Chapter 106: CH 103

Will the people of the Machaon System remain in the Machaon System, or emigrate to the Hermes system?

From public announcement to voting, they had to make a choice in just half a month because they knew that information would be leaked to the enemy.

If the Daemon King were to be brought into the Machaon or Hermes Star System, the immigration plan would be derailed.

After all the information was released, the decision had to be made as soon as possible.

[Report from reconnaissance ship. Extremely large enemy fleet approaching from the direction of Hercules. Scale is equivalent to 120,000 cruisers. Estimated time of arrival in the Solar System, 48 hours.]

If it is known that the Spirit King will feast on Mars, an interception fleet would also be launched from the nearby Hercules Star System. On the sub-screen of the command center, the enemy and ally Force Assessment was displayed as 100:159.

Half a year ago, in the Battle of the Honyō Star System, Fortress Kerviel lost more than half of its skilled pilots. No longer an elite group selected in order of skill, the fighter crafts were down to their normal rating.

Determining that they could not win, Hart decided to terminate the embarkation of the Solar System people.

“As of this moment, the embarkation operation will be terminated. After retrieving the emigration containers, the immigrant ships and escort fleet must leave the Solar System. This fortress will also retreat after plunging celestial bodies into Mars. The reconnaissance fleet stationed in the surrounding sector has completed its mission. Withdraw to the Diete System.”

The people of the Solar System were being embarked on a large scale for over a month since mid-September.

400,000 large containers, each of which can accommodate 40,000 people, were sent all over Mars, which were then transported to 10 large immigration ships. Therefore, all those who complied with the Royal Army’s directive within three weeks were able to board the ship.

However, the Royal Army had issued a notice to board the ship into four categories: former Coalition citizens, former Non-Coalition people, Earthers who were neither, and Martians. As a result, the former Coalition citizens, who read too deeply into the Monarchy’s intentions, did not comply, and the embarkation rate was low.

Hart is the Chief Military Officer of the Royal Army, which is an organization that protects the Monarchy and its citizens. And the means of defending them is not limited to defeating the enemy in the field.

“Now then, which star system will we head to?”

While Hart was on the frontlines giving the order to withdraw, the results of the referendum were about to be announced in the Machaon System.

In one of the news programs sent to Fortress Kerviel in the Solar System via Multidimensional Magic Conversion Communication Wave, the newscaster was explaining the results while showing a graph.

[There are less than five minutes left until the voting closes. The voter turnout is over 97% at the moment, hence the results will be considered valid.]

Voting was taking place using terminals of all the 4.6 billion eligible people of the Machaon Star System, and will close at exactly midnight on November 1, with the results announced immediately.

Votes can be changed as many times as desired before the deadline, using the surrounding information as a basis for judgment.

The Monarchy has made voting an obligation to increase voter turnout in elections and referendums, and has linked the fulfillment of the obligation with tax cuts.

The high voter turnout is due to the social climate and voting system that allows almost all people to vote, except for those who have lost their eligibility to impaired judgment caused by aging or illness, crime, or other reasons.

The press is prohibited from arbitrarily biased reporting, inducing voters, or misrepresenting facts. Penalties for the press are severe, including suspension or revocation of broadcasting licenses, full compensation for losses incurred due to re-elections, and criminal penalties for the perpetrators.

Not limited to the press, the act of coercing someone to vote is prohibited. Appropriate penalties will also be imposed, and voter eligibility will be revoked.

However, as long as you do not force others to do so, you are free to express your personal opinions and disagree with that of others.

[I don’t want to move. I am getting old and don’t want to abandon my hometown. My time is short.]

[I don’t want to lose the war, so let’s emigrate to a star system where the Monarchy can get a lot of resources.]

If influential people send out such messages, it will have a considerable impact, but it will be within the acceptable range if it is not forced.

The referendum was about deciding whether to remain in the Machaon System or immigrate to the Hermes System.

The two star systems cannot be territorialized at the same time.

The threat of the enemy is imminent and there is little time left to make a choice.

In order to create a realm, Mars would have to be destroyed, and the people of the Solar System must be relocated somewhere.

In order for the Monarchy government to protect all the Royal citizens in the realm, it is necessary to have all the people of the Machaon System live in the system with the realm. Therefore, it is an election with coercive force against the people of the Machaon Star System.

The citizens of the Machaon Star System should have cast their votes on the referendum, which might force them to relocate their residences, after carefully reading the announcement of the Monarchy Government, comparing interests, and considering the opinions of those around them.

[This referendum is unprecedented in the history of the Monarchy, in that it asked the people of the Machaon system to decide by majority vote which place they wanted to live. Voting will close shortly.]

Hermes is overwhelmingly superior as a residential star system, and if the Monarchy were to choose a new star system to incorporate, it would have to be Hermes.

However, if people who already live there have to move, even if there is no financial burden on the moving side, they will have to spend a lot of effort, so there will naturally be those who do not want to move.

As for the Hermes Star System proposal, as a special wartime compensation for migration, housing will be upgraded by 50% at no cost, and a service for updating household goods will be received free of charge up to a certain amount using urban construction facilities.

It is easily feasible using the interstellar resources of the Hermes System, and the disclosure of resources by the Monarchy also supports the Hermes Star System proposal.

After all, Hart and Yuna clearly thought that Claudia’s Hermes Star System proposal was the better one, and asked for the opinion of the people of the Machaon Star System with the conditions that it would pass.

Even so, there would still be those who opposed it, so Hart hoped that the result would be as wide a difference as possible.

At the end of Hart’s gaze, the media started a countdown.

Each time the sound effect sounded, the number decreased, and when it reached 0, the results of the valid votes were displayed.

[Hermes Immigration 95.7%, Machaon Remaining 4.3%.]

Inside the fortress command center where the news was broadcasted, the officers were amazed at the results.

Such extreme results are rare, and they can be judged as a clear expression of will by the people of the Machaon Star System.

Hart turned his attention to Claudia, who was staring at the screen showing the voting results with a twinkle in her eye.

The various outlets, on which the ban on completely free expression of opinions had been lifted, began breaking news at once and reporting on a variety of topics.

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[Now that the immigration is about to take place, do you have any concerns?]

One program showed a video interview conducted in advance in the central city of the Machaon Star System, asking residents about their thoughts on the upcoming immigration.

[It’s convenient. The city will be 1.5 times larger and the living space will be 3.3 times larger. But travel distance will also be longer. Even if we raise the speed limit within cities and keep the travel time of public transportation the same, the places we go on foot will be farther away, right?]

A young couple was asked by a reporter, and as the man answered, a woman added from the side that they take their pet dog for a walk in the sports park every day.

[We also have a cat, and I think it will be stressful if the environment at home changes. I am worried that the climate will change. But there was that incident in the Apollo Star System, and the future of the Monarchy to think about, so we voted for the Hermes Star System.]

From the expressions of the couple, it seemed that about 80% expectation mixed with about 20% anxiety. Hart expects that they must be harboring some anxieties that they did not appeal to the reporter, and that the simplified version of their answers is probably the one they just gave.

Moving from the planet Rhodes, which had a rotation time of 78 hours, to the planet Kerykeion, which has a rotation time of 25 hours, will bring an inevitable change in the environment. The rhythm of life must change, and the impact would not be negligible.

Businesses that were viable because of the long days and nights will likely go out of business or reduce their scale.

How much institutional fairness can be maintained and how much support can be meticulously provided to the disadvantaged residents? The Royal Government and the newly created Ministry of Immigration were being tested for their worth.

[Then, on the contrary, is there anything you expect from the immigration?]

People are more impressed by the last thing they see or hear.

While Hart imagined that the reason he brought his expectations after his anxiety was probably to achieve a familiarity effect, the man answered cheerfully.

[The Monarchy must win. I hear that the Hermes System is the most habitable star system for humans to live in. Worth about five Solar Systems, and will be occupied at the same time. Even if the war cannot be settled, if we hold on to this place, the Monarchy might lose in the future.]

After the man, the woman replied, [That’s why I decided to go.], and after the reporter thanked them, the media footage returned to the news station’s studio.

A separate window in the studio showed an immigrant fleet prepared by the aristocrats in case the Hermes System proposal passed.

Approximately 400 years ago, the Duke of Coesfeld transported 1 billion people to their new home on the giant immigrant ship Future Arrow. Since then, four interstellar migrations have been carried out on a much larger scale.

The Machaon aristocracy consists of one Duke, two Marquises, and nine Counts, but the families together can take all 4.6 billion inhabitants of a star system to another star system on their own. Dozens of large-scale migrant ships, each over 13,000 meters long, will carry their respective fiefdoms on their journey to new lands.

Fortress ships owned by aristocratic families will also be deployed en masse, and eventually, the glow of artificial lights will be minimized from outer space in the Machaon Star System.

Divided into 12 groups, the swarm of stars flowing around the planet was filled with fighter crafts carrying supplies from the planet, giving the system its final glow.

It was indeed a great undertaking, but the strong enthusiasm of the Machaon aristocracy to accomplish it was transmitted to Hart through the screen.

The Duke of Mauriac, who organizes the Machaon aristocracy, had clearly stated at the previous two meetings that he would spare no effort to help the star system people out of their critical situation.

If killing enemies even by stabbing themselves is the battle of the Royal Army, then the battle for the current Duke of Mauriac is to bring peace to the people even if it means grinding his own body to death.

“Your Excellency Fleet Admiral, all the immigration containers have been recovered from the planet.”

As the Machaon people began preparing for departure, the Solar System was also closing the curtain on its billions of years of biological history.

Mars, which has been reviving oceans on its surface for less than 1,000 years for the first time in billions of years, will once again be dyed red as it fulfilled its role as a training ground for human immigration to another star system.

Mars has little value as a resource, and if it is to be spared, it is its history, but the Solar System also has a limited lifespan, and it cannot be left as it is forever. Reaffirming that the destruction was the result of careful consideration, Hart paused for a few seconds and then gave a solemn order.

“Plunge 40 celestial bodies into Mars as planned. The operation will not be interrupted no matter what. Terminate all communications from Mars.”

Two spirits, visible only to Hart, appeared shimmering like sun flames.

The white-haired and black-haired spirits, both holding the spirit crystal of the Spirit God given to them by Mira, began to draw purple light from the spirit crystal as the celestial bodies containing their magic power began to fall on Mars.

A glowing white whirlpool was generated, swallowing Hart together with the two of them. In the center of the vortex emerged a purple-haired woman holding a silver lyre resembling a wyvern.

In front of Hart, who recognized that it was the Spirit God, the purple spirit who sent her gaze to Hart, Lulu, and Maya in that order, eventually began to play the lyre she was carrying.

The sorrowful tone, reminiscent of a funeral song, slowly joins the spiral of space while creating multiple ripples, gradually expanding the spiral brilliance to become denser and larger.

Hart wondered if this was the history of sorrow that the Spirit God had experienced, and together with the two spirits at the edge of the space, he surrendered himself to the flow of his own magic power being stirred up.

The purple Spirit God continues to play her lyre quietly and carefully toward the void while staring off into some distant void.

Eventually, a red light overflowing from Mars was added to the tone produced by the Spirit God.

The newly added light of Mars gives power to the two young trees reflected in the back of the world, which can be seen as the surface of the water behind the Spirit God.

The two young trees grew in the blink of an eye, turning into two large trees and full of green leaves. The leaves of the trees shook and swayed with a white radiance.

As the swaying of the leaves increased, many thin lines ran through the mirrored world, and the boundaries of the world began to crack.

From between the cracked worlds, a turbid stream of light spilled out and flowed toward the black and white spirits floating beside Hart.

How much time has passed?

Eventually, when the turbid current of light subsided, the purple Spirit God, who had stopped playing the lyre, nodded lightly and then disappeared, turning into a purple light.

The white glow that swirled in space disappeared, the light that flowed in from Mars also disappeared, and Hart returned from the world in between.

『Papa, listen, Grandma gave me a hair ornament and a brooch.』

『Also, Maya has become a Spirit Emperor.』

The two eyes, one shining purple and the other black, suspiciously turn towards Hart.

The two bodies were filled with an enormous amount of magical elements swirling around, blowing up like the corona and solar winds seen on the surface of the sun.

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