Just as Aldur had predicted, after the collapse of the three-country alliance there was no country left that could stop the Kingdom of the Black Sun (Alrodena Kingdom). The mixed army and the now revitalized Twin-Headed Beast and Axe Army (Zeilduk) moved northward along the coast from the southernmost tip, while Gi Ga Rax’s Aransain and Gi Gu Verbena’s Felduk moved through the mountainous region, taking care not to go past the Great Mountains that demarcated the unexplored north and the human region.
Alrodena marched onward, crushing every minor nation from the Ranserg Region as it grew in power and conquered every land except the unexplored lands of the west, north, and south.
Alrodena, a nation built and fought for by the Demonic Children of Chaos (Goblins).
The nations that have yet to know its bite could only watch on in horror. It seemed the Sacred Kingdom of Altigand was the last nation that might be able to stop its march.
In the coldest period of the fourth year of the King’s Calendar, in the eastern region, this was a season when the mountains would be covered in a thin layer of white.
According to the intel of the tactician of Alrodena’s entire army, Pale Symphoria, the Order of the Wyvern Knights were already 500 knights strong. The Wyvern Knights boasted that a single knight from their ranks could fight 500 infantrymen on the battlefield, and the masses were more than happy to gobble their boast without question.
In the taverns, the men returning home from work would talk about how reliable the Wyvern Knights were, while the women by the common well would talk about how terrifying the country built by the goblins was.
Without a doubt, the voice of the people was dyed in fear. The threads woven by Pale’s intelligence department have already started to encroach into Altigand. Rumors whispered in taverns, the flow of commodities, their prices, and all sorts of information were regularly gathered and sent to Pale.
But the person in charge of organizing and integrating that information was not Pale the Tactician herself, but Sophia, the little girl that survived the tragedy of the Soar to FreedomElks.
As she came into contact with all sorts of schemes under Pale, Sophia’s talent blossomed, and before long, she had become Pale’s right-hand woman in the war of information. Now, she could infiltrate an enemy country on her own to instigate, disturb, and plot against them, while at the same time using her organization to fight in the war of information.
Her methods that relied on fostering orphans for pawns meant a transformation in the nature of the Elks Clan, which under Clan Leader Touri was a clan made up by a small but elite tight-knit force that was more family than work. However, after the passing of the clan leader during those battles in the shadows, they had to find a way to fight in the shadows while maintaining their bonds.
There was also no one else that could handle the information war on a national scale.
The main force of Alrodena Kingdom was of course the goblins.
But while the Goblin King’s personal charm and fighting prowess was indeed at the center of all of that, no one could say – even in flattery – that they had a talent for information warfare; hence naturally, that burden had to fall onto someone that they could trust, an ally. And among their allies, the ones that excelled in that particular field were the survivors of the Elks Clan.
Originally, it was Pale’s role to fill, but as Sophia grew, she eventually left it to her for no other reason that because she had to. As the tactician of the entire army of Alrodena Kingdom, as someone with the power to mobilize all its armies, politics was not something she could remain estranged to.
The war with the Holy Shushunu Kingdom had taught her that stability in logistics and in the states of the kingdom was necessary for the military to demonstrate its full might, so she had no choice but to raise her rank from a civil official to something more.
Now, she was less a tactician, and more a prime minister. No matter how talented or charming the Goblin King might be, one man could not possibly support an entire kingdom all on his own.
So he needed people that could serve as his eyes and ears, people that could serve as his limbs. The Goblin King had once thought of a way to rule the humans from the forest. The answers he found then that relied on a vassalage system was finally being realized through Pale’s efforts.
Pale Symphoria as the prime minister, then of those supporting her as her aides, at the top of the list was the Governor-General of the Western Capital, Yoshu Fagarmia, followed by Helen Meer the Silent Beauty (Milfet), and then the Superintendent of the Eastern Expedition, Ganon Latosh the Genius with a Rubbish Mouth (Mardigas).
There were talents from the elves too. Such as the daughter of the wise Shure Forni, Princess Shunaria. Selena and the others were present too, though they were mostly there to support Princess Shunaria.
These civil officials gathered from among the humans and the elves were the eccentrics necessary to create a great power. And it was up to Pale to bring them all together and ensure that the eastern expedition could display their full power.
The Goblin King tended to his duties with sincerity, but if one had to measure his talents regarding politics and paperwork, then unfortunately, he was only average.
Of course, as a goblin – and with the exception of the druids – he was a genius in his own right, but compared to those geniuses Pale gathered, he was at least two levels their inferior.
But then again, given how much the king loved to swing his sword at the frontlines, he was already plenty talented.
The Goblin King with the vision, Prime Minister Pale with the support, and the civil officials to realize. All three engines were essential to the operations of the country and were the catalysts needed to complete the great undertaking – the making of a nation.
With the two wheels of the pen and the sword aligned, Alrodena’s progress showed no signs of stopping. The soldiers fighting in the frontlines were all veteran goblins, and the number of goblins sent every few months by the headquarters in the Forest of Darkness, the Fortress of the Abyss, would easily exceed the capacity of a nation.
Before long, Alrodena walked toward the strongest fortress of Ranserg Region, the Iron Country of Elfa.
