"I saw the fire.
It spread out from under his feet.
I heard thunder.
Chugging along the road.
Don't call me a liar.
Because I saw the fire.
It's going to devour everything. "
— The newly appointed Chief Grand Sorcerer of the Empire's Royal Family and the Supreme Dean of Amber Academy, Gregg Matak.
Greg Matak was sleeping soundly in the stable of the Empire's Royal Zoo.
As the chief wizard of the Empire, Matak could certainly live in the best rooms in the Empire's Royal Palace or let the Empire's Royal Hotel open the King's Suite. As long as he wanted, even if Brunswick's food reserves were running low, he could still bring out hundreds of barrels of delicious food from the warehouse, including Ivy's fine wheat flour, Midden's finest snowflake beef, Brittany's finest wine, Halfling's delicious desserts, and all sorts of luxurious roasted sausages from Brunswick.
Yes, as one of the Iron Triangle with the highest status in the Empire's court (including the Emperor and Marshal Rick), Matak deserved to enjoy so much. Back then, both Cernus Gehrman, the Dean of the Flame Academy, and the Great Alchemist Galt had done the same. The former had blown up a lot of the Empire's assets, and at the same time, he had continuously organized expeditions to Obien to die. The latter had also mobilized a lot of resources, and the Emperor had even appointed him as the Governor of Sol. It was unimaginable that a wizard could control the military and political power of a forward province at the same time.
Matak didn't do that.
He knew that he was not worthy of his position. He did not have Thernus Gehrman, who had decades of experience as a magic consultant, nor could he be like Gehrt, who had defeated all the great wizards of the Empire with his Ultimate Alchemy. The Empire's army had relied on Gehrt's Ultimate Alchemy to turn the tables many times.
Matak had neither the qualifications nor the strength to look down on the heroes. He was appointed without even going through the "Night of a Thousand Spells", which put him in a very disadvantageous position.
Of course, there was another reason. It was hard for him to fall asleep in the luxurious suite. Matak preferred the smell of manure, the itch of fleas, and the sting of hay at home. He even let a mixed-blood elven warhorse pee and poop beside the hay pile. Only then did he feel satisfied and fall asleep with his head on the hay pile.
But what appeared in Matak's dream was a nightmarish scene.
In a huge divine kingdom of decay and withering, a titan was lying on the withered earth. The rotten leather armor on his body emitted a pungent stench and collapsed on itself. His originally sacred and magnificent antlers had been entangled by poisonous vines. His whole body was covered with dark green moss, on which a large number of flies were floating. His strong body was covered with scorching black warts. His torso was tightly tied to the black suffocating vines, which were winding and contracting like hungry snakes.
Matak vaguely knew who this titan was, but he couldn't speak.
A beautiful woman was taking care of the Titan Giant. She was a pure and otherworldly woman. His innocent countenance alone could heal hearts, His gentle touch could heal the most grievous wounds, and He was laboriously trying to heal the Titan's pain. He wept, and His tears could have banished the most vicious and terrible diseases of the mortal world.
At this moment, she was powerless. Matak could feel that her strength seemed to have become very weak. It was very much like the situation when a serious injury had just healed.
"Tal, father, stand up, stand up."
"Tal, my love, don't give up, be strong."
The goddess called in vain. Only Tal's eyes, which were becoming more and more turbid and moving unconsciously in absent-mindedness, could prove that the human God King had not fallen.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah!" Matak woke up from his dream. The chief wizard of the royal family of the Empire felt as if he was choked by the throat of fate. He could hardly breathe. He roared with all his strength. After alerting the guards of the royal zoo, he finally felt better.
Matak decided to immediately go to see the self-proclaimed Regent of the Empire, Marshal Rick Helberg, and tell him everything.
Almost at the same time, Marshal Rick Helberg woke up with palpitations. He found himself lying on the table, his saliva wet the exquisite parchment scroll. That terrible scene still lingered in Helberg's mind.
Huff Fenggen was defeated, Karl-franz fell, and the emperor fell from the sky on the Claw of Death and landed in the army of the Warriors of Chaos. The war was lost. Out of hundreds of thousands of elites of the Empire, less than one in ten survived.
This nightmare had repeated in Helberg's mind more than ten times, and every time it hurt him deeply.
The old marshal was angry subconsciously. He almost wanted to slap everything on the table away.
But he forced himself to control himself. He took a deep breath, grabbed a piece of bread, and ate it casually with a few sips of dark beer. Then he got up and opened the window.
The capital of the Empire, the throne of Charlemagne, Brunswick, the first city of the old world, had made Helberg proud and addicted countless times.
But now the city was dying of disease.
The roads were full of black death moss, and vines with disease kept climbing up the buildings. Helberg hired more than 30,000 temporary cleaners to clean day and night, but they could not stop the spread. Now half of the city was covered with moss and vines. Even the glass windows of the Empire's palace began to show traces of moss.
The Brunswick River and the Wesson River that passed through the city were blocked by mud. The river was either covered with yellow-green stains, foam, or a large amount of moss and mud, blocking the river. Helberg asked the Brunswick Dock Gang to do everything they could, but they could not dredge the river.
The plague known as malaria was spreading rapidly in the city, and about a hundred thousand people had already been infected. Apart from one or two boxes of wood elven medicine that were imported from Olivier in Brittany, there was no other effective medicine.
Helberg's heart was shrouded in deep sorrow, but the old marshal did not dare to slack off.
The Empire of his master, Karl-franz, was falling apart. After thirty years on the throne, Emperor Karl-franz managed to unite the Empire through a series of military, political skills, military deterrence, and interest exchanges. But now, the Empire had already fallen apart with the death of the emperor and a series of Kurfürsten.
Helberg could not deal with the request of Esme III on the Reference on the Expulsion of Luther Hus and Werten from the Church. Helberg could not deal with the documents that the bureaucrats of the entire Empire sent to him every day. Helberg could not deal with the collapse of the economy of the entire Empire and the dissatisfaction of the excessive issuance of military tickets. The old marshal had no experience in dealing with such things.
If Helberg was candid enough, it was not until the past few days that he really understood Emperor Karl-franz's brilliant achievements and extraordinary personal abilities.
The Kurfürsten, the court ministers, the sorcerers, the engineers, and the generals came to him incessantly and raised new requests to him every hour. The requests were either important or unorganized. For now, his intimidation won the obedience of the three Kurfürsten and ensured that he had control of the city's defense projects.
But it was only temporary.
Helberg knew very well that Emmanuel and her son were eyeing the throne. Gaither wanted to control the military very much. Also, he did have a fortune in his hands that could buy people's hearts. Haute Anderson had no soldiers, no money, and was as poor as a church mouse. But that could not stop the Kurfürsten from trying to reach into the finance and logistics. He gave speeches to the Brunswick Gang and the various legal organizations in the city more than once.
The old marshal knew that he had to keep his spirits up and persevere. Even if he was the only one left, he had to protect the glory of the Empire!
Walking out of the door and the deep corridor, the smell of mold and spores came. The old marshal's face became more and more awful.
Had the moss and poisonous vines spread here?
Outside the gate was Gregg Matak, the chief sorcerer of the Empire's royal family, and Hans Zentler, the captain of the Brunswick Knights.
Matak came up and said directly, "My Empire's regent, the plague is spreading. The city is being devoured by the corruption of Nurgle."
"Yes, I know." Helberg looked at Matak fiercely, as if warning him. But the old marshal thought that there was finally a guy who realized the seriousness of the problem. He wanted to express his appreciation and recognition, but his ferocious expression was no different from the Chaos Demon Matak saw in his dreams. "So, do you have any ideas? My chief sorcerer? "
"Ideas? Didn't I come to you? " Matak was obviously angered by Helberg's plan. The chief sorcerer said, "Give me five hundred men. Give me your old army. Bring the best firearms and equipment. I will take them into the sewers to search for the source of the plague."
"Five hundred men? Fully armed? Old army? "Helberg looked at Matak as if he was looking at an idiot." Do you think I will agree? Shouldn't it be your job to expel the corruption? Otherwise, why would the emperor appoint you as the chief sorcerer of the royal family? I heard that the Brunswick sewers are at least forty-eight kilometers long. Are you crazy or am I crazy? "
"Since I am appointed as the chief sorcerer of the royal family, I obviously have the right to …" Matak tried to emphasize his power.
"You should learn to solve problems yourself. My great sorcerer, Thernus Gehrman, will burn the plague with fire. Galt will melt everything with molten metal. What about you? You will only look and ask me for help like a beggar? "Helberg tried to keep himself calm.
"I will do my best, but the situation is different now …"
"There is no difference!"
"The plague is killing the city. My marshal, I noticed your soldiers in the city …"
"Oh my god, oh my god, Charlemagne above, do you only know how to ask questions? The emperor appointed you to solve the problem, not to ask questions! "
"I am trying to solve the problem!"
"Then go!" Helberg's spit sprayed on Matak's face. The old marshal roared, "Go to the Church of Shalia or someone else. Don't come to me. This is not our priority! Go and solve the plague, now! "
"What's your priority?" Matak was also angry. The amber sorcerer roared like a griffin, "Is it the pursuit of stolen goods? Ah! What tyrannical decision? If the emperor is still here … "
"Enough!" Helberg immediately pulled out the Runic Tooth. "Get out of here now! Go and do your thing. Don't force me to remove you! "
Matak took a deep look at Helberg, then looked at the Runic Tooth in his hand. He sneered and turned to leave.
After Matak left, Helberg looked at Grand Mentor Hans Zentler. "What's the matter?"
Zentler was sweating all over at this time. He whispered, "Marshal, the pursuit of stolen goods … can't go on."
Due to the serious shortage of finance and food, and the need for large-scale conscription, Helberg ordered the army to carry out the "Pursuit of Stolen Goods" campaign in the city of Brunswick and even in the territory of Brunswick.
The two mentors of Brunswick's Guards, Hans Günter and Heinrich von Christwall, and the Grand Mentor of Brunswick's Knights, Hans Zentler, announced the "Pursuit of Stolen Goods" of the nobles in the capital.
Logically speaking, this move was actually similar to when Suria gathered the knights and nobles for a meeting in order to protect Culona. The Knight King relied on this to instantly pull out 10,000 private nobles and made the nobles willingly cough up a large amount of real money. With this, he fought a decisive battle with Sigwald and won a great victory, becoming famous in the old world.
But how to implement it, how to use language to persuade the nobles, how to make the nobles believe that they would be rewarded in the future, and how to make the nobles realize that if they did not protect the capital, their fundamental interests would be lost. This depended on personal political skills and negotiation ability.
The old general believed that the nobles of the Imperium must have a lot of money and food reserves in their families. Therefore, he decided to impose a "one-size-fits-all" policy, namely, how many titles of dukes, counts, viscounts, barons, fiefdoms, chambers of commerce and rich free people should be paid.
The most troublesome thing was that Suria negotiated through a big tea party in the palace, but Helberg believed that the palace could not be trusted and should be handled by the army.
As mentioned before, the only qualified army under Helberg's command was actually the 1,000 regular soldiers in Brunswick and the 1,000 or so old soldiers that he brought back from the north. The newly established Brunswick Royal Guard Legion of more than 70000 were mixed in. Many ruffians and scoundrels had sneaked in, and the 50000 Nur elites who were disciplined enough to pay and distribute food boxes on time were not allowed to enter the city.
Under such circumstances, when the new recruits heard that they were going to use the money to supplement their "military pay", they were all very excited. They instantly skillfully used the rules and extorted money everywhere, and they even resorted to lynching. The situation quickly went out of control. For a time, no one on the street dared to wear fancy clothes anymore. Second-hand rags became popular goods, and people were afraid that people would know that they were rich.
And the most ruffian was Helberg. He issued military tickets and crazily plundered wealth from the market, nobles, and civilians. However, when collecting taxes and collecting money, he demanded that it must be real money.
"Now, almost everybody is against it. Marshal, if this continues, we will be caught in a civil war before Chaos arrives." Zentlele fell on one of his knees. He seemed to be about to cry. "As a citizen of the Empire and a grand mentor of the knights certified by the emperor, I beg you, my marshal, please stop!"
Helberg looked at Zentlele, as if he were weighing his trustworthiness and loyalty.
After a long time, the old marshal asked, "What happened to the people of Marlin Castle?"
"They are hiding in the residence of the Chamber of Commerce in the southern city district …" Zentlele told Helberg the situation.
More than a hundred iron-blooded capitalists from the two houses of Marlin Castle had taken refuge in the capital of the Empire after escaping from Marlin Castle. They first asked for "equal status" and emphasized that they would "fight to the last soldier". Then, they took out a document stating that "personal property is sacred".
Unfortunately, they were faced with Laing's little maid and eldest son. The little maid looked at them with a face that said, "Do you think the iron-blooded duchess of Nur will believe your bullshit?" She then ordered the confiscation of all their wealth, which was worth about 1.3 million gold coins and a lot of supplies.
Although the iron-blooded capitalists had a lot of guards, they could not stop the Nur army.
However, Emilia did not go too far. She returned 150,000 gold coins' worth of goods to the merchants of Marlin Castle led by Duke Valverde and told them that the Nur people would remember their donation.
In any case, the merchants of Marlin Castle still had a lot of sales channels and connections in the old world. In the future, Nur industrial products would continue to sell all over the world. Emilia learned this from Suria. She had to beat them and harvest them regularly, but she would not kill them all. Business was an important source of tax.
"Send someone to find the countess. Since she has confiscated so much, she should at least … cough up seven or eight hundred thousand worth of things!" Helberg said coldly, "I know about this. Suspend the Viscera Compensation for the time being."
"Yes …" Zentlele had just heaved a sigh of relief when he heard Helberg ask, "Has the messenger sent to Brittany for help set off?"
"I was just about to talk about that," Zentlele quickly reported.
After Helberg asked the Empire Parliament to ask for help from Brittany, what did the Empire Parliament and the Empire Palace do?
The first step was to gather the court ministers, diplomats, officials, suitable messengers, and scholars from Brunswick.
The second step was to hold an important meeting to ensure that the important leaders of the various departments were fully present to help solve the problem.
The third step was to express the opinions of all parties and fully discuss the following issues: the importance of choosing a messenger, the importance of the rhetoric of the letter, the consequences of asking for help, the consequences of not asking for help, and the possible cost of the arrival of the Brittany cavalry.
The fourth step was to explain to all the leaders that their work had nothing to do with the request for help or the delivery of letters.
The messengers and scholars were allowed to choose. If the messengers wanted to send letters, the messengers themselves would bear all the responsibility. If Laing did not come to help or misunderstood, the scholars who wrote the letters would bear all the responsibility, not the departments.
If they did not send letters, this problem would not exist.
Therefore, no messengers dared to send letters, and no scholars dared to write letters. The request for help was thus delayed.
Helberg closed his eyes in agony. These bureaucrats!
It was very difficult to accomplish something, but there were thousands of ways to fail at something!
"… Send someone, tell them." Helberg's low voice sounded. "They just need to send the request for help as soon as possible. Do it immediately, do it immediately. I must see the messenger send the request for help out of Brunswick within an hour!"
"But, this is a matter of great importance …" Zentl wanted to say more.
"Tell them!!! I, Curt Helberg, will bear all the responsibility!!! "The old marshal roared hysterically." Say it like this! Everything is my order, it is my responsibility, is that okay?! Or do I have to sign the regent's decree? Then I will sign it now! Satisfy them! Satisfy them, they must ask for help! We can't wait! Laing Macado needs time to gather the troops. Marlin Castle is gone, and the Brittany knights can't all fly through the Axe Pass! "
Zentl nodded silently. This was what everyone was waiting for.
With the old marshal taking the blame, it would be easier for everyone to do things.
After speaking and venting his anger a few times, Helberg was about to leave when Zentl stopped him. "There is also this thing, please take a look."
Zentler was holding a thick roll of fine parchment in his hand. The craftsmanship of the parchment was beyond any technology of the Empire. Helberg took the parchment and found that it was signed "VVC". The seal was gorgeous and ancient. "This is?"
"We found this at the top of the palace. There was blood all around."
Helberg hesitated for a moment, but still unfolded the parchment.
Black and red ink stains came into view.
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