“A great man is he who has not lost the heart of a child.”
* Mencius
Along the Pertinax Way, a company of Heavy Papal Cavalry riding on pure white horses was escorting an endless line of carriages. The second carriage in line was suddenly jolted when going over an uneven portion of the road, and an infant’s cry loudly echoed throughout the carriage. As the incessant noise travelled, the carriages before and infront of it too began to follow suit. Soon, the company of carriages produced a symphony from the infants’ sobs.
The soldiers accompanying the carriage were all young woman and had long grown used to this occurrence. They lifted the curtain blocking the carriage from the outside world and gently coaxed the babes in a gentle voice. Soon, the Pertinax Way grew quiet once more, and the Heavy Papal Cavalry continued their journey southwards.
There was a tall cliff overlooking the Pertinax Way. The grass atop the cliff still had on its surface some morning dew, which gradually slid onto the surface of a lavish pair of shoes.
The owner of this pair of shoes was a young woman, calmly observing the situation with her hands placed behind her back. Seeing the problematic situation resolved, she turned to an adolescent girl around 16 in age and silently waited.
“Sister,” the adolescent girl asked as the young woman expected, “Why are there infants in the carriage? Why are they all girls?”
The young woman answered emotionlessly, “Because We need new blood to be injected into the empire. Because I don’t like men.”
The young woman answered these questions with a bluntness that only an extremely lazy person, a person who had lived so long that they had grown numb to all things could possess. Strangely, the young woman had used the royal ‘We’ to respond to the first question, while the person ‘I’ to respond to the second.
The adolescent girl sat on the damp grass, paying no mind to whether the fresh dew can penetrate through her clothes, for the material of her clothing was the best in the world, and its’ weave, the second best. The girl then asked, “Are they returning to the capital?”
The young woman watched the clouds float through the blue sky, covering the sun for only a short moment before departing. The sun was brighter than any other celestial body that exists in the sky. Only when the sun fades to replenish its’ power would the stars be observable; that was night.
The young woman returned her gaze to this world after the clouds had scattered. She said, “You wish to return so soon?”
The adolescent girl shook her head repeatedly, she said, “It has only been two days, how can we return so soon? Unless something happens in the capital, I refuse to return.”
The young woman deliberately fondled the adolescent girls’ hair, turning her hair into a chaotic mess. She said, “The capital is protected not only by me but also by Irene. Even if that stupid Pope from the North dare takes advantage of my absence, he would not be able to hold out.”
The adolescent girl wholeheartedly agreed, saying, “Sister is the strongest person in the world. Even if we are a thousand miles away from the capital, all the other saints in the world still fear you so much.”
The young woman looked pleased, the corner of her eyebrows faintly raising. She said proudly, “As the oldest, I am naturally the strongest.”
How could this young woman, who seemed not a day past twenty, proclaim herself to be the oldest?
The adolescent girl, slightly afraid of disturbing her sister’s good mood, no longer spoke. Watching a nearby ant colony harvest the fresh grass, she immersed herself in the actions of these creatures until the sun had faded, and the stars took its place.
The stars appeared brilliant and serene. They were needed for one to practice magic, for this reason, it was only possible to practice magic at night; at nightfall, all the clergywomen would return to their quiet rooms, and channel the purest of mana through their body.
The adolescent girl did not practice magic and was in no hurry as the night fell. She hesitantly stood up and shook off the dew on her clothes, secretly keeping an eye on the ant colony.
The young woman was a practitioner of magic but had no reason to spend her time practising it, for she was already the strongest person in the world.
---
In the north, past the Great Dividing Range, there was an illustrious palace. The palace was evidently built recently, boasting a deep sense of power and authority while also retaining a certain freshness. The capital likewise was full of vibrancy, enjoying a golden age unknown since the times of ancient kings.
At the uppermost floor of the palace resides the Kaiser. Holding a quill pen, its’ tip looms over the north of the continent like an unstoppable army, growing to cover all the lands above the Great Dividing Range and Afiloxenos Ocean.
Today should be a joyous day. The Kaisers’ wife was finally giving birth after six years in marriage; even the most experienced wet nurse from the Papacy had been invited for this occasion, yet the father, who should be the most joyous of all, was drawing his ambitious plans for the next thousand years.
The door to his room remained firmly closed, blocking out the sound of a shocked cry. Vaguely, the emperor heard the physician said the child was stillborn and died months ago, causing the empress to sob uncontrollably.
To the death of his newborn child, the emperor had even less of a reaction. Rolling the map laid on his table, he silently scorned the Kaiserin for losing her emotion.
To practice mana requires a stable heart. After losing a child, ones’ heart would be more turbulent than facing death. Yet the Kaiser was completely composed as he took out an ancient sheep manuscript and began circulating mana through his body.
He had already sired countless children over the past decade. Even if one died, it would not be a great loss.
---
In the 10294th year of the Julian era or the 110294th year of the Alexandrian calendar, the word that the kaiser’s child was stillborn travelled throughout the northern lands, passing through the ears of countless nobles and commoners alike. Even the most remote of villages had learnt of the news.
However, that was in the North, in the Southern Empire, the news was only known by the few Strategos that governed the land. In a small village located near the capital, Juliana, the harvesting season had arrived - even if the news had travelled South, to reap in the fields of wheat was endlessly more important to the people of the village.
The northern winds blew year-round, passing through the city of Phalaris and blowing away loose soil and wheat untended to. Despite the prosperity of the capital, the Vitlu Peninsula which it sits on was one of the poorest in the empire.
The wind ruined not only the yield but also people’s mood. There were too many fields and not enough commoners working on these lands, so the commoners were exhausted after collecting wheat for weeks non-stop.
However, a single woman at the outskirts of the village had a cart full of a bountiful harvest. The fields assigned to her was the same area as three other villagers combined, yet the woman had not only cut through all the wheat in her area but also tied them into perfect bundles and placed them neatly onto the cart.
This accomplishment was certainly someone to be quite proud of, a normal person would return to their house and add a few pieces of meat into their porridge in celebration. However, the eyes of the woman seemed dull, perhaps even to the degree of retardation.
---
Ovid felt extremely tranquil. Even though he had yet to pass his eighteenth birthday, his mentality at this current moment could rival an old sage on his deathbed, gaining enlightenment before his moment of death.
This tranquillity came only from the experience of death, and Ovid had died moments ago. His mother had instructed the doctors to end the life support, and consequently, ending his life.
Ovid had lived a solitary life, growing under the homeschool of his mother. He was not familiar with the concept of death as did not fully comprehend it.
Fear comes from uncertainty - if Ovid was not even aware of the concept of death, how could he feel any emotions from the event? Even if the last moments of his life was extremely painful, he never felt despair.
It other words, he was not afraid of death.
Feeling a little dirty, he wiped away the dust that had gathered upon his face.
He took his hand away and looked at it.
It was covered in callus.
He had never worked in a day in his life. His former hand only has a few scars from papercuts.
Ovid stared blankly at this hand, finally coming to an understanding.
Ah… this isn’t my hand.
The hand was quite beautiful. Although it was rough from the farmwork, it carried a tenderness and slenderness rarely seen on others. This sort of hand was heavily sought after, for it was not only exceptionally meticulous but also possessed enough strength to labour for a whole day.
It was also a woman’s hand.
Ovid did not \grow shocked. His personality had always been strange; to him, as long as he can study the universe and read through books, it mattered little which body he owned. Placing the sickle in his hand onto the cart, he frowned a little and organised the stacks of wheat into perfectly straight lines, before leaving the field.
As Ovid walked towards the edge of the village, many thoughts flashed through his mind. He had not inherited the original owner of this body’s memory, though he did obtain the factual knowledge she possessed.
The knowledge a peasant girl possessed was understandingly quite little. Having never left this village, she only knew that the state she belongs to was called the Juliana Empire, and a few miles away from the village was the country’s capital.
From this information, Ovid knew that this world was a different one to his own. Once more, the corner of his lips formed a frown.
Now that the world was completely different, would the knowledge he had previously learn still apply?
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He did not feel frighten or startled he had come to a new world, with an unfamiliar language, a feudal society or magic… rather, his first thought was if the knowledge he learnt from those countless books still apply.
After some time passed, the frown disappeared as his expression formed a slight smile. He thought; if the physics and chemistry of this world were different, I can always learn them again.
As mother had said, learning is a joy in itself, after all.
He had formed three expressions in a single day. If his mother from the other world were to learn of this, she would surely be quite pleased.
His mind still somewhat intoxicated, his steps slowly carried him to the Pertinax Way, through the Pertinax Way, he unknowingly entered the city boundaries of Juliana. Only after entering an obscure portion of the city, where the streets were damp and overshadowed by tall buildings did Ovid return from his trance-like state.
This section of the city was quite unclean, causing Ovid to feel uncomfortable. Carefully placing his steps to avoid the puddles of accumulated water, he entered a restaurant at the corner of the alley and passed through the small gathering of women busily chatting about some matters, he took a piece of a bowl of porridge from the counter and occupied a small corner of the restaurant.
The owner, who had been gossiping with one of her customers, noticed a missing bowl and an additional person in the restaurant. Perhaps astonished at the frankness of this individual, she first observed the person who had taken a bowl of food without paying.
The person was certainly good looking. Aside from being a little tanned from labouring in the fields, she could be considered a top beauty. Her hair was oily and unwashed, full of dust. However, her face was exceptionally clean, highlighting her thin eyebrows and almond-shaped eyes. She was, however, not wearing a stola like the noblewomen of the city would, on the contrary, she wore a tunic, on which many stain patches formed from sweat could be faintly seen.
Confusingly, the manner in which she ate was slow and deliberate, carrying a sense of elegant despite the poor quality of the meal. In fact, every action taken by this person was well thought out, exceptionally dignified.
In the end, the restaurant owner imagined that this person must be a noble who fell out of favour. However, the people in the empire were simple and honest folks, since Ovid had taken a meal without paying, an apology at least has to be made.
The owner suspected the conversation with her customer and arrived before Ovid. Seeing that Ovid’s head hasn’t even lifted in response to her arrival, the owner slapped the table, and said, “Is the food good?”
Ovid placed down the bowl on the table and answered earnestly, “It is.”
The restaurant owner then said while suppressing her anger, “If it’s so good, how much do you think it should cost?”
Ovid once more answered earnestly, “I don’t know.”
The restaurant owner was not expecting such an honest answer and grew dumbfounded. After gathering her thoughts, she once more slapped the table, nearly spilling the contents of the bowl and said, “Good. Very good. Very brazen. Even if you’re related to the empress or some other bigshot, I won’t forgive you.”
Ovid was shocked at the restaurant owner’s outrage. He asked in a perplexed manner, “What have I done wrong?”
The restaurant owner assumed Ovid was merely being shameless. With an ice-cold expression on her face and her fist slowly clenching, she barely prevented herself from punching the audacious bastard.
Giving off a harumph, she prepared to retort and force Ovid out of her restaurant but was suddenly interrupted by a hand on her shoulder.
Turning around, the restaurant owner’s mood suddenly softened. She signed and said, “Anna, why have you come here today?”
The girl named Anna was wearing a regal purple robe, signifying her status as royalty. However, the reason why the restaurant owner’s mood had shifted so drastically was not because of Anna’s status, but rather because the girl was especially cute, and spoiled by nearly everyone in the city.
Anna smiled and said, “I’ve just come back with my sister, isn’t it wrong to not visit you and feel a craving for your delicious food when returning?”
The restaurant owner’s face bloomed like flowers hearing such charming, she returned to the kitchen to make a meal for Anna, completely forgetting the matter regarding Ovid.
Hearing the sound of a knife against a chopping board, Anna nimby sat down at the table Ovid was at. The inn was silent because the customers were curious as to why Anna had sat at this table and saved Ovid from a good scolding.
An awkward silence was an embarrassing thing, yet neither two at the table seemed disturbed by the gazes that lingered upon them. Anna chose to initiate the conversation after some time by asking, “Why did you not pay for the food?”
Ovid did not answer but rather stood up from the table. Anna grew surprised at his actions but quickly realised he was not walking towards the exit but rather the counter of the restaurant, she patiently waited for Ovid to return. Once he did, he carried a cup of water in his hand, which was then placed infront of Anna.
He was a little confused by Anna’s question and spent the time delivering the water to contemplate a proper response. Unfortunately, he could not find one and simply said, “I have to?”
Anna remained silent for a while and said with a smile, “I knew this was the case. When I first came out, I had the same issue as well.”
Ovid looked up. He had seldomly left his house, much less enter a restaurant - as such, he was unfamiliar with the fact that food requires payment. Subconsciously, his gaze on Anna grew sharper than previously.
Ovid’s vision was as strange as the person himself. It was particularly piercing, like an exceedingly sharp knife able to cut through stone. Fortunately, Anna was very familiar with this gaze, for her sister had a similar look in her eyes. Her pupils flickering like embers as she curiously asked, “I grew up in the palace. Where did you come from to have such a strange personality?”
Ovid looked up and answered after some thought, “I came from where I came from.”
Anna met Ovid’s gaze and rolled her eyes, appearing childish in the process. She did not expect Ovid to respond with an answer that could even be considered philosophical. In the end, Anna assumed Ovid had said those words to prevent her from guessing his origins.
In reality, Ovid wasn’t even certain which street or city he lived in. He only knew there was an ample amount of books in his house, and came to such a conclusion.
In the end, such an answer is something no ordinary person could respond with, and Anna felt a great deal of admiration as such. She downed the cup of water in one gulp and said, “You are really good.”
The restaurant owner had said the same sentence, but the difference in meaning was as great as the ocean. Anna, like Ovid, was an honest and simple person, her ‘you are really good’ was said with the utmost respect, even though it sounded somewhat arrogant. If it were some other person, perhaps they would feel offended, or at least somewhat uncomfortable.
However, Ovid did not. He was, first of all, unaware of such things as sarcasm, and understood that Anna was showing some kind of comfort and praise through these words. He said, “Thank you.”
Ovid was somewhat slow, having only now realised the first answer he gave was quite bad. He added, “I think I came from a library? At least, there were quite a lot of books there.”
Anna said, “Haha, so honest? How about I foot the bill for your meal?”
Ovid answered, “Mother said that a girl should never pay.”
Ovid’s mother had raised him to be a traditional and gentlemanly sort of person. Things like opening the door, paying the bill, and giving the guest a cup of water were all things he mother had taught him. Unfortunately, he must have become dull after reading so many books. This caused Anna to looked at Ovid with sympathy.
“Aren’t you a girl as well?”
Ovid found Anna’s reasoning to be quite sensible. Lowering his head, he took the menu Anna passed him and stared at it. After some time passed, a frown appeared on his forehead. He pushed the menu to Anna and said, “En… I can’t read.”
He did not know that this sentence caused Anna’s sympathy toward him to grow even greater. She thought, “To grow up in a library without being able to read… ah, how miserable.”
---
In the end, Anna ordered a number of dishes she assumed Ovid would enjoy. After the two finished the dishes, Anna suddenly said, “Do you want to be my follower?”
Ovid asked, “What do you mean by that?”
Anna explained very seriously, “It means that I want you to follow me wherever I go.”
Ovid answered very seriously, “Okay”
Anna was a wealthy person and felt sympathetic to Ovid’s current destitute situation. Since she was a princess, she was naturally capable of recruiting followers. In her mind, she thought this idea would be quite good and in the end, she decided Ovid shall be her first follower. However, she did not expect Ovid to answer so bluntly, she asked, “Why? Is it because you don’t have any money?”
Ovid shook his head and refused to answer.
Anna regardlessly was satisfied with Ovid decision. She said, “It doesn’t matter, I trust that you are a good person.”
After finishing this sentence, Anna placed a dozen pieces of hyperpyron onto the table. Making her goodbyes to Ovid and the old ladies in the restaurant, she walked onto the streets.
---
After leaving, Anna went to a public bath and washed. Changing into another pair of purple robes, she returned to the palace at the centre of the city and began watching the flowers bloom and grass grow. These acts were tedious and mundane, it would make even the most patient man go mad, yet on the contrary, Anna carried an expression full of curiosity as she did these things.
After watching these meaningless things for some time, she carefully retrieved a book hidden within her clothes.
Julia had, some time ago, given her a spatial bag capable of holding near infinite amount of items, yet Anna had chosen to avoid placing the book within it in fears that Julia would learn of its existence.
This book was given to her by one of the women she would occasionally chat with a few days ago. She was not familiar with the woman and by nature, should be suspicious of this abrupt gift. Anna was aware of this but still wanted to open it… because she subconsciously believed it was her destiny to open that book and read through its’ contents. The book felt so familiar to her as if it had originally been a part of her body, even if its’ edges were crisp and its pages were as white as new.
She rubbed her fingers before opening the book, turning it to its’ first page.
The paper used were thin like cicada wings, so the book was slim and light, as the pages turn, a clean crispt sound was made.
“History is shaped by great men.”
Looking at these words, Anna was startled and did not understand what they meant. She tried to gravely think about its meaning but could only grasp a tiny portion of the picture, so she chose to read further. The second page was dense with words, thought the handwriting was elegant and not at all tiresome to look at. The writer had deliberately chosen to be short yet meaningful as if purposefully trying to convince Anna of something in the shortest time possible.
“The greatest man in history is named Alexander. He had conquered from the Vitlu Peninsula to every corner of the continent. From the Aeon forest in the South to the Afiloxenos Ocean in the North. He united all of humanity, which at the time were not more than squabbling tribes into a state that could rival the prosperous elves.”
“Alexander was not only a great ruler but the strongest man in the world. Your sister, Julia at that time, had been humiliated, as did the phoenix saintess and the elven king Gael. In the end, he managed to ascend to godhood, the first to have done so in millions of years, leaving behind a united realm where humans lived in prosperity.”
“His descendants were not as powerful as the man himself but possessed enough wisdom and prowess to govern the lands for ninety thousand years to come.”
After reading this passage Anna took a deep breath. Although she was not aware of this important piece of history, for Julia had repressed it from the beginning of her reign. Still, the words present in this book caused an upsurge in Anna’s emotions. Towards this piece of lost history, Anna felt a great deal of interest and curiosity, because she was an inquisitive person by heart.
“This age of prosperity was ended when Julia, the creature Alexander had humiliated ninety thousand years ago - one hundred thousand years ago now - waged endlessly war against humanity. At that time, the empire was on its’ last knees, losing nine in ten men and four in five women from Julias’ indiscriminate slaughter and pillage.”
“Her conquest only ended after the intervention of the current Pope. Eventually, they agreed to partition the old empire into two, forming the current world, with the Julian empire to the South, and a collection of human kingdoms under the Pope’s spiritual guidance to the North.”
“Any normal human - even the most despicable would not be so murderous - the reason why Julia could do such deeds as massacring humans is since she wasn’t human to start with. Your so-called ‘sister’ is a tyrannical dragon, who leave behind rivers of blood for a single piece of gold.”
Anna’s hands trembled.
The book had finally touched the core of the matter. However, Anna’s strong reaction was not from the bloody acts and deaths that occurred during Julia’s overthrow of Alexander’s empire, but because of the sudden information that her sister belonged to an entirely different race.
On the last page of the notes, the words spell.
“You are human. To Julia, you are nothing more than a piece of meat. Your status is fabricated, and the possibility of you inheriting her position as empress is neigh.”
“Your destiny has never been with Julia.”
“The way out is through the door. Why is it that no one will use this method?”
The words could be interpreted in countless ways, but based on the contents of the book, the message was exceedingly straightforward. Since Anna did not have any destiny with Julia, why not take the simplest choice and leave?
Anna read the final passage on the book and was silent for a long time. It was hard to determine her mood, which seemed confused and saddened at the same time. The words stuck like a powerful hammer onto a piece of steel and reverberate through her consciousness, but unfortunately, the steel did not form an excellent sword, clearing Anna’s mind, but rather, it was more like a shattering of Anna’s current worldview and caused her to challenge many things she had never questioned before.
Anna is a youth at the age of sixteen, and like all people at this age, has an impressionable nature. These notes had a very powerful impact on her and took her a long time to recover from the shock and calm down. She began to think chaotic and came to the conclusion that not all the books’ contents could be trusted, but she could no longer stay within the city.
Anna was, after all, raised by her sister. A single book can not tear down the relationship the two possess so efficiently. What Anna ultimately decided to be the best course of action is to separate herself from Julia, to experience the world before coming to a decision.
She closed the book and threw them into a hand warmer. As the pages turned brown in the flames, Anna lifted her head to look at the night’s sky.
The stars had always been there, unchanged for many years; its luminosity and quantity had always stayed the same. When Anna had been younger, she was once bored and decided to count the stars occupying a piece of the sky. These stars were still in the same position to this day.
She suddenly recalled that Julia had once told her there was once a person who had plucked the stars from the night sky. Recalling the memory, Anna’s reminiscent mood was suddenly interrupted by a flock of intense fears. This feeling was the same as when she had held the book in her hand.
This was the feeling of fate.
These stars were silent but seemed to be telling her something.
Anna was not aware, that at this moment, her heart had stopped beating, and all the blood in her body had frozen.
Despite this, her body sweat profusely, passing through her clothes and soaking the chair she sat on.
A night passed.
The dawn light obscured the night sky, and Anna’s heart continued to beat once more. Aside from the dampness on her chair, and the pieces of ash by the hand warmer, it was impossible to tell whether last night had happened at all.
Anna opened her eyes and woke up. Though she was in that strange state, she was aware of the events that happened after she burnt the book. She touched her face and felt it to be quite cold and dirty.
Her first instinct was to ask Julia what had happened last night, but a thunderous boom occurred in her mind at that moment. With this thunderclap, a number of concepts appeared in her mind.
According to these pieces of information, the events of last night was a side effect of a powerful expert changing fate. It is impossible to change the fate of a live creature, so Anna had to be dead for her fate to suddenly change.
---
A day and night had passed, and Ovid, now suddenly thrust with the prestigious position as a follower of the princess, was treated with politeness and respect sufficient to such a status. For example, he was allowed to stay overnight in the restaurant and the restaurant owner no longer minded that he was freeloading off her.
The sun was shining especially harsh today, so the women in the city had chosen to crowd in restaurants and remedy the heat with cold cuts and chilled wine.
Ovid did not have much of a presence, despite being quite pleasant to look at. Silently drinking a bowl of porridge, he absently stared at the crowd that had gathered before the restaurant.
Perhaps it was because Anna was once more wearing that regal purple, Ovid noticed her presence the moment she appeared before the restaurant.
Ovid’s pair of eyes was exceptionally preceptive. As Anna sat down, he could tell that her cheeks had sunken and her face grew ashen, appearing far more pitiful than she had been the day before.
“What happened?” Ovid asked.
Anna did not directly answer his question. Instead, she asked a question of her own.
“You are my follower, right? Then can you follow me to the north?”