Throne of the North

Twin Cities, above the ruins.

The living believers knelt quietly in a circle, clasping their hands in front of their chests, lowering their heads and constantly chanting and praying.

In the center of the circle they formed, there were nearly 20,000 corpses. The corpses were covered in white robes. One after another, believers walked into it, lay down quietly, and covered themselves with the clothes of faith.

What can be seen is that almost every believer lying on the ground has a crack in his head, while the believers who are alive and praying around have their heads intact, and at most they have bloody terror on their bodies. However, under the healing spell, Their injuries were nothing.

They prayed quietly, and with their calls, they passed through the dusk, passed through the night, and came to the morning light of the next day.

When the first ray of morning light shone down, all the corpses on the ground, those dead believers of the morning sun, began to burn with holy flames.

"The great Lord, the glory of the morning, will lead them into the kingdom of heaven and enjoy eternal life."

Pastor Soto stood here solemnly with gray hair, devoutly watching the power of the morning light take away all his dead believers.

In this extraordinary world, a world where gods truly exist, such miracles make the surviving believers even more pious and fanatical.

However, Pastor Soto knows that these believers may not live long. Their vitality has been consumed too much in this war. After surviving, they can only live for two or three years at most. Those who consume less may be able to live for seven years. Eight years, but no longer.

They would not have any doubts, but would think that it was the Lord of the Dawn who, because of their participation in the holy war, called them to the eternal kingdom of heaven to serve the great Lord.

They will get through the next days without illness or disaster, and then go to the Lord of the Morning in peace.

One miracle after another will make the majesty of the Holy See even greater. This holy war will ultimately be their victory...

Thinking of this, Pastor Soto fell silent. He didn't know whether this holy war was a victory. Although they had solved countless Dusk Familiar, he still escaped, and that Williams, who was watched and blessed by Dusk. Guy, he's not necessarily going to die.

Such a result was not what he wanted to see, and he didn't know how to explain this matter to the Holy Mountain.

The Pope may not necessarily know that the dusk power god has lost part of his consciousness, and that his own magic has lost his divinity. The pope may not be able to sense the power god in this world through the Holy Mountain.

"As long as I don't tell, no one will know..."

Someone saw Hernan leaving... Thinking of this, Pastor Soto had a headache. He couldn't wait to return to the Holy Mountain to bathe in the holy glory and cleanse himself of the gaze of dusk.

But he may not be able to leave now. If Hernan and Williams come back, he may never be able to leave the Holy Mountain and will be imprisoned under the Holy Mountain to atone for his sins.

Thinking of that ending, Pastor Soto couldn't help but feel fear.

He looked at the Twin Cities. Most of this city had been broken, but it seemed that it was still not enough at this moment.

"This is the place of belief in alien gods. Evil beings spread their faith here and spread mortals to become his dependents. This is an unforgivable sin. This land has been contaminated with the breath of heresy."

He opened his mouth to speak, and soon there were clergymen around him calling enthusiastically.

"Burn it!"

A fire burned in the ruins of the Twin Cities. Except for the city wall with a huge gap, all the buildings were knocked down and destroyed. The only survivors of the Twin Cities watched the Holy See destroy their homes, except Apart from the pain, I dare not have any resistance.

They were afraid that they, like those who clamored, would be thrown into the flames as heretics and burned to ashes.

The fire continued to burn for three days after tens of thousands of Vatican believers left. During this period, the natives of the Twin Cities tried to extinguish the flames. However, with limited manpower, they were unable to extinguish the increasingly raging flames. Instead, they continued to burn again. A number of people died in the fire and smoke.

The mighty sky was also tainted with a layer of haze because of the fireworks in this city. The holy war of the Holy See did not lose anything from the Holy See. Instead, the Kingdom of Andara completely lost a large city connecting the east and west sides.

Thousands of civilians were displaced, and their final destination may be to become slaves in a territory, or to continue living in another place with the last bits of money obtained from the Twin Cities.

Under the thick smoke, only the superficial glory of the city remained. No, even the superficial glory was no longer glorious. The large gaps in the east and west walls were the remains of the Holy War of Faith.

The army of the Holy See will go to the west to help Daryl's noble army fight against McReynolds, but it will not include those believers. Only the knights, priests, and missionaries who belong to the Holy See are truly extraordinary. There will not be too many of them. After all, the Kingdom of Andara The Holy See within the territory does not have its own army.

Their power is paid by the Holy Mountain and the Kingdom of Andara in the south, and they often use the army in the kingdom to help them do things. However, this time it is a holy war, and they are faced with the civil war in the Kingdom of Andara. In addition, the relationship between the Holy See and the Empire led to the conflict in the South. The balance between royal power and divine power is tilted, so the Holy See needs to use its own power to solve the problem of heresy.

However, the blessings and blessings brought by divine magic may give the upper hand in the war in the west. The Holy See and the Kingdom are so entangled that it is difficult to distinguish each other. Priests in wars are not uncommon.

Now that Grand Duke McReynolds has chosen the Empire and the King has chosen the Church, the priests are of course on the King's side, strengthening the army's combat effectiveness.

The only thing Grand Duke McReynolds can rely on now, apart from himself, is the Empire's Violent Elephant Corps, as well as some magicians and alchemists borrowed from the Empire's nobles to fight against the clergy of the Church.

If the Griffin Corps were not still strong, there would be almost no possibility of any victory for the Grand Duke.

It is impossible for the Griffin Corps to fight against the entire kingdom alone without suffering heavy losses.

The Grand Duke could not think of this, but Ryan had already seen it clearly.

After the followers of the alien god Surtur were annihilated, in Ryan's view, the only threat within the kingdom was Grand Duke McReynolds. Even the four noble lords in the south were defeated by the Violent Elephant Corps and were not within the scope of threat.

"The war of the kingdoms is only a compromise between the king and the Grand Duke. Either the royal authority will no longer exist, or the Grand Duke will lose the powerful Griffin Legion."

But any result represents the weakening of the Andara Kingdom's national strength, and it is likely to become the weakest of the eight kingdoms.

At that time, they will either rely on the Holy See with all their strength, or become puppets controlled by the empire...

The king chose the former, because at least the king's power will not disappear too much. Being ridden on the neck by the divine power has always been a tradition. The old king has not tried the feeling of being controlled by the royal power, so choosing the Holy See is not surprising.

"At present, it seems that the king will win against Grand Duke McReynolds, but the price is expensive. The Andara Kingdom will lose countless sovereignty, and the authority of the Holy See in the world will be further enhanced. Maybe it will recruit a Holy See-affiliated army in the Andara Kingdom."

This is almost foreseeable. Ryan doesn't know if there will be any extra variables.

He rarely came back to the frozen land territory because the snow was difficult to deal with. The North Gar River under the Rhino Horn Mountain could no longer hold snow. The weather was still cold and the snow would not melt.

Snow mountains had already piled up on the glacier. If it was transported to a farther place, the cost would be high and many people might die.

"Burn it."

Ryan ordered to melt the snow with fire, wasting a lot of firewood and even consuming magic crystals.

"If the snow does not melt, it will only bring more snow."

Ryan went to the mountains for reclamation again. Most of the snow on these peaks that were designated for reclamation terraces was piled up around them, leaving open land.

"When the weather warms up, go to the swamp to dig out the silt. Anyway, the road needs to be rebuilt, and the extra silt can be buried in the land to fertilize the land."

"All seeds must be planted one palm apart!"

The arrival of Ryan made the pioneering team very nervous. He didn't need to say anything reasonable. He just needed to show the majesty of the lord, which would naturally scare the serfs and make them hurry to open up the land.

"After the North Wind Avenue is repaired, we must also use those construction workers to repair the frozen soil, as well as the houses in those villages. Many of them were crushed by the blizzard in winter, and we must build them stronger and more reasonable villages."

Ryan had a headache. The more people there were, the more hurried he felt even if he was just setting a general direction.

No wonder the nobles were either powerful themselves or in charge of the authority in the territory, so the extraordinary road was short.

He hadn't exercised as a knight for several days. The North Wind Avenue was experiencing its final relief. He shuttled through the short Griffin Mountains. Even without the monsters, the mountains and forests that had not been disturbed by humans for hundreds of years were still rugged and random. He asked Count Pascal for a batch of gargoyles, but it still felt insufficient. Ryan almost threw those gargoyles in to drive in the living stakes.

There were no idea how many underground holes there were in the mountains and forests. Even the knights didn't know how many they stepped on, and they were in a mess.

Sometimes Ryan couldn't help but feel fortunate that his people were not native and spoiled natives of the Empire, but those who lived completely in the other plane after experiencing many years of disasters in the North.

Even if they became knights, they still worked hard and would not have much resentment and dissatisfaction because they were thrown by Ryan to build roads. If they were the knights born and raised in the Empire, they would probably have been talking about him behind his back, saying that the noble lord did not treat the knights as people, but as cattle and horses.

After returning to the frozen land, Ryan did not even stay in his castle for long. He continued to return to the eastern road. The warhorse galloped on the new road. Feeling the cold wind blowing across his cheeks, Ryan felt much more relaxed.

The news from the Andara Kingdom in the east came faster and faster. He could now receive letters from Viscount Fragoso in the construction team almost every day. The other party wrote so frequently because he was worried about the situation in the kingdom. If he failed, he, the viscount, would die in front of the king.

He was afraid and panicked. Even though he had been preparing for several years, he was still uneasy about the civil war and betrayal, so he wrote to Ryan to vent his emotions.

Ryan did not mind. At least he kept an eye on the situation in the Andara Kingdom through these letters. From the initial darkness, the intelligence he knew could be counted on one hand, to now he can skillfully say more than 80% of the names of the nobles in the kingdom.

The more he knew and the more intelligence he had, the more accurately he could analyze the direction of the Andara Kingdom and how he could participate in it and seek benefits.

His initial idea was to wait until the road was repaired, and then obtain the kingdom's wealth in the name of friendship, trade, and helping the kingdom to recover its vitality and prosperity.

However, with the deepening of recent exchanges with Viscount Fragoso, the attitude of this Viscount, who had never met, who was almost willing to marry his daughter to him, Ryan gradually understood that the decline of the royal family did not start in recent years.

More than ten years ago, there were already signs, but the king was still strong at that time. He was wise and powerful, and made the nobles in the kingdom united. No noble thought of opposing any order of the king. Even if they stayed in the palace, the nobles also respected the king's authority and admired his decades of hard work, which stabilized the kingdom's land and wealth.

At that time, no noble would have thought of today, but as the king grew older, the hidden dangers of the kingdom that he had suppressed were gradually exposed.

For example, the royal family has lost its legend, which is a very serious matter, but if the king's authority is still there, this may not be a desperate situation.

The key lies in the fall of the extraordinary army.

It is said that in a certain discovered alien world, the extraordinary army and the demon followers from the abyss fought for nearly ten years, wasting countless manpower and material resources, and the extraordinary army belonging to the royal family, the former palace knights, all fell in a war.

The royal family has lost the final legend, and the extraordinary army that suppresses all armies, so it pays attention to balance.

It is better to weaken the enemy than to strengthen oneself.

Perhaps in the initial time, the king also thought about using the foundation of the kingdom to re-establish the palace knight army, but time was too late. He gradually found that he was getting old. If he was young, he would definitely be able to force the new extraordinary army to unite into one.

But the old king could not suppress and control the knights of a new era. After all, the summons of those knights must have come from the tributes of various nobles.

After he discovered this problem, he only had one choice left, which was to weaken the overall strength of the kingdom and get everyone back on the same starting line, so that the royal authority could continue to be maintained.

Although the offspring was a bit useless, it was not impossible for them to grow up in such an environment and wait for the next generation and the next generation of kings to make Andara rise again.

But the only thing he miscalculated was that the times had changed. Grand Duke McReynolds would never allow the Griffin Corps to fall, even if he was still loyal to the kingdom.

The final result was that the negotiations between the Grand Duke and the old king broke down, and the civil war gradually broke out in a situation where both sides were desperate.

"So, it's not just Grand Duke McReynolds who is dissatisfied and suspicious of the royal family."

"Other nobles in the kingdom just stood on the side of the king under the residual power of the old king and the inertia of their loyalty to the royal family."

"In fact, there have been many conflicts in the kingdom for a long time, between nobles and nobles, between nobles and the king, and between lords and civilians living in the city."

"And... the number of extraordinary people in the Andara royal family is constantly decreasing. They seem to have difficulty maintaining a strong extraordinary inheritance. None of the king's heirs, those princes, are knights or magicians."

Ryan thought about the information sent by Fragoso and couldn't help being shocked by the result.

The royal family can't give birth to new extraordinary people.

Their bloodline, the continuous inheritance of their once powerful knights and magicians, was cursed and turned into a ruin that can't embark on the extraordinary path.

This is the most terrible contradiction in the kingdom now. If the royal family is no longer extraordinary, can they still be the object of loyalty of the nobles?

This is also the reason why the old king is so stubborn about weakening the supernatural power of the entire kingdom.

He is afraid that the royal family without supernatural powers will no longer be a royal family, so he is crazy about breaking the supernatural trump cards of other nobles to maintain the majesty of the Andara royal family.

"The curse of the devil from the abyss destroyed the Palace Knights Corps and cursed the blood of the Andara royal family so that they cannot embark on the supernatural path."

"The legend fell because of this, and the supernatural of the royal bloodline became fragile, and their dominance over the kingdom is constantly disappearing."

"The nobles are gradually dissatisfied with the benefits given by the king because he is oppressing the wealth of the nobles every year."

"If he dies..."

Ryan can now think that the Holy See must have tried every means to keep the old king alive.

The new king, Hernan, is no longer possible. I don't know if he is dead or not. Among the remaining princes, no noble will surrender in front of them and kiss the land in front of the king.

The loyalty of the nobles is wavering.

At this moment, Ryan suddenly felt that Grand Duke McReynolds might not lose.

The nobles were wavering on both ends of the scale. They were also thinking and trying to make a choice.

This would make the war less intense.

Ryan seemed to see himself entering the Andara Kingdom in another identity.

Inside the camp, in the tent, Ryan collected the Viscount's letters one by one and arranged for someone to send them back to the Frozen Territory for storage. This represented the friendship between the two nobles. They were not shameful assassins who would burn the letters with fire after reading them.

This is the foundation of the Ryan family's future. In-depth exchanges with every noble represent the trust of both parties, which can become part of the right to speak.

Shortly after the servant left, a shout like a tsunami finally came from the front, and soon, Master Ryan also got the news.

"The road is open!"

When Ryan came to the front, the powerful sanctuary, Mr. Rose Alchemist, floated in the thick, and metal particles surrounded him, like long snakes wandering around, and finally sank into the mountain below, stabilizing all the soil, stones and mud.