What is Liston?

  For the Latilians, it is the shield that protects their country from raiders coming from the desert of Carthagia, and their beloved plainfields from the wrath of whatever will come from the East.

  For the Carthagians, Liston is the point where their desert navigators tend to rest after a long journey over hot burning sand, before continuing their walk to the Kingdom of Latila.

  For the Nosfeturans, the fortress is the light they see in the dark of night, shining over there beyond the boundary of their empire.

  For the Aeropostalis, the city is a checkpoint, for them to know which direction to fly to using the hill it leans onto as a significant landmark.

  Other than that, Liston is nothing.

  No resource, low population, lack of skilled workers, non-arable land, all of that combined created one of the most useless pieces of territory across the whole continent. Yet, despite that, it was here the Elestovakians posed the hardest challenge the Latilian Expedition Army had to face until now, and it is not without a reason:

  “What is this…Gravel? Sand? Rock?”

  “Oh they are still here.”

  While digging through the loot of the city they have just finished fully occupying, Belisari and his companions came across a massive complex of underground storages. Upon the discovery, Aurora immediately jumped into the rooms, hoping to find piles of gold and jewelry. But to her dismay, the storages contain nothing but (according to her note) mountains of building material:

  “What do you mean when you say "still"?"

  The young engineer brings up that question to the Archprince, who has just spoken up that sentence. He speaks:

  “You see, Liston, while being useless itself, was built on a key strategic point. We have Voyage in the West, Carthagia in the East, Kether, capital of the Aeropostalis Republic in the North and the Nosfeturan Empire in the South. Thus, the city, while having no civilian value, is quite important for military activities and national defense.”

  “So the Elestovakians were trying to build a hub network to connect in between territories they captured?”

  “No it was actually us, the Latilians, who wanted to build the road. Around twelve years ago, we gathered a large sum of materials for the construction of the network. However, other nations weren’t pleased with it, the project was postponed and then…well, you know. That is why I said they are still here, the material for the construction of the road hub. It seems like the Elestovakians haven’t done anything with them since then.”

  “But”-Lily suddenly joins the talk-”Having such a high defense in this city, it is probably safe to say that they might be about to launch a similar project on their own. Now come to think of it”-she says-”The flat field where we deployed troops in the South earlier wasn’t there the last time I visited Liston. It might be the works of the Elestovakians.”

  Thanks to that flattened field, the Latilians managed to suffered much less casualties than it might have been:

  “If that was the case I might say that they dug their own grave.”

  Belisari and Lily chuckled, Aurora hearing the conversation, laughs along:

  “But hey, seriously saying.”-The Archprince holds back his grin-”Now we’ve liberated the city, we ought to restart the project.”

  “It’s easier said than done.”-The Archduchess added-”We need the city itself to develop, otherwise there will be no chance of it being finished.”

  “Good luck then.”

  Aurora, having dispatched from the conversation between the nobles, returned to digging rock in hope of finding something valuable, like silver ore or gold. Sometimes, ores might be dug up from the ground when harvesting rock, and Aurora, who is willing to get anything she wanted, will not let this potential treasure slide. It was a faint hope, but there is hope nonetheless:

  “I think you should give up Aurora, the stone was dug from around here.”

  Seeing his engineer went back to the piles of rocks, Belisari prompted her to stop, but the girl then replied:

  “So what? This is a huge amount of stone samples, there must be some rough resources lying within these piles. I won’t give up until I’ve found one thing that’s worth my search.”

  “You didn’t remember? I told you there is no resource in this highland. No gold, copper, iron or anything valuable. It will only waste your time.”

  “I still gotta have a search through, maybe I might be able to find something good that you deemed worthless.”

  The engineer throws some gravel aside to have a closer inspection, she digs deeper. The Archprince and the Archduchess look at her in pity, hoping their girl will eventually give up. They know many people who were like this, searching through the barren Liston in hope of enriching themselves, only to be disappointed:

  “Hey, we ought to return for dinner.”

  “You go first, I will be here for a while.”

  Aurora speaks. However, that “while” wasn’t long at all, because just fifteen seconds after that was said, her left hand accidentally collided with something that seemed like an ugly-looking brown piece of rock. When she finally recovered it from the gravel, she was stunned:

  “And…there it is…Christ…”

  The girl picked out the brown rock, as she digs her hand further down the pile, more and more of these things emerge. Carefully looking around the sample on her hands, Aurora can say for sure this thing worth more than gold:

  “Bauxite, a lot of bauxite…Lord…only if you know how much they are worth…”

  Per Belisari’s account, the rocks here were all harvested randomly right in Liston, meaning this area might be stuffed with these valuable brown ores. If only the Latilians knew how to extract the aluminium that made up these stones, they would’ve been rich. It’s a pity that they don’t know how to:

  “What the heck is Bauxite?”-Lily questioned, then Belisari says-“It’s just a brown rock, not good-looking enough to be used in decoration, nor durable to be crafted into tools. Unless…”

  But unlike the Latilians, Aurora knows how to make metal from them.

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  “...you have an use to it.”

  “Yes I do!”-the girl proudly declares-”Christ…there must be tons of these around here, but I need legitimacy to mine on Liston territory. Can I be adopted into the House of Liston?”

  “The House of Liston was disbanded after the loss of many key members of the House. That being said, this territory now belongs to no one, you can establish a new house by your surname. Considering the contribution you gave us, my father would be more than pleased to grant you a title and territory, especially if you ask for Liston.”

  “If that is true, then great! Can I rename the city as well?”

  “Rename? It’s optional, but fine. What do you want to call it?”

  “Huh, I am thinking of…”

  For the first time, Aurora can be seen thinking very seriously. Is naming really that hard? Maybe, because that name will eventually go down to history books no matter what, so the name must be good, and signify the first ruler of it:

  “...Auronopolis, yes. Auronopolis should be it.”

  **

  “I will establish a blacksmith…then finish the road network, hire more people to upgrade my blacksmith into a workshop, then a company,....so many things to reckon…”

  After the hearty supper, Belisari, the Archprince of Latila, under the witness of Lily, the Archduchess of Voyage, had written a letter for the King of Latila in request to found a new house over the old territory of Liston. The letter was then signed by Aurora, the person who shall be the first patriarch of the new house, and was given to a flier to send back to the capital:

  “Ah…I will be the head engineer, obviously. But better hire some executive officers to help me operate the workshop as well. Hold on, doesn’t that mean I started modern capitalism three centuries earlier? Can I?”

  Although according to the law of the kingdom, a new house can only be founded after the death or abdication of the current ruler for simpler paperworks, which means Aurora’s house will be postponed until Belisari becomes the king of Latila. Nevertheless, the plan for the new house can be written down now to be executed right away after it was founded officially.

  Sitting on the highest tower of the city, where she can capture the view of the whole city she will rule over within eyesight, Aurora is doing that very job:

  “I can also request Belisarius to settle a thousand or so soldiers here, and then give them job-”

  “Why are you here?”

  While the girl was writing down her plan into a note, a voice suddenly called for her from behind. It’s Pastor Daniel, accompanied by Sir Gerald. It was a surprise that they even came to this place, but even more surprise when they brought with them chalice, candles and a crucifix. Adding, a corporal, holy water and ciborium:

  “I should be asking- hold on, today is Sunday. Are you going to perform a liturgy?”

  “Yes, it was unfortunate that there is no church in the city, but we were allowed this place instead. May you leave for a while?”

  “Sure. But can I watch?”

  “From a distance, then okay.”

  Per request of Gerald, Aurora jumped off downstairs, leaving space for whatever the pastor and the noble knight were about to do. But, only Gerald went upstairs, Daniel stays down with her:

  “First time seeing a ritual?”-asking the pastor, seeing how surprised Aurora was seeing just the lone knight went upstairs for the liturgy:

  “No. I’ve seen many, those who were my family came from many places around the world, I had chances to witness them all. It's just that at my place we do it in the morning and with more people, and with priests, not knights…my grandfath-”

  “Be quiet, please.”-spoken the knight from above.

  “Sorry.”

  Boths said.

  On the floor where Aurora has just left, Gerald slowly sets up an altar. He lights the candles, one by one, very calmly and peacefully. Watching from afar, Aurora, out of nowhere from her mind, suddenly feels nostalgic, just like when she was at home again:

  “Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name…”

  While doing so, the knight reads out a psalm from the Bible on his hand. Ah, no wonder why it was so sentimental for the girl who was watching the ritual. The pose of the knight, his gestures and voice certainly remind her of memories of home. And the psalm Gerald is reading right now is:

  “Psalm 103…”

  The same one that her grandfather read to the followers of Christ every weekend, as he was a priest:

  “Gerald is a great man.”

  Daniel suddenly told Aurora, and he begins telling story:

  “He is not just certified as a high-ranking knight, but also recognized as capable of performing official liturgy and baptizing, in spite of not being a priest himself. I’ve met many pastors, priests and bishops in my life, but Gerald is the most outstanding person.”

  “I can see, his working attitude is far beyond just being serious, he is truly devoted.”

  “He was raised to be a Cathedraller when he was a teenager, of course he is devoted. By the way, I was actually baptized by Gerald himself, and so were many members of the younger Cathedrallers.”

  “Cool.”

  “Yes, and what about you? Care to share something about yourself, like childhood?”

  “Ah…ehh.”

  For a moment, the surrounding covered in dead silence, before Aurora continues:

  “...I’d rather not talk about it, it was not a memory I am fond of.”

  “Not fond of…”

  Something Daniel did not expect Aurora would utter. The pastor suddenly feels bad, perhaps he has falsely assumed that the girl has had a great young life, given the level of education she received as he was told of. He says, right hand sign a cross:

  “If something is wrong, always remember that the Lord is with you.”

  “I know, God saved me from that bad dream, so that now I am here, standing side by side with many great people. The grace of our Lord shines upon everyone, the utmost important of all.”

  Spoken like a true Christian, though Aurora isn’t one. She knows there is God, but she is not a religious person, that’s it. Nevertheless, hearing that, Daniel, for no reason, speaks:

  “That’s true, the light of the Lord shines upon us all. But, you know what is important as well?”

  “What is it?”

  “The grace of yourself.”

  “Please enlighten me.”

  “Well, Conservative Kristians insist that only the Lord can give out eternal grace, but most Cathedrallers like me think we all can. You can do good deeds, you can help the people, do many great things, so that when you go to heaven, you can ensure that you will leave this world with graceful acts for the people to remember about you. And this is the point: Because your grace remains even after you die, aren’t they technically eternal?”

  “Wait. Living in a way that the world will remember you for forever, you meant that?”

  “No…wait, yes, that’s correct. I didn’t know you are that progressive about thoughts.”

  “It’s just that I know several people who wanted to live by those words.”

  Many, in fact. Modern world gave chances for even a common person to shine, so the thought was much more widespread. But for this era, for a common pastor to utter those words, Daniel is certainly more brightminded than the majority. He was a wiser man with that egoism:

  “It is a good ideal to live for.”-Aurora continues-”But how to do it, I don’t know, I am trying. Do you have any ideas to tell me?”

  “I don’t know, everybody has their own way. I overheard some of your future plans of establishing a workshop. Why don’t you build your wealth and then use that wealth to help people in need? Our Order and the monarchs also did our best to help the peasants, but we are not capable enough.”

  Daniel says, then he pauses for a moment, then continues. His finger points upon Aurora, nailing:

  “You however are special. You are talented and educated, you also work hard for what you want. I think you can do it.”

  “You are right. I know I am capable, but I need some help. Maybe I may ask His Highness and Her Grace, and Sir Gerald…you too can help.”

  “Me? What can a random pastor like me do for you?”

  “I don’t know, maybe help me to spread goodness. I believe you can help me with that, can’t you?”