Mountain and Forest Kingdom

Outside was the silence and darkness of the snowy world, and inside the room was the dim light due to the mist.

Lawrence sat in the warm hot water pool and took a bath, closing his eyes quietly.

The foreign princess sitting next to him did not attract Lawrence's attention.

Several dark elf maids with their hair in a bun quickly came in and helped Lawrence relieve the fatigue accumulated during the journey.

Mei Xier quickly made way for him, watching the scene with some curiosity, shyness and nervousness.

Lawrence did not do anything indecent, he was very tired.

Emma came in with a bath towel and comb and other things, and sat by the pool where Lawrence was leaning to tidy up Lawrence's hair.

"Master, you have been out for a long time this time. Did a lot of things happen there?"

Lawrence closed his eyes and said "um" softly.

"It took several months to deal with some trivial matters this time. I don't have to worry about the affairs of the West for at least a few years."

"There are also a lot of things to deal with in the South and the East, but there is no rush. For a long time in the future, the main thing is to deal with the affairs of the Ice Land."

"Let's talk about it later. There is no rush."

Emma said gently: "Yes, Master."

Lawrence took a simple bath and quickly got up and left the bath. Before leaving, he looked at Mercier, who had never been able to get a word in.

"I have sent someone to send a return gift to your kingdom. You can live here with peace of mind in the future, or you can go to the monastery and the Saint's College to study and visit."

"But this is my private bathroom. Tomorrow I will arrange for someone to help you build a bathroom in your room. It will definitely be smaller, but it will be enough."

Mesier said quickly: "Yes, great prophet."

Lawrence went back to his room to rest and had a good sleep with Sophia, Sariel, Catherine and Emma.

In the early morning, the warm sun outside shone into the glass windows of the castle and shone on the head of the bed.

Lawrence sat up slowly, looked at the women around him who had not woken up yet, and looked out the window again.

It looks like it will be a good day today.

There are still one or two months before the Eternal Night, and there are many things to do this winter, such as researching food, taking care of children, understanding the current teaching progress and teaching staff, and looking at the research results of witches.

Lawrence began to get up and exercise.

After not coming back for a while, the guards who changed shifts did not change much. After finding An Yuer and Candice to understand what happened during this period, they soon returned to the same as before.

In the afternoon, Lawrence and his family chatted in the warm living room.

In the evening, they talked with the nobles who made pilgrimages to Oak City this year.

Andersen and Green, who have become teenagers, came from the town of Pumice.

Lawrence decided to talk, so he called several children in the family.

Including Andersen, the child of Deren, Green, the child of Cassandra, and Iso, the child of Catherine.

Aladdin, the child of Stella, Athena, the child of Rastana, and Edward, the child of the Queen.

Because there were too many children, Lawrence only let these children and Aruchu brothers and sisters come.

Sophia and others also came to the living room. They felt very strange when they saw that in addition to the children and their mother, there were also shepherdess Torrevi and Lana Yubao.

"Bull and Dana are here too." Salil came down from upstairs and looked at this strange group. "What does Lawrence want to say? Meeting?"

Deren sat on the sofa on the side and said nonchalantly: "You will know later."

Lawrence also came down from upstairs. After seeing that everyone had arrived, he smiled and said: "No need to get up, eat something to warm up your body while listening to what I say to remember."

Tasna stood next to Bull, Bull and Ms. Losanda sat together, and there was Khalan next to them.

Lawrence said, "When I was busy at Flying Fish Harbor this year, the Knight of Orange Hill found me and reported a very bad news to me."

"The mayor of the town, Hall, died in bed. When his wife called him to get up, she found that he had no breath."

The others didn't feel anything after hearing it. Even the shepherdess and Bull didn't feel too sad about such a common thing.

For most people, this is definitely not good news, but it's not very bad news either.

"Who is Hall?"

I don't know who asked curiously.

Lawrence sighed and waved to Yu Bao.

Yu Bao quickly left Lana's legs and came to Lawrence.

Lawrence asked Yu Bao to sit next to him, put Yu Bao on the sofa with both hands, and handed Yu Bao a piece of sugar cube.

Soon Lawrence put his hands in front of him and held the hot tea handed by the maid, showing a somewhat emotional expression.

"I don't have many friends anymore. When I was managing and checking the things at Flying Fish Harbor, I also thought about many things, including the future of Star Country."

"I was thinking that if one day I was gone, Star Country would continue to grow stronger, and someone would continue to do many things in my name, whether good or bad."

"It was me who made people believe in me and made many people fight for me, but after I die, this contract will still be in effect for a long time."

Lawrence raised his head and looked out the window.

"If I leave, will this country be as smooth as it is now when it needs to take action against foreign countries?"

Andersen quickly said: "Father, our attack on the Holy Light Church went very smoothly. The people there are no match for us. We will knock down all the population and land in the south in one or two years at the latest!"

Lawrence shook his head, "That's what I'm worried about. It's going so well now because I'm here to stabilize the rear, and I have used all kinds of hard work and dedication to stabilize the situation, so that the people in the Ice Land will not suffer from the war."

"If one day comes the time when everyone must contribute, for example, everyone must send people to fight."

"For example, the monastery will send women who can fight. For example, for the so-called victory and glory, Lana and Yubao will also go to the battlefield, and the craftsmen and Hayate will also go to the front line to fight."

"Everyone took up arms and marched toward the battlefield, dying in the water or ditches for victory."

Lawrence put the tea cup on the coffee table and reached out to touch Yu Bao's head.

Yu Bao looked at Lawrence ignorantly, and could feel Lawrence's concern.

Lawrence looked at Andersen, and also at the witches such as Lathander and Heidi opposite.

"I have never taught Yu Bao to fight. It's not that I don't have the ability and ideas, but I don't want this child to go out and take risks."

"This protection may be a bit bad for many children. It will cause them to lose the opportunity to grow and lose their glory."

"But when I think about the day when my children and people will go to war and fight without knowing anything about it, I feel that I have to do something."

"I stayed in Feiyu Port and the West for so long this time just to think of ways to avoid this kind of thing."

"Not only will it avoid meaningless wars and defeats, but it will also prevent me from having any accidents. I will take good care of my body so that I can live longer than you all. This is the best protection for many children."

Lawrence said to Andersen: "I will give you a chance to prove yourself. Take my soldiers and generals to fight in the south. The noble blood flowing in your body should not be buried."

"But the main reason I called you here today is to let you know what I think. I have to tell you what I will do and what I will not do."

"So that you will not be deceived in the future or misunderstand what I mean. You are all my family and trusted partners. I think I must make this clear to you."

Kahalan asked doubtfully: "You don't want to start a war?"

Lawrence explained: "I am not afraid of war, nor am I afraid of war, but I do not want you to be involved in wars, wars provoked by people with ulterior motives."

"I believe that when enemies appear outside, Yubao and many others will bravely stand up to protect our homeland, but what is victory? How do you understand victory? And how do you distinguish the root cause of war?"

Salil replied directly: "We can't tell. These are the things you are doing. It's hard to understand."

"It's not difficult to understand." Lawrence smiled and said, "It's just that you often don't want to calm down and think."

Lawrence selfishly did not want his family and children to be involved in the war.

A pure-blood wizard like Andersen would definitely not be afraid of war, or even the initiator of war.

Because he feels the changes in the future and the motivation for foreign war as the country becomes increasingly powerful, Lawrence must solve various hidden dangers.

Lawrence's bottom line is to prevent children like the nuns and Yubao who have no war ability from being involved in the war.

Although Yubao and some of the nuns are indeed powerful, they are not smart.

They believed in themselves, and Lawrence did not want to betray this trust, nor did he want these children to become tools in the hands of others.

"I have my bottom line, and everyone also has their own tasks. For example, the task of the nobles is to protect the people and territory in the territory, and the task of the merchants is to circulate goods and even out the wealth rather than converge it."

Lawrence thought a lot about the future, and finally found that the only solution might be to live a few more years.

No matter what the system is, it will eventually become a distribution system. If it is supported by an idea, it will be much better, but the sea of ​​stars is a bit empty.

Andersen asked: "Father, what do you want us to do? I don't understand."

Lawrence sighed: "I just want the people around me to live a good life, because you already have a good life, so you don't understand my thoughts."

"You have grown up and need to go out and see the outside world and see more people and things, whether they are good or bad."

"This winter I will sort out political content at home, prepare teaching materials for you to read, and tell you how to understand my ideas."

Lawrence waved his hand, "Go to Oak City to rest and get to know the lords and nobles outside. In the future, you will need a group of trustworthy partners to go on adventures outside."

"Yes, father." Andersen agreed.

Lawrence didn't want to talk too much about boring things, and said to the others: "Don't worry, I pay great attention to health knowledge. Rather than believing that someone can do better than me in the future, I would rather believe that I can always do it." To rule."

Sophia showed a happy look, "Master, you and Will have been studying the matter of immortality, and the Holy Light Church has also studied something, right?"

"Will is studying this, and there should be results next year, or maybe even longer." Lawrence explained: "Will is not an impatient person, and his research also takes time."

"Take your time, leave the war to those who are willing to fight, and you can continue to live a stable life."

Will, the wizard, is studying the achievements of the Holy Light Church in the south, while Lawrence is stabilizing people's livelihood and taxation in the west.

There is no need to worry about war. The Ice Land is not short of military geniuses, nor commanders who have grown up in the flames of war.

People's livelihood, military, culture, technology, and entertainment are all steadily improving, and Lawrence is about to bring political ideas that are in line with the current era.

Spread your political ideas in the dual identities of king and church prophet.

The changes in political ideas of many dynasties come from struggle and game.

But human history will always move forward in repetition.

Lawrence feels that it is more important to continue to live than to teach others politics.

After all, what is handed over to others will also be transformed into a modified version that is beneficial to them by the next generation of ruling class.

But some ideas must be left behind, and while leaving ideas behind, a material foundation to match them must also be established.

Only when the material foundation and strength match, the relevant political ideas will have soil to maintain.

Equality for all cannot appear in an era of underdeveloped materials.

There has never been such a thing in the Land of Ice. Lawrence and the base of the Land of Ice are naturally dozens of times higher than the refugees from outside.

Lawrence himself can even define whether others are his own people at will.

Because he was worried that his family members around him would be used and deceived, Lawrence spent a lot of time thinking about various systems and means this year.

After thinking for a long time, he found that no matter how powerful the ideas and systems are, they will not work without people.

Once people are gone, those things that protect their own people will turn their own people into tools and weapons.

Lawrence doesn't want Yu Bao and the children to take up arms one day and die in a conspiracy.

Why to fight, why to fight, and to figure out why the war happened, what to get after victory, and what to do after victory, these are all things that need to be figured out.

People like Lana who are not affected by the prophetic thoughts, Lawrence believes that there is a need for existence.

Of course, the most important thing is to protect yourself well. Lawrence decided to live longer than the few remaining partners.

Pig the boar, Gale the giant wolf, Yubao, and the witches around him.

If possible, they should live longer than the Elf Queen!

Keep healthy! Keep healthy! Keep healthy! (End of this chapter)