San Antonio was an ancient and powerful mega empire, a strong candidate to become the strongest country in all of Eich.
San Antonio's territory was incredibly large. It included the beastmen's home, the Golden Plains, the vast mountains in the south, and even some wetlands near a river. It could be said that San Antonio was rich in natural resources and had a large population.
San Antonio's territory was far more lenient towards other species. This was because San Antonio's territory was far too vast. There were also large areas of other species, dwarves, and gnomes at the edge of human territory. San Antonio's combat potential was astonishing.
San Antonio's royalty was quite open-minded and had great strategic foresight. Unlike Bardi, Ottoman Empire, Suolo Federation, Xiluo, and other powerful countries, San Antonio preferred to use strategy to solve problems.
However, compared to the elves who always ended up shooting themselves in the foot, San Antonio's diplomatic strategies were quite smooth.
For example, in the Northlands, San Antonio supported the Kasolan Kingdom (Dukedom). The duke of Kasolan was also a noble of San Antonio. This basically meant that San Antonio had built a wall to defend against the beastmen in the Northlands.
When San Antonio discovered that it was impossible to stop the Northlands from merging with the beastmen, they directly gave up on Kasolan due to pressure from other major countries. They even recalled their generals and San Antonio nobles who were still in the Northlands.
In terms of strategy, this was doubtlessly the correct decision. Shrinking their defensive positions before the Holy War should be a good thing, and the beastmen in the Northlands wouldn't need to defend anymore. However, San Antonio's decision to unhesitatingly give up on the beastmen's "limbs" was evidence of their intelligence.
At the beginning of the Holy War, San Antonio even started several wars against other countries and conquered several smaller countries. However, when the Holy War became truly dangerous, San Antonio unhesitatingly gave up on the territories of those smaller countries.
San Antonio had the largest population, the largest food exporter, the strongest industrial potential, and the largest economic market. In every aspect, San Antonio was a candidate to become the world's number one country.
However, over the past few years, a certain incident greatly weakened San Antonio's national strength.
Apart from civil war, what else could weaken a country faster than civil war?
The previous emperor, Hant the Second, suddenly died. Prince Winston and Princess Maria fought for three and a half years. In the end, there was no victor.
The situation was becoming more and more severe, so they finally chose to shake hands and make peace. If I recalled correctly, San Antonio was currently divided into two major parts by the golden waterway and golden plains. The top part belonged to Prince Winston, while the bottom part belonged to Empress Maria.
In name, Empress Maria was the only legitimate ruler, but her decrees were only effective in 40% of the country and 35% of the people. Prince Winston was the first prime minister of the Empire, but in his territory, everyone treated him like an emperor.
It was worth mentioning that Prince Winston was also the leader of the Empire's Knight Order. At least 70% of the Empire's Knight Order was loyal to him. Meanwhile, Queen Maria was the most powerful demon warlock in the world. Her spellcaster groups and tamed monsters were also the largest spellcaster army on the continent.
Originally, the people of San Antonio hated Queen Maria for being a demon warlock. However, in the recent bloody battles, the Demon Empress used countless demon heads to prove that she was different from the Chaos Abyss. She used the power of the Chaos Abyss to defeat the Chaos Abyss, which was quite effective.
What I found the most inconceivable was that Maria was also Aillé's God Envoy. That was to say, she was deeply favored by the previous Death God Aillé. She was even able to borrow Aillé's power. This was something I couldn't understand.
I had once asked the Death God of the Hades about this, but I didn't receive an answer. Aillé also didn't intend to introduce Maria to the Hades Faction. Whenever someone asked, Maria would always smile mysteriously.
It was just that Maria was now able to borrow Aillé's power. It was as if she was treated like his own daughter … Privately, there were indeed some silly rumors about her being an illegitimate daughter, but nobody took them seriously.
Getting back to the main topic, all of San Antonio was currently being invaded by an allied demon and ogre army.
This was Queen Maria's territory. Her main enemies were the Inferno Demons and Fire Ogres that came from the Saffron Mountains. The volcanoes there had already transformed into a sea of flames from the Chaos Abyss. Untouchable Defilers and Inferno Demons were born there. Since Empress Maria herself was a demon warlock who "deserved to be purified," she had a terrible relationship with the Holy Church, so she didn't offer any assistance at all.
The Amu Mountains were Prince Winston's territory. That place was truly the number one meat grinder in all of Eich. The ogres' main forces were stationed there, and Chieftain Murkin also appeared there. The Holy Church had constructed a defensive line there, but the angel squadrons had been completely annihilated three times already. They had even lost their fortress there.
With such a large background, countless Knight and mercenaries would head there every day in pursuit of their dreams. Countless broken bodies and corpses would be carried off the battlefield every day. My arrival, as an ordinary human Holy Knight, didn't cause a single ripple at all.
"War? That's far away. San Antonio will definitely obtain victory in the end for the small border skirmishes. "
"Have you heard? Her Majesty Maria and Prince Winston made a promise. Whoever obtains the greatest victory in the Holy War will become the sole ruler of this land after the war."
I entered the capital city of Kedan, the original capital of San Antonio. However, what I saw wasn't the chaotic scene of a battlefield. The entire capital had just woken up from the new year, and the city was filled with peace and prosperity.
In fact, many San Antonio citizens were thankful that the demons and ogres had arrived. At the very least, they were able to escape from that damned internal war.
San Antonio's powerful overall national strength was one of the reasons for their confidence and nonchalance. Not only that, the war had been limited to the remote mountainous regions. The major nobles and domain lords had yet to participate in the war, which also proved how confident the San Antonio citizens were.
The first thing I did when I arrived in Kedan was to gather all sorts of information.
It wasn't that my hands were itchy, or that I wanted to become some voluntary golden-armored demon hunting Knight. It was that the maps and information I obtained from Sun God Aloyo were far too ancient. The maps and coordinates were from at least several tens of thousands of years ago, which was far different from reality. I needed to search for relevant maps, history, and geography information to find the specific location.
In terms of information and historical records, how could there possibly compare to the San Antonio royal palace?
And so, I directly went to San Antonio's royal palace. I wanted to meet Prince Winston and see what kind of person he was.
However, I didn't expect that the first person I met in San Antonio's royal palace would be someone I didn't expect.
"You are …"
Prince Winston was an old man with a kind expression. However, the Holy Light on his forehead made it difficult for me to see his face clearly.
Although I had never met him before, his face was plastered all over Eich. It was impossible for me to mistake him for someone else.
"The Holy Church's pope? Pope Caloma the First? "
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