“Beware the rift beneath the lowest ground, while the ruler holds not the shadowed crown. Avoid the fulcrum of the absolute, where flames rage at the oldest root. Restrain the madness of the deepest layer; the source and destination of divine thunder,” Aziz recited slowly, his eyes moving in cadence with his words.

“I wonder how long the Chanter of Innocents took to come up with a rhyming prophecy like this,” said Bokensha. “It’s not an academic question, so the only one I can ask for an opinion is you.”

“Quite neat, isn’t it?” Aziz answered. “But how did Champion Solaris even meet that great god?”

“It was written one page before this extract, but to cut a long story short, the Champion met him during one of his deep sleeps…or when he was suffering from a bout of madness. He himself wasn’t sure, since the Champions lose consciousness when they rage,” replied the curator.

“And they hit it off, just like that?”

“Evidently,” Bokensha replied. “After this extract, however, Solaris made an odd observation, regarding the great g—”

The door opened, and Marie bounced inside the room happily. “Got it!”

Aziz turned to look at her. “How much did it cost?”

“Twenty gold,” Marie replied. “Don’t worry, I still have enough to visit every historical site in Seireiden.”

“Oh, you two are planning a visit of such scale?” Bokensha asked. “Oho. Well, let me tell you which ones you should pay more attention to. So, other than our museum here, the next exhibit you guys should go to is the Rise and Times of the Demigod Xie Baole.”

“That name sounds familiar,” said Marie.

“The guy who carved out Feng-Lang from Mi-Zu,” the old man supplied helpfully. “He was suspected to be an otherworlder too — you can use your book and compare it to his written records.”

“Carved out…” Marie muttered. “I call shenanigans.”

“Eyewitness records on that day showed that the man used a giant blade of energy to lop off a huge chunk of land,” Bokensha answered unhurriedly. “And to be honest, you’d have to see it to believe it. That’s why you should go there, and see the true might of a Demigod.”

“I suppose we’ll shift our schedule around, then,” said Marie.

The old man nodded with a gentle smile, and asked, “What else is in your schedule?”

Marie pondered for a moment, and then passed a small piece of paper over to him. Bokensha looked at it, and then nodded, approval shrouding his every movement. “This doesn’t look like the itinerary of a soldier, but that of a historian in a new land. Most of these places are well chosen, but you will have trouble with entering Takamagahaha.”

Aziz tilted his head. “Did something happen to it?”

“The Highest Plains of the Stars Beyond has been blocked off by crystal,” replied the old man. “Something has happened to the ancient land of the great gods, but no one knows what is going on.”

“We can’t enter, then.” Marie sighed. “I had heard about its beauty, but I suppose I’ll have to leave without seeing it.”

“Tis a pity.” Bokensha nodded his head. “Your status would have guaranteed you entry if you went over, but you were a tad too late.”

After a few more minutes of small talk, Marie and Aziz concluded their tour of the museum. Their faces, however, darkened as they moved to the entrance, where two protest groups just so happened to pass by on the road, yelling madly at each other.

“Bunch of crazy fools,” Marie muttered. “Strike down one cause, and the groups rename themselves into something else. First about the issue in Feng-Lang, and then now we have people on the verge of violence over who should be the policy-makers. Don’t they realise that the men and women both sides are cursing at have the ability to crush them with a single palm?”

Aziz looked at the two groups hurling insults at each other, before nodding at Bokensha and the woman at the counter. Marie mirrored him, before walking out onto the road. Immediately, the colonel felt over a dozen gazes fall on them. A moment later, both sides rushed towards them — it was probably because of Marie’s beauty, but possibly the fact that two people had just left a place that cost ten gold to enter.

“Colonel, if you please,” Marie muttered.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m not a Knight yet. You’ll be better than me at this.”

“True.” Marie rolled her eyes, and qi swept outwards, sending the two groups backwards. A few tripped and fell, but the marshal had made it a point to be rather gentle about her actions.

A hushed silence fell as the two groups took in the implications of what just happened. Before Aziz could complete the act by staring at them, both sides had fled, leaving behind a few stragglers who were frozen in terror.

“For us, people who don’t know and lack the means to know,” said Marie, “it’s best to stay out of internal politics. For these…children, who most likely lack a balanced perspective and don’t intend on identifying the issues on both sides, they’ll just be weapons used by those in power.”

“I-is that so?” Aziz asked.

“It’s a skill that everyone should pick up before giving their two bronze on this issue,” said Marie. “Weighing both sides and thinking critically at all times is important.”

She shook her head. “Let’s put this aside. Thunderbolt should be able to follow my orders, and I have the company commanders to prevent any possible diplomatic issues.”

Wait, so why did you blow them away with your cultivation earlier? Aziz slapped his forehead mentally, before following Marie into the deeper parts of Seireiden. He had a feeling that if he didn’t keep watch over the marshal, she would be the cause of the next diplomatic incident between the East and the Republic.

Man, my life is harder than it seems…