As ordered, the mayor, a middle-aged man with black hair and brown eyes who looked like an ordinary citizen, appeared before the council of elders.
The people of the hard summer city had near-identical eye and hair colors; they had been intermarrying for centuries and were all distant relatives. Virtually all of them had brown eyes and black hair.
The human population as a whole is quite diverse; there are all kinds of eye and hair colors. Nowadays, Human Civilization has people with many different distinct features, but compared to before the creation of the Great Wall, the diversity of looks has noticeably declined.
Before the Great Wall, different groups of humans lived in near isolation and never mixed with other groups. That helped preserve their distinct features. But after the Great Wall, everyone came much closer together and started marrying outside their groups. Over the years, the number of mixed-race humans exponentially increased. Some mage researchers have projected that all human races would disappear in less than 1,000 years; humans would all be of one race. Some more fringe groups have taken issue with this and made plans to 'preserve' their race. The Human Civilization's leadership, for their part, doesn't care at all; the only thing they care about is the chances of giving birth to demon-born babies. As for whether humans have blue, red, black, or brown hair and eye color, nearly nobody in the government cares about that. After all, as long as they remain human, who cares about how they look?
The mayor was not a magician; he was only an ordinary person who was elected in the latest election two years ago. The mayoral elections are held every four years, which means the mayor has two more years. But still, even though he had two more years to serve, and there might not be a city left to govern after two years, he was still completely loyal to the five elders.
The elders' power was deeply rooted. They usually didn't interfere much, but once they did, nearly everyone in the government would listen to them. This was not solely because they could disqualify candidates from running but also because the elders represented the magicians of the village. After all, they were elected by the majority votes of magicians.
No matter what city, magicians are always at the top of the leadership food chain. The old days when magicians were discriminated against ended long ago. Nowadays, any parent who gives birth to a demon-born child is no less fortunate than someone who won the lottery of the year.
"My Elders? I came here as soon as I was notified," said the mayor with a clear voice. The mayor was a good talker and a good liar, which are necessary skills for politicians.
The five elders were sitting on big chairs beside a long table, looking at the mayor. Legally speaking, they were in no position to order him to release the conscripted soldiers, but in fact, everyone knew there wasn't anything they couldn't order.
The 99-year-old man, the most senior elder, who was sitting in the middle seat, said with his firm voice, "Release all the conscripted; allow them a choice. If they are willing to leave the city to the Human Civilization, allow them to leave!"
"What?" The mayor, usually a poker-faced man with great skill in lying and deceiving people, was dumbstruck. What the elder just said was a 180-degree shift. He had never seen the elders change their position to this extent.
The old woman with long white hair said, "This is for our survival. Don't ask for anything else. We are as upset as you are. Now, don't waste any more time and go!"
Master Wide Vision's technique was truly terrifying. His worm technique was not only a form of torture but also had the ability to some degree control the minds of its hosts. It had severe side effects, but for his current aims, it was good enough. The worms were precious treasures, very expensive to make but extremely handy. The elders were good mages but far weaker than Mage Wide Vision. In a straightforward battle, he would have killed all five of them in under a minute.
The mayor, who was genuinely confused, could only nod and say, "Yes, my elders; however, I have one question. Should I tell the city councilors and mage commanders that releasing the conscripted is your intention, or should I keep it a secret?"
The 99-year-old man in the middle said, "You can tell them. Let them find trouble with us. Your sole responsibility is to do what we said. Don't let them delay you; time is tight!"
"Yes," the mayor said and left. The elders had just ordered him not to waste time, so he didn't.
After a few minutes, Mage Wide Vision came out. Of course, he was listening. Even though he doubted any of the elders had the power to escape his semi-mind control worm technique, it still didn't hurt to see with his own eyes. After all, time is tight; if things go wrong, it can delay a lot of time.
"Great job! Stay here and meet those dissatisfied mages who would come," said Master Wide Vision. It's easy to order the mayor and city council members around, but those mages wouldn't be as timid. They would not be satisfied with a simple "Obey what I said"; they would want an explanation.
"Yes, master!" said the five of them in a unified voice.
...
The mayor went back to headquarters and announced the new decision. The city council was outraged and wanted to vote to overrule him. At this time, the mayor used his trump card and said that it was an order from the council of elders. As soon as they heard this, all quieted down and could only obey. Only, the chairwoman of the city council decided to go to the council of elders to confirm it.
The mages, who were also outraged, also didn't say anything. They would obviously not challenge the council of elders' authority openly but decided to ask for an explanation directly from the elders.
In the meantime, however, the mayor pushed ahead with the orders.
By now, 2,000 people had been conscripted and placed at the top of the walls to stand guard, and more and more people were arriving every hour. However, all of a sudden, the mayor issued an order that released everyone, completely relieving them from conscription.
The enforcers present at first thought there was a mistake, or someone had forged the mayor's order, so they didn't implement it and went to find him directly to confirm. Only then did they implement the order.
Most conscripted people who were freed left immediately, with some asking worriedly what was going on. After all, if they were released, does that mean the demon threat is gone, or does that mean there is no chance? The enforcers had no answers, so they just sent everyone away without answering anything.
A few hours later, the next order arrived. The mayor gave everyone one day to decide whether to leave the city to go to the human civilization or to stay and resist. He was frank and outright said that there is very little chance of a successful defense against demons; staying means very likely death.
After one day, despite knowing the high chance of death, very few adults decided to leave the city. Most only decided to send their children, volunteering themselves to guard the walls.
In total, after the day ended, around 3,000 people, most of whom were children, pregnant women, or women with very small children, declared their decision to leave, while the rest of around 7,000 people decided to remain.
"These people are idiots!" Mage Wide Vision could only shake his head. It's as if they don't understand how scary demons are. In a war between demons and magicians, ordinary people are like paper; one strike can kill 100 of them.
"It's a pity, it's a pity!" He shook his head again and again. The 13th army was only keeping an eye on the demon army outside. If the demons really attacked this city, the 13th army could, at most, save Mike. As for the rest, they would really die; the 13th army wouldn't fight a demon army head-on in such an unfavorable environment.
"So many people are going to die because they're too dumb to see it clearly. You can return once the demons leave; why is it so hard?" Wide Vision sighed again and again, but he couldn't do anything. It's Human Civilization's core principle that they wouldn't force people to migrate; if they want to die, it's their decision.
...
The 3,000 people who were ready to leave gathered at the west gate with their families there, hugging, crying, and feeling each other's faces and bodies, maybe for the last time.
All women who were leaving had two or three children at their sides; it wasn't all their own children. Most were children of other families who were entrusted to them.
Quite a few young men also decided to leave. Those were looked at with absolute contempt by everyone present; they could only look down and ignore everyone around them. Nobody entrusted their child to those young men. After all, in their eyes, the pregnant women and women with small children had a good reason to leave, but what about those healthy young men? The people considered them cowards and unreliable, selfish individuals without any backbone.
"Mom, please come with me!" a small child begged her mother.
"I can't, honey. Listen to Aunt Yellow Butterfly, okay?" The mother wiped her tears and handed her to a pregnant woman named Yellow Butterfly.
Just as everyone was crying, a big flying ship appeared in the sky. It was over 100 meters long and was flying with unbelievable speed, leaving behind it a thick, colorful line.
The ship was the best transportation item in production today. It's called the Colorline Battleship. It has the capacity to carry up to 5,000 people. It has a strong forcefield, with the power to withstand one attack from a 100% pure-blooded demon.
Human Civilization usually won't bring such valuable ships out. After all, if their luck is bad, they may encounter a pure-blooded demon and lose mages and a lot of money. The ship is very big and a moving target; it doesn't have the ability to go invisible, which is a big weakness.
But, this time, they were going to save 3,000 people, mostly children, so it was worth taking a little risk. The way back won't cross any big demonic city and is quite safe. There is no better way of transporting so many people. This is not the first time Human Civilization has evacuated far-away wild human cities. It would be completely impractical to take them on land. They had long ago built these airships. The newest versions are just faster and have better defenses.
"Everyone! The airship has arrived; this is your last chance. It doesn't matter if you didn't register your name early. If you want to survive, just go inside, no questions asked. Don't worry about others looking down on you; you survive, they die; that's all that matters," Master Wide Vision shouted in their language.
A lot of people who heard it looked at Wide Vision with unkind eyes, while some others went into deep thought.
"For one last time, I repeat: leaving with this airship means you survive, and staying in this city means you would die. Decide wisely," once again, Wide Vision shouted the statement in the Hard Summer city's language.
After a few minutes, the airship landed. Everyone began saying their final goodbyes and started boarding the ship. In the end, a total of 4,000 people boarded the ship, a whopping 1,000 more than those originally registered. Obviously, Wide Vision's few words persuaded quite a lot of people.
After three hours, the ship was ready to fly away, but at this time, Wide Vision stopped it and looked at the remaining crowd. He took out another statement and began reading, "Please, everyone, listen to me. As an experienced mage, I know how strong demons are. You are not able to help your village through this crisis. Please leave here with your families. There is still time. Don't send your woman to an unknown land without her husband; do not send your children to an unknown land without their parents. You would only be a burden to lord mages if you stay. Please, leave!"
Wide Vision read the same statement ten times, very loudly, making sure everyone would hear it.
His few words convinced another 200 people, but after that, nobody else moved. The remaining ones were those who would rather die than abandon their homeland.
Seeing he saved as many as possible, he could only look at over 5,000 remaining and sigh. He could not save them; they chose to die.
The airship closed its door, flew up, and left under the complex looks of everyone.