Praise the Light (5)

Nobles are all driven by profit.

Ryan was no exception.

In a war between two kingdoms, neither side achieving an absolute victory would be a good thing. If the Andara Kingdom completely defeats the Sera Kingdom, then the royal family's prestige will return to its peak.

War with foreign tribes is not terrible, but defeating traitors is the most inspiring.

The young King, who only knew how to rage all day, would be elevated to the pinnacle, and the nobles would see hope in him and unite around him to devise strategies.

Ryan would not underestimate the wisdom of nobles with the best education when they came together.

If the Sera Kingdom crushes the army of the Andara Kingdom with overwhelming force, the faith cohesion of the Church of Dawn will reach a new peak. Those hundreds of thousands of fanatical believers are not making any moves now, but once the war is won, the faith of the Lord of Dawn will be terrifyingly strong and pure.

Moreover, the victory in the war and the expansion of territory have calmed the already volatile noble conflicts within the Sera Kingdom. Grand Duke Carlos and Count Fragoso will enjoy peace for many years as they have gained more benefits.

Since they are not in charge, the conflicts between the nobles below them are all minor matters.

With their positions secured, Ryan's position as an outsider became less secure.

When the Church of Dawn issues its order, all of Baron Ryan's properties and wealth in the Sera Kingdom will likely become spoils of war for the Church of Dawn.

This is to avenge the humiliation that Ryan sold out the Dawn Believers in one fell swoop.

Seeking personal gain became the only option every nobleman had to choose in this war.

So, does this mean that only two royal families gained nothing from the war? No, they will also gain what they need.

The only losers are the families behind every soldier who dies on the battlefield.

Flames burned on Ryan's body, within which the phantom of a Dragons emerged. The dragon's dark golden eyes reflected Ryan's expressionless face and emitted an incomprehensible mockery.

"This is not called greed or insatiable desire."

Ryan reached out and crushed the Dragons's phantom. He had once again refined a portion of the Dragon Heart's power and spoke:

"This is the path I have walked."

"Made from bones."

"Slaves and commoners will not be the only ones among them."

"Even knights and nobles cannot shine among them."

The Dragons's phantom appeared once more, prostrate in a magnificent, ethereal palace, gazing thoughtfully at Ryan. At this moment, as the embodiment of greed and desire, the Legendary Dragons failed to perceive Ryan's thoughts.

He lost another battle with Ryan.

"How can the desires of Dragons compare to the greed of humans?"

In the instant the Dragons vanished, I vaguely heard Ryan's murmur.

Are Dragons less greedy and driven by desire than humans?

It just seemed funny. Ryan couldn't be bothered to explain to this guy who was long dead and whose skull had become a collectible in Ryan's ice cellar.

These Dragons, standing at the top of the food chain, have no idea what the beauty of power and enjoyment is. With such great superhuman strength, they are unable to form a brilliant civilization, yet they still want to drive Lord Ryan to become a lackey of desire.

Have you ever seen the world? Earth dragon.

"Once this war ends, the Andara Kingdom should be completely under my control, right?"

Ryan looked at his Spirituality Panel and saw that the "Giant Mammoth" entry, which had been so gray before, was no longer there. His eyes were full of anticipation.

The war continues.

The nobles' command was so arbitrary that the war seemed completely out of control. They would wave their hands and charge forward without any strategy, since the soldiers only had a spear in their hands.

Those who can afford to play with bows and arrows are extremely rare.

The military shouldn't be like this; ultimately, it's all due to the emergence of the Extraordinary Legion.

The Extraordinary Legion requires far too many resources, because they are consumed on the extraordinary knights, while the ordinary soldiers are exploited to the fullest extent possible.

Therefore, the stronger the Extraordinary Legion, the weaker the corresponding ordinary army.

Supplying a Extraordinary Legion requires not only the vast resources of the Otherworld, but also a large amount of resources gathered around the territories of noble lords.

Ryan's Frozen Earth Territory sold a lot of iron weapons to the Sera Kingdom, but 90% of them never appeared on the battlefield here.

The low combat effectiveness of the war gave minor nobles like the Kaeld room to maneuver.

Because on such a battlefield, all it takes to shine is one word—courage.

Everyone is afraid of death, and slaves on the battlefield are no exception, nor are regular soldiers. They become excited when they see the enemy out of fear, and they tremble when they see the enemy as a god of war.

The key difference between the two attitudes is courage.

How can we make soldiers brave?

It's actually quite simple.

"Kill one enemy, and I will promise you a month's worth of rations in the name of the nobility! Kill ten enemies, and I will give you weapons and enough rations to feed your entire family for a year!"

"Kill one hundred enemies, and you will be able to marry a daughter of my Valencia Family, become a true knight, and a member of the nobility!!!"

During the war, many nobles fled far away to the rear. They were afraid. The people of Kaeld were considered bold. Under the protection of knights, they shouted at their army.

Not only him, but also other noble soldiers in this circle received the promise.

Because the nobleman himself was not present, many soldiers were not in high spirits. However, as soldiers of the Kaeld, they were all full of energy, their faces flushed, as if they could already imagine themselves standing majestically on the corpses of the enemy and marrying a beautiful and wealthy woman.

"Kill those damned Andara people!"

"Kill them all!!!"

In a war between two kingdoms, the quality of ordinary soldiers is roughly the same. When one side displays a desperate and fearless attitude, the other side amplifies its fear.

When one person is strong and the other is weak, the difference may not be obvious, but when there are hundreds of people, the battlefield will become noticeably turbulent.

Looking down from the sky, one corner of the battlefield suddenly collapsed, and the soldiers, shouting loudly, pushed the winding battlefield Boundary Line forward by more than a hundred meters.

At this point, the soldiers on both sides would surround these soldiers who had penetrated deep into enemy lines and were doomed to die. But the problem was that neither side in this war had a qualified commander.

They can't see it.

The word remains the same: faced with the valiant soldiers, the soldiers of the Andara Kingdom from the three surrounding directions dared not approach too closely. They looked at each other, none of them willing to be the first to charge forward and fight to the death with those enemies who seemed to be on steroids.

They're scared.

Woohoo—

The bugle sounded, and the retreat was to be called back earlier today than yesterday.

"The pastor! Where's the pastor?!"

The knight, riding his horse, shouted and led a group of priests toward the passing army. The Healing Art of Dawn swept away even the most exhausted bodies, making them energetic and vigorous. Even the seriously injured warriors were spared.

"If more priests had followed us today, we could have killed even more enemies, and maybe even reached the lands of those noble banners!"

The minor nobles of the Kaeld began to raise their voices, and then, during the military conference that evening, they directly targeted the missionary Sven.

"We need the blessing of the priests of the Church. This war belongs to the Holy Church of Dawn. For the Faith of Dawn, we need the priests' help."

How could this war have been without the involvement of the Church of Dawn?

After all, under the Pope's orders, the clergy should be the ones most likely to take action. However, due to the special circumstances of the Sera Kingdom, after military power was converted into taxation power, the clergy have not been able to exercise their authority yet.

"For the glory of my Lord, the pastor will help you defeat even more enemies."

Merit and formidable fighting prowess can give minor nobles like the Kaeld more say in the game.

However, neither Grand Duke Carlos nor Count Fragoso could influence this matter.

Because their power cannot control the clergy of the Holy See, those clergy are completely free to disobey them. Sven is currently the temporary head of the Dawn Church's Sera Kingdom branch, so he naturally knows what to do.

Establishing merit was the first step, not the complete goal, for these minor nobles of the Kaeld. What followed was to compete for the right to speak in the war and to win more support from the clergy of the Church of Dawn for their army.

After that, use these benefits to gain more merits, demonstrating loyalty to the Dawn Faith and to His Majesty the King.

Naturally, their voice in the Sera Kingdom grew louder.

"What did you feed those soldiers? How could they be so brave?"

There weren't as many arguments at today's military meeting. After all, we won a small victory in the war, and when you have the advantage, everyone can be amicable.

The nobles' attention naturally fell on the greatest contributor to today's war. They were all nobles, yet their soldiers were not even as well-fed as theirs, and their Noble Title were even higher than the nobles'. So why was the nobles' army so powerful?

Is this reasonable? No, it is not. The nobles are thinking that if they could, they would take the good things from these minor nobles and make them their own.

Faced with the nobles' veiled questions, Kaeld was naturally unwilling to miss this opportunity to save face and enhance his standing in their eyes.

"Lord Ryan once said that the worst thing for soldiers on the battlefield is to retreat. When soldiers only have the option to advance, they can become stronger than the enemy."

No noble dared to doubt that they were all defeated by Ryan, and the Baron of the Northlands was the authoritative expert in this regard.

So, in another day of war, the nobles issued a death order: any soldier who retreated would be killed.

The effect was remarkable. In less than an hour, the army of the Andara Kingdom began to suffer a large-scale rout. The nobles of the Sera Kingdom were naturally overjoyed. The prohibition against retreating really worked!

They excitedly ordered their troops to pursue and kill the fleeing Andara forces.

"Lord Daryl, we have lost!"

On the Andara Kingdom's side, even if the nobles didn't understand much, they had still experienced those years of chaos in the kingdom. They could see the defeat on the battlefield and the Sera Kingdom's army that was charging towards them with shouts. The nobles were so frightened that their faces turned pale.

Daryl's face also looked grim; these troops were far too weak.

"Where is Count Kantra's army? Why haven't they arrived to provide reinforcements yet?"

Unlike the Sera Kingdom, the nobles of the Kingdom of Sera were not very enthusiastic about sending troops to the south to defend against the Sera Kingdom because the war in the previous years had greatly weakened the kingdom's nobles and the war with the Orcs the North the north had involved countless other things.

Arriving little by little, it's become the norm to travel slowly whenever possible.

Daryl was furious. Since the decline of the royal family, these nobles had become increasingly perfunctory, even showing such indifference in the face of war orders.

He must set things right and restore the prestige of the royal family to its former glory.

Thinking of this, Daryl subconsciously stomped his foot, and the huge rock instantly split in two.

Just then, a nobleman nearby shouted excitedly.

"The Death Legion is here!"

In the field of vision, huge banners fluttered in the wind. As the Count Kantra of the Andara Kingdom, who once had Extraordinary Legion, the Death Legion, although crippled in several wars, is still a war force far more elite than the slave army.

As a result, the soldiers of the Sera Kingdom who were eagerly pursuing the fleeing and routed army met with disaster.

"Hahahaha, you damned Andara people, you dare call us traitors? We'll kill you all and take all your wives!"

The sallow-faced, emaciated soldier let out a ferocious laugh, his expression becoming even more like that of a demon. The spear in his hand seemed to grow lighter as he desperately wanted to catch up and deliver a fatal blow to the fleeing boy in front of him from behind.

Then, in a split second, a flash of cold light appeared in mid-air, and a sharp Knight's Greatsword severed the spear, then cut the still-laughing soldier in half at the waist. The intense feeling of weightlessness followed by the terrifying pain brought the soldier back to his senses. Looking at his lower body, which had been trampled into a bloody pulp not far away, his despair instantly turned his face as pale as the frost of the Northlands.

"Kill!"

The Death Legion's slaughter of these slave armies was one-sided; despite their utmost efforts, these soldiers could not penetrate the armored knights.

Thus, following their great victory, the army of the Sera Kingdom suffered a crushing defeat.

As expected, after the day's battle ended, the nobles started arguing again.

The arguments were pointless; they were nothing more than the nobles shouting that if it weren't for them, things wouldn't have turned out this way or that way.

However, no matter how much they argued, faced with such overwhelming fighting power, these nobles had to admit that their strength was fundamentally inferior to that of their opponents.

Royal City.

"Your Majesty, the Griffin Legion must attack, otherwise our army will be unable to defeat the legions of those damned nobles of the Andara Kingdom."

The Andara Royal House has declined, but the military strength of the great nobles has not completely disappeared. The Andara Kingdom still has three or four powerful and weakened Extraordinary Legion.

What about the Sera Kingdom? The Divine Wind Legion, which originally belonged to Grand Duke Carlos, was trampled into a bloody pulp by the Rampaging Elephant Legion and mixed with the soil of the collapsed hillside. It is said that this year, that land is so fertile that people dare not approach it.

The remaining force is the Griffin Legion, which still maintains its Extraordinary Legion character.

In the royal city, King MacReynolds was still hesitating.

He wasn't worried about losses to the Griffin Legion, but rather that the Griffin Legion's deployment would bring the Andara Kingdom to its knees.

Even the combined Noble Allied Army in the the North, and several severely weakened Extraordinary Legion, were no match for the Griffin Legion —they were actually crushed by the Griffin Legion at their peak.

The Griffin Legion will surely defeat the Noble Allied Army of the Andara Kingdom if they march north, but what will happen after that?

The King of Andara would definitely be terrified and would call upon Grand Duke Leta, who was fighting the Rhino Orcs in the north, to use the Witch Ghost Legion to fight the Griffin Legion.

Regardless of the outcome in the south, the the North is bound to collapse. The Rhino Orcs might besiege the capital of the Andara Kingdom once again. Even if they fail to break through this time, the entire land of the Andara Kingdom will be filled with Orcs.

King MacReynolds, who became a Legendary Mages known as the "Wind Emperor," was certainly not merciful, and this would bring death and disaster.

What he was concerned about was that this war was already affecting the credibility of the Sera Kingdom. Under the Pope's orders, they had to wage war against the Orcs and against the Andara Kingdom, which was surrounding human territory.

Injustice!

It would be terrible to bestow this title upon the Sera Kingdom, as it would be detrimental to the Sera Kingdom's future standing in human civilization.

If the Sera Kingdom of war leads to the collapse of the Northlands defenses of the Andara Kingdom and the rampage of Orcs across human lands, then regardless of the outcome of the war, the nobles' opinion of the Sera Kingdom will plummet.

They might even loudly condemn and reject them, because doing so would elevate those nobles to a moral high ground.

In contrast, the Sera Kingdom is in a predicament they cannot express. They will face accusations from all the nobles of human civilization. It may seem like there is no direct impact, but people live in a collective civilization. The Sera Kingdom cannot close itself off from the world, so it will inevitably be subject to constraints everywhere.

The simplest and most intuitive point is that the goods sold to the empire's merchant guilds will be driven down to a minimum price before they can be sold.

He wasn't considering the damage the Griffin Legion's deployment would cause to the Andara Kingdom, but rather its impact on the Sera Kingdom.

Losing would be a serious problem, while winning would have unimaginable consequences.

It's tough.

King MacReynolds was still hesitant, but the the North couldn't hold out any longer, and besides, what were those clergymen of the Church anyway? They were all people with connections and influence, many of them had channels to contact the Holy Mountain.

They needed to prove to the Pope the loyalty of the Dawn Papacy's Sera Kingdom branch and their devout faith in the Lord of Dawn.

And then... the rebuke from the Holy Mountain soon followed.

"Why hasn't the Griffin Legion entered the war yet? This is a holy war, a holy war of faith! The damned Florian Empire has distorted the doctrines of our Lord and attempted to subvert our Lord's faith. Their sins are unforgivable, unforgivable!!!"

The Pope's anger was transmitted directly to the skies above the Sera Royal City through some extraordinary means, and many people heard it.

Anger flashed in the eyes of the Wind Emperor; he was King.

But he was helpless. Surviving in such a precarious situation meant being powerless to control one's own destiny. The Griffin Legion finally set off, their soaring wings and roars descending upon the battlefield at the border. The majestic Griffin descended from the sky without the knights on their backs having to lift a finger; their sharp talons could tear apart the bones of soldiers one by one.

(End of this chapter)