Throne of the North.

Chapter 513 Praise for Light (V)

Nobles are all profit-seeking.

Ryan is no exception.

In the war between the two kingdoms, it would not be a good thing for him whoever wins absolutely. If the Andara Kingdom defeats the Serra Kingdom, then the prestige of the royal family will return to its peak.

Fighting against aliens is not terrible, but defeating traitors is the most inspiring.

The young king who only knows how to get angry all day long will be pushed to the pinnacle, and the nobles will see hope in him, and then they will unite around him to come up with ideas.

Ryan would not underestimate the wisdom of nobles with the best knowledge and education coming together.

If the Serra Kingdom could crush the Andara Kingdom's army with ease, the faith cohesion of the Dawn Church would reach a new peak. The hundreds of thousands of fanatics are not making any moves now, but once the war is won, the faith of the Lord of Dawn will be terrifyingly strong and pure.

Not only that, the victory in the war and the expansion of territory also calmed down the aristocratic conflicts that had been flaring up in the past. Archduke Carlos and Count Fragoso will be at peace for many years because they have had more of the cake.

If they don't take charge, the conflicts among the nobles below will be trivial matters.

Their position was secure, but Ryan, an outsider, was not so secure.

When the order of the Church of Dawn comes down, all the industries and wealth of the imperial noble Baron Ryan in the Kingdom of Sera will probably become the spoils of the Church of Dawn.

In retaliation for Ryan's betrayal of all the Dawn believers.

Pursuing one's own interests became the necessary choice for every noble in this war.

So, are there only two royal families who will gain nothing from the war? No, they will also gain what they need.

The only losers are the families of every soldier who dies on the battlefield.

The flames burned on Ryan's body, and the shadow of a giant dragon emerged. The dark golden dragon's pupils reflected the expressionless Ryan, and it laughed in an inexplicable manner.

"It's not called greed and endless desire."

Ryan stretched out his hand and crushed the phantom of the giant dragon. He once again refined part of the power of the dragon's heart and said:
“This is the path I take.”

"Made of bones."

"Slaves and commoners will not be the only ones among them."

"Neither knights nor nobles can shine among them."

The phantom of the dragon appeared again. He was crawling in a misty and magnificent palace, looking at Ryan thoughtfully. At this moment, as the embodiment of greed and desire, the legendary dragon could not even perceive what Ryan was thinking.

He lost another fight with Ryan.

"How can a dragon's desire compare to human greed?"

The moment the dragon disappeared, Ryan's murmur was vaguely heard.

Are dragons less greedy and lustful than humans?

It just found it funny, and Ryan was too lazy to explain to this guy who had died a long time ago and even his skull had become a collection in Ryan's ice cellar.

How could these giant dragons standing at the top of the food chain understand the beauty of power and enjoyment? With such powerful extraordinary powers, they are unable to form a brilliant civilization. And yet they want to drive Master Ryan to become a lackey of desire?
Have you seen the world? Earth Dragon.

"When this war is over, the Andara Kingdom should no longer be out of my control, right?"

Ryan looked at his spiritual panel, and saw that the [Giant Mammoth] entry was no longer as dim as before, and his eyes were full of anticipation.

The war continues.

The war seemed very arbitrary under the command of these nobles, as there was no command. They just waved their hands and charged forward without any rules. After all, those soldiers only had a spear in their hands.

There are very few people who can afford to play with bows and arrows.

The army shouldn't be like this. It all comes down to the emergence of the Extraordinary Legion.

The extraordinary legion needs to consume too many resources, and because they are consumed on the extraordinary knights, ordinary soldiers can naturally be exploited as much as possible.

Therefore, the more powerful the extraordinary legion is, the weaker the corresponding ordinary army will be.

Supplying an extraordinary army not only requires vast resources from another world, but also requires a large amount of resources to be gathered around the territories of noble lords.

Ryan's Frozen Territory sold a lot of iron weapons to the Kingdom of Sera, but 90% of them never appeared on the battlefield here.

A war with low combat effectiveness gave small nobles like Caird room to maneuver.

Because on such a battlefield, all it takes to stand out is one word - courage.

Everyone is afraid of death. Slaves on the battlefield are no exception, as are regular soldiers. They become excited when they see the enemy being terrified, and they tremble in fear when they see the enemy acting like a god of war.

The key to distinguishing between the two attitudes is courage.

How to make soldiers brave?

In fact, it is simple enough.

"Kill one enemy, and I will promise in the name of nobility to give you a month's worth of food! Kill ten enemies, and I will give you weapons and enough food for your family to eat for a year!"

"Kill one hundred enemies and you will be able to marry the daughter of my Valencia family, become a true knight, and become a member of the nobility!!!"

During the war, many nobles ran far away, to the rear. They were also afraid. People like Caird were considered bold. They roared at their own army under the protection of knights.

Not only him, but also other noble soldiers in this circle received promises.

Because the noble himself was not there, the attitudes of many soldiers were not so high, but as for Caird's own soldiers, they were all very excited, with red faces and ears, as if they had already imagined the moment when they would stand majestically on the corpse of the enemy and marry the beautiful and rich woman.

"Kill those damn Andaras!"

"Kill them all!!!"

In the war between the two kingdoms, the quality of ordinary soldiers was similar. When one side showed a desperate and fearless attitude, the other side would magnify its fear.

One is strong and the other is weak. The difference between one person is not obvious, but when there are a hundred people, there will be obvious turbulence on the battlefield.

Looking down from the sky, I saw that one corner of the battlefield suddenly collapsed, and the soldiers with loud shouts directly pushed the winding battlefield boundary line hundreds of meters.

At this time, the soldiers on both sides surrounded those soldiers who had penetrated deep into the enemy camp and they would surely die, but the problem was that neither side of this war had a qualified commander.

They cannot see.

It's the same word. In front of the brave soldiers, the soldiers of the Andara Kingdom in the three directions around them did not dare to get too close. You looked at me and I looked at you. No one was willing to be the first to rush up and fight to the death with those enemies who seemed to be energized.

They are afraid.

woo-

The horn sounded, and today's retreat was earlier than yesterday.

"Pastor, where is the priest?"

The knight rode on his horse and shouted, leading a group of priests towards the shuttle army. The healing magic of the morning light fell, and no matter how tired the body was, it would be swept away and become full of energy. Even those soldiers who were seriously injured saved their lives.

"If there were more priests following us today, we could kill more enemies and maybe even reach the place where those nobles' flags are!"

The small nobles such as Caird began to shout loudly, and then at the military meeting in the evening of the same day, they directly pointed the finger at the missionary Sven.

"We need the blessing of the priests of the Church. This war is a holy war of the Church of Dawn. For the faith of Dawn, we need the help of the priests."

How could the Dawn Church not be involved in this war?

After all, under the Pope's order, it is the clergymen who should be the most active. However, due to the special nature of the Serra Kingdom, after the military power was converted into taxation power, the clergymen have not yet exercised their power.

"For the glory of our Lord, the priest will help you defeat more enemies."

Merits and strong fighting power can give small nobles like Caird more say. But facing this matter, neither Archduke Carlos nor Count Fragoso can influence it.

Because of their power, they cannot control the clergy of the Holy See, and those clergy can completely ignore them. Sven is now the temporary head of the Serra Kingdom branch of the Dawn Holy See, so he naturally knows what to do.

Establishing merit is the first step for small nobles like Caird, but not the complete goal. After that, it is to fight for the right to speak in the war and for more help from the clergy of the Dawn Church to their army.

Afterwards, use these benefits to gain more merits and demonstrate your loyalty to the Faith of the Dawn and to His Majesty the King.

Naturally, their voices in the Kingdom of Sera will become louder.

"What did you feed those soldiers? Why are they so brave?"

There weren't so many quarrels at today's military meeting. After all, we had a small victory in the war, and everyone could be friendly when we had the advantage.

The nobles' eyes naturally fell on the greatest hero of today's war. We are all nobles, and your soldiers don't eat as well as ours. My title is higher than yours, so why is your army so powerful?

Is this reasonable? This is not reasonable. The nobles thought that if possible, they would take the good things from these small nobles and make them their own.

Faced with the nobles' ulterior motives in their inquiries, Caird naturally did not want to miss this opportunity to save face and improve his status in the nobles' hearts.

"Lord Ryan once said that the most taboo thing for soldiers on the battlefield is to retreat. When soldiers have only one choice, they will be stronger than the enemy."

No noble dared to doubt that they were all defeated by Ryan, and the baron from the north was an authoritative expert in this regard.

So during another day of war, the nobles issued a death order that any soldier who retreated would be killed.

The effect was significant. In less than an hour, the army of the Andara Kingdom began to collapse on a large scale. The nobles of the Serra Kingdom were naturally very surprised. The prohibition of retreat really worked.

They were surprised and ordered their troops to chase and kill the fleeing Andara troops.

"Sir Daryl, we lost!"

On the Andara Kingdom side, no matter how ignorant the nobles were, they had after all experienced those years of chaos in the kingdom. They could see the defeat on the battlefield, and they also saw the Serra Kingdom army rushing over and shouting. The nobles were so scared that their faces turned pale.

Daryl also had an unpleasant expression on his face. These troops were too weak.

"Where is Count Canterlot's army? Why haven't they come to support us yet?"

Unlike the Serra Kingdom, because the wars in the previous few years had severely damaged the kingdom's nobles, and because the war with the orcs in the north involved countless people, the nobles were not very enthusiastic about sending troops to the south to defend the Serra Kingdom.

Arriving little by little, it has become the norm to go as slowly as possible on the road.

Daryl was extremely angry. Since the decline of the royal family, the attitudes of these great nobles had become increasingly perfunctory, and they were so negative when facing war orders.

He must restore order and restore the royal family's prestige to its peak.

Thinking of this, Daryl subconsciously exerted force on his feet, and the huge stone instantly split into two halves.

At this moment, a noble nearby shouted excitedly.

"The Death Army is coming!"

In the field of vision, huge flags were fluttering. As the Count of Cantra of the Andara Kingdom who once had an extraordinary army, although the Death Legion had been crippled in several wars, it was still a war force that was far more elite than the slave army.

As a result, the soldiers of the Serra Kingdom army who were eagerly chasing after the fleeing defeated army met with disaster.

"Hahahaha, you damn Andara people, we told you to call us traitors, so we'll kill you all and take away your wives!"

The pale and skinny soldier laughed ferociously, his expression became even more like that of a devil, and the spear in his hand became lighter at this moment. He was eager to catch up and give a fatal blow to the back of the fleeing boy in front of him.

Then at a certain moment, a cold light flashed in the air, and the sharp sword of the knight cut off the spear, and then cut the soldier who was still laughing in half. The horrible pain after the intense feeling of weightlessness made the soldier wake up, and looking at his lower body that was trampled into meat paste not far away, his despair instantly made his face pale as the wind and frost in the north.

"kill!"

The massacre of these slave armies by the Death Legion was one-sided. Even if these soldiers tried their best, they were unable to penetrate the armored knights.

So, after a great victory, the army of the Serra Kingdom suffered a great defeat.

As expected, after the troops were withdrawn that day, the nobles started quarreling again.

The content of the quarrel was meaningless, it was nothing more than the nobles shouting that if you hadn't done this or that, nothing would have happened.

However, no matter how much they argued, facing the slaughter-like fighting power, these nobles had to admit that their strength was fundamentally inferior to that of the opponent.

……

Empire.

"Your Majesty, the Griffin Legion must attack, otherwise our army will not be able to defeat the legions of those damned nobles of the Andara Kingdom."

The royal family of the Andara Kingdom declined, but the military strength of the great nobles has not completely become history, and the Andara Kingdom still has three or four remaining extraordinary legions.

What about the Kingdom of Serra? The Kamikaze Corps, which originally belonged to Archduke Carlos, was trampled into pulp by the Violent Elephant Corps and mixed with the soil of the collapsed hillside. It is said that this year the land is so fertile that people dare not approach it.

The only one left is the Griffin Legion, which still maintains the character of an extraordinary military force.

In the royal city, King McReynolds was still hesitating.

He was not worried about the losses of the Griffin Corps, but he was worried that the Griffin Corps would be dispatched and the Andara Kingdom would collapse.

The noble coalition forces in the north and several incomplete extraordinary legions combined are no match for the Griffin Legion - they were defeated by the Griffin Legion at their peak.

The Griffin Legion will surely defeat the noble coalition of the Andara Kingdom when it marches north, but what happens after that?

King Andara would definitely be so scared that he would transfer Grand Duke Leta, who was fighting against the Rhinoceros Orcs in the north, to use the Ghost Legion to fight against the Griffin Legion.

In this case, regardless of the outcome of the battle in the south, the north will definitely collapse. The rhinoceros orcs may once again surround the capital of the Andara Kingdom. Even if they cannot attack it this time, the entire land of the Andara Kingdom will be filled with orcs.

King McReynolds was able to become a legendary magician with the title of "Wind Emperor", so he would naturally not be merciful to the casualties and disasters that would be caused by this.

What he cared about was that this war had already affected the credibility of the Sera Kingdom. Under the Pope's order, they had to declare war on the Andara Kingdom, which was fighting the orcs and surrounding the human territory.

Unjust!

It would be terrible for the Kingdom of Serra to have this title, and it would be detrimental to the Kingdom of Serra's future foothold in human civilization.

If the declaration of war by the Sera Kingdom led to the collapse of the Andara Kingdom's northern defense line and the orcs ravaged human lands, then regardless of the outcome of the war, the nobles' evaluation of the Sera Kingdom would plummet.

They may even loudly condemn and exclude them, because doing so can put those nobles at the highest moral level.

In contrast, of course, there is the Serra Kingdom, which has no choice but to face accusations from all the nobles of human civilization. It seems that there will be no direct impact, but people live in a collective civilization. The Serra Kingdom cannot close its doors to the outside world, so it will inevitably be restricted everywhere.

The simplest and most intuitive point is that the materials sold to the chambers of commerce in the empire will be sold at a minimum price.

What he considered was not the damage that the Griffin Legion would cause to the Kingdom of Andara, but the impact on the Kingdom of Serra.

If we lose, the problem will be serious; if we win, the consequences will be disastrous.

Difficult.

King McReynolds was still hesitant, but the north could not hold on any longer, and what were those clergymen of the Church now? They were all well-connected people with backgrounds, and many of them had channels to contact the Holy Mountain.

They need to prove to the Pope the loyalty of the Serra Kingdom branch of the Church of the Dawn and their devout belief in the Lord of the Dawn.

So...soon the rebuke from the Holy Mountain appeared.

"Why hasn't the Griffin Legion entered the war yet? This is a holy war, a holy war of faith! The damn Flor Empire distorted the teachings of our Lord and tried to subvert the faith of our Lord. This is an unforgivable crime, an unforgivable crime!!!"

The Pope's anger was transmitted directly to the sky above the Serra Royal City through some extraordinary means, and many people heard it.

There was anger in the eyes of [Wind Emperor], he was the king.

But he was helpless. Survival in the cracks was beyond his control. The Griffin Legion finally set out. The fluttering wings and lion roars descended on the battlefield at the border. The majestic griffins dropped from the sky without the need for the knights on their backs to take action. Their sharp claws could tear the bones of each soldier.

(End of this chapter)