The Coming War

The month-long war against the Undead had left all of Salar silent.

William had no need for the players to patrol the country alongside his army. After eliminating the great nobles who believed William needed their support to rule, no one dared voice another objection.

Even as William completed the emancipation of slaves across the nation, conducted a census, and even allotted farmland to the former slaves.

Even Hill had to admit that William was a formidable man. He dared to act and took responsibility for his actions. He was worthy of respect.

In the reclaimed territories, William appointed large numbers of low-ranking officials. Though the retainers who had followed him through countless campaigns had all been granted noble titles, they received only farmland and estates. Their fiefs had been replaced with annuities.

William had people calculate the average annual income of nobles, from barons to dukes, and used that as the basis for the annuities.

Some of William's followers might have been dissatisfied, but they could only accept it. William showed no intention of asking for anyone else's opinion.

If those nobles still held government posts, they could also receive a considerable salary.

Once an official had served for thirty years, even after retirement, they could receive a pension equivalent to the highest grade of salary.

But before taking office, every official had to sign a contract at the Temple of Justice or a church: before the Gods, they swore never to violate Salar's laws, to remain upright and incorruptible, never use power for personal gain, never oppress commoners, and always perform their duties faithfully and diligently.

William pragmatically did not demand that they love the people as their own children, but he had largely closed off the paths to greed and corruption. He had made excellent use of the reality of divine existence.

Likewise, the military's treatment improved greatly. William directly abolished the old captain system and adopted a rank system, from soldiers to generals. The salary and allowance for every rank were clearly listed, set slightly above the pay of government officials at the equivalent level.

Hill silently compared it with the memories in his mind. William truly understood the Liberation Army's rank system very well.

Such massive reforms were accepted by Salar in silence.

Many people actually understood that this was not merely William's will. The demands of the Gods were no longer a matter of whether the people of Salar approved.

What they obeyed was not the decree of William the king, but the divine majesty behind him.

But if the God of Space-Time failed to withstand the attacks of the God of Nobility and Sovereignty and His Subordinate Gods, and failed to ascend to godhood, then everything William was doing now would become an unforgivable crime that would doom him forever.

The Undead's month-long war had only frightened off the nobles who wanted to come to Salar for profit. The loyal followers of the God of Nobility and Sovereignty, however, continued gathering in Hephasaldo.

The Legendaries they were waiting for were still several days away.

And William stood atop the walls of Keslote, the largest city along the Great Wall on Salar's southern border, under the gaze of all Salar.

Three Legendaries stood beside him: Legendary Mage Orlando Karl, Legendary Mage Zast Miller, and Legendary Knight Alphonse Zeman. The other two Legendary Mages had not come, remaining behind to guard the royal capital.

Adrian had always wanted to know what benefits the God behind William had offered to sway those three Legendaries. Otherwise, apart from Knight Zeman of the royal branch, the other two should also have chosen to remain and defend the royal capital.

Falan, however, keenly noticed that the two Legendary Mages who had acted were no longer young. They had stood at the pinnacle of Salar for too long, and many had forgotten that Legendary Mages could also grow old and die.

In a world without Undead creatures, death was eternal, unless one became a God.

But Mages studied laws, exploited laws, defied laws, and pursued freedom for their souls. Having lived as they pleased all their lives, they would absolutely never be chosen by the World Law as its spokespersons.

The only way for Mages to live long was to move the hearts of Gods and be granted the position of Subordinate God. Such so-called Subordinate Gods were either powerful assistants, given some minor divine portfolios by their Gods, or servants, like the angels of legend. Though they too were immortal, everything about them was controlled by another.

Thus, some Mages worshipped the Knowledge God. After all, knowledge was the one thing Mages would never abandon from birth to death. If a Mage wrote a work worthy of even the Knowledge God's attention, that God had never been stingy with a position as a Subordinate God.

Even among Legendary Mages, not everyone possessed the talent and learning needed to move a God's heart.

But now, a newly born God had appeared, and every position of Subordinate God was vacant.

Only one Legendary Knight stood by His side, and He had even been challenged to a God War.

For tens of thousands of years, there had only been this one chance to offer help in the darkest hour.

Young Legendary Mages might disdain it, but these two Legendary Mages, with only three or four hundred years left to live, apparently wanted to compete for it.

Falan found it somewhat unbelievable. No wonder some of their students had participated in the royal struggle. Their teachers had also lost a Mage's pride as their lives slipped away.

Hill wanted to say that the longer one lived, the more one feared death. But he did not dare say it aloud. Falan was young among Magi, but he was still an elder. Young people were not entitled to casually say such things.

As soon as the Undead's city siege ended, William sent officers over to command them. Their actual duty was to supervise the Undead and ensure they obeyed William's orders. Especially during full-scale defense, they were absolutely not allowed to attack on their own or leave the city to fight.

After fighting Beast Tide defensive battles for so many years, this was the first time Salar had heard such an order. In the past, the military supervisors kings sent to Border Cities had been there to prevent the defending army from refusing to leave the city and fight. No one had expected that one day, there would be such fear of the army leaving the city to battle.

Hill, however, felt that William was one step away from carving the words "No stealing mobs" onto the players' foreheads.

The Noble Temple had dispatched a full eight Legendaries, and the Love Temple had sent one as well. When the Legendaries arrived at Haifa's border with their large forces, the news swiftly reached Falan.

Falan told Hill that if there had been nine Legendaries in the past, Salar should have bowed its head and surrendered.

A Legendary Mage unleashing their full strength could probably kill several hundred Magi. A Legendary Knight or Swordsman might kill several dozen?

How many Magi could a nation have in the past? A dozen or so Magi, fewer than a hundred Sky Knights. Swordsmen died the fastest, and even Great Swordsmen were rare, let alone high-ranking Swordmasters. Many nations might not produce a single Swordmaster in a hundred years.

But once this profession reached Legendary rank, it truly could kill Legendary Mages. They came and went like the wind, killing in an instant. They were even more terrifying than Sorcerers.

But no matter how terrifying or dangerous Legendaries were, faced with an overwhelming number of enemies, no one believed they could win.

The Noble Coalition's only chance of victory was to kill William.

But during this month, the players of Hill Territory had basically all reached level fifty, the Magus tier, not to mention those who had fought for the entire month.

Hill's potion shop had been bought clean over the past few days. The players happily made prewar preparations for the large-scale campaign quest of defending the king.

On the day the Noble Temple's Legendaries arrived, all the players of Hill Territory left.

Watching them leave in groups, calling out to friends, Hill felt a little envious.

The Noble Temple had sent four red-robed archbishops. They were beings capable of summoning a Divine Descent.

Though the Love Temple had sent only one person, that Saintess existed specifically for the Love Goddess to descend through.

This war would surely end with the descent of Gods.

Hill was itching with impatience to watch the spectacle.

The border between Hephasaldo and Salar had become the focus of the entire world. The Gods in the heavens were probably all watching this place as well.

Whether or not they needed faith, even Gods rarely got to see a spectacle where either one God gloriously ascended the Divine Throne, accompanied by the weakening or even destruction of two Supreme Gods, or a proud and powerful newborn God had His Divine Fire shattered and fell into the Abyss.

Hill had an odd premonition. This world had Devils and Demons, but it had never had an Evil God.

For creatures like nobles, it was already a joke for Supreme Gods to remain neutral. The Love Goddess's conduct also leaned toward evil, even if She was nominally neutral.

Neither of those two temples even had Holy Knights dedicated to punishing evil and upholding justice. They handled people and matters alike with harsh oppression.

If those two Gods failed, the Devils of the Abyss would probably loudly welcome Their arrival.

Hill could no longer restrain himself and kept asking whether Falan intended to watch the battle.

Hill himself could not go. In a war involving Legendaries, an Archmage like him was not even qualified to float in the air and observe.

But Falan possessed an exceptionally powerful alchemical ship. In the past, Falan had never imagined that one day he would leave the capital and build his own Mage Tower, so he had spent enormous resources constructing an airship whose defensive power rivaled that of a Mage Tower.

The many Alchemy Huts in Falan's possession had been practice works created for building that airship.

Each use of the thing consumed enormous quantities of Elemental Crystals, and they had to be purified crystals of the same element.

Hill had not dared set his sights on it before. After all, it was Falan's escape route. When faced with a situation where escape was necessary, being able to burn money to save one's life was already a blessing. Though he had accumulated them for decades, Falan's Elemental Crystals could not withstand many such expenditures.

But things were different now. The Attribute-less Elemental Crystals the players produced had all been refined. They were the best materials for an airship.

The airship was agile and fast, and it could hide above the clouds. Even if that God truly took a historical fragment and turned it into an instance dungeon, they would at most see a ship in the sky.

Faced with Hill's repeated pleas, Falan did not keep him in suspense for long. He readily agreed and said he would take Hill over once the war began.

Now, everyone was waiting for the Noble Temple to issue its declaration of war.

According to this world's rules, the side that initiated a war had to publicly proclaim its justice. The attacked side also had to issue a declaration condemning the other's injustice.

Perhaps because wars between humans were rare in this world, the rules were incredibly cumbersome. Hill felt that anyone even slightly impatient would automatically give up on starting a war after reading those lengthy rules for declaring one.

Still, it prevented kingdom wars from erupting like in Hill's world over a woman or a single contemptuous remark.

Before starting a war, one had to first look up the rules. By the time they finished reading, they should have calmed down.

William had an excellent memory and loved military matters. At the very least, Hill felt that ordinary people could never remember the exact score of the ceremonial guard's song.

So what method would he use to answer the Noble Temple's declaration of war?

Hill was really looking forward to it.