Then And Now

Anasthasia looked surprised at how she witnessed the progress of interest fields she had in mind: The agriculture industry, the fashion industry, the science and technology industry.

For agriculture, she was in awe of how the people continued to adapt to different seasons changed. Compared to her prime years and further back, people commonly relied on magicians to perform miraculous deeds. One was the usage of magic to call upon rain and graced the dried lands on cursed times of drought and famine.

'Yes, only magic could drive people's hopes to do their bidding, but it can only do so much using the powers daily. Indeed, it was an overtaxing part and increasing workload that deemed mundane things for the magicians.'

Anasthasia grazed her fingers, carefully flipping the pages like a brittle glass that could shatter anytime when not handled with care.

But with her esoteric knowledge and innovation, she enabled the progress and steadily advance in her empire as she created a proper irrigation system, water reservoirs, proactive plant, and animal planning, environmental management, and relative fields thereof.

That said, this stabilized the food, their primary source of survival, for her people, created a dynamic workload and trade for revenue. With the help of tools made from the ever-improving technology, she developed her empire without any threats of food shortages fully.

'Back then, kingdoms and empires frequently encountered food shortages but resorted to underhanded methods and ultimately sacrificed the masses and placed the blame on the poor, leaving them to suffer for the rest of their lives.'

Anasthasia pressed her lips and eyes flickered, thinking about the things back in the day.

'I had to change it; I knew I had to do it. I won't let my people experience any of those! If I have to improve the economy of the empire while I'm not affecting the livelihood of my people, then this is the only way!" She asserted in her thoughts.

She closed the book with a smile on her face and then picked the next book; her eyes glistened as she read, 'Fashion…' which brightened up her face.

'Seems like the fabrics made are of better quality and can see Lucy's weaving crafts. I can see, with the fashion trends, it's a little deviated from my time.' Anasthasia propped her hand to her chin.

"A penny for your thoughts, Tasha?"

"Nothing much." She glanced up the ceiling as her voice whispered, "Things have improved by leaps and bounds."

"I see."

"You three read it yourselves, how was it?"

Levi stood by the side, holding a book, and nudged his glasses while asserting her inquiries, "I think it's just enough for the general gist of it despite the vague and small details of the information."

Now, she bobbed her head as she can witness how things brought to a lot of comprehensive and sophisticated levels using technology.

'I must say, this is a lot better than how I did back then. I could never be prouder to the human race! As expected, more brains of the same wavelength worked better than few.' She sparingly nodded as she contemplated.

Anasthasia got to the next book, as usual, she handled it with care. Her eyes danced left and right, savoring every information therein, but things irked her about a specific revelation.

"What does this mean? Is this book for real?!" She snapped her head, glaring at Michael as she continued to prod the book's passage.

Michael squinted his eyes, crouching close to her position as he quipped, "Let me see." He scrutinized, taking his time reading the whole piece.

Anasthasia, on the other hand, felt his calm yet warm breath that breezed to her ears. This sent electrocution to her body.

'If he comes too close, then I won't be able to focus on this.' Heavy ponder had her facepalmed.

Unbeknownst to her, Michael shut his eyes as he took a deep breath, adding, "While the rest may be true, this one is false accusations."

"What do you mean?"

"You got in here, with the people around you, do you think otherwise?"

"If you are talking about how happy your citizens are, you're right about that fact. But this won't go well in the long run."

"It's been there for decades; I don't know what you're talking about."

"So answer me, humans didn't make the establishment of this mana tower?" Her eyes glinted cold as he leered at Michael.

Michael's mouth slammed shut, nodding to her questions that deemed fact and let Anasthasia prattle on and on, "Where did this come from? Why did you all accept this?!"

"I'm not telling where but for the latter, I'm the wrong one you asked about that question."

"Scratch that, what matters most is this part right here!" She pointed out the illustration drawn on the page of the book.

Michael gave a light shrug, which caused her to groan and gave a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Majority of the people on the streets may not know what's going on, but what is this approach?"

Seeing Michael a little agitated, Levi decided to take over, "Your Highness, allow me to speak for this matter."

He shot a glance to Michael for approval, who gave a curt nod.

"Ana, there had been reports where the scarcity of mana crystals caused significant hurdles to the Navarre Kingdom," he said in an implicative manner.

"So, you resorted to this method, Levi?" Her eyebrows rose to dangerous heights.

"...Yes—"

"Who is currently managing the tower? I need to speak to this person." she spat with her tone seething in anger.

'No wonder the mana turned stringent—!'

All of a sudden, lightweight steps heard from the stairs. They all shifted their attention as they noticed Lucy while embracing Freidmirth in her frail arms, with her breaths quickened. The dragon, as complacent as he was, slept peacefully.

"Sister Ana!" Her hoarse voice resounded the room, which caused them to stay vigilant at night hours.

"What's wrong, Lucy?"

"Sir Brenov, he's here! In the living room!"

"What?!" They chorused, springing up from their crouched positions.

"What is Mr. Mariston doing here?" Liam scratched his head as he wondered what could make such a busy man personally visit at this time.

"Did you reveal Freidmirth to him?"

Lucy shook her head. "Freidmirth was in the dining room after I welcomed Brenov to the living room. I excused myself and took the chance to take him back with me and come to your room."

"Before we go, let me put him to a spell."

Anasthasia strutted closer, grabbed him, and touched his forehead. She cast 'Refraction!' and so he faded out into thin air. She drew close to the spare bed and laid him down for the rest of the night.

"Let's go; whatever that is, we can't make him wait any longer. It must be important." Anasthasia dusted off her outfit and adjusted the hem and sleeves before she sashayed her way out of the room. They quickly piled back the books and followed her downstairs.

'What's he up to?'

From a distance, she saw how Brenov's face turned rigid. He straightened his back, and his hands folded on his lap. The tea placed on the coffee table ran cold, which she deduced he stayed here quite some time.

"Brenov, what brings you here?" Anasthasia mused, which snapped out in a daze and took a glimpse of her sauntering advances.

"Ana, you're here."

Lucy sat on the sofa, adjacent to Brenov's position, followed by Anasthasia.

"Indeed, to what do we owe a pleasure for a busy man like you and visit Lucy's residence?"

"Well, I have some important matters to discuss…" He eyed sideways and noticed Michael by the distance. He stood up and bowed before saying anything further, "Greetings, Crown Prince, I never knew you'd be here with your two confidants, who happened to be Lucys' brothers."

"Agreed, we had to visit and check Ana and Lucy. Do you mind us if we join the conversation?"

Brenov was taken aback as his pupils rattled for a moment; he sighed to calm himself down. "Yes, please help yourselves." He stood up, moving to the side as he gestured his arms sideways.

Michael sat beside Anastasia while the twins were on Brenov's side. Anasthasia observed for a while, but he noticed how Brenov fidgeted his fingers ever-so-slightly, beads of sweat forming on his forehead and enough to trickle.

'He seemed so perplexed, for what reason could he be doing this—No! Most importantly, who is that vague figure behind him?'

Anasthasia arched down her neck, palm affixed on her forehead while she glanced at the silhouette behind him. Eyes glowed with red, albeit not too bright for them to catch their attention.

She then sat up, once more, crossing her ankles.

"Before we start, you better show yourself!" Anasthasia bellowed.

Before Brenov could react, Anasthasia flicked a single, razor-sharp blade of wind, moving so fast before they could respond to it.