Warhammer

The world is in reincarnation;

But the gods will not die because of the destruction of the world.

For example, the elven gods are basically survivors who "transcended" from the previous reincarnation and came to this era. Therefore, most of these gods are cynics who only want to protect themselves. After all, the massacre of mortals and the destruction of the world are mostly just entering the next reincarnation for them, and gods are still gods; but if they interfere in the affairs of the mortal world and their presence is too strong, they may be buried in the huge waves of the two dimensions of the mortal world and the chaotic demon realm.

But Sigma is different.

As a new god born in this "reincarnation", Sigmar loves his people and his world, and is willing to fight to the end to protect it all.

He is not a wimp or a jerk.

After he became a god, he was trapped in a maelstrom for thousands of years by Tzeentch, the lord of trickery and one of the four gods of chaos, and lost contact with the mortal world. But even so, he still shared his power with those mortals who believed in him. Except for sometimes having bad signals and missing some "not so important or very important" calls, he was a very competent god.

During the Holy War, the disintegration of the Great Vortex allowed demons to enter the mortal world without restrictions, but it also released Sigmar. The Human Emperor did not hesitate to attach his power to Wotan and Karl Franz respectively. After Wotan's death, his power was transferred to the hammer of Ghalmalaz III. Later, the Savior Karl Franz took the Human Emperor's hammer, and the two powers were combined into one. Sigmar was reborn in the dead emperor. As a walking human god, he led the final war and ascended to heaven again after governing his empire for a period of time.

And Sigmar is also a human-god who has been relatively "active" since the Great Crusade until today.

The decline of Chaos not only drove demons and corruption away from the mortal world, but also reduced the interference of the gods in the world. In a sense, this seems to imply that the gods and Chaos have the same origin? (Blasphemy!)

Or maybe, for the gods, the mortal world is their gaming city, but now it is the "Internet Cleaning Period" and login is restricted, so just take a short break for yourself to rest...

But no matter what, it is hard to imagine that such a God-King, whose eyes are not always on the mortal world, would know nothing about what happened to Celestine, His Chosen One.

Even if the Fourth Mother pulled Al into her dream again one day, pointed at a middle-aged strong man with golden glow and asked him to say hello and shout "Hello Uncle Sigma", Al would not be surprised.

El originally thought that his words were in line with Celestine's thoughts, but he saw the female knight shook her head and looked at him seriously and said:

"The scriptures were written by mortals and cannot represent the true meaning of God."

Al was stunned. He did not expect Celestine to oppose the authority of the Gospel. From the perspective of the state religion, this was undoubtedly an act close to "heresy."

He was a little suspicious and asked, "Don't you believe that Sigmar's power can know everything?"

This is a trap question. If Celestine believes in Sigmar's power - which is almost taken for granted for a believer, then Al can frankly say that everything that happened to her and him was in the hands of the Hammer Wielder. Since the God-Emperor did not impose any sanctions on him, the Supreme Being who hates evil and hates evil has undoubtedly recognized Al's existence. After all, Sigmar can't just issue a decree to Celestine saying that he neither opposes nor approves, right?

Otherwise, he would face accusations of heresy and unbelief, although Al certainly did not have the time to discipline a living saint for his "unsteady faith" on behalf of the state religion.

But Celestine nodded first, and echoed Al's words: "The one holding the hammer must have other intentions."

"But I also think that there is no omniscient and omnipotent being in this world. This goes against the grain."

As to whether the God-Emperor is omnipotent, there have been repeated debates and disputes within the Sigmar sect, and ultimately the now-dominant trend of thought of "God-Emperor supremacy" prevailed. They viewed the Empire as a "universal empire that holds destiny in its hands" and the Imperials as "a group protected by the God-Emperor and destined by his fate." This idea gained the support of the general public in the Empire, which was reviving and rising after winning the Holy War.

The Empire at that time defeated all powerful enemies and rose from the ruins. All kinds of troubles such as Beastmen, Greenskins, Chaos elements were swept away with a sweeping force. Not only did the local electors suffer great losses in the war, but Karl Franz, who was possessed by the Human Emperor, personally governed the country, which brought great prestige and legitimacy to the center of the Empire that won the Holy War, the Altdorf Court, and its successors. In such an environment, the entire Empire entered a high-speed fast lane where everything was in ruins and there would be results and gains as long as they worked hard. There were almost no land conflicts and class oppression was minimal (after all, the huge casualties in the Holy War were not divided by class). Both the internal and external situations were very good. To this day, many literati and aristocrats miss the "golden age" a hundred years ago that touched the aftertaste of the Human Emperor's rule.

Under such circumstances, the self-esteem views of "the most powerful empire" and "the universal empire" naturally came into being.

Today’s people in power ridicule the “returnists” who dress simply, do not observe complicated sacred rituals, hold ancient scriptures and texts, and demand “tracing back to the original source” as lunatics who incite public opinion and “populist lunatics”. But in fact, they have done similar things before, that is, holding the tablet of Sigmar God and demanding “the supremacy of the Human Emperor”. Taking advantage of the expansion of people’s spiritual needs and confidence brought about by the rapid development of the imperial society, and taking advantage of the express train of development, the Sigmar sect has been completely transformed into the “state religion of the empire”. At the same time, the Human Emperor Sigmar has also become the “God King”, “God Emperor”, “Hammer Bearer” and “Supreme One”.

Chapter 237: Seeking Reinforcements

In this process, the power and status of the state church were further strengthened, forming:

Imperial Council (court), Senate (parliament), Ecumenical Council (state religion)

A three-way balance of power.

But from the perspective of Sigmar himself, the Hammer Bearer is not the only divine being like Yahweh after all. Not to mention the gods of the Middle Ages, the human empire itself also worships many gods. Therefore, there are still voices calling for a "correct view" of the status of the God-Emperor from a "pious and rational" perspective, but they are very weak.

After all, through the efforts of the Altdorf court and the state religion, although the Empire did not actually "abolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone", completely killing other beliefs and praising Sigmar as the only supreme being, it did almost the same. The status of the Hammer-wielding God-Emperor in the Empire is as supreme as that of Yahweh in the Christian world from another world. Questioning the omnipotence of the God-Emperor would result in witch hunters and the Inquisition knocking on the door.

"Sigmar is a kind, friendly, and forgiving god; he is cruel to his evil enemies;"

No one would doubt that Sigmar was kind and loved his people.

So, if the Hammer Wielder is omnipotent, then there is no reason for His people to continue to suffer and be troubled. If He is omnipotent but does this intentionally, then He is not kind. If it is a test for believers - those infants, women and children who died at the hands of the butchers and in the plague, what is the point of the test? Could it be that the Emperor of God just wants to see if a baby still in swaddling clothes can recite the Gospels and suddenly fight back against those violent thugs? @Medieval Hercules

Celestine responded to the trap set by El with similar words, which left the boy speechless.

His questions were originally aimed at fanatics, but Celestine unexpectedly became a rare "rational believer" after receiving the gift.

This surprised Al.

Maybe... it's because the female knight is blessed by two gods at the same time?

Al secretly thought that he had miscalculated, but the fact that Celestine was not a fanatic did win his favor.

Of course, perhaps it was precisely because Celestine was not a fanatic that they did not start fighting so early.

"I have heard about what you did in the South. The Alliance is growing stronger and the people in the South are well-fed and well-clothed... I don't know what you are going to do, and I have no way of guessing the true intentions of the hammer bearer, but I believe that 'those who do evil, even if they are rampant for a while, will not escape punishment in the end.'"

"The people of the South believe in you and hope that you will... treat them as they expect."

After Celestine finished speaking, she became visibly more relaxed.

Al's existence is her biggest concern.

She could neither get rid of it nor ignore it. She didn't want to see the truth being made public and cause a river of blood to flow. Even Celestine could only numb herself from time to time by saying "The Emperor has his own intentions."

Now that I have expressed this idea to the "person involved", I feel extremely relieved.

And Al also knew that Celestine, as his biological mother, who had the possibility of a "one-for-one" exchange with him, was not really not trying to get him simply because "Sigmar hadn't issued an order". What was more important was that he was promoted too quickly, from a tribe to a king in just a few years, and then he legitimately annexed the neighboring country of Tyrell and established a huge southern kingdom.

If we really want to do something to him, it will not just be a crusade of "justice versus evil", but an all-out war between the two countries.

This is Celestine's main concern.

......

He nodded, took another sip of water, and told a story:

"There was a man in the distant Zhendan. He... well, anyway, he had great ambitions during the chaos of the world, but he spent most of his life in exile. It was not until his later years that he established some achievements. He and his followers were the rare advocates of 'the Way of Benevolence and Justice' in the chaotic world. Someone recorded his deeds and made them into a story, but some people in later generations accused him of being too 'hypocritical' and 'false'."

"Later, some people described him as 'seemingly cunning because he was too honest', while others said 'if a person persists in doing good until he dies, then would we judge him as a saint or a hypocrite?'"

The attitude that Al wanted to express was all included in it.

The path he follows may not be consistent with the "mainstream values" of this world, but at least it is consistent in the general direction:

Make the world a better place.

If the Four Mothers had not deceived him from the beginning, then Ai'er's future victory would be permanent. For the medieval world, at least the threat of "world destruction" would be ended until the end of the observable long years.

Obviously, this is a good thing.

Al is lustful, sometimes lazy, suspicious, and does things somewhat casually...but he is indeed a ruler who can at least be called a "qualified" ruler.

One of the core points of Al’s administration is “living well himself and letting others live well” and “he picks on the thin people and eats the fat ones.”

And he sees further than most of today's "rulers".

In less than a hundred years, less than ten years, less than ninety-nine years and eleven months, the great crisis could come at any time. It would be a battle in which "there would be bloodshed everywhere in heaven and on earth."

It's a battle of life and death for hundreds of millions of people, a battle of whether the new gods can compete with the old gods, a battle of whether the medieval world can continue.

As long as Celestine makes her attitude clear and does not disrupt his plans, Al is willing to trust her and the two sides can "coexist peacefully."

Celestine then stated the purpose of her visit, and the very sensitive conversations between the two sides disappeared quietly into the air, returning to a formal meeting.

When facing the public enemy of all living things like the greenskins, as long as they are forces of order, they can be regarded as "allies" of each other.

Therefore, the two came here for only one "main purpose":

Request reinforcements.

It turned out that after Ai'er led his troops across the river, the greenskins withdrew, and Matoka was relieved, Rhine's troops quickly passed the news to the Chief of the Expedition. But even so, according to the established arrangement, the troops led by Augustine would still arrive at Matoka first. After all, this is nominally the only territory of the empire in the border territory, and then turn around and plot against the border territory.

After completing the arduous task of defending the city, the 7,000 expeditionary forces led by Rhine and Celestine theoretically have nothing to worry about for the time being. The remaining battles will have to wait until the arrival of the Chief of the Expedition's army, so they can rest temporarily.

But now there is a problem. Matoka's scouts discovered something wrong in the north, with signs of large-scale greenskin activities.

When Mao Liang was withdrawing his troops, he led them directly eastward. If we use common sense to infer, this group of greenskins chose to avoid fighting after failing to capture the city after a long siege. They could either continue to head east to Haimen Pass or go to the prince's territory on the eastern border to seek a fight.

But Al knew that making Mao Liang retreat eastward was just a trick, and in fact he would turn around after running for a while to find the chief army that was heading towards Matoka.

However, he had promised not to tell the imperial people about this and kept it to himself, so he pretended that he knew nothing. After seeing the enemy retreat, he stayed in Matoka to rest.

However, the imperial people in Matoka still found something strange. After all, the greenskins now have an army of hundreds of thousands, and their whereabouts are not so easy to hide. It is normal to find some clues. Now Rhine also guessed that the greenskins might cause trouble for the Chief Legion of War, so he issued a warning to his mentor while immediately seeking possible reinforcements.

Matoka's militia can barely defend the city. If they go out of the city to fight in the field, as mentioned before, it will be very ugly when facing the greenskins.

What's more, the local soldiers who had experienced many battles were not willing to go out of the city to actively seek the enemy. After all, their purpose of first surrendering to the Green and then to the Emperor was to protect themselves. Now that their goal has been achieved, they naturally do not want to take responsibility anymore.

Then, within the range of sight, there is only one army that has the strength to reinforce the battle against the Chief:

The elite troops of the Alliance's Eastern Expedition Army, led by Al himself, were stationed outside the city of Matoka for rest.

Although the number of the Alliance troops is small, Rhine, who has personally participated in the Southern War and has some knowledge of it, naturally knows that the strength of the Alliance should not be underestimated, especially those who followed Ai'er to Black Rock Castle to support the dwarves must be the elite among the elite.

They were able to defeat the greenskins during the Estalia period, and after several years of development, there is no reason why their combat effectiveness would not decline.

These 30,000 elite veterans are enough to hold their own in a field battle even when facing an enemy three times their number. If they can go and join the army of the Chief of the Expedition, then even if the greenskins intend to ambush them it will be of no avail.

Originally, Rhine wanted to come alone or with a few lieutenants. After all, he was the commander-in-chief. If he knew that the legion might be in danger and there were reinforcements nearby but he didn't ask for reinforcements, it would be fine if the chief won the battle. But if something unexpected happened...

He originally thought that a certain fellow was very treacherous and good at disguising himself, and that the other party would probably agree if he asked for help in the name of the empire. But when Celestine found out, she insisted on going with him, and also wanted to take this opportunity to meet a certain fellow and have a conversation with him, so the two of them came together to "pay a visit" to the King of the Alliance.

Now that the key issues have been discussed, the rest will naturally be handled in a fair and impartial manner.

As for the request for help, Al is naturally......

Chapter 238: We were just joking!

"Our army has been marching eastward to the badlands. We have fought countless battles, both large and small, in the past three months. We have traveled long distances and endured long battles, and have become an exhausted army..." What Al said was not entirely false.

After he took Black Rock Castle, he rested for three days and then led his troops on a forced march westward. After resting in Myrmidia Fortress for three days, he crossed the river to rescue Matoka. The troop load was indeed not low.

However, the Eastern Expedition Army is composed of the elite troops in the army. If the demon tide rises again, they will surely be an invincible blessed army under the power of the Blood Mother. Even now, the individual strength of their "ordinary" soldiers has increased significantly with the blessing of training and faith. It cannot be said that they are "old and tired" just because they have been forced to march for a while.

Moreover, more than half of the Eastern Expedition Army are composed of (wild) orcs and angry horned beasts, which are physically strong and stronger than mortals. Just rushing from Black Rock Castle to Matoka is not like running from Margarita to Zhendan Weijing. However, Ai'er and Gao Maoliang have made an agreement, although he is not a trustworthy person in this regard...

However, it would be beneficial for him to watch the Imperials fail, or at worst let the Chief's troops suffer a small loss. Al had no reason to help the Empire get into this mess.

So he politely rejected Celestine's request for help, but suddenly he got excited and thought that maybe the overall atmosphere of today's communication was quite "friendly" and he and Celestine had reached a "preliminary consensus", which made Al feel a little elated.

He forgot that Alina was still around, and was so stupid as to forget what he had said to Alina before. He was so bold as to say to her after rejecting his biological mother, the Knight Princess:

"The reason I forced my way here is that I don't want the people here to be destroyed and fall into the hands of the greenskins, leaving the city full of bones."

"Secondly, there's an old saying in Zhendan, 'I hope the holy dynasty will govern the world with filial piety' - although there is no real mother-son relationship between you and me, no matter what, you are also..." Al sighed, but didn't finish his words because his brain, which had suddenly heated up, had cooled down.

After these words were spoken, the two people at the center of the ethical issue fell silent, but the people around them could no longer hold back.

Rhine stood up suddenly, glared at the guy at the head of the case, opened his mouth, and wanted to say something but the words were stuck in his throat.

Alina was holding a halberd and accidentally overturned the table.

Al had a blank expression on his face and remained silent, but he was already relieved.

Celestine also remained silent, not knowing what she was thinking.

Fortunately, Al was quick-witted and took the opportunity to send the guest away without asking the third brother to make another trip. After all, if Alina got angry, it would be easier to deal with her with her "daughter" by her side. So he summoned his guards in and said, "I still have military affairs (family conflicts) to deal with. That's all for today. Goodbye."

Celestine and Rhine also said their goodbyes politely and returned to Matoka.

Before leaving, Al didn't know what he was thinking, and said:

"You two have made contributions to the southern people in the Patriotic War, and everyone praises you. When the border turmoil is quelled, you may revisit the old place and visit the south. I will send someone to send a letter of credence to Altdorf to visit."

Invite Celestine and Rhine to "visit" the Alliance, and out of consideration for the other party's "safety", El will first send an envoy to visit the Empire, so that Aldolf will probably send someone to return the visit in order to maintain the courtesy of diplomatic relations. Celestine's visit will be open and aboveboard, with many eyes watching her, so she doesn't have to worry about El secretly planning some "conspiracy".

If the living god of the state religion were to cause trouble on the land of the Alliance, even if Celestine was not "accepted" by the mainstream of the ruling party of the Grand Council because of her exposed "political inclinations", it would definitely cause a major diplomatic earthquake.

Even if the Empire does not declare war officially, the State Church will definitely invest a lot of energy in this matter. The Alliance cannot arbitrarily shut them out, otherwise the Empire will have a reason and necessity to end it.

It’s like giving the other party a guarantee that I won’t cause any trouble, so come on boldly!

Celestine paused, neither agreeing nor refusing, but just nodded and walked out of the tent.

Seeing her attitude, Al intuitively felt that perhaps Celestine might really come to the Alliance for a "visit" later, but now was not the time to think about these things.

Because bigger "trouble" is about to break out.

Out of "host courtesy", Al thought that he should probably go and loosen up the Hammer Wielder's Chosen One and the Imperial General, so he took a step and tried to walk out of the tent, but a big hand had already grabbed his collar, just like it had done many times before, and lifted the daring kid up and held him in front of itself.

But this time, what greeted Al was not his foster mother's fiery red lips, her tall and firm breasts, or her playing and stroking from top to bottom, but a pair of fiery eyes.

“Didn’t you tell me that coming to Matoka had nothing to do with her?”

Alina was very angry and questioned her adopted son.

Al forced a grin and turned his gaze to his daughter. Barbatos was very sensible and considerate. He began to tidy up the furnishings in the tent, as if he had not noticed the little father and his adoptive mother at all - but these children, who did not call "grandmother" but "mother", were having a "conflict".

"We were just joking, we were just joking!"