Chapter 603: The Beginning of a War
Greed and vanity could turn the most intelligent wise man into a fool. Cyril pretended to be calm and repeated Wizard Li God’s words, “All conditions? Your Majesty, this is really a generous promise.”
“Mr. Cyril, the reason I said this is not because of generosity. It’s just that everything in the mortal world doesn’t appeal much to me.” Zhang Lisheng put on a profound look that did not like a mortal person and threw his biggest bait before answering his own question, “Actually, a heavy massacre is a huge loss for me as it leads to the reduction of my potential believers. However, do you know why I would still choose to use the most violent means to use the Hellfire believers’ hands to destroy 17 countries on the Green Leaf Mainland to establish a huge ‘religious country’? I want to use this as a ‘bait’ to induce the kings of the mainland powers to enter my arms and never change their minds. Anyone who is willing to pay homage to me has the opportunity to rule the vast land under our feet. Of course, this is not a hereditary right, but one can also share the court with the Holy See to enjoy the power to levy taxes, recruit troops, and appoint officials with forever…”
The Wizard Li God did not finish his sentence but his sinister intentions had already been revealed, that was to hang a delicious ‘carrot’ on the heads of the mainland kings for them to compete with each other and finally spread his belief in a natural and effortless way.
Even a fool could see through such conspiracy but just the annual tax of a king who had the ruling right of a powerful country that occupied one-fifth of the mainland has already millions of gold coins, let alone all the other kinds of invisible benefits that were irresistible to all kings.
“Your Majesty, I’m afraid your wisdom is also eminent among all other gods.” Cyril who had cleared the fog in his mind away blurted out in an almost moan, “As long as you can stand firm on the mainland, it is only a matter of time for your faith to cover the entire mainland.”
“This is the beauty of a god that is born in the era of only one god. However, just as you said, I must first stand firmly on the Green Leaf Mainland before I can talk about the others.”
“Your Majesty, I will convey your wishes to His Highness Otto as quickly as possible. I believe he will certainly give you a positive response.” The Fran messenger could no longer suppress the bafflement in his heart and replied in a slightly trembling voice.
“Mr. Cyril, what I need is action, not an empty response.” Zhang Lisheng shook his head and untied a belt with a complicated pattern from his waist to unroll it to become a picture of mountains and seas. “Only 20 million believers more and my divine kingdom can be transformed from a drawing into reality. Living in seclusion in it and become immortal will no longer be just a dream. At such a critical moment, I hope that Sun King can show his sincerity and dedicate his strength to me, as soon as possible.”
“I-Is this the embryonic form of a god kingdom? T-This is really unbeatably beautiful and magnificent…” Looking at the roll of leather painting that seemed to contain a condensed ‘word’, countless of towering mountains and vast rivers flashed across Cyril’s mind in an instant, causing him to make a blunder and stretched out both of his hands.
“Mr. Cyril, even though divine items are good, it’s useless for mortals to look at it.” When the Fran messenger was about to grab the leather picture, Zhang Lisheng re-rolled the picture into a belt, tied it around his waist and turned his head to look at the scenery flying across outside of the carriage window. “We’re about to arrive at the Golden Flower Terrier Manor. Since Sea Haines City has been seized by my Hellfire believers, Prince Edo and Princess Seliya have been living with me all this time. You’ll see them in a moment. ”
“Your Majesty, I had made a gaffe just now. Please forgive me.” Cyril, who had always been known for being wise, snapped out of his soul’s reverie. He bowed his head and remained quiet for a long time before gradually regaining his calmness. “Other than to convey His Highness Otto’s good intention, the reason I’m here to see you on Sun King’s order is to bring the two Highnesses back home…”
“This is only a trivial matter.” Zhang Lisheng could hear the request hidden in the Fran messenger’s words so he replied unbothered, “You can bring Edo and Seliya back anytime.”
“Thank you for your generosity. The matter is urgent now and the mainland coalition forces may be forming now. The fighting power of the thousands of knights supplemented by Yassen’s artillery infantry squad is not simple, so can I return to Fran today?” When Cyril was making his request, the carriage was gradually stopping in front of wooden elegant villas being surrounded by two patrolling Wizard Li warrior troops in front of the lush greenery on the west side of the manor house.
“Of course.” Zhang Lisheng smiled at the Fran messenger without minding it the slightest. He stepped out of the carriage and waved his hand to a Wizard Li chief warrior before ordering in a whisper, “Pass this message to Chief Priest Tuan and tell him to arrange the fastest, most secluded and safest return route for the Fran messenger. Send our guests to leave immediately.”
“Yes, Great God!” The naive warrior responded with respect and got up to leave. At this time, a beautiful woman, who was enjoying her breakfast in front of a small dining table placed leisurely under a huge tree that had thick roots protruding out of the ground before burying deep into the soil, ignored the blocking of her peer and shouted with a wave of her hand, “Your Majesty Lisheng! What brings you here to see us? Have you finally realized that as the descendants of the Sun King, my brother and I are more valuable than that golden family’s female merchant? Unfortunately, the responsibilities that we have will never allow ourselves to bow to you. ”
“Princess Seliya, I must admit that you’re a smart and funny girl.” Zhang Lisheng shook his head with a slight smile and pointed at the carriage behind him. “But this time you’ve guessed my intention wrongly. Look who I brought with me.”
When the young man was speaking, the Fran messenger just so happened to walk out of the carriage. The instant the girl met his eyes, she said with a pleasant surprise, “Count Anodun, what brings you here?”
“Count Anodun?” Zhang Lisheng astonishingly looked at Cyril who had a wry smile on, “You actually have the title Count? Is Anodun your surname?”
In a feudal lord country, as a high-ranking feudal lord aristocrat, the count might personally follow the king to visit the front line when the king personally led a military expedition but it was very unlikely for a count to venture into an enemy country as a secret envoy. This was not because of the degree of loyalty, but it was not allowed by the system.
“Your Majesty, my title is only a palace count that has only two manors as symbolic territories.” The Fran messenger replied without any disguise, “I’m one of the state advisers for Fran King and I’m the commander for all the ‘Black-clothed Messengers’. Cyril is only a pseudonym that I temporarily use while Anodun is my real name. I haven’t had the time to explain it to you just now…”
“Being cautious is good, this kind of thing does not need to be explained.” Feeling that his deception had just been carried out, Zhang Lisheng who knew that one would be more prone to error when one talked too much; waved his hand and interrupted Cyril’s words, “Alright, Mr. Secret Envoy. I’ll leave all of you to yourselves. A chief priest will come to bring you away later.”
Then, he condensed the mist of water to blot out the sky and performed a strong dive spell in front of the Fran messenger before disappearing.
After returning to the manor, Zhang Lisheng who had learned that the mainland coalition forces would most likely attack the fallen land immediately summoned the ambitious paladin, Yeegan. After a warm praise and encouragement, he agreed on lending soldiers to the sand prince. Then, he boarded his exclusive airship and rushed to the high hills bordering the Yassen border and the land shrouded by his own faith.
A telegram was sent when he was on the way telling him that Cyril had already brought the Sun King’s son and the knight escorting the Sun’s king to return to Fran but Seliya had somehow stayed behind for no reason.
Even with the Green Leaf Mainland’s open customs that resembled the medieval Europe of Earth, a princess being captured by the enemy was also a very disgraceful encounter. Nobody knew what in what kind of consideration that the Fran messenger and Prince Edo would agree to this absurd behavior.
Zhang Lisheng, who felt that everything was under his control, naturally did not care about such a small matter. Instead, he placed his entire attention in preparing the army and waiting for the opportunity to defeat the mainland coalition forces as he made up his mind to establish a victory in conquering the entire mainland.
The river of time passed by slowly. In just a blink of an eye, five to six days passed by. On this day, in an underground cave as huge as a city hidden several dozens of meters underneath a high hill, when Zhang Lisheng was standing beside a crisscrossing subway-like track watching long, huge biochemical machines that looked like earthworms that had been magnified thousands of times excavating tunnels. Zhang Lisheng suddenly heard a deafening bell sound ringing for six times consecutively.
“It’s finally here…” After a moment of surprise, the young man had a ferocious smile on as he glanced at the native legion commanders around him. After being silent for a while, he coldly told the natives, “Prepare for battle. Wait for the mainland coalition forces to take the bait first before killing all rebels!”
“Yes, Your Great Majesty!” The Wizard Li warriors kneeling on the ground shouted in unison. At the same time, on the hills that had high and low gentle slopes surrounded by short range of mountains above their heads, a dense loose array of knights wearing half-body armors were slowly making their way to the ground defense fortification of the Wizard Li people.
These warriors were riding on a type of strange beasts that looked like the Percheron horses of Earth that had big physique entirely covered with disorderly scales and a sharp rounded horn above their heads. The only weapons these warriors had were a simple unadorned double-edged huge swords and the five javelins behind them.
In every small team of 100 troops, there would be one person holding a swallowtail flag depicting a unihorn that charged out from amongst the thunder and lightning.
In the center of thousands of phalanxes, an army flag, that had the height of three men and a width of more than six meters long when it was spread open. It fluttered loudly in the wild strong wind and was directing the movement of the entire battle formation through a subtle flutter.
Underneath this big flag was a thin young man wearing only a leather armor who was actually riding a unihorn that had streaks of lightning flashing across the beast’s head and tail. Hiding from the cold wind, that man used an imitation of a single-crystal telescope to look at the barbarian camp in the distance and calculated the pace of the entire army.
“Sir Dubbine, we’re the vanguard, not the cannon fodder. It’s not a good idea to get too close to these midgets.” Upon seeing how he did not order for the march to slow down, a big burly man with a face full of stubbles suddenly said in a low voice.
