Throne of the North.

Chapter 614 'Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes', End of the War
The capital city of the Kingdom of Nantes is gone.

Before the appearance of demigods, the power of many legends was enough to cause turmoil in this land. After Anselmo appeared, along with the great being Ifrit the Sunbird, even the power of the Dawn God descended.

This battlefield had long since given way. The royal city of Nantes, which had stood on the land for centuries, had become a ruin, a stark contrast to the towering mountains.

Speaking of which, there's another huge problem... the road is gone.

A lone mountain, a thousand meters high, rose up under the power of a demigod, but it did not appear out of thin air; every stone that made it up came from this land.

As mountains rise, naturally some places will collapse. The Kingdom of Nantes is well-connected with a well-developed road system, and the royal city is the center. Now, it is more than half destroyed.

Without roads, the entire southern world is affected.

This is just a physical contradiction. During the war between the Empire and the Papacy, due to the collapse of the royal city, a large number of people began to flee. No one knows what went wrong, but the royal family of the Kingdom of Nantes... survived by the skin of their teeth.

Nine out of ten members of the royal family, including Prince Duke and many others, were killed, as well as some nobles close to the royal family. The King of Nantes was never found dead, and his whereabouts remained unknown.

The king's disappearance was, of course, a major event, no less significant than the war between the empire and the papacy. The kingdom's nobles were now in a state of panic and utter chaos.

The clergy of the Empire and the Papacy were arguing fiercely. They had met on the battlefield just days before, and were now in the same resolute tone at a meeting.

They seemed unable to reach a conclusion, and just then, King Hakang of the Iron Eagle Kingdom in the south solemnly declared the corruption of the Dawn Church, and the Iron Eagle Kingdom would embrace the light.

King Haakon recognized himself as the Pope of Light, not the Grand Pope of Light. Almost immediately, the Flor Empire presented him with a precious gift: Emperor Flor personally acknowledged the status of Pope Haakon and the Kingdom of Haakon's faith in Light.

The king's army was slaughtering the clergy of the church, and all believers who served the Lord of Dawn were being hunted down. A large number of nobles, who had been believers of Dawn for many years, were shocked by the king's choice and then chose to betray him.

The remaining people chose to wait and see, and even within the royal family, there were a large number of Dawn believers. The king had no choice but to personally take action against his own royal family.

In short, almost overnight, the Kingdom of Iron Eagle became even more anxious, chaotic, and bloody than the Kingdom of Nantes, which had lost its royal family and capital, due to the change in faith.

It could even be said that in just one day, the Iron Eagle Kingdom became the most chaotic place on the continent of Norris.

This made the quarrel between the Empire and the Papacy in the Kingdom of Nantes even louder.

However, the changes brought about by the war between the two sides did not stop.

On the very day that the Iron Eagle Kingdom announced its change of faith, Archbishop Maddy's army launched a rebellious attack on the Dawn Church's garrison at the foot of the Holy Mountain—or more precisely, at the passage leading to the abyss beneath the Holy Mountain.

One hundred thousand followers of the evil god transformed into ferocious minions of the abyss, wreaking havoc and destroying the Holy Mountain's territory within the abyss, affecting more than five hundred followers.

The very next day, more followers of the evil god, posing as clergy within the Dawn Church, launched an indiscriminate supply campaign against the Church. The demon lords of the Abyss began to covet the world of Norris, and they began to undermine the power of the Dawn Church.

Moreover, the more than twenty noble territories surrounding the Kingdom of Nantes suffered a large-scale massacre by the evil god's followers left behind by Archbishop Maddy, with even the nobles suffering heavy casualties. Earl Clayton originally intended to influence them through war, but now there is no need for that.

When these two pieces of news arrived, the quarrels between the Empire and the Papacy in the Kingdom of Nantes suddenly ceased.

Both sides stared at each other.

Essentially, the threat posed by the Abyss to humanity is similar to the threat posed by the orcs of the North. When the orcs invade the lands of human civilization, the Holy See will also cease fire on the Empire; this is fundamentally politically correct.

The Holy Mountain in the south naturally didn't have this kind of trouble, but unexpectedly, the Dawn Church is now facing the exact same situation as the Empire. This time, not only the Church, but the Empire is also caught off guard.

The threat the Vatican felt was not just from the abyss, but also from the clergy within the Vatican itself. Who would have thought that this sudden attack came from the clergy within the Vatican?
Those clergy who should have been absolutely devout believers suddenly became followers of evil gods, the kind that can't be hidden no matter what.

The rebellion and cruelty in the Iron Eagle Kingdom... have somewhat subsided.

The nobles were dumbfounded. They knew that the clergy of the Papacy were greedy and insatiable, but they never expected that even their faith in the Lord of Dawn had become distorted.

Heresy. The Vatican has been calling the Empire's blasphemous nobles heretics for years, but in the end, the real heresy of evil gods has emerged from within their own ranks.

The Flor Empire had already gained a huge advantage because of the war, and now the troubles of heresy within the Dawn Church were like a godsend for them.

On the Kingdom of Nantes' side, both sides suddenly received instructions from the rear, and the previously noisy and fruitless arguments became orderly and swift.

Three days later, a treaty called the Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes appeared.

"First, the Dawn Church must bear the greatest responsibility for this war that has brought disaster to human civilization and compensate the Flor Empire with 300 million gold coins in disaster reparations."

The very first rule caused the clergy to jump up in anger and denounce it.

"Three hundred million? Why don't you just rob someone? Can all the gold mines in the entire Norris continent be refined into three hundred million gold coins?"

"Heh, who doesn't know that the Dawn Church has a huge number of believers from other worlds? Where did all the value of those other-worldly gold mines go?"

"Furthermore, regarding the gold mines on the continent of Norris, according to the first issue of the Magical Announcement to Humanity published by the Imperial Magicians Association, the gold mines in the southern lands of Norris are worth approximately 150 million. Magicians are far more familiar with this world than you are."

Brutus Rodrigo is going to use the Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes to advertise the Mage's Guild, letting the whole world know about its existence.

This would expand the empire and increase the influence of the Grand Duke Rodrigo's family.

"Secondly, the Dawn Church must acknowledge the existence of the Imperial Church of Light. Under the will of the great and immortal God of Light, the Church of Light is just, righteous, merciful, and favored by the God of Light."

"Your Holiness the Pope of Dawn must attend the Declaration of Light by the Imperial Emperor and the Grand Pope of Light on the day of Divine Grace next year."

"Thirdly, regarding the killing of clergy members of the Dawn Church within the Iron Eagle Kingdom, the Dawn Church must acknowledge that this was an act of justice, because all the clergy members killed by the Iron Eagle Kingdom were heretics of the Abyss Evil God. Of course, those clergy members who were not heretics will remain safely in the Iron Eagle Kingdom or return to the Holy Mountain."

"This is a requirement of the Iron Eagle Kingdom, and it has nothing to do with us."

"Fourth, the Dawn Church, for the nobles displaced during the war..."

The last eighteen articles were the Nantes Kingdom Treaty listed by the Empire, and each one was unacceptable to the Dawn Church. Amid the uproar, the eighteen articles of the Nantes Kingdom Treaty were reduced to fifteen.

Two days later, the number of articles decreased from fifteen to eleven.

Ten days later, the Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes was reduced to only five articles that the Empire refused to concede.

"The Empire is taking advantage of the chaos. Since you say this is a matter for all of human civilization, isn't the invasion of the Abyss Demons a threat to all of humanity?" The Dawn Church strongly demanded that the Treaty of Nantes be supplemented with several more articles.

Previously, they tried every means to reduce the content of the treaty; now, what they want to add is, of course, what the Dawn Church needs.

After careful consideration, the Empire agreed, mainly because His Majesty the Emperor of the Flor Empire saw that the Dawn Church had promised His Holiness the Pope of Dawn that he would travel to the Empire to attend the Feast of Grace.

This pleased His Majesty the Emperor, and he granted the request.

With such a massive victory in war, Emperor Columbus III's prestige in the empire had reached its zenith, and no nobleman would oppose him.

"The continent of Norris is riddled with holes from war. There should not be any large-scale military operations between the Empire and the Papacy, which would displace nobles and devastate the wealth of landowners."

This may seem like the Dawn Church doesn't want war anymore, but in reality, it's a way to limit the Empire's resources.

The Empire's only weapon against the Papacy was its massive war machine. In terms of bewitching and winning people's hearts and minds and propagating faith, the Papacy was undoubtedly more professional.

"The evil gods of the abyss are eyeing the continent of Norris with covetous intent. As members of humanity, the Flor Empire cannot stand idly by and must provide assistance in all aspects to fight against the abyss's minions; otherwise, human civilization will be ravaged by death."

There's not much to say about that. When the orcs invaded, if Emperor Flor hadn't wanted to prove to the world that they could also obtain supplies from the Southern World, even if there were issues with the quantity, no one would have publicly stated that they wouldn't provide assistance.

"Third, as the faith of the Lord in the world, the Dawn Church is destined to be the leader in the hearts of all believers. From the very beginning when His Holiness the Pope led mankind towards civilization, the Dawn Pope has been the only leader of believers of the Lord on earth."

The empire didn't understand, and Emperor Columbus III was somewhat dissatisfied, but he wasn't concerned with the final interpretation of divine authority, so he didn't bother to argue.

As long as the Pope of Dawn doesn't compete with him for the titles of Imperial Emperor and Grand Pope of Light, it's fine.

"fourth……"

"besides?"

The imperial nobles were dissatisfied. Despite their victory, the Dawn Church kept adding demands to the Treaty of Nantes.

"Hmph, why didn't you barbarians of the Empire say that before?"

"Fourth, the Dawn Church allows the Imperial Chamber of Commerce to travel on the lands of Dawn's faith, but similarly, personnel from Dawn must also be qualified to travel to the Empire. The Imperial nobles have a valid reason to protect their safety and allow them to spread the doctrines of Dawn."

To be honest, the imperial nobles were not very satisfied with this clause, because their ancestors had suffered from the oppression and rule of the Dawn clergy. For example, Count Pascal simply put his badge on the table. If this treaty were to be established, the Pascal family would start a war.

The clergy angrily rebuked the count for not seeing the first restriction on military warfare mentioned above.

"Ha, this treaty states that military war is prohibited? Do you really intend to abide by it?"

Count Pascal sneered, making everyone's faces fall.

Ultimately, this fourth condition did not continue in full. The Empire simply allowed Dawn's followers to travel freely to the Empire. They could establish churches of the Dawn Church within the Empire to protect their safety and allow Imperial citizens who traveled there on their own to convert.

Faith is an inescapable topic. In the Treaty of Nantes, almost every article touches on faith, but each only scratches the surface.

Clearly... neither the Empire nor the Dawn Church is purely devout in their faith.

The final Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes consisted of nine articles. After the Empire and the Papacy completed their discussions, the treaty was quickly sent to the Empire, the Kingdom, and the noble territories for review. At the latest, before the Feast of Grace next year, all the nobles in the entire Southern World would know the contents of the Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes.

Those who were closest to the empire and the papacy, as well as the nobles of high status, were naturally the first to obtain copies.

No one was satisfied with the contents of the Treaty of Nantes.

Yes, not a single person, whether it was the Pope of the Holy See or the Emperor of the Empire, the believers of the Holy See, the nobles of the Empire, or the nobles of the Southern Lands, those kingdoms, noble territories.

Every single one of them was dissatisfied.

The emperor of the empire only cared about the arrival of the pope, and the pope only cared about the sole leader of faith recognized by the light, for he had inscribed his own name on it.

The war could not continue, and the Earl of Clayton's attempt to make a fifth Grand Duke failed once again. Although he had failed many times before, he was still unwilling to give up.

Archduke Russell's revenge could not continue. Although he had succeeded, Archduke Russell, who had lost his father, would forever be known as Poor Gallen.

The nobles and royalty of the Kingdom of Nantes... will be plunged into chaos for a long time, only suppressed because of the presence of people from the Empire and the Papacy, but the hidden conflicts will surely erupt.

On the Iron Eagle Kingdom's side, they didn't see any further war between the Empire and the Holy See. Clearly, they were also somewhat uneasy, because compared to the Empire, they were a bit...too close to the Holy Mountain.

The clergy on the holy mountain were also dissatisfied. Several cardinals and many clergy had died, and the positions they had vacated could only be obtained through war.

Although they can now obtain them through battles with the Abyss Familiars, fighting monsters from the Abyss? It's nowhere near as easy as waging war against an empire that is also human.

They are no longer the purest believers in the dawn.

The Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes naturally spread within the empire as well.

The nobles were naturally overjoyed to be entitled to a share of the indemnity, which was worth three hundred million gold coins.

Meanwhile, in the North, after inspecting the construction of the Great Wall fortress in the north, Ryan returned to Rhinoceros Horn Mountain and frowned upon seeing the contents of the Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes.

If an agreement cannot satisfy everyone, then... who will be willing to uphold it?

Who would? Would the Vatican be willing to pay such a high price? Even willingly relinquishing the right to religious belief?
An empire? The only thing an empire possesses is the means of war, yet it is severely restricted.

Kingdoms? Kingdoms will probably try every means to learn from and gain greater power from the Empire and the Church. In this war, they have seen the Empire and the Church's power to fight against the world. They are the most nervous and absolutely unwilling to spend a lot of resources to support the defense of the Abyss's Familiars.

When everyone is dissatisfied, no one will take the initiative to uphold the so-called Treaty of the Kingdom of Nantes.

Just like its name suggests, the Kingdom of Nantes? The land of the Kingdom of Nantes is now a wasteland of war, the place where the Sun Bird is sealed.

"Is this the end of one war, or the beginning of another?"

(End of this chapter)