Before Iroh had returned to the castle to rest, someone sent the latest report.

Iroh, who had planned to sleep first and then check on them, suddenly changed his mind when he caught a glimpse of a name on the report.

Speaking of which...... It's also time to see how the mainland strategy is being implemented.

With that in mind, Iroh opened the first report.

Vacenridge SW, Weitz area.

It is a buffer zone between the Kingdom of Falkenridge and the Duchy of Heberta, a land that has been plagued by war for many years.

The people of the Wetz region have been martial, uninhibited and bloody since ancient times, and if it were not for the serious civil strife, a powerful country would inevitably rise in this land.

It is precisely for this reason that neither the former Falkenridge nor Heberta wants Weitz to become a place of unity. Over the past few decades, both countries have been secretly co-opting one or more local armed forces to keep the region at war.

Twelve years ago, however, the chaos that seemed to be going to last until the end of the world gradually changed radically.

Quite simply, a blue dragon decided to settle in a desert southeast of Weitz and enslaved a small nomadic tribe nearby.

Actually, this is not unusual, after all, the Weitz area is a three-way zone, and almost anyone can come and intervene - the situation is unlikely to become more chaotic anyway.

And more often than not, those who want a piece of the chaos will only find themselves caught up in the maelstrom in the end, either leaving with nothing or being completely mired in war.

From this point of view, the people of Weitz still have some hope in their hearts that there will be a real force to unify this vast and barren region.

The only thing they didn't expect was that it was a blue dragon who was known for its evil that led the forces to unify here.

More precisely, supported by a blue dragon, a declining nobleman named Mullen.

There is naturally a reason for supporting a puppet: in today's world, at least in the Western Continent, there are hardly any regions where people willingly accept the rule of a colored dragon. But if it's a human who rules them, then things will go much smoother.

As most people know, the blue dragon who calls himself Karamank has the typical conceit and pride of his people, and he doesn't let Mullen use any tactics - or his only strategy is simple coercion and lure, and if he can't do it, he will fight all the way, and if he doesn't obey, he will fight until he obeys.

However, this seemingly reckless approach has had an unexpected effect.

One of the reasons for this is ...... In many cases, absolute force can crush all schemes!

Although the Blue Dragon and Maren had few minions at the beginning, after the first expedition, people were surprised to find that they had a team of 1,000 men composed entirely of earth elementals!

With no tiredness, no hunger, and no fear, combined with the most incredible strength and physique of the four elements, even the most ordinary earth elemental can defeat two heavily armed soldiers.

The force supported by Karamank almost became famous in a fight, and in just one night, three small forces were conquered, four small forces were slaughtered, and the reputation of that earth elemental army also skyrocketed directly - for adventurers, the earth elemental is not a high-level monster, but what about a thousand earth elementals gathered together?

The appearance of Karamank and Mullen undoubtedly boiled the waters of the entire Wetz region: no one was sure that it would fight against an army composed of a thousand earth elementals alone, and the Duchy of Heberta naturally did not want this puppet of the blue dragon to really unify the Wetz region, so it increased its support for several forces under it.

Unfortunately, the situation is changing faster than everyone imagined.

The first to change its attitude was Falkenridge, a country that did not want Wetz to be unified, suddenly issued a statement in support of Wetz's independence, and also called it "freedom and liberation", not only changing the law to send labor to Karamunk's forces, but also sending officials to communicate with Karamunk many times, and even letting out rumors that he wanted to see a peace-loving neighbor instead of a chaotic quagmire of war.

And this blue dragon also logically signaled Mullen to accept Falkenridge's overtures. With no worries to worry about, he drove the Earth Elemental Army almost without any stop, using the simplest and most violent methods to defeat all those forces that disobeyed him.

Although the cost of this was that the Earth Elemental Army had suffered heavy losses in less than two years, and could no longer be called an army, the harvest was equally gratifying: the entire Weitz region was unified after just three years.

Of course, the Duchy of Heberta didn't want to see this happen, but Karamank's actions were really too fast, and they wanted to help the puppet forces but they had to sneak around, lest Falkenridge take the moral high ground.

Needless to say, all of the above is naturally the result of Iroh's covert operation.

The earth elemental army was naturally exchanged by Airo, although in front of the nine kingdoms and the four empires, such a thousand earth elements were not enough, but it was barely enough to deal with the many small forces in the Weitz region.

And the deliberate consumption of the earth elemental army is also to appease other countries, after all, the threat of this army is really not low, if they are worried that this army will remain after the unification of Wetz, and meddle in the Weitz area for their own safety, it will be a bit passive......

Now, under the instruction of Iroh, Karamank crushed his opponent with the earth element to his heart's content, on the one hand, it reduced the time to unify the Wetz region, and on the other hand, it also reassured the surrounding countries: look, the leader of this army does not understand military affairs at all, and is only greedy for a moment of refreshment, and when he unifies the Wetz area, the earth element will be almost consumed, and it will not pose any threat to you.

Of course, this kind of cover-up is unlikely to fool everyone, and Iroh doesn't really plan to do it. In fact, it is enough to deceive most of the people so that Karamank does not fall into a disadvantage in public opinion.

As for those who keep people suspicious?

Let them be suspicious, anyway, Iroh directly found Karamank for the earth elemental handover under Noele's teleportation technique, and there has been no direct contact with Karamanke since then.

All in all, after the completion of the reunification, Karamank did not rush to establish a state, but patiently spent nine years completely reorganizing the entire Weitz region.

It wasn't until half a year ago, when the region had largely returned to calm, that he and Mullen discussed the establishment of the country.

On this day, everything was ready, and in a huge square, Mullen, as the direct messenger of Karamank, brought his followers and several officials of Falkenridge to the site of the founding ceremony. Karamank, on the other hand, did not show up in order to avoid causing panic.

The square is just an open space without tall buildings, many places are dirt floors, and even the rostrum is improvised.

Even so, residents of the entire Gatesz region flocked to the rally from all over the country.

Because for these people who have suffered from war for many years, this gathering today is too important, and this is their founding ceremony.

Before noon, the square was already crowded with people, and the periphery of the square was also impassable.

In all corners of the square, Mullen's soldiers, as well as some soldiers from Falkenridge, were maintaining order.

This slightly chubby aristocrat stood on the high platform, looking at the tens of thousands of people gathered in the square, and was full of emotion for a while.

If it weren't for his own experience, Mullen really couldn't have dreamed that he, a declining aristocrat, would still have the day to become the head of a country!

Even if this leader is just someone else's puppet...... It's enough, too.

Because when he was a child, the family was still quite prominent, but later it fell into ruin, causing him to suffer a lot, and he always wanted to revitalize the family in his heart.

In addition, Mullen has no ambitions, and he also knows that he is not the material to govern the country, so even if it is just a false name, he is satisfied—besides, when Karamank came to the door, he knew that it was his personality that determined that he would be chosen.

And today, the day he was looking forward to has finally arrived.

"The time is almost up. An official whispered a reminder to Mullen.

"I see. Maren nodded, took a step forward, and a mage beside him immediately activated the amplification technique.

The next moment, Mullen's light cough suddenly spread throughout the square, and almost instantly, the originally noisy square immediately fell silent.

Mullen took a deep breath, followed the script that the blue dragon had given him in advance, and began his speech.

"Welcome, sons and daughters of Weits. ”

With just one sentence, some people's eyes turned red. For some time, they were all people who claimed to be such and such a force, or such and such a tribe, and almost forgot that in the beginning, all of them belonged to this land called Weitz.

"I am honored to be here to give you back what you have been waiting for. ”

For decades, the people here have suffered from war, and all they yearn for and look forward to is the word "peace".

"I have also been one of the inhabitants of this land for the past few decades, and I know you as well as I know myself. Mullen's speech was not fast at this time, but it was full of determined strength, "Because in the war, we all lost so many things that we cared about, and even the gods failed to give them back to us." ”

More people began to cry silently, and the loss of loved ones, families, and the originally peaceful life has always been an eternal pain in their hearts. The slightest touch of this scar can hurt the heart and lungs of a strong person.

"But," Mullen suddenly raised his voice, and his tone changed, "since it is impossible to return to the life that once existed by praying to the gods, someone must lead the valiant people of this land to illuminate the darkness with swords and blood. ”

"Luckily, people chose me, and I won — no, it was me and my people who won. ”

Mullen took a step forward and spread his arms, "From this day forward, there will be no more inhumane wars, no more bloody killings, no more starvation-ridden famines, and no more lingering deaths. ”

"So, rejoice and tell the souls of those who have passed away that their blood has not been shed in vain, and that they have exchanged their lives for peace to come!"

"Just today, right now—I declare that the Duchy of Weitz is officially established!"

The moment was too long for all of us in Weitz, for the first time in decades, the unification of the region had been completed, and the splendor of peace had finally enveloped the land.