Wizards: Starting as a Potions Master!

Chapter 198 Storm King Barry!

From the very beginning, Su Nan noticed that Barry was a formal knight.

An eighteen-year-old Storm Knight—that means he must be incredibly favored by the Storm God.

Furthermore, his appearance alongside Tariq, the royal debt officer, and the strange relationship between the two, further complicated matters.

So Su Nan guessed his identity.

It's likely that the new king of the Storm Kingdom is traveling to various places to seek aid.

The Kingdom of Storms is different from ordinary kingdoms. Each Holy War Army first conquers a country, and then the leaders of the many Holy War Army gather together and suddenly realize that they seem to be missing a king.

So, through contracts and agreements, they elected a king.

In the Middle Ages, a king was not necessarily a despot.

He meant more as the leader of a powerful noble family and a symbol of a kingdom in a religious sense.

In other words, in the Middle Ages, people believed that every country needed a king, just as a person's body needed a head.

Therefore, the power of the King of Storm Kingdom does not come from his powerful army and personal strength, but from the contracts and agreements signed by all the Storm Grand Lords, as well as the special religious status of the King from a religious perspective.

This is the foundation of the core power of the King of Storm Kingdom. All his subsequent rights are extensions and developments based on this foundation.

Of course, in recent years, the king of the Storm Kingdom has been keen to portray himself as the rightful heir to the Eastern Human Empire.

It is important to understand that the authority of the emperor of the Eastern Human Empire comes from the universal emperor in a religious sense, and from the recognition of the emperor's absolute autocratic power by the people of the Eastern Human Empire.

Even within the same country, if the power of the Storm King could be transferred to the Emperor of the Eastern Human Empire, the increase in military strength for the Storm Royal Family would be substantial.

That would lead to a qualitative improvement.

Taric coughed, and the young King Barry calmed down a bit. He said to Borgia and Sunan, "I didn't mean to hide my identity."

"The situation in the Storm Kingdom is currently turbulent. I can only use various pretexts to travel to different territories and ask the lords in each region to contribute to the kingdom and fight against the foreign enemy together."

Borgia gave the young king a proper bow.

Su Nan simply nodded.

However, since the royal family of the Storm Kingdom is usually ignored by the feudal lords in various places, Barry and Taric have no objection to this.

Borgia said, "I didn't expect the King to come to Baron Peter's territory. I was truly rude just now."

"Your Majesty."

"I am honored to meet you. May the Lord of Storms in the heavens protect you and help you overcome all difficulties."

"You are the God of Storms, the ruler of the divine family in the mortal realm. I believe the God of Storms will bless you. I apologize again for my rudeness earlier."

Barry quickly waved his hand and said, "It's alright. It's alright."

The young king, still lacking in political acumen, paid no heed to the possibility that his authority might be damaged if he directly made his request and was refused by Borgia.

He addressed Borgia directly, saying, "Bishop Borgia, Stormwind Keep will soon be besieged by Bulgar for the third time. I would like to request that you send church troops to support us."

"In the name of the King, I wish to summon you."

Borgia glanced at Sunan, and seeing that Sunan remained expressionless, he said to Barry, "Your Majesty, is this Archbishop Mosilini's intention?"

Barry shook his head blankly. "No."

The young king, who was put into command in a time of crisis, had no idea what was going on behind Borgia's question.

Su Nan was somewhat surprised by this. He hadn't expected that Stormwind Keep, as the headquarters of the royal family and the Church of Storms, would face the third siege by the Bulgars, yet the Church of Storms headquarters was simply letting things take their course.

Sunan immediately understood Archbishop Mosilini's possible intentions.

Archbishop Mosilini is both a member of the Storm Church and a native of the Platinum Commercial Republic.

He himself has been strengthening his motherland's interests within the Storm Kingdom.

If the local church armies do not support Stormwind Keep, the Storm Royal Family will have no choice but to seek help from the Platinum Commercial Republic.

In this way, his home country can gain the greatest benefit.

Su Nan sighed almost imperceptibly. The Storm Kingdom's enemies were united in purpose, with the Bulgars to the north and the Nicomedia Empire to the east. Yet, within the Storm Kingdom itself, they were scheming against each other.

Both the church and the dukes were waiting for the royal family to beg them to exchange temporary military assistance for undermining the king's legitimate power.

The storm lords in various regions also showed little desire to protect the capital.

Su Nan was thinking that perhaps he should find a way to cut ties with the Storm Lords.

If we stay on this rotten ship called Storm Kingdom any longer, who knows what will happen?

Borgia Frederick, who had just been begging for help from Sunan, was now standing before the King of Bari, who was seeking his assistance, with a holy and dignified expression. His magnificent bishop's robes added to his air of holiness.

"Then I'm sorry, Your Majesty, without Archbishop Mosilini's order, I cannot arbitrarily transfer the church's army to Stormwind Keep."

"Moreover, as you have seen, the Achaean Peninsula has now been invaded by evil vampires. Our branch church must focus its efforts on the Achaean Peninsula, where there are also some scattered enclaves of the Nicomedia Empire."

"We also need to fight against those pagans who believe in a god of law."

King Barry argued hastily, "But the kingdom is about to suffer ravages from the Bulgars. As the bishop of the church, you cannot stand idly by."

Borgia glanced at Sunan again, and after confirming Sunan's meaning, said to him, "Compared to worldly wars, the war of the soul is far more severe."

"Eliminating heretics and vampires is the church's primary task."

"However, to help you, I can assist His Majesty in collecting an additional six months' worth of tithes from the Church in the Achaean Peninsula and then transfer these funds to His Majesty."

"Your Majesty, please defeat our powerful enemy and defend our kingdom!"

Even the young Barry understood Borgia's refusal at this moment, not to mention that Borgia was at least prepared to give him six months' worth of taxes as a gesture of goodwill.

King Barry could only sigh.

He has done everything in his power, secretly visiting various territories, even the Duchy of Thessaloniki, in an attempt to gain the assistance of the Duke of Thessaloniki's army.

But that's how it is for all of them.

Local lords, out of respect for his king, would agree to give him a tiny bit of help, and then send him on his way.

"Then thank you very much, Bishop." Barry sighed, then looked at Tariq and whispered, "Now, we can only go back to the Achaean Peninsula and see what the Duke of Achaean's attitude is. Hopefully, we can get some more troops from the Duke."

"The chances are slim," Taric whispered.

"However, to our surprise, it was the 70,000 gold coins that Count Peter gave us that allowed us to hire some mercenary legions."

(End of this chapter)