Even flying at high altitudes wasn't without danger. The airspace of an ordinary small country was basically defenseless against a large country's Aerial Knight squadron. However, casually entering a large country's airspace would be the equivalent of provoking that country's air defense and Aerial Knight squadron.
However, the most dangerous thing to do was to accidentally enter the Magus Tower's attack range. Even giant dragons could easily fall if they encountered a Magus Tower that was well-prepared.
A high-quality mage tower would be able to amplify a mage's magic power by ten times over. A large-scale high-circle spell would be able to transform into a small forbidden spell after several layers of amplification. There were many dragons that had been defeated by mages. This was also why dragons would maintain a basic level of respect for mages.
According to what I knew, all the major prefectures in the Bardi Kingdom had such an air defense zone. In fact, even the slightly stronger domain lords would hire archmages to create such an air defense zone. Of course, they weren't necessarily defending against external enemies. After all, the major domain lords of mega empires were no less wealthy than a small country's national treasury. Many of them would be able to afford an Aerial Knight squadron.
Just like how divine authority and royal authority would forever fight, royal authority and domain lords' autonomy would forever be in conflict.
And if the royal authority was in an extremely weak position, domain lords would often attack each other and steal each other's territory and citizens. Perhaps the reason they would use would be something like "Your son didn't invite me to his birthday celebration" or "Your wife seduced my second brother-in-law" or something along those lines. But if the royal authority lost its authority, these ridiculous reasons would be more than enough.
If the royal authority was weak, internal strife would be unavoidable. And if a domain lord who controlled the majority of the country's power obtained victory, a new royal authority would be born.
And since the new royal authority had relied on its own power to ascend to the throne, it was only natural that the royal authority would be centralized. Naturally, the royal authority would enter a period of prosperity. However, there was no such thing as a dynasty that wouldn't fall. It was even more impossible for there to be a generation of wise rulers. As long as the feudal system and bloodline system continued, it would only be a matter of time before the new ruler was replaced.
Obviously, this was an unpleasant cycle. However, this kind of social structure allowed for endless conflicts and annexation. While ordinary people were threatened by the flames of war, one couldn't deny its contribution to the progress of society. At the very least, this was a natural blood-changing mechanism. Foolish or perverse rulers would eventually fall.
In consideration of future development, I had done some research on these political systems. However, I didn't intend to come up with a "declaration to liberate the serfs" or "punish the local tyrants and distribute their land" or anything like that. In fact, I didn't even intend to carry out deep social reforms outside of the law. That was because the current land was vast, productivity was low, and wild magical beasts were far too powerful. This type of system where a domain lord was completely responsible for the citizens within his territory seemed backward, but it was actually the most suitable for the current social situation.
"Serve the world as a whole? Everyone should listen to the king? Since you belong to the royal family, you should go find the royal family to protect you. "
Domain lords had the right to own their territory, their citizens, and their wealth. This was also what allowed them to build up their military strength and protect their land. Didn't the very first Knight's spirit originate from the most basic loyalty to the domain lord and the protection of their territory?
Nobility came from the ordinary. Protecting one's own belongings was understandable. In this generation, there was already a certain basic principle. Taking half a step forward would be considered a genius, while taking one step forward would be considered an idiot who would be burned at the stake.
If there really was a Transmigrator who came from another world and created a completely centralized country with a prefectural system, replacing the feudal lords with local officials, what awaited him wouldn't be a bountiful harvest, but the collapse of the entire country.
Perhaps it would take several years for a decree from the central government to reach a remote region. Who knew what would happen when the decree reached the grassroots level? Centralization of power would result in an overpopulation. This was a problem that couldn't be solved in the current generation.
Just the possibility of plagues, natural disasters, and famines caused by too many people living together was already unsolvable. Just thinking about it for a moment would make it obvious that doing such a thing would be suicidal. This was the result of doing bad things with good intentions.
Of course, it would still be possible to try this in a tiny country. If technology developed to a certain degree and gradually became more urbanized and modernized, then medical, communication, transportation, agriculture, and industry would rise several levels along with the industrial revolution, then even if I didn't do anything, the times would naturally change … Yep, I admit that I was tempted by this idea. However, it would be impossible to cut off this cycle of changing royal authority in a short period of time.
Of course, there were also a few exceptions, such as countries that were too small in size, religious countries that had unified divine authority and royal authority, or border countries that were constantly under the threat of foreign invasions. For their own reasons, their governments were relatively stable, which was why they had been able to survive for thousands of years.
Ahem, ahem, let's ignore the cycle of history for now. After all, it had already happened so many times, so it wouldn't be a waste of time. I didn't intend to shout slogans like "everyone is created equal" or "all wealth belongs to everyone", nor did I intend to create some sort of scythe-and-hatchet party to become the entire world's public enemy. I would do as much as I could, so I should focus on the present first.
Now that the Bardi Empire's royal authority was at its peak, the domain lords naturally wouldn't attack each other. In fact, they would band together and resist the royalty's desire for centralization of power. Since centralization of power was impossible to achieve in the current situation, this was a battle where there would be no eternal victor. The battle between the two sides would continue forever until a new royalty was born.
The current Bardi Empire was at the peak of its history. In fact, Orloss was even able to force the domain lords to send their eldest sons to the capital to "learn". He had also achieved some results in reorganizing the domain lords' private armies. However, if he wanted all the domain lords to be obedient to him, it would take at least another hundred years. Not only that, he would also need to win every battle without any internal chaos. Unless he was an undead main character with a cheat, he definitely wouldn't be able to wait that long.
Although the current Bardi Empire was nominally unified, strictly speaking, it was still divided into individual territories. Calculating a country's combat strength would usually refer to the country's royalty's subordinate armies. Royal Knight squadrons were the equivalent of national Knight squadrons. However, in a large-scale battle, the domain lords' private armies would likely need to be included. After all, responding to the king's summons and sending private armies to participate in a national battle was one of the domain lords' basic duties.
Private armies shouldn't be underestimated. Their training and equipment would all be inherited from a domain lord's family. Special equipment and troop types would often be adapted to local conditions. There were many private armies that were even stronger than the kingdom's regular army. And since the royalty had restrictions on domain lords, the major nobles who had their private armies limited would try to use quality to obtain victory. It wasn't uncommon for private armies to have far more private armies than royal Knight squadrons.
The number of private armies was usually limited by the nobility's rank. However, there were also militia, militia, and other loopholes that could be exploited. Although private armies didn't seem like much, when accumulated, most countries' nobles' private armies would have combat strength several times that of the royalty's. Only then would they be able to restrict the royalty. After all, in a way, the royalty of a feudal country was the strongest domain lord in that country.
And this was only for ordinary domain lords. If it was a domain lord who guarded the borders, then it would be impossible for the number of troops under his command to be limited. Such a major noble would easily become a candidate for the new royalty.
On the way here, I finally witnessed just how much confidence the Bardi Kingdom had.
Basically, no matter where we went, there would be an aerial Knight following us. There would be a Griffin Knight, a Pegasus Knight, and even a Dragon Knight. There were even mages riding manticores, either in small squads or in groups of two or three. Even a small country wouldn't be able to afford an aerial Knight, yet this was the most basic equipment that the Bardi Kingdom's domain lords had. I even saw two faintly discernible towers in the clouds.
When they saw the Dragon Knight Archduke's Blue Dragon in front of us, they didn't immediately leave. They only silently followed us until we left the Bardi Kingdom's territory. Usually, a new aerial knight would arrive at the border, and the previous aerial knight would turn around and leave. This polite yet distant attitude wasn't only directed at outsiders like us. Not a single person even greeted the Dragon Knight Archduke on the way here. This was quite abnormal.
Although the Dragon Knight Order nominally belonged to the royalty, they still had the right to travel freely in any territory. However, perhaps these aerial Knight Archduke Bardi wouldn't be able to stop the Dragon Knight Archduke from doing anything, but at the very least, they expressed their attitude: "This place is mine. You may come, but you must be under our surveillance."
This was obviously a bit too much. It was quite different from what I had heard before. It seemed that these domain lords had new ideas now that Emperor Bardi was about to die.
However, even though I hadn't arrived at the capital city yet, I could already guess what was going on. There were simply too many princes, so a civil war seemed inevitable. But once a civil war broke out, no matter who the final victor was, the royal authority would naturally be greatly reduced. It seemed that the Bardi domain lords from forty years ago would once again be able to suppress the royal family.
Perhaps the Dragon Knight Archduke Bardi's wariness wasn't only a political stance, but also a practical one.
"Who knows whether or not you're here to record the army's deployment in order to prepare for the upcoming war?"
As for us outsiders? We weren't interrogated at all. Perhaps it was because we had a guide that we were also viewed as members of the Dragon Knight Order. Our new companion also smoothly traveled together with us.
New companion? Yep, didn't I just casually say something, and a tornado suddenly appeared? How could there be such a coincidence? That rampaging tornado transformed into a familiar figure in front of us — the Wind Elemental God Kamdiran.
"Your Excellency Roland, I've come here specifically to find you. There's something very important that I need to discuss with you in detail. "
After killing off Ömdiroken, Kamdiran immediately fled … I mean, left in a hurry. But now, he voluntarily appeared in front of me. It was obvious that he had something important to discuss with me. He was different from the other insignificant insects and foolish mortals in the past. However, he was obviously quite humble.
These ancient existences were just that practical. If you didn't show them a combat record that proved that you were an equal existence, they wouldn't even look at you.
Of course, I was quite happy to see Kamdiran. After all, I was currently searching for the Wind Elemental God's divine item. Killing him … and asking him might give me some information.
But when I took a closer look, I could only helplessly give up on my backup plan. After all, Kamdiran had only appeared in front of me as an incarnation. Not only would Kamdiran self-destruct at the slightest provocation, it would also be quite difficult for him to drop any good equipment. It would be better to just forget about this boss that was difficult to defeat and didn't drop anything.
But we were in a hurry right now, so this obviously wasn't the time to chat. So, I directly asked Kamdiran to follow me. But the strange thing was that Kamdiran seemed to be in a hurry to say something, so I casually asked him about it. Kamdiran was delighted to hear that.
"Your Excellency, I'd like to talk about what you did in the Ottoman Empire. That Desecration Priest and Anti-Holy Knight who expelled divine power …"
"What? Desecration Priest? Anti-Holy Knight? "
…
While the battle against the Titan Giants was taking place in the southwest of the Bardi Empire, the Ottoman Empire's naval forces were also achieving astonishing results.
Renée's Four Elemental Swordcasters and the Funeral Fleet had achieved astonishing results. The Four Elemental Swordcasters' battleships rampaged about, and the Sea Tribe's battleships that were broken up would be harvested by the Four Elemental Swordcasters, who had split up into three teams.
Actually, this battle strategy of the Four Elemental Swordcasters and the Funeral Fleet was meant to be used in conjunction with the Borealis and its seven super-heavy airships. It was perfect to use it now.
In actual combat, the problems with the Borealis' battle strategy were also exposed. For example, individual combat strength was too weak, which meant that they didn't dare to fight head-on. Many problems such as water leakage and electrocution appeared due to the Borealis' lack of craftsmanship.
However, Renée's commands were quite appropriate. With the Aurora Knight, whose average combat strength was incredibly high, providing cover and support, Donglan's battle results were quite impressive. Although the Sea Tribe lost some equipment, they didn't suffer many casualties.
Although the Sea Tribe's reinforcements arrived, they were still unable to stop the Funeral Fleet's slow advance. Both sides entered a meat-grinder-like battle of attrition. However, the Sea Tribe was able to block everything, and the Sea Tribe, which lacked fighting spirit and self-sacrifice, were naturally forced to retreat.
Although the humans had also suffered significant losses in this battle, they had still achieved their initial strategic goal — reaching the docks where the underwater base was located.
Upon reaching the docks, the Bardi Empire's fleet began to move around and enter a defensive position. The divers and the Sea Tribe prepared to start working underwater. However, an unexpected accident completely reversed the entire battle situation. This also made Kamdiran travel thousands of kilometers to find Roland. After all, the things that had been revealed in this battle were of tremendous significance to an ancient Elemental God like Kamdiran.
"Those dark elves have taken action! They've reversed the entire battle situation! "
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