We are drawing close to Pittmerden. These roads are so empty. Every village we pass is completely empty and desolated, but the buildings are perfectly intact.
That's the effects of the biological warfare of the Arcana kingdom. I read that they used a very potent poison to pollute the rivers in these kingdoms which genocided all the inhabitants many years ago. I doubt we're going to find anyone this far south, these villages won't be resettled in such a short amount of time, Amaru says.
That's horrible. Those people were just civilians, they had nothing to do with the war, and they killed them indiscriminately, Kilian says, somewhat distraught by the consequences of the Arcana kingdom's biological warfare. He continues, can you imagine their situation, everyone around you starts dying from drinking the water, the only water you have access too. Even if they realised it was because of the water they would've died of thirst without it. What a horrible fate.
But how did they defeat the southern kingdoms? They live on islands, they couldn't just poison the water supply there. Yet they all died? Do you know what happened? Zad asks Mona.
I don't know what happened there, they didn't really teach us any details about those wars, most of the history lessons focused on how they defeated the Sanoran and Serpensius empires. I didn't know that they poisoned all those people.
I know what happened, Amaru says. It's even more horrible, they infected traders and prisoners with a disease called Beautido and then sent them home. It takes a couple of weeks to truly become effective, but it supposedly spreads through the air and feeds on happiness. Eventually the victims become severely depressed and they stop doing anything but laying in bed all day, usually in the final stages they end up killing themselves. Those who weren't infected were afraid of joy for fear of getting infected. When large amounts of the population suffered from it it led to massive increases in suicide as well as famines from production loss and the southern kingdoms quickly surrendered. Estimates say they lost over 70% of their population. Those living in the mountain regions were mostly spared, and now it is suspected that it needs wet climates to spread faster.
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Damn how could a ruler be so cruel, it's like their king has no regard for life at all, Kilian says.
It's as if they're just plain evil, their king is a tyrant, Alina says, whilst also upset over their acts.
Why didn't anybody stop him? Is the entire kingdom in support of such heinous actions? It doesn't really make sense, he adds, somewhat angered by the realization of what the Arcana empire did.
Isn't it all about power? By showing how cruel they can be they make it very clear that you shouldn't get on their bad side.
The Mountain kingdom surrendered without putting up a fight and most of the Sanoran cities did the same, Amaru says.
What do you think, Mona?
I don't really know anything about this stuff, I only know what they told us. They told us the Arcana empire had to expand because otherwise they would strike alliances to destroy us like they tried in the first war. They didn't really tell us much about politics or the real reasons we had to do anything, I was just a low ranking mage, they didn't really tell me anything important.
The first war? What war? Zad asks.
Before the Arcana kingdom attacked all those other kingdoms and empires, several of them had struck an alliance and tried to destroy the Arcana kingdom, because they did not like that they practised magic, something that's forbidden in most kingdoms. But because the heart of the kingdom is a valley surrounded by mountains it was an extremely long and tedious war, it lasted more than 70 years and they were able to stall for a long time, even though they had a lot less soldiers, they were far stronger because of their magic and defensive positions. Then by a miracle the tide turned and they defeated all the opposing forces and secured the borders of the Arcana kingdom. So a lot of people I spoke to were very afraid that the other kingdoms would attack us again and that they'd kill everyone. I used to think that too.
Well, it's not entirely untrue. It's only very recently that other nations have become more tolerant of the practice of magic, and the only reason they are tolerating it now is so they can stand a chance fighting them.
What sort of miracle happened then that changed the tide of battle? Seems like an important detail, Amaru asks.
I don't know, there's no details about it.
I would love to read books on that sort of stuff from the perspective of the Arcana kingdom. I really wish I could enter their libraries. Amaru ponders, his thirst for knowledge not yet sated.
