"Sintel, you need to stay calm. Don't get worked up! We're in this together, and we'll definitely have to find a chance to act! But before we act, we have to think it through! Impulse will only turn us into blind wasps, attacking at random, and then we'll be slapped dead in one blow!..."
"Izel, you want me to stay calm, but in this situation, how can I possibly stay calm? The taxing rights of our family city-states have had the royal house and the priesthood thrust into them; the armies of the city-state legions are either constantly being conscripted away by the Divine King, or being ground down at the front under supervision; the grain, supplies, and people accumulated by the city-states are being requisitioned in an endless stream with a single King's Order... This is forcing us great city-state nobles onto a road with no way out!..."
The bonfire flickered, illuminating the savage face of the Glory noble, Reed Clan Chief Sintel, twisted with fury. This once bold and nimble veteran noble had already been tormented beyond recognition in both body and mind by the Divine King's ever-advancing centralization reforms. With an irresistible tide, the Divine King kept pressing the Reed clan, stripping away the tax authority and military power of their city-state fief bit by bit!
Over these past ten-plus years, the Reed clan, which had once governed a state and enjoyed strong autonomy, had been like a spiked Golden Pineapple: its thorns removed, its skin pared away, its flesh scraped off layer after layer, leaving only the last hard, dry pineapple core! And now, even that final core might not be preserved!
"If the Main God knew what I'd been through, he would shed bloody tears of battle too! Izel, I'm at the front line. Not