"Take me there. I want to show you something."
Rudy's gaze followed Lu Bela's finger and asked, "Where? There is nothing noteworthy down there. At least, I can't see it."
"It holds a sentimental value."
"Well, let's go. But keep it short. We have wasted quite a few minutes already."
Rudy swiftly landed on the street and glanced around.
"Damn. These buildings are big as fuck. Even a normal house is the size of a tower. And the architecture is almost the same in every building," Rudy muttered as he inspected the area.
"Uh-huh. The architecture varies." She pointed her finger at the castle and said, "The castle is now on the right side, but back then, when this land was prominent, the castle used to be in the center.
There were massive towers in all directions from where the soldiers watched everything happening in this Empire. Of course, the entire Dynasty had hundreds of kingdoms, but this a… err… capital? That's not a correct word to refer to this Empire, but it's easier to explain.
The buildings near the castle belonged to the nobles, while the royals lived in the castle itself. Long ago, there used to be walls separating citizens by rank. The ranks were decided by their contributions to the Empire.
Of course, nepotism existed back then, too, and they had the privilege to everything without doing a single thing."
Lu Bela walked to the nearest building and placed her hand on it even though it was covered in algae. She rubbed her hand on the wall and smiled distantly.
"This area was called Midland. The area surrounding— twenty kilometers radius— around the castle was called High-Land. The next area to Fifty kilometers radius was Midland, and the rest of the area to the Empire Last walls was called Low-Land."
"The Low-Land now became No-Land."
"No. We are standing one step away from the junction between the Midland and the Low Land."
"Hmm? But you said the castle is no longer at the center, so I assumed…"
"The other side. That side was the most damaged as it was closer to the sea. There are plains, forests, rivers, mountains, and deserts outside the city walls. Also, other kingdoms and empires were all over the land. But they are damaged beyond repair. This Empire stood still because it was in the center."
"Hmm…" Rudy raised his brow and asked, "Wait a minute, you said the soldiers used to watch over the Empire. Surely, you don't mean they were watching something that was happening hundreds of kilometers away, right?"
"They had such equipment, but no." She shook her head and continued, "They didn't watch that far. Most of them only watched over the HighLand since they were the most important citizens to the Empire."
"Following what you said about the 'Lost civilization' and their knowledge and technology. Since they were far more advanced than we are today and only 30% of inventions have been reinvented, doesn't that mean they have damaged this planet more than we are doing?"
Lu Bela shook her head and answered, "They used natural resources."
"I am pretty sure we are using the same."
"Not that. They used the sun, water, and air to do everything. Of course, oil was discovered, but no one used it and called it a sacred liquid, only to be used in an emergency."
"Did they have vehicles?" Rudy asked curiously.
"They did. Maybe we would find one rusting here. Although I highly doubt there would be any."
"I know it's a dumb question, but did they have weapons, too?"
"Yes, they did. Swords, Guns, Cannons, Mortars, and many more. But all that doesn't matter now."
"What about phones? Was there internet?"
"No, but there was something similar for communication devices. Mind you, magic was widely available back then," she responded calmly.
"Hmm? I thought humans were powerless."
"They were, but some were granted powers from other races. I am sure you know about that. And even after the 'Great Separation', a few people from other races stayed in the human world.
They taught humans everything to make their life easy. Most of the technologies and inventions were patented by the dark elves, while the architecture was from the dwarfs."
"I feel our conversation will never end if we keep discussing this topic…" Rudy sighed.
"Yeah," Lu Bela nodded. "Let's talk about this some other time."
Rudy moved his hand towards Lu Bela and said, "Come."
Lu Bela hugged Rudy and said, "I should have brought my suit with me."
"Am I not a good driver?" Rudy chuckled softly and jumped in the air.
They hovered above the castle and admired its architecture.
"It's bigger than the Orion Heart palace. It looked big before too, but after I took out the island from the sea… it looks enormous."
The castle was located on top of a mountain, so it was visible even from far away. That's also why the soldiers were able to watch over the Empire from the towers using the equipment.
"Do you want to go and check it?"
"I will pass… for now. It needs renovation. I have to patch it up and make it perfect before I invite my harem to live here. Not to mention… It's too far away from my town. I can teleport, but the other harem members will feel secluded from the rest of the world."
"I can help you with that. Don't worry about small things. I will also take the task of patching up the castle and renovating it with modern or advanced technology and equipment. I will make sure to keep the architecture preserved."
"Hey, hey, if you do all that, what will I do?"
"You simply ensure that the land doesn't sink again."
"I can do that even while sleeping," Rudy shrugged with a soft chuckle. "And are you sure you can do all that? Please, don't force yourself to do things for me."
"Oh, no. I will ask for help from the other Under Blades too. I am not as powerful as you to handle everything on my own."
