The witch stood upon the earth.
Around her lay a city in ruins, populated by a motley array of undead.
... These fifty thousand undead had been gathered overnight from other towns.
Zombies, skeletons, werewolves… dark-aligned undead creatures answered the witch's call, transforming the once-empty Orleans into a true "den of demons."
"What… what's going on?"
From the castle balcony, the orange-haired girl stared at the sea of undead below... almost believing she'd stumbled into the wrong script, a horror movie.
Or perhaps this was a horror movie.
Demons, monsters, witches, undead… every element of a horror tale was here.
"... But that's all in the past!"
Standing amidst the ruins, Jeanne Alter raised her flag high.
The cursed banner, adorned with black dragon motifs, fluttered fiercely in the wind.
"From this day, from this moment, I grant you eternal life!"
"Dragons, show me a miracle... "
Jeanne Alter waved her flag, praying like a true saint.
But her prayer was no longer to an absent divinity.
It was to the dragon.
A symbol of power, terror, and calamity!
The dragon answered her prayer.
Alaric pierced his claw with a talon, letting drops of blood fall from the sky onto the pale flag in Jeanne Alter's hands.
Whoosh...
The raised flag erupted in dazzling white light.
The radiance bathed the undead, granting flesh to their bones, scales to their skin, and souls to their hollow forms.
Dragon Servants.
The lowest tier of dragonkin, akin to Dead Apostles in this world. Tainted by dragon blood, they became neither human nor ghost, their twisted souls rejected even by divinity. If Viy were here, it wouldn't even consider these beings "alive" in any normal sense… but what did that matter?
The Dragon Witch, born from wrath, finally had the eternally loyal subjects she'd dreamed of.
And with them, the chance to build a nation entirely her own on this land.
"Behold, this is my kingdom!"
From the ruins, Jeanne Alter presented her newly forged nation to the two pale-faced girls in the castle.
What? The name of this nation?
"This is the name I spent all night thinking up, so listen well... "
"I shall be sanctified here, performing miracles of the end times, thus this nation is named Guidance; and since it is tied to the dragon, it shall bear the word Dragon."
The Dragon Kingdom of Guidance.
...
Jeanne Alter was a woman of action.
After transforming the undead, she immediately led these bewildered Dragon Servants into the construction of the Dragon Kingdom of Guidance.
"First, scour the city for useful supplies."
"Then we'll build a new city."
Jeanne Alter had initially planned to rebuild on these ruins, but the cost of demolition and reconstruction was too high. Better to find open land and raise a new city.
That city would become the symbol of the Dragon Kingdom of Guidance.
Interestingly, in designing the city, Jeanne Alter unhesitatingly chose white as its primary color... she claimed it was to honor Alaric's aid, adopting the hue of his scales as the city's theme.
But as everyone knows, with a tsundere like Jeanne Alter, her words are rarely the truth.
"…So, the witch who walks the path of world destruction secretly yearns for holy white?"
It sounded absurd, but on reflection, it felt oddly fitting.
... Even villains enjoy the company of the virtuous and long to be called "good." don't they?
Jeanne Alter never saw herself as evil.
She was merely exacting vengeance, righteous vengeance... on a land where a true saint was burned as a heretic, every soul deserved their punishment.
"This… this is too much!"
Ritsuka Fujimaru and Mash finally learned Jeanne Alter's true identity and the catastrophe that had befallen this land.
Faced with Jeanne Alter's invitation to "stay and help build this nation." Mash rejected it outright, with righteous indignation.
"Give it up! Your ideal is twisted, utterly impossible!"
"Look at those working people... do any of them truly follow you? They're just afraid of your power, obeying your commands."
"You've never seen a true utopia… a ruler acknowledged by their people is a true king. Not someone like you, who intimidates enemies with force and dominates subjects with will."
Mash's rebuttal was sharp and thorough.
Having served under a true holy king, she'd witnessed true "nobility"... from king to vassal to citizen, even the divinity that ultimately destroyed that nation was noble.
In comparison, this self-proclaimed Jeanne… was like a child playing house.
"Senpai, let's go find the real Servants to save this world!"
Mash grabbed Ritsuka Fujimaru's hand, hurrying toward the exit.
... She feared Jeanne Alter might change her mind, and escaping then would be far harder.
But...
"Senpai?"
Mash tugged at Ritsuka's arm again.
Yet the seemingly frail orange-haired girl stood rooted to the spot, as if anchored to this land of ruin and renewal.
"Mash."
After a brief silence, Ritsuka Fujimaru spoke:
"I understand how you feel, Mash."
"But I can't shake the feeling that the Servant who can save this world is right here... no, it's her."
The orange-haired girl looked up.
Her eyes gleamed with the resolve unique to a savior.
"I'm not leaving. I'm staying to build this nation with her."
"I believe the true way to save this world… lies within it!"
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