and steal food!!”
He was the king of the Kingdom of Ludman, but the heads of other countries stopped him.
Of course, it’s not like they didn’t think about invading the Eastern Continent.
However, the process of moving large forces between continents was very difficult in the first place, and there is no guarantee that victory will be possible.
No, you will definitely lose.
The army here was hungry and exhausted.
On the other hand, the eastern continent has a better food situation, so they will eat well and fight well, so there is no way there will be a fight.
In the first place, they were overwhelmingly defeated due to the difference in military supplies.
The King of the Kingdom of Rudman also faced reality and abandoned his invasion plans.
In the end, the emperor of the Ardian Empire stood up on behalf of the heads of the Western Continent countries who did not believe in the words of the church.
They were asking for help from a church that ignored their words and did not listen.
The emperor himself went all the way to the Central Church of the West Continent in the West Continent.
For the church, there was no reason, either politically or humanitarianly, to refuse the request for help.
Some time later, a ship arrived from the Eastern Continent carrying a large amount of food.
Countries on the Eastern Continent are experiencing a good harvest for the first time in a long time as the land is just beginning to regain its strength.
When the situation in the West Continent was reported through the church, they readily provided large amounts of food aid.
Of course, there were some conditions attached.
The conditions they set were not very difficult.
First, food must be divided accordingly by accurately determining the size and number of citizens of all countries in the Western Continent.
Second, if a fight breaks out over food and a war breaks out, there will be no more food aid.
And the last clause.
This last clause was unusual.
What’s worse, the Emperor of Ardia was perplexed when he heard that last clause.
“…I am sending a precious person to the Ardian Empire to study, so I will do it without any inconvenience or harm to him…What is this item?”
Hearing the emperor’s words, the priest of the church from the Eastern Continent smiled.
“Ah, he is a nobleman from a certain kingdom… He is closely related to our church. I would appreciate it if you could avoid any inconvenience.”
“Um…Um…That’s not difficult at all.”
Rather, it was almost as if these conditions were okay for the emperor.
If you have a close relationship with the church… Your family donates a lot to the church, or something like that.
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Instead of helping them receive aid, I guess they are planning to at least give a favor to that family. I decided to think so.
Seeing the emperor like that, the priest smiled.
“hahahaha… The empire… No, the entire Western Continent has nothing to lose, so you don’t have to worry.”
The expression on the face of the priest who said those words was truly that of a believer full of faith.
In Almak, the capital of the Ardia Empire, there is Belnoa Academy, which can be said to be the best educational institution in the West Continent.
Martina Wiltard, a girl who was one of her upperclassmen at Belle Noah Academy, stood still in front of the school gate as the students at her academy entered the school gate.
Students on their way to school glanced at her and passed by, but she stood there without any problem.
However, her expression clearly showed that she was uncomfortable right now.
‘Really…I told you it was important!!’
Martina wasn’t originally planning on waiting here alone.
Originally, she was supposed to be waiting in front of the school gate with Joshua, the crown prince of the Ardia Empire.
No, even if Martina did not show up, Prince Joshua should have come.
Martina Wilthard, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Wilthard, and her future fiancé, Prince Joshua.
Originally, Prince Joshua was supposed to be here, and she, his fiancée, was supposed to be there with him as his fiancee.
But when she came out, Prince Joshua was nowhere to be seen, and she was waiting all alone.
…I can’t help it. Now that things have come to this, the duke’s daughter has no choice but to welcome guests.
Guest… Martina quietly fell into thought.
She said that today there was a guest from another country coming to the academy as an international student.
Father said that His Majesty the Emperor himself said that he was a very important person, so I had to make sure not to be rude…
‘But from the beginning… Your Majesty is truly!!’
As she thought about the Prince again, Martina felt depressed again.
More than that, she is a student studying abroad…
Cases of studying abroad or transferring to Belnoa Academy were very rare.
Some even said that they had never seen anything like that while she was in school, so it was very surprising that the second person came like this.
What kind of person could he be? As she thought, she saw a carriage coming up to the front of her academy.
A beautiful carriage with a never-before-seen emblem painted on it.
A carriage of a style rarely seen in the empire caught Martina’s attention.
The carriage door opened, and someone was seen getting out.
Martina bowed slightly at her waist and gave her greeting.
“You have come a long way from another country. Welcome to Belnoa Academy.”
As befits the well-educated duke’s daughter, Martina’s greeting was precise and perfect.
“Ah! Thank you for coming out to meet us on purpose!”
In Martina’s ears, her very clear and lively voice was heard.
And at the same time, it was a very beautiful and pleasant voice to listen to.
Martina raised her head.
The first thing that caught Martina’s eye was long, light green hair.
And beautiful red eyes that look as if they were studded with red rubies.
She smiled brightly and held out her hand towards her Martina.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Sir Wentoth! Please take care of me!”
Martina’s gaze was taken away by her smile, which went beyond her beauty and seemed strangely sacred.