Ch.78Clean Sweep

“Make sure everything is neatly arranged and loaded onto the carriage!”

“Yes, sir!”

The public library of Fahrenheit, once visited by tens of thousands of people daily.

Now, an unspeakable tragedy was unfolding there.

“Oh no!! Stop!! Stop it, you fools!! Do you know what these books are?!”

“Do you not fear the judgment that will come down from the angels’ court?!”

Hundreds of Amurtat soldiers, under the command of officers and non-commissioned officers, had begun removing all books from the library, while librarians, streaming with tears and mucus, clung desperately to the soldiers’ leggings.

“Get out of the way! You’re interfering!”

Smack!

“Urgh!!”

“Oh no!! Director! Director!!”

Although the Amurtat soldiers were supposedly “restraining” their violence, that was merely restraint. If they wished, violating women in this defenseless city would be easier than eating cold rye bread.

Now that the cold winter had passed, what better way to warm their frozen bodies than with the warm embrace (forced) of women?

Shing!

“Huurk!!”

The Amurtat soldiers knew this fact very well, which is why one non-commissioned officer, with his superior’s permission, drew his sword and pointed it at the librarians.

“If you continue to interfere, I will kill you.”

Simple words, but threats are often most effective when they’re simple.

The terrified librarians nodded like flies flapping their wings, and after that, there was no significant resistance.

Only the librarians’ wailing remained irritatingly audible.

“Lord Maximilian, all the books have been loaded onto the wagons.”

“Good. Now give the order to depart.”

“Yes, sir!”

Eventually, all books in the library were completely cleared out, and even the ancient texts and forbidden books that had been strictly preserved in the basement were all taken.

Even historical documents and academic journals that scholars had kept personally were confiscated, meaning that 300 years of scholarly achievements were completely collapsing due to a single defeat.

“No!!! Please!!!! That’s my thesis dissertation!!!!!!”

And with the desperate cry of one unfortunate graduate student, Fahrenheit became, for the first time in its history, a nation without books.

*

Naturally, this seizure of knowledge extended to alchemists and magic towers as well.

“Take everything! Don’t leave a single parchment behind!”

“Search thoroughly! Call the wizards to unseal any forbidden texts.”

And of course, the magic tower was the first target.

For Amurtat, which would soon host the magic tower, the materials that the tower had been hiding were a tantalizing prize.

“Grrrrrr….!!!”

“What’s wrong? You look like you don’t want to do this.”

“These… are… forbidden… texts…”

And just like the librarians, the wizards’ faces were contorted with anger.

One might think wizards wouldn’t fear common soldiers, but not all wizards could cast fireballs as basic attacks, and above all, at such close range, a blade would pierce flesh faster than a spell could be uttered.

With even knights watching the wizards with cold, vigilant eyes, the wizards had to surrender the fruits of their lifelong magical research with bitter tears, feeling an even greater sense of loss than the librarians.

The librarians were merely custodians, but the wizards had conducted the research themselves, inscribed their findings on parchment with magic, and sealed them with spells. Naturally, their sense of loss was proportionately greater.

But the Amurtat army had no interest in such emotional appeals, and to be honest, they didn’t even know the true value of these documents and papers.

They were simply carrying out the orders of their lord, Tiberius, who had commanded them to take everything, and they felt no pangs of conscience in following those orders.

Not because they were evil. They had a defense mechanism that justified this oppression.

Regardless of the reason, it was Fahrenheit that had first sent the Sword Master, a strategic weapon, to attack Amurtat, making Amurtat clearly a “victim” of “invasion.”

Therefore, they now had the great justification of “righteous revenge,” which served as an appropriate defense mechanism allowing the Amurtat army to plunder and seize Fahrenheit’s intellectual property without any guilt.

Their monarch had stood up against unjust pressure, and the Grand Duke of Fahrenheit had responded by sending troops. To the Amurtat soldiers, the tears now shed by the people of Fahrenheit could only be seen as the crocodile tears of perpetrators.

*

“Let me be direct. If you deliberately destroy or damage research materials, or refuse to hand them over, not a single master in this Alchemist Guild will leave here alive. Do you understand me, Viriditas?”

In the Alchemist Guild of Fahrenheit, a knight of Amurtat stated his demands to the guild master, Viriditas, with an oppressive attitude.

It was clearly bullying, but the powerless have no means to resist.

“I… understand.”

“If you understand, then organize the materials immediately!”

After the magic tower, thousands of soldiers suddenly stormed into the Alchemist Guild.

In fact, the Alchemist Guild stored an enormous amount of information, no less than the magic tower. The formulas for various reagents and the mixing ratios of raw materials were intellectual properties that could not be obtained even for a fortune.

“No!! Not this!! I’ve been researching this since my grandfather’s time!”

“A citizen of a defeated nation… talking back?!”

Crack!

“Ugh..”

Of course, as in other places, there was some resistance, but the Amurtat army showed no mercy.

In the blink of an eye, Rubedo, who had been clinging to a soldier’s trouser leg, had his head crushed like a bursting plum, and the dry wooden floor began to soak with the pungent smell of blood.

“This is what will happen to anyone who interferes with the exercise of our rightful authority!”

At the fierce voices of the knights and soldiers, the alchemists simply sat in their places, sobbing like the librarians or quietly suppressing their anger like the wizards.

They were powerless, and the others were mighty.

This is the fate that awaits when, even with 10 million citizens, there is no one who can fight.

“Our achievements…! Our efforts…!!”

“Don’t cry, my apprentice… don’t cry..! After the storm called Amurtat passes, everything will be alright..!!”

Watching years of masterpieces being handed over in vain, Nigredo’s legs gave way and he collapsed, while his master Citrinitas embraced her disciple and whispered for patience.

Though different in gender and age, they had one thing in common: their eyes were red with tears.

*

And a week passed quickly.

When about three hours remained before Amurtat had to relinquish its exclusive authority over Fahrenheit, the last carriage loaded with materials departed, and the Amurtat army handed over control to representatives of the Allied Nations before returning to their own country.

“Now! Enjoy yourselves to the fullest for the next three weeks! Women, alcohol, treasures—take whatever you want! This is your right!”

“Yahooo!!!”

According to ancient tradition, looting in a defeated city was limited to a maximum of one month.

In truth, after looting for a month, there would be nothing left to take, but tradition held powerful sway in this world, and to recoup the costs of moving and maintaining the army for the remaining three weeks, the soldiers headed toward wealthy homes with bloodshot eyes.

Crash! Smash!!

“Kyaaaah!!”

“Huh? A woman?!”

“It’s a woman!”

“Look at those huge tits! Move aside! I’m going to have her first!”

With 1.2 million soldiers from 34 countries (excluding Amurtat) fully armed and looting indiscriminately, raping women, beating and killing men, the streets of Fahrenheit quickly resembled a scene from hell.

For the soldiers of the Allied Nations, who lacked Amurtat’s strict discipline, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. The number of men desperate to seize their share was enormous, and there were countless others who, with no interest in material goods, were fully focused on satisfying their complex of not having been with women before (a euphemism for rape).

“No! Please spare me!”

“Hehehe… Why would I kill you? You need to watch me take your wife, don’t you?”

“Hey! There’s alcohol here!”

“Great! Bring it over! Let’s loosen up a bit!”

The vulgar, frivolous, and cruel soldiers played with the citizens of Fahrenheit like toys for three weeks, and after a month had passed, the streets of Fahrenheit were filled with women bleeding from their genitals after being raped, husbands beaten to death, and elderly people who died in terrible agony with their bones crushed.

Most disgusting of all was the fact that those who committed these atrocities were themselves someone’s sons, someone’s husbands, and someone’s fathers.