399: Chapter 386 Empire

The Saul Continent is vast, accommodating numerous empires.

So, what is the definition of an empire?

By the standards of the people on the Saul Continent, it is not the size of the territory that determines if a nation can be called an empire; there is only one condition—the number of Epics.

As long as one possesses even a single Epic, even if the territory is as small as a village, one can call themselves an empire, and no one would dare to question it.

This is the weight of an Epic.

Otherwise, why would the former King of Lake have sacrificed the lives of so many City Lords and subjects at any cost just to become a Gods Blessing? Because being a Gods Blessing is the prerequisite for ascending to Epic.

Naturally, the comparison of strength between empires depends on the number and power level of their Epics.

Considering that most Epics have never fought each other, and that no empire would reveal the true number of its Epics, outsiders cannot use this point to distinguish the strength of various empires.

However, there are other ways.

The simplest is based on the empire's location on the continent; the stronger the empire, the closer it is to the wealthy regions in the center of the continent.

While this method lacks authority, the weak cannot hold onto wealth, so it remains sufficiently credible.

The Gangnuo Empire, which Novak and the others intended to contact, was a low-tier empire located on the edge of the wealthy region.

Of course, even a low-tier empire is still an empire, something no kingdom or Principality would dare provoke.

Therefore, the diplomatic mission sent by Novak acted with great humility and low-profile after entering the Gangnuo Empire. Once settled in the foreign guest quarters of the imperial capital, they never ventured out to avoid offending someone they shouldn't, quietly waiting for an audience with the King.

The King of the empire was busy with daily affairs, and the mission waited for many days without an audience. They were inevitably anxious, as their own kingdom was still at war.

But they didn't dare show it; if they displeased the King, they could forget about achieving their goals in this lifetime.

After waiting for another ten days or so, the King finally found some time and remembered that there seemed to be a diplomatic mission from some kingdom waiting for him at the guest house.

Initially, he couldn't be bothered to respond, but after hearing a minister report that the mission was here regarding the "Lake Kingdom," a spark of interest rose in his heart, and he changed his mind.

The mission was finally able to enter the palace of the imperial capital and meet the King in the Great Hall.

The King sat high upon his throne and asked them to state their purpose with great interest.

The mission did not dare to be negligent and immediately followed Novak's instructions, truthfully recounting everything Lake had displayed over the past year.

The King watched them playfully. "Did your master only command you to say these things?"

"Yes."

"Guards."

"Present!"

"Drag them all outside the imperial city gates and execute them by hanging."

"Yes!"

"King, why is this?!"

"King, we..."

The members of the mission asked in shock, but the King did not answer, his right hand playing with a crystal ball.

After they were all escorted from the hall by the Guards, the King asked the minister standing beside him, "What is your opinion?"

"Those kingdoms... are indeed too foolish." The minister smiled and continued, "Or rather... the pressure Lake has put on them is so great that they've even resorted to such suicidal methods as trying to use an empire stronger than themselves."

"Lake... hmm... it sounds familiar. Oh, I remember now. Is it the heretic mentioned in the divine oracle a while ago?"

"Exactly."

"Lake... I heard it was the Ice and Snow Empire from ten thousand years ago?"

"Yes," the minister replied succinctly.

"The Ice and Snow Empire..." The King gazed at the sky outside the palace doors, his eyes filled with yearning. "How prosperous and powerful must the former First Empire of the continent have been?"

The minister recalled for a moment and said, "According to historical records, the Ice and Snow Empire possessed a Legendary."

The King's pupils contracted.

"Legendary?"

"Legendary."

"I remember that only the Pope of the Church has reached the Legendary level. It was so ten thousand years ago, and it is so now."

"That is probably why the Ice and Snow Empire perished."

"They angered the Gods?"

"Perhaps."

"That is truly a pity."

The King sat up straight. "The Ice and Snow Empire... the Ice and Snow King..."

"Oh, what did the leader of that mission just say? Lake created a new weapon that allows ordinary people to defeat Professionals after a period of practice?"

The minister nodded. "And he also said there are many categories of those weapons, some of which can even kill High-tier Professionals."

The King rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The inheritance of Ice and Snow? Interesting."

"Does the King mean..."

"Send a legion of Professionals to take a look."

"If we do that, won't we be granting the mission's wish?"

"Heh." The King gave a cold laugh. "Granting their wish?"

"Tell the Legion Commander of the Bauhinia Legion that his mission is to annihilate every living person he sees, and then bring the inheritance of Ice and Snow back to me."

The minister understood. "I will arrange it immediately."

...

Not long after the mission departed, Novak mobilized the legions to continue the battle against Lake.

Lake's elite forces remained on standby, sending only newly established legions to the front lines in rotation. The Allied Forces, however, deployed all their elites while promising great rewards. Between the two, the sides were barely evenly matched.

Allied Forces Command Post.

Although their side had not achieved any major victories, everyone was overjoyed at the current stalemate, as if they had gained a huge advantage.

Novak was very disappointed, unable to understand why the Marshals of the various nations had sunk to this level.

Could they not even dare to fantasize about defeating the enemy anymore?

He felt a bit depressed and walked out of the building in silence, pacing in the garden in front of the door.

"Novak." This person did not call him Marshal, but addressed him by name.

Hearing someone call him, he turned his head and found that the person following him was the Marshal of a neighboring country and also his close friend.

He managed a forced smile. "Is something the matter?"

"You're the one with something on your mind." The newcomer pulled him to sit on a bench and patted his shoulder. "I know you're dissatisfied with their performance, but they've done their best."

"At least they are much better than those cowards who abandoned their kingdoms and subjects to flee, aren't they?"

"That's true, but..." Novak hesitated, then sighed. "If even defeating the enemy is a pipe dream, what is the point of us starting this war?"

"That... I can't answer." The newcomer shrugged and then changed the subject. "News from the mission has returned. Have you seen it?"

"I have. The Ganno King had all the members of our mission hanged."

Looking at Novak's unsurprised expression, the newcomer asked with some curiosity, "You expected this?"

"Of course." Novak replied, looking up toward the door of the building. Seeing that no one was coming out, he lowered his voice and said, "Otherwise, why did I tell you not to stuff your own child into the mission?"

Recalling the night before the mission's departure, when Novak had snuck into his room and sternly warned him not to think this visit would broaden a child's horizons by putting them in the mission, the newcomer clicked his tongue. "You're really something."

"The King of the Ganno Empire cannot be an idiot. Once the mission said what I told them to, he would certainly guess that we wanted to borrow his blade to kill. "

"A King's dignity cannot be violated. Our actions were bound to infuriate the Ganno King. I can't guess his subsequent reaction, but the mission was doomed regardless."

The newcomer didn't care at all about the mission's 'sacrifice' and asked, "Do you think the Ganno King will do as you wish?"

"He will, but only halfway."

"What do you mean?"

"The Ganno King will mobilize a legion, but not necessarily to help us."

"Uh, then who will he help? Could he be helping Lake?"

"I mean, he will annihilate us along with Lake."

The newcomer's mouth dropped open in shock. "Then... then why send a mission at all?"

"Because... it's the only way to defeat Lake." Novak let out a soft breath, organizing his words in his mind. "True, we are currently at a stalemate with Lake, but you should be clear that Lake has held back its strength, consistently using new legions to fight us."

"Even so, our casualties are still higher than theirs, and as the Lake Soldiers gain experience, this ratio is constantly widening."

The newcomer fell silent for a moment and said helplessly, "It's the truth."

"In other words, we are bound to lose."

"It's a matter of time." Novak stood up, looking up at the sky covered by thick dark clouds. "Since taking the position of Marshal of the Allied Forces, I have spent every night thinking about how on earth we can defeat Lake."

"Regrettably, even until the war began, I still couldn't think of a way."

"Later, someone suggested seeking help from the Ganno Empire. I instantly rejected it in my heart, but it sparked an inspiration."

"Since defeat and death are inevitable, and defeating Lake while alive has become a delusion, then... why not let Lake be buried with us?"

"So that's why you instructed the mission to say those things to deliberately anger Ganno... Er, are you sure the Ganno King won't see through your intentions?"

"Heh, a King... a King stands too high."

"I don't understand."

Novak sat back on the bench. "Standing too high makes it difficult for him to see clearly below. Since he can't see clearly and it won't cause any serious impact, he simply won't care."

The newcomer seemed to understand. "Even if the Ganno King sees through the plot, he might not care whether he's falling for it?"

"Yes."

Novak looked in the direction of Lake, as if speaking to the Domit he had never met. "If we can't live, then let's go to hell together."

...

"Ganno Empire? Are you sure they will intervene?" Zhang Mu asked in the command room after being informed by Domit.

Domit looked down at the intelligence report. "Our drones detected the Allied Forces sending a diplomatic mission, which disappeared after entering a Magic Array leading to the Ganno Empire."

"So... it's not certain, only that it's a possibility."

"Ganno Empire... what is their strength like?"

"I asked the two Grand Dukes, and they told me Ganno is at the bottom among the empires. However, an empire is an empire after all; it won't be weak."

Zhang Mu thought for a bit and waved his hand. "If they come, they come. It's bound to happen sooner or later. In short, don't worry about it for now. It's useless to think too much. Let's solve the immediate problems first."

"I understand."

"Yeah."

"But since they are the enemies of the next stage, we should still conduct a preliminary understanding. Hmm... how about this, send someone to secretly infiltrate the Ganno Empire. No need to scout for secrets, just investigate their overt strength."

"Like how many elite legions they have, which ones are the most famous, and if they have any special units."

Domit put the intelligence report into an open drawer. "If you're only checking that, you probably don't need to send anyone. You can just ask the two Grand Dukes or Princess Avril."

"They know?"

"Yes, I heard that Princess Avril once traveled through Ganno."

"Fine, I'll go ask."

Zhang Mu got up to head back to the royal capital, while Domit focused his attention, preparing to speed up the pace of the war, striving to defeat the Allied Forces before Ganno intervened.

...

On the way to the royal capital, Zhang Mu kept pondering why the Allied Forces only sought outside help when the situation became irreversible.

According to common logic, when Lake launched its counter-offensive, or when they were retreating within Lake's borders, the nations of the Allied Forces should have already contacted Ganno for help.

Why?

What reason caused them to wait until just recently to send a mission?

Zhang Mu was completely baffled, and this wasn't the only confusing point.

Since the mission had entered Ganno half a month ago, logically, if Ganno had agreed to support them, their legions should have set out by now. If they were fast enough, they should have already joined the battlefield.

But in fact, there was no movement on the front line. Not only were Ganno's legions nowhere to be seen, but the visiting mission had not returned either.

Had Ganno rejected the Allied Forces' request?

As soon as this guess popped up, Zhang Mu immediately dismissed it.

Impossible. If Ganno really didn't want to intervene, the Allied Forces would either recall the mission or send more representatives to try again. It was impossible for things to be as they were now, as if nothing had happened.

"The intelligence department is still not strong enough. I wonder how Soren's preparations are going."

Deep in the frustration of weak intelligence gathering, Zhang Mu thought of Soren, whom he had sent to organize the relevant agency.

"Since I'm going back to the royal capital, I might as well stop by his place. If there are difficulties, I'll send some more hands to him."

Zhang Mu was not just playing around with this department.

In the future, as the territory continues to expand, it would be of great use whether for scouting information on hostile forces or monitoring internal unstable factors.

Especially the latter. On Blue Star, where information transmission is highly developed, there is still the saying 'the mountains are high and the emperor is far away,' let alone on the Saul Continent, which is larger than Blue Star but far inferior in information transmission.

Take the kingdom cities that have already been captured, for example. Although Zhang Mu hadn't paid special attention, he had heard that the change of City Lords and garrisons had led to chaotic order, spawning a group of dark organizations that relied on illegal means to profit.

Most importantly, these organizations were not spontaneously formed by people in hardship, but were invested in and developed by the original royal families or City Lords to harass Lake and increase Lake's cost of governance.

Zhang Mu didn't actually care much about these flies. As long as the legions were strong enough and the Saul Continent lacked the 'guerrilla warfare' soil, they couldn't stir up much trouble.

However, letting flies buzz around one's ears is always annoying; they should be dealt with after all.

While thinking, he had already arrived outside the gates of the royal capital.

Zhang Mu rarely appeared in public. Except for the First Army, Avril, and a few others, very few people had seen his face. The Guards at the city gate naturally fell into this category.

The Guards dutifully reached out to stop Zhang Mu for a routine inspection.

Zhang Mu didn't put on airs either, undergoing the inspection according to the rules, and then walked through the city gate with steady steps.

"Soren and Mihe seem to be doing intelligence work on East Street?"

He entered the royal capital from the South Gate; the East District was right next door, closer than the palace located in the central area.

After thinking for a while, Zhang Mu decided to go to the East District first and then head to the palace to save himself the detour.