Old News

Victor was somewhat surprised by what Vitri's words implied. It made no sense for the Raine Kingdom to overthrow the Silver Maple Family's rule over the Grand Duchy, because the Raine Kingdom had no significant interests tied to the Grand Duchy of Vera.

Though the two sides could be considered neighboring countries, they were separated by Tears of God, a vast inland sea. This enormous body of water stretched across the continent from north to central regions, covering more than six million square kilometers and directly dividing the Eastern Region from the Central Region. Its climate was peculiar, and its waters were filled with undercurrents. The eastern and western shores had little contact beyond trade.

By comparison, the Raine Kingdom was more willing to expand into the Chaos Lands in the south-central part of the continent. This land was vast and lacked any powerful political entity, consisting only of Grand Duchies and large independent nobles who fought one another savagely. Yet when facing foreign enemies, they united tightly. With the Fas Kingdom in the west and the Barbarians of Skyline Grassland in the north holding them back as well, the Raine Kingdom's southward advance had been slow.

So Victor did not understand the point of the Raine Kingdom stirring up trouble in the Grand Duchy of Vera. It was neither a direction for expansion nor a matter of any deep-seated enmity.

Vitri seemed to understand Victor's hesitation and questions. He spoke directly to him. "Victor, you are well-read and have an excellent memory. You should know why the Grand Duchy of Vera became independent, shouldn't you?"

"Wasn't it because the East Sea Alliance turned a blind eye to the nobles who had been fighting the Barbarians in the north, enjoying the fruits of their bloody battles while refusing to pay the price?"

Vitri smiled. "That is true. But why did the East Sea Alliance head north in the first place? At the time, the Barbarians only occasionally came south to raid. As long as they held several key strategic points, they could have firmly blocked the Barbarians' attacks."

Victor did not find that strange. Although the harm caused by Barbarian invasions could have been prevented at a lower cost, the East Sea Alliance's circumstances at the time had forced it to develop northward. He had carefully studied that period of history and knew the reasons behind it well.

At the time, the East Sea Alliance was a state led by the Noble Council. There was no monarch commanding all affairs; everything was coordinated and handled through joint deliberation among the nobles. It was divided into upper and lower councils. The upper council consisted of representatives sent by eight noble houses of marquis rank or above, while the lower council consisted of more than two hundred small and medium noble houses. Normally, the upper council proposed resolutions, and if more than half of the lower council approved, the Alliance could carry out the resolution. If the lower council reached a two-thirds vote, it could directly veto the upper council's resolution. The two councils kept each other in check, and this system had indeed played a major role.

At the time, the East Sea Alliance had three possible directions of expansion: northward, to fight the Barbarians and open up land; eastward, across the Silver Moon Strait to attack the Scorching Sun Islands; and southward, to attack the Chaos Lands, which consisted of numerous Grand Duchies in the south-central continent. To the west lay Tears of God, the inland sea, leaving virtually no possibility for expansion.

The East Sea Alliance itself was a coastal nation with considerable naval strength. However, although the Xister Kingdom, which dominated the Scorching Sun Islands, had a small population and limited territory, it still relied on its home-field advantage to firmly block every probe the East Sea Alliance extended toward it.

Meanwhile, the several Grand Duchies in the Chaos Lands closest to the East Sea Alliance had always reacted swiftly to its tests. Whenever the East Sea Alliance showed any unusual movement, they immediately set aside their disputes and responded together.

And though the Chaos Lands were chaotic, their trade was developed and their land fertile. Because warfare had been frequent for years, the various small states were not weak. The East Sea Alliance had once dispatched two legions to launch a surprise attack on a border fortress of one Grand Duchy. They were blocked at once, then surrounded from behind after that Grand Duchy concentrated its forces. Both legions were wiped out, and the reigning marquis of the Papyrus Family, one of the eight upper council houses that had led the operation, was killed in battle as well.

With both the southeastward routes facing difficulties, the East Sea Alliance had no choice but to expand northward. Led by the Silver Maple Family, then one of the eight upper council houses, it began a fifty-year northern war.

At first, the many nobles of the East Sea Alliance had been united in purpose. Over more than thirty years, they expanded northward by over two hundred thousand square kilometers, completely occupied both banks of the Blackwater River, and stabilized the territory on its northern bank. This was part of the western region of today's Grand Duchy of Vera, as well as all of its Central Region and Eastern Region.

But later, they discovered that most of the meat was being eaten by the northern nobles of the East Sea Alliance, while the other nobles got, at most, a little broth. Those other nobles gradually stopped participating actively in the northern war, and fierce conflicts also erupted within the upper council. The Silver Maple Family was forced to abandon its ancestral lands and transfer all its strength to the newly conquered territory—the commanderies now directly subordinate to the Duchy in the Grand Duchy of Vera.

The surrounding countries, including the Xister Kingdom, the Grand Duchies of the Chaos Lands, and the Raine Kingdom across the sea, were all frightened by the East Sea Alliance's momentum in pushing its borders northward. One after another, they intervened to delay the Alliance's northern advance and tried to provoke divisions within it.

This continued into the fiftieth year of the northern war. The conflict between the northern nobles and the Alliance grew ever more severe, until, under the Silver Maple Family's leadership, more than fifty noble houses defected from the East Sea Alliance together and founded what would later become the Grand Duchy of Vera.

This directly ruined the East Sea Alliance's fifty-year northern strategy and cost it nearly all of its newly acquired territory. Though it made up for some of the losses by taking over the original lands of the northern nobles, this was still unacceptable to the East Sea Alliance. It directly organized a punitive force of ten legions to attack the Grand Duchy of Vera.

At the time, the Grand Duchy of Vera had only two hundred thousand square kilometers of land and a population of several million. It struggled greatly against the East Sea Alliance's punitive army. Fortunately, outside powers were all dragging the East Sea Alliance down. Relying on the superior quality of troops hardened by years of warfare, the Grand Duchy of Vera stretched out the front, defended, and counterattacked, defeating half of the punitive force in succession. It even counterattacked into East Sea Alliance territory and breached the domains of more than a dozen noble houses.

In the end, under mediation from neighboring countries, the East Sea Alliance grudgingly recognized the Grand Duchy of Vera. But the hatred between the two sides was deeply planted. The Grand Duchy of Vera had existed for less than eighty years, yet a major war broke out between them every few years.

This also firmly tied the Grand Duchy of Vera's strongest force, the Southern Noble Coalition, to the Southern Commanderies, indirectly causing Grand Duke Mora's disadvantage in the early stages of the war.

After sorting through this history, Victor said to Vitri, "The reasons back then are no secret. But things are different now. Compared with the Silver Maple Family and the nobles who supported them back then, Count Colt and the Northern Frontier Allied Army are far weaker."

Vitri smiled. "Of course. But we do not want the Iron Birch Family to become the new grand duke, and they do not wish to lead the Grand Duchy either. They merely want to go one step further, and gain more forces capable of supporting their northern advance."

Victor was suddenly startled. "Has the Raine Kingdom found a safe route across the inland sea?"