"AD 392, the sixteenth year since the start of the new Holy War. Ever since the Holy War began, Emperor Orloss the Thirteenth of the Bardi Empire didn't show the decisiveness and initiative that he had since ascending to the throne. Instead, he constantly made extremely passive defensive decisions. Although he strengthened his military and prepared for war, he watched as the neighboring countries' wars fell into a stalemate.
"But in that year, the flames of war that no one could avoid still burned their heads. It was the undead who sought them out. On the third month that the pitch-black night mysteriously enveloped the Bardi Empire's capital, the undead arrived. In a single night, countless Dimensional Doors opened up in various countries. The largest Dimensional Door opened up in the Bardi Empire's capital. On the same day, Undead Emperor Aso of the Desecration Plane descended and cast a forbidden spell, Undead Calamity in the capital. Ninety percent of the population was transformed into undead, and the Bardi Empire was destroyed. "
This was actually a description of the Bardi Empire's background in the game's history. Orloss the Thirteenth, who originally had a good reputation, became a synonym for an embroidered pillow. This further proved that being indifferent to the Holy War was basically the same as waiting for death.
However, the real world was obviously different from the virtual game world. At the very least, due to the existence of the Four Elemental Gods and the absence of players, the Elemental Tide rose much faster than expected. The Holy War had begun several years earlier than expected. Even if the Undead Emperors would only descend ten years later, the undead would arrive much earlier than in the game's history.
"The game's history has probably advanced the Holy War by around nine to fifteen years. Let's hope that Ömdiroken's death will be slightly delayed. Otherwise, it'll be difficult for the new generation's heroes to mature. "
Of course, I wasn't too worried. To use an old saying, the flow of history was unstoppable. A few individuals and coincidences wouldn't be able to change the overall trend. Wars that were destined to erupt would most likely be unavoidable. And many things were far too complicated. There were far too many factors that would affect the outcome. It would be difficult to analyze the effects of success or failure.
The war was brought forward, and the preparation period was shortened? This also meant that the human countries' internal conflicts could be avoided to the greatest extent. It was impossible to calculate the gains and losses.
The heroes in the game's history were still lacking in maturity? This would indeed have an impact. Nobody could count on the snot-nosed brat to come up with strategies. A newbie who hadn't been tempered would barely be a passable soldier, and they wouldn't be able to lead their own troops without any reputation. Nobody could guarantee that the "heroes" wouldn't be able to obtain enough nutrients to become the ruthless characters in the game's history.
However, true heroes were still created by the times. Even if Hero A died, there would still be the current situation. Even if Hero A died, there would be even stronger archmages B and C to Thief C. Who?
On the other hand, the fact that there were no internal conflicts meant that the current famous generals didn't die in battle. The early battles also allowed the veterans of the previous generation to continue leading. Just the current Elemental Beasso's Eagle was already quite difficult to deal with. In the game's "history," Beasso would choke to death seven years later because he ate two half-cooked eggs in one go …
Apart from those who committed suicide, it was impossible to choose how they died. Actually, the reason why some great heroes died was the greatest joke of their lives. When I saw this scene, I was quite proud of myself and secretly felt lucky. At the very least, the few times I died were quite perfect … I was happy that I died so perfectly, but it seemed that there was something wrong with me. Forget it, let's not look into it.
Cough, getting back to the main topic, based on my understanding of history, estimating the butterfly effect caused by certain events was as unreliable as prophecy. The more you thought about it, the more mistakes you would make.
The most obvious example was the Bardi Empire's "history" that I just mentioned.
Should I say that the situation had worsened? At the very least, in the game's "history," the Bardi Empire was still peaceful and prosperous during this period of time. It definitely wasn't like the current Bardi Empire was surrounded by enemies on three sides and could reach its end at any moment.
But on the other hand, the undead's scheme had already been thrown out into the open. Their scheme to destroy the Bardi Empire in one fell swoop had already failed. At the very least, it was impossible for the Bardi Empire to be destroyed in the future. In that case, should I say that the situation had improved?
"Ha, it's probably impossible for anyone to come to a conclusion. After all, even the God of Fate wouldn't be able to clearly grasp fate. If you look too far ahead, you'll end up falling into the pit you're stepping on. Grasping the present is enough. "
That's right, all I could really do was "grasp the present" and sow the seeds of the future. Many a little makes a mickle, and I would do my best to guide the overall situation in a positive direction.
That was why the Light of Law and the study of magical engineering were spread. That was also why the current system of Justice Points and the net of starlight were created. I believed that these seeds would eventually grow into towering trees that would influence the world for the better.
Of course, this didn't mean that the game's "history" wasn't important. To be honest, I had always viewed the game's "history" as the greatest cheat of all. With the information and records provided by the game's "history", I would be able to directly understand people and events. In fact, I would even be able to see many omens that normal people wouldn't be able to see and make predictions beforehand.
However, this advantage would also become increasingly useless as the game's "history" changed. From a certain standpoint, this was quite contradictory. After all, the more changes there were, the more evidence that my hard work had been effective.
Nobody would be able to understand or trust the Bardi Empire's "history" even if I told the public about it. And from a certain standpoint, at the very least, the princes of the Bardi Empire who were already vying for the throne would be the least willing to see the information contained in the game's "history".
After all, in their minds, their father, who was so old that he could die at any moment, was actually still able to easily live for more than twenty years. No matter how much trouble they caused, they would likely be nothing more than naughty monkeys in the hands of the Buddha.
Just a short piece of information about an emperor who was still alive for more than twenty years was enough to change the political decisions of an entire country. This was the magical power of the little book.
If the news that "Emperor Bardi still had more than twenty years left to live" was spread, the entire situation in the country would change. The First Prince's faction and the Eighth Prince's faction would all disappear. However, the domain lords who couldn't wait to be reshuffled would probably directly rebel.
The end result would be that there would be too many factors involved. There would be too many positive and negative effects, and the final outcome would still be unclear.
When all the numbers were just variables, how could one possibly make a complete judgment based on a single point of information? If someone really did make such a judgment, it would only be because that person already knew the answer.
Based on my common sense, only by gathering enough information and using the logical reasoning of many advisors would one be able to make a definite judgment about the future. Not only that, the accuracy would plummet as the information was lacking.
That was why I never understood how the intelligent protagonists in stories were able to figure out a super scheme from a single detail. How could they make all the arrangements so precisely and without fail? How could they make all the individuals with different personalities dance in the palm of their hands? After all, even the same person could make different decisions based on their mood every single day. A large man who appeared bold on the outside might be quite meticulous on the inside. Guessing another person's current reaction would be the same as guessing what that person wanted to eat for dinner tonight. If someone could even guess everything like that … that would probably be an even more unreasonable cheat and main character aura than my "history".
Cough, I seemed to have inadvertently made fun of something again. Let's get back to the main topic.
Yep, let's get straight to the conclusion — something was abnormal, incredibly abnormal. No matter if it was Arlo or Bardi, no matter if it was "history" or the present, everything felt incredibly strange.
This strange part had been there from the very start. Why did the Bardi Empire insist on making trouble for the "harmless" Mage Country of Arlo? If it was just to expand their territory and influence, there were plenty of other options available to them. Why did the Bardi Empire insist on going after the hardest rock?
The situation in Arlo was even stranger. Why did the eternally neutral Arlo Empire use forbidden spells as a last resort to counterattack against the Bardi Empire? Since when did the mages become even more impatient than berserkers?
Why did the usually moderate neutral Bardi Empire suddenly become even more extreme than the radical Bardi Empire? And why didn't the other archmages of the Truth Symposium retaliate against their overly extreme actions?
Why did the Bardi Empire refuse to negotiate for peace at such a time? Even if the mages destroyed the Bardi Empire, what benefits could they possibly obtain? Did they intend to change to farming instead?
Meanwhile, although "history" had already happened, there were still many suspicious points. For example, the Bardi Empire was completely sealed off from the Bardi Empire, which was completely different from the current situation. Also, why were there no records of what happened to the Dragon Knight?
"Oh my, it feels like both sides are still treating me as an outsider."
Considering all the information I had, no matter how I thought about it, it was like I was missing a large piece of a puzzle. I kept feeling like something was missing. Since it was highly unlikely that the mages would all go crazy together, there was naturally something I didn't know about, which was why the situation had developed so far beyond my expectations.
"It would seem that even Marguerite won't be able to obtain that information so easily."
Thorn Garden and the recent research results that I had released were the best advertisement for me. Recently, I had indeed done my best to blend into the Cloud Tower and make the archmages here acknowledge my existence. My System's continuously increasing Reputation was also a statistical reflection that my recent efforts had indeed been effective.
However, life wasn't a game. Even if my Reputation reached the level of "Worship", that didn't mean that I would truly worship you. Trust was something that required time. I still had my reputation weighing me down, and I needed concrete actions to prove that I was trustworthy. All of this would require time to prove.
And right now, I didn't have the time. That was why even though I knew that Marguerite would be quite displeased, I still called her over to help me. After all, she was also a member of the Cloud Tower. Of course, it would be best if Amelia was here.
I trusted in the Haletdam Goddess's abilities. Since she still hadn't received any information about the Cloud Tower, it was likely that only a few archmages knew the truth.
However, some people definitely knew, such as the person who had cast the forbidden spell. Since all the mage organizations had no objections to this, the leaders of the eighteen top-level mage organizations would definitely know. And, we would soon have to deal with one of them.
"The Sword of Order's leader, Blackeye? That's such a nostalgic name. "
…
The Cloud Tower's famous "Tower of Ten Thousand Spells" wasn't actually a mage tower, but rather an auditorium.
It didn't seem large, but its interior had been enhanced with spatial magic. Its actual surface area was large enough to accommodate ten thousand people. In the Cloud Tower, where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, such technology was quite common.
However, no matter how you compared this building to any other building, this building was the best of the best. The floor tiles were as white as jade, and they were made of magical mithril that had been refined many times over. The walls were made of star sand that seemed like ancient mysteries. Every seat was made of natural jade. Although there weren't any particularly extravagant decorations, just the materials used to construct this large conference room were far more expensive than any other human country.
Normally, whenever a Truth Symposium was held, archmages wearing extravagant mage robes would enter one by one. Magical books would float in front of every seat, and various documents would be projected onto a large screen in the middle of the room. The spectator stands would be filled with mages listening to the discussion. Every single resolution would be passed, and this place would become the center of Arlo due to the clamor of people.
But today, the most central conference room was activated once again. Although the large round table in the middle wasn't full as usual, there were only a few seats missing. Even the spectator stands, which were usually filled, were completely empty. This was actually a private conference.
"Twenty-two out of twenty-eight Soul Councilors are here. Fifteen out of eighteen organizations are here. This is probably the first time in the past five years that everyone is here. Since everyone knows how important this conference is, let's get straight to the topic."
The Seven-Colored Tower was a paradise for elemental magic researchers. Archmage Antonio was also the strongest Flame Envoy and forbidden spell mage. However, his appearance and rotund body resembled a certain fast food restaurant's mascot, which made him seem rather friendly and slow. However, those who were truly familiar with him would know that he hadn't chosen the wrong profession. When he was younger, his explosive temper was even more intolerable than the Inferno Demons in the lower planes.
Now that he was older, although he was much calmer, and the white-bearded old man also seemed like a mascot, even taking on the role of hosting this conference, everyone knew that this was just a facade.
"I'll just say it. This time, our problem is still the same thing — dragons."
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