A Tale of Strategies For the Throne

The sun is setting, and the sunlight between heaven and earth is disappearing little by little.

The setting sun shrouded the distant horizon, covering it with a layer of red light.

The white hall is still very quiet, except for the sound of breathing at different frequencies, there is nothing.

Heimos had been standing next to the malachite sarcophagus for a whole day, motionless, as if completely still in that place.

He didn't raise his head until the last ray of sunlight completely disappeared.

There was a glimmer in the red eyes that made people shudder.

"You can all leave."

A voice suddenly sounded in the hall that had been silent for too long, which was surprising.

Suojia looked up at Heimos and frowned.

He understood what Heimos said. Heimos said to let them all go, which meant that he wanted to stay here.

"Lord Heymos..."

Before Suojia could finish his words, Heimos interrupted him.

"Walk."

Heimos' voice was cold, and he didn't even look back at the crowd.

Suojia could only see his back and the unquestionable command voice coming from above.

Before Suojia could say anything else, the high priest Shamash standing next to him suddenly turned around and left without saying a word.

Suojia sighed in his heart, followed Xie Muer and planned to leave here.

At this time, Heimos's voice came from behind again.

"Tell the tomb guards to close the door and no one can break in."

It was obviously the hottest end of summer, but his voice only sounded like the coldness of the northern winter.

"Trespassers, no matter who they are, will be killed on the spot."

Suojia's footsteps paused.

"yes."

He turned around and bowed to answer.

Once this order is issued, no one can step into the royal tomb unless all the tomb guards guarding the royal tomb are killed.

Suojia stood in the endless square of the Royal Tomb, and the door of the white palace slowly closed in front of his eyes.

The figure standing at the end of the hall disappeared from his sight as the stone door closed.

He turned his head and looked at Xie Muer's back, which had gone away, looking increasingly lonely in the dark night, and sighed deeply.

Suppressing the worry in his heart, he turned and left with heavy steps.

Above his head, the sky was filled with stars.

…………

The huge stone door of the white palace slowly closed, isolating everything from the main hall.

With the final slamming sound, Heimos' eyes that had been closed suddenly opened.

He leaned over, stretched out his hand, and picked up Garlan who was lying in the malachite sarcophagus.

Heavy footsteps echoed in the silent hall, and Heimos carried Garlan up the stone steps on the side of the hall.

In the main hall of the Royal Tomb Palace is a relief stone statue of the goddess of the underworld who protects the soul.

On the left side of the main hall, there is a spacious stone staircase that connects the main hall to the highest point of the palace.

It leads directly to the top of the palace.

Heimos stepped onto the stone steps and walked up step by step.

The walls on both sides of the stone steps initially depict cities in the world. As they go up, they turn into patterns of wings. Further up, there are floating clouds and runes of sunshine. At the end of the last stone steps, there are The arms seem to be welcoming the arrival of a goddess.

This stone step and the patterns along the road mean that the soul of the owner of the royal mausoleum and palace will follow the invisible road into heaven.

At the end of the high stone steps is a spacious temple, located at the highest point of the entire palace.

Above the head is a vaulted dome roof, and on the surrounding stone walls are reliefs of the Aaron Landis gods, symbolizing that this is the heaven where the gods reside.

Heimos carried Garlan and walked to the temple. He leaned over and placed Garlan on the ground. And he landed on one knee, half squatting on the ground, holding Garlan's upper body in his arms.

He lowered his eyes and gently rubbed the soft but cold golden hair of the person in his arms.

Then, Heimos raised his head and looked around at the relief stone statues of the gods on the stone walls of the temple.

The temple was not lit, and it was pitch black. Only the thin starlight shone in from the skylight, bringing a little light to the place.

In the dark night, only Heimos's golden-red eyes were terrifyingly bright.

There was obviously no light in his eyes, but they gave off the cold light of the pupils of a cold-blooded animal like a lizard in the dark night.

One look at it, chilling my heart and bone marrow.

"Gods...really?"

He stared coldly at the reliefs of the gods in the darkness, his eyes were like the bottom of an abyss, with no trace of life in sight, only dead silence.

His voice was not loud, but it seemed unusually clear in the silent temple.

"I know you can hear me."

Heimos's voice echoed in the empty temple, like traces of cracked ice.

"Gods of Aaron Landis, I want to make a deal with you."

"I can promise you that I will do what you ask and let my destiny take the so-called 'correct track'."

"But, as a price..."

The night was silent, and in the temple of the gods, only one voice sounded.

……………

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, two days and nights had passed.

Seeing that it was already the evening of the third day, Suojia, who had dark circles in his eyes, stood at the gate of the royal tomb. He was so anxious that he kept walking back and forth in front of the gate.

The tomb guard in armor holds a silver gun and stands in front of the gate with a solemn expression, performing his duties faithfully and not squinting.

They were like lifeless stone statues, no matter how Suojia shook in front of them, there was no movement.

But Suojia knew that as long as he dared to take a step inside, the spear point in the hand of the tomb guard would stab him mercilessly.

This is the third day!

Suojia thought anxiously, stretched his neck, and kept looking at the white palace inside the royal tomb, his eyes wishing to see through the thick stone wall to see the scene inside.

However, no matter how he looked around, the stone door of the White Palace was still tightly closed and motionless.

He frowned, thinking about the conversation between him and Heimos that day, and he felt more and more uneasy.

Could it be that Master Heimos really plans to...

Just when Suojia was already anxious, two people appeared at the entrance of the royal tomb.

Shermer still looked expressionless, glanced at him, and then looked towards the closed white palace.

The blond knight, who had not been seen for two days, now had only indifference in his eyes, as if all the tenderness he had had had been taken away by that person's passing, and there was no trace left.

"He hasn't come out yet?"

Kehos asked.

Suojia nodded.

"This is already the third day, and I'm worried-"

The last half of the sentence was swallowed by Suojia, but everyone present understood what he had not finished and their expressions became serious.

Although the grief in their hearts has not been alleviated by half, they cannot allow the situation to develop like this.

After all, Heimos is the only successor to Aaron Landis's throne, and nothing can happen to him.

Otherwise, the kingdom that King Garlan finally revived will decline again.

The high priest took a step to walk inside, but the tomb guard guarding the door squinted, and with a flick of his hand, the silver spears in his hands were all pointed at him.

Shermer raised the heavy golden scepter in his hand expressionlessly.

"...It seems that we can only force our way in."

Caijos said calmly.

He raised his hand, and the long sword at his waist was unsheathed with a clang.

The prince had said that his remaining mission was to guard Aaron Landis.

He failed to fulfill his oath to protect the prince, at least he must fulfill the prince's last instructions.

The knight of the burning sun and the high priest of Shamash wanted to break into the royal tomb, but the loyal tomb guard would not retreat at all.

Just when the two sides were on the verge of a fight, suddenly, a long and heavy sound of friction came from the royal tomb.

The originally tense atmosphere came to a standstill. Suojia's heart, which had been hanging high, finally relaxed. He quickly raised his head and looked inside.

At this glance, his breath stopped.

He stared blankly and blankly at the familiar yet unfamiliar figure.

Kayhos and Shermuel in front of him looked at that figure, and a complex look flashed across their eyes.

In the setting sun that was as dazzling as fire, Heimos appeared from the royal tomb and walked towards them.

The red sunset shone on his body and reflected on his hair.

Heimos looked indifferent, showing no emotion at all, but among his dark hair, the few strands scattered on his forehead and cheeks had turned into snow-white color.

…………

Aaron Landis

During the reign of King Garlan, later generations called it the Annals of the Wise King.

Five years later, King Garlan died of illness.

The reign of the wise king came to an end.

Later, Heimos, who was the military commander, came to the throne and was initially called King Heimos.

The period of his reign was later known as the Annals of Heimos.

After King Heimos succeeded to the throne, he continued to appoint ministers and generals from the Garlan period, continued to use the laws of the Garlan period, and continued to implement the policies of the Garlan period.

And he himself is focused on developing the military.

[I hope that my people, Aaron Landis, will never abandon their compatriots easily. 】

That is what the wise king once said.

It has long been spread among the army and Aaron Landis. From then on, rescuing captured soldiers gradually became the tradition of Aaron Landis people.

King Heimos also fulfilled this promise when he led his army into battle.

This was the beginning of the centripetal force of Aaron Landis's army to unite as one, fearless of life and death, and its combat effectiveness gradually became more powerful than any other country.

In the third year of Heymos, Aaron Landis unilaterally cut off the acquisition of cattle, mutton, wool and other livestock products from the Islamic State, which caused a huge blow to the economy of the Islamic State, which had become a pillar industry. .

Yisi boldly launched an army to attack Aaron Landis.

King Heimos led the army to the east to counterattack and defeated the army of Yis. Then he directly marched eastward and took the royal city of Yis.

In the fourth year, the royal city of Yis was captured and the country of Yis was destroyed.

In the battle of Yis, the veteran Kaleni, who was over seventy years old but insisted on participating in this expedition, made great contributions in the war. However, after the fall of Yis, he died with a smile not long after returning to the royal city.

In the fifth year of Heymos, Gesu and Gastard teamed up to attack Aaron Landis.

With the assistance of Tasta State, the attacks of the two countries were defeated one after another by King Heimos.

In this battle, the reputation of Xinyas, the younger brother of the late king Garlan, spread throughout the world.

In the seventh year, Aaron Landis and Tastar joined forces to attack Geshur.

After struggling for two years, the royal city of Geshu was attacked by King Heimos.

In this war, General Novi, a disciple of Sun Knight Kehos and later known as one of the pillars of Aaron Landis, began to shine.

In the ninth year of the year of Heimos, Geshu perished.

Seeing that Aaron Landis was unstoppable, some small countries that had been struggling to survive in the cracks between the three kingdoms of Geshu, Yis and Aaron Landis took the initiative to surrender to Aaron Landis and recognized it as their suzerain state.

Aaron Landis, who successively annexed the two large countries of Yis and Gesu and many small countries, temporarily stopped his aggression and expansion in the surrounding areas and began to recuperate.

While recuperating on the mainland, the huge navy built by Aaron Landis in more than ten years began to sweep into the southern seas.

In the thirteenth year, Aaron Landis had unified the entire southern sea area except the island nation of Aielson.

Admiral Seth, who was born in the city of Tozes and made great achievements in naval battles and became the commander of the navy, retired because of his old age. He settled in the city of Tozes with his family and passed away eight years later.

In the fourteenth year of the year of Heimos, King Heimos led an army to the west.

He conquered many small countries such as Hida occupied by the Gastad people along the way, forcing the Gastad people to flee northwest back to the Gastad Snowfield.

During the expedition to the Gastad Snowfield, the 'Slave General' Tevar, who was over sixty years old, fell ill due to acclimatization and died on the battlefield.

In the fifteenth year, Novi, the vanguard general of Aaron Landis, captured the royal city of Gastad.

Gastad perished.

At this point, Aaron Landis unified the entire continent.

From then on, this continent was called Aaron Landis.

Only Tasda in the northern plateau and Elson in the southern ocean island country were allowed to continue to form their own countries because they had been leading their troops to follow Aaron Landis in the north and south.

Aaron Landis thus entered the Imperial Period.

Therefore, the Heymos Chronicle was also called the Imperial Chronicle by later generations.

The bard Shulos retreated into hiding after Aaron Landis unified the continent, and there was no trace of him again.

In the twenty-eighth year of the Imperial Annals, Kaihos, known as the Knight of the Burning Sun, passed away at the age of sixty-six.

This knight, who was famous for his romance, had always been among many noble ladies. He remained unmarried and had no children throughout his life.

He fought on the battlefield all his life, starting at the age of eighteen and fighting for Aaron Landis for more than fifty years.

After his death, because of his status as a guardian knight for King Garlan, his request before his death was approved by Emperor Heimos and he was buried in the side hall of King Garlan's mausoleum palace.

In the thirtieth year of the Imperial Annals, Shamash High Priest Shemuel passed away at the age of seventy.

Although it is not recorded in the history books, in the same year, Tapti, the female official who served Emperor Huymos, died at the same age of seventy.

In the thirty-second year of the Imperial Annals, Emperor Huymos passed away at the age of fifty-nine.

He left no descendants, but selected one person from the collateral bloodline of the Aaron Landis royal family and established him as the successor to the throne.

According to unofficial records, Emperor Huymos' appearance has hardly changed in the decades since he succeeded to the throne.

At the time of his death, he was nearly sixty years old and his appearance was the same as that of his twenty-seven or eighty-year-old self when he succeeded to the throne. Everyone thought that this was the protection of the gods.

Later generations regarded this record in unofficial history as a myth and legend fabricated by Aaron Landis for the ancients, and laughed it off.

…………

At the end of summer, the sun is scorching and the earth is so exposed that it feels like it is being cooked by fire.

The high priest of Nanna stood in front of the snow-white royal tomb, looking at the two palaces standing side by side.

Because he is older, his eyesight has deteriorated a lot, and he has to squint to see more carefully.

The fiery wind blew over and stirred the gray hair on his temples.

He thought, in the blink of an eye, more than thirty years have passed.

"Your Majesty the High Priest."

The sound came from behind, Suojia turned around and saw someone walking towards him.

It was a round figure.

Suojia squinted at the person coming.

The little fat man who used to wander around King Garlan with his tail wagging like a puppy is now a powerful person as powerful as him.

Today, Tal stands above the royal court and controls the financial power of the empire, making people dare not look at him.

There was still a smile on that chubby face, but the smile never reached his eyes again.

Tal said: "General Fataya has been waiting for you outside for a long time."

Although Fataya was married to Suojia, she was not content with her family.

In the past few decades, she has been following Huymos in all the wars in the north and south, and is the only general among Aaron Landis who became a general as a woman.

Although he is now older and no longer goes to the battlefield, he still leads the city guard of the royal city as commander.

Suojia nodded, turned around and walked quickly outside.

After taking a few steps, he heard Tal's low murmur coming from behind.

"prince……"

Suojia paused for a moment. He turned around and saw Tal standing there, looking at the white palace in the royal tomb, with a daze on his cheek.

He saw that there were deep wrinkles in the corners of Tal's eyes.

For some reason, there was a bit of sadness in his heart.

After walking out of the royal mausoleum, Suojia saw the female general whose hair was mostly gray but still standing upright in leather armor.

The woman he loves most in his life.

His eyes became gentle.

"Fataya, are you here to see off His Majesty?"

Fataya hummed.

She looked at the royal mausoleum in the distance and sighed: "Well, it's a relief for Your Majesty... I can finally follow King Garlan..."

"Fataya?"

Suojia was startled, and Fataya's clear tone surprised him.

Although King Garlan publicly announced his affair with Heimos in front of several of them, he didn't have time to announce it to the public, so...

Everyone who knew about it at the time was tight-lipped about it, and he never told Fataya.

"How do you know..."

Fataya smiled at her lover.

There was emotion in that smile and a deep sigh.

What she remembered was that long ago, under the bright sunshine that day, Heimos on horseback showed a gentler look than anything else to Gallan who was held in front of him.

He looked at Garlan, his eyes so bright that they seemed to be glowing.

Just watching from the side, she was inexplicably moved for a moment.

"Suojia, didn't you notice?"

The female knight sighed.

"Since the day King Garlan passed away, he has never smiled again."

From that day on, there was only a bottomless abyss in that man's eyes, without any light at all.

Perhaps from that day on, ‘Heimos’ ceased to exist.

There is only King Aaron Landis in this world.

"…………"

Suojia didn't answer.

After a moment of silence, he raised his hand and gently brushed up the strand of gray hair scattered in front of Fataya's eyes.

How lucky he is to grow old with the one he loves.

…………

……………………

The death of Emperor Heimos heralded the end of the golden age of famous generals since the era of the wise king.

Many generals have fallen one after another or become old, and Aaron Landis's famous generals are in decline.

In addition, this period coincided with the peak of the slave emancipation movement, causing turmoil in the Aaron Landis empire.

Under the protection of the two generals Novi and Sinas, known as the 'pillars of the Aaron Landis Empire', and with the presence of old and important ministers such as Tal and Suojia in the royal court, the turbulent empire finally stabilized.

And so the Aaron Landis empire endured.

According to historical records.

During this period of turmoil, once, when Emperor Aaron Landis led his army on an expedition, a rebel army composed mainly of slaves and civilians took advantage of the lack of troops in the royal city and actually invaded the royal city.

This rebel army even invaded the royal tombs, which were only across a river from the royal palace. They dug up the tombs and palaces of the kings in the royal tombs and stole gold, jewelry and other burial objects.

However, when this large army came to the mausoleum and palace of King Gallan, Qiu Wuwu took the initiative to retreat in front of the mausoleum.

The mausoleum palace of Emperor Huymos the Great, which was located after King Garlan, was also preserved.

…………

After that, thousands of years passed.

Over this long period of time, the Aaron Landis empire waxed and waned.

There are times of unity and times of division.

There are times of prosperity and times of life and death.

There were times when it was invaded by powerful foreign enemies during its decline, times when the country was subjugated several times, and times when it was divided by many countries and massacred by foreign races, and it was about to be destroyed and exterminated.

But no matter what happened, no matter what happened, thousands of years passed, Aaron Landis was always there.

[Aaron Landis A man will never give up on his fellow man. 】

They always remember this sentence.

A word passed down from the ancient era of wise kings allowed them to stand up from decline and destruction time and time again.

That has become a faith that is woven into the flesh and blood of all Aaron Landis.

It is the existence of this belief that allows Aaron Landis to always stand on the land of Aaron Landis no matter what sufferings and hardships he has experienced.

…………

……………………

Among future generations, among the thousands of years of ups and downs in Aaron Landis's history, the history of the three dynasties of the Lion King, the Wise King, and Heimos the Great is the most talked about by future generations.

It was the most magnificent era in Aaron Landis's history, with numerous famous players.

Among them, what historians have studied the most is not the heroic era of the Lion King with endless wars, nor is it the imperial chronology of Emperor Huymos's conquests from all directions and the final unification of the Aaron Landis continent.

What historians are most curious about is the shortest era of the Xianming Kings among these two dynasties.

King Garlan, known as the Wise King by later generations, only reigned for five years, but he brought about earth-shaking changes in Aaron Landis.

The Age of the Wise King may not be as exciting as the Age of Heroes of the Lion King, nor may it be as magnificent as the Age of Emperor Heimos.

However, it was a special era that shaped the beliefs and civilization of the Aaronlanders.

The wise king Garlan was the only Aaronlandis king in history who still allowed the Aaronlandis who became rebels to voluntarily retreat from his tomb even after decades of death.

His adoration among the Aaron Landis is evident.

At the same time, countless ‘firsts’ in world history all appeared in the era of Aaron Landis’ Wise King.

The first centralized kingdom in history.

The first kingdom in history to begin large-scale emancipation of slaves.

The first kingdom in history to establish a plague prevention mechanism.

The first kingdom in history to establish a commercial tax mechanism.

The first kingdom in history to build roads extending in all directions on a large scale.

The first kingdom in history to implement the 'separation of powers' system.

...and so on, all of the above were born under the rule of the wise king.

Among them, the most important and influential, and also the iconic existence of Aaron Landis, is the code of law founded by the wise king.

The Code of Aaron Landis, also known as the ‘Code of the Wise King’.

It contains many laws and regulations such as the national law, civil law, criminal law and military law of the ancient kingdom of Aaron Landis at that time. The original text is engraved on dozens of obsidian tablets in the Shamash Temple in the royal city of Aaron Landis.

It is the world's first normative and systematic written code, the basis of all laws in later generations, and plays a decisive role in the legal history of the entire world.

The Code of the Wise King is also the proof and symbol of Aaron Landis as an ancient civilization with a long history.

………………

King Garlan.

Aaron Landis is the thirty-sixth king.

Reigned for five years.

Because of his fair and wise governance, compassion and compassion for his people, he was deeply loved by the people.

He was honored as the wise king by future generations.

In just five years, he created many origins in Aaron Landis, like a miracle, leaving a strong mark on world civilization.

Therefore, later historians called this era the "Miracle Age of the Wise King".

The author has something to say: ……

………………

A strong desire to survive is the end of history, not the end of the whole story.

…………

Also, regarding the issue that some friends said that Heimos took away Garlan’s achievements.

I want to say that merit cannot be taken away.

Heimos is remembered by history as the great emperor for his unified achievements. He is not the only one. There will definitely be emperors with similar achievements to him in the descendants of Aaron Landis.

But what Garlan left to future generations was civilization and spirit.

He has been remembered by the people of Aaronlandis as a faith, and has also been remembered by history as one of the symbols of Aaronlandis civilization.

...Hmm...for example.

The Great Wall or Qin Shihuang, who do you think can become a better symbol of civilization and spirit?