MGE Side III Queen Diana History

Welcome to the Seventh Song Island, “Queen Diana”.
I am an envoy of the lord of this deep region, the great deep-sea witch, Lady Asura Mythra.

Yes, I am terribly sorry. Our lord is a very free-spirited person...
A diva shall guide our dear guest during the Court Alf National Memorial events... is what you were told in advance, but she would not come out of her room today...
I suppose you must be terribly disappointed in the likes of me, but I assure you I shall do my best so you may enjoy yourself using all of this body.

At this time, the small island we are on has only this port named “Diana”, and nothing else.
This small island is nothing more than an “entrance”... no, I suppose it is more correct to call it a reception area for casting magic.
Here I shall cast the “Blessing of Poseidon” on you.
With this, you will be no different from us and will be able to survive in the water.
You will now be guided to the Seventh Song Island Queen Diana, also known as “The Queen Diana”, the city of the depths where Lady Asura Mythra resides.
Now, please take my hand. Let us descend into the depths together...
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
You look surprised. How is your trip under the sea?
As we descend into the depths, the ocean slowly becomes dominated by darkness.
And the island of Diana on the surface is slowly, slowly getting smaller...
If you look down, you’ll see the outline of the great Queen Diana, and the brilliance of the many lives living there, just like a beautiful starry night sky...

With the magic from earlier, you can breathe underwater, maintain the same visibility as on the surface, and our voices can reach each other.
You also will not freeze from the water’s coldness. However, please be careful not to drift away from my body.
If you stray from this stream of water and get lost, you’ll be in dark waters where you can’t see ahead.
Should that happen, you will have no choice but to wait for a monster to take you and devour your seed.
So, as you can see, this looks like a hug, and you are thinking about my chest and such tightly clinging to you, but I ask you to please forgive me...
I must ask you to please wait for a while until we reach “Queen Diana”. In the meantime, I would like to tell you about the origin of this country.

The former name of this country was “The Ship Nation Diana”.
A country with the smallest territory among the seven countries that have now come to be called Court Alf.
It had a small royal palace and capital city on “Diana Island”, which is where we were earlier, and other than that, there were only a few small islands dotted around with very tiny towns and settlements.
However, the people of Diana were highly educated, possessed overwhelming shipbuilding skills unrivaled by other countries, and made a living by selling ships to other countries.

It was here “The Order of the Chief God” appeared.
In the Asuramis Sea, which was feared by the outside as a sea of evil, the faith of the Chief God was weak, and the Order, in search of a place to create a foothold, set their eyes on this small island.
The Order of the Chief God gave Diana a generous sum of money, and in return, they would build them battleships.
The official reason was they wanted to drive monsters from the Asuramis Sea, and then bring stability to the Asuramis Sea, where there were many repeated conflicts between nations, in the name of the Order of the Chief God.
The battleships made by Diana had strength, speed, and powerful weapons on another level from those of other countries.
In addition to that, they would have the highly skilled soldiers of the Order and Diana’s military onboard.
Diana’s ships became the most powerful battleships in the Asuramis Sea.

However, this would not be enough to meet the Order’s true goal: spreading the Order’s sphere of influence into this area of the sea.
The Order requested that Diana further increase the size of the fleet.
The Order prepared funds and bought as much shipbuilding materials as they needed, but because Diana was such a small island, there wasn’t enough land to make more shipyards, and because the population was so small, they also didn’t have enough workers.
And so, Diana’s military, along with their battleships, visited the outskirts of other countries and small islands, demanding that Diana’s shipyards be built there.
Their fleet threatened any island that didn’t obediently comply, and they raided islands one after the other.
With shipyards built on the occupied islands, Diana made even more battleships.
With this, the small country of Diana became a great naval power with no equal, and eventually came to occupy one of the seven islands, “Dé Ryúa”, which later led to the construction of a huge shipyard known as the Prison Island.
So far, this has been a story of how Diana became supreme ruler of the Asuramis Sea...

Next, I would like to tell you about the situation inside the country of Diana.
Under the rule of its Queen, Diana had the most mature society among the seven islands, with its legislators, including ministers and nobles that had closely served the Queen for a long time, representatives from the trade association and shipbuilding guild, and later priests from the Order, all discussing and making national policies in parliament meetings.
If you express the nature of the people living in Diana in words, they were serious, kind, and above all else, hardworking and sturdy people.
With the appearance of the Order of the Chief God, stable shipbuilding work continued to increase with the abundant funding from the Order.
Furthermore, after becoming the supreme ruler of the Asuramis Sea, all of the riches and wealth said to be gathered from the area were concentrated in this one country.

The Queen and parliament distributed the wealth they had gathered with the people.
Even though their territory was small, the people lived in a clean and orderly cityscape, and they had plenty of food and never starved.
Even the average people in the city could afford to dress themselves up in fashionable clothing, or enjoy art that had been taken from Nevia.
In addition to that, an advanced education was given equally to the people of Diana.
The people of Diana were able to live the wealthiest lives of all the countries in the Asuramis Sea.

However, as their lives became richer, for some reason, a nervous atmosphere began to drift about the city.
“That guy’s house is bigger than mine. He must be making a whole lot of money.”
“The lady next door is wearing a very nice dress. Our family has too little income.”
The people began concerning themselves with each other’s lifestyles like this, and even though they should have been living a wealthy and comfortable life, little by little they began to appear as if they didn’t have enough.
In the face of Diana’s overwhelming military power, they no longer had any enemies in this sea.
They no longer had to reflect on other nations, and so they began to compare themselves to the only ones in sight, each other.

There was a certain incident that decided the atmosphere among the people of Diana.
Rumors that Diana’s military admiral in charge of occupied Dé Ryúa, “Eizen Wiltex”, was associating with monsters began spreading throughout the country.
Was it due to an investigation of the government or the Order, was it the plot of a powerful person after wealth or status, or was it just a trending tall tale from a drunkard at a bar? It’s unknown to this day.
However, from the point of view of the many people living in Diana, admirals are powerful people in the country, so they receive far more money than they do, and the admiral’s family that remained in the country lived in a luxurious estate bigger than theirs. That’s all there was to it.
The average person living in Diana had no way of knowing the admiral’s personality, work ethic, or what really happened in the far-removed island of Dé Ryúa.
“He’s a terrible person who did horrible things to make money!”, many of Diana’s residents thought as such, and felt anger and indignance.
Also, Dé Ryúa at the time was sinking an extraordinary amount of capital and resources from Diana into things such as the levee to counter the high waves, the construction of shipyards, and salaries for the large number of employed workers.
Of course, such things were unseen by the eyes of Diana’s people.
The people began to think “The admiral, who fraternized with monsters, stuffed his own pockets, and then diverted some of the money to the monsters.”
And then, in the city of Diana, that became the truth.

Every day, voices denouncing admiral Eizen and questioning the funds spent on Dé Ryúa were brought before the Queen and parliament.
And then, large numbers of people began crowding around admiral Eizen’s estate, where his family was staying.
If the admiral had really communicated with monsters, it would certainly have been a serious crime, but there was no evidence of it.
But when the people of Diana were told that, they only viewed it as the government trying to hide the city’s evil.
The Queen and parliament could no longer stop the people of Diana.
Some members of parliament were in favor of disposing of admiral Eizen and appointing a new admiral, which caused the Queen to make a decision.
The Queen offered a deal to admiral Eizen.
The Queen told the admiral about the current state of Diana and his family, and the deal was that if the admiral confessed to the crime and was disposed of, his family’s escape to another country, and safe life as exiles would be completely guaranteed by Diana and the Order of the Chief god. That was all.
In this way, admiral Eizen was deported to his home country, and the large sum of capital spent on Dé Ryúa was withdrawn, and would be further reduced from that point forward.
With this, the anger of the citizens finally subsided.

However, Her Majesty herself would later say this decision was a huge mistake.
After this incident, the atmosphere floating around Diana’s people became even more volatile.
The fact that admiral Eizen had actually been found guilty made it an undeniable truth among the people of Diana that “the admiral had fraternized with monsters, and committed injustices”, and suspicion dominated the people’s hearts.
“That guy must be doing something horrible to be living in a bigger house than me, who works seriously hard!”
“The lady next door is wearing such a nice dress every day, how detestable.”
The people of Diana, who were already comparing each other, began to think that way about those who led richer lives than themselves.
Of course, they didn’t know if it was true or not.
The people only saw what they could see with their eyes, and thought it must be true.

Was it triggered by a third country intervening in the quarreling countries?
Was it due to a number of countries joining forces in rebellion to sink Diana’s ships?
Was it triggered by Diana, which was attempting to further expand its might with the aim of expanding the Order’s sphere of influence?
We don’t know now, but while the hearts of Diana’s people were in disarray, the speculations of various countries and people became intertwined, and so began the “Great Asuramis War” that engulfed all seven nations.
It was during this conflict, which would decide the ruler of the Asuramis Sea, that Diana unveiled what they had been constructing in advance: the most supreme ship in Diana’s history, as large as an island, the great battleship, “Queen Diana”.
Even if a fleet of ships fired their cannons at it, it would not flinch, it would simply advance through the ocean and run over the ships.
It was a mobile naval port housing countless battleships and could ignore the wind with its magical power and advance through the sea, unperturbed by even days of storms and high waves.
With its hundreds of gun ports, and a number of “heroes”, whose existence could be considered unrivaled weapons in their own right, borrowed from the Order on board, it was a truly monstrous ship.
The Queen herself boarded the Queen Diana as supreme commander, and in addition to Diana’s military and the Order’s soldiers, many of the city’s people boarded, drafted as soldiers for the upcoming battle.
Furthermore, it is said that almost all of Diana’s people were onboard the ship, including workers to perform the ship’s maintenance, mages to pour in mana, and women who boarded it in order to take care of the soldiers’ meals and medical care, it was said the inside of the ship was just like a city or a country.
No matter what, this ship will never be sunk. It would seem they had confidence in such.
In truth, if this ship had appeared on the battlefield, it is said the other countries would have been unilaterally overrun by Diana.

However, this enormous battleship would never actually make its appearance on the battlefield.
All of the soldiers had boarded, and the people that had stayed behind were waving Diana flags and seeing them off.
Together with the Queen’s shout, the whistle announcing the departure roared, and the long-awaited departure from the royal capital... did not come.
The first one to notice something was wrong was the ship’s helmsman. Even though the magical engine should have been operational, the ship only jolted and wouldn’t move...
The next ones to get suspicious were the soldiers that noticed the ship was not moving at all, even though the whistle had sounded. At the same time, the people waving flags to see her off became suspicious as well.
The first person to realize the truth was a lone youth who could not go to see the ship off because he had injured his leg, and was absentmindedly staring at the enormous hull from his home some distance from port.
The moment the loud roar of the whistle reached the young man’s home and ears, he saw something like black ropes appear from out of the dark sea, and one after the other entwine around the ship’s bow, central tower, and hull.
The people on board the ship, and those that had come to see her off couldn’t notice this, because they were too close.
When they had finally noticed it, it was too late. Somehow, a number of giant black squid tentacles were wrapped around the ship.

Some were confused, and shouted out.
Some soldiers, exceedingly calm, went to contact the captain.
Some heroes, noticing something unusual, began running out to the deck from inside the ship.
Some Order soldiers thrust their swords into the tentacles, but they simply bounced off and the blades did not pass through.

Then they heard something like a creaking sound, and the soldiers on board the ship, for just a moment, felt a drifting sensation as if they were floating.
Some of the people that had come to see the ship off were so scared they turned their backs and fled, but as soon as the ship began to shake, their view was blocked by water falling like a torrential downpour.
Many had no idea what had even happened at that moment.
Only the young man gazing from a distance saw the whole story of a huge island-sized ship being captured by black tentacles, and sinking into the sea.

The Asuramis Sea. In this sea, also called “The Sea of Evil”, there was no monster realm, nor did it have particularly many monsters.
The word “Evil” only referred to one thing, a monstrosity that sunk ships passing by in an instant, named after the sea in question, “Asura Mythra”...

...Indeed. As you can guess, this was the work of my lord, the Kraken Asura Mythra.
My lord is a friend of the Great Songstress, and when the Great Songstress’s husband went out to battle, it seems she received various information.
She was wondering if there was anything she could do, when she heard about the Queen Diana from monsters monitoring the sea near Diana...
“This ship is particularly dangerous, I hear. At this rate, I suppose the little humans are in a lot of danger, huh”
...It seems she did it thinking this.

Thus, the Queen Diana never fulfilled its purpose. It sank to the bottom of the sea.
Yet, due to Lord Poseidon’s power and Lady Asura Mythra’s magic, miraculously, not one person on board the ship lost their life.
However, they were now in the deep sea, a place of darkness where the human eye can’t see a thing.
They could not speak or hear.
Even if there was someone nearby, they could not see them, and their voice would not reach them...
Curiously, even though they were underwater, they weren’t in pain, but because they couldn’t move, they also couldn’t search for anyone, or feel anyone...
In this ship that had sunk to the sea floor, there was no light, there was no sound, there was no warmth to be felt...
The people of Diana had been left all alone in solitude.

At first, they couldn’t comprehend their situation, and confusion and dread dominated their hearts.
After a while, they were able to think about the situation they were in, and calmed down just a little.
In a space where nothing but themselves exists, all people can do is think.
At first, the people thought about themselves. They thought about their own families.

I wanted to become a knight when I was a kid.
I made a mistake at work, got yelled at and was exhausted.
My wife gave birth to our child, and I was so happy.
This kid won’t listen to anything I say, and I’m at my wits’ end.
The fun times, the bitter times, everything they had seen so far with their own eyes, they recalled their entire lives.

All of these things popped into their heads in the darkness, just like a revolving lantern.
They had plenty of time to think.

Next, the people tried to think about their neighbors.
It was then the people realized, they didn’t know much themselves about the joys and pains of their neighbors.
This was only natural, as they had never seen it with their own eyes.
However, there were times they had enjoyed, and times they had suffered, so surely the same was true of their neighbors.
So, what kinds of things had their neighbors enjoyed, what kinds of things had they suffered?
They imagined things they had never seen with their own eyes, and thought about that.
They thought about their neighbors’ lives from their neighbors’ perspective.

They had plenty of time to think.
Next, they thought about people whose face was the only thing they knew about them.
Next, they thought about the person whose name was the only thing they knew about them.
Next, they thought about the person they hated.
They thought about admiral Eizen, who was said to have lost his life in a marine accident, just like them.

For a long, long time they thought, seemingly infinite.
Suddenly, they saw a faint light before their eyes.
By being exposed to Lord Poseidon and Asura Mythra’s mana for so long, the people were turning into incubi and monsters, and were now able to view the brilliance of the mana floating throughout the ocean.

It was still mostly pitch-black, but they could start to see the inside of the ship a little.
They were also able to move, and so the people began searching for others.
They began to hear the sounds of something moving around them.
It was the sound of others searching for people like they were.
One man found a colleague of his, a rich man’s lazy son, who he hated.
The lazy son also looked down on the other man for being from a poor family.
The two met, and cried and rejoiced at each other’s safety.
They were overjoyed that their own life, and the life of the man before them would still continue.
All around, the people reuniting were just as happy with each other’s safety.

And then suddenly,
“So sorry, it seems I was a tad bit late huh.”
An exhausted voice apologized.
The silhouette of a human mixed with squid tentacles beckoned the people.
When they followed the shadow, the people were finally able to emerge from the ship.
Until now, they had been unable to see it. A place they hadn’t even tried to see.
Spread out before them was the scene of a beautiful deep-sea where the light of mana shined in the darkness.