I, transformed into a vampire girl, sparked the Industrial Revolution.

Chapter 209 The Eve of the Fall

Alice stood there, at the foot of the palace steps, where the magnificent palace was dimmed, while the steel industrial creations gleamed.

Alice stood at the bottom of the steps, while Sivitz Valerie stood on the top. But to those present, Alice appeared taller and larger than Sivitz Valerie, not because of anything else, but because of the giant ship in the sky and the soldiers behind it.

"Welcome, welcome to the Sarajevo Palace, Your Excellency Alice..."

Sivits Valerie tried her best to project royal dignity, however pale it may have been. Some saw that the royal regalia used to display the crown prince's power was no longer awe-inspiring; the royal insignia was covered in dust, and the calluses on the hands of those who carried the regalia had not faded. The royal regalia trembled.

Alice walked up slowly, followed by an ordinary maid and a two-person assistant, but these few people were enough.

When Sivits Valerie first saw Alice in person, she had once seen Alice as a savior from the heavens, a mysterious and powerful idol. But as she saw her today, beneath the brilliance of those legends and the embellished portraits, she appeared to be nothing more than a girl who pretended to be mature.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness the Crown Prince. Thank you for the invitation."

"No, I should be thanking you for accepting the invitation."

The Royal Palace in Sarajevo is newly built, incorporating more new design concepts and styles into the Balkan style. Beyond Amelia, societies in other countries are also slowly progressing.

When this new palace was built, the Balkan Empire was at its peak, until the late Emperor Franz I decided to intervene in the demonic civil war.

The war was indeed successful in its early stages. Relying on dwarven technology and Lasvia's advisors, the new army successfully broke through the Southern Army's defenses and occupied the Demon Clan's territory.

At its peak, the Balkans successfully occupied territory from Savoy to the entire Provence region, which greatly boosted the morale of the entire country and even forced the usurpers from the south to bow down and cease hostilities.

But no one expected that the Northern Army's offensive would be so swift and powerful. The new weapons and tactics drove the Balkan Empire out of Savoy, and the subsequent battles completely annihilated the imperial army.

It was only then that people remembered that the Union Army, now known as Amelia, was the creator of new tactics and weapons of war. They were completely unable to resist the Union Army, which was equipped with inferior and crippled systems.

Advantages turned into disadvantages, and the empire crumbled at the last moment. The excessively large occupied territories were constantly draining the Balkans' national strength, and in the last remaining region of Provence, there were resistance movements almost every day. The more the empire invested, the less it produced, and the more resistance it generated.

Before the Zastava Armory was completed, the Empire relied almost entirely on the Caliphs and dwarves for its weapons. The Empire spent precious gold coins to purchase large quantities of weapons in order to protect the newly conquered lands.

But in the end, it was all for naught.

Franz I made a huge gamble, which resulted in the loss of the empire he had painstakingly built.

Outside the city of Sarajevo, and beyond the mountains surrounding it, the noble army remained stationary.

"We must not act rashly; the army must secure its supply lines."

"Just because that demon is in Sarajevo?"

"That's right, because she's in Sarajevo!"

Such disputes could be heard in almost every tent of the rebellious nobles.

She, Amelansi, is right there, so what? My Church/Caliph wouldn't dare to confront them head-on!

Although we are all enemies and rivals, there are some things we dare not do.

Although everyone propagates the idea that demons are terrifying monsters, the higher-ups know perfectly well that while that might have been true in the past, now everyone is sitting at the same table, and everyone is here to eat meat, not to fight to the death—at least for now.

Although no agreement was reached, everyone tacitly agreed that dismantling second-rate players was something everyone was happy to see. At least that's what the Caliph thought; since Lasvia was reduced from an empire to a region, the Caliph had made a considerable fortune from these smaller states.

Therefore, the rebellious nobles supported by the Caliph and those supported by the Church stopped at the gates of Sarajevo. Those nobles who didn't obey? Then they'll die a violent death tonight, and tomorrow a more obedient one will take their place.

Dogs cannot disobey their owners.

When Alice entered Sarajevo, everyone immediately understood what Amelansi meant: This is my dog.

Cake can be divided, but dogs are different. You have to consider the owner before you hit a dog, right?

The Sarajevo Palace has now been decorated to the best of its ability. The banquet was originally intended for a small number of people, but some well-connected members of high society, upon inquiring and discovering that it was for Alice, changed their minds.

No one wants to be buried with a dead empire, but since this empire doesn't seem to be dying yet, that's a different story.

Not everyone understands what nationalism and statism are; most people are simply opportunists. Looking at the guest lists for the banquets before and after, Sivitz Valerie finally understood the meaning of the phrase, "They side with whoever wins."

With a strong and well-equipped army, great scholars will surely debate the classics for me!

The banquet was undoubtedly a traditional one, with guests dressed in their finest attire, their luxurious and expensive fabrics fluttering in the air. Even through the silk curtains, one could see ragged, starving people begging along the roadside, and refugees fleeing war with their families in tow. Just one courtyard away, yet it was a world apart.

Alice let out a long sigh.

"This is the truth of the world. No matter where or on what planet, the people who build civilizations have never thought about whom civilization is meant."

"That's why we can't rely on such a system to step into the future."

Raffarin Lo said angrily that her old uniform was left on the ship, and now she was only wearing her old shirts and clothes.

Alice nodded: "I totally agree... But alas, we still need this damned, broken country. Maybe we don't need it?"

"No, it's precisely because we need her now."

Raffarin Lo shook his head and pointed to the refugees outside: "Although the dawn of modernization has shone on them, they are still ignorant walking corpses. Even the Amerlane does not have the conditions for a workers' and peasants' revolution, so how can the Balkans have them?"

"Before a revolution in the minds of the masses, before someone can enlighten them, the resistance of the masses will only be usurped by ambitious people, and the blood of countless people at the bottom will only be used by certain people."

"The cruel reality is that we need this empire to survive, and we also need to take care of the interests of other... powerful nations."

"That's disgusting."

Alice looked at the Crown Prince sitting in the main seat. He was indeed full of energy and trying to change the status quo, and Alice was his method of changing the status quo.

But Alice was not prepared to help him reclaim any lost territory; Amelianci did not yet have the confidence or ability to engage in a full-scale conflict with the two great powers.

Raffarin Lau's military reforms were showing initial success, but they were still far from producing an army capable of fighting a world war.