---

Victoria has been very quiet since she suddenly burst into tears that day.

Her enthusiasm has completely disappeared, and she doesn’t even look at books related to mechanical devices anymore.

Ever since the final exams and the results came out, she’s been holed up in her room for most of the time like someone in a deep depression.

Polaris feels extremely awkward about the situation.

She knows that a school friend and a teacher died, but she thought Victoria wouldn’t be so down about it.

I told her that Victoria would easily overcome this.

Well, I thought so too.

But Victoria was an ordinary person. Maybe a bit stronger in spirit than others.

The path toward her dreams has completely crumbled, hasn’t it?

Of course, Polaris has tried to cheer Victoria up, but unfortunately, with the final exams coinciding, Victoria has had a lot of time alone.

She might be unwell.

Meanwhile, the capital has changed a bit.

In the square, dozens of riot instigators are hanging, drying in the winter wind. Thankfully, it’s a cool winter, so the corpses aren’t decomposing, but it’s certainly an unpleasant sight.

Yes, that’s right.

The kingdom handled it properly.

They say the most dangerous time during a civilian uprising is the early stage.

That’s when it’s most difficult to manage, and if the damage expands beyond control, it’s over.

After that, chaos cannot be contained.

However, thanks to Victoria buying some time, the kingdom handled it well.

They gathered people in the square and purposely selected a few to carry out meaningless trials. They were indeed people who participated in the riots.

But the riot itself wasn’t planned; it occurred spontaneously.

There are no real culprits.

Yet, the country creates fake trials to identify the guilty. They made scapegoats to shift the blame.

This means that those who committed treason against the nation are bad, and those deceived into participating will not be punished. However, treason is a bad deed, and see what happens to those who commit such acts.

They hung people on poles and stoned them to death.

And they also hung anyone claiming they weren’t guilty or just looted out of hunger, calling them spies.

As a result, voices of truth disappeared.

And in plain sight of those corpses, they distributed rations and fuel.

From the memory of the leader within me, it seems like effective herd control. Showing what happens to those who oppose and letting others know that following the regime will allow them access to resources.

Carrot and stick.

A method of raising livestock that no one is unaware of.

And the media continues to spread articles claiming that the murderers attacked the Mechanical Knight School and killed children.

In just a week, they turned into traitors harboring grievances against the state and the worst murderers who killed children in the school to rebel.

But I know two of those dozens of people hanging. Because a harvesting machine was their neighbor.

Those two were ordinary people just struggling to survive, worn down by reality.

From that, it’s clear that there are no real traitors. There are just people who had someone else take the fall for their misdeeds, and they find someone to blame for the sins they committed and consider themselves victims.

No, in fact, the more guilty someone feels, the more proactively they sell out others. Otherwise, the anxiety would be so overwhelming they couldn’t even breathe.

The author is bad. I’m not bad.

Even a child can understand this.

And the country was smart enough to take advantage of such psychology.

After quickly making a scapegoat for execution, they announced that three companies were identified as the masterminds behind the rebellion.

They claimed that they deliberately attacked the Mechanical Knight School to eliminate existing companies that could threaten their new mechanical technology and ruin the market.

If I hadn’t turned the one who attacked there into a harvesting machine, I might have fallen for it.

The logic was that convincing.

As the state extensively propagandized through the media, minor outlets inflated the rumors.

Even the harvesting machine that attacked the Mechanical Knight School and killed students believes he was deceived. Facts that never existed were created, and they transformed into truths.

It seems running and managing a country is quite an undertaking.

And alongside such news, they are aware that this winter is tough, announcing that the state will release the food they had stockpiled, encouraging people to come and receive it.

Creating enemies, including content to soothe public sentiment, the country is systematically overcoming the disaster.

In that process, effectively controlling a harvesting machine that could easily go haywire is something rather chilling for a human to think about.

I remember the harvesting machine that was dragged into human experimentation.

Although there hasn’t been an incident like that since the harvesting machine self-destructed, the memory remains. Yeah.

This country is no garden of flowers.

And according to some harvesting machines working in the military, the army is better at killing people than monsters.

What does that mean?

It means they can wage wars.

Indeed, during the current reign of the king, the country has experienced wars between nations.

Some harvesting machines living in the Brightshin slums were killed due to the poverty they faced after coming out of the military with wounds they sustained back then.

It’s the truth everywhere.

When it’s wartime, they’re proud soldiers, but if they survive with injuries, they’re nothing but annoying trash. They’re seen as parasites that burden the state, needing to be fed.

Not that it isn’t true?

That’s only a very small segment. And citizens only see that small segment. With that, they propagandize how they treat the honor of soldiers.

For consumption in case of emergencies.

Honestly, in my faded memories, how many of those labeled as veterans lived well? Most of them ended up dying in cold rooms, picking up scraps with bodies broken by wounds from back then, realizing their death from the rotting smell when spring comes a few months later.

They just call upon someone who’s living well to thank them with a plaque saying they saved the nation.

It’s cheaper to bring in someone well-off from among the survivors and give them a certificate or medal than to take care of all the soldiers.

Capital is a zero-sum game.

It’s far too inadequate to distribute based on moral judgments of right and wrong.

So honor is an illusionary capital. If real capital were to enter into it, it would be a loss, right?

Money is cold.

And the people who use it are ruthless. In this world, if you don’t get cruel, you can’t earn money. Money itself isn’t bad, but greed inevitably encompasses cruelty.

Even worse than that is faith.

Why, you ask?

Because it serves as a refuge for weak humans like me. There’s a saying that religion is the opium of the people, but that’s nonsense.

Opium brings pleasure.

Religion only offers hope that there might be pleasure.

Empty hope.

Even if you have hope, its reality is nothing more than a pit of despair. Religion that leads you to die struggling with vain hopes is far crueler than a drug that delivers pleasure.

Of course, in the first world, there were religions that grant holy power. But that too was a place sullied by human wisdom. Even if gods exist, it’s the same.

I got sidetracked, but the point is this.

There’s an army to deal with people.

This likely isn’t just the case in this country.

In times of great disaster, there’s no guarantee that other countries will avoid war.

I can sit comfortably in the chair prepared by the king and pass the time, but those places where people live have it tough. As time passes, they become more unfortunate and die or explode.

Do you think it seems like a smooth landing looking at the situation now?

No.

There is no such thing as a smooth landing.

I know that.

The day after the disaster at the Mechanical Knight School. Inside the royal palace, they are holding memorials to revive the Mechanical Knight School or claiming they will invent technology that won’t lose to the evil corporations.

But human emotions don’t move so simply.

Once twisted, the bent part remains.

In addition,

Even though the royal palace distributes food daily, not only are foodstuffs rising, but all prices are climbing.

Transporters going outside have formed massive trade unions, and if they don’t move alongside mercenary groups dealing with people, it’s impossible to even move.

See? Things are getting worse.

If this were the Middle Ages, it wouldn’t be an issue.

Nations and villages are isolated down to the community level, right? Therefore, whatever happens, it generally ends within that community.

But here, there are railroads.

Traveling to other countries isn’t that difficult. In fact, Princess Lunacy, Aurora’s sister, is studying at a school in another country, after all.

Recalling that nations don’t do such things if diplomatic relations are poor, I think of memories indicating that if it’s a vassal state, the prince might be dragged along as well.

Being a princess, it’s highly likely the king sent her.

But how far can that relationship go?

We live in an age where connections between countries are significant. If one nation wobbles, many can support it.

Of course, there will be various interests sacrificed, but the collapse can be avoided.

But what if that limit is surpassed?

A chain of downturns begins. It’s not possible to close doors and escape just because they belong to different countries. Once connections exceed a certain limit, the moment you shut the doors, the situation worsens.

The signs are already present.

The influx of refugees into this country is increasing. It makes the already unpleasant atmosphere even more abrasive.

Truly, I’m looking forward to how this world will shake and change its form.

The second world was short-lived, but the first world was quite fascinating. As the scope seen from the harvesting machine’s perspective expands, warmth comes flooding in.

Whether the country thrives or declines doesn’t matter to me.

I can just watch the world flow by and spend my time.

I’ll move if I can gather warmth here and there, but for now, it’s a time to observe until the seeds sown in the fields germinate.

In summary, I just need to enjoy the present.