Chapter 28: Eisenburg (8)

After a long silence, Seraphina finally stepped back, releasing her.

“How many… people live here?” Mili asked, clutching her hands, her gaze flickering nervously.

“Underground residents, about 36,000.”

“Regular army, 3,000; reserves, 3,500.”

“The outer district? Last count was around 150,000… maybe?”

“Oh, 162,700.” Seraphina ticked off her fingers casually. “They handle basic tasks—cleaning, transport, simple manufacturing.”

“And… farther out?” Mili pointed weakly toward the area near the ringed walls.

“There?” Seraphina paused.

“The slums.”

“But… isn’t the slums outside?” Mili, who’d once wandered the wastes, grew more confused.

“Those who pass basic health checks and aren’t heavily contaminated by gray mist can enter.” Seraphina’s expression turned cold.

“Everyone entering Eisenburg has their identity recorded.”

“But leave without my permission, and you can’t return—that’s the rule.”

“They don’t have official resident status yet, so they live there.”

“If they perform well and work hard, they can move to the outer district.”

“If not… heh.” She raised an eyebrow. “Those kicked out are usually criminals, failed loyalty tests, or…”

Her eyes narrowed, staring into the distance: “—spies.”

“Spies…?” The word felt alien to Mili.

“The Purification Church, the Golden Wanderers’ League, other factions—they all want to infiltrate Eisenburg.” Her voice grew colder. “I have to filter out those truly useful to me.”

Mili looked at the shadowed slums, her emotions tangled.

“That’s reality.” Seraphina sensed her conflicted expression. “Survival of the fittest.”

“But… the difference is too…” Mili trailed off.

“Order has nothing to do with equality.” Seraphina’s voice was clear in the wind, standing beside her.

She leaned on the railing, gazing at the distant lights…

Or rather, the distant shadows.

“Mili, resources are finite.”

“Who’s more valuable to Eisenburg: a top mechanical engineer or a laborer hauling goods?”

Mili opened her mouth but couldn’t speak.

“‘Human’ is a luxury term. Most of the time, we’re just beasts fighting to survive…”

“Then… why make me a Saintess?” Mili mustered the courage to ask.

The question silenced Seraphina briefly.

She pulled out the monitoring device, staring at its jumping data.

“Because you can give me more.” Her answer came finally. “Your abilities can solve our food issues, make Eisenburg stronger.”

“The central district will surpass 50,000 residents soon. The army will grow—5,000, 10,000, more! Even the Church will hesitate.”

“And the ‘Saintess’ title makes you easier for people to accept…”

“That’s… it?” Mili lowered her face, unsure how to respond.

“That’s it.” Seraphina nodded.

“I don’t hide my motives.”

“I want control, absolute control—everyone moves as I will.”

She approached, gently stroking Mili’s cheek.

“Including you.”

“…”

“You’re scared of me.” Seraphina studied the device’s data. “Why are you scared?”

“I… I…”

“You’re still scared. Heart rate 160, blood pressure up, adrenaline spiking… your body’s screaming you want to run.”

“…”

“You can’t run. I need you.” Her fingers brushed Mili’s temple:

“You’ve seen Eisenburg’s entirety, its rules, your place—still want to escape?”

“You’re not like them. They need to live.”

“And I give them that right.”

“In Eisenburg, work hard, and you won’t starve. In this land, that’s a divine blessing…”

She leaned down, her heterochromatic eyes like ghostly flames in the dark, locking onto Mili’s.

“You miss Oasis?”

“It seemed beautiful—mutual help, love, equality—”

“And then?”

“—It’s rubble now.”

“It was a juicy steak in the wilderness, drawing every hyena.”

“But its leader, with all their kindness and ideals, crumbled before absolute power…”

She pointed to the dark wasteland beyond the walls.

“Out there is the Golden Wanderers’ League.”

“—A nomadic tribe of raiders and thugs.”

“They worship absolute freedom—freedom to rob, kill, take everything from the weak.”

“Without these walls and my army, they’d storm in first…”

“Turning everyone—men, women, children—into slaves, or food…”

Her finger shifted to the south.

“There, the Purification Church’s domain.”

“—Zealous religious lunatics.”

“They believe the catastrophe was divine punishment, and people like you, with special abilities, are ‘heretics’ to be purified.”

“They’d praise you with devotion, then burn you on a cross with their holiest flames…”

“And scatter your ashes to their followers, calling it a divine relic.”

“Their faith is unshakable, their methods far crueler than mine.”

“And yet, their followers outnumber Eisenburg’s by far… hopeless.”

Mili’s face grew paler.

“And worse ones.” Seraphina’s tone held a trace of irritation.

“Like the Steel Brotherhood to the west.”

“—Tech-obsessed maniacs who worship old-world science, believing in data and reason above all.”

“If they caught you, they wouldn’t kill or worship you…”

“They’d strap you to a lab table, slice you up, study you… anything to crack the code of your abilities.”

“To them, you’re not human.”

“—Just a walking biological anomaly, a mutant sample to dissect.”

“…”

“And the Silent Traders,” she added last. “A massive caravan moving between factions, a faction unto themselves.”

“They worship profit. For the right price, they’ll sell anything.”

“Intelligence, weapons—even you.”

“If you fell into their hands, you’d be auctioned to the highest bidder…”

Seraphina lowered her hand, leaning back on the railing.

Her silver hair fluttered in the night wind.

“Now, tell me.” She turned, eyeing the trembling Mili.

“This order I’ve built—this unequal, brutal, utilitarian system—is it wrong?”

Mili’s lips moved briefly, then pursed as she looked down.

What Seraphina had created was a vast, cold, efficient survival machine…

It ground down every class, fueling the elite and military, channeling all resources ruthlessly to the edge…

It lacked humanity but stood as a sturdy Noah’s Ark, weathering the apocalyptic storms outside…

“Here, you’re a prisoner, a tool…” Seraphina’s voice lowered, laced with seduction. “But out there, you wouldn’t even qualify as a tool…”

“You’d be torn apart, devoured, used up.”

“I’ve set boundaries for you—that’s protection.”

“It’s not a cage.”

“It’s your only fortress…”

The wind on the tower was chilly.

After speaking, Seraphina adjusted Mili’s jacket, pulling it tight. Mili’s emotions were a tangled mess.

She couldn’t deny Eisenburg’s prosperity and order…

But the poverty and injustice at its edges and beyond were undeniable.

Having grown up in true peace, she knew such a thing wasn’t unattainable…

It was the path she’d come from.

“Let’s go back.” Seraphina glanced at the sky. “You’ve seen enough today.”

“Wait…” Mili spoke suddenly. “I want to see the outer slums…”

“What for?”

“To see… how the ‘unqualified’ people you mentioned live…”

“You sure?” Seraphina narrowed her eyes. “It’s dirty, smelly, dangerous.”

“I’m sure.”