The day after the candle festival is the official funeral of Queen Sophia.

At 7:07 a.m., the Cathedral of the Red Queens sounded the dreary death knell again.

By the time the seventy-nine death knells have been struck, there will be no more bells in all of Avalon today. A pitch-black silence enveloped the whole of Avalon.

The funeral procession departed from St. Genevel's Chapel and circled around the Red and White Queens before returning to the Cathedral.

Seventy-seven pure white griffins with black scarves, and seventy-seven knights in silver armor with black cloaks guarding the black coffin in the middle. At the front was Isabel on a griffon ride, and behind her were Lydia and Ivus on a slightly smaller griffon.

If it is put in the past, people may question how these two young people, who seem to be less than thirty years old, can stand in such a high position.

But today, there are no more questions.

Journalist Dimmit, now editor-in-chief of the newspaper Glass Steps, took the photo himself on the second page of the newspaper.

The glass steps shattered, and the Great Guardian and his griffin were mortally wounded and dying.

Chancellor Moriarty closed his eyes in prayer, and the new Grand Arbiter held his scepter. They stood behind the Queen, protecting her unscathed, while the knights of the Arbitration Hall all bowed down before them because they had arrived late, repenting respectfully and earnestly.

If that photo were put on a regular basis, it would definitely make headlines.

It was because there were too many major events on this day that it was squeezed into the second edition.

The newspapers also recorded in detail what Ivas had done, and it became known that it was Ivus who saved their queen.

With the exception of the Great Guardian, who had almost been sacrificed, Evas's reputation rose to the extreme almost instantly.

No one will question the young minister who has no more ministers.

The vast majority of Avalons are ordinary people, they don't know what the "energy level" is, they don't know how strong Aihuas is, and they can't figure out what Emma's strength is, these things belong to the secrets of the transcendent realm.

In their opinion, Emma's ability to turn the noon of the Candle Rite into the night of the Blood Moon and the rain of blood on the entire Glass Island is simply like a great power of the evil god. But if Ivus can defeat her, it means that Ivus is stronger than her.

Such a young and strong man naturally deserves respect.

They had no idea that Ivus only had a third level.

And those who know about this matter don't dare to stand up and explain "this is unreasonable" at this time. It would only be besieged by an angry populace.

More than a thousand guests accepted the invitation from the Temple of Silver and Tin. In addition to this, the people of Glass Island spontaneously poured into the streets.

They surrounded the funeral procession, their faces solemn and silent.

Not only for the Queen's funeral, but also for yesterday's big news.

Yesterday was the Celebrant Priest, and it was impossible to hide such a big thing as the assassination of the queen.

And Iwass and Isabel didn't want to hide it at all.

The cover of all the newspapers in Avalon today is Queen Isabel with a grim face and blood-stained clothes. The front page invariably writes only two things, one is that Queen Sophia's funeral and state funeral is today, and the other is the attack on Queen Isabel yesterday.

Starty's diplomats assassinated the monarch directly, and Isabel was their only monarch - her father and brother were not recognized by the Avalons. Whether it's a coward who has abandoned his responsibilities and fled, or a baby who can't even write his own name, it is clear that he cannot be a worthy monarch.

This has angered most of the Avalons. The fear and panic caused by the sudden and ominous blood moon that the candle priest was disturbed yesterday was also recognized by Countess Emma.

The sacred candle festival is disrupted, and the queen is attacked—and the people who do it are the Star Antimony, whom the Avalons generally hate.

It just so happened that the next day was Queen Sophia's funeral.

While most of the Avalonians don't know Isabel yet, she is Sophia's chosen heir. Her ring was transferred even while Queen Sophia was still alive.

And Queen Sophia's prestige in Avalon is exceptionally high.

All the people of Avalon today will only experience and understand two monarchs. That is Queen Sophia and the tyrant of the previous generation, the "Hanged King".

The "modernization" of Avalon was also largely completed under Queen Sophia.

Before her succession, Avalon had no railroads, no bicycles, no factories, no telephones, no electric lights, no facilities for all electricity, and not even newspapers for civilians to read. Most people can't read, and only a few can get into college and become transcendent; More than 90% of the land in Avalon is rural, with gangs and pickpockets in the cities and bandits outside the cities.

Since the advent of Prince Lloyd, Avalon has been in decline from generation to generation.

Because people no longer believe in the Knights of the Round Table, in their monarchs. The nature of the Avalonians' authoritarian path has declined dramatically, both in terms of the number and intensity of the transcendental, as well as in the economy and infrastructure.

By the time the Hanged King succeeded him, Avalon had fallen to the limit. By that time, there were only six universities left in the country that were still functional. The silver and gold held in Avalon are rapidly draining overseas, and many knight families have even left Avalon with their assets and gone to Star Antimony and Iris.

At that time, Avalon's most lucrative industry was still shipping, because there was really no local output worth caring about, and the most valuable was griffons - even though stealing griffons was a felony starting with the death penalty, there were still people who smuggled griffin eggs to goblin traders.

If you have access to griffins, you are at least a mid-level leader.

There are also poachers with extraordinary professions, hunting and selling extraordinary animals in the wild, which directly leads to the extinction of many of Avalon's wild animals today. Such a risky and illegal profession is praised by children as "brave" and "adventurer", and even many parents think it is a good way out.

- This shows that Avalon's economy has completely collapsed at that time.

It was precisely because the whole of Avalon was plunged into chaos and sin that Tudor III, who did not know what to do, became the "Hanged King".

He wasn't very smart, but at least he was brave. He also has no smart and trustworthy cronies around him who can offer constructive advice to save Avalon.

So when the whole of Avalon was gradually falling into disarray, Tudor III chose the most straightforward approach.

- That's killing.

Kill all the poachers, kill all the corrupt officials, kill all the fallen knights, kill all the thieves, kill all the robbers, kill all the profiteers and smugglers.

Kill the transcendents who are on the wrong path, kill the publishers who print and promote the "Tales of the Brave", kill the bards who praise the adventurers, kill the teachers who run away, and kill the farmers who don't work and don't pay taxes.

Kill all the knights and ministers who disobey him, kill those who intend to start a rebellion, kill all aliens except the elves who set foot on the lands of Avalon, and kill the civilians who intend to flee from Avalon.

Tudor III's solution to all problems was to kill. If the problem is not solved after the killing, it is that he has killed the wrong person or not enough - his atrocities have even alarmed the Church, which sends an average of two people a year to dissuade him.

Throughout the reign of Tudor III, all the gallows in Avalon were lined up. As a result, other types of death sentences such as beheading, waterboarding, and burning at the stake also appeared in the early days.

There is nothing complicated about sentencing.

Because before the "treadmill" was invented, there was also a cost to managing prisons. In order to prevent prison riots, Tudor III did not throw people into prison at all. It is precisely because he killed so hard that the judges have to find a way to save people.

The reason why there was no rebellion under this level of killing was simply because he killed too quickly. The power of the authoritarian path is in full swing – examining property, searching memories, identifying lies. The Inspectorate directly searched one village after another, and ordinary people could not keep any secrets in front of them.

At that time, the "Inspectorate" was synonymous with executioners.

They would even review the documents and belongings in each person's home and double-check where they came from.

While almost everyone feared the Hanged King, only the Inspectorate and the Inspectorate truly felt the necessity, and they stood firmly by the monarch's side, trusting the tyrant with absolute confidence.

Because they are the only ones who have been in constant contact with sin and chaos.

By the time of Tudor III, many procurators and procurators had become so desperate that they had given up on themselves because they were completely unable to stop the evil, and those who were saved in the morning could die in the afternoon, and those who were saved last week would become perpetrators the next week. They have no idea what they have to do anymore, and many even have mental problems.

And when they obeyed Tudor III's orders, they were surprised to find that things had improved.

- Don't talk about your family, killing them all really works.

So they are even more convinced that what they are doing is the right thing.

Sin and chaos are diminished at an extremely clear, immediate rate...... Although the population is also decreasing together.

Someone was killed, someone starved to death.

Some people risk the death penalty and have to flee overseas with their families.

Ivas had checked the information - in fact, the number of executions had decreased considerably since the very beginning. The first wave of deaths was far greater than all the victims of foreign wars since the founding of Avalon combined.

And after that period ended, Avalon's almost completely broken order was re-established.

Other types of capital punishments, which have resulted from overloading the gallows, have in fact largely been discontinued. The gallows, which is always "full of popularity", is more like a continuous deterrent. This is also why the gallows are always full everywhere, but no new gallows are ever built - what he wants is the effect of "full".

By the latter years of Queen Sophia's reign, the era in which Ivas lived, most people had no memory of what the Hanged King had done.

But their fear of the Inspectorate seems to be engraved in their genes.

The fear, hatred, and distrust caused by Tudor III did cause great trouble for Sophia, who had just ascended the throne. But from another point of view, it's because he really killed all those people and really cleared these obstacles...... That's why Sophia's policy implementation was so smooth.

For she was in ruins, not a fortress still hostile to her.

And it is precisely because of the comparison of Tudor III that people know how benevolent, diligent, gentle and kind Queen Sophia is. With the trust and support of the people at the bottom, Sophia can implement more policies that benefit the people - this is all a reciprocal utilitarian achievement.

It was Queen Sophia who saved all this from the abyss.

She lived only seventy-nine years, but saved Avalon from two hundred years of decline.

Avalon rose from the ashes and, under the leadership of Queen Sophia, in less than sixty years, was once again transformed into a country that must be valued by its powerful neighbors.

But it also ushered in new problems - a rapidly developing economy, overly easy prosperity, and foreign capital gradually corrupted the knights of the old days. Merchants who have grown rapidly in the wave of factories, alchemy and modernization have also to pay attention.

When Avalon comes back to life, someone is destined to become rich. The knights represent the forces of the old age, while the merchants represent the forces of the new age.

In times of peace, knights were almost completely unable to shake the position of the merchants, because knights also wanted to live well, and most knights did not know how to take care of their assets and did not have the energy to make money.

Because of this, the vast majority of knights' property is shrinking.

That's why there are new knights who compromise with merchant collectives like Lloyd's, and ministers who have been corrupted by the Star Antimony and Iris people.

And those days are coming to an end now.

Because the war is about to begin.

If there was anything missing from Avalon in the time of Queen Sophia...... That is, there are too few wars.

The Avalons are not weak, nor are they timid.

They are a knightly nation after all.

Avalon's original citizens came from the native human slaves who hated the giants, and from the warriors who volunteered to join the crusaders from the Hellasr Empire. They have the blood of strife in their veins, which is why they form a powerful army like the Griffon Legion, which is only born for the ultimate attack.

Since the founding of the country, Avalon has never stopped fighting active or passive wars. At the height of Avalon, even the Hellasr Empire, which had not yet disintegrated, was wary and fearful of Avalon.

But in Queen Sophia's time, because the economy was growing so fast - and reborn from the ruins was fast enough - the Avalons had not been at war for a long time.

Queen Sophia is indeed a gentle and kind queen, so she always tries her best to avoid all unnecessary wars. When faced with the pressure of irises and star antimony, she will always choose to cede interests or compete on a par, and only solve political problems on the table.

Even when the royal family was cursed one after another, she subconsciously chose to resurrect Lancelot I through the Shadow of Avalon ritual. Use this true top powerhouse to protect Avalon and intimidate the ambitious Star Antimony. And this is still essentially a "defensive" strategy.

In fact, it did wear down the blood and aggressiveness of the Avalons.

But when Isabel appeared in the newspaper in a blood-stained queen dress.

The Avalons were truly furious—

Queen Sophia's mourning period hasn't even passed yet!

Their new queen has not yet been crowned!

The people directly threw the cauldron that had previously died of the royal family due to a curse on the Star Antimony people.

At that moment, Count Star Antimony's attack on Isabel was undoubtedly an act of destroying the country!

When all people yearn for war...... War is doomed.

(End of chapter)