Chapter 176

If an epidemic were to spread, it could become quite troublesome.

The next day.

As planned, 'Vainay' announced the alliance between the Augustus Empire and the Kingdom of Lotte. Immediately afterwards, Amabena also made a public statement, indicating that the Kingdom of Lotte had officially withdrawn from the Northern Coalition and signed an alliance with the Augustus Empire.

The shockers were satisfied with the news.

The nobles and ministers within the empire were astonished by the Empress's methods. She punched the Old Emperor, trampled on the Fifth Princess, and silently made Magana willing to serve her. She had only just taken office when the Kingdom of Lotte was already conquered.

Although they publicly claim to be allies, they are essentially tacitly acknowledging a subordinate relationship.

After all, we're not all from rural areas with internet access. We've all heard a bit about the situation in the Northern Coalition recently, but we never expected that the one helping Lot in the fight would be the Holy Blood Legion led by 'Shally'. This Demon Legion is quite famous even within the Empire.

The fact that 'Shally' entered the Kingdom of Lotte a long time ago means that the Empress has been plotting to unify the Northern Continent for a long time!

To be fair, this move did win over a lot of public support for 'Vainay', at least proving that the new emperor of the empire was not just a pretty face.

In fact, there were quite a few warmongers within the Augustus Empire. The Augustus Empire had been powerful for so many years and had long had the strength to expand outwards. However, the Old Emperor never had the mind to do so; he had grown old and lost his ambition.

Otherwise, why would a mere Kainter dare to cross the border and plunder? Do they think they're barbarians?

With the rise of Veldria, Augustus's situation is not optimistic, and he urgently needs a strong emperor to lead the empire out of its predicament.

Therefore, the significance of this news is far greater than it appears on the surface. Even Grand Duke Magana gave it a high evaluation. "That woman is quite formidable."

The Augustus Empire cheered, but the Northern Coalition was dumbfounded.

The previously retreating allied forces were relentlessly attacked and harassed by 'Shally,' suffering heavy losses due to lack of supplies and a complete lack of fighting spirit. They finally managed to withdraw from the territory of the Kingdom of Lotte, while the other countries were busy blaming and cursing each other. Upon hearing this news, they were all dumbfounded.

Although the allied forces were defeated by the Kingdom of Lotte, they were still planning a counterattack. All they could do was give Elvian an order, and the main force of Wildea would come and wipe out Lot.

As a result, Loth turned directly to the Augustus Empire, making the situation suddenly unpredictable.

The Northern Coalition immediately issued public statements, accusing the Kingdom of Lotte of "betraying its own people" and letting a wolf into its house.

As for their recent battle with the Kingdom of Lotte, it was explained as a military intervention aimed at stabilizing the situation in Lot, an internal matter of the Northern Coalition. The intention was good, but the two sides ultimately failed to reach an agreement.

Ryan's assessment was that he was shameless.

Of course, the one who was most furious was Elvian, whose plan to accelerate the unification of the Northern Coalition by the Kingdom of Lotte had fallen through due to Lot's defection.

Wildernessa.

Inside the magnificent castle and palace.

Elvian sat on the throne, her expression indifferent.

"Amabena, I never expected her to have sided with the Augustus Empire."

"Shally is a general of the Augustus Empire, so it seems this was premeditated. It's a pity, if only the old king could have held on for another year, even just one more year..."

Although there are no "what ifs" in life, Elvian couldn't help but think that if the King of Kingdom of Lotte were still alive and Amabena hadn't ascended to the throne, her plan would have been realized long ago.

Thinking about it this way, she actually lost to that useless king, Amabena?

"Your Majesty," an old man bowed in the palace, "Perhaps we can speak with Amabena, promise to help her stabilize the kingdom's situation, and guarantee that there will be no more military control, so that the Kingdom of Lotte can return to the Northern Coalition."

No sooner had he finished speaking than a minister hissed, "Alfred, are you asking His Your Majesty to bow down to that good-for-nothing king?! If that's the case, where is the dignity of Wildea?"

"Useless? Ha~ If Amabena were truly useless, would she have thought of escaping the royal city immediately? Would she have thought of seeking help from the Augustus Empire immediately? What if all of this was part of her plan?"

The old man Alfred, said calmly, "If bowing our heads could unify the Northern Coalition, then what's the point of bowing our heads? The most important thing right now is to establish the Verdea Federation, and the Kingdom of Lotte is a key step. If Augustus uses the Kingdom of Lotte to attack us, that would be the worst-case scenario."

The minister frowned and said, "It's not that simple. We have already promised other countries to divide up the territory of the Kingdom of Lotte. Now we are going back on our word. What will the other countries think? They have put in a lot of effort in this matter."

"Contribute your strength? All I saw was 30,000 allied troops being routed by 5,000 enemy soldiers. They were nothing but a rabble." Alfred scoffed. "How many of those men actually wanted to contribute? Or did you, Duke Nock, promise someone benefits, and now you're in a difficult position?"

"Alfred, what nonsense are you talking about!"

"Enough!"

Elvian gave a soft shout, interrupting their conversation.

She looked at Alfred: "Teacher, if we want to negotiate peace with the Kingdom of Lotte, what would be the best course of action?"

"If we're going to negotiate, we should show sincerity. It would be best if His Your Majesty spoke with her personally," Alfred pondered. "The Kingdom of Lotte was forced to submit to Augustus. On the surface, they have Augustus's protection, but what will happen after they become a vassal state? Amabena should understand this clearly. If she's not at ease, we can sign a treaty. All we need is the right for our troops to enter the Kingdom of Lotte. It doesn't matter who controls the Kingdom of Lotte."

"Moreover, if we can reach an agreement with Amabena, we can even work together from the inside to eliminate Shally and her Holy Blood Legion in one fell swoop, thus crippling Augustus."

Elvian nodded slightly. "I can try to talk to her, but... teacher, do you think there's any hope of me winning over Shally?"

Alfred immediately shook his head. "Your Majesty wants to win her over? No, it's too dangerous. That Shally uses the power of the Blood God; she's cruel and her will is undoubtedly strong. You can't sway her. If we miss this opportunity and let Shally go back, it will be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains, which would be a huge threat to Wilderia."

"Alas~ Her abilities... I truly admire them, it's a pity that such a talent belongs to Augustus."

Elvian sighed regretfully.

"Your Majesty, the enemy's hero is my enemy."

"I know, Amabena, I will contact him... Nock, you keep an eye on Augustus's movements for me, and also tell those kings that not just anyone is qualified to join the Verdea Federation. If they are all thinking of taking advantage, then I will not make any promises to them."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"You may all leave."

Elvian waved for the two to leave.

After a while, a knight in silver armor entered the palace.

"Your Majesty, the Moonlight Knight Order have assembled. The Second, Third, and Fourth Legions together number 80,000 men, while the First Legion remains in place."

"Very good... By the way, how is the class inheritance situation for the new recruits? How many of them are Moonlight Knight this batch?"

"Your Majesty, there are three."

"Only three?" Elvian frowned, clearly dissatisfied with the result. "That's too few. We're about to go to war with the Augustus Empire, Moonlight Knight Order must be at their best."

"Yes... However, Your Majesty, among this batch of new recruits, there is a very special individual who activated the power of the ruins as soon as she entered."

"Oh?" Elvian was taken aback. "She's also Moonlight Knight?"

"No, she hasn't completed the job change yet. According to Mel, that person has been inside for a day and hasn't come out yet."

Elvian frowned.

One day, about the same time as hers back then, could it be a special professional inheritance?

However, it's also possible that they died inside the ruins.

After all, professional succession is not 100% safe, and there have been many cases of injuries and deaths in the past.

"What's her name?"

Avril.

"Pay close attention to her. Bring her to me immediately once Avril emerges from the ruins!"

If the Knights could produce another Night Knight, the impact would be enormous.

It must be the moon goddess's blessing, protecting me, Wildea, and allowing me to unify the Northern Continent... Elvian's lips curled up slightly, a smile appearing in her golden eyes. Although the Kingdom of Lotte's plan had failed, it was not a big deal. As long as Wildea was strong enough, she would eventually make everyone submit.

Achoo!

Baron, the Iron Blood Army camp.

Ryan rubbed his nose and muttered, "Strange, could someone be eyeing me?"

"The Ryan brothers! The Ryan brothers!"

Everson's roar could be heard outside the tent.

"What's wrong?"

"We've broken camp! The Grand Duke says we're returning to the Western Territory immediately!"

The Iron Blood Army has completed its mission in Baron. There are now 7,000 heavy cavalrymen left. They need to be brought back to the Western Territory as soon as possible, otherwise they will suffer greatly in the fight against the Western Barbarians without them.

Ryan planned to go to the Western Territory first to see if there was any way to resolve the issue of the Great Plains. As for the Kingdom of Lotte, he would have to use a ritual to open the Chaos Space and teleport there directly, which would be more expensive but would save time and effort.

"Isn't there any way to take advantage of the teleportation ability of Chaos Space?"

The Rhea Continent is too big. In the future, traveling around by train won't be enough. Perhaps when supernatural powers are fully applied to industry, airships or something similar will appear, but the speed will definitely not be too fast.

The unique nature of the Chaos Space allows for long-distance spatial teleportation, but unfortunately, unless it is achieved through the power of sacrifice and divine intervention, humans would be completely unable to distinguish east from west or north from south.

"Brother Ryan, need any help?" Everson, with his giant-like frame, squeezed in, glanced at him, and asked, "I'll get a few people over to help you tidy up."

"No need, there's nothing there, just put it in the storage bag."

"Oh, I'll get back to work then. The Grand Duke said we'd be meeting at 2 o'clock sharp."

Ryan tossed his things into his backpack, stepped out of the tent, and saw that the entire camp had been mostly tidied up.

He walked to Magana's tent, where the Grand Duke was holding a magical letter. Upon seeing Ryan outside the tent, she put the letter away.

"Your Grand Duke, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," Magana waved her hand, then added, "It's about the Hand of Darkness."

"The Hand of Darkness?"

Ryan didn't ask any further questions. It seemed that Magana held an important position within the Hand of Darkness and could even mobilize Hand of Darkness forces throughout the entire Empire.

However, she doesn't usually seem to deal with matters of the Hand of Darkness. If it weren't for the operation against the Blood Cult last time, Ryan wouldn't have known that Magana was so capable.

Speaking of which, the Hand of Darkness, as one of the five heretics defined by Gate of Janus, has influence throughout the continent. If Magana had any ambitions, mobilizing this force to help her seize the throne should have a high success rate.

However, Magana rarely has anything to do with the Hand of Darkness in her daily life.

Ryan tried to recall the game information, but couldn't remember anything.

"It's nothing much. It's just that the Dark Pope wants me to seize control of Augustus and help the religion develop." Magana snorted. "Do Grand Duke need him to tell me what to do? Those guys don't care about governing the empire. They just want to collect faith. I don't get along with them and I won't listen to them."

"Will... everything be alright?" Ryan asked worriedly. Generally speaking, religious groups like this are quite fanatical, and it's not impossible that they'd rather die than complete a mission.

"Don't worry, now they have to rely on me. Hmph, it's all that Vainay's fault for promoting the Sun God. The Gate of Janus was troublesome enough as it was... Oh well, let them worry about it themselves."

Magana walked out of the tent. "Let's go, Ryan. We're going back to the Western Territory."

"Good."

Ryan pondered for a moment. It seemed he should have 'Lin Qi' keep a close eye on the Hand of Darkness's actions. The Grand Duke was straightforward and easily offended people. It was easy to dodge a spear in the open but hard to guard against a hidden arrow. He might be targeted by someone.

Half an hour later, the Iron Blood Army finished packing and boarded the train to the Western Territory.

Ryan sat on the train and found a secluded spot to play video games.

"Avril's legacy mission should be almost finished today."

In the interface, 'Avril' is still fighting, ttk, yzmttk, almost a day has passed.

After fighting her way through the main hall of the ruins, 'Avril' passed through a place that resembled a rift in the Inner World, which, according to the game's hints, should have led her to the location of a hidden class's inheritance.

Once you get here, the style changes immediately.

An ancient and desolate atmosphere filled the air; it was still a ruin, but clearly another Inner World.

Avril's assessment tasks were quite troublesome. At first, it was combat, then it was finding items, and now it's fighting a boss. The combat was alright; she just needed to rely on her strength. Finding items was the most troublesome, wasting half a day of her time.

And then, right now.

A Magic Creature resembling a deer is attacking Avril.

[Moon Deer lv22]

The level isn't high, but it's still a second-tier lord-level character. Avril, on the other hand, is level 18 but hasn't changed jobs yet. Her only skill is Agility, which Ryan taught her, so fighting her is quite difficult.

Anyway, Ryan felt that if he were in that situation, he would have been completely finished long ago.

Fortunately, the AI was truly amazing, managing to slowly whittle down the moon deer to death using only basic attacks.

You killed the moon deer.

[Congratulations on passing the professional assessment. Please place the Moon Stone on the altar.]

Following the prompt, Avril walked towards the broken altar and placed a crescent-shaped stone she had found in the second part of the quest inside. As the array on the altar was activated, a milky-white beam of light fell from the moon goddess statue directly in front of her, landing on Avril.

[Character Avril has successfully changed her class to Starry Knight.]

"?"

Ryan was taken aback.

"Isn't he the Night Knight?"