Chapter 104: So, Gul'dan, What is the Price?
Breaking through that windowpane of conventional thinking and making Pela see Cocolia's machinations for what they were, bringing her completely to her side, was one of the things Bronya needed to accomplish. She still needed to gain the support of more Silvermane Guards.
Normally, the Supreme Guardian held nearly absolute power in the Overworld, but Cocolia's rash and aggressive decrees had created an opportunity for Bronya.
The small-scale mutiny among the soldiers was discovered in time and prevented from escalating further. Bronya hushed it up, not reporting it to the Supreme Guardian. Gepard had no idea what Commander Bronya said to those soldiers, but after a disciplinary talk, their attitudes did a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. Each one of them seemed to have a great awakening, repenting and turning over a new leaf. He could see the heartfelt respect and reverence for Commander Bronya in their eyes. As they watched her departing figure, they stood ramrod straight, their posture screaming two words: Loyalty!
Of course, a little superficial effort was still required. These soldiers were publicly reprimanded but secretly protected, dispersed among various teams. As the current commander of the Silvermane Guards, Bronya had this authority.
Until she had amassed enough power to overthrow Cocolia, Bronya could not openly defy the Supreme Guardian. The newly issued decrees still had to be carried out. Commander Bronya personally led a group of Guards into the Fragmentum-eroded commercial district to hunt for the assassins and launch a counter-attack.
The result was, needless to say, catastrophic. The Guard captain led his team members into the Fragmentum, followed by the crisp clash of weapons and shouts of battle.
The Fragmentum turned into a vision of hell. The bluestone pavement was stained red, thin ice melted by hot blood, only for the blood to freeze into new frost in the low temperature.
In the past, the original Bronya had participated in counter-offensives against the Fragmentum. As the commander of the Silvermane Guards, she usually served as a commander, directing the battle from the rear. This time should have been the same.
But in the end, Bronya couldn't resist taking action herself. In terms of personal combat power, Silverwing was undoubtedly stronger than the native Bronya. A Herrscher, even a siphoned one, was still a Herrscher, especially with a few extra badges. These lives were being lost for nothing, a meaningless sacrifice. In the eyes of Silverwing, a being who was at her core an Elation follower, it was far too much of a waste.
Watching the tragic scene of their comrades' bodies littering the ground, and the Fragmentum using the corpses to create monsters in the image of the dead, the expressions on the remaining soldiers' faces were almost numb. Grief and despair acted as a catalyst, causing the seeds of doubt, buried in their hearts for who knows how long, to sprout. When they thought of the silver figure who had led the charge, a different light appeared in the ashen-faced soldiers' eyes.
The major counter-offensive against the Fragmentum wasn't just happening within the city; the front line in the northern snowplains was also pushing forward under the Supreme Guardian's new decree. Unlike the in-city Fragmentum, which was right under Cocolia's nose, the border front outside Belobog offered Bronya much more room to maneuver.
Belobog lacked real-time communication technology, let alone an information-based military system. The Silvermane Guards' casualty figures and supply statistics were all just data written on paper by Pela as the secretary. And it was always Pela who reported to the Supreme Guardian. Exaggerate the casualty numbers, and Cocolia would send more Guards to the front line to die. What's that? Not enough men? Then recruit!
Of course, to hide the situation on the front line from the Supreme Guardian and falsify military reports, Pela alone was clearly not enough. Bronya needed to control many other key points.
This was not an impossible task.
"Commander Bronya, I've compiled the list. There are many potential candidates. Your prestige among the Guards is growing higher and higher."
Pela walked to Bronya's desk, took out a small notebook filled with names, and handed it to the silver-haired girl. These were all soldiers and officers dissatisfied with the current Belobog policies, people who had shown a greater inclination toward Bronya when Pela had subtly broached certain topics.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Bronya accepted the list with a faint smile and began to look through it carefully. Pela's work was very thorough; under each potential recruit's name was a written analysis of the reasons they could be brought over. Most of the Silvermane Guards were uneducated brutes, but uneducated didn't mean they were stupid. Receiving meaningless orders to attack once, twice, five, or six times could be explained away, but being sent to their deaths over a dozen times with no visible results was something no one could understand.
Many officers cared deeply for the soldiers under their command. When faced with the frequent attack orders from Qlipoth Fort, many of them would simply go through the motions at the Fragmentum front. They knew that what they were doing was a meaningless sacrifice, achieving nothing but wasting their brothers' lives!
Now, Miss Bronya, the commander of the Silvermane Guards and heir to the Supreme Guardian, was supporting them. Many didn't even hesitate to pick a side! Especially recently, many Guards had seen the silver-haired figure charging at the forefront when fighting Fragmentum monsters.
'Follow me' and 'Go for me'—though only a one-word difference, the feeling it evoked in the hearts of the Guards was worlds apart! Cocolia was undoubtedly the 'Go for me' type.
Who truly cared about them, and who was utterly indifferent to their lives? The Guards could all feel it; they just didn't dare say it out loud due to their positions.
"Alright, we'll proceed with this step by step. Pela, take these two things."
Bronya took a stack of documents from her desk drawer, stood up, walked to a cabinet, and pulled out two bags of seeds, handing them to Pela.
"What's this?"
Pela picked up the documents and saw they were filled with design schematics of mechanical structures she couldn't understand and files full of technical jargon.
"It's a gift from Caelus."
Caelus had prepared a few things and asked Himeko to airdrop them over.
"Caelus... a gift?"
Pela was stunned.
"These blueprints are for electrical power equipment. They can help the people of Belobog live better lives."
Silverwing wasn't doing this for free. Since she had decided to be the Supreme Guardian, even if only temporarily, she was going to do what a Supreme Guardian should. Bronya decided to help Belobog prune its crooked technology tree. They had a preliminary grasp of electrical energy, but the resulting technology tree was all twisted and convoluted, not conducive to future development.
As for where the technology came from? There were many ways. Electrical technology was undoubtedly backward for an interstellar civilization that used Imaginary energy. It could be found all over the interstellar network. With a few cute pictures of the younger Seele, she could get Big Sister Silver Wolf to hack into the backend of some corporation and just copy it directly. She could also get it from the Honkai world. The two from Anti-Entropy's conservative faction were scientific giants, treasures of civilization. After helping Anti-Entropy so much, getting them to help with some basic electrical technology was a piece of cake.
"These seeds are food crops that can grow in low-temperature environments. They grow quickly, have high yields, and can be harvested multiple times. They can solve Belobog's food problem."
Bronya handed the instructions that came with the seeds to Pela.
In the vast galaxy, with its countless planets and diverse ecological environments, finding high-yield seeds that could grow in the cold was almost too easy.
"Unbelievable... Is-is this real!?"
Staring at the description in the instruction manual, Pela's blue eyes widened in shock, her gaze fixed.
"Yes. It's technology from beyond the sky."
"Is this really a gift? With no price?"
Pela instinctively swallowed. Not to mention the technology that Belobog lacked, just these seeds alone were a heavenly gift, enough to save countless people in Belobog. She couldn't believe it was just a 'gift.'
It was too precious! So precious that it was far beyond what Belobog could afford.
"A price... of course, there is one."
"What is it?" Pela asked nervously.
Seeds for crops that could grow in almost any ecological environment, even extreme heat or cold, could be bought on the interstellar network. An individual could buy and plant them freely, but to use them on a national or civilizational scale required paying a corresponding patent fee based on the crop's yield. If they promoted it nationwide without paying the fee, and the Interastral Peace Corporation found out, they wouldn't be called corporation dogs if they didn't suck Belobog dry of every last bit of its remaining value! By then, Belobog would be saddled with a debt it could never repay, and the entire planet, including their descendants, would be slaves to the Corporation for all eternity.
"You don't need to worry. The price will not involve Belobog. I will bear it all."
Bronya was silent for a moment, then her right hand, sheathed in a black bodysuit, gently caressed the proud curve of her chest. She broke into a smile.
"Lady Bronya!"
Pela's head snapped up, looking at the silver-haired girl. Her face, bathed in the backlight, was calm and serene, the curve of her lips bright and radiant.
In that instant, Pela felt as if she were seeing a god. Jarilo, the god of war and the god of spring, who controlled procreation and plant growth, who drove away the severe cold and the night, bringing life to the world.
But she quickly snapped out of this momentary vision.
"You... how could you?"
If it were the entire strength of Belobog paying back this favor, Pela could think of some ways, but one person... how could one person possibly bear such a price!?
Pela's mind began to brainstorm furiously. Suddenly, her gaze locked onto Bronya's hand, or rather, the full curve it was gently caressing. As an intelligence officer, Pela had the insight to match her position. She had noticed that Lady Bronya's body seemed to have... developed recently. That blend of purity and charm was something that even Pela, as a woman, couldn't help but admire.
But that charm now shot through her mind like a flash of inspiration, causing Pela's pupils to shrink slightly.
Miss Bronya... what could she possibly have to pay for such a heavy favor? As someone in politics, Pela was all too familiar with the marriage alliances among the city's nobles. In theory, the Supreme Guardian could not marry, but 'could not' in the past didn't mean 'cannot' in the future. 'Cannot' in public didn't mean 'cannot' in private.
Miss Bronya only had herself—her body, her beauty, her status, her marriage...
So, the price she had to pay was...
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