Autumn had arrived.
The days went on. Although everyone was busy with their own affairs, they still carried them out in an orderly manner. With the passage of time, people gradually became familiar with their new lives. In the beginning, even though many of them across the entire Dragon Soul Continent couldn’t accept this large-scale migration project, they slowly accepted the lifestyle and resumed their day-to-day work in their new home and land. Despite many losing their loved ones in the face of the black smoke and death in the many previous wars, they still had to go on with their lives, after all.
Furthermore, in this ‘world’, it wasn’t easy to die for real.
However, on this very peaceful day, the news surprised many. It was rumored that their ruler actually had dealings with the demons! Not only that, but he also teamed up with demons to turn all soldiers who weren’t willing to go to battle into evil and horrible monsters!
This rumor worried many people whose families were fighting on the front lines. Even though this was only a rumor in the marketplace, it still caused a certain degree of panic. Of course, most people didn’t actually trust it as it was basically unsubstantiated and had no sense of truth to it. It also had the same value as those so-called ‘once-upon-a-time’ stories that were passed down orally. However, as the saying went, it was better to think of the worst case scenario and be pleasantly surprised. When such a rumor spread so widely, it would inevitably make people anxious. After all, Rhode and the other dragons didn’t tell the public the truth in the first place, but told them that it was Ion’s foolish actions (since nothing was more convenient than pushing the blame to a dead man) that resulted in the Chaos creatures invading the Dragon Soul Continent. In order to repel the Chaos creatures and keep the people safe, they had to relocate to the inland core region.
This theory was accepted by quite a lot of the people of the Country of Light. If it were in the past, the people would surely pay little regard to it. But after suffering the war, they were in no condition to demand for more. Moreover, it was also true that continuous invasions of the Country of Darkness left a terrible and scary impression of Ion, who was seemingly the sinister BOSS to the people of the Country of Light. Even if it were said that Ion planned on destroying the world, those people would definitely believe that it was his true intention. Therefore, these people from the Country of Light were considered to have accepted Rhode’s statement wholeheartedly. For that reason, none of them put up any resistance when Rhode and Lydia sent their soldiers to the front lines to fight against the Chaos creatures. But now, in the context of this rumor, many people were getting a little worried. Although it was just an unsubstantiated rumor, Rhode and Lydia weren’t considered good people in the Country of Light’s people’s impression. It was especially so for Rhode, who single-handedly destroyed Casabianca and annihilated everyone within the Light Capital in the first place. In the hearts of the Country of Light’s people, Rhode was no better than Ion. So if it were said that Rhode and the demons were in collusion, it wasn’t completely unreasonable. Moreover, during the demolition of Casabianca, there was already a rumor about Rhode communicating with the demons and summoning a demon army to destroy Casabianca. In that case, it wasn’t entirely out of the question for something like this to happen again, wasn’t it?
For that reason, this rumor was rather widespread in the Country of Light, which instilled fear in many people in an instant. They were afraid that their loved ones on the front lines would also be captured by that horrible demon and made into some kind of monster.
But what made it strange was that in that situation, Lydia didn’t deny or try to stop the rumor. On the contrary, she publicly released a proclamation while the rumors spread wildly. In this proclamation, she harshly condemned the actions of certain soldiers on the front lines who fled from the battlefield, causing the defensive line to nearly crumble. At the same time, she acknowledged that harsh punishments were given to these deserters and didn’t fail to warn soldiers elsewhere to take this as a stern warning, where whoever was found to commit similar acts would not be spared the severe punishment either.
Although this announcement from Lydia was only issued to the military and not to the general public, this news was still spread through various channels and caused uproars among the people. Even though Lydia’s announcement didn’t specify what kind of punishment was given to those deserters, she also didn’t deny turning them into monsters. For that reason, after this announcement was made, the anxious storm continued to brew instead of subsiding.
“Is that really fine, Your Majesty Rhode?”
Slumping into the soft chair, Lydia put down the documents in her hands and looked up at Rhode who sat in front of her. As a matter of fact, she knew very well what he had done. Back then, it was Gaya who brought the Flesh Hunters here in the first place, and she also knew that Rhode had Celestina, a high demon, as his subject. However, Lydia was no pedant as an archangel. She was also aware that there was nothing more important than the safety of the Dragon Soul Continent, so as long as Rhode didn’t seek help from demons to spite her on purpose, she was happy to pretend she didn’t know.
When this rumor first started spreading, Lydia was tempted to eliminate it. However, Rhode stopped her from doing so and through that, she knew that he must have leaked this information by some means of his own. Even she had to admit that this was a risky move for him. Indeed, after hearing the threatening news, the soldiers from other regions would likely give it a little more thought before fleeing for safety in the next battle. But at the same time, it would also create instability in her country. In fact, she had already received several letters from the Country of Light’s officials stating their displeasure and witnessed people taking to the streets to protest, demanding that they reveal the truth about the war on the front lines. Although these were only small-scale protests, Lydia was well aware of their behaviors. If they didn’t receive answers, they would cause even more ruckus. And conversely, even if they received answers, the objection would likely get bigger if the answers weren’t able to satisfy them. And Lydia was sure that if they learned the truth, the situation would get worse… Though she wasn’t quite sure what the truth was, that is.
“Don’t worry, just keep it that way, Your Highness Lydia. There will be no problem as long as you make sure these rumors only circulate within the Country of Light.”
In response to Lydia’s question, Rhode looked really calm. And looking at this scene, the former raised her eyebrows. Although Rhode didn’t say it outright, she could almost guess what he was thinking. Perhaps this time, he was about to pull his best tricks.
Lydia thought she knew a lot about him. The first time she heard of the young man, she had paid attention to him covertly. In her opinion, he was neither the best at fighting nor strategy or tactics, but his ability to spread his bizarre conspiracies and schemes seemed to top all. According to Rhode, it seemed like his strategy was called ‘pull the masses to fight the masses’, which Lydia had already witnessed in the Midsummer Festival. At that time, Rhode won the tournament in arguably the most controversial way possible. There was a lot of anger and accusation.
Back then, Lydia wondered what Rhode would do about it, though with Lydia’s ability to silence such voices, it wasn’t like she couldn’t keep them down. But still, she wanted to see how he would handle the crisis. What she didn’t expect was that afterward, he changed the direction of public opinion cleverly and subtly. Not only did he easily reverse the entire situation, but he also turned those who were discontent with him into his most loyal supporters.
This unexpected turn of events surprised Lydia. Of course, she knew what he did there, but she just didn’t think that the effects would be so immediate. And now, upon seeing him smear his name by himself once again and have absolutely no intention of pulling out of it, Lydia knew that perhaps he was planning to play that trick again. Or else he wouldn’t have made her limit the range of rumors to the Country of Light only.
Although it was easier to restrict the freedom of speech in this era without the Internet and other fads, the word of mouth was, as a matter of fact, always the fastest way to deliver news, and not even the high-speed network could compare to its wild spread. Therefore, it wasn’t really easy to limit the spread of rumors. However, Lydia was well aware that while it wasn’t that straightforward in other regions, it was still relatively easy to keep the rumors within the Country of Light only.
Reason being the xenophobic nature of the Country of Light.
One had to admit that Rome wasn’t built in a day, a leopard couldn’t change its spots, and bad habits were hard to change. Even if Rhode had blown up Casabianca and killed hundreds of thousands of people from the Country of Light, the cold and noble spirit within them still hadn’t dissipated.
Even though they could tuck their tails between their legs and act like obedient dogs in front of Rhode and Lydia, they acted superior before everyone else. Perhaps it was absolute arrogance that led to such absolute inferiority, or maybe deep down, they simply despised foreigners. So even though Rhode and Lydia had relocated the people of the Country of Light to the Void Territory and Munn Kingdom, they formed their small social circles that rarely came into contact with people from other places.
This was especially the case with people from places like the Void Territory and Munn Kingdom that they had previously looked down upon. The people of the Country of Light were like those who were once of noble birth, but later fell and entered the slums to lead the rest of their lives. Although there was seemingly no difference on the surface, on the inside, they were different from those who had been beggars for generations. Because they were all high-class nobles!
Rhode was aware of that. And perhaps that was why he deliberately allowed the rumor to spread. As he had mentioned, one’s position determined one’s views and behavior. In the eyes of the people of the Country of Light, Rhode was a monster who slaughtered hundreds of thousands of their compatriots, while Lydia was the tyrant who oppressed them. The people of the Country of Light surely had endless terrible things to say about both of them.
But the treatment was different in the Munn Kingdom and Void Territory. Lydia was an outstanding leader in the Munn Kingdom. People under her rule lived in prosperity, peace, and harmony. She also led the army to hold off repeated attacks from the Country of Darkness, which was in stark contrast to the scenes of the Country of Light, where the defenseless people crumbled and fled when under attack, resulting in the continuous conflagration of their homes.
And Rhode? To the people of the Void Territory, he was the beacon of light in this chaotic world. He was the one who personally led the development of this land and gave shelter to those who were displaced by the war. Many of these people were mercenaries who had retired to enjoy their old age after following him into exploring and opening up the land of Chaos. In their spare time, they also bragged to those around them about the days they pioneered the land of Chaos with Rhode. As such, Rhode’s position in the Void Territory was about the same as Lydia’s position in the Munn Kingdom.
In that case, the people of the Country of Light aggravated the situation by bad-mouthing Rhode and Lydia with baseless gossip (After all, Rhode only targeted the deserters of the Country of Light. And while it wasn’t like there weren’t any deserters in other regions, the occurrence wasn’t as common as those in the Country of Light, which was why Rhode had double standards).
Under that situation, some believed the rumors spread from the people of the Country of Light. But most of them definitely wouldn’t believe them, so Rhode didn’t have to worry about the rumors causing internal strife and whatnot, after all. Even if there was chaos, chaos would only be within the Country of Light and had limited impact on other regions. Moreover, Rhode was already fully prepared for it. Compared to the entire Dragon Soul Continent, he didn’t need to worry about the little bit of people in the Country of Light.
“Since you’ve said so, I won’t do anything more. But Your Majesty Rhode, please be a bit more careful and don’t go too far. After all, the current situation… Isn’t very favorable for us as well.”
“I’m well aware of that, Your Highness Lydia.”
In response to Lydia’s reminder, Rhode replied with a smile. He knew that Lydia didn’t really like him doing this kind of thing. At any rate, she was an archangel. Even if she were able to take the bigger picture into account, it didn’t mean that she was able to easily accept Rhode’s actions. To stand idly by and not do anything was already a great honor to Rhode. Besides, that was under the basis that everything he did was for a reason and not to satisfy his personal desire. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have let him off the hook so easily. But Rhode was also well aware of that, so he responded to her reminder with a serious attitude. When Lydia heard his answer, she also smiled and stopped speaking about this topic.
However, this wasn’t the main reason why the two of them were here drinking tea and chitchatting. The reason why they were here was, as Lydia said, because Chaos was acting a little strange. It wasn’t that they were acting out again, but on the contrary, they were overly quiet. After the previous battle, the Chaos creatures hadn’t shown up before everyone again. For that reason, Rhode and Lydia even sent patrols deep into the battlefield to check Chaos out at the edge of the boundary. But the news they received was quite surprising. According to reports from those patrols, the Chaos creatures had actually disappeared and there was no sign of them even at the edge of the boundary!
Such an abnormal behavior naturally caught Rhode’s attention. He had fought Chaos longer than anyone else and was experienced in dealing with them. And now, aside from his younger sister, the seven deity wardens, and his holy sword cards, he considered himself to understand Chaos more than anyone. Right now, something was definitely up with their odd disappearance. It was especially so after having a conversation with that Chaos crimson eyeball earlier. He always felt as if Chaos were up to something all this time and the previous attacks were just a test. It might not be long before these terrifying creatures attacked the Dragon Soul Continent once again. But now, they had nothing to do other than wait for their assault.
“What strategy do you think Chaos will use this time, Your Majesty Rhode?”
In response to Lydia’s question, Rhode shrugged and spread his arms apart helplessly.
“I’m not too sure about that, Your Highness Lydia. After all, Chaos uses all sorts of strange tactics and anything can happen. All we can do is to prepare for their advances and…”
Rumble…!
However, before Rhode finished his sentence, a deafening thunderclap sounded all of a sudden, interrupting him. Upon hearing the thunderclap, both of them were taken aback.
What is going on? Why is it thundering?
The land guarded by the respective dragon soul protection had a close connection to the mood of the dragon soul heir. In the past, Lillian hadn’t retrieved her power, so she couldn’t control it yet. But now that she had gotten all her power back and became the true Light Dragon, her feelings would also affect the land under the Light Dragon’s soul protection. Of course, it didn’t mean that all her emotions would trigger the weather; it was just that emotions that were particularly intense would cause an effect similar to the one right now. However, she had been emotionally stable, and the weather was pretty normal all this while, so what was the cause of this sudden thunder?
At this thought, Rhode got up hastily, went to the window, and looked out. Almost at the same time, along with another deafening thunderclap, a red lightning bolt struck down from the distant sky, hitting the land heavily. When Rhode witnessed this scene, his expression changed slightly.
“That is…!”
