Chapter 8.1 – Those who will change the world

Surrendering to the King, making me walk a righteous path.

Those words can only mean one thing.

「A revolt.」

Onii-sama nodded, confirming what I said.

This country is ruled by one true monarch.

The king rules with an iron fist^{(tyrant, dictator)}

Even if it looks peaceful on the outside, those who oppose it still exist in the shadows.

And yet.

「That’s……suicide^(impossible), isn’t it? There are still a lot who hate the mages, you’ll just be outnumbered」

Mages who outlived their usefulness, the feelings towards them must be severe.

The discrimination towards an entity who was once at the pinnacle of the privileged^(class) but has degraded over the years must have piled up.

Rebellion, even by the majority of the miniscule numbers of mages, could not possibly succeed.

And even then, only a handful of them are willing to do so.

「There are countless people who fear you, the Infernal princess; afraid that you, who is of royal blood^{(mom was a princess, remember)}, would fight to to the death for the monarchy, and there are those who just lie in wait until the opportune time comes.」

「Lying in wait……?」

Raising my brows in confusion, Atlas spoke in a low voice to further explain what onii-sama said.

「The mages aren’t the only ones who are distressed about the state of this country. The nobles are also divided, but the majority knows what will happen to this country if this continues and they are choosing to oppose it; choosing the path to coexist with the mages. Besides, the 【Luzilles】who just got taken over, is also in favour of this coup d’etat.」

Otou-sama, also agreed with the coup.

Once a clan of mages joins in, this mutiny will no longer be a pipe dream.

But still, all of this is just wishful thinking.

It won’t be that easy.

It’s impossible for everyone^{(in this country)} to choose the path of coexisting with the mages.

「Sooner or later, this kingdom will reach its downfall. Before winter is over……we will dethrone the king and solidify our defences before other nations invade. 」

「–kuh」

「I won’t deny that this country needs a leader, but we won’t stand for a king who easily throws away his people and makes them suffer.」

Once the snow melts, the enemy nations will have no trouble crossing the borders.

However, it’s still uncertain if they will be able to abolish the monarchy and run the country smoothly before then.

Even now, the king still has no children.

There was always a debate about whether or not to adopt a child from the collateral line, but as far as I know that had not yet been settled.

If so, dethroning the current king does not mean replacing him with another^{(from the same line)}――this country will be reborn anew.

「After reforming this country, Gil will be the one to set up barriers, and become its pillar…these barriers will detect people’s ill will using his healing arts. We still need to think about setting up other conditions to add to the magic circle, but it will be a barrier that will repel those with evil intent to the mages.」

A water mage can also use the healing arts.

It won’t be impossible for them to gauge a person based on their heart rate, blood pressure, muscle movement, breathing patterns and so many other physical indicators to guess how that person is feeling.

A person coming in contact with a magic barrier will instantly be judged. Whether they are deemed to have harmful intentions or not, it’s simply a matter of denying them entry through the barrier first.

While it may be true that this kind of magic is delicate, it requires a great deal of concentration to execute. However, I’ve no doubt it won’t be impossible for【Guilford】.

But.

「If it’s a barrier that covers the entire country… There’s no guarantee the magic will last. You’ll die.」

It would last a day at most.

No matter how much mana a mage possessed, it would be impossible to maintain such a large barrier that spans the entirety of this country.

After all, Guilford will be the one maintaining the barriers. No matter how exceptional the magic circle is on paper, this will not be enough.^{(Gil is just a pillar after all)}

Even if this person is onii-sama, who boasts near endless supply of mana in his reserves is bound to exhaust all of it as the days go by.

“A reasonable concern” said Atlas, nodding his head.

「Ah, Gil may be the one holding the structure together, but the mages will basically supply the mana to him so he can maintain the barriers. So their sizes will vary depending on how many mages are present within them.」

Onii-sama neither agreed with, nor denied Atlas’s claims, simply pursing his lips and not uttering a single word.

「……Even if that’s the case, there aren’t enough mages remaining.」

「Since the neighboring countries have started to purge the mages, they will start flocking to take refuge in this country in spring. We’ll accept it and take that into account.」