I Became a Witch and Started an Industrial Revolution

“What’s going on?”

“Jumped from Ninth Rank to Half-God? Jumped three ranks?! Let me see too!”

A cluster of little heads wearing mage hats popped out from the other side of the mirror.

‘Where did such a dense power of faith come from! That old hag next door would die of envy.’

‘What did she do? Publicly tear apart the Goddess of Light on stage?’

‘Did we miss something big?’

Before anyone noticed, the blue-and-red Crystal Rain had vanished without a trace. A pillar of golden-red light shot up from the cathedral, expanding into a shield that enveloped the entire Alliance before disappearing again.

Mitia rose to her feet and turned toward the hall. Inside and outside the cathedral, everyone was already kneeling; even the citizens within her mental reach across the Alliance were the same.

Only Aisha, holding the limp Sherria like a noodle in her hand, was still standing.

Her violet eyes had turned into a deep purple-gold. From Mitia’s perspective, there was a faint golden thread linking every person’s head below the stage to her own body.

‘How does it feel?’

Aisha’s voice sounded beside her ear. Mitia replied using the same mental technique, “Strange…”

Mitia closed her eyes, sensing carefully. “I feel like I can see everything happening on the entire subcontinent—as long as I want to… No, wait… I can only see those connected by these threads…”

Frowning, she realized that through this strange sight, there were some people completely beyond her observation range—only those with golden threads above their heads were visible to her.

Soon, she thought of a possibility: perhaps these threads were lines of faith. Only those who opened their hearts and minds to her could be anchored by her mental power as coordinates, allowing her to observe them regardless of distance.

Then…

What was with all the people kneeling down there?

She looked down at the crowd prostrated before the dais—no matter which country or sect they had belonged to before, every one of them now had a bright golden thread above their heads. Even the Church’s delegation was no exception.

‘Don’t tell me I just… converted them all…’

“Hiss…”

Touching the towering pipe organ, Mitia’s expression grew complicated. Did this mean she had just cast a mind-based forbidden spell through the organ?

...Given the range of coverage, this was practically in the realm of a divine spell.

‘Tsk, tsk, little girl, you’ve played quite the game—gathering the faith of an entire nation. Sister truly admires you.’

Mitia blinked blankly. “Ah?”

Aisha gave her a look that said “stop pretending”: ‘Don’t play dumb with me. There are only two cultivation paths—either you strengthen yourself, or you rely on faith.’

‘Jumping three ranks, and not just any three! Do you know how long it took me to reach Half-God? The subcontinent under your feet didn’t even exist back then! I wanna ascend through faith too, meow!!!’

‘Aaaaah!!! Why does no one believe in the Dragon Girl?! Am I not big enough?!’

‘Good sister, help me found a country! I want one too!’

In the physical world, all was calm—but in the spiritual realm, Aisha was wrapped around Mitia like an octopus, clinging tightly as if she wouldn’t let go unless Mitia agreed.

But that wasn’t even what Mitia had intended to do at the start~...

At the current rate of development in the Seris Alliance, it was time to give the people a grand overarching goal—a so-called grand narrative—to renew their faith in the future.

To prepare for the coming age of electrification and information, the ongoing development of aeronautics also needed a new guiding vision.

The new grand narrative she had chosen was to gaze at the stars and set sail toward the sea of stars.

This unique music festival had, in fact, been her attempt to use the pipe organ to spark an enlightenment about space exploration—to awaken the people’s curiosity about the world beyond.

She had even prepared a speech to inspire them:

“In this world where we exist, perhaps we are small—insignificant—but we are unique, irreplaceable.”

“It was our tiny selves who made airships hundreds of meters long soar across the sky like great whales, and our steel-winged fighters who shattered the arrogance of our enemies.”

“Perhaps calling it the conquest of the skies is arrogance itself—but we cannot deny that we have left our mark upon this vast sky.”

“We have conquered the heavens; next, we shall gaze at the stars and pursue the truth that lies among them.”

“When we gaze at the stars, they appear vast and unfathomable; that infinite truth compels us to seek and to follow.”

“When we gaze at the stars, they appear solemn and pure; that awe-inspiring justice fills us with love and reverence.”

On a quiet night, somewhere on the continent, a group of people began to gaze at the stars—and when a civilization begins to gaze at the stars, it is as though it has found a gem upon the ground.

What remains is simply to pick it up!

What a beautiful story that would have been~

The pipe organ was meant to be the voice of the cosmos, encompassing all the great powers of nature—but above all, it was a symbol of humanity, representing the strength of unity and the power of love.

But somehow, she had messed up the order of things… and ruined it.

Her education had taught her to feel the boundless, mysterious vastness of the universe in the music—to sense humanity’s yearning to reach into the cosmos.

But to everyone else, who had never glimpsed the world beyond, the only omnipotent existence in their minds was God—and the sound of the organ itself carried divinity.

From their perspective, the cosmic hymn she played became an expression of divine power.

And as the one who played the organ and triggered the miracle, Mitia naturally became the embodiment of that non-existent god—the ultimate vessel of faith.

Still, Mitia thought that perhaps this outcome wasn’t all that bad.

After all, based on her original ideas, there had always been one unavoidable threshold in achieving the ideal social form: the greater public authority became, the further it drifted from that ideal.

“To follow the will of Heaven and extinguish human desire.”

Just six words, yet nearly impossible to realize—unless the wielder of public power was not human.

But could something inhuman ever truly understand human needs, joys, and sorrows?

A simple logical problem: what is fairness? Is absolute fairness truly fair?

Example: three people stand together watching a game. Their heights are 1.4, 1.6, and 1.8 meters. How do you make their perspectives equally fair?

Either cut the 1.8 person down to 1.6 and give that part to the 1.4, or raise them all to 1.8.

The first solution means taking from one to give another; the second means drawing resources from outside. Yet both are inherently unfair.

Thus arose the concept of relative fairness—but that word “relative” leaves room for endless interpretation.

There was also another extreme of fairness:

If I say it’s fair, then it is fair!

In her current Half-God state, Mitia’s power came from the people. In other words, the masses had concentrated their public authority into her hands for secondary distribution—she was the greatest central server.

If it benefited the masses, her power would grow steadily. If she violated the interests of the majority, faith would waver, and her state would decline. This reduced everything to a direct one-to-one check and balance.

If the people suffered, she would suffer. And if she suffered, she definitely wouldn’t let those who made them suffer get away with it!

What fairness? What truth?

I am the truth. I’ll strike you down with lightning!

Well~ yet another round of doubt, understanding, and becoming…