I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

“I don’t want to die, let us in!”

“Open the door! Open it now!”

“I’m begging you, I won’t go in, but please let my child in. He’s still so young…”

Sandbags filled with portable sacks had been piled up outside the iron gates of the academy dormitory area, forming a fortified no-entry zone.

The Alliance soldiers wore helpless expressions. Two Mechanical Body Soldiers holding machine guns had already lowered their helmet visors, raising the semi-transparent chest-mounted panels to shield their heads as they entered combat readiness.

Through their towering frames, they could see more and more people gathering both inside and outside the academy. A rough estimate put the number at tens of thousands.

At such a scale, not to mention whether the dormitory area could accommodate them, the daily consumption of supplies alone was far beyond what they could sustain.

Moreover, the total number of guards was just over a hundred. If unrest broke out inside, even effective mobile support would be difficult to carry out.

“Sorry! This area has already been designated as an Alliance neutral zone. We have not received orders allowing you to enter…”

‘Bang! Bang!’

“Step back! Stop pushing forward!”

Just as the situation was beginning to spiral out of control, Sherria Miranda suddenly emerged from the void. A semi-transparent shield, 1.5 meters high, formed in front of the soldiers:

“You may temporarily hand your children over to us. Minors of both genders and women carrying children may enter. Others may remain near the academy.”

Students who had been sheltering in the dormitories, under the organization of their mentors, moved through the safe passage opened by the Alliance soldiers, carrying children of all sizes back into the dormitory area.

Outside the academy, two groups were confronting each other on the streets. Officers of the Tsarist Nation wanted to enter the academy area directly to arrest fleeing civilians, but the Alliance officer leading the guard unit firmly rejected their demand.

At first, things were manageable. But as time passed, more and more people gathered, and the pressure on the Alliance officer grew increasingly heavy. Strictly speaking, the temporary territorial rights granted to the Alliance only covered the small dormitory area.

An attack within that zone would be considered an infringement on the Alliance’s legal sovereignty—equivalent to a direct declaration of war against the Alliance. Outside the zone, it could at most be regarded as a buffer area.

This time, however, the Tsarist officer was extremely firm, only allowing the buffer zone to extend as far as the academy gates.

The cannon of a wheeled armored vehicle was aimed from afar at the opposing side, but the Tsarist officer showed no fear—his momentum only grew stronger.

Seeing that intimidation would not work, the Alliance officer could only sigh, board the armored vehicle, and withdraw with his troops.

The Tsarist army quickly took over and advanced toward the academy. Any civilians who turned to flee were shot dead on the spot.

“What are you doing? They’re just elderly and frail old people!”

“To me, they’re nothing but deserters—traitors to the state!”

At the same time, news of the rekindling war in the Roshek Tsarist Dynasty spread to the Kingdom of Suria, and representatives from various nations received the information one after another.

The next day, a conference was hastily convened.

Representatives from both sides argued fiercely during the meeting. At the height of the quarrel, it even escalated into a physical fight. The representatives from the uprising side were either soldiers or young people who had undergone military training.

Within the magic-prohibited venue, five of them beat over a dozen Tsarist representatives until they were left sprawled on the ground.

However, in the formal proposal session after the farce ended, neither of the directly involved parties had the right to speak. The entire exchange was a confrontation between diplomats of the Empire and the Alliance.

No matter what the Empire’s representatives said, Coy Ackerman Astal from the Alliance only responded with a single sentence:

“Her Majesty the Empress has clearly stated that our side respects the choices of the people of all nations and firmly opposes any arbitrary interference in the internal affairs of other countries.”

A representative of the Church shouted, “Get this straight—that’s your Alliance’s Empress! Not everyone’s Empress!”

Looking at the visibly angered representative of the Britian Empire and the disapproving expressions of other nations’ representatives,

Coy adjusted his collar, stood up, and looked around at everyone:

“The Alliance’s Empress is indeed not everyone’s Empress.”

“But when a person who can influence the course of continental history and the fate of the majority expresses her views about the continent—”

“Everyone should sit down, calm themselves, and listen to her voice.”

After speaking, Coy sat back down. His gaze swept over the Church representative who had just been making noise, as if he were looking at a dead man.

With the state already in such a condition, they still had the mood to bark here?

Terrorist actions—deploying the Smallpox virus. The hatred and conflict between the Alliance and the Church had never been forgotten.

The reason it had not been openly displayed was simply because what they wanted was far more than mere retaliation through similar terrorist acts against the Church State.

To capture thieves, one must first capture the king.

What the Alliance wanted was to ensure they would never rise again—then erase them permanently, making them disappear completely from this world.

The venue fell into complete silence.

This was an undisguised threat.

Yet the Alliance’s reasoning was entirely justified, consistently adhering to the principle of non-interference.

With things said to this extent, if the Empire dared to act, the Alliance would absolutely dare to drop bombs named ‘justice’ onto Imperial territory.

Either the Britian Empire would ignore the warning and forcibly intervene, clashing directly with the Alliance, or it would pretend nothing had happened and let the matter pass.

The Britian Empire representative, furious, laughed instead:

“Good, good, good. Since that’s the case, then we’ll proceed with the final vote tomorrow.”

He refused to believe that even if Britian deployed forces along the Bro border, the Ceris Alliance could cross twenty thousand kilometers to strike within the Roshek Tsarist Dynasty.

And buying one extra day was part of the orders Al-Dashir had already issued earlier.

Regardless of whether today succeeded or failed, and no matter how the Alliance responded, the royal faction represented by Al-Dashir would absolutely take action against the uprising forces.

Britian could not accept neighboring countries turning from allies into embedded threats planted by another power—it would place immense pressure on the Empire’s border defenses.

Not to mention anything else—just the long shared border alone would force Britian to deploy several legions to strengthen its military presence.

Al-Dashir was well aware of the potential threat posed by the Ceris Alliance.

No one knew what kind of exchanges Britian had made with other nations that night. When the vote took place—

The drafted proposal stated that the Roshek Tsarist Nation and the uprising forces would merge and unify, with post-war reconstruction carried out under the guidance of the Tsar and the former Seven-Nation Alliance, including but not limited to direct military assistance.

The plan completely excluded the Alliance. Whether the Alliance voted or not was meaningless, as they had not been part of the original Seven-Nation Alliance.

Among the votes, aside from the Kingdom of Suria casting a vote of opposition, the other six nations voted in favor. The majority prevailed, and the process moved directly into the signing phase.

The six nations once again aligned their objectives, jointly applying pressure on the uprising forces.

An uprising force that had not even completed national unification now had to face the joint encirclement of two Empires and three Kingdoms—the pressure they faced was beyond estimation.

No matter what the Alliance said, even if it truly provided support, the sheer distance meant that most of the burden had to—and could only—be borne by the civilians represented by the uprising forces themselves.

If things went badly, they might not only lose their nation…

They might face total extermination.