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Roland had the most hectic week since his ascendence to the throne.
There had been various subtle indications that the Bloody Moon would arrive a lot earlier than usual, and he had been preparing for that day for a long time. However, unlike what the church had predicted that it would appear in 10 years or as the Taquila witches had anticipated in two to three years, the Bloody Moon emerged above the Western Region right after the implementation of the immigration policy, so suddenly that its appearance had caught everyone offguard.
And that was not the end of it.
A week ago, various urgent reports had been sent from numerous cities to Roland informing him of the abnormal astronomical phenomenon. It seemed that nobody had seen the Bloody Moon approach the city. The Bloody Moon appeared to have always been there, being invisible to people until very recently.
Roland found that he had developed this
Bloody Moon Complex
. Whatever he was doing, he always had a tendency to turn to the window and daze at the Bloody Moon outside. The moon was enveloped by a red haze but was not completely obscured. Roland sometimes had an illusion that the Bloody Moon was also gazing back at him.
According to the Union, the emergence of the Bloody Moon meant the beginning of the Battle of Divine Will, which Roland had been preparing for over the past few years. However, when it was actually time to fight, he felt everything become somewhat surreal. No news came from the Fertile Plains, and he had not heard anything from the scouts in the north either. Neverwinter appeared to be the only city affected by the incident. The Administrative Office sent in a report every half an hour, but none of them was relevant to the demons.
Your Majesty?
Nightingale’s voice jerked Roland out of the trance.
You’re staring at the sky again.
Roland blinked and was suddenly back to the present.
Ah… sorry. I couldn’t help —
Nightingale fed him a piece of dried fish and cut across him,
Don’t apologize. There’s nothing wrong with staring at the moon. You’ve been exhausted lately. I’m happy that you take a break every now and then. Do you want my company? Since the Bloody Moon has something to do with the Divine Will, let’s study it together.
Amused, Roland took the dried fish and shook his head. Nightingale always had ways to justify her eccentric behavior. He replied,
I have a lot to do. Keep an eye on me. You mustn’t let me slack off. Understood?
Nightingale twitched her lips and went back to her couch.
Roland took a deep breath and returned to the stack of reports on his desk.
The Bloody Moon seemed to have caused more trouble than the demons. According to the statistics from the Administrative Office and the Security Bureau, there had been four fires and 16 crimes in Neverwinter in the past one week. Anna had also reported 21 deaths in the plants caused by malfunction of machinery. More than 500 people were injured, and 90% of injuries had occurred within 24 hours of the appearance of the Bloody Moon. This was the most chaotic moment in Neverwinter in the history of time.
At first, Roland had thought the Bloody Moon induced panic to the masses. However, after he analyzed the patterns of all these incidents, he found it was not that simple. Therefore, he asked the Joint Investigation Team to further investigate the matter, and the result was quite surprising. Those incidents were actually caused by the fluctuation of magic power brought about by the Bloody Moon.
The reports submitted by Agatha detailed the chain of events.
The Bloody Moon had appeared at around 5:35 PM. All the devices driven by magic power in Neverwinter were, more or less, affected. For example, the ending of the magic movie
The Dust of History
had suddenly changed, and the audience had failed to distinguish illusions from reality. The electric circuits in the industrial zone were overloaded, and some machine tools powered by Dawn I stopped working. The most serious accident took place in Machinery Plant 1. One old boiler suddenly exploded, and hot steam burned the workers. Subsequent investigation showed that due to the outdated technologies, the boiler had been posing potential safety hazards for a long time, although Candle had, at one point, remoulded some of its important parts, including its valve.
Testimonies from multiple witnesses proved that order had been re-established in 10 minutes. The various accidents further created chaos and made many people believe that the demons were invading Neverwinter. Although the plant workers had all received emergency training, the evacuation did not go very well. The death toll would have probably continued to increase had Neverwinter not established an advanced public health system. Meanwhile, Nana’s contribution to reducing the death was also phenomenal.
Roland had thought the Union had known that such things would happen upon the emergence of the Bloody Moon, but the truth was that none of the Taquila witches had heard about it. It appeared that the previous two appearances of the Bloody Moon did not bring such a huge impact on people’s daily life, as magic power had not been widely used among the public back then.
Considering that people still suffered from the aftermath of the incidents, and nobody knew whether there would be a second round of magic power fluctuation, workers in the plants conducted a thorough inspection and removed all the outdated machines. The Administrative Office also prepared a new contingency plan, which included how to stay calm upon emergencies. The term
magic-caused accident
was used in official documents for the first time.
As for the magic movie, it was broadcasted again in the theatre after a brief suspension that had lasted for three days. The public went crazy for the movie, and the theater was packed with people who had heard about what had happened during the premiere. Practically everyone came for the movie, in a hope of
changing the history
. Even though the magic movie now followed its original storyline, the masses were still quite frenzied.
This was probably one of the very few pieces of good news in the past one week.
Nonetheless, the multiple accidents deterred Roland from using the Cube-powered steam engine right away. He wanted to first figure out whether the fluctuation of magic power occurred only upon the appearance of the Bloody Moon, or it actually caused continuous events during the whole period of the Battle of Divine Will.
If it only occurred when the Bloody Moon appeared, he was totally fine with that. Roland wanted to defeat the demons, and both Dawn I and the Magic Cube were the key to the victory. They also played an important role in the industrialization of Graycastle. Once the public benefited from these two types of machines, they would soon get addicted to them. However, if the fluctuation would continue to exist until the end of the war, Roland would have to take the potential risks into consideration.
Just then, the telephone rang. It was from the Administrative Office.
Normally, only the director, Barov, would use this line.
Roland heaved a sigh and picked up the phone.
What’s the matter now?
No, Your Majesty…
Barov said hesitantly.
Astrologer of Dispersion Star just burst into my office and told me that he made a major discovery about the Bloody Moon. He hopes… No, you must come to the observatory and see it for yourself.
