Novels online

Chapter 65

Interkam was currently in a state of chaos, various forces were in conflict with each other.

The war had been going on for 7 years, and since the very beginning, Interkam had been plagued by various internal conflicts, causing the Interkam army to suffer defeat after defeat, to the point where the morale of the Interkam Kingdom's army was low.

Even more infuriating was the fact that the other smaller countries nearby had also jumped out to declare war on Interkam and sent their soldiers to occupy Interkam's territory.

At this point, Royas' army had reached the final line of defense, Colomier. Once Colomier was breached, Interkam would be like a little girl forced into a corner, allowing anyone to do whatever they wanted to her.

But no one in the entire kingdom had any confidence in holding Colomier. Even though Colomier had the geographical advantage, the Kingdom of Royas was too powerful. In terms of military morale, equipment, and food supplies, Royas completely outclassed Interkam in every aspect.

It wasn't that Interkam didn't have any money, but that all of their money was stored away in the nobles' manors and the merchants' pockets, causing Interkam to not even have much military funds. Logically speaking, if Interkam gathered all of its forces, it wasn't impossible for them to win this war, but if they could reason with each other, there wouldn't be so many conflicts in this world.

Nighttime, Ingmarlo was still filled with a festive atmosphere, various aristocratic banquets were held here and there, seemingly even more prosperous than usual.

Seth the First stood on the balcony of his palace, watching the unusually prosperous city outside and smiled bitterly.

Aristocrats were selfish by nature, in their eyes, the interests of their family were above everything else. So what if their country was destroyed? It wasn't that they didn't understand that if Royas attacked, they would suffer even more losses. The nobles who lost their territories in the city were the best proof of that, but for them to hand over their wealth and people to defend their country for free, there was only one word for it: NO WAY.

The aristocrats weren't stupid, in fact, they had been educated since they were young, so they were much smarter than the majority of civilians. It wasn't that they couldn't see the terrible state of Interkam, they knew it better than anyone else, but as long as Royas' butcher's knife didn't fall on their heads, they would never regret it.

Because they were aristocrats, even if Royas completely conquered the Interkam Kingdom, they would still be aristocrats. To govern the country, they would still need to rely on them, otherwise, the country would only end up in shambles if those ignorant civilians were left.

If they completely lowered their heads to Seth the First, who represented the royal authority, and contributed money and manpower, then the royal authority would be completely above the nobles. This was something these nobles absolutely could not allow.

Nobles had their own rights and obligations. After they fulfilled their obligations, if you wanted them to fulfill more obligations, then you had to give them more benefits. And now, Seth the First only had the throne left, but handing it over was absolutely impossible.

Seth the First had a major reason why things turned out the way they did. Back then, he was the one who started the internal strife of the royal family and ascended to the throne of the Interkam Kingdom. At the time, in order to ascend to the throne, he had promised many benefits to the aristocrats and obtained their support.

However, what was given could not be taken back. The Nobles tightly held onto those rights. Even if their country was destroyed, they would not let go, because the family's interests were above everything else.

The aristocrats indulged in alcohol and revelry to numb themselves, turning a blind eye to the crisis of their country's destruction. Seth the First couldn't do anything about it, but if Seth the First was asked if he regretted it, he wouldn't feel any regret for starting the internal strife of the royal family. He only regretted that he was too impatient at the time. If he had been a bit more stable, he wouldn't have had to hand over so much authority.

"Your Majesty, the people from the Church of Divine Grace have arrived" a minister carefully walked up to Seth the First and whispered. A minister carefully walked to Seth the First's side and said in a soft voice. Because of the war, Seth had been very temperamental. Although he was powerless in the war, he still had a considerable amount of power in his hands. Many ministers had suddenly lost their power because of this.

"What are they doing here again?" Back then, during the internal strife of the royal family, these people were impartial and took advantage of the chaos to reap a lot of benefits and grew a lot stronger. Before the war began, they were quite interested in changing a king, but after the war ended, these people turned around and supported him.

Seth the First understood the Church of Divine Grace's intentions very well. If it were any other country, such as the Kingdom of Royas attacking Interkam, or if the Church of Divine Grace's diplomatic mission to Royas a few dozen years ago had succeeded, the Church of Divine Grace's stance today would definitely be impartial.

In essence, the people of the Church of Divine Grace could no longer be considered as people of Interkam. They represented another class, the Divine Right class. If it weren't for Eldridge's disdain towards the Gods, the Church of Divine Grace would not have supported him at all.

"They say it's for … the Saintess of Salvation" the minister hesitated a bit before speaking. The Minister hesitated for a moment before replying. Of course, he knew how crazy Seth the First had been for the sake of this prophecy. He had sent people to eradicate a large number of potential Saintesses, offending a large number of Nobles. This was also one of the reasons why the Nobles weren't willing to help him.

The minister originally thought that Seth the First would be furious, but contrary to his expectations, Seth appeared very calm.

For a split second, the minister felt like he was looking at the young Seth the First. At the time, Seth could be considered a great strategist and a great strategist. Step by step, he pushed the original royal family into a dead end, forming alliances and gaining the support of the majority of the country's political forces. If not for Eldridge, Seth would have been considered a great ruler among the previous Kings of Interkam.

In fact, at the very beginning, Seth and Eldridge were evenly matched, and Seth was even worthy of praise. After all, at the time, Eldridge was already the crown prince of Royas, while Seth was only a minor aristocrat from a branch of the royal family.

In the end, Zeuss' efforts still couldn't compare to Eldridge's background. After ascending to the throne, Zeuss, who was eager for quick results, thought that he would be able to use his own abilities to unify Interkam bit by bit, but he failed.

When he stopped moving forward, Eldridge didn't stop moving. Thus, Eldridge was now the one with the absolute advantage. He was far ahead of Zeuss, who had once been on par with him.

"I'm already at my wits' end." Seth the First said. Of course, he could also choose to give up the throne. With the power he wielded, giving up the throne would also allow him to become a powerful force. However, Seth would rather die than do such a thing, because that was the pride of a King.

「 Who is the envoy of the Church of Divine Grace? 」 Seth the First asked.

"Luen Donner." The minister sighed in relief: "The newly promoted Cardinal of the Church of Divine Grace, as well as the eldest son of the Donner family"