What's wrong with me, a mage, loving to farm?

Chapter 283. The War Between Light and Earth, Visitors to Star Town

Western part of the Zemurian continent.

This place belongs to the sacred Papacy, the holy kingdom of Essoth under the protection of the Father of Light.

The Holy Kingdom's territory is ten times larger than Norland, where Kroa is located. It can be said that the westernmost plain of the entire continent is almost entirely occupied by the Papacy.

Beyond that lies the orcs' wild grasslands.

This land blessed by the light certainly had many knightly estates, but they were all controlled by the priests, bishops and missionaries of the Papacy.

The fervor for faith made this land almost intolerant of anyone who disagreed with the light.

But locusts don't care whether you believe in the light or not.

Perhaps they are the fairest beings on this continent—they treat everyone equally, whether poor or rich, noble or commoner.

At this moment, the Holy Kingdom is facing an attack by locusts, just like other countries suffering from disaster—

The locusts, like dark clouds, blotted out the sky, blocking out all the sunlight, making it seem as if night had fallen.

Each locust was as big as a rabbit, and its cold, insect-like eyes sent chills down one's spine.

All you can hear in your ears is the sound of locusts flapping their wings. This sound, amplified by millions of locusts, is comparable to some sonic attacks.

Wherever they go, everything is devoured and disappears, leaving only barren land.

"Evil thing!"

"Your end is coming!"

Faced with the locusts, the Holy Kingdom dispatched a war priest corps of war envoys. During this time, they traveled to many places and finally arrived at the border region of the Holy Kingdom.

The priests, dressed in silver-white robes, stood in a line.

Everyone was stroking the metal sacred texts in their hands, praising the glory that belonged to God.

The dark clouds in the sky were dispersed, and beams of light descended from the thick clouds, truly like holy swords piercing through evil spirits.

The locust swarm had no chance to resist the onslaught of "Heaven's Fist" and was instantly purified by the holy magic.

All that remained in the air were the ashes of locusts.

Their souls and spirits were collected by the waiting choir of saints and sacrificed to a statue in some way.

The woman holding the statue was dressed in a magnificent robe and wore gold mittens. Her expression was extremely devout, even fanatical.

She whispered to the statue, "My lord, the god of war, the master of a thousand swords, the initiator and the terminator of all wars..."

"Where exactly are you trapped by this vile earth?"

"May this war awaken your will."

After she finished speaking, a glint flashed in her eyes, and she cut her arm, letting her pure virgin blood fall onto the magnificent human-shaped statue.

The golden statue, made of holy metal, was instantly stained with a dark hue of blood, but the statue appeared even more lifelike, like a warrior fighting a bloody battle.

It reacted!

"My lord..."

Just as the woman was feeling joy.

Suddenly, all the light on the statue disappeared, along with the souls and spiritual light of the locusts that had been wiped out, leaving it completely ordinary.

A person standing nearby couldn't help but say, "This already represents the spirit and soul of hundreds of millions of locusts, so why does the God of War still refuse to respond to us?"

These are locust kings that are almost level one magical beasts, and some are even level two magical beasts. They are quite different from ordinary locusts and have become rare sacrifices in recent years.

Unless it's a special situation, finding hundreds of millions of level one or two magical beasts to sacrifice... even for them, would be a huge challenge.

Even so, the war god's messenger did not answer them.

The man who asked the question put down the holy book in his hand with a rather dejected expression, sighed deeply, and revealed undisguised disappointment on his young face.

Since the locust plague broke out, they have been traveling around various regions of the Holy Kingdom, using Demos's divine power to kill all the locusts and then offering them as sacrifices.

They hoped to obtain Demos's oracle in this way, at least to find out exactly where Demos was imprisoned. As long as they had a specific location, no one could stop them from welcoming back the messenger of light.

But the problem is that there are already hundreds of millions of locusts!

Moreover, in order to keep the locust swarms alive so that they could come and harvest them, they did not allow the knights in various places to deal with the locust swarms.

It should be understood that although the Church of Light is relatively united, there are various factions within it, and it is impossible for them to allow such a locust plague to run rampant and cause the people of the Kingdom of Light to die.

Today is the last day the other factions have given them. If they cannot awaken the divine messenger today, all their efforts will be in vain, and they must be made to begin clearing the locust plague.

Are you war gods very important? Are we, the gods of wisdom, the gods of blessing, and the gods of joy, not important at all?

If things really get out of hand, we can all pray to our respective gods, or at worst, let the great and supreme Father of Light decide for us.

The Holy Kingdom is inhabited entirely by believers; it is the most important faith base of the Father of Light in the Lord's plane, and it must never be lost.

They had even figured out how to showcase the miracles of the various divine messengers and harvest another wave of faith.

Disasters, while troublesome, can be turned into a means of exploiting faith if properly planned and executed.

There were several periods of chaos on the continent of Zemuria, and it was during these times that the faith in the seven gods was finally established.

If you interfere with the absorption of faith by the gods, they will absolutely turn against you, even if you are also a divine messenger.

—The two high priests of the War God were certainly aware of these things, which is why they found it so troublesome.

Does this mean we have no choice but to go outside the Holy Kingdom?

Just as they were feeling helpless and frustrated, a powerful surge of divine energy suddenly emanated from them without any attempt to conceal it.

The high priest and the members of the priesthood all turned to look—

Outside the borders of the Holy Kingdom.

An army clad in thorn armor silently emerged from the earth, growing more and more like mushrooms after the rain.

They quickly formed an army of tens of thousands of people.

Each of them was covered in armor of thorns, the thorns digging deep into their exposed skin, leaving it bloody.

A blend of holiness and crimson.

The mere presence of this army was enough to send chills down one's spine.

The high priest Bellamund, who was holding the statue of the war god, immediately changed his expression:

"..."

"The Thorn Tribunal?"

What are they doing here?

The so-called Thorn Tribunal is the most violent organization in the Church of Mother Earth. Each member is a fanatical believer who has planted the Mother Goddess's pain, that is, the thorns, on themselves.

It can be said that almost every one of them is a level six or above powerhouse. If they are captains, they are required to be at least level ten, and the legion commanders are directly at the level of legendary saints.

Although she was the high priest, she was not at the level of a cardinal, and her idol, Lord Demos, was nowhere to be found, so she was definitely no match for him.

So she thought she would delay for a while and wait for the papacy's legend to arrive.

"you……"

Before she could even ask, the army marched toward the border of the Holy Kingdom. The leading man carried a large banner and walked with firm steps, without the slightest hesitation.

How dare they?

The Church of the Earth Mother and the Church of Light have an agreement, a covenant signed by two deities, which must not be violated in the land of faith.

And yet they actually crossed the border like that?

She could no longer remain calm and immediately gave an order:

"attack!"

No matter what their reasons are, daring to trespass is unforgivable.

The war priests immediately began chanting hymns.

"boom!"

A Heavenly Fist, at least dozens of times more ferocious than before, descended from the sky, carrying scorching holy flames, and fell toward the members of the Thorn Tribunal.

However, the Thorn Tribunal did not budge.

The terrifying Heavenly Fist was deflected by the thorns the moment it landed on them, instead smashing the War Priests into pieces.

They then crossed the border of the Holy Kingdom without hesitation, each drawing their own weapon and, like tigers among sheep, began to slaughter the members of the War Priests.

It was a real bloodbath; blood instantly stained the earth red.

The priests, who were usually high and mighty, were slaughtered like sheep at this moment, emitting painful howls and screams.

The clouds that had dispersed in the sky gathered again, blocking the sunlight. It was unclear whether their Father of Light did not want to see such a tragic scene.

In the end, in less than ten minutes, the entire war priestly corps of a thousand men was wiped out, and the two high priests were brought before the cardinal.

Cardinal Iona, his body shattered, stared menacingly at the two young priests.

The latter met his gaze without flinching.

Iona suddenly smiled, then swung his longsword, which was wrapped in thorns, and with a "whoosh," he severed the young priest's head.

The movements were swift and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

Even in death, the young priest never imagined he would dare to do such a thing! His head fell into the muddy water mixed with blood and dirt, his eyes wide open in death.

"younger brother!"

The other high priest, Bellamund, immediately had tears in her eyes.

She gritted her teeth, forcing herself to calm down, and angrily rebuked the cardinal: "You hound of the vile earth, you have trespassed into my Lord's kingdom, and you will surely face judgment by sword and blade!"

The cardinal remained unmoved by her curses.

He snatched the statue of Moss, the war god, from the woman's hand and sneered, "Your scheme in the Yavana Holy Mine was exactly as planned."

"Wasn't the disappearance of the Abyss Lord Zul'Gurub your doing? These locusts are the ones you bred!"

During his time traveling across the land, he also captured some locusts for research, since the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess is one of the most in-depth forces in the human world when it comes to the cultivation of magical beasts and magical plants.

He discovered that these locusts contained the magic of the insects and mycelium created by the Abyss Lord Zul'Gurub in the Yavana Sacred Mine.

After consulting with the church's higher-ups, he confirmed that only the Church of Light in the entire continent of Zemuria might possess the magical fragments of those insects.

At that time, it was obvious that the situation at the Yavana Holy Mine was a scheme orchestrated by the Holy See of Light, with the Archangel of Harp and one of their saints.

They say some god caused Moss to be captured by an unknown, powerful being. Are they trying to fool them like fools?

And who can command the angel who plays the harp?

The current situation is clearly that they are using the pretext that Demos was captured to deliberately wage war with modified locusts, in order to strengthen the power of God through war and death.

Such despicable acts are justified by such a high-sounding excuse; what kind of enlightenment is this!

The more the cardinal thought about it, the angrier he became, and he smashed the statue of the war god on the ground.

"Bang!"

Even a statue made of holy metal couldn't withstand the power of such a legend's rage, and it shattered into pieces on the spot, with the broken fragments falling next to the young priest's head.

It quickly lost its luster.

At this point, the cardinal no longer needed to obtain any information from the high priest of the war god; what he needed was to directly penetrate the Holy Kingdom.

He used the thorns of the Mother Goddess to torment the vile light, and to draw the saints and cardinals to speak with him personally.

No one else is qualified to communicate with him.

So he decisively chopped off the high priest's head, then continued to wave his banner and steadily advance into the heart of the Holy Kingdom.

Behind them, with each step they took, dense thorns grew, as if the earth was gradually encroaching on the land of light.

The bodies of the priests and two high priests they had killed were buried in thorns and bloody mud. The head of the Demos statue lay on the ground, its eyes seemingly filled with anger, or perhaps not.

After the cardinal walked away, a faint, iridescent glow emanated from the statue's eyes, engulfing the souls of the two priests.

Then it completely lost its luster, as if it had never existed.

……

As time slowly passed.

The situation outside is getting worse and worse.

Apart from the Kingdom of Norland, which remained relatively stable, all the other countries were invaded by locust plagues, resulting in a complete crop failure.

People were displaced, and hunger was the most unbearable thing for them; the harsh environment made it impossible for them to survive.

The lack of food leads to the collapse of order. If a person can't even get enough to eat, then power, status, and order mean nothing to him.

As a result, large-scale unrest broke out in many places.

Why are nobles able to eat things they could never afford in their entire lives? Why are nobles able to enjoy a peaceful life in their castles?

It's important to understand that Kroa's ability to cultivate extraordinary individuals is due to his own capabilities and the resource supply of the entire sea area influenced by the power of the Merfolk's ethereal god.

Outside the Northern Expansion Zone, however, the number of extraordinary individuals remains extremely small.

Admittedly, superhumans possess the ability to suppress multiple people, but is it appropriate to send high-ranking superhumans, knights, and mages to suppress them?

That would only be if the situation had reached a point of no return.

For the vast majority of nobles, all they needed to do was maintain their core territory and the territories of their retainers.

As for the rest of those ordinary people... well, they will still save them, but the way they save them will definitely be different.

As for the unrest, as long as it doesn't affect them, they can just pretend it never happened, since their status won't be affected anyway.

When they heard that a magic academy had been opened in the North, their minds immediately started to wander – if they could send their children there…would they be able to get protection?

As for your point about only being able to enter the magic academy through Kroya's apprentices, that's not a problem at all.

For them, having their child become an apprentice of a sixth-level archmage is an absolutely wonderful thing!

So the nobles gathered together and headed to the northern border.

Northern Border Entry Point.

Well-dressed nobles are gathered here, patiently queuing in front of the long steel wall.

Waiting to enter the North.

This is the Northern Gate, the only entrance to the North.

It was a massive defensive structure built under the supervision of Chloe's apprentice, Samir, that erected a steel wall at the only entrance to the North from the Terenas Mountains.

It stands a full 25 meters tall and 10 meters thick, stretching for about 30 kilometers. From a distance, it appears black and hard, reflecting the unique texture of metal.

Such a magnificent and imposing building would astound anyone who came here, considering that even noble castles were not built entirely of metal.

In reality, although it appears to be made of metal, it is actually a magical plant, a special magical plant called "Iron Dendrobium Shrub".

This magical plant grows in the barren gray desert, and is generally found on iron ore and various metal veins. Depending on the vein, its strength and magical properties will also vary.

As it grows, it gradually absorbs metal, making itself taller and harder to protect itself from being eaten by herbivorous magical beasts.

It even grows some natural, defensive magic patterns on its surface, taking survivability to the extreme.

After apprentice Jamie brought back this magical plant from the Gray Desert, Kroya observed it briefly and then overheard the celestial beings muttering to themselves—

"Not safe enough..."

"I'm going to be eaten..."

"I want it to be even harder!"

That's right, this kind of magical plant is truly insecure, which is why it tries so hard to strengthen itself in the hope of living longer.

But what's really absurd is that they also long to grow taller and bigger, eager to be seen by more creatures, and then use their incredibly hard shells to deal with these greedy gazes.

How to put it? It's like someone who's both pretentious and afraid of death.

Kroya was truly amazed; she never expected that such a low-level level two magical plant could possess such abundant emotions.

So he used it without hesitation as a city wall. What could be more eye-catching than the city wall at the northern border?

"What an amazing magical plant."

"The more eyes they are on, the faster their magic flows, meaning that if a large army were to invade, they would become dozens of times harder than they are now."

Among the nobles' procession was a woman dressed as a traveler, looking up at the magnificent northern gate.

She suddenly felt a strong sense of anticipation for this place.

Holding her cane, she followed the crowd slowly into the northern territory, passing through the majestic city walls and gates.

Then a huge lake appeared before her.

The lake water glistens and appears to cover a full hectare, with a magical flow of space in its deeper parts.

Each nobleman and their offspring are transported to a designated location via a portal after entering the lake.

Although this would consume more magic power, it would be more convenient, at least preventing the nobles from seeing the specific situation in the North.

It was opened temporarily.

The woman withdrew her magic, removed the Startown badge, and curiously stepped into the lake, intending to experience firsthand the unique features of the North.

What is so special about this territory that is not even that big on the map of the Zemurian continent?

How could her friend Elise protect her like this?

As for the task assigned to her by Startown... well, she'll have to wait until she's had a chance to experience and observe the North properly before deciding.

She believed her disguise was so skillful that she would not be discovered.

Little did they know that the moment they stepped into the Lake Gate teleportation array, they were located by the tower spirit.

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(End of this chapter)