The Outside World of Little Garden. The Middle Ages. Europe.
The ears of rye swayed in the wind blowing across the plains, creating waves of grain like an ocean tide.
In the early autumn, the once-green fields had transformed into a golden hue. From a distance, the plump waves of grain resembled a pack of golden foxes running across the plain.
On the dirt road beside the field, a magnificent carriage was slowly moving forward.
In this era, one could distinguish class differences just by the color and material of one's belongings.
Despite its overall low-key style, the carriage, crafted from fine, smooth, dark red precious wood and adorned with silver ornaments, betrayed its luxuriousness.
The white steed pulling it shone with a light like the morning star.
Its elegant and natural posture was so perfect and noble that even the divine horses of mythology seemed unable to compare.
Not even a king, a bishop of a major church, or even the Pope himself would likely have the right to own such a carriage. Compared to the mundane outside world, this vehicle was so fantastical it seemed otherworldly.
From the carriage window, a small, young-looking girl poked her head out.
"What beautiful wheat fields!"
The silver-haired, red-eyed girl possessed a dreamlike beauty that even a goddess couldn't match. Beneath her innocent expression was a truly sincere exclamation.
She smiled genuinely, as if she had just seen a beautiful landscape.
Perhaps to a naturalist or a primitivist, a pure, untouched natural landscape is the most beautiful. But for Kurma, who often roamed the sea of stars and other worlds, she had seen far too many unchanging natural landscapes.
No matter how magnificent, they had lost their appeal.
On the contrary, landscapes reshaped by the will of humanity were often very interesting. The collision of human will and the natural environment often gave rise to wondrous changes.
If there was one regret...
Kurma looked up at the sun. Although it was noon and there were few clouds, she couldn't feel much of its light.
"The sun is a bit small."
Even with the low temperatures of early autumn, the intensity of the light was a bit too weak. If even a few clouds were to block it, the plants wouldn't be able to absorb much sunlight, and the temperature would fall completely outside the range suitable for plant growth.
"If only Shiroyasha were here. If she turned up the sun's temperature a bit, these wheat fields would surely be even more beautiful!"
Kurma's words would have sounded like the ravings of a madwoman to the people of this era.
What did she mean, "turn up the sun's temperature"? Was that something one could just adjust? Who did she think she was, a god?
Of course, the young girl was not a god, but her existence was no less than that of a god in the conventional sense.
Moreover, the God widely worshipped and feared by the people of Europe at this time was right beside her.
To be precise, Kurma, with her hands propped on the window sill, was sitting right on this One God's lap.
"You can say that, if you're not afraid of making Shiroyasha angry."
Looking at Kurma sitting on him and curiously peering outside, Su Mo answered casually, then stroked the dragon horn on her head. "So, you have a window on your side. Why did you have to squeeze over here and sit on me?"
Although the girl's body was soft and her skin delicate, Su Mo didn't mind the contact. It was just that she could be a bit too boisterous at times and needed to be reined in slightly.
"Hehe! It's rare that Shiroyasha isn't around. Little Kurma wants to be closer to you. Is that not allowed?" Kurma turned her head, looked up at Su Mo, and asked frankly.
Compared to Shiroyasha, who was usually bold but retreated at crucial moments, Kurma's carefree and natural personality often led her to make direct advances. She needed no other excuse; she simply wanted to be close to Su Mo.
Looking into the girl's rose-colored eyes, Su Mo shook his head. "Of course, it's allowed."
"Yay! As expected of the male dragon I've set my sights on!" Getting the answer she wanted, Kurma cheered happily, her slender body wiggling innocently on Su Mo's lap.
After her burst of joy, she looked puzzled again. "But why did you say Shiroyasha would be angry? Although that idiot's emotions have been unstable lately, and she was even violent towards me a few days ago, she's not so heartless that she'd refuse to turn up the sun's temperature, is she?"
Looking out the window at the not-so-lush vegetation, Kurma asked her question.
Although it sounded like she was taking the opportunity to complain, she was genuinely confused. Even Shiroyasha wouldn't get angry over such a small thing, right?
In her impression, although Shiroyasha was mischievous, she was still very compassionate towards ordinary people.
Hearing this, Su Mo shook his head. "That's a rather complicated issue."
"Hmm? So there's a hidden story behind it?" Kurma's eyes widened, her attention drawn from the window to Su Mo. "No wonder that girl was arguing about wanting to have you all to herself and go on a date, not letting me come along. She ran off as soon as she knew the destination. So there was something else going on?"
"Speaking of which, the Queen and Canary were originally going to come along too, but they also refused after hearing the destination. Could it be that this has something to do with them as well?"
Kurma hadn't paid much attention until Su Mo mentioned it. Now, she immediately recalled the unnatural situations from before.
When they heard they were going to the outside world of Little Garden, the other girls had eagerly signed up. But after learning the destination was medieval Europe, they had all backed out.
Even an idiot like Shiroyasha, who was always muttering "I won't be a 'losing dog' this time," had refused to come after a moment's hesitation.
"Why is that? I'm very curious!" Kurma blinked, looking at Su Mo expectantly, hoping for an answer.
"It's nothing. They just temporarily lack the courage to face the consequences," Su Mo replied calmly.
"Consequences? Courage?"
"In order to continue human history, to vanquish Demon Kings, sometimes sacrifices must be made to achieve victory." Su Mo explained simply. "And everything you see before you is the consequence they chose for skipping class, including the dormant state of the sun's activity."
"What? Su Mo, you mean this was intentional?" Kurma's eyes widened as she looked at the desolate environment outside the wheat fields.
Apart from the relatively prosperous wheat fields, the surrounding flowers, plants, and trees looked sickly due to the lack of light.
It wasn't yet late autumn, when the leaves should fall, but these plants showed none of their usual vitality, looking as if they could die of disease at any moment.
Kurma had noticed this before but had assumed it was just a seasonal phenomenon. Now it seemed this was not a normal natural occurrence.
"Why would they do that? Besides making people hungry, can reducing sunlight kill a Demon King?" Kurma asked, confused.
As a Full-Authority Domain being who rarely stayed in Little Garden, her understanding of human history and practical experience were far inferior to Shiroyasha's.
For a moment, she didn't grasp the significance of this consequence.
Hearing this, Su Mo glanced at the vampire maid sitting opposite him. Leticia immediately began to explain.
"Reducing sunlight causes crop failure, lowers human resistance, and triggers the spread of the plague, leading to mass casualties and even a historical transition period."
"And mass death causes a collective shift in the human worldview. It can even shatter the ideological shackles of the past, sparking a wave of reform on the level of the Renaissance, and leading to new technological advancements."
"Back then, after our ace, the Knights of Avalon, was wiped out by the Demon King Alliance, Little Garden faced an extinction-level crisis. At that time, it was Canary who turned the tide, coming up with a way to eliminate the Dystopian Demon King at its source. That was how we successfully defeated that Last Embryo of humanity."
"And at that time, our collective decision—along with Shiroyasha and the Queen—was to use the power of the Sun Authorities to interfere with Little Garden's central hub, triggering the Black Death by reducing solar activity, which in turn led to the Renaissance and the First Industrial Revolution."
As she spoke, Leticia's tone was also somewhat heavy. As a member of Arcadia, she had been one of the participants who had supported this course of action back then.
"Although it was a desperate measure to defeat the Dystopian Demon King, the ensuing Black Death did indeed take far too many lives. This is the evidence of our sin."
"The reason why Canary, Shiroyasha, and the Queen didn't want to come here is probably because of this!"
"No matter how justified the reason, they are still not ready to face the victims."
If the Demon King Alliance hadn't targeted the Knights of Avalon back then, Canary and the others could have vanquished the Dystopian Demon King in the most orthodox way, without resorting to underhanded tactics, and there would have been no side effects.
However, there are no "what ifs" in the world.
With the interference of the Demon King Alliance, the Knights of Avalon, the only ones with the element of victory, were wiped out. Canary could only "skip class" and use an unconventional strategy.
By reducing the probability of the Dystopian Demon King's appearance to almost zero, they overcame that Last Embryo of humanity.
This strategy was indeed successful, but it also triggered one of the greatest disasters in human history.
According to later records, at least one-third of Europe's population died due to the Black Death.
Even though they had no other choice at the time, they could not bring themselves to face the victims they had chosen.
That was why Canary and the others had given up the opportunity to travel with Su Mo and had fled in haste.
If Kurma had not only prevented Shiroyasha from leaving but also asked her to make the sun more active, even if Shiroyasha knew she didn't mean it, she couldn't possibly have treated her with a calm mind.
In fact, even Leticia herself was very apprehensive. If it weren't for her duty as a maid to serve Su Mo, even she might not have had the courage to face these victims.