Gates laughed loudly. “Lord, there’s something you aren’t aware of. Please take a look.” Gates walked to a military map that had been hung up on a wall. “Lord, take a good look at the current disposition of forces in the Anarchic Lands. These twenty-plus Duchies all belong to the Radiant Church, while these all belong to the Cult of Shadows. But these…these are unaligned.”
Linley immediately understood.
This power distribution was quite strange.
The Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows both controlled Duchies in the center of the Anarchic Lands as well as in the south. They occupied more than half of the Anarchic Lands. Only the northernmost areas next to the Forest of Darkness were unaligned.
The Anarchic Lands were rectangular in shape. If you were to divide it into four equal quarters, then the northernmost portion was the portion closest to the Forest of Darkness.
Neither the Radiant Church nor the Cult of Shadows wanted that area!
“Lord, our Baruch Duchy is located near the Forest of Darkness.” Barker explained.
“Oh. In the past, I never paid attention to this.” Linley stared carefully at the military map. “The Cult of Shadows and the Radiant Church have taken over half of the Anarchic Lands. But why is it that they don’t want the northernmost area which is located close to the Forest of Darkness?”
The Baruch Duchy, after all, had been set up close to the north.
“Lord Linley.” Zassler walked over, laughing. “This is why we say that we can easily unify the area in a short time.”
“Oh?” Linley looked at Zassler with a questioningly glance. “Is it because it belongs to neither side, which makes it easier to unify?”
Zassler explained, laughing, “That’s not what I mean. I mean, aside from our own Duchy, most likely more than half of those seven other Duchies near the Forest of Darkness would be willing to directly surrender to us.”
“More than half would surrender to us?” Linley didn’t understand. “Can it be that they feel pressured by our power?”
Zassler explained, “Lord Linley. Have you forgotten that every few decades or every decade, there will be a massive wave of magical beasts from the Forest of Darkness? Each wave of magical beasts first attacks the border Duchies closest to the Forest of Darkness, and thus the battles rage on the most in these Duchies as well.”
Linley instantly understood.
“Are you saying that these Duchies…”
“Right. These Duchies are the poorest Duchies in the Anarchic Lands and the most pitiable ones as well.” Zassler sighed. “The Radiant Church and the Cult of Shadows are both uninterested in unifying it, because…resisting the magical monster waves costs too much gold, far more than these Duchies can generate.”
Linley now fully understood.
This was a barren wasteland!
Unifying this region meant that one would have to struggle against the countless magical beasts in the Forest of Darkness. Linley could totally imagine how brutal those battles would be…each time, most likely over a million people would die, or even more.
“Linley, of the seven Duchies here, aside from a few who don’t want to surrender, the rest all deeply desire to have a strong base of support. And you, Lord…are a Saint and would make an excellent, powerful support.” Zassler laughed. “Not just them. Even the commoners wish for you to lead and unify them. That way, they would be safer.”
Barker laughed. “And Lord, even now, there have been at least three Duchies who sent people to come and negotiate the terms of their surrender. Only, because their territories are not immediately adjacent to ours, we need to first take over the Duchies east of us.”
Linley nodded. “Since that’s the case, then do it as quickly as possible.”
Gates slapped his chest and boasted, “Lord, a month from now, a full quarter of the Anarchic Lands will be under your control. Of course…this is the poorest quarter in the Anarchic Lands, but at the same time, it is the most militant and ferocious quarter.”
Linley nodded. “Zassler, make the arrangements. Have my wedding invitation letters be sent to these people. I’ll send the list of names to you in a while.”
“Yes, lord Linley.” Zassler acknowledged, and then laughed. “Then are you planning to openly announce the news of your marriage?”
Linley looked towards the side at Delia and Jenne who were happily chatting. Linley had a desire; no matter what, he would definitely have to make Delia happy.
“Publicize it! I want the day of the founding of the Baruch Kingdom to be the day of my grand wedding!” Linley said heroically.
Clearly, this meant that a month from now, they would unify their quarter of the Anarchic Lands under their banner, while three months from now…the Baruch Kingdom would be founded and the wedding would also be held. From a territorial standpoint, controlling a quarter of the Anarchic Lands meant controlling quite a large swathe of territory.
The size of it was significantly larger than the former Kingdom of Fenlai.
In population alone, there was roughly a hundred million citizens.
….
A lonely island in the oceans. The most core area of the Radiant Church – the Sacred Isle. It received news from the Anarchic Lands.
On the ninth floor of the Radiant Temple. Heidens was reading this letter.
“When Linley and his magical beast combined forces, they were able to force Osenno to retreat?” Staring at this letter, Heidens felt as though he had been stricken heavily. Osenno’s power was unquestionable. Especially his ‘Doppelganger Technique’, which let him divide into four. It was incredibly terrifying.
Even Haydson probably would have been badly injured and then killed by Osenno.
After all, it was simply too hard to block the ‘Doppelganger technique’.
“Osenno speaks the truth.” Heidens’ heart tightened. “If this continues, then…”
The Radiant Church didn’t fear Linley.
But Linley wasn’t alone. He had that mysterious, godlike magical beast, Bebe. He also had five Undying Warriors…and his little brother.”
“In the future, when Linley reaches the Saint level in his human form and the five brothers also reach the Saint level in human form, and when Linley’s little brother reaches the Saint level in his human form…that means they have seven peak-stage Supreme Warriors. If you add in that magical beast rodent which is no inferior to Supreme Warriors…that means they will have eight!”
Every single peak-stage Supreme Warrior was capable of being described as the most powerful of Saints.
Seven Supreme Warriors and the magical beast Bebe, if they were to attack the Sacred Isle in masse…Heidens could totally imagine the scene. The Radiant Church would be in a battle for its very life, and in the end, it would probably perish.
“Unacceptable. Linley must die.”
Heidens turned to look at Cardinal Guillermo. He ordered, “Guillermo, go invite Commander Lehman, quickly!”
“Commander Lehman?” Guillermo was shocked.
In the Radiant Church, the most powerful person was the Holy Emperor, Heidens. The most frighteningly mysterious person was Osenno. The most admirable and most respected person was the spiritual leader of the Ascetics, Lord Fallen Leaf. But the person who caused the most dread…was the legendary Commander of the Zealots: Lehman!
The Zealots all possessed a unique power.
“Why are you hesitating? Quick, go!” Heidens rebuked.
Heidens didn’t dare to hesitate any longer. He had to send a man whose power was no lower than that of Osenno’s; Commander Lehman. If the two joined forces…then it would be surprising, indeed, if they were still unable to overcome Linley!