Chương 16: Center of the World

"That bastard," Vittorio fumed.

"Does he think that we're fools? I can tell that he wants to humiliate you if you can't find those materials and equipment."

"Not really." Alicia smiled to herself as she folded the papers, then placed them underneath her coat.

"You think too low of your fellow man. He just wants to discourage me from conducting an overly ambitious project. This is a common tactic by competent officials when dealing with insane leaders."

"But you're not insane. I don't like that he's playing mind games with you. This offense to someone of your stature is enough reason to hang him!"

"Look, you've seen Rochester Steelworks, right? None like it exists in the rest of Vael. Do you know why?"

"... Because we don't have people who can make one."

"Exactly." Alicia hummed to herself as she raised her chin, closing her eyes a bit.

"Vael is a nation that suffered many wars, famines, and disruptions," Alicia explained.

"Most people, therefore, are unskilled, uneducated, and illiterate. It's a bitter pill we have to swallow. That's why I'm not wasting a Hessi Vaelrin who not only knows metallurgy but also magical engineering. Forget about punishing him or kicking him out for being rude to me. It's never happening."

"Still, that doesn't mean he gets to make you grovel at his feet every day just to make him accept," Vittorio countered.

"Your Grace, you cannot be this soft to your subjects. They'll think you're weak, and if they think you're weak, your authority wanes."

"Do you think I'm weak because of what I'm doing?"

"... No. You're not weak."

"The truth is what matters the most. Not the optics. Please keep that in your mind from now on."

"I suppose that's true…" Vittorio reluctantly conceded.

"As I thought," Alicia nodded, a victorious smile on her face. Alicia and Vittorio soon returned to Wintervale Palace. So much work had been done in the recent days. While Lyra and Moshan were still in the process of finishing the census in order to hire people, Alicia worked hard to make sure that the palace was at a baseline, functional. She created a bunch of automated golems and artificial spirits using her earth, fire, and wind magic.

Thus, Alicia now had patrol golems, rock golems capable of heavy lifting, repairs, and other tasks requiring physical strength; and steel golems acting as provisional guards. With wind magic, she created artificial wind spirits. Most of them were just monster cores modified to create a human-like avatar, capable of doing the same tasks that maids and manservants had, and they were in charge of domestic chores.

Finally, Alicia created a team of artificial fire spirits with the same principle, except they were specialized at cooking in the kitchen. All of them were autonomous, following the basic commands Alicia gave them when she was creating them. She planned to phase them out as she hired more people because above all, she still preferred people working for her, but for now, they were a good stopgap solution. As such, when Vittorio and Alicia returned, it was quite comfortable.

They found Lyra in the living room silently eating snacks as she worked on something, so Alicia ordered her artificial spirits to prepare dinner. Within a few dozen minutes, the trio had a meal together at the dining hall, all prepared and served by Alicia's creations. That was where Alicia announced her intentions.

"Lyra, Vittorio, I'm leaving for a few days," Alicia said after lowering her cutlery.

"I'm going to a country known as Alsatia. It'll take me a while to come back, since I intend to create a secure supply chain from their capital to this village."

"But Alsatia is an enemy of Vael," Vittorio frowned as he stopped eating.

"... Your Grace, won't it be dangerous for you to go there alone?"

"He's right!" Lyra suddenly stood up, clearly worried. The succubus was immediately embarrassed by her outburst, and she returned to her seat, lowering her head.

"I mean, Helen always talked back then about Alsatia routinely sending weapons and mercenaries to the kingdoms that fight Vael, so…"

"All of that is true, yes. But, when I visited Polonia, I heard a lot about Alsatia being one of the strongest and most advanced countries of mankind," Alicia justified.

"Since it's riskier to return to Polonia with my previous forged identity, I'm going to have to make a new one and go to a different country, and Alsatia, to me, seems to be the best place to establish a long-term supply line with Orevogorsk."

"... Are you going to do this with those 'Warp Gates' of yours?" Vittorio asked, narrowing his eyes.

"What if the enemy manages to hijack and use it?"

"They won't. Only I can control it. Naturally, that also means that I'll have to do all the work of buying and moving the needed materials, equipment, blueprints, and everything else that this village needs that Alsatia has, but that should be doable. I need to buy a warehouse there; I need trading contacts, and for that…" Alicia smiled.

"I need to form a trading company there." Both Vittorio and Lyra seemed extremely doubtful about Alicia's plan. But Alicia was dead-set on doing this. Orevogorsk needed to have a trading partner. Every town, city, and village around Orevogorsk had little of value, and human countries were hostile and far away. As such, there was only one solution for all of this.

Alicia would have to create the most innocent, innocuous, and unsuspecting 'human' company deep in one of the great powers, a company whose main purpose was to acquire and copy everything that humans had. Once done, Alicia was sure that Orevogorsk would rapidly leapfrog in development, technology, and wealth in just a few short years. It was an ambitious plan.

The next morning, after hammering out further arrangements with Vittorio, Moshan, and Lyra about how her village would be administered while she was gone, she bid her farewell to them and traveled to a [Warp Gate] she previously placed on the border of Polonia and Alsatia. There, Alicia used [Polymorph] again to change herself. This time, she mostly just copied her old body again like what she did in Polonia, but she changed her hair color to black and her eyes to grey.

It was a simple change, but with it, she was a completely new person. She also changed her name from Alicia to Alice. And then, she bypassed the border, flew straight to the nearest Alsatian city, and took a few days to prepare her forged documents. By changing the details on the documents and identification papers she received in Polonia using her magic, she posed as a nouveau riche woman known as Alice Kasperska, someone who had immigrated to Alsatia to start her own business.

With her black hair, grey eyes, more basic, commoner clothing, and lack of jewels and other fancy accessories, she looked significantly less like Alicia Brooks. Alongside her forged papers, she was sure that no one would suspect any connection with her old, fake identity. Everything was done smoothly with a lot of gold coins.

Unsurprisingly, the average official in the periphery of the Alsatian Empire barely gave a toss about background checks and verifications, especially when Alice used her looks, money, and [Persuasion] skill to expedite the processing of her papers. By the end of it, Alice Kasperska was a true person, and Alicia was free to proceed straight to the capital of Alsatia, dubbed the 'Center of the World'—Lorienval. Lorienval was a city of more than a million.

Sitting on the massive river Mirenoire, Lorienval was a center of trade, commerce, politics, culture, and industry. They say that once, the first roar of the magic engine was heard in the workshops of Lorienval, where they were made to mass-produce uniforms for the Alsatian emperor's grand army. It was, in many ways, the birthplace of mankind's magical revolution. Polonia's Veligrod scarcely even compared to Lorienval.

It was connected to the rest of the empire through dozens of rail lines, where people from other towns and cities commuted daily to work at its growing factories and workplaces. Bustling avenues and boulevards dominated the scenery; steel riverboats embark out of inland ports at the Mirenoire. The buildings were tall and wide, and the people were busy and industrious. She could see children selling newspapers and posters at every corner, and the markets were full of wholesome produce, and meat was plentiful.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Lorienval reminded her greatly of those 'Belle Époque' paintings she saw at university, which made her feel like a tourist once again. The title 'Center of the World' was probably an exaggeration, as with all things, yet Alicia wouldn't deny that Lorienval was impressive. She could smell opportunity, wealth, and greatness everywhere she looked.

Yet, as she traveled around Lorienval, the stench hidden underneath its splendor and glory began to present itself to Alicia. The posters she saw—she noticed they were all about the government asking young Alsatian men to join the army to defeat the 'distorted devils' of a nearby black dungeon.

The newspapers talked fashion and celebrity gossip at the front, yet behind them were market analysts warning about rising prices of commodities such as magic crystals, food, and even something as basic as steel, alongside columnists complaining about the war minister's growing powers and rumors about the current emperor's mental decline. And of course, the ugliest of them all was how the Vaelrin were being treated here.

As was true in many places of the world, many Vaelrin who never moved out of the lands conquered by humans centuries ago still lived here, and Lorienval itself was originally a Vaelrin city before Worldfall Online's timeline, renamed and changed over time until the remnants of its bygone past were buried underneath. Here, Alicia found out, the Vaelrin weren't quartered into specific districts like in Veligrod, but they were still second-class noncitizens.

Vaelrin, therefore, largely made up the lowest strata of Lorienval, either working the worst jobs or being involved in underground crime. While Lorienval didn't bar Vaelrin from walking anywhere, most lived in the poorest slums built in the shadow of the city's wealthier districts. Admittedly, she knew expecting anything better than Veligrod was nonsense, but it still felt bad to know how miserable her people were no matter where they were.

She could only sigh while standing on an overpass as afternoon arrived, watching a group of teenage Vaelrin workers with tiny, undeveloped horns protruding out of their flat caps walking on a sidewalk beneath, clearly taking distance from human pedestrians while bickering and bantering with each other. They were just children who should be at school or at playgrounds, yet they were counting their meager wages already. Somehow, even when they're born in a land that doesn't like them, they're still surviving.

While she pitied them, after meeting Vikar, Alicia realized that most of her kind in human realms were simply trying to keep their heads low as they lived day-to-day, so she wasn't going to do anything similar to what happened at Veligrod. Still, seeing those Vaelrin teenage boys only further fueled Alicia's determination. Once, she always looked away from the plight of her kind, simply because she could easily use her strength and magic to live comfortably on her own.

But now, after ruling Orevogorsk for a while and meeting many people there, the idea of creating a paradise at the edge of the world for the Vaelrin mattered more and more in her mind. One day, you'll all have a nice place to call home too. With that small vow in place, Alicia returned to work. There was much to be done. First, she needed to find someone who would buy her monster cores in bulk; then she would have capital to start operations here. Thus, it was Alicia's first priority.

It took a few days of work as Alicia set herself up in Lorienval. Luckily, since she already once worked with her father in their company back during her past life and a major part of her studies was business management, she had a good grasp on what to do. First, she bought another house that was selling cheap in the wealthier district using her extra money.

It was also near a conveniently empty warehouse that was once apparently used to store fertilizer but was abandoned as the city expanded and the nearby fertilizer factories relocated to the border districts. Her long-term plan was to acquire the warehouse from a nobleman who owned and neglected it. Then, once her trading company was set up, Alicia would use both buildings as headquarters and as a temporary holding center before she teleported materials to Orevogorsk using her [Warp Gate].

Though, of course, she'd have to go find and hire trustworthy people in Lorienval to maintain it and keep watch, she chalked it up for later when she knew more Vaelrin within the city. After this, Alicia began scouting large buyers of monster cores, ideally those who needed a steady supply of them. While magic crystals largely supplanted monster cores as an energy source and a medium for magecraft, they were still apparently at the same quality and sometimes even better than standard magic crystals.

The difference was that they weren't mass-produced and so were usually relegated to more specialized uses. So naturally, Alicia asked around a lot in the wealthier areas of Lorienval, checking on areas frequently visited by nobles and wealthy magnates where she could ask the staff and workers at these establishments about monster cores.

She figured out rather quickly that most people searching for monster cores were usually mages or academic institutions conducting advanced or esoteric research or experiments on these cores, as they usually had more specialized properties compared to magic crystals. One such example was Alicia using her magic crystals to create artificial spirits. Apparently, such magic was 'lost' nowadays; she'd heard this from two intermediate mages arguing with each other in a coffee house.

And so, Alicia went straight to the nearest branch of the Adventurer's Guild. It was surprising, but somehow, this institution, which hailed from the days of Worldfall Online, was still present. Though, in human realms, due to their ongoing modernization and advances, combat adventurers were becoming a thing of the past, as the increasingly centralized Alsatian state was extremely allergic to uncontrolled militants roaming within its borders.

Largely, the Adventurer's Guild of this age was more focused on employing professional explorers and scouts, who ventured into remote areas only to survey dungeons or find monsters for threat assessments regularly sent to the military. That, and the Adventurer's Guild morphed into a major supplier of magical items and various esoteric artifacts that mages, researchers, and magical engineers desired. That, of course, included high-grade monster and dungeon cores.

And so, on the third day of her stay at Lorienval, Alicia asked around at the Adventurer's Guild branch office if there was anyone interested in buying a large amount of B-grade magic crystals. To her surprise, someone apparently placed a large order for it earlier. And so, she waited, visiting the Adventurer's Guild every day to check in to see if this buyer was present, as the Adventurer's Guild told her that they would contact them.

Unfortunately for her, a week already passed since she came to this city, and the buyer still hadn't returned or replied to the guild's communique. She promised that she'd get the materials in Maxim's hand quickly, but that seemed more and more unlikely. Annoyed, Alicia couldn't help but frown in front of the receptionist she was talking to.

"It's already afternoon," Alicia complained.

"Who is this person anyway? If they're not coming, then can you please connect me to another buyer?"

"I'll try, Ms. Kaspeska, but it will take some time," the older-looking woman said to her with a grimace.

"I truly apologize."

"It's fine. If you can't find one, I'll just try finding another buyer myself somewhere else." Alicia walked away from the receptionist, going straight to one of the sofas on the lounge to relax a bit. The Adventurer's Guild of today was truly so radically different from what Alicia remembered in Worldfall Online. Back then, what they had resembled that of a slightly fancier tavern, where missions were posted on the board and where adventurers drank ale and cursed at each other loudly.

This branch, however, was clean, fancy, and well-organized. The ceiling was lit with magical lightbulbs, there were soft sofas and nice furniture, and the floor was made out of marble. Even the people posting requests were usually well-dressed businessmen and nobles, instead of poor villagers and whatnot. She didn't even see a single adventurer. Again, they were now organized in cohesive teams sent to the field, receiving missions based on what their branches received.

Quite frankly, Alicia felt a little bit offended by all this. It all seemed like a bastardization of the old spirit of adventuring, where individuals could just come in, grab a mission, and set forth on an adventure to prove themselves. Now, the guild just seemed like a soulless company whose main job was to supply intelligence and special items to rich folks and large organizations, like the military, in exchange for gold. Then again, she supposed this was inevitable.

As she had realized earlier, this wasn't Worldfall Online anymore—this was Worldfall Online centuries later. Of course, many things she loved in the game were going to be eventually abandoned and changed because of the march of time. Bored and sullen, Alicia stood up, planning to leave the premises. As she did so, two women entered the front door. One of them wore a simple yet elegant dress, making her seem like a young, wealthy lady.

The other one wore something similar to a dress uniform and was armed with a sword. Most likely, she was a knight. Interestingly, both of them had long, pointy ears. It was similar to the ears sported by Alicia's vampiric form, but slightly longer. They're elves, Alicia realized as she watched them. Her ears picked up their hushed discussion.

"You should really reconsider," the armed woman said.

"I don't trust anyone selling anything through the Adventurer's Guild."

"No matter what you tell me, I'm going to secure what I need for my project," the unarmed young lady said with a smile.

"If we have a bulk supplier here, I'm biting it." Eyes immediately turned straight at the two elves. Alicia then heard hushed whispers about them, and since she was gathering information, she listened closely. The seemingly younger lady who had long, light blonde hair, apparently, was the crown princess. On the other hand, the one with short, red hair was one of the greatest knights of the Imperium, assigned to serve the next ruler of Alsatia itself. What the hell is she doing here then?

Why is someone so important visiting a place like this? And so casually too! Alicia also thought that people around her should be more respectful of their literal crown princess, but when she listened closely, they seemed to be shaking their heads, rolling their eyes, or walking out of the guild without giving the elven royalty a shred of courtesy. Alicia didn't need to hear much discussion or comments, and she did hear none, but she could tell that people didn't like the crown princess much. Alicia shook her head.

No reason to pry too much. She didn't give a toss anyway about what was happening between the higher-ups of this country. And so, she began walking away when she heard the blonde elf ask something from the receptionist.

"Good afternoon. Sorry I didn't manage to reply to the letter you folks sent earlier, but may I ask about that high-grade monster core seller you mentioned there?"