It has been two months since the end of the "Battle of Ebolden", and the cold winds of winter have spread from the Fault Mountain to every corner of the empire.

But to the subjects of the Empire, everything seemed to be the same as yesterday.

This is actually quite normal, the reason why the empire was able to exist in the first place was to resist the invasion of the northern monsters formed an "alliance", otherwise it would be impossible for such a huge territory, a country with completely different customs and cultures to be integrated.

The elves and ogres of the Woodwoods, the werewolf tribes of the Icefields in the north of Sakland, the centaurs of the Great Green Sea, the dwarven kingdoms among the mountains, the trolls roaming the wasteland... It can be said that except for the imperial capital and Ebolden, which are at peace all year round, the rest of the territories have wars almost every year and every season.

The eldest old man had lived through the days of the Black Duke, and those who were a little older still vaguely remembered the heroic appearance of the late His Majesty Eckhart II commanding the Imperial army and fighting the invading monster legions in the Broken Boundary Mountain.

The Centaur War was still fresh in the minds of the horseback people of Boy, and strictly speaking, the Lothairians who were resisting the invasion of the Azorean elves, the Arles who hunted trolls, and the East Sacraland, where civil war was raging, were all going on their own wars.

War is the main theme of the empire and the fundamental meaning of the empire's existence; for the people of the empire, war is not a big deal at all, and it is not a very special thing.

Either at war or preparing for war, this is the norm in empires.

Because of this, even if Emperor Connad issued a "mobilization for all-out war" and "expropriated and expropriated" the nobles and various principalities in the imperial capital, no one dared to stand up and accuse the emperor of "tyranny";

The young nobles and knights were even more enthusiastic, and without waiting for the conscription order to be issued, they took the initiative to run to the barracks and ask to join the imperial army, and their minds were full of cutting off the heads of elves on the battlefield and then making the girls crazy about themselves.

The presidents of the trade unions and chambers of commerce were even more excited, and they couldn't wait to contract all the military supplies of the empire - fighting a war is to get rich, and they couldn't understand this simple truth.

Therefore, the person who really attracts the most attention in the current empire is Isaac Grantham.

More precisely, it would have been the fact that Isaac was given the title of knight and married a royal family, albeit a side branch.

The Empire is shaking!

The whole empire... Or at least the wizards of the imperial capital of Golovin were almost shocked, and the shock was followed by an indescribable excitement and excitement, excitement to the point of indescribable.

According to the statistics of the magistrate of the imperial capital, in just one week, at least twenty taverns were taken over by the wizard apprentices who poured out of the academy, and ran to the Heavenly Dome Palace to petition, and more than 1,000 wizards swore allegiance to Emperor Conod, not counting the apprentices.

Considering that there were no more than a thousand qualified wizards in the entire imperial capital, this number was already extremely terrifying.

At the same time, wizards and apprentices from all over the surrounding areas of the imperial capital are also rushing to the Heavenly Dome Palace in batches, petitioning to join His Majesty Connad's legions, and willing to contribute to "the victory of the empire".

When the news of Isaac's award came, almost all wizards understood the "hint from His Majesty the Emperor" - as long as they had military exploits, even wizards could receive knighthoods and titles of nobility.

The temptation is just too great!

The vast majority of wizards in the empire embarked on the path of becoming wizards because they were unable to inherit their family inheritance and titles, or because they could not find any way out.

Of course, to the real wizards... Like Isaac, or the elders of the Wizard's Tower... Such "buy-and-take" tactics are of little value, and worldly titles and wealth are of limited meaning to them.

But for the members who make up the vast majority of the wizarding world, this almost gives them an incomparably bright future and visible hope.

As long as you work hard, as long as you are loyal to the emperor, as long as you make enough military achievements... Yourself, like all nobles and even knights, can get privileges, wealth and the opportunity to become a master!

On the other hand, there was a total revolt of the Church.

The clergy with a little bit of brains can understand that once the wizards can obtain the status of nobility, then it means that the church will completely lose its absolute suppression of the wizarding class, which means that the absolute dominance of the church in the spiritual realm can no longer be maintained.

This will be a fatal blow to the church!

Before Archbishop Innocent could speak, the angry clergy led the way with the "devout congregation", and at the same time, the church inquisitors formally filed a complaint in the Imperial Cabinet, demanding that His Majesty Conod withdraw the decree, otherwise the church would "withdraw its absolute support for the Heavenly Dome".

This "battle between wizards and churches" in the imperial capital is about to break out.

At this moment, a shocking news came from the Red Blood Castle - the messenger who went to the Red Blood Castle to negotiate, the deacon of the Holy Cross Church, Sylvik, "openly provoked" the Duke of Byrne at the ceremony held by the Duke of Byrne, questioning the legitimacy and legitimacy of his identity, and after being "seen through the ruse", he was unanimously expelled by the whole of Byrne!

Almost on the same day, Lothair, Boe, and Arles also sent letters at the same time, questioning the circumstances of the matter, and imploring the Heavenly Dome to assess the "seriousness" of the matter and give a reasonable and legal explanation.

Is it possible to question the identity of an imperial duke as long as there is some evidence to catch the wind?

Is it true that as long as the church has doubts, the dukes of the principalities must immediately produce evidence to prove the authenticity of their identities, or else they will be deposed?

Is it true that the inheritance law stipulated in the imperial code and the recognition of the nobility in the principality are invalid, and only the duke recognized by the church can become the legitimate duke of the empire?!

In the face of this flying disaster, the Holy Cross Church, which was still menacing before, suddenly panicked, and its original tough attitude could no longer be maintained, so it could only pray to His Majesty the Emperor of the Heavenly Dome Palace to explain as soon as possible, so that this matter could be properly handled.

But Conod, as if he had not heard or seen, was so focused on preparing for the war after the winter that he had "no time" to mediate such trivial matters as "the conflict between the church and the nobility of the principality".

If the Church could have remained a little calmer at this time, they would have understood that this was Conod's last chance for them - if the trust of the principalities was lost, the bonds that held the empire together would change from faith to loyalty to the empire and to the royal family of de Salion.

The authority and position of the Church will be weakened as never before, and they will become essentially vassals and vassals of the Empire, and the best option for them now is to reconcile with the Duchy of Byrne on their own to avoid further intensification of contradictions.

But it's a pity that the Holy Cross Church's consistent hardline attitude makes them unwilling to compromise so quickly, and they are still counting on Loren Turin to bow his head and admit his mistake first, or the Heavenly Dome Palace can mediate.

Of course, neither of these is absolutely possible.

As a result, within the imperial capital, the strife between the wizards and the church also intensified.

After receiving assurances from Emperor Conod and hearing the news of Corona's death, Albert, the royal wizard advisor, changed his usual "good old man" and went toe-to-toe with the church inquisitors in the Imperial Cabinet, vowing not to give an inch and vowing to fight to the end.

Whether it was age, experience, experience, or even vocabulary, the young Inquisitor was no match for Master Albert, and the wizard's usual calm attitude made it easy for him to find loopholes and flaws in the other party's passionate words, and then return them tenfold and hundredfold.

To be sure, Albert didn't think he could win—for now, the Church was far stronger than the wizards, so he planned to drag it out until the war began in the spring.

Just after this battle between wizards and the church attracted everyone's attention, the Night's Watch, who had long been co-opted by Dalton Kander, finally found an opportunity to quietly send the truly critical information to the Red Blood Keep......

..............................

“... Judging from the information that came back, the situation on the Ebolden front line was not very good......"

As he read the information in his hand, Dalton Kander's eyes looked at the dark-haired wizard opposite—the head hung down, and his face relaxed to the extreme, which was the opposite of his usual cautiousness.

“... Due to the turmoil in East Sackland, the army blockading the Ebolden border was not reinforced at all, and the army of Elemon was too far away - with limited forces and orders not to fight the enemy, Archduke Yuli Wirtz decided to take advantage of the advantages of transportation and resources to build a series of garrison towers on the Ebolden border. ”

"In cooperation with the barracks, the cavalry blocked the passage, compressed the enemy's stretching space, and advanced steadily. ”

"In the recent past, there have been hundreds of clashes between the Imperial legions and the small reconnaissance forces of the Azorean elves, with heavy casualties - the other side has an advantage in such a small battle than in a large-scale decisive battle, and it is already very difficult to retreat safely without winning with the same forces. ”

“... Through many engagements, Archduke Yuli Wirtz believed that cavalry and crossbowmen were the key to victory, and that it was difficult for both the mobile Elemish warriors and the Empire's legionnaires to go head-to-head with the Azorean elves alone, so they urgently needed more cavalry reinforcements, and asked the Empire to increase the number of heavy crossbows......"

“... On the 16th, the Grand Duke of Elem personally led three regiments of more than 1,000 legionnaires in the snow to engage a small army of the Azorean elves and won a narrow victory; on the 20th the enemy launched a fierce attack on the legion's general camp in an attempt to seize the course of the River Jewels, but the attempt was fruitless; on the 23rd ......"

Raising his head and looking at Loren, who was still in a trance and at a loss, Dalton snorted coldly: "On the twenty-third, the empire was defeated and Golovin fell!"

"Huh?!"

The black-haired wizard woke up abruptly and raised his head: "Mentor Dalton, what did you just say?!"

"On the 23rd, the Azorean elves again launched a fierce assault on the legionary camp and failed. Dalton was expressionless: "What's wrong?"

"No, I remember you were talking about the fall of Golovin?!"

"No, I'm talking about the possibility, if the course of the Gem River is taken away, there is a real possibility that Golovin will fall... Of course, it is also possible that it will not fall. ”

"......" Loren Turin.

"That's it for the debriefing. As he spoke, Dalton put away the letterhead: "You are in a bad condition now, go back and rest." ”

"No, no... I thought maybe I had too much time off lately, so I ......"

"That's what I mean!"

Roughly interrupting his apprentice, Dalton swept his cold eyes: "The sense of decadence in your body now is unimaginably thick - if this is the result of marriage, then I would rather not tell Charlotte the truth!"

The black-haired wizard twitched the corners of his mouth in embarrassment, and a sense of powerlessness that he wanted to explain but couldn't explain came to his heart deeply.

"Don't worry too much about Ebolden - in fact, it's useless if you do, after the last battle of Ebolden, Emperor Conod will not give you the command of this place anymore, unless he wants you to become the second black duke. ”

With a cold snort, Dalton quickly regained his composure and usual indifference: "You can be a little more vigilant in the battle of Lothair - from the intelligence point of view, the enemy there is not inferior to Ebolden, but it is more reckless, almost at any cost in attacking the deep forest fort line. ”

"Archduke Lothair, Leven Fried has completed the mobilization of the whole country, but the narrow battlefield is destined to prevent either side from fully deploying its forces and fighting the other, and it will be a long war of attrition, and the defeat of either side will cause the advantage to be tilted in favor of the other. ”

"But neither the elves who came from afar, nor the not-so-rich Lothair, could not last long in this battle, so ......"

Slightly bowing his head, the pensive Dalton said very decisively: "Soon, this battle should take a turn." ”

"How fast?" Loren raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, but maybe... Right now, right now!" Dalton Candle said coldly: "Judging from the news that has come in, the battle on the Ebolden front has encountered a stalemate, and the deep forest fort has given up the active offensive after several heavy defeats and has entered a state of passive defense. ”

"There are still two months left until the end of winter, and the enemy will not give us two months to prepare slowly. ”

The black-haired wizard was silent.

Of course he wouldn't sit here for two months if he could, but Connad had made it clear that he was not allowed to interfere in any war until he was given orders, and even if he wanted to help Leuven in the deep forest, he couldn't help from such a distance.

"Of course, these battles are far away in Fort Deep Limp and Ebolden, and we can't intervene directly. Dalton shook his head:

"But there is one thing that we must deal with as soon as possible......"