"Sigh…"
When she returned to the battleship and gazed at the sea of stars outside the window, Anne quietly let out a sigh. Just then, a voice sounded beside her ear.
"Your Highness."
"Ah, Odelle…"
Anne turned her head and saw Odelle standing quietly not far away, watching her.
"Has Sir Knight come back?"
"Master hasn't returned yet."
"I see… sorry, could you make me a cup of tea?"
"Of course."
At Anne's request, Odelle nodded, left the room, and soon returned holding a pot of black tea. She placed the tray in front of Anne.
"Please enjoy."
"Mm… thank you. Oh, Odelle, could we talk a little?"
"Of course."
Though surprised, Odelle nodded. Anne sat on the sofa, lifted her cup, and stared at the rippling surface of the tea.
Ever since then, I've been thinking about Sir Knight's words, she thought. She had even gone back to read many books—about the founding of the Kingdom of Manaria and so on. Before, I never thought anything was wrong with it. Even now, I don't think anything is wrong. Everyone lived happily, peacefully. I also hoped to become a good queen, to let Manaria prosper and its people live well, but…
Anne sighed and lowered her head.
I'm afraid… afraid of this pattern of history.
"?"
"Sir Knight said it before, right? The total amount of matter in the universe never changes—if you have more, somebody else has less. And I know very well that once a nation becomes prosperous and its population grows, its need for resources will also grow. Honestly, I've always worried… what if I had to do something bad just to maintain everyone's happy life? Like this latest operation—what if we found minerals or resources in Regnis or in the Elf Forest that we needed to sustain our lives? What would we do?"
Anne's voice grew even softer.
"We could ask them for help. Buy from them. But what if they refused? Just like the Na'mi—they refused to let us mine or purchase anything. Then what? Am I supposed to just watch my people's standard of living decline? Watch them fall from happiness into poverty and backwardness? Or should I start a war? Attack and invade a friendly nation? I'm really terrified of facing something like that…"
In a sense, Anne could understand why Duanmu Huai acted as he did—because of her identity. She was the princess of Manaria, its future queen, responsible for her people. Although Manaria itself wasn't facing such a crisis yet, these thoughts still haunted her.
And similar dilemmas could appear even without involving resources.
For example, if a plague suddenly spread through Manaria and caused massive deaths, and only a certain plant found in the Elf Forest could cure it—but that plant was considered sacred by the elves, the source of their life, and destroying it would cause irreversible harm to them—what should Anne do?
Let her own people die?
Or clench her teeth and launch a war to seize it by force?
Kill elves to save humans?
Even though they were different races with little contact, for someone as kind as Anne, such a decision was unbearable—never mind the fact that many elves lived in Manaria, including her close friend, the student council president and the captain of the Royal Guard. Would she really have to raise her blade against her own friends?
And if she chose friendship over duty, how could she call herself queen while letting her people die?
Everyone wished to avoid such cruel dilemmas. Everyone hoped to rule a peaceful, prosperous kingdom with no impossible decisions.
But reality did not work that way. Not long ago, Manaria had nearly suffered a rebellion due to the succubi's influence. Duanmu Huai had caught and eliminated the problem in time—but the roots of that crisis still remained.
"But Master also said it's a very long process," Odelle spoke softly. "It may take hundreds, thousands, or even more years before reaching such a stage."
Anne shook her head.
"I know… it's just… I never thought about these issues before, so now it troubles me. What about you, Odelle? What's your view?"
"I am Master's maid. I simply follow his orders."
Odelle clearly had her own perspective.
"But I believe Master makes the right decisions. At least… in my eyes, he is not someone who acts carelessly. If he chose to do something, he must have his reasons. I am not qualified to question him."
"I see…"
Anne smiled helplessly. Just then the door opened, and Lorena walked in with a melancholy expression. Seeing Anne and Odelle, she paused briefly, but after exchanging glances, they immediately understood each other's intentions.
"Odelle, please prepare a cup of tea for Miss Lorena as well."
"Yes, Your Highness. Please wait a moment."
After Odelle left, Anne turned to Lorena.
"Miss Lorena, these past few days…"
"Sigh…"
Lorena shook her head.
"I returned to the Holy City to seek guidance from the Great Deity. Honestly, I never thought about these questions either. I always believed that as a priestess, I should protect people from evil and help them live happily… I haven't changed that belief. But now I think my past understanding may have been too shallow. I only focused on solving the immediate troubles they faced, and ignored the problems they might encounter later. Perhaps… I should think further ahead. Not only help them overcome the present crisis, but guide them toward the correct path…"
"I see…"
Anne nodded. It was natural they saw things differently: Lorena was a priestess whose duty was to guide and comfort, while Anne was a princess responsible for an entire kingdom.
"What do you think, Anne?" Lorena asked.
"I…"
For a moment, Anne couldn't answer.
"Honestly… I'm still troubled. I hope I'll never face such a dilemma. Maybe for now… I'll just push these thoughts to the back of my mind… haha, maybe that's just me running away."
But at that moment, another voice cut in.
"You girls really spend your time thinking about such boring things."
"Huh?"
They looked up and saw a drone hovering in midair, staring at them.
"Miss Philine?"
Because they had once explored a war-torn planet with Philine's drone, Lorena recognized her right away.
"That's right, it's me. I was watching travel commercials, and your dull conversation bored me to death."
"Ah… sorry…"
"It's fine."
Philine's voice was as calm as always.
"In my opinion, Sir Knight was right. Any civilization must first ensure its own survival. If it cannot survive, it will be forgotten."
She let out a short, cold snort.
"Like the Draconians—if you hadn't found the Ice Tower I was in, how would you know a Draconian nation ever existed? Even Manaria and the Holy City's archives have no record of us."
"Uh…"
Anne and Lorena both fell silent. It was true. If not for chasing the servants of Fafnir the Evil Dragon, and stumbling upon the tower that sealed the fire dragon, they never would've known an ancient Draconian kingdom had existed at all.
"That's how it is," Philine said calmly. "Only civilizations that survive deserve to be remembered. Those that fail vanish into the dust of history—they might as well have never existed. So Sir Knight was right. Even if you feel pride in your actions, without survival and continuity, your determination and ideals will disappear too. No one will remember them. No one will commemorate them."
…
Coming from a princess whose own people had been annihilated, the words carried undeniable weight.
Thud… thud… thud…
Heavy footsteps sounded. The girls tensed, then the door opened and Duanmu Huai stepped in wearing his armor.
"Huh? What are you all doing?"
He looked at the girls staring at him, then rolled his eyes.
"Alright, alright. I know what you want to ask. I didn't kill many Na'mi—they all ran. I killed a pile of animals though; we'll bring them back and roast them later. Satisfied?"
"Whew…"
Hearing that, the girls finally relaxed. None of them thought Duanmu Huai would lie—if he said it, he did it.
And Duanmu Huai wasn't wrong. He hadn't killed many Na'mi. The real nuisance had been the endless animals swarming across Pandora. Duanmu Huai had blasted them with light lances and macrocannons from orbit, then summoned Puppets, using Dragonform Power to transform them into dragons. Fighting alongside the Starborne troops, he battled for an entire day until they pierced the mantle and found the server holding the A'va consciousness. Duanmu Huai dove underground and annihilated it using the black flames of Fated Death.
After the server and the stored A'va consciousness were obliterated, the entire planet shook. Many creatures went mad and fled wildly. Destroying A'va had clearly dealt a massive blow to Pandora.
But that had nothing to do with Duanmu Huai. The problem was solved, the threat eliminated, and Dadaniel's company could continue mining—good enough.
As for whether another A'va could ever form—Duanmu Huai doubted it. A'va existed because Pandora's superconductive ores linked the life-consciousness of the planet. Once humans mined those ores away, the network would collapse, and no new A'va could appear.
As for the Na'mi's fate… that wasn't his concern. With A'va gone, they had lost their mental-link network. It was like an online game where the Na'mi were the client and A'va the server. Duanmu Huai had smashed the data center; with no server connection, the client was useless.
You'd just get a "Server Not Connected" popup.
So how the Na'mi would survive now was entirely between them and the human civilization. Whether they were enslaved, sold, or killed—that was for others to decide.
After destroying A'va, Duanmu Huai received a system reward.
Though… whether it counted as a "reward" was debatable.
He opened the system interface and read.
[Side Quest Completed: "Pandora"]
[Quest Rating: Outstanding]
[Quest Reward: New warship available in the shop]
[Available Warship — Planet Cracker (can dismantle planets to harvest and process mineral resources; has a certain chance of triggering paranormal events)]
…What the hell was that?
Honestly, Duanmu Huai was pleased—this meant guaranteed raw materials and processing capacity.
But… what did "a chance of triggering paranormal events" mean?
It was a warship, damn it.
Was it haunted?!
(End of chapter)