American Isekai - Chapter 299

AN: Last chapter before the big day! I might tack on more later, perhaps another conversation that would bump this chapter past 6k words. Or I'll just make it a part of the next chapter, like a prologue-esque intro. No idea, but for now, this is it. Hope you enjoy!

Just a reminder for my Seekers, this chapter has a part two! Go find chapter 299.5 for the rest.

November 27th, 628

Zoning out was a rather interesting neurological function. The ability to mute out stimuli and focus on nothing seemed entirely unproductive. It was the same with memories, how the body would go on autopilot during monotonous tasks and when it was all said and done, you’d never remember any part of the hours of zoned out work. 

Over the last handful of years I had become incapable of it. With every advancement, my mental faculties would reach new heights. After creating my second Spark, the task of creating memories and remembering things was no longer a task. It was barely a function my body had to engage in. It simply happened. Like a laser engraving data onto a disk, it was a mere consequence of physics. In some sense, everything could be considered just that. 

For the first time in years though, I had done it. I had finally managed to zone out, and not how I usually did where I’d simply crunch mental tasks while looking like I was bored and frozen. 

No, I had finally managed to ignore something. I finally had a gap, albeit brief, in my memories. It was something I hadn’t seen outside of sleeping since I got my second Spark, and something that became increasingly seldom after around Authority 3. 

The only downside was that it had come to be after two straight weeks of being awake. 

The upside was that I had discovered that zoning out was a brain’s way of either coping with things or defragging. If it wasn’t being used to block out excessive stimuli, it was being used to process memories and put them into long term storage. 

I sat cross legged on the very edge of the top of the Hardpoint, right on top of a bunker that overlooked what had become No Man’s Land. 

Erhan stood behind me. I could hear how the wind blew against his body and the fabrics of his suit, sense the faint shifts of his body, his arms in his sleeves, his feet in his shoes, even his abdomen in his shirt. 

Was it a little dangerous here, sitting right against the edge where I could see straight down a couple hundred meters? Sure it was. Plenty of flying monsters had already tried to swoop down and grab me. Thankfully the anti-air turrets were working out well, and most had been killed before they could get close. Anything that slipped past was killed by Erhan, my diligent butler. 

I frowned when I started hearing everything again. I knew I was getting tired but zoning out had felt great. It had come and gone so quickly since I realized what was happening mere seconds after it started. Like a dream, it had faded as fast as it came. 

Now I was just annoyed. I quickly dropped a mute field next to me, which deployed and silenced all sounds from the outside. 

The silence contrasted with the views of battle below. I saw every explosion of fire from every avenue of attack, even saw the devastation that other elemental projectiles caused. Wonderland had started coming out with unconventional spells and slapping them onto other elemental crystals, giving them value on the battlefield. After all, fire crystals were 68% of our crystal expenditures. Explosions were just too useful on the battlefield, and the only other crystal used in significant amounts was the air crystal, which often complemented the fire crystals. After that it was the earth crystals, those being used to saturate the wall with mana and strengthen it. 

Now, there were earth crystals being used in munitions. They weren’t spatial rounds, but they still tore nasty new assholes in the enemy. 

I’d have to start thinking of something to use the water crystals for. But of course I had other pressing matters to use my brainpower for. 

I had spent only a brief period in the territory of the Verks Marquisate handling the new biological outbreak. For now there was a lot to do and none of it required my presence. My troops were more than capable of handling themselves, and I had Sector 4 there to collect samples that they would deliver to Wonderland for safe study. 

It was a dangerous disease but I had long developed gear to prevent contamination. So long as nobody got lazy, I wouldn’t have to deal with an outbreak amidst my own staff. 

We had already gotten results in the past couple weeks of study, but the analysis that came back wasn’t pointing in a good direction. Based solely on the magical signature of the disease, it could be safely assumed that it came from the Scourge. There had yet to be any incidents that might expose the presence of Scourge agents in the area, but as it turned out, the Verks Marquisate wasn’t the only place hit. 

I already knew such would come to pass. There were four other noble territories that had seen a recent outbreak in the past month and two of them had already come to me for help. I sent minimal batches of 50 to 100 Iron Legion soldiers as specialists to help with containment, but I had no illusions about being of any significant help unless I could find a cure. 

What made it clearly of Scourge make was also the fact that all four nobles were still human, not Nephilim. I could deduce that other human noble territories would be hit, so I sent out anonymous notices in advance to prepare them. Still, the damage would be unavoidable, and based on the projections of spread and the symptoms of disease, the damage would be catastrophic. 

I could unfortunately do little about it. Iron Legion didn’t have the manpower to spare despite the generous offers from those nobles. Extracting a hundred here or there would quickly add up if I had to do it enough, not to mention that they had plenty of manpower themselves. 

Still, it brought into question the scale of this war. 

This world’s population wasn’t large. As a consequence of still being a relatively non-industrialized society where the majority of the population was agricultural, population growth wasn’t incredible even with magic. At least, that was for the ordinary population. Magi had a whole other path of development, and based on my projections after collecting historical data from places like the libraries of various nobles, they seemed like they were rapidly expanding to the point of overtaking their non-magical counterparts. 

After doing my own consensus, I had come out with a population estimate sitting around 375 million. The Kingdom haddouble the population of the Church, the former at 275 million, the latter at 100 million. 

Based on the scale of both military and Magi concentrations, the Magus population rested at around 15 million, with 9 million residing in the Kingdom and 6 million in the Church. This would be considered high, but when I mapped out the meat grinder that was the war with the Scourge and then overlayed it with projected estimates without significant deviations alongside the average lifespan of a Magus and average guesstimate fertility rates, I found out that this number was actually low. It should be at least double if not triple, but the Scourge was outbreeding humanity and the war demanded its sacrifices. Unfortunately, ordinary humans couldn’t help in that department and the population had long stagnated due to death tolls. 

That left 360 million ordinary humans. They were the vast majority, but held very little true power for obvious reasons. Nonetheless, they were an extremely important resource for the Magi. They were the source of food, resources, and general labor. They supplied the entire economy, and the Magi simply multiplied its value with magic. 

Humanity’s war with the Scourge relied on this vast population of ordinary humans. Soldiers had to be fed, clothed, and supplied with resources and logistics. This didn’t happen without ordinary humans, and as in every war, the principal targets of both sides would be the supply lines. 

Cut off the supply, and even the Magi would crumble. I had a feeling that the Scourge was attempting to do this. The Nephilim were the primary method. Corrupt humanity from the inside and strife would break them enough to hamstring the military. This new epidemic was just another addition to that plan. Riddle prosperous economic territories with disease and their output would plummet. Then the ordinary population would die off, even if the Magi managed to live. 

The big question was: how many ordinary humans had to die in order to economically devastate humanity?

The answer wasn’t large. The population wasn’t large to begin with. If the Pillars of Creation and Mantle of Wisdom were still kicking and the Scourge didn’t exist, this world’s population could be well past a billion, but reality was a bitch and their threshold for economic shock was unfortunately low. 

I wasn’t sure about the precise calculations, but I didn’t need to be. I had a good feeling about what would happen because I was going to be a major part of it. 

Village and town exterminations as well as assassinations were starting to slow. After Umara developed the teleportation spells we needed and the finalized enchantments were tested and given the green light on reliability, Sector 4 got busy deploying them. It would take some time to rig every vault across Kingdom territory, especially since a large portion of the manpower was still dedicated toward Iron Legion operations and the extermination campaign. There weren’t so many people who I trusted to handle such a delicate task as infiltrating the most top secret areas of high nobles. 

I had many different operations ongoing simultaneously. In scale, the extermination campaign, vault infiltration, and epidemic research was small, seemingly less important than a full frontal war. 

I had to keep them all moving anyway, even if my focus was on one more than others. They all had their crucial roles to play, and I unfortunately had to be their playwright. I was thanking God for being a Summoner during these times. 

Since my advancement didn’t rely on physical strain or magical practice, I could advance even while busy with day to day affairs. I could make steady progress through the mental study of my advancement formations. 

It had been a year since I last advanced to Authority 8 and I was steadily on my way to Authority 9. It wasn’t necessarily going to be here soon, but I also wasn’t rushing it. The reason for that was precisely what I found myself staring at on this auspicious day. 

In the silence of my mute field I stared at the horizon where that Great Barrier perpetually rested. I had found that it was closer than before. Over time it was closing the distance and as I had heard from Umara, one key to getting closer was the Conceptual. I wasn’t sure what the hell it was, but it had helped Umara massively despite hurting her just as much. 

It was closer than it was a year ago, but I hadn’t made any significant strides in attempting to pull it further. I had been too busy priming everything for my moves, but I had not been without personal growth either. 

I was at least halfway to Authority 9, but more than that, the technology I had developed over time was only growing more terrifying. The SEER Knife was just the tip of the iceberg. My new line of Programmed Magic was growing deeper in complexity, and if taking a concept far into the extreme was how Umara was able to get closer to the Great Barrier, then perhaps I needed to follow in her footsteps using strengths of my own. The Mantle’s technology was perhaps the gateway toward cracking the secrets of Magika and its transmutation, but its potential went far beyond that singular application. The shield that had protected the Anomaly on the Island of Continuance was one application that represented countless others, the ability to program Psyka and thereby influence both Mana and Vigor with it. They had harnessed the power of all three Magi classes with Psyka alone, and yet that shield was a crude use of the tech. 

If it were taken further, it had the potential to elevate the Summoner class to heights capable of creating an Authority 12, just like Knights and Warlocks. 

I had a feeling that was the path I needed to walk. 

If that was the case though, I couldn’t rush my advancement. I had to develop this tech alongside my advancements, not letting it fall behind so that I could break the Great Barrier at a suitable moment. I figured that the earlier I broke the Great Barrier, the better off I would be when I waded through Authority 10 and 11. I didn’t want to wait, and time spent on one was time taken away from the other. I had to simply balance the two. 

I gathered my thoughts, something I had done a thousand times over the last few weeks, and grabbed the mute field. It deactivated and the cacophony of sounds slammed into my ears. It was no longer as annoying, just background noise like it was supposed to be. 

I could feel the pull of exhaustion creeping around my mind. Two weeks of constant activity was a challenge I put myself through, and while I could probably push it another week, I hardly had the desire. It would be a week of fighting to concentrate and stamp down irritability, and my Generals didn’t deserve that after the good work they had been doing on the Line. 

“Erhan.”

“At your service.”

He stepped up when I called, my eyes glancing downward at the massive wall underneath me. Well, it was more of a cliffside than a wall. 

“...I’ve got wedding business to attend to in the Holy See on the 30th, right after the Magisterium students leave. Umara doesn’t want it to be on new years, so it was moved up. The wedding is now on the 10th, which means I have just under two weeks to get prepared. Thankfully, those who it concerns have already been mostly informed and informally invited. Proper invitations will be getting delivered soon, but it is still extremely short notice. Either way, Umara and I need transport. We’ve been granted an audience with the Pope that evening.”

“It will be prepared.”

“Thank you. As for now, if you could retrieve the written evaluations of the students from Instructor Bria for me and bring them to my study, that would be appreciated.”

“Of course, sir.”

He turned and stepped away, my gaze lingering on the battlefield for a time longer. 

Then I finally got off my lazy ass and left, my mind on the list of tasks I needed to complete before the wedding arrived. 

……

…

November 30th, 628

“ALL TEAMS, FIVE MINUTE WARNING!”

Faey felt her heart rate rise when she heard the echoing voice over the announcement system. She wasn’t the one who needed to do checks but she still went down her mental list anyway. 

The pitched sounds of metal screamed around her as massive machines started groaning to life. The Train cars were already docked behind them, hatches open and ready for deposit. The metal structures of those train cars lingered with poisonous mana despite their reinforcement and containment enchantments. 

Faey could feel it through her armor, but she felt that she had gotten somewhat used to it over the last couple weeks. No matter what though, she felt like it was impossible to get used to what she was about to do. 

“You ready, kid?”

She looked up, her mental list pausing as her superior walked over. He was the Captain of her Harvester team, in his mouth a burning stick of Moonshine that glowed silver and let off smoke. An actual drug, unlike the cigars John often smoked. She wondered how he had managed to get some all the way to the Line. Iron Legion was not known for its relaxed security. 

There was probably some silent “no harm no foul” agreement with the supply guys going on. 

She nodded, not daring to take off her helmet like he did. She felt like suffocating whenever she tried that in these staging bays. 

“Eh. Nervous as always.”

“Well you’re doing better than Puke over there. Just remember that these machines here will kill you long before any lingering monsters do. I still remember one guy, an Authority Seven Knight, who somehow managed to sneak his hand in and get his arm grabbed by the grinders. Only reason he didn’t get pulled in like all the other corpses and get chopped into strips was because one of his friends had a fast enough reaction to cut his arm off at the shoulder. Poor fucker lost his dominant arm, will never swing a sword again.”

“Wow…”

Faey responded as enthusiastically as she could. This was the 6th person she had personally heard that story from and the hundredth time it had been told. Everyone in the Harvesting section knew it and they loved telling the story to all the students that cycled through. 

This was the second time that Faey had cycled through this section. It was the first place she was sent to after they had been given their assignments and brief training upon arrival. Unlike last time, the students had been sent all across the Hardpoint and had taken up various jobs. It was just as John had told them. They would be given work and responsibility, and they had to fulfill their role as a cog in the machine. 

Each person had been given three random jobs that they cycled through every handful of days. Just a couple days ago, they were given the options to choose any job that they wanted to end their excursion on. 

Faey had enjoyed her time in the Harvesting section. It was one of the only sections that got to go out into No Man’s Land and the only one of that category that students were allowed into, so she had picked it for her final section. They obviously weren’t allowed to do something like join a recon team that was dropped in the middle of enemy territory, as much as Faey would’ve loved the opportunity. 

Their job was simple, but also considered the most dangerous. Sure, they only left the Wall when the battle was over, but it was still unpredictable, toxic, and gross. It wasn’t a coveted job. 

Faey found that she enjoyed it though, but only because her armor was made with bleeding edge tech. With it, she wasn’t bothered by the fields of corpses, body parts, pools of blood, growing Bloodthorn, poisonous atmosphere, or other highly undesirable details. 

That also wasn’t mentioning that when there wasn’t a battle to worry about, they had little to do. Most of the time she got to hangout in the garages, either helping clean gear and wash the Harvesters or sitting at the side listening to everyones stupid banter. 

It may not have been enjoyable during her first cycle, but after her latter two cycles she realized that it was much more exciting and wanted to come back. 

She glanced at the Harvester itself. It was a massive machine, and at the moment, remarkably clean despite its job. There was the cabin itself that was rather heavily armored with a glass front, and then there was the huge set of grinders on the front responsible for scooping and eating all the corpses it drove over. It would grind up the corpses and through mechanisms she wasn’t entirely sure of, would filter out the Black Crystals from the flesh. 

There were many dozens of teams of Harvesters besides their own, and all of them would go out after every battle with an escort. Faey’s job in all of this was being an auxiliary scooper. It was a nasty job where she would walk next to the Harvesters and use large forks to skewer and scoop straggling corpses into the side intakes of the Harvester. Normally they didn’t have to do much since there were plows between each Harvester that would plow the corpses into their lanes, but if there was ever a corpse or two that slipped by, she would be the one to toss it in. 

“ALL TEAMS, ONE MINUTE WARNING!”

The Harvester looked as brutal as its job, and that was despite most of its butchering assembly being hidden behind plates of metal and safety gates so that no humans got caught in it. Still, what little she could see exposed promises written in blood of becoming a mixture if she wasn’t careful. 

“ALL TEAMS, GATES OPEN.”

With the last announcement, the massive gates lifted and exposed the battlefield beyond. The breeze brought with it a heavy atmosphere and unbearable stench, not that Faey could smell any of it. 

Still, her Captain finally threw on his helmet, as did many others as the Harvesters rolled out. 

They were slow and steady, so Fay didn’t need to go any faster than walking pace to keep up. The plows moved in parallel with wide front blades that cut through thick piles of corpses and Bloodthorn, leaving her a clear blood soaked path she could stroll through. 

Like most of the time, their Harvest went by uneventfully. The excitement didn’t lie in the potential for live monsters to be lingering around, but the fact that they got to walk across the land of death in front of the Line. 

After some time, they stopped their advance and prepared to turn around and return. That’s when Faey finally turned back. 

She lifted her head and gazed at the colossal wall. All across it were metal turret emplacements, too many to count and all of them teeming with Mana. The Hardpoint was no different, a massive metal shield sticking out slightly from the wall and filled with its own specialized turrets, defenses, and packed with the administrative command of the entire Line. 

She turned her head to the left and right, seeing the same wall stretching across the landscape and into the horizon until it dipped down with the curve of the world. 

It was a colossal structure that sent chills down her body every time she looked at it. Despite trudging through paste made of muscle and organs spat out from the Harvesters, she almost lamented that this was her last day. She wouldn’t get to see the sight again for a while. 

An image of glory and horror, an impenetrable bulwark of magic and technology painted with the death of countless thousands. 

Faey saw the flashes of light in the corner of her eye, turning around to glance at the fires being ignited as they headed back. Alternating every week, they would either burn or bury the remains. When they burned, like now, fire crystals would be planted that consumed themselves gradually with a blaze of fire. When they buried, earth crystals were used to overturn massive portions of the ground and bury the biomass underneath many feet of dirt and sand. It was incredibly wasteful and inefficient, but that’s just how much material there was, and they wanted to leave as little for the Scourge as possible. It also helped clean up some of the Bloodthorn, that hateful carnivorous vine. 

They finally got back, a blaze left in their trail as they walked through the gates dripping blood. The Harvesters moved to deposit their hauls into the train cars, dumping everything for several minutes before the cars closed their hatches and rolled off to another section of the Line. 

Faey sighed and went to decontamination, where they sprayed all the crap off themselves and the Harvesters. After getting jetted with water for a few minutes, she got to escape early to go clean up, dodging the job of scraping off the Harvester blades. 

After going through her routine and scrubbing her boots for an hour, the call was sent out to all Magisterium students to pack their things and get ready to leave. They had already prepared to do so over the last couple days, so everyone was ready. 

Today, they would be heading back, and most of them were excited. While it wasn’t their last excursion and the others wouldn’t be nearly as exciting as this one was, they would still get to take their experience back with them and tell all kinds of stories that nobody else could imagine. 

Some time later, all the students were standing in an airfield, their items packed into spatial storages. They remained loosely in formation, Instructor Bria standing by the side, waiting for the man of the hour. 

He soon arrived, a car rolling to a stop nearby. John stepped out, Faey smiling even as Instructor Bria called them to attention. 

He walked over, smoking that familiar cigar and looking across all of them. 

“Congratulations, trainees. You’ve made it through your last excursion here at the Glass Desert. I’ve seen next to zero negative evaluations. All of you worked hard, and most importantly, did your jobs properly.”

Faey listened as he gave his speech. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, perhaps slightly more sentimental since it was their last time here. Many had looked forward to the excursion being over while they were working, but now that the end had finally come, most found themselves longing for more. 

Odd how that worked. 

“I wish you all good luck with the rest of your year. A new generation of warfare is coming, but personal strength is just as important. All of you hold talent that will ensure the survival of humanity as a whole. Don’t be fodder, is what I’m trying to say, because the Scourge has shown you what happens to fodder. Now, your Instructor has report cards to give you all, so go line up and grab them. They’re yours to keep, containing your evaluations as well as areas to improve.”

The students followed his command, everyone shuffling over to the Instructor as she passed our the pieces of paper. 

“Faey, come say hi.”

Faey’s smile brightened when she was called, turning back to John and striding over. 

“Hi!”

“Hello there.”

John smiled back, Faey diving in and receiving a tight hug. 

“How’s my favorite little soldier in this forsaken wasteland?”

“Doing pretty alright. How’s my favorite Commander?”

“Tired and overworked. Thankfully I get paid enough to care.”

“Well, you are the richest man in the world. I would sure hope so.”

She chuckled, the two separating from their hug. 

That’s when John took something out of his coat, handing it to Faey. She recognized the look of an invitation, her brows raising. 

“What’s this?”

“This is my official invitation being extended to you for my wedding. It will be in 10 days.”

“That soon?!”

“Well, timelines change.” 

John shrugged, Faey opening it and seeing the impeccable letter. Penned by a master on pure white parchment and inlaid with actual gold, the invitation was as expensive as it was a work of art. 

The contents were simple. It was an invite to the wedding of John and Umara Cooper, taking place in the Holy See’s Sacred Chapel on December 10th, year 628. 

Faey’s eyes lingered on their names. John and Umara Cooper. She didn’t think it would ever be possible, but Umara really was taking John’s last name, not that of their noble lineage. It went against every custom they were supposed to uphold. Such a thing would only ever happen if Umara were marrying into a Grand Duke’s household or to a Prince. 

It was certainly rebellious. Faey wasn’t sure what she thought about it, but she could quickly admit that seeing her sister break away from the chains of political marriages inspired an incredible feeling. 

Then again, when else would it happen if it wasn’t happening with the richest, smartest, and one of the most influential men in the world, who was also as loving as he was ruggedly handsome? 

Faey held her sigh, looking back at John and smiling widely. 

“Congratulations, John. I never had any doubts that you’d make my sister happy.”

“I did always tell her that she was the lucky one.”

“Uh huh. Now, Feiden will obviously be at the wedding, right?”

She changed topics hastily, John giving her a weird smile. 

“Please. If he didn’t show up, I’d have his perky ass. Yes, he’ll be there.”

“Good, because his perky ass is mine. You know, since he’s gonna train me in the way of the spear and all.”

“Ah yes.”

John chuckled, Faey’s face flushing a bit at how bold her words had gotten. 

“Anyway, don’t forget that I’m supposed to be meeting him soon. I’d like to see him before the wedding.”

“Of course, of course. I’ve scheduled you two a time to meet in two days. Your mother is coming to my estate to talk wedding plans, and he’s going on leave, so I figured it was the perfect time for both of you to stop by and meet since we’ll be in the same place.”

“Oh, good. Sounds good.”

She nodded with a smile, John laughing a bit more before ruffling her hair. 

“Alright kid, my invitation has been delivered. I’ll see you at home in a day or so. For now, I get to go talk to some big shots.”

“What big shots?”

“That I can’t say. You might see some of them at the wedding though.”

Faey hummed with impression while covering her head. 

After that, the students finished grabbing their evaluations. Faey received hers, and John gave his final speech. 

Soon they were on a plane headed back to the Magisterium, their minds filled with the recent memories of their jobs and the Line.

And John was on a jet right behind them, his nose pointed to the Holy See.