Chapter 27: Eisenburg (7)
After dinner, Seraphina didn’t take her back the way they came.
They crossed the restaurant and entered the central tower through another passage.
This elevator was different—larger, unadorned, with only stark white light pouring from above…
Likely a freight elevator for transport.
“We’re heading to the surface,” Seraphina said, pressing a button.
“From here?” Mili glanced around the elevator, noting scratches on the walls from past hauls.
“Mm.” Seraphina nodded lightly. “The command center below has convenient transport systems linking all underground facilities to surface roads.”
The elevator ascended, faster than before, with a slight vibration.
Mili felt the pressure change, her ears aching again.
When the heavy metal doors slid open, a cold wind laced with machine oil and dust rushed in, making Mili pull the jacket Seraphina gave her tighter.
They were on the surface.
—On an open platform high in the central tower.
Used to the filtered, clean air of the underground city, the surface’s smell was jarring. Mili covered her nose.
“Not used to this environment?” Seraphina noticed.
“A… little…”
“The wind’s erratic at night, and surface air quality is poor, especially in the industrial zone.” Seraphina took a deep breath, unbothered.
“Still better than the gray mist outside.”
The view opened wide.
Mili had never seen Eisenburg from this angle.
In the underground city, she thought she’d grasped the fortress’s scale—
But standing here, she truly understood its enormity…
Below, the underground city’s dome was ringed by the industrial buildings they’d passed earlier.
Massive chimneys spewed white smoke into the black sky, forging furnaces glowing vividly in the dark, the hum of machinery echoing intermittently.
From above, the industrial zone encircled the city like a precision clock;
Farther out, the outer residential district twinkled densely…
At the outermost edge stood towering alloy walls.
Searchlights swept the barren land beyond, exposing any potential threat.
Every so often, watchtowers rose, their dark gun barrels aimed into the distant night…
This was Eisenburg’s true face.
“See it?” Seraphina stood beside her, night wind lifting her silver hair, moonlight casting her white shirt and black pants in sharp relief, cold and commanding.
“All of this—is mine.”
She spread her arms, as if embracing the entire fortress, her clothes billowing slightly.
Her silver hair danced in the wind, heterochromatic eyes gleaming.
Mili took a shaky half-step back toward the railing.
The height made her legs weak, but Seraphina’s aura was even more unnerving…
“There’s the core industrial zone, below is the underground living area we were in.” She pointed to distant lights.
“And there, the outer district.”
“Most workers and their families live there.”
Mili followed her gaze.
Unlike the orderly underground city, the outer district’s buildings were uneven, cramped…
Houses packed like a beehive around their queen, sprawling endlessly…
Narrow streets wove like spiderwebs, dim yellow lights flickering sparsely, much of it shrouded in shadow…
“Do they… live well?” Mili asked hesitantly, voice low.
“You’re worried about them?” Seraphina’s eyes widened, her face expressionless as she glanced over.
“I…”
“They’re alive, employed, housed, safe from monsters and raiders.” Seraphina’s voice was iron-hard. “In this land, that’s as good as it gets.”
She turned, her heterochromatic eyes locking onto Mili’s:
“I give them order, safety. They give me labor, loyalty.”
“—Fair, isn’t it?”
Mili swallowed her words.
She couldn’t argue with that logic.
In this perilous world, survival itself was a luxury…
“What about… before?” Mili asked softly, a thought striking her.
“Where did you live when you started?”
“When we began? Conditions were rough—lived wherever we could, camped with the troops.” Seraphina pointed to a spot in the outer district:
“Before Eisenburg’s industrial lines were complete, we scavenged supplies ourselves. I’d eat at a small diner over there.”
“…”
Mili couldn’t picture this lofty queen dining in such a humble place…
“That diner’s owner is the one you met in the central tower,” Seraphina said with a light laugh.
“Was it… hard back then?”
“Hard?” Seraphina snorted, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. “No hardship, you die.”
She turned, leaning against the railing, silver hair scattering in the wind:
“When did I first kill someone?”
“…” Mili shook her head, heart racing inexplicably.
“Thirteen.” Seraphina’s tone was as casual as discussing breakfast.
“Took over my family’s resources, killed our old enemies, poisoned their entire clan.”
Mili’s face paled.
“When did I first lead a large-scale battle?”
“…”
“Sixteen. With twenty-odd people, wiped out a bandit stronghold of over a hundred.”
“When did I start building Eisenburg?”
“…”
“Seventeen. Took ten years to reach this scale.”
Her voice was eerily steady, each milestone piercing Mili’s ears like nails, painfully sharp…
“From thirteen till now, I’ve killed tens of thousands. Over a thousand by my own hand?” She spread her fingers, studying her palm in the moonlight.
“I’ve forgotten their faces…”
Mili shrank back instinctively.
“Scared?” Seraphina caught her movement, a mocking smile curling her lips. “That’s why I can protect you…”
“—No one dares touch what’s mine.”
She advanced, forcing Mili back until she was pinned against a pillar.
“Soon, you’ll stand before them.” Seraphina leaned close.
Her breath brushed Mili’s ear, icy, making her flinch.
“The outer district, the towns under Eisenburg’s protection… they’ll see you, know you, believe in you.”
“You’ll get used to being watched.”
Her hand rested on Mili’s shoulder, not heavy, but like a steel clamp…
“You’re mine, Eisenburg’s Saintess, their hope in despair.”
Seraphina’s gaze bored into Mili’s trembling eyes, her voice low, hypnotic.
“So, stand tall, my little Saintess.”
“Learn to accept their adoration, like me…”
Mili wanted to flee but had nowhere to go.
After a moment, she nodded shakily.
Satisfied, Seraphina stepped back, pulling out the monitoring device.
“Your heart rate’s at 140.” She eyed the jumping numbers, excited. “Fear and excitement are so similar, you know?”
“Sometimes, I can’t tell if you’re scared—or anticipating…”
“…”
Mili’s face burned, shame and anger mixing, but she didn’t dare retort.
The night wind grew stronger, fluttering her skirt.
Here, the underground city’s prosperity felt like a sugar-coated dream…
Before her was the broader, harsher reality.
Beyond the outer district, near the ringed walls, there were no proper buildings.
—A shantytown of containers, scrap metal, old train cars, and recycled materials.
Barely any light, just a silent black sea in the night.
Only occasional flickers of fire showed signs of life…
From top to bottom, near to far, three worlds, sharply divided, like a grim tableau of a class-divided hell.