Dear Broom Knight.

Chapter 959 The Kingdom of Emilia Highlands
The kingdom of Emilia Highlands on Mount Fegi is in a state of high tension lately.

Since the unexpected surprise in the Northern Kingdom last summer, it's no secret that the gods have been using a certain labyrinth to select people.

Since Vargas wasn't chosen, everyone guessed that the new labyrinth would open in the Violet Duchy in the southern part of the North.

After all, although Violet is small, it is the first large land country after the North.

The subsequent countries were not the result of joint efforts between the church and the monarchy.

Especially those countries named after royal surnames.

Not all countries can wield such absolute power and possess such a vast territory as the North.

The lack of power and control of the royal family naturally leads to the emergence of numerous principalities.

Furthermore, without the existence of the royal covenant, these principalities would not have remained just principalities.

They've long since gone to great lengths to gain a legitimate and righteous reputation.

As for whether these countries were former participants in the alliance or were nominally principalities but actually rebels who were independent kingdoms, one can tell from their names and whether there are church priests residing there.

Even the weakest of nations, those with iconic names and hidden sacred connotations, are still suzerain states.

The Kingdom of Emilia Highlands is somewhere in between.

Their names suggest they are legitimate nations witnessed by the gods, but in reality, they are only about the size of a few principalities, and their status is roughly the same.

But they aren't really ambitious people.

As you can tell from their country's name, they are located in the Fegi Mountains.

They should have been at the border of a certain country.

However, under the harassment and sabotage of a powerful neighboring country, their country was completely torn apart... If the Northern Kingdom had been successfully assassinated back then, their final fate would have been the same.

Although the Northland is still the Northland, a large number of border areas are divided up to become principalities.

If the rulers of these duchies are all members of the Northern royal family... then the North will surely never have a peaceful day.

Of course, the northern nobles weren't that foolish.

Although it is several countries away from the previous tragedy, the other party's fate serves as the most poignant warning.

They oppose the royal family only for greater interests, but they will never allow the name of the North to vanish into nothingness.

Therefore, in that war of national defense, even the Storm Nobles did not hold back.

His Majesty Travis's occasional 'weakness' and 'compromise' are also because those who secretly cause trouble once stood behind him and fought bravely.

If the North hadn't succeeded in its resistance, the North might have become the Emilia Highlands it is today... It turns out this place was just a mountain territory.

The mountain territory, which should have been located on the border between the two countries and had never thought of rebelling, had no way to return to the royal family by passing through several large and small duchies in between, nor could it find a nobleman willing to take the throne to support it.

With the ability and wealth to gain recognition from several other duchies and support the entire mountain territory's noble bloodline professionals, who would want to be the monarch of a poor, remote mountain village thousands of meters above sea level?
Everyone knows that being the king of the High Mountain Kingdom is a losing proposition.

After all, a royal family that can manage a country like this is unlikely to properly manage the highlands and borders that are essentially useless.

The Fegi Mountains are typical forest mountains... In other words, there are no mineral veins, only magical beasts, and the kind of magical beasts that are difficult to turn into wealth.

So, before the incident, what remained in Takayama Territory were poor people with nowhere to go and professionals who wanted to live in seclusion... Those who chose to live in seclusion here basically didn't have much money.

Of course, there must also be a group of knights who are loyal to their duty and feel that guarding the border is their lifelong responsibility.

But these are the people who are willing but powerless.

Gaoshanling eventually reached a dead end... not starving to death, but without any hope whatsoever.

I don't know if it's because people with principles are destined to die.

Finally, Gaoshan Territory was met with the gazes of two gods at the same time... the Lord of the Earth and the Goddess of the Night.

The Lord of the Earth heard their cries because many of them were believers... Without the protection of the national magic array and without the awakening magic array, they fell into despair for the future.

They can accept that their child has no talent, but they cannot accept the terrible reality that they don't even have the chance to awaken.

But the goddess of the night is because of... Emilia.

A beautiful young woman who felt her life shouldn't be like this prayed to the moon every day.

No one knows exactly what she said, but in any case, she attracted the attention of the Goddess of the Night.

However, she only cared about Emilia herself and did not care about the country's beliefs.

Logically, if the Goddess of the Night were to concede, the Highlands would eventually become the Highland Kingdom, falling under the rule of the Church of the Earth.

Embarrassingly, among his thousands of subjects, not a single warrior was willing to become king.

There are people interested in the position of lord, but not in the position of king.

You see, once the kingdom is officially established, the king will have to face the nobles down the mountain who have ruined the country and engage in duplicitous dealings with them.

Those lords didn't want the mountain lords who were good for nothing but poverty, but they also wouldn't accept someone 'without noble blood' as an equal to them.

It's so hard.

Even those high-ranking knights, some in the teens, chose to back down. But Emilia was different.

She was young and beautiful, and because of her natural beauty, she had a reserved and elegant demeanor since childhood.

Although their demeanor wasn't as perfect as that of the great nobles, this world has never cared about the etiquette of the strong.

As long as you don't break the rules, that's fine.

Emilia was, after all, the daughter of a knight, which meant she came from a very privileged family in the High Mountain Territory.

Most importantly, the goddess of the night took a liking to her.

As someone favored by the gods, no fool would dare to question her bloodline.

Her strength also increased rapidly after she became a chosen one of the gods.

What a fine future monarch!

Emilia was just one step away from perfectly resolving the biggest problem in the High Mountain Kingdom... and she was willing to do so.

Emilia, who was quite naive at the time and had some yearning for power, naturally agreed.

Thus, the meaningful name of the High Mountain Kingdom of Emilia came into being in this world... The vast majority of its people are believers in the earth, but the queen is a messenger of the night.

The emergence of this country has caused considerable trouble for both the Earth Church and the Dark Night Church.

They are indeed accustomed to vying for power and engaging in internal strife.

But their devotion to the gods is beyond question.

Even when academic disputes reach a fever pitch and the Lord of the Earth intervenes to offer advice, they are met with a rebuff. That doesn't mean they don't love their Lord.

Therefore, we must never allow a place where our own gods have appeared to be without even a proper church.

The Church of the Night goes without saying... Queen Emilia is favored by the goddess!

When the moon rises, will all you see be Emilia, who is all alone behind you?
Then the country became even stranger.

The main city where the royal palace is located has a dark and luxurious style.

The satellite cities built around the main city... are the academic cities of the believers of the earth.

In other words, these Earth Believers, with their diverse academic schools of thought, met on the territory of the Temple of the Night.

The Earth Believers, who are used to proving their correctness through force when they can't resolve arguments, have no choice but to accept the judgment of the Night Guardians... The Night Church will not allow anyone to fight on its territory.

Over time, the people of the Earth Church became accustomed to the fact that they could only engage in idle talk when entering the main city.

Then, other schools of thought quickly converged on Emilia City.

Ultimately, any newly emerging school of thought that cannot gain a foothold here will not be recognized.

After all, all the research products of the Earth Church can be sold for money, and the only downside of the High Mountain Territory is that survival resources are relatively expensive.

The Temple of the Night was initially dissatisfied, but they soon discovered that this way they could not only make money, but also buy all the latest and best research results from the Church of the Earth.

Most importantly, it also allows Night Watchers and Darkmoon to gain a lot of practical experience... Although Earth Cultists can remain calm most of the time, losing control can happen in an instant.

This is also one of the tests for those academic schools of thought.

For example, could we pay ransom to certain irrational researchers?

Those schools of thought that cannot afford to pay the price naturally have no right to promote their views in Emilia City.

This environment in the Kingdom of Emilia Highlands has existed for thousands of years, and no citizen has any objections to it... except for Queen Emilia from the beginning.

The queen, who originally loved wielding power, could no longer tolerate the noise outside the palace after only fifty years on the throne. She hastily found a man and had an heir. After the child was 20 years old and advanced to a level 10 professional, she abdicated without hesitation.

She never came back after that, even though she may still be living in the Temple of the Night.

The people of the Emilia Highlands Kingdom also vaguely knew that their situation was not very common.

But in their view, this is the difference between mountains and plains.

They even take pride in it.

However, the worst thing happened.

The Labyrinth of Gods did not choose the Violet Kingdom, which was the most likely option and at least large enough, but instead chose this place.

The reason they knew about this in advance was because the gods had issued divine decrees in the nearby countries... Anyone who wanted to participate could come to Emilia Palace Square before Midsummer's Day.

The Goddess of the Night and the Lord of the Earth chose to simultaneously host guests from all directions.

After all, because of what happened in the past, the Kingdom of Emilia Highlands had almost only the two of them as followers.

There's not even a need to consider external influences.

However, the Highlanders were somewhat distressed by this outcome... God above, the Earth Believers have lost all face!

Being in the dark isn't shameful, but it costs money!
(End of this chapter)