The moment the black dragon was gone, it was as if someone had kicked a hornets’ nest. More than a few people in the free district suddenly began to think it might not be such a bad idea to return to Kuravanuluox, where they would enjoy the protection of the Keybinder Danna Ryl. Most of these naysayers were Ignas who had only come to the free district when they sensed the tide turning against Danna Ryl and the Exinov.
“I never wanted to come to this damn free district in the first place! But I heard they’d take our mana if we said no… I just didn’t have any other choice!”
“You think the folks in the other free districts know about this? We’d better get back to Kuravanuluox as fast as we can! Otherwise that dragon’s gonna kill us all!”
“This place is done for! You saw, didn’t you? That dragon from the Forbidden Land is just a little runt! The black one’ll take it down in a heartbeat!”
“I had no idea there was such a powerful gatekeeper… Never woulda come here if I’d known!”
“Frankly, I think it’s downright disgraceful.” The setting was the meeting room of the icy town hall at the center of the maritime free district. Seth, head of the merchant band, had been the first to come over to the free district camp of his own accord. Now he frowned, folded his arms, and drummed on his elbow with the tips of his fingers. “If you ask me, there’s no need to prevent anyone from leaving. They’re free to return to Danna Ryl’s city if they choose. Zero’s barrier and Loux Krystas’s staff brilliantly stymied that dragon’s assault─why should we continue to feed anyone foolish enough to see that and still think, ‘The free district’s bound to lose, let’s get out of here.’”
“I am of the same opinion,” said the priest. He was leaning against the wall with his arms folded too, looking none too pleased. “What Har Bell requested of us in the first place was the establishment of human rights for the Nurabehn. And here we are, in the Nurabehn city Zero built upon the ocean. We simply offered to also welcome any Exinov or Ignas who rejected discrimination. If any of them now say that in fact they approved of discrimination all along but went with the flow when they saw which way the wind was blowing, well, maybe I’d rather such individuals were driven out.”
“Well, it’s not like we’re gonna stop ’em leaving,” said Mercenary with a shrug, peeling potatoes with his big paws. “That dragon’s the reason they wanna go back to Danna Ryl, ain’t it? And you’re gonna kill that thing, aren’t you, Witch?”
At this Zero swept her long, silver hair back behind her ear and sighed. “Yes… If they were to focus their efforts entirely on defense, there would be no issue. But that dragon declared its intention to attack. Given the proclamation that it made, it seems the beast threatens to kill us if we set foot outside this city.”
They had been given a reprieve of three days─which presumably meant that any who did not return to Kuravanuluox within that time would be deemed an enemy subject to summary execution.
“The bit about finding no respite outside our ‘paltry city of ice’ means we may as well assume the other free districts will be attacked indiscriminately,” said Los. “I expect the wyrm meant to destroy this place as a grand signal to herald the start of their counteroffensive, but found our defenses a touch robust for its liking.”
“Pathetic. Let’s hurry up and kill the thing so we can end this damn war already. Hopefully that’ll put paid to all this backin’ and forthin’.” Mercenary stuck out his tongue in irritation. Ever since last night, the city had been in an uproar─there were Nurabehn from the other free districts rushing into the city to seek protection, Ignas trying to make their way out, and Exinov hoping to get themselves back into Danna Ryl’s good graces.
“Professor Zero! We’re in trouble! There’s just too many people!” Hort burst into the meeting room, out of breath. “You know how all those people from the other free districts started coming in through the witch’s paths yesterday, right? Well, now it seems like even more are flooding in from districts that don’t have witch’s paths…”
“My, my… And here I thought we still had some wiggle room…”
“We do, but we aren’t assigning jobs nearly fast enough, so they’re all just sitting around on the ground and blocking stairways and stuff! You gotta whip up a place where they can just grab a blanket and chill for now!”
“Right, like a kind of a campsite. Might be good to have somethin’ like that. Could use it as a place for group assemblies and whatnot, too.”
“Hmm.” Zero got to her feet. “For the time being we will not place restrictions on anyone’s movement, but some manner of explanation does seem necessary to calm the populace. First we ought gather the new arrivals in one place to help settle things down somewhat. Antlered one, bring those with nowhere to go to the pier. My lord Abyss Sorcerer─I request your assistance.”
“Right─!” With that, Hort dashed from the meeting room as hurriedly as she’d come in.
Zero headed to the pier, and after a short while Saybil jogged up beside her.
“You’ve come, young man.”
“I assume you need to use my mana?”
“Yes, I’ll be expanding our city a little.”
Saybil held out his left hand. For reasons of buoyancy and the like, the ground of the free district was significantly elevated from the surface of the ocean itself. Hand in hand, Zero and Saybil leapt down toward the water below─but they did not sink beneath the waves. The moment Zero’s feet touched the ocean’s surface, a sheet of ice spread out from the point of contact.
The free district was at present hexagonal. It was from one of the hexagon’s points that a long, long path now crystallized. Once the sea ice beneath Zero and Saybil’s feet was thick enough, it gradually began to rise of its own accord until it reached the same height as the preexisting land.
At the same time, a very different phenomenon was occurring, a natural one quite apart from the magic being performed: When seawater freezes, the salt concentration in the area around the new ice increases, in turn lowering the temperature of the water itself below the freezing point. Because the saltier water has a higher relative density, it sinks, freezing the surrounding water along the way. Thus were countless pillars of ice formed, anchoring the new land to the ocean floor and keeping it from being moved around by the waves and ocean currents. In a matter of moments, the free district’s landmass was expanded.
Saybil bent down to touch the new ground─and of course, it was still cold.
“Have a care, young man. Your skin will stick.”
“Spending so much time in this city, I almost forgot that ice is cold…”
“Aaaaaghhh!”
A scream pierced Zero and Saybil’s eardrums, and they turned to see Los standing there wearing a look of utter despair.
“I-It is done? Thou didst not think to wait for me before creating this new land?! To wait for thine audience to arrive before performing such a dramatic and marvelous feat of witchcraft?!”
“Wh-What’s this, now, Dawn…? You wished to watch?”
“Forsooth! ‘Wished to watch’ does not begin to cover it! Thy work would have been just the thing to calm the hearts of a people so concerned over the coming of that blasted dragon! ’Twould have served to demonstrate the might of the witch who protects this city!”
“Oh, right. You might be right,” Saybil realized with a start─followed immediately by Zero’s own revelation. They cursed their shortsightedness in setting off without so much as a pause to give the matter more thought.
“Rrgh…! Show me not such glum expressions, the pair of you! Though, well, so be it. Perhaps it is even for the best.”
“A-Are you sure? You think it might truly be better this way?” Zero asked diffidently.
Los hopped down onto the newly-formed sea ice, nodding vigorously. “Thou hast created quite the spacious area. Now we must gather all of the residents of this free district here. Mud-Black, create a fence─we would not want our people falling into the ocean.”
Zero did as Los suggested, creating a splendid fence a little taller than the average adult, which stretched all the way around the long peninsula of sea ice.