Chapter 42
The systematic development of magic brought enormous changes to human life.
The magic circles created by mages held countless possibilities.
Things like making objects move on their own, lighting fires automatically, or stirring up wind. A hundred years after practical magic became widespread, magic had become something easy to encounter in everyday life.
...at least for the upper classes.
Mages are rare. Fewer than 0.01% of the population have been granted the miracle of magic.
Moreover, the mages who had held power for the past thousand years had kept raising their own value.
By stalling scientific progress and colluding among themselves, they had charged exorbitant prices for 'bestowing' magic on those who could not use it.
The amount of mana stones used to draw magic circles was also enormous.
Depending on the difficulty of the spell, a single stroke of a magic circle would often consume one high-grade mana stone.
Even if commoners saved up a year's wages, they still couldn't even get a glimpse of the 'm' in magic.
In that West, the South's technology began to trickle in one by one.
The first thing to arrive was electricity.
When power poles first appeared in the middle of downtown, the people of the West looked at them with puzzled expressions.
The cables hanging from the wooden poles were, to those who knew nothing, nothing more than ugly eyesores.
Then workers from the South gathered and began laying down what looked like an iron road.
From the perspective of the people of the West, watching them lay gravel, place wooden planks, and then set steel rails on top was simply unfamiliar.
There was also a large-scale overhaul of the water and sewage system.
Tearing out the perfectly functioning water and sewage system and installing a new one was hard for the people of the West to understand.
Why tear apart something that works just fine?
Because of that, when the public bathhouses stopped and water service was often cut off, people began voicing their opinions one by one.
"What on earth is that thing doing?"
"Well..."
"I don't know why they'd place such an ugly thing in the middle of downtown."
"It looks like the Southern companies are doing something, but is it really okay to leave it like that?"
"I don't understand why they tore out a perfectly good water and sewage system. It's already been three days and I still can't properly use water at home. What on earth are they trying to do..."
At first, arguments went back and forth.
Those alien-looking structures intruding on the beautiful city center did not look good to people who still had some affection for the West.
Electricity was a new technology that had only begun being researched in the South a few decades ago.
To people of the West, who believed the only invisible force was magic, electricity was just an incomprehensible anomaly.
The South also knew about such public opinion.
But they were not worried at all.
"Once a civilization has tasted the conveniences of civilization, it can never go back."
Kyle Leopold knew what Earth looked like in the 21st century. He also knew the power of electricity, which could make possible feats even more magical than magic itself.
Compared to absurdly expensive magic, electricity was reasonably priced. If the effects were the same, people would surely flock to electricity.
That would be the decisive blow that would uproot the mages' dominance in the West.
"Don't worry about public opinion in the West. Support everything they need, and fund them with as much money as necessary. Make sure the Western modernization project goes ahead somehow."
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
Despite people's worries, power lines and streetlights began steadily increasing along the roads.
The rail tracks stretched farther and farther, and the water and sewage systems gradually began to look as good as new.
Several months passed like that.
By the time people were starting to get used to Porvin's changing scenery,
[ Electric streetlight installation completed ]
[ Public telephone booths installed in downtown Porvin ]
[ Steam locomotive trial run ]
[ Water and sewage system replacement completed ]
An announcement from the Grand Ducal Palace was posted in the middle of Porvin Square.
Everyone's eyes immediately turned to the notice.
The reason they had been laying all sorts of things in the middle of downtown for the past two months had finally become clear.
The first to react were the young people who had gone south to work and earn money.
Already somewhat familiar with Southern civilization, they welcomed the news.
"So the West is finally getting streetlights?"
"And telephones too! Then I won't need to exchange letters with my friends still in the South anymore."
"A steam locomotive? Wow, so I can finally travel south comfortably without getting seasick."
As the few people in the know showed signs of welcoming it, people's attention naturally turned to it as well.
After all, people naturally looked favorably on something if friends or family who had worked in the South said it was good, even if they didn't really know what it was.
Whenever they asked out of curiosity, the answer they got back was always the same.
"So what exactly were the Southern technicians building all this time?"
"Mm... this seems hard for me to explain. Just go see it for yourself once it opens."
That curiosity, once amplified, soon turned into anticipation.
"Yeah, if they went through all that over the past few months, something must have changed a lot."
And so night fell over Porvin.
Porvin was originally a city dark as pitch except for the central district.
The magical lamps that mages had to install by hand were all expensive, so they could only light the Grand Ducal Palace and its immediate surroundings.
So everywhere else could only be lit by the faint light leaking out of homes.
But now, everything was completely different.
"This streetlight was installed by our Louis & Phillips Co.!"
As the president of the streetlight company pressed the button in the middle of the square, the city was instantly flooded with light.
Everyone stood dumbfounded, watching the light spread outward from the square.
The bright light in the city center, the kind normally only seen on the streets of wealthy nobles, was that amazing.
At the same time, they also felt worried.
"In the end, won't this be billed to us?"
That worry vanished in an instant as soon as they heard the next words.
"This light was not created by magic. It is our light, made purely with technology developed by ordinary people and with our own skill."
"Therefore, the maintenance and repairs for the streetlights will be handled free of charge by Louis & Phillips, and no fees will be billed either."
At those words, everyone burst into cheers all at once.
Bright nighttime streets, once enjoyed only by nobles because of the high upkeep costs, were now open to commoners too—that held enormous meaning.
Of course, it wasn't as if the company had done it for free with no benefit at all.
"If you'd like to bring the light of those streetlights into your home, please contact Louis & Phillips. We'll offer it at a reasonable price anyone can use without worry."
In the meantime, they had used the opportunity to promote their company.
It was a happy ending for both the citizens of the West and the company.
Such situations were happening all over the West.
"This is... a telephone?"
"That's right. It plays a role similar to the crystal orbs used by mages. Just speak into the bottom of the telephone and hold the top to your ear."
The arrival of the telephone was revolutionary.
Crystal orbs were luxury goods, each fetching the price of a mansion. They were things commoners would never see even once in their lives.
But a telephone could be operated with nothing more than a few silver coins.
Silver coins were a lot of money to commoners too, but not so much that they couldn't afford to spend that much once.
"As public telephone booths become more widespread, the price will come down even further. The goal of us Southern companies is to bring ordinary people technology that feels like magic."
The advent of steam locomotives, and of the train lines crossing downtown, also brought a fresh breeze to society.
"A lump of steel that moves faster and more comfortably than a carriage."
There were even people who, simply because it was fascinating to watch the train move, rode it all day long with no destination.
That wasn't the end of the new shocks.
"Have you been to the newly built city hall?"
"City hall? Why would I go to a place like that? It's not like there's anything to see or do there."
"They installed some new technology brought in from the South. Well, even though it's the middle of July, the inside of the building is as cool as autumn."
The air conditioner built with magical engineering, which appeared in midsummer, drew everyone's full attention.
Even nobles who could command mages came by several times just to take a look.
In the process, several thoughts naturally took root in people's minds.
The Grand Duke of the South, who was destroying corrupt nobles and generously bestowing new technology upon us, must be a good man
I wonder just how amazing the South must be, where technology even more magical than magic is used in everyday life.
How wonderful it would be if I could live in the South for a while.
Meanwhile, rumors of a merger, leaked by Southern intelligence, began spreading among the citizens.
If the South and the West were completely different countries, there wouldn't even have been talk of a merger.
For one sovereign state to forcibly annex another was absurd.
This was something that could not be accepted, whether ethically or in terms of national sentiment.
But the South and the West were provinces tied to the enormous nation called the Empire.
Even if they were guaranteed a high degree of autonomy, there was no doubt that people saw the West and the South as part of the same country.
For that reason, there was not much resistance to the idea of a merger.
A merger between provinces of the same country?
From the perspective of an ordinary person who didn't know much about politics, the only thought was, 'If that means we can live better, then that's fine.'
Unless the nation itself collapsed, commoners always had their own lives to care about.
Besides, until now the South had been a generous province that only gave to the West, and the West, after the corrupt nobles were driven out, was in a position of receiving a great deal of help from the South.
Also, there were no corrupt nobles in the South.
A clean society led by the upright and capable Kyle Leopold, who had come all the way to the West to crush corrupt nobles, appealed deeply to people who had always been exploited by them.
"The merger of the West and the South might not be so bad."
People who didn't really know how politics worked all thought the same.
Of course, the intellectual class knew very well what results a merger between the West and the South would bring.
However, there was no one who would oppose it.
Because the corrupt nobles who might have opposed it had already been caught by the South and either killed or stripped of all power.
The Western Grand Ducal Palace, which served as the local government of the West, was no different.
The Grand Duke seated there was one installed by the South, and the cabinet made up of ministers sent by the South was nothing more than a machine for stamping seals on Southern paperwork.
And so, when a year had passed and the cold snow of winter melted,
public opinion in both regions had tilted heavily toward merger.