Although the 'enthusiastic masses' of Ambratu—who had been feeding them intelligence—tried their best to encourage Dorukocha to fight the Viscount of Lanwan to the bitter end, what else could Balotelli and Samuel do but surrender?
The city-state's public treasury had been looted, and the city walls were damaged. The citizen class, the very cornerstone of the city-state, had no will to fight. Upon hearing that the enemy was approaching, they immediately sought places to hide from the turmoil, turning a deaf ear to the mobilization orders.
The Dorukocha Elder who should have returned from the Ivy Alliance front lines, along with the citizen-soldiers he led, had yet to appear. Behind them, their two major allies, Badan and Carmela, had both already signed peace treaties with the Lanwan Viscountcy.
In short, Dorukocha had reached the edge of a cliff. Even if Balotelli and Samuel were willing to take up swords themselves and fight to the death to defend the city-state, they could hardly salvage the situation.
Moreover, the courage to die for one's city is not something everyone possesses. Even if they had any, the last shred of courage remaining in Balotelli and Samuel was worn away by Ed Adkins's slow but determined advance.
Thus, they chose to surrender.
The messenger of Dorukocha's surrender arrived at Ed Adkins's camp. Ed Adkins immediately sped up his march, whipping the horses into a gallop, and arrived at the foot of Dorukocha city by evening.
Watching the Lanwan knights and squires march into Dorukocha in neat formation without shedding a drop of blood, Ed Adkins couldn't help but sigh to his daughter, "Celine, sometimes war is not just a contest of blades on the battlefield, but a contest of hearts outside of it."
Celine curled her lips, somewhat unconvinced. In her view, if her old man had just let her attack freely, she would have taken Dorukocha long ago.
Celine was not the only one with such thoughts. The knights and squire knights under Ed Adkins were actually looking forward to another big battle with the people of Dorukocha. After the last great battle of Dorukocha, the generous honors and material rewards Charlotte bestowed had greatly encouraged the fighting spirit of the Lanwan soldiers. They hungered for battle and hungered to establish merit once again.
In particular, the main force Ed Adkins brought with him consisted of knights whose terms of service were nearing their end. These knights would soon return to the Green Plains Duchy. Once back, they wouldn't receive treatment as good as what they had here with Charlotte, so they very much wanted to earn one last sum before going home.
Unfortunately, Charlotte did not give them this opportunity. Ed Adkins was executing Charlotte's battle plan to the letter.
The cost of waging war for the Lanwan Viscountcy was simply too high. The city-state of Dorukocha had already been squeezed dry of its wealth; Charlotte did not wish to pay too great a price for it. Having Dorukocha surrender voluntarily was the best outcome.
The news of Dorukocha's surrender was quickly conveyed back to the Lanwan Viscount's castle by letter raven.
"Congratulations, Your Excellency, for once again rescuing a city from the hands of those evil, despicable city-state bugs."
Jonathan Hackman, who had just returned from the Soqya Peninsula, congratulated Charlotte.
After his diplomatic missions to Dorukocha, Badan, and Carmela, Jonathan Hackman had proceeded to the two city-states of Sudaman and Kaoluo. Since the eldest and second brothers had already succumbed, these two small city-states naturally didn't dare to beat Jonathan Hackman out the door as Dorukocha had.
However, they were weak and poor, unable to afford Charlotte's claim of two million Fuso in reparations. Consequently, Jonathan Hackman forced these two city-states to sign two agreements: the "Labor Dispatch Agreement" and the "Economic Cooperation Agreement."
The former required Sudaman and Kaoluo to dispatch a certain number of laborers to the Lanwan Viscountcy every six months to perform forced labor for the Viscount. In return, the Viscount of Lanwan would provide the laborers with food and the necessary tools for work.
The latter required Sudaman and Kaoluo to allow merchants from the Lanwan Viscountcy to enter and leave their city-states freely for trade. It also permitted Lanwan people to purchase land, open mines, and harvest timber within their city-states, exempt from all taxes.
Aside from the slight setback in Dorukocha, Jonathan Hackman's trip had brought back returns equivalent to four million Fuso for Charlotte, a truly bountiful harvest.
Now that Dorukocha, which had attempted to barely maintain its dignity, had also surrendered, Cecilia finally understood what Charlotte had meant earlier when she said the "real spoils of war have not yet arrived."
Charlotte put away the letter brought by Cecilia and smiled at Jonathan. "This is all thanks to Mr. Hackman running around for me. You have worked hard."
"I dare not accept such praise. It is my honor to serve you," Jonathan Hackman bowed to Charlotte again.
"Does Mr. Hackman need a vacation to rest for a while?" Charlotte asked.
Jonathan was momentarily stunned, but he quickly understood. He straightened his back and responded with full vigor, "Thank you for your concern, Your Excellency. My health is excellent; I do not need to rest."
Running between five city-states and even getting beaten up once would leave even a young man exhausted. Yet, the white-haired and white-bearded Jonathan Hackman was radiant, as if he had been rejuvenated. It seemed his calling the city-state citizens "bugs" was sincere; being able to stomp these bugs into the mud with his own feet gave Jonathan great pleasure.
"That is good then," Charlotte said with a smile. "I plan to change the Dorukocha City-State into Dorukocha County, and you will serve as its first Governor."
"Yes!" Jonathan replied immediately.
"The situation in Dorukocha is different from Ambratu. There are still many extraordinary mercenaries roaming outside in Dorukocha; even the Dorukocha Elder Council cannot control them. If these people are not handled well, they will seriously endanger public security, destroy urban order, and even threaten your own safety. You must adopt gentler means to purge Dorukocha and restore order to the city as soon as possible. However..."
Charlotte paused briefly before continuing.
"If it becomes absolutely necessary, there is no need to be soft-hearted. You can cooperate with Ed Adkins and ask him to lead the knights to lend you a hand."
Charlotte's last sentence carried the scent of blood, but Jonathan showed no surprise. He bowed again. "As you command."
Jonathan Hackman departed with his orders, and Charlotte then received a long-absent guest—a certain 1.3-meter-tall great adventurer.
When Jonathan visited Kaoluo, he happened to run into Lilith. Having met a few times before, they knew each other, and since Lilith was planning to return to the Lanwan Viscountcy, she tagged along with the diplomatic corps led by Jonathan.
"Tsk, it hasn't been that long, and your forces have already taken Kaoluo," Lilith marveled at Charlotte's achievements while taking large bites of the cake Linda had served.
"I haven't taken Kaoluo yet," Charlotte corrected.
Lilith jutted her chin toward the "Labor Dispatch Agreement" at Charlotte's hand. "What's the difference between this and having taken them? The entire city-state of Kaoluo has only a hundred or so Extraordinaries. Do they dare to resist you?"
Charlotte shook her head. "These matters aren't that simple. Tell me about your harvest from this trip first."
Playing both sides and swaying with the wind was the survival philosophy of small city-states like Kaoluo and Sudaman. Although they were threatened by Charlotte into signing two agreements, whether they would remain loyal to her depended on Charlotte herself.
If Charlotte could maintain a strong posture and advance triumphantly, these two city-states might forever prostrate themselves under the banner of the Lanwan Viscountcy. But if Charlotte fell into a disadvantage in the competition with the Ivy Alliance, Kaoluo and Sudaman might turn around and choose betrayal in an instant. This was their traditional skill; it didn't even require much thought.
Lilith scoffed at Charlotte's pretense of profundity, but since she wasn't much interested in these matters anyway, she began chatting with Charlotte about her discoveries during her long journey.
On this trip, Lilith had visited most of the worthwhile city-states in the Ivy Alliance, not even missing Fedi, the largest city-state on the Soqya Peninsula. She had originally intended to tour the Delmore Alliance as well, but just as she entered their territory, she encountered a massive uprising. The citizen-soldiers loyal to the Delmore city-states were massacring the rebels, and blood flowed like rivers in some city-states and villages.
To avoid becoming collateral damage, Lilith had to return resentfully. However, even without a proper tour of the Delmore Alliance, she had returned fully loaded.
"First of all, I found this..." Lilith took out three large rolls of parchment and spread them out one by one in front of Charlotte.
Each parchment contained rubbings of some fragmented stone carvings. Charlotte felt these carvings looked familiar, and she soon realized they were very similar to the stone carvings she had found in Ambratu.
"These are stone carvings I found in Lemos, Eliot, and Sassinian—that is, the mother state of the Little Sassinians. I found this one from Lemos in a cave, the one from Sassinian in an ancient well, and this one from Eliot..." Lilith pointed to the most fragmented rubbing. "I found this in a villager's sheep pen. It had already been smashed into rubble to build the pen. I bought the pieces and reassembled them."
Eliot was a medium-sized city-state near Fedi. When the Fedi City-State first wanted to form a large city-state alliance, to demonstrate democracy and show they didn't want to be the conqueror and dictator of the Soqya Peninsula, they placed the alliance's meeting place in their neighbor—the city-state of Eliot.
This was also the origin of the name "Ivy Alliance" (Ai-ye Alliance).
"Lilith is really amazing," Charlotte gave Lilith a thumbs up.
Although Lilith tried to suppress her smile, she couldn't help but lift her chin, putting on a look that said, "Even if you praise me, I won't be happy about it."
"The texts on these carvings are very similar. I believe they should be the same article or the same passage," Lilith continued. "For a passage of text to be spread and carved everywhere by ancients a hundred thousand years ago, I guess there is a high probability it is a prayer or a scripture.
"Considering that the places where I found these stone tablets can be counted as important port towns with developed maritime transport, and since sailors and fishermen love to pray to gods, I think my guess is very reasonable."
"Ambratu isn't considered an important port, is it?" Charlotte raised a doubt.
Lilith rolled her eyes. "A hundred thousand years ago, the Lanwan Isthmus might not have existed. Wouldn't Ambratu be an important port then?"
"Hmm, that makes sense." Charlotte quickly defected to her side.
Lilith pursed her lips. "After guessing they were prayers, I tried to identify the probable name of the god within them, and then I discovered this..."
Lilith pointed to a blank space on one of the rubbings.
Charlotte was initially puzzled, but when she cast her gaze upon the other two rubbings, her pupils suddenly contracted.
All three rubbings had the same blank space in the same position!
"After discovering these identical blanks, I went back the way I came and carefully inspected them again. I finally confirmed that all those stone carvings showed signs of weathering in the exact same spot. Even this carving..." Lilith pointed to the rubbing from the Sassinian City-State. "The preceding and following text are preserved, but this central position alone was weathered away."
Charlotte immediately stood up and rummaged through her chests, finding the rubbing she had made in Ambratu. She quickly opened it to the same position.
Sure enough!
It was also blank!
"Someone deliberately erased the god's name here..." Charlotte's expression turned grave, and she couldn't help but lower her voice. "Who could accomplish such a thing? Who would want to do such a thing?"
These were fragmented rubbings taken from across half the Soqya Peninsula. In known history, the Soqya Peninsula had never been unified. Even Fedi could not order other city-states to commit such blasphemy.
Smack!
Lilith jumped onto the chair, tapped Charlotte on the head with a roll of paper, and then pointed the roll at her. "I know who you're suspecting, but you'd better not say His name."
Charlotte rubbed her head. "I wasn't planning to say His name. I think you just wanted to take the opportunity to hit me!"
"You guessed right," Lilith laughed triumphantly.
Charlotte rolled her eyes and continued, "Besides, this evidence can't be considered reliable. It can't fully prove the existence of another god, nor can it prove that the current One did anything. Perhaps these texts aren't prayers at all. Even if they are, the entity the ancestors prayed to might not necessarily be a true god. after all, there are plenty of people in this world who don't believe in that One."
"I know all that naturally," Lilith shook her head and sighed with regret. "That's why I planned to go to the Delmore Alliance to take a look. It's a pity the Delmore Alliance is in such a mess; I almost couldn't make it back..."
Hearing about Lilith's experience in the Delmore Alliance, Charlotte couldn't help but frown slightly. "Why is there such a serious rebellion within the Delmore Alliance?"
After thinking for a moment, Lilith said, "It probably has something to do with the way the Delmore City-State rules. Citizens of Delmore do not farm, do not engage in commerce, and do not study the arts. From a young age, they only receive military training and physical exercise. Both men and women must be naked and learn how to kill.
"Every time the Delmoreans conquer a city-state, they often plunder a large number of people as slaves. Even when dealing with their allies, they exploit and plunder without restraint. So, whether it's a city-state occupied by Delmoreans or one allied with them, it's inevitable that they harbor some resentment toward Delmore.
"So, I heard that rebellions occur frequently within the Delmore Alliance, and the Delmore City-State often has to send citizen-soldiers to suppress them. Delmore's methods of suppression have always been extremely brutal—they've slaughtered entire cities more than once—but they still can't completely solve the rebellion problem."
After listening to Lilith, Charlotte asked in confusion, "If the internal problems of the Delmore Alliance are so serious, do they still have the energy to continue fighting the Ivy Alliance?"
"Continue fighting the Ivy Alliance?" A look of disdain appeared on Lilith's face. "The Delmore Alliance is about to wipe out the Ivy Alliance, and you're actually asking if they can continue fighting? You'll be laughed at if you say that out loud."
"What?" Charlotte was quite shocked. "Is the Ivy Alliance about to lose?"
"Mhm," Lilith nodded. "When I was returning, I heard quite a few rumors saying that the Ivy Alliance's coalition forces have been completely annihilated, the Bronze Pass has been breached, and Fedi City is in imminent danger.
"After the Bronze Pass was breached, the Delmore coalition army could drive straight in. It was probably the renewed outbreak of rebellion within the Delmore Alliance that tied down some of their forces, so when I left, they hadn't yet reached the walls of Fedi."
"Is this news reliable?" Charlotte asked, finding it hard to believe.
"Won't you know if it's reliable in a while? The order for Fedi City-State to conscript citizen-soldiers on a large scale has probably already been issued," Lilith said.
"Heh..." Charlotte sighed and laughed. "The Delmoreans can actually suppress internal rebellions with one hand and beat the Ivy Alliance to the ground with the other. The Ivy Alliance is just too pathetic."
"I don't think you can blame the Ivy Alliance for being too pathetic; you can only say the Delmoreans are too fierce. I heard that when they are still children, their instructors torture and kill slaves in front of them, and when they come of age, they have to personally cut off a slave's head. They are simply... like wild beasts."
Lilith clearly found it hard to accept this tradition of the Delmoreans. Wild beasts would teach their young how to hunt, but Delmoreans were civilized people, after all.
Charlotte didn't care whether the Delmorean traditions were civilized or not. What she needed to worry about was: what if the Delmoreans united the peninsula before she did?
Now it seemed the probability of this happening was not small. In fact, the Delmoreans only needed to occupy the Fedi City-State, which was right before their eyes, and the Ivy Alliance would likely collapse directly, with other city-states surrendering at the mere sight of the wind.
At that time, the Lanwan Viscountcy would have to face the formidable Delmoreans and a massive coalition army composed of citizen-soldiers from all Soqya city-states under Delmorean leadership. Charlotte found it hard to imagine how she could win against such a powerful opponent.
"Sigh..."
Charlotte couldn't help but sigh, rubbing her temples as she leaned back in her chair.
"Why are you sighing?" Lilith asked.
"I want to send some reinforcements to Fedi, but I don't know how to convince them to accept my friendly help," Charlotte said with distress.
Hearing this, black lines almost appeared on Lilith's forehead. You've beaten up the alliance's little brothers one after another, and you still want them to accept your reinforcements? Who would believe your reinforcements are friendly?
"Forget it, think about it slowly yourself," Lilith waved her hand speechlessly, yawning. "I'm going back to my room to sleep. This period has exhausted me."
"Hey, hey, wait a minute." Charlotte hurriedly sat up straight and stopped Lilith.
"Is there something else?" Lilith stopped and asked in confusion.
"I recently advanced to the Second Wing, but a little problem has occurred..."
Charlotte roughly explained what had happened to her.
"You say you wanted to eat people when you awakened the Second Wing?" Lilith repeated.
"Mhm." Charlotte nodded with certainty. Lilith's return was truly a timely rain for Charlotte. Aside from this old friend, Charlotte really couldn't think of anyone to consult about problems arising from her practice of the extraordinary faction.
Lilith tilted her head and thought for a while, then asked, "Did you have the desire to eat Jonathan Hackman's flesh when you saw him just now?"
Charlotte recalled briefly and shook her head. "No."
"Then do you have the desire to eat me when you see me?" Lilith asked again.
Charlotte stared at Lilith, looking her up and down for a while. Suddenly, she felt a certain sweet scent stirring her appetite. she couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, then hurriedly looked away.
"Oh, it seems you do." Lilith understood the answer from Charlotte's expression.
After regaining her composure, Charlotte pondered for a moment, then spoke as if suddenly enlightened, "Could it be that I only like to eat girls!"
Lilith was stunned at first, then her face turned black. "Can your brain contain something wholesome for once!"
"Is there anything wrong with my conclusion?" Charlotte blinked innocently. "Then what should be the correct answer?"
Lilith couldn't be bothered to talk nonsense with this guy anymore. Crossing her arms, she voiced her thoughts: "When I was adventuring on the snowy plains before, I heard some legends from the herdsmen there. It is said that a long, long time ago, every living thing on the snowy plains possessed extraordinary power. Not just humans or other intelligent species, but even the herded cattle and sheep, horses, and even the pasture grass eaten by the livestock possessed extraordinary power. The local herdsmen called this universal extraordinary power 'spirituality'."
Charlotte was a smart person too. After listening to Lilith's story, she quickly understood the meaning. She continued, "You mean to say that perhaps a hundred thousand years ago, living creatures in the world all possessed extraordinary power, and most of these creatures could serve as food for humans. The ability I awakened at the Second Wing of the ancient faction I practice is actually an ability to absorb extraordinary power—so-called 'spirituality'—from food to strengthen myself?"
Lilith nodded. "But because the only creatures around you with extraordinary power now are humans, this Second Wing ability has become something like an ability specifically for eating people."
"Huh? Then what should I do now?" Charlotte pointed at her own nose and asked, "I can't really go eat people, can I?"
"Just because humans are the only ones around you with extraordinary power doesn't mean humans are the only ones in this world with extraordinary power," Lilith suggested. "There are so many tribal people in the Kanpei Mountains."
Charlotte's mouth twitched at these words. "Let's put aside the fact that most tribal people look similar to humans. Do you know how fierce the tribal people are right now? They've even fought their way to Platinum City! How can my tiny Lanwan Viscountcy be a match for the tribal people? Tribal people eat humans too. What if instead of eating a tribal person, I get eaten by one?"
"That's true too." Lilith felt Charlotte had a point. She thought seriously again and said, "You've always believed that the power of miracles and the power of human extraordinary factions are actually the same thing. Maybe you can try eating Griffins and Giant Eagles."
"How could I afford to eat that?" Charlotte shook her head without thinking. "I'm still counting on my Griffins and Giant Eagles to help me fend off the Delmoreans who are about to knock on my door."
"You really are a picky eater." Lilith clicked her tongue.
"Is this a matter of being picky?" Charlotte retorted.
Lilith thought for a while longer and said, "Then perhaps you can try the Silver-Winged Fish."
The Silver-Winged Fish was a large marine fish in this world. An adult Silver-Winged Fish could exceed seven or eight meters in length. Their swimming speed was extremely fast; when sprinting, they could reach over a hundred kilometers per hour, easily overturning the wooden fishing boats of this era.
However, the fishermen of this world still flocked to the Silver-Winged Fish. Not because its meat was delicious, but because its bones were an extraordinary material. In the awakening ritual of the Royal Griffin Knight faction, Silver-Winged Fish bone powder was a substitute for Mithril powder.
The Silver-Winged Fish was indeed a decent choice. Charlotte nodded slightly.
"Griffins, Giant Eagles, Silver-Winged Fish, Letter Ravens... Looking at it this way, the world of a hundred thousand years ago might indeed have been a world full of 'spirituality.' It's likely that our current world has degenerated, causing most creatures to lose their 'spirituality,' that is, their extraordinary power," Charlotte mused.
"Whether it has degenerated or not is worth in-depth study, but why did you list the Letter Raven with the other three?" Lilith expressed her inability to understand.
Charlotte couldn't very well say that in her memory, crows couldn't actually deliver letters, right? And the intelligence of Letter Ravens had already surpassed the carrier pigeons of Charlotte's previous life.
"Also, there is one thing I need to remind you of," Lilith said again.
"What is it?" Charlotte asked.
"Although the meat of the Silver-Winged Fish is delicious, it has a certain toxicity throughout its body, so you can't eat too much," Lilith paused and added, "But as an extraordinary material, the bones of the Silver-Winged Fish aren't actually considered excellent. That means the 'spirituality' contained within the Silver-Winged Fish might not be rich. If you eat too little, there is a high probability it won't satisfy your hunger."
Charlotte's face darkened. "Huh? Are you making me choose between starving to death and being poisoned to death?"
"You don't need to worry about starving to death," Lilith finally said. "It's been so long since you advanced to the Second Wing, and you haven't eaten human flesh, right?"
"Of course I haven't." Charlotte shook her head immediately.
"You see, you haven't eaten food with extraordinary power for so long, and you haven't starved to death," Lilith explained. "The body of the practitioner is the foundation of the extraordinary system. This is a theory common to most factions, and your ancient faction should be the same. Not eating food containing 'spirituality' might make that hunger linger, but it won't starve you to death. You can still eat normal food to sustain your life; this won't change."
"So that means I might have to go hungry for a long time in the future?" Charlotte didn't feel much happier.
"Mhm, that's about it." Lilith had a gloating smile on her lips.
Soqya Peninsula, Little Sassinian City-State.
"The vote count for the Citizen Assembly has been completed. A total of 5,202 citizens participated in the vote, with 3,162 in favor and 2,040 against. The proposal is passed. Effective immediately, Apo is stripped of his status as an Elder of the Little Sassinian Elder Council..."
Matt announced from the podium.
Below the stage, Apo remained silent, his face showing few ripples of emotion.
The meeting ended, and Apo walked out of the Elder Council alone. It was only when he stopped at the entrance of the Elder Council and looked back that someone finally caught up with him.
"Elder Apo, Elder Apo..." Matt chased after him in a hurry, his face full of apology, but he didn't know how to start speaking.
Apo knew Matt's thoughts. He shook his head and said, "Announcing the voting results is your duty; you cannot be blamed. I am no longer an Elder, so you don't need to address me as such anymore."
Matt felt even more bitter in his heart. He spoke indignantly, "Most citizens actually still trust you. It's just that people like Gareth took advantage of the citizens' anger over the last few days to make them vote to remove you from your Elder status."
Not long ago, Apo had released the Ambratu prisoners of war, almost in defiance of the entire city-state's opposition, fulfilling his pre-war promise—that as long as they fought for Little Sassinian once, they would be granted freedom.
This act undoubtedly angered many Little Sassinian citizens; they only wanted to see the Ambratu prisoners tortured to death.
Consequently, many rumors unfavorable to Apo began to spread within Little Sassinian city. For example, that Apo let Little Sassinian citizen-soldiers block for Ambratu citizen-soldiers during battle; that Apo had been eager to attack Ambratu just to win back a home for the Ambratu people; and even that Apo had accepted bribes from the Ambratu people and wanted to become an Ambratu person himself...
Taking advantage of this trend, Gareth proposed in the Elder Council that Apo was unfit to manage the city-state, claiming he sat in the Elder Council all day in a daze, doing nothing, offering no useful opinions, and was suspected of dereliction of duty, so his Elder status should be revoked.
Today, the Citizen Assembly held a vote on this matter. The result was a successful passage.
Apo smiled and said, "This time, the Citizen Assembly didn't strip me of my family property and banish me from the city-state in a fit of rage. This shows that everyone is already much more tolerant towards me."
Matt instantly felt somewhat awkward, not knowing how to respond.
Apo sighed and continued walking forward.
Matt hurriedly followed him. "Where are you going? I can help you..."
"You don't need to look after my feelings like this," Apo waved his hand, interrupting Matt. "I'm actually not that disappointed. I also feel that I am not suitable to be an Elder. There is nothing to be sad about being dismissed. Besides... I don't know where I should go next either..."
________________________________________
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