A dull, hollow sound echoed in my ears, and it took a full minute for my blank head to realize that it was an explosion.

The sound of the explosion that could make Miss Blanche jump out of bed a few days ago was only a numb and empty sigh, after getting rid of the initial fear, now both explosions and shootings have become the daily life of Lüdes, from the dignitaries to the common people, until one day they can no longer even maintain the numbness, and choose to cut themselves off or pull someone else to bury them.

Shuffling from bed to restroom with heavy steps, unscrewing the faucet, the hose making a hollow grunt like a swamp. After a few moments, dark red muddy water mixed with sand and rust flowed out of the pipe, and after nearly five minutes, the color of the water began to gradually become transparent. Picking up a handful of cold water and slapping it on her dry face, the chill expelled the swelling pain and lethargy from the head of the crown prince's chief secretary, and Miss Blanche, who had entered the state, began to wash and put on makeup.

There is no more suitable adjective than "weird" in the atmosphere that is now pervading Lüders.

From the very beginning, the Defence Force did not target Lüdes for long-range air strikes and artillery shelling, and after several riots, the city remained intact in general, especially the basic living facilities, such as electricity, water and heating systems. But now, except for the core area where the government and the royal family are located, the entire city is completely unable to function, and even the water and electricity supply in the core area is barely maintained.

The reason is very simple, no matter how sophisticated the hardware facilities and software systems need to be maintained in order to operate normally, if no one maintains, or the people who are responsible for the use and maintenance of the work are unintentional and perfunctory, you can imagine what kind of situation it will be.

Charlemagne's municipal system is now almost paralyzed, from department heads to grassroots staff, everyone just goes to work on time every day, and leaves work on time when the time comes. During this period, I didn't do anything except chat, eat, and sleep.

This is not to say that Charlemagnes were irresponsible slackers, although they were more interested in strike marches than in work. But if you pay them right, they'll be top-notch workers and won't lose out to the elves in terms of rigor. But when they think that no matter how hard they work, they will not be rewarded, and when they will not be able to support their families even if they work 18 hours a day without taking on additional voluntary work, they will express their silent anger in this way.

As the capital, Lüdes had never suffered from shortages before, and even when butter and coffee beans were hard to find in markets elsewhere, the citizens of Lüdes were able to get them through rationing, even cigarettes, sweets and chocolates. People are dressed modestly, and cafes and theatres are lively. In order to maintain morale and relieve the gloomy atmosphere, all theaters put on entertainment such as light comedy and light music every day. As the war situation grew darker, entertainment venues began to become more and more overcrowded, food supplies began to run short, the meat ration of 500 grams per family per week fell to 160 grams per week, and vegetables and fruits became luxuries. Other necessities are in short supply, the total amount of food available has plummeted, and it is even more difficult to buy new boots and clothes. Even the supply of tobacco has shrunk so dramatically that schools and communities have been heavily taught that smoking is harmful to their health, and the new law simply bans the sale of tobacco to female consumers.

In order to curb widespread discontent over the scarcity of supplies, the military police and gendarmerie regularly monitored the population and cracked down on attempts to hoard food. Hungry citizens had to seal and disguise meat and put it in kimchi or something else that smelled bad to avoid being searched by the gendarmerie. After the Battle of the Rhine, the food supply deteriorated further, and the milk on the market was mixed with three-quarters of water, and normal non-staple foods were hard to find. Zoo animals are sent to slaughterhouses, some shops openly sell rat, pigeon, cat and dog meat, and high-end restaurants offer lion, tiger and peacock cuisine, and individual chefs use their imagination to do things like pouring Madeira sauce on unicorn meat (in order to circumvent the laws protecting unicorns, restaurant recipes say "sauce for a donkey"...... The elephant was sliced and stewed, and for a time all kinds of novel dishes and dark dishes competed with each other, and they were very happy.

The daily hunger and the bad news of the wounded soldiers withdrawn from the front line were like a file, constantly weakening the resilience of the citizens of Lüdes. As the Defence Air Force launched a massive bombardment of the city that served as a transportation hub and a distribution center for supplies, the devastation of the city after the bombing began to spread. Relatives in the west and south heard that in the heavy bombardment, people in the west were killed, burned and suffocated, women lost their husbands and children lost their parents...... Tragic stories like that. Before they could recover from their sadness and panic, a new state decree came down. All men over the age of 17 had to report to the barracks and enter the melting pot of war, where the boys had to carry the robbery and the girls had to do some of the auxiliary work, such as military production.

By this time, rumors of defeat had begun to spread among the population, and under the strong suppression of violent institutions, defeatist rhetoric had died down, and before the Battle of the Rhine began, the people were confident that "this is the last time" and "victory is imminent". By the time the media system in Yalfheim put the entire process of the defeat of the Rhine in front of the people, all the voices that would carry the war to the end were gone. Even the most hard-line **** elements, after witnessing the situation of the "legion" wreaking havoc on the land, had to realize that defeat was inevitable, and the day of the fall of the kingdom and defeat was not far off.

Defeatist rhetoric and all sorts of deviant rhetoric have reappeared on the streets of Lüdes, this time with the violent apparatus joining the ranks of defeatism, and the embers are burning even more violently when they are rekindled. In addition to the passive resistance and non-violent non-cooperation of the workers, the blatant resistance of the peasants to pay rents and taxes, and the refusal of the police to arrest political prisoners, some of the statements that were considered very dangerous in Arfheim began to spread in Lüdes along with the violence.

- We give the most, but we get the least.

- We are the cornerstone of the country, but we are trampled and exploited by the powerful, we work hard every day, but we never enjoy the fruits of our labor.

It is we who work hard, we who are oppressed and enslaved, and we are still being dragged to the funeral by those incompetent nobles with fat brains! We are fed up! We have to say "no" to all this! We have to unite and let the scum hear our roar!

- Our families and we were munching on bread full of wood residue and cereal without salt every day, while the officers and nobles munched on foie gras and caviar in the lavishly decorated restaurants. What the hell is wrong with this country? I have to ponder about it.

- The bomb will never blow up the heads of the old men, and we and the bomb shelter will help them stop the bomb.

We must destroy the parasites that lie on us and suck the blood! We will ring the death knell of these vampires and build a free and fair country!

The inflammatory slogans quickly spread among the grassroots people of Lüdes, and the citizens who had been confused suddenly found themselves with answers to their deepest questions, and the longing for a better life and the desire to escape from the miserable situation quickly prompted a change of mentality, and most of them secretly began to hope that the elven army would soon be killed, liberated from the tyranny of the military state, and at the same time protect them from the Ottorians, the Crown of San Istvan, the Castilians— The hurt of all the peoples who once groaned under Charlemagne's iron hooves. And a small group of people, made up of people of different origins, ages, genders, and even different purposes, the organization commonly known as the "Commune of Lüddes", seems to have some ideas of their own about the current state of affairs.